Every month I try to read at least one book from the following categories: nonfiction, devotional, and fiction. And this year I’m participating in the 2017 Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenges, so I’m also going to be listing which category my books fulfill. If you want to join in on the fun, you can check out the list of categories here! This is my April 2017 Reading List, my brief reviews and book recommendations for April 2017. Hopefully I’ll provide you with some inspiration for your future reading as well!

Books Finished:

The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joana Gaines

This book is inspiring and was exactly the right book for me at the time that I read it, a real pallet cleanser. Things have been difficult for me at work lately, and reading Chip and Jo’s descriptions of hard times in their work, as well as how God was present and guided their actions and decisions and the outcomes was a great reminder. The book is an easy and short read. I recommend this book.

The Tools of Argument: How the Best Lawyers Think, Argue, and Win by Joel Trachtman

I heard about this book at a conference last fall for trial lawyers (which I am). It was a great reminder of all of the various concepts and arguments that I learned back in law school. It would be a great primer for new lawyers as well.

The American Girl by Kate Horsley

My book club’s April pick, this was unlike every other book that we’ve read so far. I listened to it as an audiobook, and really liked it in that format. The structure of the book is blog posts and video diaries, so it feels very modern, and realistic. The story was exciting and had lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing. I recommend this one.

What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir by Kristin Newman

2017 MMD Reading for Fun Challenge: a juicy memoir

I don’t honestly remember how I heard about this book, but the title made me want to read it. I thought that I may relate to the author, as a 32-year-old woman without children…but I did not. The author wrote about her experiences taking drugs and having sex with random strangers around the world on her travels. I don’t relate to that experience at all. My version of traveling is experiencing the sights, sounds, and local culture, not just hooking up or getting high and missing out on the location visited. And the author mocked her friends who decided to get married or have children, while eventually ending up with a divorced man with two kids. I choose not to have children, but I can understand why others would want to. I didn’t care for this one.

The House by the Lake by Ella Carey

I feel like books like this are exactly in my wheelhouse. I love when historical fiction and a modern-day story meet, as well as examining a time/culture/situation/people in a new way, and this book does that. The plot (protagonist goes to Germany to recover an item that her grandfather left behind in 1940) seems sort of hokey, which the character  even acknowledges sounds far it definitely works.

How Can I Be Blessed? by R.C. Sproul

A short book, it examines each of the Beatitudes, what they mean as well as what they don’t mean. It was helpful,as I find the Beatitudes confusing and difficult to understand. In some respects they seem easy to achieve, and in others, impossible. I appreciated this short but close examination, with examples and anecdotes, enlightening.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

2017 MMD Reading for Fun Challenge: a book with a reputation for being un-put-down-able

This was a $1.99 Kindle deal, and had been on my wish list for quite some time, so I snapped it up and read it almost immediately. I previously saw the movie and loved it, but the book truly is even better. The movie stayed pretty true to the story, but there were some changes that would be necessary to cut the story down to a reasonable length movie. The perspectives of the main characters felt authentic. I really loved it!

A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold

I first heard about this book (and the book Columbine, which is on my overdrive waitlist) on the What Should I Read Next podcast. And boy it did not disappoint! The subject matter, and Sue’s description of her meeting with law enforcement and learning in detail about what her son and Eric Harris did, thought, and said is horrifying. But most of the book focuses more on her reaction and the worlds response to Columbine. I also appreciated the amount of research that the book contained, as it was clear that Sue really did everything possible to understand how her son could become a mass murderer. This book is enlightening, and makes you realize that what you thought you knew with respect to The Klebolds and Columbine is probably. Or accurate.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Expurey

So this is a children’s book. But I can’t say that I’d want my nieces or nephew to read it. The story was sort of sweet, until the ending, where it’s sad and horrible, and doesn’t make any sense. I guess I don’t understand why the book is beloved by so many.

 

Books in Progress:

In the Woods by Tana French

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

 

Books I’ve Abandoned:

Netherland by Joseph O’Neill

The Road to Jerusalem: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1967 by Walter Laqueur