What I Read in January

Ani's "family of hearts"

I didn't read much in January but that wasn't for lack of trying. I finished a book right out the shoot of the new year and then spent the rest of the 31/2 weeks on another. It was heavy but good, and if it weren't for my self-imposed "one chapter a day" rule, I might not have finished it, but I'm glad I did.

All the Money in the World by Laura Vanderkam was the second book I'd read by her and although I thought it was interesting, it just wasn't that practical for me. She has great tips, tricks, and common sense logic around the topic of money but frankly I knew all of it. There wasn't anything glaringly obvious that I'd missed and so while I found her interviews and anecdotes fun to read, I didn't get much out of this book. I think her time-management book, 168 Hours, is a better rec. for most people.

Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering by Timothy Keller was the other book I finished in January. With a title like that, obviously this is going to be a heavy-topic book, and it was. But it was also so, so good. I'm really glad I read it, and at times, forced myself to get through it. I wrote down a lot of quotes from this book, things that I believe have been true in my own life and that I want to grab on and take with me whenever the next hill arises.

I originally wanted to read this when I first heard it coming out and that it had a well-received review by Joni Eareckson Tada. It kept popping up all over the place, and after a solid 18 months of hit after hit, I felt it would be helpful to read it. I did the right thing waiting until after I felt that period in our lives was on the mend, I don't know that I could have read the book while going through it. This book talks about everything from apologetics and theology to fleshing out the book of Job and what Hope is. We never have words for people we know whom have suffered deep hits in their life, but I feel Keller does bring a bit of comfort through his words here.

Next up: finishing Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, followed by Yes, Please by Amy Pohler.

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