My holiday reading

This morning I made a single pile of all my summer reading books and took a photo. It looked good and I posted the photo on social media. Then two friends asked for recommendations. I like that. It wasn't even so much about boasting about how much I've read, rather sharing some of my favourite books from the summer.

The reason why I've got all the books from the last nine weeks of reading is that the school allows us to borrow 20 books over the summer, including parents. I didn't quite manage 20 books read, but I did get quite a lot read, about half were read during our two-weeks away. With no work or wifi, I spent a lot of time lying on my bed reading (my by-far favourite place to devour a book).

Two of the books I borrowed I didn't get far with for various reasons, I haven't pictured them. One of the books pictured I got most of the way through, then it got repetitive and rather boring (Other Einstein). I'm currently part-way through Crazy Love by Francis Chan. 

I've taken four more photos, this time, split into categories.

The first photo is of fiction. Of these, my favourite was in broken places, though The Janson Directive by Ludlum was also an excellent read if you're into thrillers. in broken places is about a new teacher at an international school in Germany, so there was a lot I could relate to. However, it had a dark side, with the deep shadow of past child abuse.

These are historical fiction. Both the lower two are great, but I think my favourite was The Librarian of Auschwitz. It truly is astounding how much a human can put up, but also how small things, like a handful of books, can make a big difference in dire circumstances.

These biographies/autobiographies were also great. I loved Shoe Dog, written by the founder of Nike. Great writing style! Unexpected story. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus was hard to get into but soon became an excellent read. It doesn't strictly fit into biographical, it is also apologetics. I learned more about Islam than I've ever known before.

It's hard to choose a favourite from these three non-fiction Christian books. Possibly Sabbath, though it is not written strictly for a Christian audience and there were elements I had to discard, it had great suggestions for ways to build restorative rest into your life.

I hate writing book reviews. But the above is definitely a more fun way to do it. Perhaps I should try more of this comparative way of doing it in the future? (Though it's harder when books I've read have gone back to the library . . . perhaps I can make a collection of spine-photos?) I do read a lot, so maybe I could help others by sharing a bit more?