Book Review

2020 was a GREAT year to get LOST in a book!

Sometimes people ask how I read so much. Here’s what I share about that:

1. I LOVE reading! You find time for things you love. Some people craft or build in their free time. Some like electronics or movies. I read.
2. I keep books in several places. One by my bed. An audiobook on my phone. A book by the couch. Another in the kitchen. One in the car. I always have a book nearby to read if I have a few minutes to spare.
3. On most days: I take 10-30 minutes to read in the morning. I take 10-20 minutes in the afternoon to read. In the evening, I’d usually rather read than watch TV, though occasionally a show wins my time. Currently it’s The Crown!
4. If I have to wait for my kids at a practice or an appointment, I’ll read.
5. I read WITH my kids. I pick a book and read one-on-one, or read SHORT segments with all of them.
6. The free HOOPLA app allows me to download excellent books for no cost, so I will listen to books while doing household chores or exercising.
7. Also #MinnesotaWinter means I’m indoors more through the winter and have some time to read.

Follow me on GoodReads for all my latest ratings and reviews!

Here are the books I read in 2020:

January

1. Good Grief by Granger Westburg
2. Master your Goals by Zig Ziglar
3. The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton
4. Full Circle by Andrea Barber
5. Where’d you go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

Click here for reviews and links to the books I read in January.

February

6. The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall

7. The Algebra of Happiness by Scott Galloway

8. The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger

9. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

10. John Wesley by Janet Benge

11. Indescribable by Louie Giglio

Click here for full reviews and links to the books I read in February.

March and April

12. Give and Take by Adam Grant

13. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

13. Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal

14. The Blessing of a Skinned Knee by Wendy Mogall

15. Who was Alexander Hamilton?

Click here for full reviews and links to the books I read in March and April.

May

16. Chasing Wisdom by Daniel Grothe

17. Harriet Tubman by Janet Benge

18. Just Kids by Patti Smith

19. George Muller by Janet and Geoff Benge

20. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

21. The Wise Woman Loves by Deb Weakly

Click here for full reviews and links to the books I read in May

June

22. The Gift of Being Yourself by David Benner

23. Blackwater Ben by William Durbin

24. Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

25. Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

26. Your Beautiful Purpose by Susie Larson

Click here for full reviews and links to the books I read in June

July

27. Theodore Roosevelt by Janet Benge

28. Becoming by Michelle Obama

29. Open Book by Jessica Simpson

30. Who is Jackie Chan? by Jody Shaffer

Click here for full reviews and links to the books I read in July

August

31. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

32. Intelligent Conversationalist By Imogen Lloyd Webber

33. Holy Envy by Barbara Brown Taylor

34. BoyMom by Monica Swanson

Click here for full reviews, ratings and links to the books I read in August.

September

35. The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt

36. Who Was Julia Child? by Jeff Edgers

37. Who Were the Wright Brothers? by James Buckly Jr

38. God Smuggler by Brother Andrew

Click here for full reviews, ratings and links to the books I read in September.

October

39. Rising Strong by Brene Brown

40. The Dance of Connection by Harriet Lerner

41. Motherhood without all the Rules by Maggie Combs

42. Hudson Taylor by Janet Benge

43. Abraham Lincoln by Janet Benge

Click here for full reviews, ratings, and links to the books I read in October.

November

44. Catch me if you Can by Frank Abagnale Jr.

45. Be the Bridge by LaTasha Morrison

46. George Washington by Janet Benge

47. Positivity by Barbara Frederickson 

48. Dad’s Eye View: 52 Adventures in the Twin Cities by Michael Hartfort

49. I Never Had It Made by Jackie Robinson

Click here for full reviews and links to the books I read in November.

December

50. Help Club for Moms by Deb Weakly and others

51. Help Club for Moms Study Guide by Deb Weakly and team

52. Who was Dr. Martin Luther King? by Bonnie Bader

53. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas

Click here to read reviews of each of the books I read in December.

A book I read THROUGHOUT the year:

54. My Bible

What I’m currently reading:

Prevail by Susie Larson

Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull

Brene Brown’s Dare to Lead

Click here and follow me on Goodreads!

Don’t miss the GIVEAWAY in my next post. I’ll share my top ten favorite books of 2020, and give two of them away!

Help Club for Moms

Rating: 10/10

Review: This book is a must read for every mom with children under 15. It’s full of practical tips and inspiration for raising young children!

Being a mom can wear your down, this book will BUILD YOU UP! I know as moms that we don’t have a lot of time to read, but this book is WORTH your TIME!! Reading just one page a day can give you a little ‘boost’ of inspiration for the day.

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Help Club for Moms Companion Guide

Rating: 8/10

Review: This is a simple guide that allows you to think deeper and reflect on each chapter of the Help Club for Moms book.

Who was Martin Luther King, Jr?

Rating: 8/10

Review: A simple, yet good overview of Dr. Martin Luther King’s life.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas

Rating: 10/10

Review: I listened to this autobiography of Frederick Douglas on my free Hoopla app.

Frederick Douglas shares stories from his early life in this book. He tells how he was separated from his mother before he turned one. Older slave women, who can no longer work in the fields, would take care of the young children until they can work. He said he never had any pants, shoes, or socks for the first 7 years of his life and remembers being SO cold through the Maryland winters.

When Frederick was around 7 (he’s not sure exactly of his age), he was sold to assist a woman and her son. Frederick was her first slave. He said at first, the woman was kind like a mother, but being a slave owner “changed” her. She became hard and mean. He noticed this over and over, how owning slaves changed people.

He shares how when he escaped to freedom, he expected to see poverty in the north, since Northerners did not own slaves. But the OPPOSITE was true! The North had class, wealth, and was full of people who worked hard without oppression.

Though many of the stories he shares about his life as a slave were hard to read, the book is excellent and I highly recommend it.

My next post will include a summary of all the books I read in 2020, followed by my FAVORITE books of the year!

Thanks for reading!

Amazon is having a special with $5 off $20 on books. Not all books are included but you can search which books are included using this link.

Here are books I recently read:

Catch me if you Can by Frank Abagnale Jr.

Rating: 9/10

Review:

Frank Abagnale’s autobiography is engaging and honestly, hard to believe! Before he turned 21 – Frank posed as a Pan Am pilot and traveled the world, he then passed the bar and became a lawyer, he forged transcripts and was a doctor for an entire year in Atlanta, then taught summer classes at Brigham Young! He lived large on stolen money. He now works to keep others from doing the same.

I would have loved for him to share more about the change that happened on the inside that caused him to change on the outside. I know he became a man of faith, is married and has 3 sons. He doesn’t share much about life out of prison and I’d be curious to hear about it. Maybe it’s in another book? Overall, it was a fun book to read.

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Be the Bridge by LaTasha Morrison

Rating: 9/10

Review: The author weaves together the past and the present to lead the reader on a path to reconciliation. Unlike many books, this one will leave you empowered to make forward progress toward justice in a healthy and Biblical way.

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George Washington by Janet Benge

Rating: 10/10

Review:

My 13 year old son (George) and I read this ‘George Washington’ biography together and now George wishes his middle name was Washington. We have so much admiration and respect for our first president. He was a true patriot who worked tirelessly to create, protect, and lead the United States of America.

Did you know George Washington decided the leader of our country should be called “The President of the United States” and “Mr. President” for short?

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Positivity by Barbara Frederickson

Rating: 9/10

Review: Couldn’t we all use a little more positivity in 2020? This book teaches you how to reduce negativity and increase positivity in your life!

Here are some gold nuggets from the book:

• Things that cultivate positivity include love, inspiration, amusement, pride, hope, interest, serenity, gratitude and joy. 
• Positivity strengthens your connections with others, seeing ‘we’ instead of me. It inspires you to do what’s right for others which inspires others to do the same. 
• Positivity is your birthright. Just like ice can change to water by warming up the environment. You can increase your positivity by warming up your emotional climate. 
• When you change the course of your thinking, you change the course of your emotions. (I wrote a blog post similar to this here)
• If you feel good, you do good. When we increase positivity, we are not only happier, but we are more resilient, productive, creative and becoming a better an all around person. 
• One scientifically proven way to stop negativity is to dispute negative thinking. Replace negative thoughts with truth/facts. When you take in the facts – really take them in – you breath easier.  (Click here for a blog post I wrote on believing truth vs. lies)
• We change our eating habits to help us feel better. Why don’t we change what we are reading, watching and listening to for the same reason! 
• You can’t FORCE yourself into positivity just by saying “Be positive,” but there are actions you can take to increase your positivity by: Doing more of what you love; Practicing mindfulness: being completely present in the moment. Getting outside. Even a 20 minute walk can boost your positivity. Connecting with another human. The tie between flourishing and enjoying good social relations is so strong and reliable that scientist called it a necessary condition for flourishing. 

Just like you count your calories to lose weight, or watch your money, you can track your positive to negative thoughts and feelings so that you can start tipping the scale in the positive direction. 

For more info, visit PositivityRatio.com. 

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Dad’s Eye View: 52 Adventures in the Twin Cities

Rating: 10/10

Review: Because this book was written for “Dads,” I wouldn’t have picked it up in the store. However, someone gave it to me and the subtitle was intriguing. For a Minnesota Newbie who LOVES adventures – this book was amazing. It had so many fun ideas of places to explore with your kids. If you live in the Twin Cities and want to take your kids on some unique adventures around town, this book is for you.

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I Never Had It Made by Jackie Robinson

Rating: 9/10

Review: Our family watched the movie 42 recently and thought it was excellent. It made me curious about Jackie Robinson, so I checked out his autobiography from the library. I really admire how this man gave his all to fight for what he believed it. Sometimes that fight was by staying silent and playing great baseball, and sometimes it meant speaking out for equal rights. Great book!

What have you been reading? Leave me a comment!

Click here for 7 tips for more joy!

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If you had to choose between reading a book or watching a movie, which would you choose?

You probably won’t be shocked to learn I’d rather read the book. However, there are a few exceptions.

Here are my opinions on a handful of titles.

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

The book:

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The movie

The verdict:

Watch the movie, skip the book. The book is a cute little children’s story. The movie is funny and engaging for all ages. It’s one of our favorite family movies!

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Just Mercy

The book:

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The movie:

The Verdict:

The movie was excellent, but READ THE BOOK! It’s powerful.

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Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

The book:

The movie:

The verdict:

I absolutely LOVED this book. It’s RARE that I find a fiction book that I love so much that I not only recommend it to others, but also re-read it. This is one of the few. The MOVIE was nearly as good as the book. I recommend you read the book and watch the movie!

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Harriet Tubman

The book:

The movie:

The verdict:

Well, both were excellent, but I preferred the book. Harriet is a HERO! I recommend you watch the movie, then read the book.

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Little Women

The book:

The movie:

The verdict:

The book is a classic, so I have to give credit to the original novel that has been loved for generations and inspired so many spin-offs. But I watched the movie first and read the book second and enjoyed the movie more than the book.

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The Blind Side

The book:

The movie:

The verdict:

BOTH!!! The movie highlights Michael Ohr and has football as a backdrop. The book highlights football with Michael as the backdrop. Both are excellent and earn 10 out of 10 stars.

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So what’s your opinion? Have you read/watched the same story and have something to share? Leave a comment!

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Click here to check out another Book/Movie comparison post.

Here’s the link to the YouTube video I posted about these titles:

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Thanks for reading and please consider subscribing!

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Disclaimer: Affliate links included in this post.

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!

All books are affiliate links. That means if you click and decide to buy one, I’ll earn a small commission without any extra charge to you!

Here are the four books I finished in September!

The Happiness Hypothesis

Rating: 7/10

Review: I enjoyed the book, but thought it was a little too wordy. Ted recommended I read just the parts he highlighted. I couldn’t do that, but I did skim through some of the book.

The book uses ancient wisdom to discover the source of Happiness. I’m all about finding sources of happiness in 2020!!! Here are a couple points and quotes that I enjoyed most from the book:

• Activities connect us to others, objects often separate us. Work less, earn less, and “consume” more family time, vacation, and other enjoyable activities. 
• Children need plenty of failure to learn that success takes hard work and persistence. 
• Work more on your strengths than your weaknesses. 
• Something about the vastness and beauty of nature makes the self feel small and insignificant. Anything that shrinks the self, creates an opportunity for a spiritual experience. 
• Just like plants need water, sun and good soil to thrive, people need love, work, and a connection to something larger. 

Studies that have assigned people to perform a random act of kindness every week, or to count their blessings regularly for several weeks, find small but sustained increases in happiness.

Jonathan Haidt

I love the following insight from the book and plan to add it to my post on 17 reasons to serve:

Who Was Julia Child?

Rating: 8/10

Review:  I was picking up some “Who Was” books for my boys at the library and grabbed this one for me. It’s a super quick read and a good overview of Julia Child’s life.

Who Were the Wright Brothers?

Rating: 9/10

Review: I read this book with my son, Paul. We enjoyed the book and thought it was a good overview of the brothers who invented the airplane. It showed how hard work and perseverance can make a huge impact on the world. Now Paul wants his Poppy to take him flying.

God Smuggler

Rating: 10/10

Review: This book is so incredibly inspiring. I could read it over and over. The book shares stories of Andrew bringing Bibles behind the Iron Curtain. He’d find a church with a hundred people all sharing one Bible. I read this book in 2019 and loved it so much that I re-read it with Clark. He enjoyed it too!

What have you been reading? Leave me a comment!

Disclaimer: All the books are linked to Amazon, if you choose to purchase one, I will earn a small commission for the recommendation.

The Gift of Being Yourself

By David Benner

Rating: 10/10

Review: This is such a wonderful, powerful book. I listened to it on my free Hoopla app, but now want to buy my own copy. This book is full of good truths about the enormous love God has for each one of us – just as we are. This book would make a great gift. Thanks to my sister Krista, for the recommendation!

Blackwater Ben

by William Durbin

Rating: 8/10

Review: I read this book with my son George for his Minnesota history class. It gave us a peek into the logging history of our state.

Dearly Beloved

A Novel by Cara Wall

Rating: 8/10

Review:

The story of four very unique people and how their lives intersect. Each person has a different belief system and yet they do life together.

Heavy: An America Memoir

By Kiese Laymon

Rating: 8/10

Review: This is the story of the life of a black male (Kiese Laymon) growing up in the south. I appreciated how the author opened the curtain of his life. Kiese was raised by a single mom in a dysfunctional home – filled with abuse and poverty. The book’s title “HEAVY” – has a couple of different meanings. First – the author is large for his age and his weight is a theme throughout the book. Second, the story itself is “heavy” with a lot of struggle and very little redemption.

Your Beautiful Purpose

by Susie Larson

Rating: 9/10

Review: I read a few pages out of this book most mornings for the last few months. It’s a book you’ll want to read slowly and absorb. I took pages and pages of notes. The book gives lots of inspiration and truth into how to move past insecurity and weakness and make a positive difference in the world. If you have goals and dreams for your life that you are waiting to see fulfilled, this book would be great for you!