My favorite part of summer is books. I’m sure that comes as no great surprise to anyone. Summer brings with it a different pace, offering a bit more margin for relaxation. It brings more travel, spending more time on the road or sitting in an airport. And between those two things, it typically offers a bit more time for reading.

So as we go into reading season…I mean, summer…I have a few recommendations I want to pass along for your reading pleasure.

When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert – You pull up to a red light. While you’re sitting there stopped, someone approaches your vehicle and asks you for money. What do you do? Do you give money or not? Questions like these are hard but it matters how we answer them. Sometimes our efforts to help people actually hurt them. In this book, Corbett and Fikkert set out to provide some principles to guide us in loving and serving our neighbors better. This book is filled with practical insight, buttressed with many stories to make the ideas within more tangible. If you’ve ever felt that tug to help someone in need (and I hope you have!), this is a book worth reading.

All Things for Good by Thomas Watson –The Puritan Paperback series is great for brief but meaty reading on the Christian faith and I read this little gem earlier this Spring. In this one, Watson reflects on the promise of Romans 8:28: “All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.” This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible, so I was already enthusiastic to pick this book up. That enthusiasm was kindled all the more by Watsons masterful use of metaphors, which was the most striking part of the book to me. More than once I found myself enthralled by the picture he painted or the analogy he so skillfully prepared. After putting it down, I was left with powerful word pictures that helped make the biblical truth stick.

Washington by Ron Chernow – You read that right. I’m actually recommending a book that isn’t about Christianity. I’ve been on a bit of a biography kick for the past seven months or so and this one has left a mark on me. Who was George Washington really? Chernow uses Washington’s private letters and journals to get a look at the man behind the reserved public face that history has passed down to us. By the end of it, I felt like I had met Washington himself – a man who was far more flawed and human than anyone ever told me and every bit as inspiring as I’d hoped he would be. The long page count might scare you off, but don’t let it! Chernow is a compelling storyteller and that makes this book pleasantly readable. The story it tells is worth every page.

There’s a couple of recommendations from me. What’s sitting on your bookshelf waiting for you to pick it up? If you read something great this summer, be sure to let me know!