What's on My Nightstand? October 2013

So much for the blogging break...I thought What's on Your Nightstand would be next week!  I really like listing my books and keeping track of them here, so I took the time to do it today.  Check out what others are reading and add some books to your list!

I completed two books this month.  And I loved them both!  Others I intended to read but just didn't make the time to do so yet.  Scratch that...I just finished another at the bus stop!

Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions, by Lysa TerKeurst is one that I had heard about for a while, but just didn't get to until recently.  My public library had a copy, but this is one I want to reread and own.  This book is easy to read and just seems so honest.  I have all sorts of tabs in my borrowed copy to write a real review, but for now, I will say that if this is a book for nearly every woman.  Whether we stuff or explode, this is a book that discusses emotions in a respectable and real way (and, no, they aren't all bad).  It has helped me already, and I want to read it again!  Lysa talks a lot about "imperfect progress," something I can certainly relate to...how many times times in the past couple days have I spoken to my children in frustration...A few friends recommended this title, including Amy at Hope Is the Word.  (Due to technical difficulties I don't have it linked to her review...yet.)  This will be one of my favorite books of the year that I highly recommend for a long time, right alongside The Fruitful Wife (linked to review).

One of my real-real life friends recommended The Westing Game, a classic by Ellen Raskin.  She said her whole family had enjoyed it, and I can understand why!  Though published as a children's book, it didn't feel as if it was written for a child.  This clean murder-mystery was lots of fun.  It offers plenty of mystery without sleepless nights.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!  A group of heirs attempt to identify the murderer to claim the inheritance.  It may leave you guessing!

Prior to the school year ending, I began reading Kids, Parents, and Power Struggles, by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka at the afternoon bus stop.  It's a book that I know I would have learned more from had I not been distracted looking for the bus while reading, but with lots of subtitles and headings, it did work well.  My friend lended this book to me.  It has certainly given me a new perspective on one of my children who I tend to struggle with daily.  As many questions as the book answers, I think it still leaves me wondering...thinking some of what we experience is not normal for this age.  This book also taught me about personality differences, helping me to understand my husband better, even if adults are not the subject of this book.  I learned a lot, and do recommend this book, though I didn't agree with everything.  (I felt that she equated spanking a child with hitting a child, and I disagree with that....there may have been a couple other things, but she certainly advocates being an emotions coach and not spanking.  I agree that we must teach children to manage their emotions, but still...)

I still have not finished Bonhoeffer.  Now that I am done being distracted by Unglued, I hope to do that.
I wanted to read A Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, but only read about 10% of it on my Kindle...I did just begin Scumble, the follow up to Savvy by Ingrid Law that I enjoyed so much.

Now...back to the scheduled little blogging break!

~ Annette {This Simple Mom} Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. By purchasing an item through a link, I will earn a small percentage. Thank you!

5 comments

  1. I loved Unglued, too! I've already had my eye on The Westing Game(maybe from you?), but now I really want to read it. The parenting book sounds great, too! I'm completely with you on the spanking/hitting issue, though. I got spanked as a child, and I've never felt my parents hit me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This made me smile:
    "Scratch that...I just finished another at the bus stop!" Sounds like something I would do. ha.

    So you have me really interested in reading Unglued. Sounds fabulous.

    Good luck in finishing Bonhoeffer. It took me awhile to read that one, but it's worth it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I received a copy of Unglued for my birthday. (That sounds funny but I had listed it on my Amazon wishlist and someone purchased it for me.) I'm looking forward to reading it, especially now knowing that you liked it. I believe it was Amy at Hope is the Word who first brought it to my attention. And now Bluerose!? I trust it's a winner and I should get to it quickly!

    Glad you wrote up a post. ;) I always enjoying reading your Nightstands.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Nightstand posts caught me by surprise, too - I usually anticipate them but got caught totally off guard this time.

    I just bought Unglued a few days ago after hearing it highly recommended by so many. I am glad to see another good recommendation!

    I agree about hitting vs. spanking.

    Reading about different personalty types really helped me with my middle son.

    It seemed like it took forever to finish Bonhoeffer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unglued just got added to my to-order list (I'm glad the Nightstand posts only come once a month - I can't imagine what my reading pile would look like if we did this more often!). The Westing Game was one of my favorites when I was in middle school.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!