After a full weekend of church activities, a family wedding, and Christmas outings, I’m back with five more mini-reviews! These are all over the place as far as genre and rating, proving yet again how eclectic my reading tastes are. Honestly, I’ll read basically anything as long as it seems to me to have value of some kind.

I got this on sale at a Christian bookstore many years ago just because the title resonated so deeply with me. As a perfectionist and people pleaser, I deeply feel the exhaustion of wanting to be or seem perfect all of the time to everyone.

When I finally got around to reading the book, it wasn’t quite as earth-shattering as I was secretly hoping, but it was good. It was convicting enough that as soon as I finished it I reached out to a close friend to share how my mental and emotional health were doing at the time, which is something I very rarely share. So I think it accomplished what it was meant to.

I figured since I read 1984 a few years ago, I should get to this one, too. The comparison definitely added an interesting element. Both are just as horrifying, though in very different ways. I’ve heard some say that they think our current world aligns more closely to Brave New World than to 1984. I’m not sure I exactly agree. I see elements of both in our society.

Overall, this was a very difficult read, made all the more difficult because there is no redemption at all in the end. But I still say it was good because of the way it gets you thinking about where we are, where we are headed, and the dangers of an elite-driven, over-entertained society.

I read this one to my girls after reading them two others in the series. This one, however, I had never read before and I found I didn’t like it as much as I do the other Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books. I felt like the parents were portrayed more negatively, the kids were maybe more bratty in some of the stories, and it relied less on sort of natural, common sense “cures” than the other books do.

We still enjoyed it, however. The stories are amusing and whimsical and generally have good morals. I just doubt it’s going to become a family favorite.

I was not expecting to love this book so much. I don’t even remember where I got it–I think it was free in some books someone gave us way back in the day and I kept it but never got around to reading it. In this case, I only read it because it was next on my shelf, but the title didn’t appeal to me all that much, since significance isn’t something I relate to personally searching for.

However, I found the book deeply impactful and meaningful. It is full of truth about how God sees us and how that should demolish the lies we tell ourselves or believe about ourselves, which is exactly what I need to hear. As soon as I finished it I immediately gave it to a friend, and looking back on it I feel the urge to re-read it since I don’t tend to retain books very well after one reading. Highly recommend.

Book #10 in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series is really a continuation of the previous book, The Language of Bees. I liked it much better than most of the other installments in the series thus far–it pulled me in, and the characters were more vivid and interesting, and the stakes felt higher. It also felt more connected to the rest of the series, past and future, and less like a standalone story. Honestly, it felt like for a bit the series got “back on track,” at least from my perspective.

That’s all for today! Still trying to make it through the rest of these by the end of the year. Thank you for coming along with me on the journey. We’ll see together if I can make it…