I'm so excited to have Jason taking over my blog today. I shared my own 2017 Christian Reading Challenge for Women yesterday and I just knew that we needed to put out a men's companion challenge. If you're a man, feel free to follow along with this challenge by yourself OR wrangle your wife into the women's companion challenge. 

If you are a woman reading this, send over the link to your husband and you can then go through this challenge together! It's a great way to have a built in accountability partner. Many of the books are the same but Jason changed the feminine and homemaking categories to male equivalents. - Jami

Like Jami, I am an avid reader. Nothing gets my blood pumping more than cracking the spine on a new book and inhaling that paper and ink smell. Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the picture. I love to read. I find it relaxing, enjoyable, and a great way to invest in myself and learn new things, or increase my knowledge of important topics.

Listen to the Podcast:

Jami and I hopped on a podcast episode to share all about the challenge, my tricks for finding the time to read in a busy schedule, a little bit about the books I picked and more! Listen below or keep scrolling down to read all about the challenge. 

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. 

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

However, I am also very busy, and reading is something that easily falls by the wayside if I'm not intentional about making it happen. Thus, the creation of a reading list and challenge. What better way to keep reading on my mind than writing down a list and giving myself a timeline?

Yesterday, Jami posted her reading list, which is geared primarily toward women. So she asked me to put together a companion list to hers that would be more male-oriented. Many of the categories and book recommendations are the same, as there are LOTS of books out there that are great reading for both men and women. But I've tweaked the list to add some books on things like fatherhood, being a husband, etc. 

Also, like Jami's list, I have not included any fiction suggestions in the list. I personally love to read fiction, and would encourage others to as well, but, at least for me, picking up a novel is much easier than digging into a history text or book on theology, and so I tailored the list to non-fiction only. I highly recommend reading some fiction as well, though. Go ahead and add a few novels you've been wanting to read, or, if the 13 or 26 books on the list is already the maximum you want to commit to this year, swap out a few of the categories for fiction, keeping the total count the same. Bottom line, this list and challenge is for you, so don't hesitate to customize it to your liking. As long as it gets you reading, I've done my job.

Download the Toolkit to make it easy: 

Jami created a FREE toolkit to give you all these resources in one handy place. You will get tips and ideas on how to find the time to read as well as the full challenge and a printable sheet to keep track of your reading goals. Download for free below: 

Here's How it Works:

The list is broken into 2 levels:

13 books for the year, which breaks down to 1 book every 4 weeks

26 books for the year, equaling 1 book every 2 weeks.

Jump in on the first 13, and set your own pace. Just stick to level 1 if you don't have a lot of reading time or are new to all this, or blow through level 1 and dive into level 2 midway through the year.

Note: I recommend one particular book for each category in the list, but you can see below that I've included several other books for each category. You should choose which book you want to read for each category,