July Reading List

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Oh, July! I rocked your reading socks right off!

July was a month that we have kind of sat back and taken some time off from the craziness of life. After Little Miss left, I found that I did have a few more hours in the day for more leisurely things, and reading was one of them!

I included a few magazines in this picture, because I also love checking them out of the library and browsing through them while we are watching TV or while we are driving somewhere in the car.

Food, Inc.

Wow, where to even begin with this book? First off, this book is a companion to the Food, Inc. documentary, which can be found on Netflix. The documentary and the book are both put together to expose how the United States has turned food into a corporation, and how making money off of it is the #1 purpose and intent. It revealed a lot to me about the food that I am buying and where it might be coming from, and it really spurred in me a desire to do more research and understand what I am feeding my family, especially my kids.

I will leave you with just a little fact gleaned from the book: In our nation, there are chicken farms, where the chickens are raised for meat. The meat that we buy at the store and put into our bodies. Because of the incredibly high demand of large chicken breasts, the chickens are given growth hormones. The growth hormones help the chickens grow big…and fast, so that they can be slaughtered quicker and then sold. Sounds fine, right? Well, get this…because of how quickly and largely the chicken breasts grow, the chicken legs are unable to hold up the chickens! So they sit in their farms on their bellies and just grow…and then die. And then we eat.

Now, I’m in NO way an animal rights activist. I truly believe that God gave us animals as food. I’m not against chickens being slaughtered or raised for meat. But because of how we act as consumers, our food is being injected with hormones that make the chickens dysfunctional.

Anyways, I learned a lot from this book. I highly, highly recommend it. It reads like a documentary and does have some reallllly boring chapters, but it was worth the read. I also really appreciated how the author compiles a lot of advice for how to avoid this food and help our society become less driven by the food market.

Potty Training in Less than a Day and The No-Cry Potty Training Solution

Oh, did I mention that we started potty training? Well, we did! And I had no clue how to even go about knowing if she was ready, so I grabbed a couple potty training books from the library shelves. I skimmed them and gleaned the information I needed to get a good understanding of what I was doing. I wouldn’t recommend or not recommend either book, they were just information for me to put into my potty training toolbelt. How’s it going, you ask? It’s going pretty well! We seem to have peeing down at home. We cleaned a large turd off the floor yesterday. But, hey, that’s life. The next step is potty training in public. I’m trying to determine if I can get away with carrying her little toilet seat everywhere.

Yes, Please

This book was on a recommended list as one of those “books every woman in her 20s must read”. Meh. I don’t really watch comedy and I didn’t really know who Amy Poehler was, so I didn’t connect with this book at all. I didn’t get her sense of humor and her references, and this was almost a book that I quit on. I never quit on books. Anyways, I made it through and won’t ever read that again. I guess the whole reason it’s such a big deal is because she has completely revolutionized women in comedy. So, I really applaud her for that…but I just didn’t connect.

Forgotten God.

This was SUCH a great book! It was a short, “easy” read, but one of those books that requires me to have my journal handy close by. It’s all about the Holy Spirit and how the American church today seems to have forgotten His place in the trinity, and therefore in the church at large. It wasn’t so theologically deep that I couldn’t understand, but it was also so deep that I had to keep re-reading paragraphs. This is one of those books that I will probably be buying a copy for myself so I can read it over and over. I highly recommend this one to any American Christian.

Year of Yes.

I don’t know how I got two biographies that both have the word Yes in them this time around, but I did. This book is a autobiography by Shonda Rhimes. For those of you who don’t know who that is…don’t feel bad. I didn’t either until I picked up the book. Shonda is the writer of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and Days of Our Lives. Basically, she’s the behind the scenes Hollywood Star. This autobiography was really, really enjoyable. Shonda explained herself as living behind the TV screen, and she finally decided she would say yes and step out of her hiding and be ON the TV. She went through lots of different things that she says Yes to, things that terrify her and things that give her great confidence. I didn’t agree with everything in the book (she kind of bashes stay at home Moms for a page or two…sad face), but I did really enjoy having a peek into a famous person’s life, and left feeling encouraged that famous people also struggle with things, just like I do! How freeing to know!

Funny Little Pregnant Things

I picked this one off the shelf as I was browsing. The catch-line is all about how we only hear the facts of pregnancy and not the realities. This was a quick little read for me and it did bring a smile to my face once or twice. I highly recommend this to any first time Moms, because she really tells it like it is!

Firefly Lane

This is such a beautifully realistic story about friendship. I felt that I could relate so well with the characters, and that the whole plot was real life. Two girls become fast friends as young children, and grow up inseperable. Life takes them totally different directions, leading Tully to be a big, famous TV star, while Kate ends up being a stay at home Mom, just wishing she could find some fulfillment in more than just her children. Can anybody tell why I can relate so well? Haha!

It’s a fun, easy novel and was a good “beach read”. It was mostly clean and the plot took me in all kinds of different directions! I really enjoyed it, personally.

Elin Hilderbrand

I read another Elin Hilderbrand book this month because I have heard so many people recommend her novels as a good “beach read”. Well, so far I’m not impressed…at all. The two I have read have interesting plots and great character development, but there is just too much raunch thrown in. The one I read this month was ok, and it was really interesting, but I was disappointed by the cover (it made it look like a trashy romance novel). I have told myself I will give one more of her books a try, and if it’s as R rated as the other two I’ve read, I’m crossing her off my book reading list once and for all!

 

 

You can see my past month reads by clicking here.

11 comments

  1. Chelsea McKinney says:

    Firefly Lane is one of THE best books I’ve ever read! Forgotten God sounds very, very interesting. I’ll have to check that out and recommend to my father-in-law; sounds like something he’d like. Also, I had no idea that Amy Poehler wrote a book. I do kinda love her though so this may be a book I need to read!

  2. Mal says:

    Wow momma!!! You read so much!! Good for you ☺️☺️ I have firefly lane, but I can’t even remember what it was about!! Guess it’s time to give it another go ☺️

  3. Nicole Banuelos says:

    I LOVE that you read so much! I use to read a lot, even after I had Isabella but now with 2, 2 and younger I just don’t have the time or energy really. I hope to get back into it soon and when I do I will be checking out your lists again to see what I should pick up first!

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