Well, I’ve been doing a lot of reading in 2018, but I certainly haven’t made the time to post about it! Hopefully, if you are truly interested in my reading recommendations, you are my friend on Goodreads.  I do keep it up to date and review the books.

Because I’ve read over 30 books since I last posted, I am going to make this one a bit different from my usual recaps. Instead of describing and reviewing each one, I am going to list them by genre (ish) and then let you know my must-reads from each category.  Sound good?  Then, I will try to start making time for monthly updates.

Children/Young Adult

• Dragons Love Tacos (Adam Rubin)
• The War That Saved My Life (Kimberly Brubaker Bradley)
• Red Scarf Girl (Ji-Li Jiang)
• Tell Me Three Things (Julie Buxbaum)
• What to Say Next (Julie Buxbaum)

My Favorite: Tell Me Three Things – yes, you need to suspend a bit of reality, but that is what makes YA so fun sometimes.

Fiction

• The Woman in the Window (A.J. Finn)
• The Best of Adam Sharp (Graeme Simsion)
• Force of Nature (Jane Harper)
• The Fortunate Ones (Ellen Umansky)
• An American Marriage (Tayari Jones)
• Not that I Could Tell (Jessica Strawser)
• A Fall of Marigolds (Susan Meissner)
• Into the Water (Paula Hawkins)
• Love Walked In (Marisa de los Santos)
• The Girl in the Glass (Susan Meissner)
• I was Anastasia (Ariel Lawhon)
• Lie to Me (J.T. Ellison)
• The Women in the Castle (Jessica Shattuck)
• What She Knew (Gilly Macmillan)
• The Book of Essie (Meghan MacLean Weir)

My Favorites: An American Marriage (contemporary literary fiction), I Was Anastasia (historical fiction), and Lie to Me (suspense).

Nonfiction/Memoir

• Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money
• Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight (Alexandra Fuller)
• The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery (Ian Morgan Cron & Suzanne Stabile)
• Educated: A Memoir (Tara Westover)
• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer (Michelle McNamara)
• Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House (Alyssa Mastromonaco)

My Favorites: Educated (Westover was raised in a fundamentalist, dooms-day prepper type situation and then ended up at Cambridge), Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight (Fuller grew up in Zimbabwe in the 1970s), and Who Thought this was a Good Idea? (Mastromonaco worked for Obama – the writing style is similar to Mindy Kaling and this was a fun read).

Christian Thought

• Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You (John Ortberg)
• The Four Wills of God: the Way He Directs Our Steps and Frees Us to Direct Our Own (Emerson Eggerichs)
• Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus (Nabeel Qureshi)
• In His Image: 10 Ways God Calls Us to Reflect His Character (Jen Wilkin)
• The Sacred Enneagram: Finding your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth (Christopher Heuertz)
• The Gospel Comes with a House Key (Rosaria Butterfield)
• Finding God in my Loneliness (Lydia Brownback)
• Why Can’t We Be Friends? Avoidance is Not Purity (Aimee Byrd)

My Favorites: The Four Wills of God (highly recommend), and Why Can’t We Be Friends? (about male/female friendships within Christian community – so good, well-researched theologically, and challenging).