Books on my nightstand

While my reading time has diminished quite a bit over the last two weeks, the books on my nightstand (and/or dresser) continue to grow in number.

I’m currently reading:

The Art of Non-Conformity – by Chris Guillebeau
While some of the ideas in this book aren’t new (if you read Chris’ blog), reading the nuggets from his own story have been great. Chris was actually in town on Oct. 22, the day after the boys were born, and I was sorry to miss his book signing/event. But this is a great book showing that “You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.”

Lots of inspiring nuggets of truth throughout the book so far.

Eat This, Not That! 2011
This is a great little book that blows open some of the misconceptions about the food we eat on a regular basis. It’s amazed me how so much of the food I’d usually consider as “healthy” is actually worse for us than the other food on the menu.

Cook This, Not That! Easy & Awesome 350-Calorie Meals
A companion to the book above. I haven’t cooked anything from this book yet, but the recipes are simple alternatives to meals we typically spend far too much on from many chain restaurants. The vast majority of the recipes are also under the 350 calorie mark so not only are you saving money – but calories too.

A book I’m anxious to start:

Discovering The God Imagination: Reconstructing A Whole New Christianity
Jonathan published this book earlier this year and sent me a copy to read in prep for an upcoming interview on our podcast. I’m hoping to delve into quickly. I’ve heard some great things about it.

Two books I’m looking forward to adding to my nightstand:

Open Our Eyes: Seeing the Invisible People of Homelessness – by Kevin Hendricks
I’ve mentioned Kevin several times on this blog before — and he was one of my Kingdom Bloggers to Watch in 2010. This is Kevin’s third book to publish in 2010. And I’ve really enjoyed the other two. This book focuses on the work of Mark Horvath and it also helps raise money for Mark’s work as well. Officially the book drops Nov. 9 — but you can order a copy now from Amazon.com.

From Kevin’s site:

These are the stories of real homeless people, collected and retold from InvisiblePeople.tv videos. Interspersed with those real life stories are reflections from social media experts, nonprofit heroes, technology executives and more, sharing their connection to homelessness and how the inspiring example of InvisiblePeople.tv has impacted them. You’ll also find common misconceptions about homelessness and suggestions for how you can get involved.

It’s time to move beyond the stereotypes and stop looking away. It’s time to open our eyes.

Buck Naked Marriage: Strip away the unnecessary and focus on the bare essentials – by Corey Allan
We had Corey on our podcast this past week and it was great to have the opportunity to talk with him and hear his heart and posture towards marriage. His thoughts mirror a lot of mine over the last few years as well.

1. Marriage isn’t about you — it’s about making your spouse better
2. Marriage is the ultimate training ground for every other relationship in your life

I’m really looking forward to reading what he has to say in this second book of his. I think it will be well worth the price of admission.

The book will be released next Tuesday as well (Nov. 9). Until then, you can listen to my interview with him and order his first book, A Simple Marriage.

(P.S. it’s actually an e-book so technically it’ll be on my PC/iPhone and not my nightstand)

So what are you reading these days? What’s on your nightstand or e-reader?