Quick note - don't forget to enter the summer survival giveaway, with prizes from Sephora, Starbucks, the Noonday Collection, and more! Ends this weekend!

It's another Twitterature link-up with Modern Mrs. Darcy! (it actually goes live the 15th of every month - I'm a tad bit early!)

If you've never heard of her blog, you should seriously check it out. Anne puts a "timely spin on classic women's issues". And she is a fellow book nerd and recommends some great reads. In fact, she recently released her 2014 Summer Reading Guide, if you're at a loss as to what to take to the pool or on your summer road trip.

But honestly, if you're a book nerd, you're never at a loss as what to read. The difficulty is in actually making a selection from your endless to-be-read list. But below are some books I enjoyed this month,  so take them into consideration.

By the way, does anyone else have the problem of "when it rains, it pours" in regards to library books on hold? I'm pretty sure the library conspires for all my e-books to come in at the same time. How about I supposed to read AND  in the next three weeks???

{p.s. if you're on Goodreads, look me up. we should be friends.}

What I Read in May



The movie is already out, but I'm glad I read the book first. Not just a first-love story; it also tells about teens struggling to understand life, meaning, and happiness in the face of cancer. Keep tissues at hand.



The comedian also happens to be a father of five children, all born at home, living in a two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Hilarious stories ensue and must be read aloud.



Another young adult read that kept me crying. It's the tale of two misfits who discover they belong with each other, despite life trying to tear them apart. Also requires tissues.




A parent raising her daughter in Argentina begins to notice how differently children are brought up all over the world. It helped me understand Cambodians and how culture starts in the crib.



If you use cloth diapers, this book is a lifesaver. Yes, you can spend hours trolling the internet, googling your cloth diaper questions. Save yourself some anxiety and carpal tunnel; buy this book.

What I'm Into This Month:









Any good books you've read lately?


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1. : I love my Kindle. Our old version died last year, and panicking, we found someone to bring us a new one within a week from the States. It's small, lightweight, and uses 3G - perfect for traveling abroad.
2. Library card: On our last home leave in Kansas City, I renewed my library card and discovered I could check out e-books on my from the library while overseas. Hello, joyful day! If you're an expat overseas, check out your hometown's library. (If you're from KC, go here!) I can read the books on my computer, iPhone, or Kindle.
3. Oyster Books: Oyster is an iPhone/iPad app that gives you unlimited access to over 200,000 500,000 books for $9.99 a month. It's basically the Netflix of books. And several of last month's reads were from Oyster. It's a great choice for me, because many of the books I read (like fiction or memoirs) I don't want to read more than once. So instead of wasting $10 on a one-time read, I can access limitless books for the same price. It's probably my favorite way of getting my book fix right now!

So if you need an affordable book fix, check out Oyster. You can even get a free month by clicking here. And if you start a subscription, I'll get a free month, too. Thank you very much for supporting my addiction.

Between the library and Oyster, I can get my hands on 90% of the books I want to read. And the others? If I want them bad enough, I'll buy them on my Kindle.

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***Quick note - The winner of the book bundle giveaway is Monique! Thanks for entering, everyone!

So, I thought that when I had a baby, I'd have less time for reading.

I didn't factor in breastfeeding. Let's just say I haven't had an excuse to devour books on my Kindle or iPhone for 20-30 minutes several times a day in...ever.

I actually read more books this month than I did in February, and I finally knocked out a couple that had been on my Goodreads "currently reading" shelf for months. (If you're on Goodreads, look me up. We should be friends.) This excites me to no end, because I can finally move on to other books that have been tantalizing me for months.

Obviously, I like reading way too much.

So here are the four books I finished in March. Thank you, Declan.


 

As a pilot's daughter, I always knew about the famous Charles Lindbergh. And as a reader, I've loved Anne Morrow Lindbergh's writings ever since reading . The Aviator's Wife (one of my top picks for 2014) combines both. Melanie Benjamin has woven together a beautiful novel of Anne's life, her tumultuous marriage to a driven and famous man, and her artistic reawakening as a writer.


This has been on my "currently reading" shelf for a long time - not because it was a boring read, but because it was so challenging. Tripp introduces the need for personal ministry in the daily lives of believers and motivates us to live out the reality that God has put us in relationships as his tools to change people's lives. I'd love to reread this with others so I can really understand how to apply it in my own life.








Andrew and I have been studying John for a few months using this book, and I finally finished it. Each section takes you through Gospel glimpses, whole Bible connection, theology, and personal implications for every passage of Scripture studied. Some of the questions were a bit narrow and leading, which means I knew what answer the author expected, instead of allowing me to develop my own thoughts. But it gives a good overview of the book of John.







I bought Londoners on a whim when I saw it on sale for Kindle. I've never been to London but love travel reading. The book is a collection of personal interviews with people as diverse as stock brokers, vegetable sellers, taxi drivers, immigrants, real estate agents - anyone you can think of who might live in London. I came away with a much broader view of the London I'll encounter when I someday visit (hopefully!).


Well, that's what I read in March!

I'd love to hear what you read last month. Any recommendations for me?

 Next month, I'll try to keep it down to 140 characters. ;)


Note: Affiliate links used. Full disclosure here.

Normally I include my list of books-read in my monthly goals post. But let's be honest, sometimes it gets a little out of control. So I thought I'd put them in a quick post by themselves! By the way, if you're on Goodreads, I'd love to be your friend. Check out my account here!

In January, I explained my reading priorities - why I read what I read - and ten books I hope to read in 2014. Ok, so none of these came off that list. But I've also been inspired by an article on Book Riot about throwing away your TBR {to-be-read} list. And I've decided to not be ruled by my TBRs and read what I want to read! And work those ten books into my reading schedule whenever I feel like it. {By the way, Book Riot has a really fun podcast for book nerds, so check it out if you're looking for something new to listen to!}

Here are the three books I read in February.




Funny story - I didn't even buy this book on purpose. My Kindle's battery had dropped to dangerously low levels, then went wacko on me - screens opening and closing, text size changing, and doing all sorts of crazy stuff. Including purchasing this book from the sample I'd downloaded after hearing about it on Kat Lee's podcast.

But it looked funny, so I kept it - and I am so glad I did.

You know how in pregnancy, you can't handle anything too heavy or serious? Is it just me? This was exactly what I needed - one woman's hilarious retelling of her years of marriage to a man as different from her as Cabella's is from Saks Fifth Avenue. I was literally snorting with laughter from her stories of her husband's hunting trips, her cooking disasters, and miscommunications leading to home demolition renovation stories. But she also has serious reflections mixed in, about the purpose of grace and forgiveness in marriage and how God can make one life out of two very different people.



Soukup has written a great introductory e-book for new bloggers on writing awesome content, taking and using photos, and jumping into the different arenas of using your blogging skills to bring in income. The first half of the book is all about becoming a skilled writer, designer, and photographer - because those are the building blocks of how your blog will eventually turn a profit.

I honestly bought her book after reading the sample because her chapters on creating content were so helpful. There are a lot of areas in monetizing blogs that I'm not ready to jump into {such as working with brands and sponsored content}, but I know I'll reference this book later when I do.



This has been my favorite book to read while preparing for the birth of our first child. Some books tend to swing to the end of either spectrum, but Gabriel manages to empower you to know what to ask for and to expect in a hospital that may not be 100% natural-birth-friendly. I feel very fortunate that our hospital is renowned for being very natural-birth-friendly. I hope I won't have to deal with doctors pushing drugs on me or nurses degrading my birth plan, like some of the families had to deal with in her book.

The most useful chapter in the book for me was her section on how to write a birth plan. There are a lot of websites that give you a list of things to refuse or ask for. But she takes you through a process of exploring what birth means to you personally, how you've celebrated important rites of passage in the past, who and what empowers you to push through pain and difficulty, etc. And after going through that, I felt I had a vision for our birth, instead of just a checklist.

I also feel encouraged to hold our birth plan with an open hand. There will be so many unexpected things that will happen to my body and emotions, there's no way I can prepare for everything. But writing out a birth plan helped prepare me how to react when things do happen. And I also think it's been extremely useful for Andrew to know how I need him to support and encourage me throughout labor.

Of course, we'll let you know how it goes after the baby actually comes!

What books did you read in February?

Note: Affiliate links used.