Today I am sharing a review on the last book I read in 2016, Giddy Up, Eunice along with my blogger friend Leslie at Once Upon a Time Happily Ever After. Leslie and I are ALSO giving away a FREE copy (Kindle or Hard Copy- your choice!) of Giddy Up, Eunice! But, first I wanted to do a little recap on the books I read in 2016.
I’m excited to share the 10 books I read in 2016 with you today! I thought I had read a lot more books, as I usually average around 2 books a month… but, I do a lot of reading on my treadmill and since I trained for the marathon mostly outdoors with my training group I think my reading suffered. But, that’s ok, because I read A LOT of AH-mazing books this year!
2016 Books
The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah
Night Film – Marisha Pessl
Bread & Wine – Shauna Niequist
The Husband’s Secret – Liane Moriarty
The Rosie Project – Graeme Samson
Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide – Hal Higdon
The Year We Turned Forty – Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel
Giddy Up, Eunice – Sophie Hudson
It Ends With Us – Colleen Hoover
Of all of these books, I would say that The Nightingale, Station Eleven and It Ends With Us were my ABSOLUTE favorites. These books I would read again! The Nightingale was my #1 favorite book. I’ve read other books from Kristin Hannah and this has been my favorite by FAR. Giddy Up, Eunice also got a big FIVE stars from me this year as it was truly inspiring and a book that made me feel proud of these women in the Bible.
NOW, let’s talk about Giddy Up, Eunice. It so happened that Leslie and I were reading the book around the same time. I first heard of the book from Shay’s site, Mix and Match Mama where she does monthly book reviews. You can see her review HERE.
I like to read religious books from time to time, because I feel it helps gives me a new perspective on scripture and is a great supplement to my prayer journal and Jesus Calling devotional/readings that I do each day. This book stood out to me, because I wanted to learn a little more about the women of the Bible and I had heard from several people that it is such an inspiring book.
This book made me realize a lot of things that I hadn’t really thought of as deeply. That women can come to other women of other ages and form close bonds. That sometimes a friendship is lurking and forms naturally without any effort on your part. That we can guide young women and that older women can guide us, even if there is a whole age gap. Sophie compares Mary and Elizabeth in her book and their huge age difference, yet they both shared being pregnant at the same time yet encouraged and supported each other despite their age difference. She also shares stories of how other women in the Bible relate to her and us.
One portion of the book that stood out to me was a class Sophie was at with a friend and the teacher had them split up into 39 and younger and 40 and up age groups. Sophie’s friend was just a few months shy of 40 and was in the other group and was tickled she was in the ‘younger’ group and yet Sophie admitted being a little mad, that her friend that was a few months shy of 40 was in the younger group and she wanted to tell her to just come on over to her group. This hit home to me, because I will be turning 40 THIS year, in 2017 and I feel as though I am clinging to my 30’s… desperately clinging to them, that I don’t want to be in this ‘older’ age bracket. Yet, when I turn 40, it really is just another day (just ONE day older!) and why should I let that classify myself or make me think I’m in another whole category and that I CAN still develop friendships on BOTH sides. We grow and learn, we can share what we learn and take away what others share with us.
I’ll leave you with this quote from the book that sums it all up, “I believe it is how we are suppose to live our lives: blessing and learning from the ones ahead of us, investing in the ones behind.” Please stop by Leslie’s blog to see her review, she’s a librarian and I am sure you’ll be delighted by what you read. Also, don’t forget to enter our giveaway as we are both giving a copy of the book away- you have TWO chances to WIN a free copy!
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