In 2023, I set a goal to finish one book per week. I’m aiming to listen to 30 minutes of an audiobook per day (while cooking, cleaning, and/or driving) and read 10 minutes of a book. By doing this, I hope to fairly easily be able to finish one book per week.
You can follow along on GoodReads to see what I’m reading, what books I finish, and the star rating I give each of them.
Here are the three books I finished recently:
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip
This book was slow moving in some regards but there was honestly beauty in the slowness. I fell in love with Mrs. Kip and learned so much from her — and I actually got emotional near the end because of all that I had gleaned from her fictional life.
(I feel like the mark of a great fiction read is if it stays with you, it opens your eyes or teaches you something, you don’t want it to end, and/or you feel so connected to the characters and the writing that it makes you cry.)
If you are looking for a clean fiction read that is unique and will likely touch your heart, I’d recommend this one. I will say that there were parts where I felt like the writing could have used some tightening up as it seemed a little choppy, but because of how the book moved me, I’m giving it 4 stars.
Verdict: 4 stars
Stop Calling Me Beautiful
I really appreciated Phylicia Masonheimer’s book, Every Woman a Theologian, so when I discovered this was a book she’d written sort of as a foundation for that book, I knew I wanted to read it. I found so many encouraging sections in it and was so challenged throughout it.
Phylicia has a way of sharing deep truths in an easy-to-comprehend way and this book was no exception. I loved how she confronted the often weak and surface-y culture of women’s ministry head-on and inspires us to dig deep into God’s Word and truly develop our understanding of and love for the things of God.
I didn’t agree with all of everything in the book (but do I ever? :)) and felt like there were some sections that could have been clarified or expounded on a little more, but overall, I thought it was a very valuable and worthwhile read and would definitely recommend it.
Verdict: 4 stars
Hope Anyway
I had high hopes for this book… and sadly, it didn’t live up to my expectations. I really appreciated Leeana’s book, Begin Again, but this one just fell flat for me.
(Truth: It’s been a long time since I read Begin Again — I think I read it back in 2018 or so when it came out? I don’t remember much about it except that the writing moved me at a deep level and gave me some clarity for some things in my own life. Maybe since I’ve changed so much since 2018, if I read it again I would think differently? I have no idea!)
She wrote Hope Anyway out of a place of deep grief and loss (losing her marriage and all of the loss and pain that comes from that) and I felt like maybe it was either written prematurely or she’s just moved quite a distance from where she used to stand theologically (or maybe that just didn’t come out in her other book?) because I felt really bothered by some of the ways she referred to God and herself and how she was processing through things. A lot of it I would disagree with and felt like there wasn’t Biblical backing for and it was more based in something that she’d picked up from therapy that wasn’t rooted and grounded in a Biblical foundation.
That said, I did glean a few nuggets that I really appreciated and some of the writing was really beautiful. But if you’re looking for a book on holding onto hope in the midst of the hard, this wouldn’t be one that I would readily recommend.
Verdict: 2 stars