Recent Reads 3 // Words and Such

I haven't done a recent reads post since December 19th! Well, anyway, here are the books I've read since then....

Heavenly Crowns by Heather Whitestone McCallum and Angela Hunt

Written by Miss America 1995, this book was pretty good. It talked about how God will give us crowns when we get to Heaven. The main point was that when we get the crowns, we will lay them at His feet because everything we do for His Glory in life is for Him alone. At least, that's what I understood. Along the way, there were many stories and examples. I would've liked more personal stories from the authors life, but I still learned through the examples that were used.

The People of Sparks by Jeanne DePrau

This book is the sequel to City of Ember. I appreciate when sequels pick up right where the previous book left off, like The People of Sparks did. The book's tone was very similar to the first one. I thought it was quite odd though that Lina (the main girl) was taken aback by the cluttered homes in the city of Sparks. I recall from City of Ember, the detailed descriptions of the homes that were floor to ceiling odds and ends families had collected over generations. Despite this mild, brief indiscrepancy, this was a good book. I have to say my favorite character was Maddy, a young, wise, and kind roamer. I plan to read the fourth book in the series, The Diamond of Darkhold, next, as the third books seems to be an oddly placed prequel to the entire series??

The Blackgaard Chronicles: Pawn's Play by Phil Lollar

Based on an Adventures in Odyssey radio drama saga, this book really fleshes out what you only hear on the radio drama. You get an idea of how people look, what the characters think of each other, and how they feel inside. This is great! As for the book itself, it's an easy read that follows two main stories. You get to see different sides of the stories from different characters' points of view. It was never confusing for me, probably because I am familiar with the audio drama series. I would definitely recommend reading the first book in the series before this one if at all possible. The book is clearly also meant to be followed by another... I don't think another has been announced yet though so I'll have to wait :)

not a fan. daily devotional by Kyle Idleman

I got this book for Christmas, and have already read not a fan. by Kyle Idleman, of which this is the devotional version. I didn't read one a day, I just sort of read it in spurts. Several devotionals were quite similar to points made in the book, but I didn't really mind. I enjoyed the practical applications after each lesson, and each lesson used a Bible verse and a real life story. 

Shouting Won't Help by Katherine Bouton

I came across this book because it popped in my library's "related" sidebar of a book I was looking at. This book is basically a look at psychological implications of losing your hearing later in life and the science of cochlear implants and hearing aids. This book was really interesting to me. It went so far as to describe what happens during a cochlear implant surgery. The angle of the drill and all. I learned a lot that I didn't know and found this book really interesting.

Thanks for stopping by! What have you been reading recently?