What I read in January....

With ratings 1-5 of course! I know I am a day early, but I am not going to finish the book I am currently reading today!


1. Me, Myself and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables – 5 – Phil Vischer – what a way to start the year! This was a great book – telling the story of the creation, rise, and incredible fall of Big Idea (VeggieTales). I enjoyed it from every aspect – it was an autobiography, a history, a business book (what not to do!) and a book about a relationship with God. Parts of it were incredibly funny. Overall, a very enjoyable book that left me with a lot to think about. I am going to recommend this book to my church reading group.

2. Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery – 4 – David Albert – I love his work – his families’ education is “child-directed, community based”. When I start getting all caught up in schedules and all the things that I think we “need to do and need to know” I love to read his books and just relax with it.

3. The Dog Who Thought He Was Santa – 3 – Bill Wallace – our Christmas read aloud. It probably would have been better if we’d been consistent with it. The chapters alternated between Don, the son and Frank, the family dog. The boys enjoyed it.

4. Boo – 3 – Rene Gutteridge – light Christian lit – a world famous horror novelist becomes a Christian and gives up writing horror. Only problem, the small town he lives in has built its’ entire industry on being the “home of “ – with all horror themed businesses. So, a group of very un-Christian townsfolk plot to make him lose his faith and go back to writing. Meanwhile, he is in love with the town good girl. It was an okay book, funny in spots, not particularly inspiring. I think it was sad reading a book about people who are supposed to be Christians doing mean and deceitful things.

5. Mama’s Homemade Love : A Southern Woman Leaves a Legacy– 4 – Barbara Sims – short little book, a collection of essays about her mother, who was a very Godly woman and left a legacy of “giving, godliness and love.”

6. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire – 5 – Jim Cymbala – the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle tells the story of how a church that was drawing its’ last gasp was turned around by the prayers of its’ people and the power of the Holy Spirit. Inspiring, and very convicting. This was my reading goal book for the month.

7. Passionate Housewives, Desperate for God – 4 – Stacy McDonald and Jennie Chancey. I’ve had this for months and really expected to not like it. I really enjoyed the chapters Stacy wrote about being at home with the family, and I did not care as much for Jennie’s chapters which were more “anti” the feminist movement. I am not a feminist, but I think Stacy’s chapters were just gentler and more joyful.

8. Guilty – 3.5 – Ann Coulter – I had a tough time finishing this, and I also was depressed all week – I think the book contributed. It was a good book, well-written, but it was all about the lies and hypocrisy of the media and I listen to conservative talk radio and read conservative books and mags, so none of it was really new. And it seems like the things that go on can’t be stopped, and it is so frustrating to me. So, a 200 page book took me almost a week to finish, when usually I can read 200 pages in a day or so. Passionate Housewives was the same way, took me a week to read. Guilty was better than How To Talk to a Liberal, and about the same as Godless, but no where near as good as Treason. I really learned things from that book.