Books I’ve Read and Recommend
As long as I can remember I always disliked reading with a passion. Growing up, I was always terrible at it and never enjoyed it. When we moved to America the dislike of reading continued. I remember in college, I always looked for shortcuts on how to save time and avoid reading. In my African American Literature class, I would look up the short stories online and copy & paste them into an online text to speech feature, just so that I didn’t have to read them but I would just listen. Once I even purchased a CD audiobook again only to avoid actually reading it. Nowadays, it is so much easier to do this since you can find an audio version of practically anything. A great way to listen to the books is through Amazon’s app called audible. You can try audible and Get two free audiobooks here. I usually listen to the books when I’m driving or if I’m doing something that doesn’t require thinking so I can actually focus on listening to the book. Now I can literally finish one book in less than a week if the book is really interesting. Now, if I actually had sat down and read the books then I would probably have a hard time doing it just because finding the time to sit down would be the hard part. I would probably get sidetracked by something else whether it is productive or not.
Books Currently Reading
- Thirty-One Prayers for my Wife by Aaron & Jennifer Smith
31 specific prayers that you can pray for your wife. Specifically designed for one prayer per day so you can do it every day in a month. - A Light Shines Bright in Babylon: A Handbook for Christian Business Owners by Buck Jacobs
Very interesting perspective on how a Christian individual should handle business as a form of ministry. A good read even if you’re not a business owner.
Christian Books
Here is a list of Christian books that I have read or listened too.
- The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell
Very interesting leadership laws that a father can be applied since we are the leaders of our homes. - You and Me Forever by Francis Chan
A book designed for couples and inspires them to do something for the Kingdom of God. - Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan
Talks about God’s relentless love. - Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
A good book on apologetics but a little hard to follow for simple minded people like myself. The author presents the logical validity of Christianity.
- The Reason for God by Tim Keller
Another great book that talks about apologetics and is a little bit easier to swallow compared to Mere Christianity. - The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Each person has a preference of how they feel loved out of the following five love languages: receiving gifts, acts of service, words of affirmation, physical touch, quality time. - The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
Understanding God’s purpose in your life.
Self Development Books
- Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money – That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert Kiyosaki
A very interesting book that talks about finances. Robert talks about how he was raised by his dad and influenced by his friend’s rich dad. - The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
The book takes you back to the time of the ancient city of Babylon and tells a story of a man who learned how to invest his income and in return became the richest man in Babylon. Very interesting to read and the concepts can be applied in the modern world to help people get out of debt and start investing.
- The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins
The book talks about a simple rule of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and goes in order to help you make an instant decision regardless of what it is without your brain having the chance to stop you and over think the idea or the decision. - How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams
This is a story of the comic author/artist of Dilbert. He talks about how many people don’t see all the things people fail at but only see their successes. - Today Matters: 12 Daily Practices to Guarantee Tomorrows Success by John Maxwell.
Teaches 12 daily principals that you can do to achieve success. - The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
A very interesting book that teaches how to get rid of bad old habits and create a new one. How making small steps towards one big goal.
- Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence and How you Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk
The title of this book says it all. A really interesting book about how people are making it big while pursuing something they really love doing. - The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
An interesting book that teaches you a step by step guideline on how to escape from a corporate job and create your own business to fund a lifestyle of your dreams.
Bibles
Here are some great bible’s that you can get for gifts or if you need a new one.
- NKJV, Deluxe Reader’s Bible, Leathersoft, Black, Comfort Print
- NKJV, Thin Bible, Standard Print, Leathersoft, Pink, Red Letter Edition, Comfort Print
- NKJV Large Print Personal Size Reference Bible, Teal Leather Touch
- NKJV, Gift Bible, Imitation Leather, Brown, Red Letter Edition (Classic)
Kids Bibles
- The Beginner’s Bible: Timeless Children’s Stories – This one was probably our favorite that we tried for our kids out of all three. The stories are not too short and not too long and it uses simple language to make it easier for the kids to learn Bible stories.
- 365 Bible Stories and Prayers – I would say this kids bible is good but it has more text than pictures. Therefore, this book would work better for kids 6 and up and not so much for toddlers since there isn’t a ton of pictures.
- My First Bible – This is a great start for a little one since the pages are hard designed for small kids. It’s had good illustrations and enough text to tell a good bible story. Being that it’s a board book there are only 23 Bible stories.
Books I want to Read
- Driven by Eternity: Make Your Life Count Today and Forever by John Bevere
- Good or God? Why Good without God Isn’t Enough
- 31 Prayers for my daughter by Aaron & Jennifer Smith
- 31 Prayers for my son by Aaron & Jennifer Smith
- Husband After God – Drawing Closer to God & Your Wife by Aaron & Jennifer Smith
- The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller
- Break Free by Vlad Savchuk
- How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life by John Maxwell.
- Unshakable Hope: Building Our Lives on the Promises of God
- Crush It!: Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk
- The 10X rule: The only difference between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone
- Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook by Tony Robbins
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
- Start with Why by Simon Sinek
- Mastery by Robert Green
- The E-myth, Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do about it by Michael E. Gerber
You know of any good books that are not on this list? Feel free to recommend a book in the comments below.