Books for 2009

This list is going to be a LOT shorter than last year's list! The pace of life has quickened with two kiddos, so my reading has suffered. Anymore I find crafting to be more relaxing than reading (tired brain I guess!), so that's becoming my way to unwind. I've actually started way more books than I finished. If it doesn't grab my attention right away, sorry, it's a tosser. The vagaries of mothering small children. :) Books I especially enjoyed are marked with an asterisk; books I loved, with two.

1. Finished reading the Bible in a year in late January last year

2. Leading with a Limp: Taking Advantage of Your Most Powerful Weakness by Dan B. Allender

*3. John Newton by Jonathan Aitken

4. Mommy Calls by Tanya Reimer Altman, M.D.

5. Why Johnny Can't Preach by T. David Gordon

*6. The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith by Tim Keller

**7. The Princess Bride by William Goldman

**8. A Praying Life by Paul Miller

*9. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes Are High by Kerry Patterson

**10. Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs by Buddy Levy

11. Happy Spouse, Happy House by Pat Williams and Ruth Williams

Best book I read this year, in terms of enjoyment: "Conquistador." I've been on a historical narrative kick ever since reading "1776." This book is much in that same vein, with not a boring moment. Cortes was brilliant leader and motivator, an audacious planner, and also a morally flawed man who was aided by circumstance (take the smallpox epidemic among the Aztecs, for example). I can't help but see Providence in this improbable, sometimes disgusting, action-packed story that taught me a lot about human nature. Man without God, or an imperfect understanding of Him, is still an amazing reflection of His God, though tragically so because he is fallen.

Best book, in terms of being helpful to me personally: a toss-up between "A Praying Life" and "Crucial Conversations." Miller's book on prayer dared me into the throne room. I saw myself in his description of reasons we don't pray: unbelief, guilt, wondering if God really wants to hear us anyhow. This book is like a good spring cleaning to get rid of the cobwebs and dust in your prayer life. "Crucial Conversations" was sometimes painful to read, and a lot of the information I was not yet ready to process, but it was self-revealing, and that is always helpful. The most helpful soundbyte I took from the book was "stop and think about the patterns of behavior you're exhibiting in pressured situations. Now take the time to put the brakes on the instant response of anger or blame or whatever it is you jump to, and choose a better response."

That's 2009 in terms of books. :)