Having good reading material around is very important for me, and maybe this summer you’re looking for good books to read and don’t know where to start. I’ve rounded up a list of my favorites- I’ve done lots of reading lately as you’ll soon be able to tell. You can click on each title to be taken straight to the Amazon page for that book, but I bet many of them are also available at your library!
(Oh, how I love the library. Well, until one of my children whom shall remain unnamed lost a magazine and the library wants THIRTY DOLLARS to replace it?!?) I’ve separated them into loose categories, and I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments!
For a challenge: 7 by Jen Hatmaker. One of my very favorite and authors, Hatmaker takes it upon herself to live with only 7 choices in a particular category each month. (For example, one month she only eats 7 food items. The next month, she only wears 7 items of clothing, not counting underwear of course!) In hilarious form, she gives a great insight into the excess we have.
Encouragement: I couldn’t resist a little plug for my very own e-book, just published last month! It’s the story of our firstborn’s serious illness, hospital stays, and surgery at 7 weeks old. I also share the stories of other women who have travelled hard roads, but were sustained through God’s grace. You click the image below to purchase it.
For historical fiction: I’d always heard about Francine River’s Mark of the Lion Series. A good friend of mine gave the first book for Christmas… 2012. I just now got around to reading it on our vacation… then I read the second one, and now I’m about to read the third. Did I mention? They’re all about 600 pages long! They are so good- they follow the story of a Christian during the Roman Empire. The persecution they received during that time is incredulous. Definitely going in my top-5 of fiction books.
For marriage: Sacred Influence is still my favorite book on marriage. It’s written by a man for women about the topic of submission and what the Bible really means about it. My husband is currently reading The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller, and it’s next on my list!
For parents: Strong Mothers, Strong Sons (& the companion, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters) by Meg Meeker, MD- I began reading this book over vacation and while I haven’t finished it yet, it’s giving me great insight into how important moms are to their sons! My husband read the companion book and learned a lot from it as well.
Instructing a Child’s Heart by Ted and Margy Tripp- The follow up to Shepherding a Child’s Heart, this book was a great eye-opener for us. My main take away? Don’t use Scripture as a “baseball bat” to your children- teach them to love it and respect it and don’t just throw it at them when they’re disobedient. (Easier said than done!) At time of this blog post, the Kindle edition is only $1.99!
Still, my favorite book on parenting is Desperate: Hope for the Mom that Needs to Breathe. That title should tell you how I feel some days. 🙂
For a good mystery*:
Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan- a self-published e-book, and one of the best mysteries I’ve read. A NY Times bestseller.
Anything by Mary Higgins Clark. I’ve read several of her books and they are suspenseful and enticing, without the lewdness that can sometimes accompany otherwise good fiction. Some of my recent reads: Where are You Now?, Where are the Children?, and Pretend You Don’t See Her.
Other books I love:(click on the titles to read my review of them)
(non-fiction) Chasing God, God is Able by Priscilla Shirer, and Whispers of Hope by Beth Moore, plus another book I LOVE- the Christian Parenting Handbook by Scott Turansky; Call of a Coward; By Faith, Not By Sight
fiction: An Angel by her Side,
What are your favorite books to read? I’m always looking for more!
*I do love a good fiction book and I always love hearing others suggestions. Fiction can be tricky because it’s hard to know if it’s going to be suitable or not. I assure you all of these choices will not contain any explicit s*x scenes. They may contain some language.
About Kelli Hays
So many books, so little time! 😉 There are some books on your list which are old friends and some which are totally new; I look forward to trying some of them! For fiction, I really like anything by Dee Henderson. She knows how to write a good mystery and there are Christian based, so no intimate scenes and no language to worry about. The O’Malley series by her is fantastic (I highly recommend reading Danger in the Shadows and Jennifer before the actual series, which really need to be read in order to be appreciated and fully understood); she also has a series with military characters.
I really like Irene Hannon’s books, as well. I discovered her when trying to find authors similar to Dee Henderson. I don’t read the Love Inspired books so I haven’t read the ones by Irene Hannon, either, but her other books are great mystery/suspense as well. Lynette Eason is good, too, but not quite as gripping, to me, as the first two.
For non-mystery fiction, Lori Wick is a personal favorite. My absolute favorite of hers is Bamboo and Lace. Her characters always convict me on some level to try even harder in some area of my Christian walk.
For marriage books, Love and Respect is a good one. For the intimate side of marriage, Sheet Music by Kevin Leman is great….he takes a serious topic and infuses some tasteful humor.
Thanks again for the great list!
Thanks for sharing. That’s a good list of books. I have wanting to read 7 since it came out. Hopefully soon… For easy, fun summer reads I love Emily Giffin – She wrote ‘Something Borrowed’. Right now I’m reading ‘Where We Belong’ by her. I also like Elin Hilderbrand – again it’s easy beach read type of stuff. Sometimes that’s all I can handle! 🙂
My favorite read right now is Rhinestone Jesus by Kristen Welch – http://wearethatfamily.com/rhinestone-jesus/
Fabulous book and she is local to Houston. I get the privilege to serve the refugees of Houston with her – Real is totally what her story is!!
Oooh yes, I love her blog! Looking forward to reading that!