The Book Duet

Jay and Katherine’s story is one of incredible loss and pain. However, it is also a story of miraculous healing and restoration. In April 2008, 3 and a half years after getting married and 6 months after the birth of their son, James, Katherine suffered a brain hemorrhage caused by an arteriovenus malformation that had been in her brain since birth.

Last year, I stumbled upon this rad service called Voracious Readers Only and I have been enjoying being introduced to books/genres that I would not normally read and at the same time being able to help authors get the word out about their books!

“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

“Our focus does not have to be simply on persuading those in charge to effect change. You may be able to do that, and you may not. But what you can do is focus on your own area of responsibility and make it great.”

Lore Wilbert's thoughts on singleness aligned so closely with my own that I felt I was reading about my personal journey through singleness. Not that singleness should be viewed as something to "get through", but I know many people struggle with being single (I was one of those people) and I feel very passionate about changing not only how society views singleness, but how the church views it as well.

This is one of those books that is so dense with information that I am not sure what to write about it. Joseph Loconte takes the reader back to the early lives John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and Clive Staples Lewis (more affectionately known as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis). From there he follows the story of their lives into adult who, starting with their time at University where they both continued to pursue their love of literature.

Erik Larson is an incredible writer. This was a very historical book made up mostly of a compilation of personal diaries, but he made it read like historical fiction.

Grief is the conflicting group of human emotions caused by an end to or change in a familiar pattern of behavior.

How do I even describe this one? Magical? Fantastic? Captivating? All true but none really capture how I was swept into this story.

So many good tips and tricks in this book!

This is such an inspiring story of finding purpose in our work, being challenge in all the right ways and knowing we bring value to the companies we work for.

She writes happily ever afters and he writes about suicide cults. Two college rivals who find themselves in neighboring beach houses for the summer as they work on their next bestsellers. 

Jonathan Edwards...Charles H Spurgeon...Dwight L Moody...Amy Carmichael...Oswald Chambers...to name a few

Jen's book helps those  hungry to learn more about God by simply showing us how to read our bibles.

I think we have all felt uncomfortable at times due to difference in age, gender, life stage, race, marital status, finances, career paths, personality...

This book was a lot of things: A tell (almost) all about her affair with Harrison, a coming of age story in the world of entertainment, and a memoir of her search for identity when, forty years later, people still wanted her to be the young, galactic princess, Leia Organa.

So many secrets and so many twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very end. 

From learning about the economic crisis of the time, the build up to the fair, the excitement it gave the nation, the return to desolation once it was over and the creepy serial killer in between...this was very well written and an interesting read

"If we aren't uncomfortable at least once every few weeks, we are in danger of not learning and not continuing to grow."

He made a difference because he was different.

"It's not wrong to be tired. It's not wrong to feel overwhelmed  it's not wrong to go through seasons of compete chaos. What is wrong - and heartbreakingly foolish and wonderfully avoidable - is to live a life with more craziness than we want because we have less Jesus than we need."

"I honestly believe that what you learn in this game is not yours to possess, but yours to pass on." -Dusty Baker

"A steadfast heart isn't a dead heart; its a heart that's pulsating with a vibrant, dynamic faith, God-centered thought, and redeemed emotions that bring life and color to every experience."

I wish I had started reading this earlier on in my engagement and  highly recommend this book to anyone planning a wedding.

"Thinking feeds the fire, and the fire fuels more thinking and doing  I love God because I know him and I want to know him more because I love him."

So this book was fascinating. My life decisions to never go skydiving or scuba diving were affirmed and I did skip the chapter on How To Deliver A Baby in A Taxi because, let's be real, I do not want to know how to do that.

"Life can be painful and beautiful at the same time."

10 things God is and we are not:

"The person on the other side of the table is not the problem, the unsolved issue is."

All the girl power!!!

Faith for Exiles endeavors to offer hope to a generation trying to answer these questions and live out our faith in "Digital Exile".

Harlan Coben's stories are twisty, and his characters are sarcastic

"Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moment to moment as to the Lord."

"God can forgive (again). God can empower (more). And God can change you, even if it is slowly, haltingly, and painfully from one itty bitty degree of glory to the next."

A book about finding rest and connection in a world that is constantly demanding we be responsible, productive and busy. 

"The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs." -George Eliot

Kelly Egan is a hospice chaplain and in this book she shares some of her patients' stories and final thoughts on life - at least the ones they wanted shared.

This book is beautifully written, and changed the way I think about privilege.

What keeps us from pursuing the things we were created to do?

"If God never grants us another glimpse of His glory in this life, if He never grants us another request, if He never gives us another gift from the abundance of His grace, we still would be obligated to spend the rest of our lives thanking Him for what He already has done."

"Is Jesus your security blanket or is he your life?"

I figured I knew enough about books and the Enneagram to write this blog post and have people take it somewhat seriously. 

Based on true events, Sandra Dallas tells a remarkable tale of a small farm town in Colorado that now contains an internment camp for Japanese Americans during WW2.

The Enneagram is, by far, my favorite assessment. I took the test twice and typed as a 2 the first time and a 9 the second. I wasn’t totally sold on either result until I read The Road Back to You and, in particular, the chapter on 9s…

My big takeaway from this book was that any number can have a healthy relationship with any other number. Whether that is in dating/marriage, friendship, family or professional. The key is that each person commits to learning how the other thinks and communicates and what they need to feel loved and appreciated. 

“Trusting in God’s will of decree is good. Following his will of desire is obedient. Waiting for God’s will of direction is a mess.”

It had been a minute since I read a celeb bio and it was interesting to read about Rainn's early life and acting/spiritual journey. It got so good, however, in the last 5 chapters (when he talked about The Office, obvi) but also learning about his website SoulPancake and the foundation he and his wife started to help Haitian women and girls find their voice

In Second Glance, the sale of an abandoned property causes controversy amongst the developers and a group of Abenaki Indians who claim the land is an Indian burial ground. Strange things start to happen in the town of Comtosook, Vermont that leads people to think that the land in question is being haunted.

“We gather to be seen, to feel awkward, and perhaps to feel a little unheard and underappreciated, all on purpose."

Andy Crouch’s book Strong and Weak brought a tidal wave of emotions and tugged at several issues near and dear to my heart and recently on my mind: immigration, police/community relations, the unfortunate reality of manipulative leadership, and the constant fear of losing who I love most in this world. 

Semple’s writing was brilliant and I love that it is written in the perspective of the daughter, Bee, trying to find out what happened to her mom.

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

All. The. Feels. Kristin Hannah has a way of evoking so many emotions with the beautiful words of her book, Firefly Lane. At the heart of the story is the unlikely friendship between two girls that started when they were 14 and continued well into their audit lives

A Bookshop in Berlin is just one Jewish woman’s story of surviving a true dark time in history and as heart wrenching as her story is, she was one of the lucky ones