Thursday, August 27, 2015

What I've Been Reading Lately





It's been forever and a day since I had some quick lit book reviews for you - I don't know what summer has against time going at a normal pace, but summer really zooms by doesn't it? Here's what I've got this time:





The Temperament God Gave Your Kids: Motivate, Discipline, and Love Your Children by Art and Lorraine Bennett

This book was a great read! We all know our kids have unique personalities, and once you start having 3, 4 and 5 kids you see it even more. I really liked learning about the strengths and weaknesses of each temperament because it's true that some things are just more difficult for different temperaments while some things come much more easily for others. The ideas for discipline were also really great, and I feel like I'll come back to this book again and again as my kids grow. After reading I've got some questions for the authors that I'd love to hear them answer like: what happens when a child demonstrates traits from two personalities? What if a child of a certain temperament doesn't respond to the discipline you recommend for that temperament - is he really another temperament or is that discipline just not working for him?






Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis

I talked about this book in depth on an episode of the podcast, and it was a good one to both read and discuss because of the different ways Lewis brings about the ideas of love, being honest with oneself, and ideas of sacrifice and heaven. Just so many ideas and metaphors are explored in this book that is so well written you're pulled into the story so quickly that it takes a while to unpack how great it really is. I think this is a novel that you could return to again and again and keep finding new ideas that make sense to you for the first time. Probably my favourite Lewis novel that I've read. You should probably read it.





To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I reread this in preparation for the release of Go Set A Watchman (which you've already seen me write about), and it was even better than the times I've previously read it. This book still makes me cry, still surprises me with it's delightful writing of childhood and family, and still hits you with the injustice of racism. It's really an almost perfect novel to me in it's construction, prose, atmosphere, and of course, characters. Atticus Finch is the greatest.






Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

This was a Modern Mrs Darcy summer reading pick and I needed some summer reading after these heavy hitters. This book felt fairly fluffy but it's entertainment value - and chick lit value - just wasn't there for me. It was fine. If you want a book that's romanic, but clean, talks about flowers and the South with a bit of domestic drama thrown in then you may enjoy it more than I did. Definitely not terrible chick lit, just not great.






Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos

More summer chick lit -- and I may be risking my internet life here in saying that this wasn't the greatest chick lit to me either. It didn't really pull me in or make me want to keep page turning, even though it ticked all the family troubles/unexpected romance/quirky main character boxes. I am just really hard to please when it comes to chick lit I think. And yet...




The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

...I keep reading chick lit! This one was a chick lit hit for me though! So high praise. I may be a huge royal loyalist and devoted daughter of the commonwealth so I may be a bit biased towards this piece of Will and Kate fan fiction. I found it quite well done, and I think they took more from Princess Diana's story in a lot of ways than from Kate's. It's pure fun and it delivers. That's what I'm looking for in some easy reading!






follow along:

facebook ~ instagram ~ pinterest

6 comments:

  1. I haven't read the Temperament God Gave Your Kids, but I have read the original Temperament God Gave You, and was blessed to hear the Bennetts speak at a conference! Their writings are so enlightening, and so good when learning how to best love & understand other people!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird for the very first time right now. I don't know how I missed it in school.

    I was wondering about a couple of those books from MMD's list, I'm glad you got to them first! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Royal We has been recommended to me by a few people so I think I'll have to pony up and actually buy it now! Also, Til We Have Faces is one of the best books I've ever read - by far my favorite Lewis, and that's saying something. It's one of those you can't stop thinking about when it's finished - aka the best kind of book! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've been reading the Outlander series this summer, but I've kinda lost steam in book four. Just downloaded the Royal We from my library to shake things up!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I didn't finish Love Walked In! After the "big reveal" *eye roll* I could finally admit that it just wasn't doing it for me, so I exercised whatever reader right it is that allows you to put the book down. That's always pretty hard for me to do, so thanks for the confirmation. I will totally check out The Royal We now that you've thumbsed it up. I was pretty bummed by my summer's fiction efforts, usually I'm a total beach read nerd.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Loved The Royal We....although I sort of had to keep reminding myself that it was supposed to be about Will and Kate without being about Will and Kate. I found it easier to pretend there were no real people it was sort of based on. Totally agree about the other 2 chic lit, didn't finish Garden Spells and I just started Love Walked In 10 minutes ago and I already don't love it at all.

    ReplyDelete

Imagine we're having a coffee together and let me know what you think --
I love comments almost as much as coffee!

(And please check to make sure your email address is connected to your profile, I'd love to email you a reply.)

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...