Another year of excellent reading materials consumed by yours truly. You might know that I summarize what I’ve read over the year so I can remember. If my notes encourage you to read these books, I’d love to hear your thoughts on them.
OOOOOH, Quadzilla Book Club… ??
Anyway, in last year’s book summary I confessed a new strategy for my reading habits. This year I purposely read even FEWER books than I have in a LONG time. But these were so good for me. I highly recommend all these books be read slowly, properly digested, and ultimately applied to your life. That was my aim, because while I appreciate the value of reading for entertainment, I prefer to learn something that I can apply to my life hopefully making me a better husband, dad, leader, man, and Jesus follower. Here’s what I read.
If Only He Knew – Gary Smalley
Angie gave me this book, lol. Evidently I need it. So I read it. And it surprised me, a lot. People generally are not great at relationships because we tend to assume that other’s needs, expectations, and preferences are the same as ours – or at least they should be. I’m surely guilty of this and it makes close relationships like marriage more difficult. Thankfully there are valuable resources like this one to help men in particular navigate the mystery that is their spouse.
Friend, if you are involved in relationships and you fancy yourself as one who pursues personal growth and development, then you need to invest energy in learning how to love well – especially if you are married. This book can help. With chapter titles like: How to Drive Your Wife Away Without Even Trying; If Your Wife Doesn’t Win First Place, You Lose!; What No Woman Can Resist; and A Successful Marriage…It’s Easier Than You Think, I promise you will learn something(s) that you can apply to your marriage today. Highly recommend.
Atomic Habits – James Clear
I finally got around to reading one of the most popular books on human behavior and personal growth. I read it, then immediately started over and read it again. Each chapter is rich with helpful advice about simplifying my personal growth journey with tiny changes to how I think, how I function in ordinary routines, and how to build good habits that last. It’s a bit academic (backed by research) but in a way anyone can understand – even me, so it’s not like the author is making this up or preaching some kind of mystical mumbo-jumbo new age baloney. Honestly, most of it is common sense once you read it, but the simplicity of it is what makes for numerous “ah-ha” moments. You can build healthy habits that will literally automate much of your lifestyle which will make your personal performance and satisfaction in life greatly increase.
Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table – Louie Giglio
The small group of couples Angie & I meet with for bible study chose this book to help us understand the deeper meaning of Psalm 23. You may recognize this Psalm as it is often read at funerals, (though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…) but there is so much more to this text that is meant to help us understand the inevitable trouble in this life.
The enemy, of course, is the devil. He is the enemy for every human. The devil seeks to steal, kill, and destroy us and he very often starts with our mind. As you’ve heard me say many times, the real battle is in our mind – between our ears. It’s an unseen battle, and it rages all around us all the time.
Ever thought to yourself I’m not good enough…Everybody is against me… I’m not going to make it… I deserve what they have? Those thought come from the enemy trying to lie his way to your mind and control your life.
I found this book especially helpful to understand the deeper meaning of Psalm 23 to help me break free from my destructive thinking, stop believing the lies I tell myself, and quit living in shame, insecurity, and temptation. I can see more clearly the purpose behind the challenging times in my life. It’s liberating!
The Meaning of Marriage – Timothy Keller
This is my 3rd time through this book since 2018. It is so good. Possibly the best book on marriage I have read – and I’ve read many. It’s so good that I have purchased several copies to give away. Regardless of your stage of life or marriage, you can benefit from the principles in this book. Here are a few of the many passages I’ve highlighted in my copy.
“Nothing can mature character like marriage. ”
pg 17
“Therefore, the moment you marry someone, you and your spouse begin to change in profound ways, and you can’t know ahead of time what those changes will be. So you don’t know, you can’t know, who your spouse will actually be in the future until you get there….Over the years you will go through seasons in which you have to learn to love a person whom you didn’t marry, who is something of a stranger. You will have to make changes that you don’t want to make, and so will your spouse.”
pg 33
“Do for your spouse what God did for you in Jesus, and the rest will follow.”
pg 43
“If two spouses each say, “I’m going to treat my self-centeredness as the main problem in the marriage,” you have the prospect of a truly great marriage.”
pg 64
“It is a mistake to think that you must feel love to give it.”
pg 105
“So if we want to be happy in marriage, we will accept that marriage is designed to make us holy.”
pg 146
“Marriage does not so much bring you into confrontation with your spouse as confront you with yourself. Marriage shows you a realistic, unflattering picture of who you are and then takes you by the scruff of the neck and forces you to pay attention to it.”
pg 154
“We must communicate love in the way our spouse needs it.”
pg 171
“Each partner in marriage is to be most concerned not with getting sexual pleasure but with giving it.”
pg 267
I have benefitted greatly from slowing down to savor a few good reads this year. My plan will be the same for 2024. What books did you read that were impactful to you? Let me know so I can add them to my list.
Team Quadzilla 