You know those books that come into your life at the perfect time? They get thrown at you by way of friendly recommendations or Amazon suggestions. You purchase them on your e-reader and then there they sit, patiently waiting to be read and absorbed into your memory. A few weeks, maybe a month or two float on and life consumes your every moment and that little story that has been taking up space in your library is shoved into the dark and dusty corners of your mind, soon to be forgotten. Until, one day you stumble across said book and think to yourself that you really should have read that by now! What have you been doing all this time! And finally you turn that first page. Only to realize that the combination of this book + your particular, personal season in life at this very moment go hand in hand so well that you are actually glad you waited to read it.

I kind of love it when this happens.

I can distinctly remember and wax nostalgic over important times in my life just by seeing the spine of a good book on our bookshelf. To me books are like smells and songs that people attribute to a certain time in their life. I read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a girl – dreaming about what life must have been like and also secretly wishing the I could grow up to be a pioneer (#nerdalert). In high school I was obsessed with the book The Lovely Bones and remember having lunchtime conversations with friends about the morbid tale. In college, I was introduced to a bunch of Catholic literature by way of my ministry group and came to love my faith even more through books like this, this, and this. Then there was Tina Fey’s Bossypants. This book will forever remind me of our honeymoon in Saint Martin. After a year of wedding planning stress and then the craziness that was the actual wedding week, I wanted nothing more than to sit on a beach with my new husband, a good drink and a funny book. It was definitely the right book at the right time, and made me double over in fits of laughter while soaking up the warm Caribbean sun. Oh, and I will always remember the day my husband brought home the book What to Expect When You are Expecting, it was a few days after we had our first OB appointment and he was so excited to start reading it together.

Well once again, this kind of book/life/worlds colliding event is totally occurring in my life. Soon after Madeline was born I started getting into Glennon Doyle Melton’s blog Momastery. At the time I was overwhelmed with sleep deprivation and new mom [irrational] thoughts. With round the clock feedings, I picked up a few new blogs to read to keep me awake (especially those 3am I-feel-like-a-zombie-feedings) while I was with my new little babe. I had seen friends on Facebook share posts from Momastery before but hadn’t taken the time to really read them. So one night as I was rocking my little one (in the hopes that she might sleep longer than a 30 minute span) and decided to read a few posts from this popular mommy blog…and then I was hooked. It was that same evening that I saw that there was a self-help/relationships book penned by this beautiful blogger so off to Amazon I went and with one click that book was sent to my iPad where it waited to be read.

Well then sleep deprivation got REAL and I was also knee deep in reading The Fault in our Stars which I had started reading right before Madeline was born and HAD to finish. (Side note: I can honestly say – probably not the *best* book to read when dealing with the crazy of postpartum hormones – but all in all also a good read). So anyways, I just recently started reading Melton’s fantastic book, Carry on Warrior. It is such an inspirational read and has given this new mom life I’m living some much needed perspective. Not to mention her writing style is that of a long lost friend. She is so encouraging and somehow blends motherly advice with logistical life lessons and humor seamlessly. I would definitely recommend this book to any new (or veteran!) mama out there. Actually, I would recommend this book to any WOMAN out there – mom or not. I really do feel that while her book is intended for moms – it is one that could be read and benefited from no matter what walk of life you are currently living.

So in sum: books are awesome, but even more awesome when they intersect so perfectly with major events in your life.

What books are you currently reading? Anything I can put in my Kindle library for the time being? (: