"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers."
-Charles W. Eliot
I love this quote. It is such a great description of books. How many times have you picked up a book and it felt like an old friend, greeting you where you last left it? Books are always there for us. Books can bring people together. Books can help classrooms learn about kids their age across the world. Books can help a Mom understand what her child needs. Books can help us understand our spouse. They are there to provide answers, to make us ask questions, to help us grow, to let us escape.
Reading has always been an important part of my life. I can remember hiding under my covers with a flashlight reading all about the adventures of Ramona Quimby in Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary. Most recently, I found myself staying up way too late reading about the girl, Sarah, who dearly misses her little brother whom she left behind in an effort to protect him in Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. I love the way reading makes me get out of my own little world and broadens my perspective.
We have compiled a list of books that have touched our hearts and have included some book suggestions from our blog readers. We asked you to send us a list of what you were reading at the end of our post Ward's Words.
Our blog readers gave us some great suggestions! We have included a picture of the cover and a brief description of the book found on goodreads.com. So grab a cup of coffee, find a comfy chair and curl up with one of these great books...
Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives
Having a baby with Down syndrome is not something most parents would willingly choose. Yet many who travel this path discover rich, unexpected rewards along the way. In this candid and poignant collection of personal stories, sixty-three mothers describe the gifts of respect, strength, delight, perspective, and love, which their child with Down syndrome has brought into their lives.
Like the previous book, GIFTS 2 helps us see that the hopes and dreams family and friends have for a child with Down syndrome are similar to the ones we have for any child. And, more often than not, expectations are fulfilled-if not always the way we anticipated they would be. A grandparent, inspired by his grandson's strong will, discovers the ability to persevere and not give up on a job. A brother who assumed he would be the person helping his sibling with Down syndrome describes how often it is the other way around. A young teacher remembers her first student with Down syndrome and it gives her strength and clarity when she is faced with her own child's diagnosis.
Inspired by the death of his 14 year old son and his family shared ordeal, Rabbi Kushner tells how to deal spiritually with an unfair loss or tragedy. On this cassette Rabbi Kushner reaches out to people of all faiths as he offers a message of love and peace.
Dr. Laura urgently reminds women that to take proper care of their husbands is to ensure themselves the happiness and satisfaction they yearn for in marriage. Dr. Laura shows you—with real-life examples and real-life solutions—how to wield that power to attain all the intimacy, love, joy, and peace you want in your life.
In Perfectly Yourself, Matthew Kelly describes how the ceaseless and futile quest for perfection can lead us into pits of self-loathing. Using anecdotes about his own experiences, this accomplished motivational speaker shows that the real secret to achieving happiness and success lies in switching our focus from arriving at perfection to making progress.
It's like planning a trip to Italy, only to get off the plane and discover you're actually in Holland. You need a new road map, and fast...
When Jennifer Groneberg and her husband learned they'd be having twin boys, their main concern was whether they'd need an addition on their house. Then, five days after Avery and Bennett were born, Avery was diagnosed with Down syndrome.
Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his "Great Sadness," Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Nine-year-old Liesel lives with her foster family on Himmel Street during the dark days of the Third Reich. Her Communist parents have been transported to a concentration camp, and during the funeral for her brother, she manages to steal a macabre book: it is, in fact, a gravediggers’ instruction manual. This is the first of many books which will pass through her hands as the carnage of the Second World War begins to hungrily claim lives. Both Liesel and her fellow inhabitants of Himmel Street will find themselves changed by both words on the printed page and the horrendous events happening around them.
The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan
Corrigan opens her memoir with these words: "The thing you need to know about me is that I am George Corrigan's daughter, his only daughter." Though Kelly writes of her husband and daughters, her mother and her brothers, it is her father's love that sustains her. And so, readers fear for her when she reveals that George has been diagnosed with cancer, too. It is at this nadir, facing not only her own mortality but her father's as well, that Kelly finally begins to emerge as a survivor -- a wife, a mother, and more herself. Yet, she will always be her father's daughter.
Mistaken Identityby Don Van Ryn, Susie Van Ryn, Newell Cerak, Colleen Cerak, Whitney Cerak, Mark Tabb
Meet Laura Van Ryn and Whitney Cerak: one buried under the wrong name, one in a coma and being cared for by the wrong family. Read this unprecedented story of two traumatized families who describe their ordeal and explore the bond sustaining and uniting them as they deal with their bizarre reversal of life lost and life found.
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want--husband, country home, successful career--but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.
Heaven is for Realby Todd Burpo, Lynn Vincent, Sonja Burpo, Colton Burpo
Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.
The Pioneer Woman by Ree Drummond This isn't just my love story; it's a universal tale of passion, romance, and all-encompassing love that sweeps us off our feet.
It's the story of a cowboy.
And Wranglers.
And chaps.
And the girl who fell in love with them.
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