Did you ever finish reading a book and just want to say "Thank you" to the author for writing it? That's exactly what happened to me as I was reading This Is Not The Story You Think It Is: A Season of Unlikely Happiness. This is a story of trust. Trust in what Laura Munson knew was real, in spite of appearances. It's a story of risk as well -- risking her heart and her pride. It's an unlikely story of her own happiness. Laura Munson chose happiness. Her husband shut down and checked out of their marriage and their family. She knew that she could not make him do anything. She couldn't change his mind about what he thought he was feeling. She couldn't make him understand what ...
Category Archives: Marriage
This Momentary Marriage
Staying Married is Not About Staying in Love is the title of Chapter One in John Piper's This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence. Very different from the world has to say on the subject of marriage, isn't it? In fact, the entire book is very contrary to society's take on the bonds of matrimony. To the world, they are bonds easily broken without a second thought. To which Piper responds, "Staying married, therefore, is not mainly about staying in love. It is about keeping covenant" (p. 25). I found this book so informative that it's a new 5 Star Read. If you'd like to win one of THREE copies (U.S. residents) please read my full review of This Momentary Marriage over at 5 Minutes for Mom. The winners iwill be announced in next Monday's book review column at 5 Minutes ...
Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert
I love memoir, and yes, I did read and enjoy (loved!) Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir which helped stimulate the memoir genre as we know it Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia. In the introduction to Committed, Gilbert herself addresses the difficultly of publishing a follow-up to the kind of blockbuster success that Eat, Pray, Love became. I wasn't necessarily holding her to that standard, but was hoping for more of the same kind of personal exploration and self-examination that she shared in that book. Committed is instead written like a project memoir (which I also like). In books such as the hilarious A.J. Jacobs' The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible ...
True Love
As Valentine's Day approaches, do you feel love in the air? Do you adore popping in a favorite romantic movie, or curling up to read a trusty old love story? Do you have romance in your heart? Well, the Chicken Soup folks have got you covered with their timely release of True Love: 101 Heartwarming and Humorous Stories about Dating, Romance, Love and Marriage. Read my full review of True Love at 5 Minutes for Mom, and click over and leave a comment on that post for your chance to win one of 3 copies (U.S. addresses only). Dawn is regularly showered with love from her darling husband and three adorable kids (when they're not asking her to find something). Their life and times are chronicled at my thoughts exactly.
The Motion of the Ocean
The Motion of the Ocean by Janna Cawrse Esarey is a delightful book that not many people could write. Anyone else taken a honeymoon voyage around the world in a small sailboat? That's what I thought. This book should appeal to those who enjoy memoir (especially humorous ones), reflections on marriage, or armchair travelers. The details about spending more than a year on a boat circumnavigating the world are fascinating and something that most of us are likely never going to experience in real life. Memoir is always tricky, because inherent in the genre is the need to be self-aware and introspective without crossing that fine and abhorrent line into self-absorption. In my opinion Janna Cawrse Esarey does this. I enjoyed Esarey's warm (and funny!) style. She writes pragmatically about the inevitable hurdles that newlyweds face, although in her ...
L.O.V.E.
I've heard about Drs. Les & Leslie Parrott before and have heard little radio minutes with them on our local Christian radio station. So when I saw that they had a new book out, L. O. V. E.: Putting Your Love Styles to Work for You, I was curious to see what it was all about. Jonathan (my husband) and I both ended up reading it. In a lot of ways, it came across similarly to The Five Love Languages in that it is designed to help you discover in what way you best express love. However, Chapman's Five Love Languages
The Happiness Project
Are you happy? Would you like to be happier? I've always been a fairly optimistic, roll-with-the-punches, glass half-full kind of person. I'm happy. But even before reading Gretchen Rubin's yearlong exploration of happiness The Happiness Project, I knew that there were choices I made and habits that I have that interfered with the goal of happiness -- not only my own, but also the people who share life with me. This book impacted me in a big way. I not only enjoyed reading it, but I feel like I've learned and grown as a result of it. That's why I'm adding it to my 5 Star Reads. Please click over to 5 Minutes for Mom to read my full review (and enter to win one of two copies). Please read about how this book inspired my own Happiness ...
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Jennifer Donovan
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