Books Read in 2019
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(Listened to through the Hoopla app) I always have trouble explaining to people how we budget –no more. Now I can point them to You Need A Budget. Our budget rules are almost identical to the ones found in this book –and they do work.
2. Dear Bob and Sue: One Couple’s Journey Through The National Parks
(Read through Kindle unlimited) So good! By the end of the couple’s journey through the National Parks, I felt like I too had been there traveling along with them.
3. Everyday Holy: Finding A Big God In The Little Moments
(Purchased for at a greatly reduced price using these tips) This book is meant to be a devotional, but I read it like a chapter book and enjoyed every chapter.
4. A Beautiful Work In Progress
(Read through Amazon Prime Reading) Although I found this book to be inspiring, I also felt like it rambled on here and there. It did come together at the end, and I am glad I held on — but it is a choppy read.
(Read through Kindle Unlimited) A concise yet packed ebook about how to get started with investing, and why you should begin now.
6. Stretched Too Thin: How Working Moms Can Lose The Guilt, Work Smarter, And Thrive
(Read through Kindle Unlimited) I am not a full-time work outside the home mom, nor am I a mom of little ones. Still, I loved Jessica’s first book so much I just had to read her second –and even though I am not her target audience, I still enjoyed the message of this book and gained a few reminders of how important self-care is.
7. Capital Gaines: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff
(Read through Kindle Unlimited) Being a Fixer Upper Fan when I saw that Kindle Unlimited was offering Chip’s book, I had to read it. I enjoyed it so much that I stayed up late to finish it one night. Great book full of words of wisdom for entrepreneurs, and it fills you in on their life story more than their HGTV show ever did.
8. Think Small For Big Results: Navigating Your Way To A Successful Micro-Business
(Read through Kindle Unlimited) I had high hopes for Think Small For Big Results, but they fell flat. To me, it seemed like an endless ramble of what worked and didn’t work for the author, but the information wasn’t presented in a way that was helpful for readers.
9. I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights And Dilemmas Of The Reading Life
(Read through Kindle Unlimited) I have been a reader of Anne’s blog off and on for years, so I was excited to see that two of her books were offered in Kindle Unlimited during a free trial I signed up for. I found myself giggling and saying me too often as I read I’d Rather Be Reading it is a book all bookworms can relate to.
10. Reading People: How Seeing The World through the lens of Personality Changes Everything
(Read through Kindle Unlimited) This is the second of the two books of Anne’s that I read in a row, and although it is good, I did not enjoy it as much as the first. I think it is because I am not a big personality typing fan. I still gained a few nuggets of wisdom, though, on why I am the way I am. If you love the whole personality typing thing, you will LOVE this book.
11. Rising Strong as a Spiritual Practice
(Listened to through the Hoopla app) This was a recording full of stuff I needed to hear at the exact moment I needed to hear them. Awesome listen. Although I don’t see eye to eye with Brene Brown in everything, she sure does know here stuff when it comes to facing hard emotions.
12. Heaven Help Heidi (Family of the Heart Book 2)
(Paperback copy received through points earned using My Reader Rewards Club) This book was good, but not great. To me, great fiction is the type of book you just cannot put down until the last sentence is read. This book, I could put down. In fact, I put it down for weeks at a time. It was engaging enough that I did want to finish it, but definitely not captivating.
13. Gifts Of Imperfect Parenting
(Listened to through the Hoopla App) If you have problems admitting when you have screwed up to your kids, you need to listen to this. If you try to put up an “everything is 100% okay always” front, and you have children watching you — you need to listen to this. If it bugs you that your child has a unique personality and therefore doesn’t seem to fit in —listen to this.
14. The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connection, and Courage
(Listened to through the Hoopla App) Yes, this is the 4th Brene Brown audio recording I have listened to this year. I had a week alone in my home, and I went on a Brene Brown binge as I decluttered and cleaned several rooms. I gain so much from every Brene Brown recording I listen to, and The Power Of Vulnerability was no exception. I have a lot of work to do. The good news is I have always been more of a self-guilter than a self-shamer, but that doesn’t mean I am at a healthy level of vulnerability yet –I am working on it though.
(Read through Kindle Unlimited) Crystal Paine of Money Saving Mom recommended this book, and since I have liked several business titles, she has recommended reading, I decided to give it a try. I enjoyed Manage Your Day-to-Day so much that I put two more titles by 99U in my Kindle Unlimited to-read list.
16. Be Calm: Proven Techniques to Stop Anxiety Now
(Read through Kindle Unlimited) As some of you might know, I am currently suffering from perimenopausal anxiety disorder. This means I often suffer from mild to severe panic attacks on key hormonal fluctuation days. I do take medicine to reduce flare-ups, and it has helped reduce the number of days I feel anxiety, but it hasn’t taken away the feelings of panic entirely on those peak hormonal shift days.
I am trying to learn how to handle these attacks better and reading. Be Calm has given me several strategies to try, and I have seen some good results with them. However, this book was full of so much good information that I need to reread it to take it in fully. There were some parts of the book that didn’t seem to apply to my anxiety problem; I think it is because it was written for those whose anxiety does not steam from hormonal shifts in the body. I am thinking of seeking out and reading a book or two that specifically deals with hormonal anxiety syndromes.
17. Dear Bob & Sue: Season Two
(Read through Kindle Unlimited) I loved Dear Bob & Sue: Season One so much that I had to read season two. This book wasn’t quite as good as the first but still well worth reading. As a mom, who will soon become an empty nester reading the adventures of a couple who are brings me much assurance that life won’t be dull without my kids around — adventure still awaits my husband and me.
(Read through Kindle Unlimited) This book was written by the same authors as Dear Bob & Sue, and although good, I didn’t enjoy the style of the book as much as I enjoyed how their other two books were written.
(yard sale find) I fell in love with the Baxter series shortly after my mom passed away. I needed a fiction series with characters so well written that I could get lost in their world since mine felt a bit overwhelming. Karen Kingsbury provided that with the Baxters. Love Story is a stand-alone story about the Baxter’s, but I think you will get more out of it if you read the entire Baxter series first (here is the first part of the series). This story does not disappoint; it was so good I stayed up way too late reading it and had a book hangover the next morning.
20. The Finishing School: How One Book Nerd Began Living What She Learned
(Read through Kindle Unlimited) The author offers encouragement to stop reading about how to stop studying about how to live a Christ-like life and actually start living one.
(Found in a Little Free Library box) A fictional tale of several people’s journey along a hiking path in Europe. The characters are well developed, and the story is a good one. There were, however, a few minor things in the novel I would have liked not to be there.
(Yard Sale Find) I have enjoyed every Sophie Kinsella novel I have ever read, including this one. This book is part of her Shopaholic series, and it leaves you hanging on for more. I am looking forward to reading the next one.
23. The Time Keeper
(Found in a Little Free Library box) This is a short book, but the words within it will keep you thinking about it long after you finish the last page. WOW, Mitch Adam’s does it again! I haven’t read a book of his yet that hasn’t made me think.
24. No Ordinary Lives: One Man’s Surprising Journey into The Heart of America
(Found in a Little Free Library box) A reporter who once decided who to write about by picking their names out of a phone book writes about how his discovery that everyone has a story to tell. He weaves the stories of those he reports on into his own life story showing how the wisdom of the people he wrote about affected his own life.
25. Moment Maker: You Can Live Your Life or It Will Live You
(Purchased using my favorite tips for getting Kindle titles for cheap) This book made me laugh so hard in parts. The author has a friendly writing style that will engage you and get you thinking about what you are doing to create moments not for you but for others. Moments that make others feel valued loved, and understood.
26. June Bug
(received through paperback swap) I waited for a rainy Saturday afternoon to read June Bug because I knew if it was like all the other Chris Fabry books, I have read that I would not be able to put it down once I started it. I was right! I read it all afternoon and evening until every last page was done. It was that good!
27. Simple Secrets To A Happy Life
(bought at a yard sale) I am a sucker for any book with the words simple in its title. This book was full of all sorts of wisdom that will help the younger generation (those in their 20’s especially) get a jumpstart on leading a fulfilling life.
(bought at a yard sale) The title makes Girl, Wash Your Face sound like a self-help book–but it isn’t. It is more of a self-written biography of the author’s life. A story that she hopes will help you evaluate your own life and discover the lies you are believing and move beyond them as the author has.
29. The Happiness Dare: Pursuing Your Heart’s Deepest, Holiest, and Most Vulnerable Desire
(received through paperback swap) For me, the best part of The Happiness Dare was learning about the different happiness styles. There are five, and once you know them, you will realize why somethings that make you light up the room with joy, make others run screaming.
30. Dear Bob and Sue: Season 3
(Read through Kindle Unlimited)
Yep! It is another Bob and Sue book! I can’t get enough of Matt and Karen and their adventures as empty nesters.
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