What I'm Reading - for fun and my challenge!

 Francine Rivers is a great author, at least from what I've read.  My mom passed this set on to me to read and just warned me to make sure I had plenty of time to read because I wouldn't be able to put them down and she was right.  The books cover the story of several generations of one family and how the hurt and bitterness just eats away until one person is willing to try and bring everyone back together.  I would highly recommend this set of books to anyone.  When I finished, I wished there was one more book just to keep reading about the family yet, the story was finished. 

 Women Leaving the Workplace was one of the books I wanted to read by December.  It was given to me by my pastor's wife before I quit work but when my husband and I were making the decision for me to stay home.  It is on older book - and the info is quite dated.  The income amounts, cost of living comparisons, etc are extremely low compared to today's society BUT the concepts are the same.  I will say that the first chapter or so actually discouraged me and I already stay home.  Larry Burkett did make some very good points though, especially the fact that both spouses need to be on the same page for it to work to live on one income.  He also gives ideas for work to do at home but, honestly, many of those are out dated as well.  Would I recommend this book?  I'm not sure - it isn't a bad book by any means but rather, because it is out dated, I know that there are books much more current on the same topic and would be more applicable for someone to read.

 Sorry for the sideways picture - for the longest time, pictures didnt' have to be flipped before uploading them and, apparently, they do now!  This was my last challenge book.  I was dreading this one the most because I had started reading it this summer and couldn't read it - I thought it was boring.  But, when I came back to it and reminded myself that it was a memoir, not a "story", and I read it that way - it was actually very interesting.  It is about a guy who is put into a prison which also housed the last leprosy patients in the US at the same time.  His crime had to do with check kiting - but he spend a year there and learned much about himself and those he was in the prison with as well.  I did find this story intriguing but, I have to say that there is some pretty bad language in this book -as he writes, he does use the "prison talk" that the other inmates use so it could be offensive to some of you to read. 

Finally, (again sorry for the picture) Choosing to See by Mary Beth Chapman is actually a book for my challenge for 1st quarter of 2011 but since I had already finished the other books for this year, I figured I would just get started early :-)  When I saw this book come out, I knew I wanted to read it - I've always been a huge fan of Steven Curtis Chapman and was heartbroken when their little girl was killed.  My mom bought this book, unbeknowst to me, and when she finished it passed it on to me!  I really enjoyed reading Mary Beth's story - the book tells her whole story - it was interesting to read about how she and Steven met, to see the history behind so many of his songs, and to read about how his career slowly took off.  Than comes the tragedy in their family when their son accidentally ran over their youngest daughter.  It is heartbreaking to read that section of the book.  I do have to say the last 1/4 of the story is all excerpts (or mostly) from either journals or blogs through the course of the year + since the accident so I found myself skimming that section more than reading it like I did the first 3/4 of the book.  But, even with that, I would recommend this book to anyone to read especially if you are a fan of Steven Curtis Chapman!