Recent reads

Heart Made Whole… This was Christa Black’s second book and made another really great book to read a chapter of each morning. I personally got more out of God Loves Ugly since it was bulimia-specific but I still got a lot out of this and think almost anyone could benefit from it.

Loving my Actual Neighbor… I really liked Loving my Actual Life but still haven’t read Loving my Actual Christmas. I had assumed this book would be another experimental memoir but instead it was more of an instruction manual. I was a bit disappointed about that at first but eventually came around and really liked it. Kuykendal has some great insight to offer on being a genuinely good neighbor and a reminder of all the ways we can open up and reach out is always a plus!

Nate the Great and the Snowy Case… I got this book for free the other so quickly read through it while I waited for Ryan to get back inside the other night. It was decent enough, going on my list for second-grader-friendly books. =]

Turtles all the Way Down… Sometimes I think God uses the strangest, coolest things to get our attention. My son recently got super into microbes after discovering a fun book about them at the library. I’ve looked lots of things up for him and have naturally found myself interested. Then I recently discovered by accident that people who struggle with bulimia tend to have started out with a completely different gut biome than those who don’t (who is running the show?!) and that healing that up can make a world of difference. So I naturally became a hair obsessed. Around the same time, I decided to read another John Green book since writing good books for teens means being inspired by “the teen whisperer.” Enter Turtles All the Way Down which turned out to have a main character obsessed with the microbiome!!! I finished it in two days and was super into it because it hit a similar interest to mine, but I caution you that there were a lot of F-word instances, plus a few others.

Wallace and Grace Take the Case… My three-year-old is obsessed with pigs and owls. This cute little early chapter book was about two owls who act as detectives. The story was simple and kind, albeit lacking much meat.

*I received a free copy of Loving My Actual Neighbor from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.