Heyo! Technically today’s category is secondhand books. As you can tell by the title, I am not doing secondhand books today. At first, I thought I could make it work, then I realized I would probably have to include dictionaries and the like, and I figured doing an alternate category might make for slightly more…exciting book recommendations than Encyclopedia Britannica and Webster’s New World Dictionary. XD
In the process of going through the secondhand books I do have, I did make an exciting discovery about one of the old books I have, but we shall save that for another time.
Without further ado, behold my top 5 gifted books I have received!
1. The Accidental Cases of Emily Abbott by Perry Elisabeth Kirkpatrick
I got the first 5 of these for my last birthday and I was sooo excited! I’ve already read the whole series on Kindle, but I’m seriously enjoying rereading the ones I have in real-book form. And theeey’re so teeny…I love them. XD
Super fun and funny totally clean spy comedy type of book from a Christian author that made it straight onto my comfort reads list pretty much since I read the very first one. Absolutely a must-read, I love them so much!
2. IRON by Madisyn Carlin
This one is a super special autographed copy I got as a gift after I graduated nursing school. I was in a bit of a reading slump immediately after I graduated, so it took me a while to actually finish it, but I still loved it the whole way.
I love how Madisyn Carlin writes…it’s refreshingly straightforward and lets the plot and characters just draw you into the story. And the characters are the best…every single one is so real and memorable, with their own weaknesses and strengths and personality. Also, this one is a Cinderella retelling, and I’m telling you, I don’t think I’ve ever read a Cinderella retelling I liked as much as this one. The Reluctant Godfather by Allison Tebo is a close second, maybe, but I liked how IRON just felt like a regular, standalone story, and then as it unfolded I saw all the references and plays on it in the plot and it just made me so happy. Also liked just how well it worked as a non-magical fantasy, whereas The Reluctant Godfather kind of needed the magical element to work at all.
But mostly…just the story and characters in this series, y’all. They’re gonna steal your heart and you’ll never be able to not read the next Madisyn Carlin book in the series.
3. The Virginian by Owen Wister
The Virginian is an old classic I grew up reading, but I got it as a gift one Christmas in a collection of Westerns. Not all Westerns are my favorite, but this one definitely is.
4. The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
The Case for Christ has kind of a funny story attached to it. XD
When I was probably around 10 years old I found The Case For Easter somewhere on our shelf and read it, which is a really small, thin little book summarizing some basic points on the believability of Christ’s resurrection. What little of it I probably understood at the time I thought was super interesting, and when I saw an even cooler-looking book listed in the back called “The Case for Christ” I promptly put it on my next birthday list.
Well…The Case for Christ is a fairly hefty apologetics/biography, at least for how old I was, but it was a good book, so my mom went ahead and got it for me and looked it over. She ended up deciding to get me something else for that birthday, but gave it to me later, telling me I could read it maybe when I was a bit older but that it was a good book and it was cool I was interested in it.
I forgot about it for a long while afterward and probably didn’t actually give it a serious read for another 6 years or so. It is a very good book and really interesting, but I can see why my mom didn’t think I would get the most out of it when I was as young as I was.
5. Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis Majors
I had never heard of this book before my mom gave it to me at either Christmas or my birthday, but I promptly dug in and I loved it. It’s a real-life story and biography of a girl whose heart was moved for the children of Uganda and who gave up almost everything she had that the world would call successful or worthwhile to minister where God had called her to, and it’s definitely due for a reread.
And those are my 5 favorite books I’ve received as gifts! Books are some of the most awesome gifts ever and I’m super thankful to have received and read these great ones.
Make sure to check out the blog party host blog @ onceuponanordinary.wordpress.com/blog/ to check out what secondhand books are Kate’s favorite and follow along with the rest of the Five Fall Favorites blog party!!
What are some of your favorite (or most special) books you’ve ever received or given to someone? Do you think it would be harder to come up with five favorite secondhand books or five favorite gifted books?
Faith on the Farm 