5 Books I Read in October

Here are the books I read in October!

Rising Strong by Brene Brown

Rating: 8/10

Review: This was a good book, but I liked Daring Greatly and The Power of Vulnerability better. The Power of Vulnerability was one of the best books I read last year. Click here to read all my favorites of 2019.

Brene recommended the next book I listened to on my Hoopla App:

The Dance of Connection by Harriet Lerner

Rating: 9/10

Review: Brene Brown recommended this book and wow, it contains SO many Gold Nuggets for relational connection! There were many practical stories, tips, and steps. I listened to this on the free Hoopla App but now want the actual book so that I can re-read it and underline/highlight my favorite parts.

Here are a few points I appreciated:

• Honesty is great but spontaneous, uncensored expression of feelings and thoughts is not always a good thing. If it’s unbridled, it can damage motivation for future communication.

• Not everything has to be talked about and addressed. So be strategic, have self-restraint and have tact.

• We need to rehearse silence more than we need to practice speech. Being quiet and listening is harder than sharing our opinion.

• Wish to hear and understand more than you wish to be heard and understood.

• We need to muster a huge amount of maturity and discipline to say less when you feel compelled to say more. 

• If you want to be the sort of person who has connections, always leave open the possibility of connection even if the other person may take a long time to reconnect.

• People sometimes stonewall, respond with silence, or minimize the effects of their harmful actions not because they feel no remorse, but because they feel too much guilt or shame to face up to taking accountability. It’s protective self-deception.

• When someone critiques you, listen for the bits you can agree with and discuss them. Don’t focus on the bits you want to refute.

• Fights are healthy. But fight well, not reactively.

• We need to ask ourselves if we are more invested in our anger than we are in changing the relationship.

The author shares STORY after STORY of difficult relationships and how people successfully worked through conflict. Though there were a couple parts of the book that I didn’t completely align with, there was much more to the book that I thought was helpful! It’s a short book and I recommend it to anyone interested in strengthening your communication in marriage and/or with extended family members!!

Motherhood without all the Rules by Maggie Combs

Rating: 8/10

Review: First of all, I loved the title of this book. I’m not good at following lots of rules. Second, the cover is so pretty – I love the water color look of this book.

As far as the content IN the book – it was good, but I didn’t love it as much as her first book, Unsupermommy. I rated that as one my favorite books of 2018, click here to see all my favs that year.

This book did have gold nuggets! Here’s 5 things I pulled from the book:

1. The safety, health, and happiness of my children doesn’t depend solely on me … they have a Heavenly Father who loves them even more than me!
2. Our children thrive when they experience the love and care of God.
3. In our culture of “self-care” we need to make sure we are getting true “soul-care” by spending time with God. He’s the One who truly satisfies.
4. When we need a quick escape, turn to God’s word first. His word re-orients us to truth.
5. God didn’t make you a mom because He knew you’d be awesome at it, but to teach you your need for Him and grow you in your knowledge of Him.

Hudson Taylor by Janet Benge

Rating: 8/10

Review: Hudson Taylor was a missionary in China and this book gives an overview of his life. He had an interesting and impacting life, but I don’t think this book captured it well. This has been my least favorite of the Benge biographies.

Abraham Lincoln by Janet Benge

Rating: 10/10

Review: Excellent book for kids and adults alike! Our family loves biographies by Janet & Geoff Benge. They are well written, engaging, and informative. I loved this biography about our 16th president.

Click here to read the best books I read last year.

What are you reading right now? Leave a comment!

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