As a doctoral student, I spend many (MANY) of my hours reading (books, articles, screens...you name it). Often, I find those texts to be the only ones I'm reading. Over the past few months, I've worked hard to make time for new reading experiences. Here are some of the books I'm reading this month...
Every morning, I spend at least an hour reading and responding to Bishop T. D. Jakes's Woman Thou Art Loosed: Healing the Wounds of the Past (Expanded Edition, 2012). After a friend's suggestion, I purchased this book with hopes of confront corners of my emotions that I have overlooked or downright avoided. I'd heard about this book many years ago and I'd even viewed the film depiction. I felt now, as I am facing critical transitions in my spiritual life that effect my personal and professional lives, would be a good time to dig deep and work through this text's central ideas of womanhood, healing, and growth and sustainability--ideas that I'm dealing with constantly and carefully. I imagine the reading and reflection experiences may not be easy always, but I am ready to do the work. I deserve it.
Dr. Karen Kelsky's The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide To Turning Your Ph.D. Into A Job (2015) has been helpful as I work through the process of turning my PhD into a job--as the book's title suggests. I've used The Professor Is In as a reference book mostly. It is formatted in a manner that allows me to move quickly through relevant sections and locate the information I need. There is a website companion that explores many of the text's ideas at length and even more. I haven't spent a lot of time on the site, but some people I know have positive thoughts about it.
Finally, my boyfriend and I are reading Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend's Dating with Boundaries: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Relationships (2000). We started the book about a month ago, and we read a chapter or two every week. The authors' approach to Christian dating has challenged us to have conversations that have prompted a number of meaningful changes in our interactions and communication. Many times our experiences align with those described throughout the book, and several times they do not. In either case, I am most appreciative of our conversations around the reading experience. I'm looking forward to seeing how our interactions with the book continue to evolve.
What books are you reading currently? Please share below...
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