My To Be Read Pile : HopeStreamRadio

My To Be Read Pile

All true readers have a “to be read” pile. Here, Steph Nickel looks at some of the books that she aspires to have read before the end of the year.

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A Very Tall To Be Read Pile

As you know, if you’ve listened to my other book reviews, my TBR (or To Be Read) pile is tall, very tall. This week and next, I’d like to highlight half a dozen nonfiction books and half a dozen novels I’d like to read before the end of the year. (We’ll see how that goes, but it is my goal.)

A Focus on Nonfiction

Today let’s focus on nonfiction.

I am currently working my way through Lisa Cron’s Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel.

It’s unlike any other writing skills development book I’ve ever read. And although she is not writing from a Christian worldview and sees the origin of our connection to story differently than I do, there is still a lot to learn from this book. And as I would like to write a series of novels about hard choices, I might as well learn from the get-go how to make them riveting. <grin>

I will be using the 90 Day Fix Her Upper Devotional by Beth Duewel and Rhonda Rhea. It is the companion volume to Fix Her Upper: Hope and Laughter through a God Renovated Life, which I would like to read.

Beth and Rhonda’s newest book in the series is called Fix Her Upper: Reclaim Your Happy Space. And yes, I would like to read it too. (Hmm, I wonder if I really need to sleep.)

Let’s count these three as one book because the short bite-sized chapters are perfect for my morning devotional time. And who knows? I may read two in the morning and one at night. Beth and Rhonda bookends. Sounds good to me.

Of the six other books sitting on my lap, which four shall I aim to read by the end of the year?

I’ll list them in alphabetical order, and we’ll go from there.

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Six Other Books to be Read

There’s Clutter Free by Kathi Lipp, Exhale: Lose Who You’re Not, Love Who You Are, Live Your One Life Well by Amy Carroll and Cheri Gregory, Free of Me by Sharon Hodde Miller, Messy to Meaningful by Monica Schmelter, Rhonda Rhea, and Kaley Rhea, Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin, and You Don’t Have to Try So Hard: Ditch Expectations and Live Your Own Best Life by Kathi Lipp and Cheri Gregory. And I’ve pre-ordered Sharon Hodde Miller’s newest book, Nice: Why We Love to Be Liked and Why God Calls Us to More, which is due to arrive this summer.

Seriously, why do I need to sleep?

Let’s use the process of elimination to pare down the list.

A Pared Down to be Read List

I belong to the group Clutter Free for Life and hang out on the Clutter Free Facebook pages regularly. I have also worked my way through the Clutter Free Bible Study. So, I’ll leave that one on hold for the time being.

Messy to Meaningful also consists of several short chapters. I will use it during my devotional time after I complete the Fix Her Upper series.

I look forward to reading both Exhale and You Don’t Have to Try So Hard, in part because I love quizzes. I learned from the quiz in You Don’t Have to Try So Hard that I’m an Expressive. I bet you’re not surprised, and most of you haven’t even met me in person. The other three personality types they mention are the Driver, the Amiable, and the Analytic. My hubby is definitely an Amiable, which is lifesaving considered he’s married to me.

Exhale also has a personality quiz. The four types included are the Connector, the Inspector, the Director, and the Reflector. I’ll give you three guesses—no, make that one. I’m sure you figured out that I’m a Connector. And my hubby? He’s a Reflector. God most definitely knew what He was doing when He caused our paths to cross 40ish years ago.

So, here we are at four books on the list—well, sort of. And now for the last two. Let’s see.

The Last Two on the List

I’m going to choose Women of the Word and Free of Me. Free of Me is one of those books I want to read and reread on a regular basis. The subtitle is Why Life is Better When It’s Not About You and the author looks at every area of our life and describes the pitfalls of making it all about us and the freedom that comes when we make it all about Jesus—since it’s all about Him in the first place.

And in keeping with that, it makes sense to learn to study His Word effectively and well. So, it’s time that I dug into Jen Wilkin’s book.

Before The End of The Year

Will I get all of these books read before the end of the year? Debatable. There are many responsibilities on my To Do list—or Action Plan, as one of my friend’s likes to call it. Plus, the I Want To list is also quite lengthy. But as the saying goes, we’ll never know we hit the goal if we don’t know what the goal was.

What nonfiction books are on your TBR pile?

Remember to join me next week to hear a little about the novels I’m reading and those I want to read in the next few months.