Crazy Busy (& More December Reads)
Despite the fact my December was crazy busy, I finished reading eight books over the course of the month, including (appropriately) Kevin DeYoung’s book by that same title.
8 Books I Read in December
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
We listened to one of our favorite Christmas books on our way to San Antonio last month: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson.
Clocking in at only 128 pages, it’s a quick read and one my family has enjoyed for many a Christmas.
We love revisiting this tale of how six incorrigible and delinquent siblings take over the annual pageant at a local church, hear the Christmas story for the first time, and respond to its miraculous message in a way the congregation won’t soon forget.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
I like to re-read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol every Christmas. Although, for the past several years, instead of reading it in print, I’ve listened to my talented friend Miriam Margolyes read the story in the BBC’s audiobook production.
Dickens’ transformative tale of the miserly, Christmas-loathing Scrooge and the instructive ghosts who visited him upon a dark, dank, and foggy Christmas Eve, never grows old.
Do More Better by Tim Challes
In his short, fast-paced book on productivity, Do More Better, Tim Challes offers practical advice for choosing the most important tasks to work on and then doing that work efficiently and to the glory of God.
He argues that the driving force behind all our work should be honoring God and serving others. One secret of being productive is voluntary neglect of things that do not move you toward your goals within the calling God has placed on your life.
Don’t miss out on doing the things God has specifically gifted and equipped you to do because you keep getting distracted by sometimes good but lesser things vying for your attention.
The Art of War Visualized by Jessica Hagy
I enjoyed reading Jessica Hagy’s visual depiction of Sun Tzu’s classic The Art of War.
Although a couple of her diagrams made no sense to me whatsoever, the vast majority were smart, witty, and thought-provoking. She did a great job of adapting age-old military strategies to the common conflicts and everyday struggles of the modern era.
One Year of Dinner Table Devotions by Nancy Guthrie
This book of Dinner Table Devotions and Discussion Starters prompted a lot of valuable discussions over the course of the past twelve months.
The format is simple. Each daily reading consists of a scripture passage, a short related story, and 2-3 questions aimed at getting families to apply God’s Word to their lives.
I read the book aloud to my younger kids and older grandkids around lunchtime during our last few semesters of homeschooling. It took us a little over a year to get through it all that way, but we eventually did and enjoyed many deep conversations along the way.
Glad Tidings by Jennifer Flanders
My husband re-reads our old Christmas letters aloud to the family every December, the first 25 of which can be found in my book, Glad Tidings.
The stories are specific to our family, but relatable to all, as we share funny anecdotes, embarrassing moments, hard-learned lessons, everyday struggles, and tender mercies, tracing God’s hand of grace and faithful provision to our ever-growing family from our earliest days together.
Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung
Other than the Bible, Crazy Busy was the last book I read in 2023, hoping it would help set the tone in 2024.
Not that I want to be crazy busy this year. But that I recognize the fact my life consistently drifts in that direction and would like to counterbalance that.
You, too? If your own tendency toward busy-ness has led to stress and distraction, you’ll find helpful tips for turning things around in Kevin DeYoung’s “mercifully short book about a really big problem.”
NASB Life Application Study Bible
I finished up my annual reading of the Bible on December 31. God’s Word remains my #1 recommendation for people who want to do more reading: Start with that one.
I read from a variety of versions, but my favorites are the King James Version for Psalms, Proverbs, plus a few other selected passages that sound more lyrical and are easier to memorize in that translation, then the New American Standard Bible for everything else.
If you never find time to read any of the other books I review in these weekly newsletters, I hope you’ll make the effort to read God’s Word. The Bible is still the best selling book of all time, for good reason. If you want a reading plan that will take you cover to cover in a year’s time, Here is the plan I use (free printable).
Do you love to read as much as we do? I’ve gathered all my best resources for bibliophiles onto this page, or you can read more of my book reviews by following this link .
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