One of my favorite pastimes this year has been reading and discovering blogs written by people who love reading books as much as I do. Recently I found the following reading survey that was shared on The Perpetual Page Turner. I thought there were some neat and thought-provoking questions on this survey and took some time to reflect on my reading in 2018. BEST IN BOOKS Best Book You Read In 2018? It is a tie between A Man Called Ove (Backman) and The Kind Worth Killing (Swanson). Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? The Tattooist of Auschwitz-- I really wanted more depth to the story or more background into the people's lives. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read? I'm going to say The Nightingale for two reasons. First, it was the first book I listened to on Audible. I did not think I would like to listen to audio books as much as I do. Second, I have stayed away from Kristin Hannah for a few ye
I don't want to sugar coat it--2018 sucked for our family. Every time I look back at this year, one event will stick out more than anything else, and that is the death of my beloved dad on August 9. Four years earlier, he was diagnosed with a malignant, stage 4 brain tumor. He endured two brain surgeries, radiation, and chemotherapy, and he lived considerably longer than most patients with the same diagnosis. But even through this heartbreaking time, I have been witness to such grace and empathy from others. In her book, Grateful, Diana Butler Bass likens the events that shape our lives as either "tailwinds" or "headwinds." Typically, tailwinds propel objects forward, while headwinds make forward progress much more difficult. When looking the events in our lives, we can see them as difficult headwinds or advantageous tailwinds. Butler Bass asks us to consider even the headwinds as blessings. The perceived headwinds of my dad's decline were also some of