First off, do you sometimes just drop your jaw that we’re talking about 2017? And that we’re nearly halfway through? I sometimes feel like I could still be writing checks (as if) for 2011. But anyway.
If you’ve been around here very long, you know that May has come full and fast for our family. We kicked the month off with a college graduation followed two weeks later by my son’s wedding to the love of his life. The next weekend was filled with all things high school graduation for my senior and we’re awaiting the arrival of my first grandchild any day. 🙂
School stopped for my youngers at the end of April so we could absorb all of May’s events but next week we’ll embrace our summer schedule. Which means lazy-er days (for them), afternoon swimming and lots of summer reading.
With that, I thought we’d talk summer reading lists. I usually make a read aloud list for my kids, a list for each of my school-age kids and my own list. I’ve been culling books for my list for some time and I could not be more excited to tackle it.
I’d love to know, what’s on your summer ’17 list? What have you read recently that you love and recommend? Let us know in the comments.
Non-Fiction New Releases
No More Faking Fine: Ending the Pretending
P.S. I snagged this book on Kindle super deal this month. (These Kindle deals are updated daily so be sure to bookmark it!)
Only Love Today
Only Love Today: Reminders to Breathe More, Stress Less, and Choose Love
Missions/Global Church
God Is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China
Summer Fiction
Dear Mr. Knightley: A Novel
Christian Classic
The Screwtape Letters
Memoir
The Scars That Have Shaped Me: How God Meets Us in Suffering
NYT Bestseller Historical Fiction
Beneath a Scarlet Sky: A Novel
Pulitzer Prize Winner
The Orphan Master’s Son: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
Summer-Lite
The Royal Nanny: A Novel
The Royal Nanny is for those “fascinated by Britain’s royal family—a behind the scenes look into the nurseries of little princes and the foibles of big princes…From Britain’s old wealth to the glittering excesses of Tsarist Russia; from country cottages to royal yachts, and from nursery to ballroom.”
So what’s on your summer reading list? Or sitting on your nightstand right now? Let me know in the comments!
P.S. If you’d like to know when new posts are up, you can subscribe here and I’ll send you my free 100 Days with Christ Bible reading plan & journal.
So many of your titles are on my list, too! Thanks for a few I might not have seen otherwise. If you like fiction, my online book club just read Into the Water by Paula Hawkins, and it is spine-chillingly awesome! A memoir I believe every single person should read is Rare Bird: A Memoir of Loss and Love by my sister-in-law Anna Whiston-Donaldson. It’s simultaneously heart-wrenching and incredibly hopeful. I adore Glennon Doyle Melton’s Love Warrior, rereading specific passages often to give me the strength to get through hard days. And finally, a book that opened my heart and understanding to the purpose in pain is Wait & See: Finding Purpose in God’s Pauses and Plans by Wendy Pope. It’s truly a life-changing Bible study. Oh, I also love YA lit, and a few of my relatively recents favorites are Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum, The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron, the Fire Sermon series by Francesca Haig, and, of course, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. XO and happy reading!
Into the Water keeps popping up on my Amazon recommendations. I’d love to look into your sister-in-law’s memoir as it sounds like something I’d resonate with. Thank you for weighing in, Jena!
Looks like you’re going to have a great summer! I’m very interested in the book on Lamenting. I think the church at large doesn’t want to talk about this and focus on prospering. I think there’s times for both. One of my favorite books is the Screwtape letters. You’ll become much more alert to the enemy’s tactics in your life as you sit and read. I actually have it as an audio book and love listening to the english accents 🙂 I stopped by via the #CoffeeForYourHeart Linkup. So glad I came. Reading parts of your life story has been inspiring. Praying you sense a new level of God’s presence in your life, that kind of sustaining presence that sets your heart free to live because you KNOW He has everything under control.
Be Blessed & Refreshed,
~Sherry Stahl
xoxo
She actually had me at the title, but when I discovered the book was on lament, it went to the top of my list. Very interested to read her Biblical treatment of lament! And thank you for connecting, Sherry, and for your kind words. God has faithfully taken care of us.
Thanks for these great suggestions! I just grabbed a couple of them 🙂
Great! Congratulations on your new book! Praying the Promises of the Cross. http://amzn.to/2rB01QL
Thanks for sharing these books! I hope to read at least a couple this summer. 😊 Also, I shared a couple titles with my sweet mama.
Let me know what you read. I’m always looking for recommendations!
Great list! I read Dear Mr. Knightly a few years ago and enjoyed it (perfect for summer!) I just noticed that another one of Reay’s books is on sale for $1.99 for the kindle version. Maybe I’ll have to add to my list!
I’m working on reading books I already have! But I’ve added quite a few from the library recently.
I so get reading what’s already on the shelves! Glad to hear you give Dear Mr. Knightly thumbs up!
Your list looks awesome! Please share your thoughts on these when autumn comes. Especially God is Red and Faking Fine. Enjoy!
I will, Alana. I sharing the best books I’ve read in the quarterly “What I Learned” posts.
Looks like you have some great books lined up for your summer reading! I enjoyed Dear Mr. Knightly and The Screwtape Letters. The book on China sounds interesting and I love British history, so I’d probably enjoy The Royal Nanny.
Thanks for sharing these books, I will definitely be adding some to my TBR pile!
Yes, I’ve seen Dr. Mr. Knightly on lots of lists. I’m late to the table with that one, but I wanted to start with her debut novel. 🙂 Thank you, Cathy!
Thank you, Lisa. I just ordered two you mentioned. One was GOD IS RED, because I love to read about how God has worked in China, during the times of darkness. LIFE AND DEATH IN SHANGHAI by Nien Cheng is one I loved. SAFELY HOME, by Randy Alcorn, is about a man who, in college, led his Chinese roommate to the Lord. When this American man was very successful in business and caught up in material things, his company sent him on a business trip to China, where he looked up his college friend. What he experienced in China had a profound effect on him and it had an effect on ME, TOO. It is a novel. Recently I read BEING MORTAL by Atul Gawande, a doctor, who deals very often with people who have terminal illnesses. It is a book with story after story of people who are at the end of their lives but this doctor and many of his colleagues cannot bear to tell them and they go from treatment to treatment until they die. Faith in Jesus is never mentioned and though my feeling about death does not match any of these people’s, I learned a lot, mainly that I want Hospice in my life early and not the last days.😄 I say I think I will put in a reservation soon. One more…THE GOD WHO HUNG ON THE CROSS by Dois I. Rosser Jr. And Ellen Vaughn. Subtitle…How God Uses Ordinary People to Build His Church. It is excellent and took me all over the world to see what God is doing through faithful people. Since I love to read, I am always glad to have recommendations from a friend. Thank you!
Janice, these look great. I have several medical folks in my family who read Gawande’s book Complications. I’m going to look into Life and Death in Shanghai and The God who Hung on the Cross as well. I, too, love book recs and keep an ongoing list. If you haven’t read Hope Heals, it’s a beautiful memoir of a young mom who had a massive brain stem stroke, miraculously lived and now encourages others despite her disability.
I saw her and her husband speak at the PASSION Conference when I streamed it in January. Thanks for reminding me about the book because I will get it, too.
Thank you for sharing and for the links to the kindle deals. Picked up No More Faking Fine and Only Love Today!
Yes! I love when books on my list go on Kindle deal. 🙂
“No More Faking Fine” has caught my attention! I’ve also been looking at “Only Love Today.” Currently I’m reading a Christian suspense by Irene Hannon. Sometimes, fiction is the best way to get my mind to relax.
I tend toward non-fiction, Laura, though a great fiction book really stays with me. I’ll have to look into Irene Hannon.
Thanks to you, I’ve added many of these to my summer reading list as well.
Barbie, my challenge will be reading one at a time. 😉
I don’t have a list, but I have been looking forward to slower days and more reading! School ended here yesterday, so bring on summer. 🙂
All the yeses, Sarah! Hope y’all have a great summer. 🙂
I just read “Is the Bible good for Women” by Wendy Alsup. It was fantastic and I highly recommend it.
Thank you for the recommendation, Helene. I just looked it up!
Hi Lisa. I have read and reviewed “No More Faking Fine” and “Only Love Today.” I think you’ll love both of them! Since I count “All the Light We Cannot See” as one of my all-time favorites, I am taking your recommendation to read “Beneath A Scarlet Sky.” I mostly read nonfiction, but when I make time to read novels, historical fiction is my favorite genre.
Another friend just started Beneath a Scarlet Sky after reading this list and has given an early two thumbs up! Thanks, Sarah.