2012 Reading

I thought I’d track some of my reading this year. It could serve as my motivation to read good things that I could enjoy blogging about.

I must admit I think I only read two books in full in January, and they are not what I would have expected! In recent years, I’ve been inspired to read things that stretch me and grow me, that are intellectually challenging and full of rich ideas. This is part of the fruit of watching my children have a classical education and seeing the things they are learning and reading. Working in the school also encouraged me to be a lifelong learner as we would often read and discuss meaningful books amongst ourselves, be it about education or spiritual growth or culture, etc. I’ve also tried to read some classics like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which I thoroughly enjoyed last year.

But this year started out differently with two easy and unexpected reads that don’t necessarily fit my above criteria. First, my son, along with every other 13 year old boy in America, I suspect, got this for Christmas, so I picked it up to see what he would be reading:

I was impressed by many things in the book, but particularly how Tebow has loved and respected his parents and has also had a desire to be himself, not having to be like anyone else, but free to use the gifts God has given him for His glory. I think there were a lot of things in this book that could serve as encouragements to young boys, as long as they don’t get discouraged that they won’t be a superstar quarterback!

Then my daughter got this book for Christmas, so I wanted to read it through, too:

I admit to being very skeptical, but I found the family to be seemingly very sound and believable. I don’t know that I could necessarily put confidence in all that was written, but what it did do was give me encouragement to think more about heaven, to imagine it in ways that I had never considered, and if nothing else, to see the power of prayer. It unexpectedly and positively impacted me.

A friend has asked me to read with her a biography on Amy Carmichael, so that is next up.

As long as I’m on the subject of books, another book I thoroughly enjoyed late last year (but let’s pretend it was in 2012 because I want to add it to this reading list) was Surprised by Oxford. It’s Carolyn Weber’s  conversion story that tells how she found faith at Oxford. I read it in less than a week and would highly recommend it!

I’m off to read a book on Jonah before bed. I stumbled upon this, and we had just studied Jonah last week at Women’s Bible Study at church. I can’t wait to see how this book reinforces the beauty of that short book that tells of Jonah’s resistance and God’s incredible mercy and love.