7 Reasons Why You Should Be Reading Books

Click on the pic below to check out my top 7 reasons to read books :)

Operation Deepen Faith

I’ve been trying to make a habit of taking my goals in strides–one at a time, here and there–rather than all at once, thus overwhelming myself.  My final and the most important reading challenge is Operation Deepen Faith.

This is something I did not keep up with last year but I’ve already started this year.  Here’s how it works:

There are multiple sections and as the host says, participants don’t have to sign up for each one but picking multiple sections is encouraged!

1. Wonderful Words of Life: Goal–Read the Bible
2. How Firm a Foundation: Goal–Study 1 book of the Bible throughout the year
3. Deep & Wide: Goal–Read multiple books in multiple translations
4. Meditate or Memorize: Goal–Choose about a verse a week to reflect and meditate on
5. Christian Nonfiction: Goal–Read different Christian nonfiction

Click HERE for full details.

I’m going to commit to

• Wonderful Words of Life: Goal–Read the Bible
• How Firm a Foundation: Goal–Study 1 book of the Bible throughout the year
• Meditate or Memorize: Goal–Choose about a verse a week to reflect and meditate on 
• Christian Nonfiction: Goal–Read different Christian nonfiction

I’ve already begun reading the One Year Bible and picking my verses and other titles.  My goal is to post monthly on my progress and maybe break down goals into quarterly tasks.

Now, I’m officially set with all my reading goals for 2015!

Happy reading, y’all!

everyday matters | book review

Whoot! Finished my very first book of the year! Well, it did contain mostly pictures BUT it was a book and it was a good book so I’m happy :D

Everyday Matters by Danny Gregory

Rating: 4.0 – 5.0

Danny Gregory is just a regular guy living in New York with his wife Patti and their 10 month old baby.  A tragic accident turns their lives upside down and Danny is forced to look at his life in a completely different way.  Needing an outlet to deal with the challenges and this new perspective, he turns to drawing.

Everyday Matters isn’t about the details of the everyday struggles that happen when your life is turned upside, rather it’s what goes on in your head when your faced with those struggles.  How do you cope?  What are you feeling?  What are you considering?  It’s like the author hands you a sketchbook and says “Wanna see what I did after the accident?”  And those moments aren’t very often brilliant–they’re messy, mundane, and seemingly insignificant.  But therein lies the beauty.  The accident forced Gregory to be more deliberate in living life, to pay attention to his surroundings, to pause, to muse, to consider, capture what he saw with pen and paper.  What he discovered was that life does go on and everyday has something about it to enjoy, something that matters!

As much as I enjoyed the book, I didn’t give it a five-star rating because it wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be and I would have enjoyed a little more writing.  However, it was a book about drawing so I think the art was what it needed to be and I enjoyed the pictures as well!

There were a couple of word-bombs dropped, just so you know.  There’s no explicit content but it is adult life stuff so I’d still have to rate it closer to a PG-13 than just PG…(I’m trying to think what I’d do if I had kiddos…)…yeah, closer to a PG-13.

It’s a quick read, quite inspiring for the writer or artist.  It makes you want to take out pen and paper and get words and/or sketches out for yourself!  Definitely a good first-book-of-the-year :D

Happy reading y’all!

This book counts towards the following challenges:

• TBR 2015
• Authors A to Z — G for Gregory
• Full House — You love the Cover (the cover is what caught my attention!)
• Monthly Key Word — EVER (this might be a stretch but the rules did allow for variations of the word sooooo EVER turned into EVERyday!)
• New to You — This is the first book I’ve read by this author
• Nonfiction Reading Challenge
• Outdo Yourself
• POPSUGAR Reading Challenge — A memoir

what are you waiting for? | book review

So I’m going through the list of reviews I have waiting for me to write and I realized I had one more in the little series I was doing on books about singleness and purity a few months ago! Here we go with another fantastic read by Dannah Gresh!!

What Are You Waiting For? The One Thing No One Ever Tells You About Sex by Dannah Gresh

Rating: 4.0 – 40

In my review of And the Bride Wore White I mentioned that it is geared more for the high school aged girl.  Well, What Are You Waiting For? is where it picks up for the ladies in the college years and beyond.  Once again, Gresh, with her honesty and openness, superbly addresses sex and what the big deal is about waiting for it.

Sex is a sensitive, intimate topic but, nevertheless, needs to be discussed.  Gresh doesn’t mince words – she’s straightforward and to the point about the struggles, challenges and addictions that so many in the church find themselves grappling with.  Intimacy is more than physical – it’s emotional and spiritual and God designed it to be an incredibly awesome experience. Unfortunately, the world has made a mess of this amazing gift and has left us confused, deluded and frustrated.  What does the Bible have to say about all this?  Gresh tackles all the tough questions, addressing them biblically and, in many cases, with scientific research to back it up.

So what are you waiting for? If you’re a single gal with questions about what the big deal is and want to know that one thing no one has ever told you about sex, read this book!!!  I guarantee you won’t regret it!

Happy reading, y’all!

Elyssa

twentysomething | book review

Hello, hello!!

I hope everyone has had a beautiful, adventure-filled summer!  My summer has been a whirlwind to say the least, leaving me with absolutely no time to read or blog!  But as summer winds down and a new season settles in, I enter a new life season of my own filled with many changes and life questions… But none of that right now, I’ve got a book to share!

Twentysomething: Surviving and Thriving in the Real World by Margaret Feinberg

Rating: 3.0 – 4.0

I started reading this book back in the spring and only now just finished it this morning.  I wish I had finished it awhile ago, I could have used some of the counsel and encouragement this summer!

Like any season in life, the characteristics of being a twentysomething will differ from person to person.  For some of us it means the hustle and bustle of a brand new career, for some of us it means seemingly endless job hunts and wondering if, perhaps, you’ve started down the wrong path, and for the rest of us it means minimum wage grunt work until you get your big break.  No matter what twentysomething looks like on the outside, we’re all trying to figure it out – who am I, what do I want to do, how do I get there, and who do I want to do it with?  And further more, where is God in all of this?  What does He want me to do with my life? Feinberg offers great wisdom and encouragement on how to make the most of this great life season. Everything from making and keeping friendships to handling stress, facing hard times, taking risks, setting priorities and learning from mistakes, she addresses some of the questions you may have asked yourself and maybe some you didn’t think to consider.

I gave it a 3 star rating because sometimes you have to take what you read with a grain of salt.  I didn’t agree with all she said but it was worth the read and I’m glad I have a copy on my shelf.  It’ll be good to refer back to it in the future or lend to someone else.

If you are a twentysomething like I am, I recommend this one.  It’s a light, encouraging, read that could jumpstart all sorts of thoughts and considerations.  It definitely has for me!!

Happy reading, y’all!

the wheel has spun!

The Classics Club Spin has commenced! The wheel has spun, the number chosen and Classics Clubbers are scanning their lists for the lucky book which is to be finished by April 1st!

And the number is…14!!

That means I will be reading The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass!!

Changing it up with a little non-fiction!  This is great because not only is this a title on my Classics Club list and my TBR 2013 list, it’ll also count toward the Nerdy Non-Fiction Reading Challenge so I’m doing triple duty with this one :).   Unfortunately, I don’t own this beautiful Barnes & Noble copy, but I do have it on my Kindle Paperwhite so all is well :).

How’d y’all make out?  Are you excited about the book you ended up with or perhaps a bit terrified?

you are a writer book review//nerdy non-fiction 2013

I mentioned in my Betsy-Tacy book review (below) that all I’ve been doing lately is study for school and read.  I haven’t read so much in one month in a very long time and it feels so good!  I just need to crank out the reviews while I can (I may get three done today!!).

So here’s my first completed title for the Nerdy Non-Fiction Challenge 2013 :).

I must say that so far, this book, by Jeff Goins, is probably my favorite!

After reading his Writer’s Manifesto (and you can read my thoughts on that here),  I knew I had to check out Jeff’s other books.  This was totally worth more than the $3 I spent in the Kindle bookstore!!  In this book, Jeff addresses the fears that writers have when starting out.  We don’t want to say we’re writers cause we haven’t been published yet or the few posts on our blog haven’t given us permission to assume that title.  We seek perfection and success first before we think ourselves worthy of such a bold statement as, “Hi, my name is Elyssa and I’m a writer.”

Jeff says to quit it.

You’re a writer, he says, you just have to write.

This makes sense when you consider the fact that feelings don’t have to determine one’s mood.  For example, I can choose to be in a good mood by putting a smile on my face and keeping my words positive.  Sooner or later, whatever negative feelings I had begin to dissolve and I begin to feel good and I’m in a positive mood!  The same can be said for writers.  Say you’re a writer.  Now act on it.  The more you act like a writer, the harder you work at your copy, the more intentional you are about making a name for yourself, little by little, the more skilled you become and the more you’ll be taken seriously by yourself and others.  It takes a lot of time but it’s worth it!

If you want to be a writer.  If you are an aspiring writer.  If you are a writer, (old habits!) then YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!  I want to elaborate more but I don’t want to give the whole book away.  Just read it.  Seriously, go to Amazon now and download the ebook.  You won’t regret it.   It’s inspiring and practical.  It offers advice and writing tools as well as the necessary kick in the pants some of us need to get going!!  I loved it and will probably be referring back to it for the rest of my life!!

And If you haven’t yet, you can check out Jeff’s blog at Jeff Goins Writer. Sign up for his email list and you can get a free copy of his Writer’s Manifesto which I also highly recommend!!

Y’all have a blessed day =)

nerdy non-fiction challenge 2013

I found another reading challenge XD.  Oh yes indeedy, I found a great one!  It’s over at Bookmark to Blog and it’s called the Nerdy Non-Fiction Challenge.  This is perfect for me since my reading list has a plethora of non-fiction titles (a few of which are included in my TBR 2013 list) and more importantly, I’ve got to do a lot of reading (boring reading!) for my classes this semester.  Soooo why not have some fun being a nerd, yeah?

Here’s how it works:

Choose a Level:

Geek: 4-6 books in at least 2-3 different categories
Dork: 7-10 books in at least 4-5 different categories
Dweeb: 11- 14 books in at least 6-7 different categories
Nerd: 15+ books in at least 8+ different categories

Pick from these or other categories:

* Health, Medicine, Fitness, Wellness
* History- US, World, European, etc
* Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy
* Technology, Engineering, Computers, etc
* Business, Finance, Management
* Sports, Adventure
* Food- Cookbooks, Cooks, Vegan Vegetarianism, etc
* Autobiography, Biography, Memoir
* Art, Photography, Architecture
* Music, Film, TV
* Self Improvement, Self Help, How To
* Home, Garden
* Science-Nature, Weather, Biology, Geology
* Anthropology, Archaeology
* Animals-Insects, Mammals, Dinosaurs, etc
* Family, Relationships, Parenting, Dating, Love
* Crime, Law
* Poetry, Theatre
* Politics, Government, Current Affairs
* Literary Criticism/Theory
* Cultural Studies
* Travel
* Crafts

The rules are pretty flexible and basic.  For full details and the link up, click here

I’m going to try for Dweeb and read 11-14 books in at least 6-7 categories.  Who knows, I might make Nerd status!!

Now back my book on Organizational Behavior (which is first on my nerdy book list ^.^)!

Happy Reading y’all!!