11 Books I Read in July
11 Books I Read in July
By: Brittany Shields
July was a special month for me.
At the end of July, I got to take a week long vacation with my husband in Cancun. Zero children. I brought 7 books and read almost 5 of them so it was a pretty good week!
My first two books this month I read at the same time. Due to the thought-provoking subject matter that probably wasn’t my best idea. But don’t let that scare you away. They are both compelling and important reads. Just read them separately!
Also in my list are 3 books nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards and 2 books I had on my Most Anticipated Books of 2022 list.
This was a pretty diverse month with a lot of genres, though more light on the suspense/thriller than usual.
Summer isn’t over yet, guys. There’s always time for one more book! Find your next read in the list below and don’t forget to share this list with your friends. Or enemies. I’m good with either.
Spotlight of the Month:
It’s hard to pick a Spotlight for the month because I read so many good books. But I think I’ll showcase Cultish by Amanda Montell. There was so much to think and talk about with that book. It was interesting and funny, although if you’re part of Crossfit or an MLM you may feel attacked at times.
I like books that promote critical thinking and this book is that! Language is more powerful than we realize and it would behoove us to consider the implications of language and how we can be affected by it.
1. A Biblical Case Against Theistic Evolution: Is it Compatible with the Bible? edited by Wayne Grudem
Genre: Theology
Evolution has been and continues to be a controversial topic.
The premise of this work is to lay out the arguments as to why theistic evolution (which is different than just ‘evolution’) is incompatible with what the Bible teaches.
It is not about how old the earth is or if it was a literal six day creation.
It is an argument to compel readers to view Genesis as an historical account, not figurative, allegorical, or mythical.
It is an argument that exposes the dangers of misinterpreting Genesis and how it undermines several crucial doctrines of Scripture.
To that end, this book is very compelling and important read.
Read my full review to see the tenets of theistic evolution, a synopsis of what this book covers, and why this book even matters!
2. Why God Makes Sense in a World that Doesn’t: The Beauty of Christian Theism by Gavin Ortlund
Genre: Theology/Apologetics
“The fact that we desire something to be true does not make it true. At the same time, desire is not irrelevant to truth either… For example, hunger might not prove you have food, but it might suggest to you that there is such a thing as food out there, somewhere.”
People today aren’t really asking if Christianity is true. They’re more commonly asking- is it good?
Ortlund has written this book to show the beauty and goodness of Christian Theism.
Because people tend to make sense of the world using stories, he has formatted his book with the four essential pieces of a good story: a beginning, a meaning, a conflict, and a hope.
Christian Theism vs Naturalism: which one tells a better story? Which one “better accounts for the strangeness, the incompleteness, the brokenness, and the beauty of our world?”
Read my full review to see my disclaimer for this book, to get a taste of each chapter, and to see some more quotes from the book.
(This one would be a good book to read with a group and discuss)
3. House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
Genre: Fantasy/Horror
[Nominated for ‘Best YA Fantasy’ category of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]
“Dark, dangerous things happened around the Hollow sisters.”
Iris and her two sisters, Grey and Vivi, are strange.
They have been… ever since that thing that happened to them when Iris was seven. It left all three of them white-haired, black-eyed, and insatiably hungry.
Iris’s world comes to a crashing halt when Grey disappears. Her and Vivi know that Grey is in danger and they must find her.
Their journey to save their sister will expose truths that they aren’t ready to deal with. And the truth about what happened to them in their missing memories.
This book isn’t for everyone (that means you, mom) because of some of the weird horror stuff. This may be my first horror book so I’m no expert. But it wasn’t a gruesome slasher story by any means. Probably more fantasy than horror.
I was still able to enjoy it!
Read my full review for a few disclaimers about the book, some of my thoughts on the themes of the book, and a few spoiler ramblings!
4. The It Girl by Ruth Ware
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
“She has never felt more haunted— by what happened to April, and by what she, Hannah, may have done to an innocent man. And now haunted too by what she’s doing to her old friends.”
Hannah attends Oxford and has a roommate named April. She’s the ‘It Girl.’ Rich, good-looking, wild, confident. The opposite of Hannah. But somehow their friendship works.
Then one night Hannah finds April dead in their room.
Hannah provides the eye-witness testimony of the weird porter at the school who was leaving their staircase that night that puts him in jail. He maintains his innocence.
Years later, Hannah is married to Will, April’s boyfriend at the time of her murder. The man she put in prison has just died and a journalist contacts her with new information that makes Hannah unsure of what really happened that night.
Did she sentence an innocent man to die in prison?
Hannah can’t rest until she gets to the bottom of what happened.
Read my full review to see why I may or may not be reading any more Ruth Ware books, some more comments on the book, and a really interesting collection of UK slang terminology!
5. Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
Genre: Non-Fiction
[Nominated for ‘Best Nonfiction’ category of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]
“With a glimmer of willingness, language can do so much to squash independent thinking, obscure truths, encourage confirmation bias, and emotionally charge experiences such that no other way of life seems possible.”
When I saw this book I knew I had to read it. It’s becoming more and more clear to me how powerful language is. I was very curious to see how Montell handled this connection between language and cults.
I found this book to be thought-provoking and interesting. Plus I enjoyed her tongue-in-cheek talking about MLMs and health/wellness groups to be cultish.
There is a lot to discuss about this book. Read my full review to see what a cult is and why it matters, to see what ‘cult’ I thought Montell missed, to read a list of interesting things I learned, and see a list of book club discussion questions I came up with.
This is definitely worth a read!
6. God, Technology, and the Christian Life by Tony Reinke
Genre: Christian Living
[This was on my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2022]
“Human innovation is a wonderful gift but a disappointing god.”
This was a good book for me to read as technology continues to pervade the world.
Tony Reinke, author of 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You (on my TBR), speaks of two groups of people: tech optimists and tech pessimists. Those who believe technology is evil and will only lead to destruction, and those who believe technology will save us.
Obviously we don’t have to place ourselves into one of these groups.
But is there one you lean more toward?
As Christians, how are we to think about technology?
Using 9 different Bible passages and 9 different voices, Reinke has written this book to dispel 12 different myths about God and technology.
Read my full review to see what the myths are, to get a glimpse of technology in the Bible, read some more quotes, and access my list of book club discussion questions.
Reinke takes a very balanced and thoughtful position on technology and I think it would be a great read for anyone!
7. Mother Trucker: Finding Joy on the Loneliest Road in America by Amy Butcher
Genre: Memoir/Non-Fiction
“This story is about women—about the way we bend, and love and listen, the way we forgive, forgive, forgive.”
I love the subtitle of this book.
Amy Butcher, the author, has come to meet Joy “Mothertrucker” Wiebe, an Instagram star and the only female trucker to traverse the most dangerous road in America.
Amy and Joy find kinship in their shared experiences of domestic abuse.
In the isolation of their trek north, Amy finds Joy— the person— and Joy helps Amy find herself again, and together they chase the loneliness away.
“Joy gave me a sense of hope. She demonstrated every day the way a woman could put herself fearlessly out into the world, and I envied that strength, that courage.”
There are three major themes in this book: Abuse, Faith, and Politics.
Read my full review for my brief breakdown of each one, my disappointment with the book, and a list of fun facts!
8. The Bomber Mafia: A Story Set in War by Malcolm Gladwell
Genre: Non-Fiction/History
[Nominated for ‘Best History/Biography’ category of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]
“This is a story of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer. A band of brothers in central Alabama. A British psychopath. Pyromaniacal chemists in a basement lab at Harvard. It’s a story about the messiness of our intentions, because we always forget the mess when we look back. And at the heart of it all are Haywood Hansel and Curtis LeMay, who squared off in the jungles of Guam.”
This is a not so well-known story of WWII that talks about a war-changing new technology, two generals with different strategies, the invention of Napalm, the discovery of the global jet stream, and more!
As with all Gladwell books, it was super interesting, even if it had less social psychology than his other books.
Read my full review for more information on what the book covers, thoughts on technology and morality, and a link to one of Gladwell’s corresponding TED talks.
This book is for anyone with interest in history!
9. Verity by Colleen Hoover
Genre: Psychological Thriller/Romance
I’m in several book-lover Facebook groups and the past few weeks I had seen hundreds, I kid you not, posts about people reading this book, recommending this book, buying this book, marrying this book.
So I thought, I haven’t read Colleen Hoover yet, I guess I should do what everyone else is doing.
Unfortunately, this book did not live up to the hype for one very big reason.
Read my review to find out why I don’t recommend this book and to see my spoiler comments!
10. The Porn Problem by Vaughan Roberts
Genre: Christian Living
There are a lot of people who don’t view porn as a problem.
One of the biggest eye-opening moments for me when I went off to college was discovering how common porn is even for Christians. Whether it is celebrated or just a struggle people are trying to overcome, porn is very prevalent in the world today.
Is porn a problem?
I think we are naive to answer anything other than ‘yes.’ (Visit here for more info)
Read my full review to see why porn is a problem, what God’s design for sex is, to find hope and forgiveness for anyone with a porn addiction, and to access some additional resources Roberts provides in his book.
This book is not exhaustive but it’s a good introductory book that is informative but encouraging and is all too relevant for today.
11. The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
Genre: Historical Fiction
“I only knew that my dark side awoke when I realized there was no room in my life for mistakes. When I realized I could not miss, not ever. When I heard a rifle sing in my hands as I buried a bullet through the neck of a bottle and sent the base flying into diamond shards… and realized who and how I could be.”
What drives a woman to become a sniper in WWII?
The Diamond Eye is the fictionalized-true story of Mila Pavlichenko, female sniper in the Russian army. Both mom and soldier, we see both sides of Mila as she tries to be both mother and father to her son and show him strength and courage.
Told in two parts: Mila’s time accumulating her 300+ kills and Mila’s time in America with the Russian delegation trying to garner American support in fighting Hitler in Russia and Mila making friends with Eleanor Roosevelt.
As usual, Quinn does a remarkable job with her research and attention to details. At times it makes for some technical reading when it comes to guns and shooting and such, but I appreciate Quinn’s effort in creating a true to life story.
Read my full review for more of the plot and all the things I liked about it.
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