Ruth Chou Simons

Read once by me! Book arrived with stains on front cover, see photo for more details. Brief highlighting throughout see photo for example!

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Texas

Pressing in When You're Waiting, Wanting, and Restless for More

Bestselling author Ruth Chou Simons guides readers who are restless in their current circumstances on a journey of growth, purpose, and pressing in. Too often, we feel disappointed with our "right now"--our life circumstances, our relationships, our progress, our daily grind. We want to do so many things--good, godly things--but our situations don't allow us to step into them. Are we missing out on our own lives? Why does right now seem so far from where we really long to be? Bestselling author Ruth Chou Simons reminds us that it's okay to not like the right now we've been given, but we don't have to like it to lean in. In Now and Not Yet, Ruth shows us how to.. . embrace the biblical truth that someday is made up of thousands of right nows; discern how the difficult parts of our lives are actually a unique gift by discovering five ways to flip the script on a hard season; stop feeling trapped when we are not where we want to be with guided liturgies for what we are facing today; and live faithfully in the tension between what is and what is not yet. Your right now matters. And you can choose to press in and not check out. To know God is at work even when you don't see the progress you're looking for. To start where you are in this very moment. Because he's not through with you yet.

Now and Not Yet

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Matt Chandler

Read once by me. Brief underlining throughout. See photos for example.

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

God's Design for Love, Marriage, Sex, and Redemption

The Song of Solomon offers timeless insights on romance, dating, marriage, and sex. Using this ancient text, Matt Chandler navigates these issues for both singles and marrieds.

The Mingling of Souls

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Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

1000 Piece Puzzle

Colors of the French Riviera

Susan Massotty

Anne Frank

Read once by me. Some visible spine cracks. 

The Definitive Edition

The Diary of a Young Girl

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Read once by me! Brief highlighting throughout see photos for details.

Why it Has to Start With We > Me

Choosing Marriage

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Nick Hurst

Chelsea Hurst

Read once by me! Brief highlighting throughout! See photos for details!

Ten Ways to Know If You've Found the One





How did you know you were right for each other How did you know it was the right time to get married What should we be doing as a couple to make sure our marriage starts out well

These questions are among many that Chelsea and Nick Hurst have received since nearly 2.4 million people followed their love story, engagement, and marriage on their YouTube channel. Now they're ready to dive deeper into the guidance they received, the lessons they learned, and the questions they asked themselves and others as they navigated the biggest decision of their lives.

Written from both Chelsea's and Nick's refreshingly honest perspectives, Marriage Minded is perfect for couples who are dating seriously or considering the big step of engagement. In these pages, Nick and Chelsea . . .

 * Share critical questions you should ask yourselves and each other before saying "I do"
 * Offer practical ways to better understand each other and your differences to build a solid and trusting relationship
 * Share ways to find hope and help for healing from past mistakes as you plan for your future together
 * Present a clear view of what godly marriage is and the importance of putting Jesus at the center before you're married

 

Chelsea and Nick are a breath of fresh air as they share what they wish they had known before walking into marriage. Allow their relationship and personal experiences to be an encouragement to you as you build your life together.

Marriage Minded

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Addison D. Bevere

Read once by me! Brief highlighting throughout, see photos for details!

Trading Boring, Transactional Prayer for Authentic Connection

Do you feel fragmented? Like life is just a series of compartments you have to move between? Like your days are nothing more than to-do lists? Like your spirit is skewed out of alignment? Do you long to feel whole, connected, and fully integrated in mind, body, spirit, and relationship? The best and surest way to pursue such wholeness is through prayer. Not the semimindless, I-just-ask-God-for-stuff-then-listen-to-the-deafening-silence kind of prayer you've tried before. That's not working. What you need is authentic connection that leads to harmony with God, yourself, and others. That kind of prayer is what Words with God is all about. In this thoughtful book, Addison Bevere breaks prayer out of its religious box and places it at the center of your everyday life, the place where God longs to make himself real to you.

Words with God

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Michael Johnson

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Your DatePrep Guide

A dating life that leads to a life-giving, lifelong marriage doesn''t happen by accident. You need to know what you''re doing. That''s why I wrote this book to empower you to: *Discern God''s will for your dating life. *Avoid heartbreak, rejection, and regret. *Date with confidence and clarity. *Win the war over sexual temptation. *Let your marriage hopes to inspire your dating life. Is This Book for You? I''ll never forget when I was in my early 20s and my mom gave me a marriage book for Christmas. Not a dating book, like this one, but a marriage book. And I didn''t even have a girlfriend! "I get it, mom. You want grandkids." Regardless, I read it over Christmas vacation, and within thirty days I was dating the woman I eventually married. And I''m really glad I did. (Both read that book and married that girl!) But enough about me. How about you? Would you like to avoid heartbreak, rejection, and regret? Or beyond avoiding bad things, would you like to truly succeed in your dating life? And by "succeed," I don''t just mean eventually get married, but do so with great memories to look back on and an amazing future to look forward to? If you just answered that last question with a "Heck yeah," then this is the book for you. Let''s face it. Relationships are hard. And a dating relationship? It''s like a long division problem you have to solve by hand. One wrong calculation and you''re not coming up with the right answer. And discerning where you went wrong can be like trying to find a needle in a love shack ... or love in a haystack ... or whatever mixed metaphor you want to use. Should You Read This Book NOW? In hindsight, I realize I was given an incredible opportunity that one Christmas. That was the moment I began preparing for the most important earthly relationship in my entire life. And since I read that book at a time when I didn''t have love chemicals flooding my brain (inhibiting clear thinking), and I didn''t have a relationship to defend (persuading me to ignore wise counsel), I actually internalized much of what that book had to offer. I drank in the wisdom as if I somehow knew it might come in handy. And it did! Which is why after ten years of marriage, I sensed God asking me to go back and reread that book with the goal of figuring out how to trick other people into doing what my mom tricked me into doing. That led to the founding of our organization, Future Marriage University (FMU), and me writing this book for you. Will you begin dating the person you''ll end up marrying within thirty days of reading this book? Or are you already dating them? Or maybe you''ve met them, but haven''t begun dating? Perhaps they''re a friend you''ve known for years but have never seen in "that way." Or on the other hand, you may very much see them in "that way," but you''ve been friend-zoned. For now. I don''t know those answers. What I do know is that I''m praying for the day when ten years after your wedding you remember this book, and you praise God you read it now. The Purpose of This Book So, what''s your dating story? Are you waiting for your dating life to begin? Are you enjoying the time of your dating life? Are you dating, but hating it? Or have you sworn off dating altogether? Wherever you are in your journey, I''d like to empower you to grow spiritually and date wisely so you can marry well. And don''t be frightened by the "M-word." Marriage! Fear not! Unlike the book my mom gave me, this is a dating book, not a marriage book. However, as with any successful endeavor, you have to begin with the end in mind. The ultimate goal, if you will. So what do you want to be the ultimate goal of your dating life? How about this ultimate goal: a life-giving, lifelong marriage that blesses the world as much as it blesses the two of you. If that''s a mission you can accept and get excited about, then you want to keep reading!

Date Like You Know What You're Doing

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Alison Espach

Read once by me! Barnes and Noble Pick of the Month 2023!

A Novel

Named a Best Book of 2022 by NPR and The Chicago Tribune

From Alison Espach, author of the New York Times Editors' Choice novel The Adults, comes a dazzlingly unconventional love story for readers of Ask Again, Yes and Tell the Wolves I'm Home.

For much of her life, Sally Holt has been mystified by the things her older sister, Kathy, seems to have been born knowing. Kathy has answers for all of Sally's questions about life, about love, and about Billy Barnes, a rising senior and local basketball star who mans the concession stand at the town pool. The girls have been fascinated by Billy ever since he jumped off the roof in elementary school, but Billy has never shown much interest in them until the summer before Sally begins eighth grade. By then, their mutual infatuation with Billy is one of the few things the increasingly different sisters have in common. Sally spends much of that summer at the pool, watching in confusion and excitement as her sister falls deeper in love with Billy--until a tragedy leaves Sally's life forever intertwined with his.

Opening in the early nineties and charting almost two decades of shared history and missed connections, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is both a breathtaking love story about two broken people who are unexplainably, inconveniently drawn to each other and a wryly astute coming-of-age tale brimming with unexpected moments of joy.

"Heartbreaking and funny, often in the same sentence--a deeply felt, finely wrought, and highly satisfying novel. Alison Espach has created a family whose every sorrow, joy, and idiosyncrasy is utterly, vibrantly real."--New York Times bestselling author Claire Lombardo

Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance

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Jamie Ivey

Read once by me! Brief highlighting throughout. See photos for details!

Kick Unrealistic Expectations to the Curb and Rest in God's Truth

Jamie Ivey, popular Christian speaker and host of 'The Happy Hour, ' shares the utter relief of not having to be perfect

Why Cant I Get It Together

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Ramona Emerson

Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases-she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook. As a lone portal back to the living for traumatized spirits, Rita is terrorized by nagging ghosts who won't let her sleep and who sabotage her personal life. Her taboo and psychologically harrowing ability was what drove her away from the Navajo reservation, where she was raised by her grandmother. It has isolated her from friends and gotten her in trouble with the law. And now it might be what gets her killed. When Rita is sent to photograph the scene of a supposed suicide on a highway overpass, the furious, discombobulated ghost of the victim-who insists she was murdered-latches onto Rita, forcing her on a quest for revenge against her killers, and

Shutter

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Candice Watters

Read once by me! Highlighting throughout. See photos for details!

What Women Can Do to Help It Happen

Watters gives women permission to want a Christian marriage, encourages them to believe its possible, and supplies the tools to get there. This book blends the authors personal journey from singleness to marriage with a biblical perspective on marriage.

Get Married

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Lucy Gilmore

Barnes and Noble Pick of the Month 2023! Read once by me!! A really sweet one!

A young librarian and an old curmudgeon forge the unlikeliest of friendships in this charming uplit novel about one misfit book club and the lives it changed along the way.

Because books have a way of bringing even the loneliest of souls together...

Sloane Parker lives a small, contained life as a librarian in her small, contained town. She never thinks of herself as lonely...but still she looks forward to that time every day when old curmudgeon Arthur McLachlan comes to browse the shelves and cheerfully insult her. Their sparring is such a highlight of Sloane's day that when Arthur doesn't show up one morning, she's instantly concerned. And then another day passes, and another.

Anxious, Sloane tracks the old man down only to discover him all but bedridden...and desperately struggling to hide how happy he is to see her. Wanting to bring more cheer into Arthur's gloomy life, Sloane creates an impromptu book club. Slowly, the lonely misfits of their sleepy town begin to find each other, and in their book club, find the joy of unlikely friendship. Because as it turns out, everyone has a special book in their heart--and a reason to get lost (and eventually found) within the pages.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club

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Lisa Anderson

Read once by me! Brief highlighting throughout! See picture for details!

A Drama-Free Plan for Pursuing Marriage with Purpose

Finally, a no-holds-barred word on dating, preparing for marriage and maximizing singleness from someone who's actually living it.

Your attitudes about marriage and the path to marriage are wrong. Some you've inherited, some you've simply bought--hook, line, and sinker--and some you've made up yourself. They have translated into bad action (or no action) in dating and relationships. But it's not too late; you can break the cycle of dating dysfunction and learn to honor marriage, marry well, and live intentionally while you wait. Lisa Anderson proves it's possible.



The Dating Manifesto is neither a cheesy formula for finding a spouse nor a feel-good book about how the person for you is "out there" if you only "believe."Instead, it's a challenge to wise up, own your junk, and chart a bold new course for your relationship future.

The Dating Manifesto

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Cara Black

November, 2001: in the wake of 9/11, a gathering for family and friends is disrupted when a bomb goes off at the police laboratory - and Boris Viard, the partner of investigator Aimée Leduc's friend Michou, is found unconscious at the scene of the crime with traces of explosive under his fingernails. Aimée doesn't believe Boris set the bomb. When a member of the French secret service drafts Aimée to help investigate possible links to an Iranian Revolutionary guard and fugitive radicals who bombed Interpol in the 1980s, Aimée uncovers ties to a cold case of her father's.

Murder at the Porte de Versailles

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Kara Gnodde

Read once by me! Barnes and Noble Pick of the Month 2023. Slight bend in front cover.

With the offbeat charm of The Rosie Project and generous warmth of The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, a wry, moving debut novel about a pair of unforgettable siblings and a love triangle of sorts--one with math as its beating heart.

One of Cosmopolitan's Best Books of 2023

Meet Art and Mimi Brotherton. Devoted siblings and housemates, they're bound together by the tragic death of their parents. Mathematical genius Art relies on logic, while Mimi prefers to follow her heart.

When Mimi decides she needs more from life than dutifully tending to her brilliant brother, she asks for his help to find love. Art agrees, but on one condition: that she find her soulmate using a strict mathematical principle. Things seem promising, until Mimi meets Frank: a romantic, spontaneous stargazer who's also a mathematician. Despite Mimi's obvious affection for the quirky Frank, Art is wary of him from their very first encounter.

As Art's mistrust of Frank grows, so do Mimi's feelings, and the siblings' relationship is brought to a breaking point. Something about Frank doesn't quite add up, and only Art can see it . . .

The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything is a tender, intelligent and uplifting novel about brothers and sisters, true love in all its forms, and how the answers to life's biggest questions follow a logic of their own.

The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything

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Melanie Golding

Read once by me. Barnes and Noble Pick of the Month 2023!

Following her acclaimed debut Little Darlings, Melanie Golding's newest folkloric suspense is a spine-tingling twist on Celtic mythology.

One dark December night, in a small seaside town, a little girl is found abandoned. When her mother finally arrives, authorities release the pair, believing it to be an innocent case of a toddler running off.

Gregor, a seemingly single man, is found bludgeoned and left for dead in his apartment, but the discovery of children's toys raises more questions than answers.
 
Every night, Ruby gazes into Gregor's apartment, leading to the discovery of his secret family: his unusually silent daughter and his mentally unstable wife, Constance, who insists that she is descended from the mythological Selkies. She begs Ruby to aid in finding the sealskin that Gregor has hidden from her, making it impossible to return to her people.
 
DS Joanna Harper's investigation into Gregor's assault leads her to CCTV footage of the mother-daughter pair from town. Harper realizes she knows the woman almost as well as she knows herself: it's her estranged daughter, Ruby. No matter the depth of Ruby's involvement, she knows she will choose her daughter over her career.
 
Steeped in local legend and exploring the depths of what it means to be a mother, Melanie Golding's newest novel is "a lyrical and atmospheric folktale for the modern age." (Bustle, on Little Darlings)

The Hidden

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The Daily Grace Co.

Read once by me. Cover and top of pages are stained. Brief underlining throughout. Please see pictures for details.

A 365 Day Devotional

The Gospel Changes Everything

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Gregg Matte

Read once by me. Brief highlighting throughout. See pictures for details.

25 Christmas Devotions in Luke

Does the Christmas season feel rushed and chaotic rather than like a celebration of the peace and joy that has come as our God stepped out of heaven and became flesh? Have you ever gotten to the end of Christmas Day, exhausted and wondering, "Is this all? How do I make this more meaningful for my walk with Christ? For my family?" After seeing a challenge online, Pastor Gregg Matte began to read one chapter of the book of Luke each day, recording his reflections in a devotional each day. Spending time in the entire story of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke - from His birth to His death, resurrection, and ascension -centers us in the true reason for the season. We serve a Savior who was born and a Savior who is risen! Our celebration at the manger flows from our celebration at the cross. This set of 25 devotionals seeks to center us on the beauty of the full story of the Gospel of Luke with a devotional thought for each day in December leading up to Christmas. By Christmas day, just maybe, you have a renewed sense of joy and peace as you center your heart on Who and why we celebrate Christmas.

Salvation Has Come

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Taylor Jenkins Reid

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup. "I devoured Daisy Jones & The Six in a day, falling head over heels for it. Daisy and the band captured my heart."--Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine book pick) NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR - The Washington Post - Esquire - Glamour - Real Simple - Good Housekeeping - Marie Claire - Parade - Paste - Shelf Awareness - BookRiot Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now. Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it's the rock 'n' roll she loves most. By the time she's twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things. Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she's pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road. Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend. The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice. Praise for Daisy Jones & The Six "Backstage intrigue is the engine of Daisy Jones & The Six. . . . [A] celebration of American mythmaking."--Vogue "Each character is compelling but Daisy Jones is the star. She's a blazing talent who is unapologetic in her sexuality and lives life on her own terms. . . . Like a poignant song with lyrics that speak to your soul, Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid will transport you to another place and time."--Associated Press "Reid's wit and gift for telling a perfectly paced story make this one of the most enjoyably readable books of the year."--Nylon "Wildly delicious." --Entertainment Weekly

Daisy Jones and the Six

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Mark Pryor

Enjoyed this one more than I anticipated! Read twice, once by me! Autographed copy! See photos for details!

A Mystery

It's the summer of 1940 in German-occupied Paris, and Detective Henri Lefort has been given five days to solve the murder of a German major that took place in the Louvre Museum -- or his own neck will be on the line. Blocked from the crime scene but given a list of suspects, Henri encounters a group of artists, including Pablo Picasso, who know more than they're willing to tell him. With the help of a police secretary, he must unravel their connections to the murdered officer and to each other. While hunting the killer, Henri must also keep the secret of his own past under wraps as someone threatens to expose him. But when he meets a famed psychoanalyst who promises to help him, he begins to tell his story of his time in World War I -- but his biggest secret, if revealed to the wrong people, will not just end his career, but almost certainly see him hanged for a decades-old murder he didn't commit.Over the course of the next five days, with the clock ticking to name a murderer, Henri's loyalty to his country and to his fellow Parisians is tested under the pressure of the German officers.

Die Around Sundown - Autographed Copy

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Amy Poeppel

Read once by me! Barnes and Noble Pick of the Month 2022!

Amy Poeppel brings her signature "big-hearted, charming" (The Washington Post) style to this wise and joyful novel that celebrates love, hate, and all of the glorious absurdity in between.

In the heart of Greenwich Village, three women form an accidental sorority when a baby--belonging to exactly none of them--lands on their collective doorstep.

Lauren and her family--lucky bastards--have been granted the use of a spectacular brownstone, teeming with history and dizzyingly unattractive 70s wallpaper. Adding to the home's bohemian, grungy splendor is the bar occupying the basement, a (mostly) beloved dive called The Sweet Spot. Within days of moving in, Lauren discovers that she has already made an enemy in the neighborhood by inadvertently sparking the divorce of a couple she has never actually met.

Melinda's husband of thirty years has dumped her for a young celebrity entrepreneur named Felicity, and, to Melinda's horror, the lovebirds are soon to become parents. In her incandescent rage, Melinda wreaks havoc wherever she can, including in Felicity's Soho boutique, where she has a fit of epic proportions, which happens to be caught on film.

Olivia--the industrious twenty-something behind the counter, who has big dreams and bigger debt--gets caught in the crossfire. In an effort to diffuse Melinda's temper, Olivia has a tantrum of her own and gets unceremoniously canned, thanks to TikTok.

When Melinda's ex follows his lover across the country, leaving their squalling baby behind, the three women rise to the occasion in order to forgive, to forget, to Ferberize, and to track down the wayward parents. But can their little village find a way toward the happily ever afters they all desire? Welcome to The Sweet Spot.

The Sweet Spot

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Joshua Moehling

Read once by me! Barnes and Noble Pick of the Month in 2022!

"Stellar debut." --Minneapolis Star Tribune

"A dark and complex mystery that will consume you." --Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author

They thought he was a helpless old man. They were wrong.

When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he's been keeping in his basement for more than two decades, and he'll do anything to keep his past from being revealed. As he gets the upper hand on his tormentors, the lines blur between victim, abuser, and protector.

Personal tragedy has sent former police officer Ben Packard back to the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake in search of a fresh start. Now a sheriff's deputy, Packard is leading the investigation into the missing teens, motivated by a family connection. As clues dry up and time runs out to save them, Packard is forced to reveal his own secrets and dig deep to uncover the dark past of the place he now calls home.

Unrelentingly suspenseful and written with a piercing gaze into the dark depths of the human soul, And There He Kept Her is a thrilling page-turner that introduces readers to a complicated new hero and forces us to consider the true nature of evil.

And There He Kept Her

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Rachel Jankovic

Read once by me. Brief underlining throughout, see photos for details.

Why You Matter and How to Deal with It

If "Who am I?" is the question you're asking, Rachel Jankovic doesn't want you to "find yourself" or "follow your heart."

Those lies are nothing to the confidence, freedom, and clarity of purpose that come with knowing what is actually essential about you. And the answer to that question is at once less and more than what you are hoping for.

Christians love the idea that self-expression is the essence of a beautiful person, but that's a lie, too. With trademark humor and no nonsense practicality, Rachel Jankovic explains the fake story of the Self, starting with the inventions of a supremely ugly man named Sartre (rhymes with "blart"). And we--men and women, young and old--have bought his lie of the Best Self, with terrible results.

Thankfully, that's not the end of our story, You Who: Why You Matter and How to Deal with It takes the identity question into the nitty gritty details of everyday life. Here's the first clue: Stop looking inside, and start planting flags of everyday faithfulness. In Christianity, the self is always a tool and never a destination.

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