Welcome to my book update post where I share what books I finished recently + my honest thoughts and star ratings of them.
My Reading Goals for 2021
For 2021, I set a goal of reading 3 books per week — 1 fiction book, 1 non-fiction book, and 1 audiobook each week. I know this is an audacious goal, but reading is something I love and it’s a way I learn, challenge my mind, improve as a writer and communicator, and am refreshed and encouraged through inspiring stories.
I have a few shelves full of books (mostly that I’ve gotten free), so I decided to choose 52 books from off my shelf to read this year (see my list of 52 books I plan to read in 2021 here). I’ll also read other books that I find/am sent that pique my interest. Plus, I plan to go through a lot of audiobooks (I get mine free from the Libby app).
Here are three books I finished recently…
Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering Your Kids to Challenge Cultural Lies
As parents, our heart is to raise kids who know how to think, wrestle through what they believe and why they believe it, and be able to stand alone in their convictions — even if no one else agrees.
Mama Bear Apologetics is well worth reading if you are a Christian parent who struggles to know how to help your kids navigate difficult topics from a Biblical perspective. You might not end up agreeing with the authors’ beliefs or convictions in all areas, but this book will make you think and examine who you believe, why you believe it, and how you are interacting with others around your beliefs. AND, it will also help better equip you to have meaningful conversations with your kids.
One critique I did have of it is that I felt like the first part of the book was kind of fear-based. As in, if you don’t know how to have these conversations and you don’t teach your kids this, here are all the bad things that could happen. While I understand that empowering our kids to challenge the cultural lies is important, I don’t think we should do it motivated by fear, but out of a desire to point our kids to Jesus and to honor Him with our lives because we are so loved by Him. I want to make sure I am parenting out of faith not fear.
Verdict: 4 stars
Praying Women: How to Pray When You Don’t Know What to Say
I listened to this on audiobook and while I felt like it was a lot of stuff I’d heard/learned/thought of before, it was a good refresher. Sheila narrated the audiobook and I love her Scottish accent and her hilarious stories and honesty.
If you are new to prayer, if you are frustrated by the idea of prayer, or if you are cynical about prayer, I think you will especially appreciate this book.
Verdict: 3 stars
The Chance
This audiobook was available to listen to for free on Libby and since I often enjoy Karen Kingsbury, I downloaded it. I figured out — after listening to a few chapters — that I thought I might have already read or listened to it a few years ago. As it went on, I realized that I had, but I was invested enough into it, that I went ahead and finished it!
It wasn’t one of my favorite Karen Kingsbury novels, but it overall, it was a good listen. It was such a reminder how our decisions can have such profound impact — either good or bad — on others.
Verdict: 3 stars