I used to be a voracious reader.
I still am, in some aspects. My nightstand threatens to buckle under the weight of books, but I have difficulty FINISHING any of them.
In an effort to multitask, I’ve ended up spinning my wheels and gotten NOWHERE fast.
This year, I want to finish what I’ve started. I want to gain the satisfaction of seeing a project through from start to finish.
Ready for my list?
7 Books I Want to Read This Lenten Season
1. We Worship
I ran across Catholic Home Study Services years ago. It’s an amazing resource for every Catholic, and it’s FREE!
There’s an entire series of books about our Faith. You can read through them on your own time, then take a test about the book to see how much you’ve learned.
I heard this book mentioned on a podcast a while back, and thought “Hey! That could come in handy for me.”
I’m a working mother and my job as an Endoscopy nurse is very challenging. Even if I didn’t work outside the home, this book would still be a very valuable resource.
We come in contact with people daily …. our families, other parents in playgroups and schools, and people at the grocery store. This books gives us the tools and challenges us to live our faith in the world around us – not just at Mass on Sundays.
As I struggle to create some semblance of rhythm to my days with many children, I keep seeing folks refer to this book.
I pulled out my battered copy and found a receipt from 2008 — the years the boys were born.
Ahem.
I can’t believe I started this book almost 7 years ago and STILL haven’t finished it.
Sssshhhh. Greg and Jennifer Willits might kick me off the New Evangelizers team if they find out that I ordered this book but never got around to reading it.
5. Raising Your Spirited Child
I took the wrong approach with this book. I became frustrated while reading it, when it seemed like three of my children are spirited, all in different ways.
I’m going to start over, reading it this time with Rachel (and Maeve) in mind.
6. The Temperament God Gave You
I keep picking this book up and reading the parts that apply to me. I REALLY need to finish the entire thing, to learn how my temperament (choleric with sanguine tendencies) affects my relationships with my husband and children.
I’ve checked this book out in e-book form 3 different times, but still never got around to reading it before it expired! I’m determined to get it done this spring.
In the past few years, I’ve tried to focus on reading books to encourage me in my faith or parenting journey. Last year, I made it through these three, and would highly recommend them.
Books I Read Last Year During Lent
I don’t remember where I first found this book, but it goes on the ‘books I recommend for every Catholic parent’.
The spread of paganism and relativism has been silent but swift in our society. This book has opened my eyes to literature I read as a child, and alerts me to be wary of what I read to my own children.
Paul reminds us in 1 Peter 5:8 –
Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.
Filled with powerhouse Catholic women, you’ll find discussions on modesty, sexuality and more.
Rachael Carmen and I are cut out of the same stubborn cloth. Both of us are reluctant converts to homeschooling, and we both struggled with our plans versus God’s plans.
This is a quick read, but really encouraged me to consider the ‘why’ of my homeschooling.
Do you have books you plan to finish this spring? I’d like to hear what’s on your must read list. (I might check them out once I’ve finished my own!)
I think I am going to read a couple of these books!! Staying sane is a wonderful idea. And guarding your child’s heart is something that all parents should be concerned with 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for stopping in, Kay!
I’ve finished Landscape with Dragons since I wrote this … now, I’m working on Catholic Briefcase.
Those look like great books! I have The Temperament God Gave You on my reading list too. 🙂
I read enough to figure out what temperament I am — that was easy!
I’ve got one down, 9 to go !
Dianna,
This sounds like a great collection of books. I’ve reviewed a bunch of them, if you want some pre-reading ideas!
Landscape with Dragons is a good start, more for discussion than anything. I admire Michael O’Brien a lot and enjoy his fiction, but this book inspires thought for discussion, rather than a following all his ideas. I don’t agree with everything in the book.
Happy reading!
I totally agree with LFD — O’Brien brings up some good points, but there are some I disagree with as well. (I am a gigantic Harry Potter fan.)
He does make a good point about following our guts and having a good moral/religious frame of reference. We used to be big Magic Tree House fans for a while around here, but as we’ve gotten further into the series, they’re delving further and further into magic. We listen to them on audio a lot, and seems like I heard something one night about a character coming back from the dead. I had to quickly stop the CD and remind Rachel that things like that were impossible, that only Christ rose from the dead. The story didn’t sit right with me, and we haven’t listened to any since then.
Food for Thought.
I’m working on Catholic Briefcase now and will head over to your site to get more ideas. My bookshelf may buckle soon!
I think you were right on track with your hunch about Raising Your Spirited Child…your three kids probably are ALL spirited in different ways. It might help to think of the traits as continuums: not high energy/low energy, but falling somewhere on the spectrum.
For me the really enlightening thing about the book is thinking about how *I* are spirited, and how that meshes (or doesn’t!) with certain traits my children have. The lists at the end of the sections offer tips for dealing with challenge areas…and helpful ways to reframe the challenges.
This isn’t a book to be checked off the list, but one to dip into again and again as your children grow and change.
Mothers Rule of Life is another to return to again and again as seasons of life shift.
I’ve had ‘Raising Your Spirited Child’ on my to read list forever now.. It’s also sitting on my shelf collecting dust. It’s time to dig it out and read it with this new inspiration here. 😉 I’ve decided to look you up on Goodreads as well. We have quite a few books in common. I’ve read ‘A Mother’s Rule of Life’ three times now and still haven’t applied the “rule”..LOL.. Ongoing goal of mine. 😉 Thanks for the reading list!