February Book Reviews

It's a new month which means I'm reviewing the books I read the month before. I didn't read as many books this past month because I was reading nonfiction which can be a lot more difficult to get through. 

My goal for 2013 is to read 40 books with 10 of them being nonfiction and 5 being classics. 

So far, I've read 9 books. 7 of them are fiction. Sure 3 of the books I read were children's books I read to my class, but I read them so I'm counting them.

I have several books lined up to read next.

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker

Book Description:

American life can be excessive, to say the least. That’s what Jen Hatmaker had to admit after taking in hurricane victims who commented on the extravagance of her family’s upper middle class home. She once considered herself unmotivated by the lure of prosperity, but upon being called “rich” by an undeniably poor child, evidence to the contrary mounted, and a social experiment turned spiritual was born. 7 is the true story of how Jen (along with her husband and her children to varying degrees) took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence. Food. Clothes. Spending. Media. Possessions. Waste. Stress. They would spend thirty days on each topic, boiling it down to the number seven. Only eat seven foods, wear seven articles of clothing, and spend money in seven places. Eliminate use of seven media types, give away seven things each day for one month, adopt seven green habits, and observe “seven sacred pauses.” So, what’s the payoff from living a deeply reduced life? It’s the discovery of a greatly increased God—a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends social experiment to become a radically better existence.

image and description via Amazon

My Review:

This book is joining the likes of Radical and Kisses from Katie as books that have had a major impact in my life. I could write a whole series on this book. I probably will write more about it since one of my 2013 goals was to read the book and find a way to apply it to our life. When you enjoy a book so much, it's hard to put it into just a few words. Those of you reading this review (including myself) are so richly blessed. Even if you live paycheck to paycheck. Even if you don't have the best clothes, house, technology, etc. We are so much richer than a majority of the world. Yet I think it's crippling us. There are so many things that jumped out at me while reading this book and I look forward to sharing more in the coming months. I think this is a must read. Even if you are not a Christian, I believe you would appreciate this book. I will close my review with a great quote from the beginning of the book: "Excess has impaired perspective in America; we are the riches people on earth, praying to get richer. We're tangled in unmanageable debt while feeding the machine, because we feel entitled to more. What does it communicate when half the global population lives on less than $2 a day, and we can't manage a fulfilling life on twenty-five thousand times that amount? Fifty thousand times that amount? It says we have too much, and it is ruining us." -7: an experimental mutiny against excess pg. 3.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Book Description:

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak-- that we owe many of the great contributions to society. In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts–from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

image and description via Amazon

My Review:

This book is a much needed read for an introvert like myself. The world we live in is not designed for introverts. If you're quiet, you're called shy and told you need to speak up. This book says otherwise. I enjoyed the first half of the book the best. It talks about how and why our values have shifted. Our society used to value character and now it values personality. I also really enjoyed the parts of the book that talk about what research has shown about the biological differences between introverts and extroverts. We literally are "born this way." The last half of the book focuses some on how other cultures see introversion and extroversion. It also talks about how to foster relationships between people with different personality types. Some parts of the book were difficult to get through. There is a lot of research described and some of that wasn't as interesting. Overall, though, I'm glad I read this and just like with 7, I plan on posting more thoughts on this book and topic later.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

What have you been reading? Have you read either of these?