Here I am, now almost four years out of college, the dam is slowly starting to break. I have, over the last couple of years, gradually started back to reading more books just because I can. I thought I'd spend some time talking about what I've read over the past year...
I may have written some about this first book, but it has still been pretty noteworthy. It is When God Winks: How the Power of Coincidence Guides Your Life by SQuire Rushnell.
The title more or less gives away the book's overall premise, but anyone who knows me knows just how strongly I don't believe in coincidences. This book is equal parts reflection on how the author and other public figures have come to believe in God's guidance/divine providence and journal prompts that guide you through recognizing these "God winks", as the author puts it, within your own life. This book was a relatively easy read, prompting lots of good internal monologue and retraining my brain to recognize these small miracles. (If you ever read this book and want to talk more about it, hit me up. I have an awesome story that followed right after I read this book. I firmly believe that this book was a stepping stone to that next part of my story!) In doing a little bit of research, I found out that the author has since written multiple follow-up volumes to his original book, all likely coming from people sending him their stories. I think it's worth a read! If you want to learn more, check out this link!
*****
Last year during Lent, I was scrolling through Instagram and found a post from a girl I follow on there. She talked about her Lenten plans to reread a favorite book. She gave a brief description, and I was instantly intrigued, so I hopped over to Amazon and ordered it ASAP. It was like 10:30 PM, and I read the free preview after having ordered it. I was hooked. The book is Between the Savior and the Sea by Bob Rice.
This book is religious fiction. It goes through the gospels, but all from the perspective of Simon Peter. If you're familiar with the idea of Ignatian meditation, the practice of imagining yourself interacting with Biblical characters and directly experiencing Scriptural passages, then that's the idea that this book generally uses. If you're familiar with the Bible, then you know the basic premise of the book, but I still believe that there's something there for you. I've said before how much I love Peter, and this book may or may not have had a lot to do with that. Now that it's Lent yet again, I recommend this book, although you could easily read it any time of year. Somehow it seems more appropriate to read it at this time of year, but that's just me. Either way, here's a link to the author's page if you'd like to learn more.
*****
I've written previously about my love for SiriusXM radio show host, Jennifer Fulwiler. She was the voice of so many long drives to visit Thomas before we were married. I admire her because she is unabashedly honest, yet relatable, in living out her Catholic faith. She was an atheist convert to Catholicism and now has six kids. She doesn't pull punches, but she still has the ability to relate to people of all backgrounds. About a year ago, she published her second book, One Beautiful Dream.
Because I had heard so much hype about it on her radio show (and because Barnes & Noble offered a pretty sweet pre-order discount), I decided to give it a try. I also think she's a cool person, so I wanted to support her. She talks about her journey of pursuing her passion of writing, along with balancing her duties as a wife, mother (did I mention she has six kids?), and all of her other roles. She talks candidly about living out her Catholic faith and how it hasn't always been a bed of roses. I love her refreshing honesty and unassuming nature. Even if you aren't a wife, a mother, a writer, or a Catholic, I still think there's something here for you. Those are obvious themes in her book, so if you don't fall into any of the aforementioned categories or take issue with any of them, keep in mind that that's the perspective she comes from and judge accordingly. (Also, there's a good chance she's already aware of all that people could potentially take issue with, and she's pretty open about it.) Reading about her life's journey, I found it to be relatable and refreshing to hear her tell these stories with such candor. This book had the magical ability to bring me to tears, then to make me laugh hysterically within a few paragraphs. I loved it immensely, and hope you will, too! Learn more here!
*****
I took a good hiatus in reading/finishing books for the better part of a year. What can I say? I was busy! Last summer and fall were a total whirlwind for me, and I'm slowly starting to catch my breath from everything that's happened. (Okay, maybe not totally, but relatively speaking, things are ever so slightly more stable than they once were!) Diana is a member of a book club with several of her long-time friends, most of whom were mothers of Thomas and Elizabeth's classmates/friends. The books they've read over the last few months have all sounded incredibly gripping, so Diana promised she'd share them with me when she was finished. The first book she shared was The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner.
This book was heavy, but worth reading overall. Ruth Wariner was the daughter of a polygamist prophet in the Mormon church. Her father started a Mormon colony just across the Texas border in Mexico. Her father was tragically murdered by his brother, and her mother ended up re-marrying a man who had at least 3 other wives. Wariner's stepfather was abusive to the whole family, but the mother clung to him out of obedience to her faith and principles. His abuse and neglect is a major theme in the book, so if you find that to be triggering, then I'd maybe steer away from this book. On the flip side, I say it is worth reading because it details the literal hell this woman and her family went through and how they went about escaping it all. She is incredibly strong and courageous for publishing her story and being as vulnerable as she was in her writing. Wariner was forced into growing up much quicker than a child should ever have to. Upon starting it, I couldn't put it down. It was a breath-taking, emotional journey, worth every page. Learn more about this book here.
*****
Another book shared courtesy of Diana's book club was We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter. I just finished this book, as in last night before going to bed. I started it this past Friday, and it pushes 400 pages. It was *that* good.
Full disclosure, this book plays to a couple of my favorite topics to learn about--WWII and the Holocaust. I have always been passionate to learn more about this time in history. Maybe because it makes me think of Grandpa Hladik, who fought in the war. I feel like the more I learn about the war, the more I know about him. Having never met him (he died long before I was born), I feel like he gave me this desire to learn more.
This book is classified as historical fiction, but is based on the author's family. I think that was a wise choice on the author's part, honestly. Anytime you write about something so personal, especially when your knowledge is all based on stories about deceased loved ones and personal research, you can't get it completely right. You have to use a little bit of creative license to develop the story and fill in the gaps of the facts you know to be completely true. Hunter's depiction of her Jewish ancestors who lived in Nazi-occupied Poland was incredibly moving. Her writing made me feel as though I was transported back to 1940s Europe. Her imagery was incredible. This was another book that was challenging, because it tackled the horrors of the Holocaust in unflinching terms. I feel that so many stories about the Holocaust almost get "white-washed", so to speak. You know it was bad, but you somehow feel like at the end of the stories everything goes back to normal and the Jewish people went back to their regular lives. That was most definitely not the case. This book detailed all of the physical and mental scars this community carried with them immediately following the war. It describes in vivid detail the absolute evil they were subjected to at the hands of a madman and his puppets. It shattered my heart to more deeply consider the fact that it is a pure miracle that the Jewish people still exist after the horrors of the war. The awful attack on their lives, all based on faulty assumptions by people in authority, brought me to tears. Slight spoiler alert: her family does survive, defying all odds, which was the impetus for this book. You should definitely read this. I can't say enough about how much I loved it. Learn more here.
*****
There we go--all of the books I've recently read. If you've been looking for a recommendation, all of these were just great. If you read any of them, let me know. I'd love to discuss them further with someone else! Enjoy!
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