Disclaimer: I don’t read nearly as much as I should. Are you with me? I know only a handful of avid readers that knock out 20 books a year but I am just not one of those people. I think I read 5 this year. I’m going to tell you about my three favorites below. The other two included a John Grisham book (I squeeze in one of those a year) and I’m including my attempt to finish Atlas Shrugged and my re-read of Love & Respect as my other.

I am always looking for good book recommendations. I especially love getting them from those I know and trust. So, in case I happen to fall under that category for you (wink wink), here are my favorites from 2012:

1. Jesus + Nothing = Everything by: Tullian Tchividjian

If you read nothing else this year (besides the Bible), READ THIS BOOK! The Lord has been taking me on an amazing journey of understanding the impact of the gospel in my daily life and this book broke that wide open. Do you know that the good news of the gospel isn’t just for salvation? It is also for our sanctification–the daily work of God in our lives to make us more like Him. I have so much to share on this and will save it for another post but I just want to share my favorite quote from the book by John Bunyan:

“Run, John, run,” the law demands, but gives me neither feet nor hands. Better news the Gospel brings, it bids me fly and gives me wings.

2. In Defense of Food by: Michael Pollan

Both of my kids have food allergies. BOTH. One is allergic to eggs and peanut butter; the other one is allergic to dairy and soy. After struggling through the guilt that I had something to do with this, I knew I had to figure out what was going on with our food. Enter: Michael Pollan. This book is an easy read and so informative about the evolution of the food industry in America. He helps explain where all of these genetically modified foods are coming from and what they are doing to us. He proposes an amazingly simple solution: Eat food. Mostly vegetables. Not too much.

After reading this and with the help of my wonderful pin boards full of back to basics, made from scratch recipes, we are following his mantra. The more we do it, the easier it gets and the better we feel. Seriously.

3. Seven by: Jen Hatmaker

This girl is cray. If you haven’t read anything of hers yet, let this serve as a warning. Everything she does is extreme but that’s part of what makes her and this book she wrote pretty amazing. I was drawn to the subtitle: an experimental mutiny against excess. Basically, Jen, her family and a few of her other cray friends ban together to limit certain things each month for seven months. The categories include: clothes, shopping, waste, food, possessions, media and stress. I was afraid this book was going to make me feel super guilty and I’ve been avoiding it like I avoid Francis Chan’s Crazy Love for the same reason. However, I found it to be very informative and it really made me think about how I’m living out the calling of Christ in my daily life. Do I look more like Him or more like the world? As a result, we’ve had less “screen-time”, we’re recycling more, giving more freely and shopping a little bit less.

That’s all I’ve got! I hope these reviews helped. Here is the next stack of books I’ll be working through in 2013. Any other recommendations?

For His glory,