1. Strangling Your Husband is Not an Option, by Merrilee Brown Boyack
I had seen this cutesy cover and was kinda turned off when I read the backside: "Move over, Dr. Laura, Merrilee has some practical advice of her own." How corny, I thought. But it turns out, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Merrilee has a great writing style, and good humor. She's been married 26 years and is a frequent speaker at BYU's Education Week. Included are the five don'ts and the five do's of wifehood, and how to be a fun-living (yes LIVING) wife. Merrilee has lots of stories and examples to support her nuggets of truth.
She encourages wives to fine-tune the art of flirting, and of having fun! She discusses fundamental differences between men and women, to help us understand them better. Though some of this was refresher stuff, I like the unique way she presents it and intertwines it with gospel principles (something missing from Dr. Laura's books!).
2. The Peacegiver, by James Ferrell
A funny thing happened, a friend told me to read this book in reference to a situation we were both experiencing with our kids. And I discovered Joe had given it to me for Mother's Day (I had put it aside and forgotten about it). So I'm sitting in my room thinking about the book, and I look down, and THERE IT WAS!
This book peels off some of the outer layers of the gospel and gets into some deeper levels as far as the atonement, and some of the Bible stories, specifically Jonah and Nineveh. It points out the chiasm, an ordering structure prevalent in Hebrew writing, in Jonah's story, and also the symbolism regarding his 3 days in the whale. The profound question at the end of the book of Jonah is applied to our lives, "And should not I spare Nineveh?" Have we become blind to our own "Nineveh-ness?" Pretty deep, and pretty cool. Angles on the atonement I had never thought of are included in this book.
3. Double Feature: How to Win Friends and Influence People, and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, by Dale Carnegie
Wow, I cannot believe these classics have been around since 1936 and I am just now reading them. And I picked it up as a 2-in-1 book for $8 on the bargain table at Barnes & Noble. I wasn't a reader growing up, hated the required reading in my HS honors and AP classes, and when I didn't enjoy "The Work and the Glory" series, I thought I just wasn't a reader. Instead I found out that I just hadn't found the right books for ME. These two books are excellent, and must-haves for any library as they are chuck full of lots of "secrets" on how to be happy and improve your life. It's amazing that the stories and experiences the author shares are relevant to our lives today, even though this was written so long ago. But human beings and true principles don't really change! I went back and picked another one up for Joe, since it's on his AMC required reading list. Get your marker handy and plan on reading, and re-reading this one.
3 comments:
Hi Pat, Now I can say I have been on your blog. I have read The Peacegiver. I loved it and would like to read it again, only I don't own it. The other books I would like to read. I only read part of Dr. Laura's The Feeding and Care of Husbands and I didn't like it.
Well if you lived closer, you could borrow my copy of The Peacegiver! That would be nice :) PS, what didn't you like about Dr. Laura's book?
Hi Pat, Great Blog! I enjoyed reading your comments about books. Coincidentally, I recently read How to Win Friends and Influence People, it was pretty worth reading. Also enjoyed the pictures.
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