I hope these reviews are helpful and that you grab some, read them, and then come over and have coffee and talk about them!
The Ministry of Ordinary Places by Shannan Martin
The ministry of the ordinary was an incredible way to start the year! This book calls you back to the ordinary, mundane places of life and there, offer extravagant love, a listening ear, a cup of tea. In a time where fame is somehow a standard of ministry and often the catalyst to the polarization of society, Martin spins a simpler yet more profound narrative...love your neighbor, listen to the world around you with a tender heart, and humbly begin meeting needs. This is a wonderfully written book in a much needed space.
And bonus: how cute is the cover!?!
If you have known me for any amount of time over the last 10 years you probably know of my adoration of Michelle Obama. I was so excited for this book to come out and y'all, it did not disappoint! This is one of those books that I slowed WAY down at the end because I just didn't want it to be over! (does anyone else do that?! ha!) In Becoming, Michelle Obama tells her story from growing up in Chicago all the way to life after The White House. She is honest, genuine, and as always, tasteful and kind. This book will have you turning pages, smiling, laughing, crying, and in awe of the life that our former First Lady has lived. This book gets a ALL THE STARS from me.
I received this book as a gift from one of my favorite New York creatives. He is funny, fun, and always gives thoughtful gifts to The Burger clan. I knew very little about Elizabeth Gilbert outside of her famous, Eat Love Pray, so I was excited to read Big Magic. This book was a fascinating look at the creative process from a worldview very different than my own. I was stretched in my thinking, amazed at the ideology she described, and am so glad I took the time to read it. As a creative, I am always fascinated to see inside the world of those who are writers, painters, musicians, and this book did just that. Elizabeth, chapter by chapter, encourages the creative process by sharing hers and her view of the "magic" behind creating. And while I come to quite a few different conclusions about life, I learned a lot reading this book and am a better creative because of it.
The Path Between Us is a book designed to help you navigate relationships based on your Enneagram and the Enneagram of those around you. A few years back, although I never wrote a review on it, I read A Road Back To You, of which Stabile co-authored. Having studied the Enneagram through other books in my early twenties, when A Road Back To You began to make the Enneagram popular again, I decided to read it. I never reviewed it because, since the other author is a four and I am a 7, I didn't exactly love it. (I won't expound on that because I don't want you to read A Road Back To You with my silly thoughts in your head) When I heard Suzanne had come out with her own book focusing more on the positive out workings of the Enneagram numbers, I grabbed my copy right a way. I know that currently the Enneagram world of podcasts and books is saturated, but this book is worth pushing to the top of your list. It is great for someone who knows NOTHING about the Enneagram and for someone who has studied it for years. This book is easy to read, super insightful, and very practical.
The Connected Child is one of those books that has been in my "queue" for YEARS. I have read articles, essays, listened to lectures, and followed the work of Karen Purvis over the years but never sat down and read completely through this famous work. As many of you know, we are in the process of adopting a little girl and this book was required reading assigned to us by our adoption agency. While this book's focus is particular to adopted children, it would be helpful for any parent to read. The Connected Child focuses on helping you parent a child who has had early life trauma. They focus on how to help in aiding your child through bonding and attachment, helping you identify special needs and in both learning and behavior, as well as how to discipline your child in a way that fosters love and care instead of fear. This is a fantastic book and I recommend it to anyone considering adoption!
The Bible Tells Me So is a personal account of Enns's journey from a tight fisted "defending" of the Bible to an open hearted honesty about it. This book (and everything I have read by Enns) is such a refreshing look at how defending the Bible is not the extent of which it was created. To open our hearts and minds up to the stories of the Scriptures rather than fight about what it is or isn't telling us, is to get back to the heart of the Bible. This book will be a stretch for my friends who have spent their days defending the Bible, but it is well worth your time to hear from Enns. My faith has only grown deeper and stronger, and my love for Scripture more rich by reading Enns works. I encourage you, if you are a Bible believer or a total skeptic (or somewhere in between), to pick up a copy of this book with an open mind and heart and hear how this journey deepened Enns's faith.
Hope you find some books to pick up from these reviews! Thanks for always encouraging me to keep writing these!
Happy Reading!
