Earlier this year, I wrote about my new year’s resolution regarding three aspects of my life — Mind, Body, and Soul.

I wanted to take a few hundred words to keep myself accountable by telling you my progress.

My goal this year was to read 24 books — and books in general, not just ministry related books.

I think I’m well on track. And unfortunately, this is the only aspect of my resolution where I feel proud to share. I’ll get to the other parts in a later post.

I went on a book binge the first part of the year.

I read The Good Girl by Mary Kubica — and absolutely loved it. I still think about the ending — and maybe smarter people would’ve figured out how the story would fold out, but I’m not that smart so I was taken for a ride that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Paper Towns by John Green was a good read, but I think I’ll pass on the movie.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart was something I wished I’d skipped.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (I can’t help but think of Sherlock Holmes every time I hear her name) was surprisingly a good book. I didn’t think I’d like a book like this and only picked up based on someone’s Goodread review. I liked it so much that I went an picked up another book by her: The Husband’s Secret.

I also read Real Life by James Choung after attending a conference. It was a great generalization of what the Boomers, Xers, and Millenials may look for when it comes to faith.

The Renegade Gospel by Mike Slaughter was our Lenten Study and sermon series.

Station Eleven (Emily St. John Mandel) was a nice, different take on a post apocalyptic world.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng was interesting. I don’t know if I liked it. I surely didn’t hate it. But I just bought it because the author is Asian.

But by far, my favorite 2 books I’ve read so far has been:

The Martian by Andy Weir. I’m so looking forward to see how they bring this to life in the movies and looking forward to Matt Damon playing the lead role. It was surprisingly funny and just captivating and engaging.

I was so enamored with the story when Andy Weir did a Reddit AMA (ask me anything) I lurked on the page. Someone asked him what was his favorite sci-fi book so far and he mentioned that Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is not only his favorite Sci-Fi book, but his favorite book so far. So I went and picked it up (or more, downloaded it) and that has become my favorite book I’ve read so far as well. Was thrilled to hear that Steven Spielberg picked up the movie rights and am curious to see how this will develop.

I realized that I’ve read most of these books on my kindle and I can’t decide if I like that better or the actual feeling of a book. Having a kindle has been convenient in that I can carry all these books in just one small device. (Please disregard the fact that I have an iPad. And an iPhone.) The convenient thing about the kindle is that — particularly books for ministry and sermons — I can easily search and find the things that I highlighted. But, I do miss the feel of a book in my hands and the smell that comes from the pages.

Even more strange, I was convinced that I hated reading and writing. But turns out, I thoroughly enjoy reading and writing and wished that I pursued English or Journalism as a major. But I hate assigned reading and writing, so maybe it was best that I majored in Psychology.

Anyway, if you have any book recommendations, please feel free to let me know.

I’m current reading So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson and Faith Unraveled by Rachel Held Evans — but have far more on my to-read list. I’d love to add more.