Reading Challenge Update - May

I know I'm a little late catching up with our progress on the VT Reading Challenge, but with good reason. We spent the first two weeks of June showing Luke's mom and sister around India. It was so much fun giving them a peak into our daily lives. Then, I knew our May list was long, so I kept procrastinating. Yesterday, Luke had Lasik surgery, leaving him *somewhat* strapped to the couch for a couple of days. So, I figured, now was a great time to get it done.

​Last month I really noticed that as I read books I get voices in my head. Not the crazy kind of voices, but I definitely imagine the author's voice and tone while I am reading the words, and it seems to affect the speed I read. Anybody else out there ever notice that? Anyways, on to the list - we are currently at 42 done, 62 to go!

Julie
​Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins (New York Times Bestseller List)- Confession : I listened to the audio book for this one. That counts, right? It was a really intriguing story and I can see why it has been so popular. It took me a while to suspect what happened, until she started giving obvious clues.
For The Love by Jen Hatmaker (A Book by a Woman Conference Speaker) - I was really torn with this one. I have been a fan of Jen since 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess (which I appropriately read while we were downsizing to exactly 6 plastic tubs of possessions). After reading the first chapter I was super excited about the rest of the book. However, it left me gasping for air halfway through, and I realized there was so much left. She tries to tackle so many subjects in one book that it comes across feeling more like a whole bunch of blog posts. Everything is high-energy and dramatic (which is one reason why I, and thousands of other women, enjoy her writing), but for me it was too much in book form. In Chapter 25, I thought she missed out on a huge opportunity to explain how the good deeds she promotes are part of the gospel (the outworking and testimony of it), but instead she left me feeling like she was pretty closed to any sort of criticism (which I can understand as such a public figure she probably gets a lot of, and in general I really respect anyone who puts themselves out there like that for the sake of what they believe). I also thought that while she bathes her criticism of the church in her proclamations of love for the church, I could imagine unchurched people taking statements like "I love Jesus, but sometimes his followers give me a migraine" and persisting in hatred/judgment of the church. In my own life, I have found sarcasm a terrible way of showing love, which is ironically the name of the book. All that to say, I didn't disagree with most of the content, but the presentation was lacking for me.
Life and Ministry as a Human Being by Zach Eswine (A Book Someone Says Changed Their Life - Thanks Sheetal!) - Reading this after reading For the Love was kind of funny. Both books had a lot of similar thoughts, but this one dragged on and on for me. He had some really great points, but sometimes he took a really round about way to get there. My biggest takeaway was the reminder to be mentally and spiritually present where you are geographically present. This is a struggle for me as sometimes it seems like our family is a part of two completely different worlds at the same time.


Luke

Covenant of War by Cliff Graham (Book About Ancient History) - I enjoyed this sequel to Day of War, again bringing out the probable struggles of David and his mighty men. It demonstrated how much the Lord really would have had to be on their side to gain such victories. It was eye-opening to see how much it took for David to fight for Israel's peace.
The Great Tamasha by James Astill (Book About Sports) - This was a great book on the history of Cricket and India. It was interesting to see how cricket has evolved in India and then gone on to affect cricket internationally.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - Of course this is a classic. I had a lot of fun reading it. Finally by the last story of the book I was able to figure out who was guilty before it was revealed!
Jataka Tales: Tales of Misers by Anant Pai (Comic) - This is a comic based on the ancient Jataka Tales ("birth history" in Sanskrit), which contain numerous stories about the previous births of Buddha. It had some laughs, but overall the illustrations weren't great.