Books I've Been Reading-- August

Good morning friends! It's time for my monthly book post. I read 4 books this month and can't wait to share them with you. 

I LOVED 3/4 of these and can't wait to share. Let's get started...

Ghosted-- This book started off SO well. I was hooked almost instantly and loved the premise: a girl quickly falls in love with someone she has started dating, only to find out he has more or less disappeared. She wonders if something serious has happened to him, or if she has just been "ghosted". This book was really great until the end.. where it just went a little off the deep end for me. I don't want to give anything away, but the ending was just too over the top and felt unbelievable/too unrealistic. Did any of you read this? I'd love to know your thoughts on the ending. 

Little Soldiers: An American Boy, A Chinese School, and the Race to Achieve-- My friend Sam used to be a teacher at an international school in Shanghai after first teaching in NC for years. She gave me this book comparing the two education systems. If you are a teacher, this book is a must read! If you are interested in education, or are interested in how other countries do things differently than we do in general (that always fascinates me) then this book is for you too. The author is a Chinese American who grew up going to school in Texas, who then moves to Shanghai with her family. Her son starts school there and she was very surprised to see how different his schooling was compared with what she remembered in Texas. As a journalist, she digs deeper into why the Chinese take the approach they take and tries to find out whether or not it is actually paying off for them in the end. We all know they have the highest math scores in the world by far, but what are they giving up in order to get there? Is it really worth it? Teachers, you will love this!

The Wife-- Oh my goodness, I listened to this one as an audiobook and could NOT stop listening! I would take the long way home from work just to listen an extra 10 minutes in the car. This book read very much like the novel version of Law & Order SVU. It has a lot of heavy material including murder, rape, and kidnapping so if that kind of stuff freaks you out/bothers you then this book may not be for you. But if you're able to separate from it and remember that it's fiction, I highly recommend it! 

Everybody Always-- This book was so highly recommended on several of the blogs I read, so I thought it would be a good way to finish up the month. It was adorable! I loved the theme behind it. It's so easy for us to love the "easy" people in our lives to love: our families, our friends, people who love us and show us kindness. It is a lot less easy to love the people who make us uncomfortable, who make us angry, who annoy us, etc. But Jesus called us to love Everybody, Always (get it?). This book was made up of short stories of the author doing just that. If you're looking for a light, happy, feel good read to follow up after a dark thriller this book will be perfect! I kept coming back to the same Bible verse while reading this and feel like it sums up this book so well: "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it" Hebrews 13:2

I love to alternate between fiction and nonfiction and ladies I need some new nonfiction recommendations! My fiction "Must Read" list is about 30 books deep (no exaggeration!) but I think I only have 1 or 2 nonfiction left. If you've read any nonfiction that you couldn't put down, please leave me a comment below!