Reading List

While I am kind of sad that I’m no longer a college student (I had a dream Monday night that I magically had another year at BYU and since I had finished all of my required classes I was going to take two semesters of fun classes) there are some perks. One in particular is that I get to choose my own reading list. I’ve gone to town reading a wide variety of books (including the entire Harry Potter series…again), but here are a few that I would highly recommend:

The 5 Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell. This book is great for teachers, parents, or anyone that has any interaction with children. I got tons of ideas of how I probably could have handled myself better in the classroom and wish I could try them out; so any teachers out there that read and do, let me know how it goes! Newborns don’t really fall into the love languages categories, but it also planted seeds for a few months/years down the road in the parenting journey.

Covenant Motherhood by Stephanie Dibb Sorensen. I actually took a class from her the spring term before I got married (anyone still at BYU and looking for a great religion teacher should take from her!). One day in class she told us how she had just submitted her first book to her editor. She explained that she had gotten married in her late 20s and when children came along she loved them very much, but she did not feel an immediate testimony and love of the day-in-day-out life of a stay-at-home-mom. She began studying for years from the scriptures and general conference talks about the divine role of motherhood. One day she was changing her daughters diaper and the thought came into her mind that Jesus is in the cleaning business, and she was too. Overtime, she compiled her studies and personal impressions into a book. Needless to say, I was interested in reading it when it was published! In April after I graduated and had some time, I tracked down her email to see how the book was coming along. It had been recently published so I quickly bought a copy before leaving Utah. It is AWESOME! The book is laid out with each chapter being one of Christ’s roles, and how we can learn to become more like he is in each area through motherhood. I quickly read through it the first time, but I really need to go back and study it sentence by sentence. Highly recommend this one!

I am a Mother by Jane Clayson Johnson. This book was actually recommended to me by my good friend Katie, so she gets credit for this one. This book is a fabulous read for all women, not just those with children. It is full of incredible life experiences and lessons. Here is one quote (of sooo many – really I could quote the whole book, which is why you should just read it) that I think is rather applicable to all and a great reminder, “There are seasons in life. Don’t ever let anyone deny you the blessings and joy of one season because they believe you should be in – or stay in – another season.”

If you have any reading suggestions, from college classes or otherwise, I would love to hear them! Goodreads is a decent resource, but I’m always looking for more ideas.