What's On Your Nightstand - April & May

Well, April's Nightstand came and went and I decided to just bypass it since life was extremely busy at the moment. Due to the busyness of life and some of the books I was reading I really was finding reading kind of dull. Thankfully, life has slowed down and I think my reading is picking up. My parents are coming for a visit in June so I'm not giving myself a big stack of books to read, but hoping to just enjoy the moments.

For June:

From March's nightstand:

• The Renewing of the Mind Project by Barb Raveling - Excellent read. As a pastor's wife I see too many people walk away from God with claims such as, God doesn't love me, God doesn't know where I'm at, etc. It had me pondering on why some people live for God no matter what and others just throw in the towel way too quick. One day while praying I was reminded of the Romans 12:1 & 2 and realized that the victorious Christians are always renewing their mind. Not too long after I heard about this book and ordered it. The author shows how to take problem or areas you want to improve and work through them with what she calls Truth Journaling. The first part talks about how to truth journal and how to renew your mind using Biblical principles and the rest is a resource for all kinds of topics to reference. Highly recommended!
• Hands Free Life by Rachel Macy Stafford - Last year I read Hand Free Mama and enjoyed it way more than I thought I would which inspired me to pick up this book and I have to say it is just as compelling. Rachel Macy Stafford is a beautiful writer with a message we all need to hear.
• Sarah's Cottage by D.E. Stevenson - I figured out this is the sequel to Sarah Morris Remembers. While the story was okay I think I enjoyed the first one more.
• The Complete Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton - I don't know if I dare say this, but Father Brown and I aren't on speaking terms right now. He about killed my love of reading. I know it is Chesterton we are talking about but still there is a limit to what a person can take. My first problem was I did not realize that these are short stories--I am not a fan of short stories. My second problem was that I picked the "complete" book of Father Brown stories--way too many at one time. If I ever read through these again it will be in the individual books. I do think I enjoyed the stories from the first and last books (not sure of the titles since I returned the book to the library) best.

Other books read:

• The Magna Charta by James Daugherty - This was a read-aloud to my kids for school for history.
• The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap by Wendy Welch - This was a fun read. As a bookstore manager for a Friend's organization there was so much I could relate to in this book. 
• The Complete Book of Marvels by Richard Halliburton - Our read-aloud for geography for the last two school years. This book is excellent and my kids absolutely loved it. Worth all $25 I paid for a used copy.
• Lizzy and Jane by Katherine Reay - I was really wanting to read Dear Mr. Knightley by the same author but then so does everyone else. I settled for this book instead. It was a nice reprieve after Father Brown. :)
• Design Your Day by Claire Diaz-Ortiz - Short, sweet, and to the point. Maybe one day I'll get organized enough to implement all these "help your day" books I've been reading.
• When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning - This was a very interesting story about what it took to get books into the hands of the men in the military during World War II. I had never heard about this or seen anything about it. I find a couple of titles in there that  I never heard of, but it seems like those were out of print. 
• The Rosemary Tree by Elizabeth Goudge - This was an enjoyable read and one of those books that the language just stays with you. I did have to laugh though--I don't know if Goudge believes in secondary characters. She seems to treat them all as main characters and then ties them all up in a nice tidy bow at the end. 

 Books I listened to:

• The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis - I have The Chronicles of Narnia on my The Classics list and I have been avoiding them. I decided that audio would help and since I listened to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe several years ago I went with the next book. I have to admit that I liked this book way better than TLWW (don't throw tomatoes at me). 
• Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis - I'm continuing on. I liked it better than what I thought, though I don't think these are books I'll ever rave about.

Books I didn't read:

• Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen - Life was too hectic so I decided to just pull it out later when life seems calmer though I'm not sure that exists in my house.

 See what others have read over at 5 Minutes for Books.