Recent reads.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens- It's been a long time since I have heard so many people talk about a book. I felt like everyone was reading this and I saw it popping up everywhere! It really made me want to check it out since it was SO talked about. It was incredibly interesting and hard to even summarize. It flips back and forth in time following a girl named Kya, who grew up alone in the North Carolina marsh, and a murder investigation about a man from the community named Chase Andrews. Kya was the youngest sibling, so all her older siblings grew up and left, and her mom left because her dad was abusive, and she lived alone with her dad for a brief time, until her dad left and never came back, so she grew up in almost complete isolation. Her story is fascinating of how she lived and what she did all alone, and how the two timelines intersect is so intriguing. I can't really say much about that without giving too much away. I finished this two months ago and I still don't know what I think about the ending. So wild, but you should read it.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi- This was one that had been on my list for awhile, and I really enjoyed it. It was sad in that it was written by a man who is now past away (he died in 2015), but it's an autobiography about his life and illness. He was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer during his final year of neurosurgical residency. While he doesn't talk a lot about Christianity, he does say that he was raised in a Christian home, turned away for awhile, and then came back to Christianity later in life. I enjoyed that this was more of an autobiography than just talking about his final days, though he does do that as well. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would; it's one of my favorite books written by someone with a terminal illness that I've read.

Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family by Paul David Tripp- Kley and I read this book together, and I'm really glad we did. It was amazing. I had heard good things about it beforehand, and it did not disappoint. It was a beautiful combination of challenging and encouraging, with so many good and relatable points. It's my favorite parenting book I've ever read. I would highly recommend it.