Ford County by John Grisham

John Grisham books are good for vacations and airplane trips. I read a lot of his early books and then I stopped because the plots and endings started sounding too familiar and the main characters usually ended up in the Witness Protection Program.

However, now, later in Grisham's writing career, he is starting to write stories that are not about legal matters. This is a collection of short stories, and I enjoyed most of them. Several of them are still about lawyers, but some are not. And some did not make for good bedtime reading, but overall, enjoyable.

Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller

I love rest. If you know me at all, you know that I don't like to rush, I try to put plenty of margin in my life, and if I had nothing to do for months (years?), I would be fine. I'm not someone who gets bored.

I can take Sabbath days and I'm okay with not having a To-do list. But this book challenged me more about if I'm able to rest emotionally when I take a Sabbath day.

This book is divided up in very readable sections, each one challenging but gentle. The author writes about how important it is to rest, to know that we are not in charge of the world, that we need rest both for our bodies and minds.

I highly recommend this book. And I highly recommend rest.

How to Save Your Own Life: 15 Lessons on Finding Hope in Unexpected Places by Michael Gates Gill

This is by the same author who wrote How Starbucks Saved My Life. In this book, he writes about lessons he's learned about life and work. He talks about enjoying life and not striving.

Kinda cheesy and full of cliches, but I actually really liked this book because he takes a perspective that is rare these days - taking the time to listen to your heart, to slow down, and to enjoy life. Not a message that is preached or lived out very often. I think it's worth it to check out this book and read a lesson a day.