What I Read August - December [From the Book Pile 2020]
Yes, I realize this post is several months late. No, that doesn’t bother me one bit. Yes, I’ve been reading in 2021 too. I’ll share those books in another post soon. Yes, I want to hear what you think about this list and what you’d add to it!
My first library pick-up in 2020. The nail polish and the autumn leaves let you know how I recovered from post-wedding exhaustion/elation late October.
You can see all my reading lists since 2006 here.
I discovered two things in fall 2020: my local library offered personal appointments to pick up book requests and my local library was within walking distance from my home. Right up there with the best things that happened to me last year. I’m so grateful for the librarians who are keeping the lights on and our reading lives flourishing.
What've YOU been reading lately? Any suggestions you want to send my way? Drop me a comment below!
Spiritual Non-Fiction / Theology / Spiritual Practices
See an excellent additional personal reflection on the church listed below under the Englewood Review of Books heading.
21. Soul Care in African American Practice
by Barbara L. Peacock (IVP, 2020. 184 pages)
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A Sacramental Life categories: Spiritual Direction & Spiritual Practices | Church | Peace & Justice
2021 Christianity Today Award of Merit (Tie) - Spiritual Formation
In the midst of our hectic, overscheduled lives, caring for the soul is imperative. Now, more than ever, we need to pause--intentionally--and encounter the Divine. Soul care director Barbara Peacock illustrates a journey of prayer, spiritual direction, and soul care from an African American perspective. She reflects on how these disciplines are woven into the African American culture and lived out in the rich heritage of its faith community. Using examples of ten significant men and women--Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Darrell Griffin, Renita Weems, Harold Carter, Jessica Ingram, Coretta Scott King, James Washington, and Howard Thurman--Barbara offers us the opportunity to engage in practices of soul care as we learn from these spiritual leaders. If you've yearned for a more culturally authentic experience of spiritual transformation in your life and community, this book will help you grow in new yet timeless ways. Come to the river to draw deeply for your soul's refreshment.
My review in 3 or more words: informative | reflective | foundational
Other good reviews:
The Crucial Practices of Soul Care by Ope Bukola at ERB
This book quoted on Goodreads
One of my favorites:
“For centuries, African American leaders have been tenacious in pursuing a relationship with Yahweh. This fight has led to the spiritual maturity of many in spite of persecution, obstacles, oppression, racism, degradation, segregation, and disappointment.”― Barbara L. Peacock, Soul Care in African American Practice
22. Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (HarperOne, 2009. 122 pages)
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A Sacramental Life categories: Spiritual Practices | Church | Wholeness & Healing
After his martyrdom at the hands of the Gestapo in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer continued his witness in the hearts of Christians around the world. His Letters and Papers from Prison became a prized testimony to Christian faith and courage, read by thousands. Now in Life Together we have Pastor Bonheoffer's experience of Christian community. This story of a unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years reads like one of Paul's letters. It gives practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words. Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship. 'When I think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, some words Gorky used of Tolstoy come into my mind---'Look what a wonderful man is living on the earth.''---Malcolm Muggeridge
My review in 3 or more words: challenging | essential | classic
Another favorite re-read with my church small group. It’s kind of stunning to read this in the context of 2020. Highly recommend!
Posts I’ve reviewed/raved/reflected on this book:
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of my (many) favorites:
“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community
by Elizabeth O’Connor (Potter’s House, 2010. 190 pages)
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A Sacramental Life categories: Spiritual Practices | Church | Daily Work & Callings
Search For Silence, the classic work by Elizabeth O'Connor originally published in 1972, is a guide, story and anthology. O'Connor chronicles the struggles, joys and discoveries of a community of believers committed to meditation and prayer and offers reflection on how an inward journey of contemplation inspires an outward journey of social change. She also offers personal insights, stories and anecdotes, and includes excerpts from scholars and mystics alike. Join countless readers, countless pilgrims, who have said yes to a journey toward faithful quiet, said yes to the transformative power of a Search For Silence.
My review in 3 or more words: insightful | warm | a bit unorthodox
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of my favorites:
“I doubt very much that there is any creativity in the world apart from contemplation. In contemplation we catch a vision of not only what is, but what can be. We find our place in salvation history.
Contrary to what we have thought, contemplatives are the great doers. Contemplatives return from times of withdrawal with inner clarity and with direction. In their return from the silence, they take up the work of giving from to the liberating truths that have been given to them in flashes of insight and vision. They are also the great enablers of others. They evoke spirit in those they meet. Because they have been present to themselves, they are able to be present to others in a way that awakens, enlivens, gives courage. In them we see more clearly a way of existence that combines both being and doing.”
― Elizabeth O'Connor, Search for Silence
24. Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict
by Marilyn McEntyre (William B. Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 2020. 212 pages)
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A Sacramental Life categories: Spiritual Practices | Daily Work & Callings | Peace & Justice
What can we learn from contemporary writers about keeping public conversation compassionate, vigorous, faithful, and life-giving?
Those who want to avoid simplistic partisan rhetoric and use words in a challenging, spirited way need practical strategies. This book offers a range of them.
Drawing upon the work of exemplary contemporary writers, Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict shows how to speak and write clearly and generously. For example, we can attend more carefully to the effects of metaphors, recognize and avoid glib euphemisms, define terms in ways that retrieve core meanings and revitalize them, and enrich our sense of history by deft use of allusion.
Contemporary readers are awash in many words that have been cheapened and profaned. But with deliberate use of intelligence and grace we can redeem their "sacramentality"--humanely uttered words can convey life-giving clarity and compassion. Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict is an homage to outstanding wordsmiths who have achieved that potential and an invitation to follow them in making well-chosen words instruments of peace.
My review in 3 or more words: challenging | inspiring | insightful
Every single Marilyn Chandler McEntyre book becomes essential for me.
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of my favorites:
“Naming is an exercise of power. Renaming involves a transfer of power. Unnaming is a stripping of power from the unnamed and often an abuse of power on the part of those who presume to reduce names to numbers, for instance. It takes courage to name what is being deliberately and defensively obscured. Plain language is not always welcome.”
― Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict
25. Journey with Jesus: Discovering the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius
by Larry Warner (IVP Books, 2010. 304 pages)
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A Sacramental Life categories: Spiritual Practices | Church | Wholeness & Healing
Ignatius wanted to help everyone, no matter what age or stage of life, experience Jesus. Through prayers and Scripture readings that largely focus on the life of Christ, the Spiritual Exercises that have been so powerful and growth-inducing for so many, including Warner, can be a tool for transformation in you as well. The exercises are designed to help you
encounter the person of Jesus
foster a deeper relational knowing of Jesus
cultivate a greater desire and freedom to say yes to Jesus
This book will guide you through Ignatius's traditional retreat approach as a nine-month journey which allows you to take these practices into the "real world" each day. And you don't have to go on a retreat to do it. You can start now, and grow in Christlikeness right in the midst of your life. Are you hungry for Jesus and ready to do something about it? Are you committed to a sticking with a sustained journey of growth and formation in Christ? Then this book is for you. Open these pages, and let Warner guide you on the journey toward deeper intimacy with Jesus.
My review in 3 or more words: instructive | transformative | contextualized from historic church
Here’s a detailed overview and web companion for the entire book.
26. Spiritual Rhythms for the Enneagram: A Handbook for Harmony and Transformation
by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun (IVP, 2019.)
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A Sacramental Life categories: Spiritual Practices | Wholeness & Healing
The Enneagram opens a remarkable window into the truth about us, enabling us to see how image, wounds, lies, triggers, and default responses shape us every bit as much as our faith. But simply diagnosing our number doesn't do justice to who we are. Nor does it necessarily change us or our relationships. Transformation happens as we grow in awareness and learn how to engage and reflect God's image. And relational repair then results as we apply Enneagram insights to the rhythms and grooves of our ordinary daily lives. For those who have learned about the Enneagram and wonder "What's next?"--this handbook is the answer. Filled with exercises to engage, challenge, encourage, and sustain, Spiritual Rhythms for the Enneagram will help us grow in greater awareness and lead us to spiritual and relational transformation. Including new insight on the Enneagram and the Harmony Triads, and offering helpful "Soul Resources" in the appendix, this handbook can be used by individuals or groups.
My review in 3 words or more: enlightening | comprehensive | theologically-solid
Peace & Justice / Social Critique
See additional excellent titles for this category listed below under the Apostles Reads heading and the Children’s Books heading.
27. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
by Isabel Wilkerson (Random House, 2020. 496 pages)
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A Sacramental Life category: Peace & Justice | Neighbors
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.
NAMED THE #1 NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR BY TIME, ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY People - The Washington Post - Publishers Weekly AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review - O: The Oprah Magazine - NPR - Bloomberg - Christian Science Monitor - New York Post - The New York Public Library - Fortune - Smithsonian Magazine - Marie Claire - Town & Country - Slate - Library Journal - Kirkus Reviews - LibraryReads - PopMatters
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist - National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist - PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction Finalist - PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Longlist
"As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power--which groups have it and which do not."
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people's lives and behavior and the nation's fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people--including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball's Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others--she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.
Beautifully written, original, and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.
My review in 3 or more words: challenging | reflective | deeply-researched yet accessible
Thanks to our friend Dennis for mailing me this gift out of the blue! I read Wilkerson’s Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration and am once again stunned by her ability to create page-turning stories from complicated, broad histories.
Read a helpful review by Justin Worland at Time here: ''Racism' Did Not Seem Sufficient.' Author Isabel Wilkerson on the American Caste System.
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of my (many) favorites:
“Caste is insidious and therefore powerful because it is not hatred, it is not necessarily personal. It is the worn grooves of comforting routines and unthinking expectations, patterns of a social order that have been in place for so long that it looks like the natural order of things.”
― Isabel Wilkerson, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
28. Jesus and the Disinherited
by Howard Thurman (Beacon Press, 1996. 128 pages)
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A Sacramental Life categories: Church | Peace & Justice
First published in 1949, "Jesus and the Disinherited" is a brilliant and compassionate look at God's work in our lives. As we struggle today with issues of poverty, racism, and spiritual disengagement, Howard Thurman's discerning reading of the message of renewal through self-love as exemplified in the life of Jesus resonates powerfully once again.
My review in 3 or more words: convicting | foundational | theologically-profound
I’m catching up on some primary sources for the Civil Rights movement and the intersection of faith and justice and I’ve highlighted passages on almost every page. “In this classic theological treatise, the acclaimed theologian and religious leader Howard Thurman (1900-1981) demonstrates how the gospel may be read as a manual of resistance for the poor and disenfranchised.”
Read a thoughtful review by Adam Shields at Bookwi.se: Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman.
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of my (many) favorites:
“I do not ignore the theological and metaphysical interpretation of the Christian doctrine of salvation. But the underprivileged everywhere have long since abandoned any hope that this type of salvation deals with the crucial issues by which their days are turned into despair without consolation. The basic fact is that Christianity, as it was born in the mind of this Jewish teacher and thinker, appears as a technique of survival for the oppressed. That it became, through the intervening years, a religion of the powerful and the dominant, used sometimes as an instrument of oppression, must not tempt us into believing that it was thus in the mind and life of Jesus. “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Wherever his spirit appears, the oppressed gather fresh courage; for he announced the good news that fear, hypocrisy, and hatred, the three hounds of hell that track the trail of the disinherited, need have no dominion over them.”
― Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited
Memoir / Essays / Short Stories
See an excellent additional memoir listed below under the Englewood Review of Books heading.
29. He Held Radical Light: The Art of Faith, the Faith of Art
by Christian Wiman (Picador USA, 2019. 128 pages)
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A Sacramental Life categories: Favorite Creators & Cultivators
A moving meditation on memory, oblivion, and eternity by one of our most celebrated poets
What is it we want when we can't stop wanting? And how do we make that hunger productive and vital rather than corrosive and destructive? These are the questions that animate Christian Wiman as he explores the relationships between art and faith, death and fame, heaven and oblivion. Above all, He Held Radical Light is a love letter to poetry, filled with moving, surprising, and sometimes funny encounters with the poets Wiman has known. Seamus Heaney opens a suddenly intimate conversation about faith; Mary Oliver puts half of a dead pigeon in her pocket; A. R. Ammons stands up in front of an audience and refuses to read. He Held Radical Light is as urgent and intense as it is lively and entertaining--a sharp sequel to Wiman's earlier memoir, My Bright Abyss.
My review in 3 or more words: reflective | lyrical | absorbing
A gorgeous reflection on poetry, faith, and friendships within the poetry community, focusing on mortality and what we can understand about individual poet’s faith by mining their lines as well as their interactions with Wiman in his own life of faith and suffering and poetry.
This book quoted on Goodreads
One of my (many) favorites:
“It has been my experience that faith, like art, is most available when I cease to seek it, cease even to believe in it, perhaps, if by belief one means that busy attentiveness, that purposeful modern consciousness that knows its object.”
― Christian Wiman, He Held Radical Light: The Art of Faith, the Faith of Art
30. The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories
by Sarah Orne Jewett (Signet Book, 2009. 250 pages)
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A Sacramental Life category: Neighbors | Friends
A rich collection of classic American literature potraying the beauty of a 19th-century New England town.
A female writer comes one summer to Dunnet Landing, a Maine seacoast town, where she follows the lonely inhabitants of once-prosperous coastal communities. Here, lives are molded by the long Maine winters, rock-filled fields and strong resourceful women.
Throughout Sarah Orne Jewett's novel and stories, these quiet tales of a simpler American life capture the inspirational in the everyday: the importance of honest friendships, the value of family, and the gift of community.
"Their counterparts are in every village in the world, thank heaven, and the gift to one's life is only in its discernment."
My review in 3 or more words: lovely | restful | evocative
What a relaxing, enjoyable read. Add it to the top of your TBR pile ASAP!
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of my favorites:
“It does seem so pleasant to talk with an old acquaintance that knows what you know. I see so many of these new folks nowadays, that seem to have neither past nor future. Conversation's got to have some root in the past, or else you've got to explain every remark you make, an' it wears a person out.”
― Sarah Orne Jewett, The Country of the Pointed Firs
31. Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son
by Sam Lamott and Anne Lamott (Riverhead Books, 2013. 288 pages)
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A Sacramental Life category: Family
In Some Assembly Required, Anne Lamott enters a new and unexpected chapter in her own life: grandmotherhood. Stunned to learn that her son, Sam, is about to become a father at nineteen, Lamott begins a journal about the first year of her grandson Jax's life. In careful and often hilarious detail, Lamott and Sam--about whom she first wrote so movingly in Operating Instructions--struggle to balance their changing roles. By turns poignant and funny, honest and touching, Some Assembly Required is the true story of how the birth of a baby changes a family--as this book will change everyone who reads it
My review in 3 or more words: heartwarming | pithy | quick-read
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of my favorites:
“Kids are hard -they drive you crazy and break your heart- whereas grandchildren make you feel great about life, and yourself, and your ability to love someone unconditionally, finally, after all these years.”
― Anne Lamott, Some Assembly Required
Novels / Mysteries
See additional novels listed below under the Apostles Reads heading and the Audio Books heading.
32. The Nature of the Beast: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books, 2016. 400 pages)
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A Sacramental Life category: Neighbors
The Nature of the Beast is a New York Times bestselling Chief Inspector Gamache novel from Louise Penny.
Hardly a day goes by when nine year old Laurent Lepage doesn't cry wolf. From alien invasions, to walking trees, to winged beasts in the woods, to dinosaurs spotted in the village of Three Pines, his tales are so extraordinary no one can possibly believe him. Including Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, who now live in the little Quebec village.
But when the boy disappears, the villagers are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true.
And so begins a frantic search for the boy and the truth. What they uncover deep in the forest sets off a sequence of events that leads to murder, leads to an old crime, leads to an old betrayal. Leads right to the door of an old poet.
And now it is now, writes Ruth Zardo. And the dark thing is here.
A monster once visited Three Pines. And put down deep roots. And now, Ruth knows, it is back.
Armand Gamache, the former head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, must face the possibility that, in not believing the boy, he himself played a terrible part in what happens next.
My review in 3 or more words: mysterious | dark(ish) yet cozy | medium-paced
Nature of the Beast is one of my favorite Inspector Gamache novels so far because of the Cold War-era historical fiction element and Gamache as an “outsider” consultant figure.
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of my favorites:
“It was a perfect time of year, when late summer flowers were still blooming and the leaves were turning, and the grass was still green, but the nights were chilly and sweaters were out and fires were beginning to be lit. So that the hearths at night resembled the forests in the day, all giddy and bright and cheerful. Soon everyone would head back to the”
― Louise Penny, The Nature of the Beast
33. A Great Reckoning (A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, Book 12)
by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books, 2017. 400 pages)
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A Sacrmental Life category: Neighbors
#1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny pulls back the layers to reveal a brilliant and emotionally powerful truth in her latest spellbinding novel.
When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes.
Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must.
And there he finds four young cadets in the Sûreté academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map.
Everywhere Gamache turns, he sees Amelia Choquet, one of the cadets. Tattooed and pierced. Guarded and angry. Amelia is more likely to be found on the other side of a police line-up. And yet she is in the academy. A protégée of the murdered professor.
The focus of the investigation soon turns to Gamache himself and his mysterious relationship with Amelia, and his possible involvement in the crime. The frantic search for answers takes the investigators back to Three Pines and a stained glass window with its own horrific secrets.
For both Amelia Choquet and Armand Gamache, the time has come for a great reckoning.
My review in 3 or more words: mysterious | dark(ish) yet cozy | medium-paced
I love this review from Adam Shields at Bookwi.se.
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of my favorites:
“He inhaled deeply and exhaled the word “people.” Not so much an indictment as in wonderment. That there could be so much deliberate cruelty and so much kindness in one species.”
― Louise Penny, A Great Reckoning
34. Troubled Blood (A Cormoran Strike Novel)
by Robert Galbraith (Mulholland Books, 2020. 944 pages!)
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A breathtaking, labyrinthine epic, Troubled Blood is the fifth Strike and Robin novel and the most gripping and satisfying yet.
Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough--who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.
Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike.
As Strike and Robin investigate Margot's disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly . . .
My review in 3 or more words: mysterious | dark | medium-paced
I know J.K. Rowling got a lot of flak for her characterization of the villain in this novel, but I’m committed to the ongoing character development of Strike and Robin!
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of my favorites:
“. . . you know who Polworth is?"
"Your best mate," said Robin.
"He's my oldest mate," Strike corrected her. "My best mate . . . "
For a split second he wondered whether he was going to say it, but the whisky had lifted the guard he usually kept upon himself: why not say it, why not let go?
" . . . is you."
Robin was so amazed, she couldn't speak. Never, in four years, had Strike come close to telling her what she was to him. Fondness had had to be deduced from offhand comments, small kindnesses, awkward silences or gestures forced from him under stress. She'd only once before felt as she did now, and the unexpected gift that had engendered the feeling had been a sapphire and diamond ring, which she'd left behind when she walked out on the man who'd given it to her.
She wanted to make some kind of return, but for a moment or two, her throat felt too constricted.
"I . . . well, the feeling's mutual," she said, trying not to sound too happy.”
― Robert Galbraith, Troubled Blood
35. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
by Karen Joy Fowler (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2014. 310 pages)
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The New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club introduces a middle-class American family that is ordinary in every way but one in this novel that won the PEN/Faulkner Award and was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize.
Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, brother Lowell, sister Fern, and Rosemary, who begins her story in the middle. She has her reasons. As a child, Rosemary never stopped talking. Then, something happened, and Rosemary wrapped herself in silence.
In We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler weaves her most accomplished work to date--a tale of loving but fallible people whose well-intentioned actions lead to heartbreaking consequences.
My review in 3 or more words: out of my comfort zone | surprising twist | medium-to-fast-paced
This is one of the first books I requested from the library when I realized I could! I first heard about it from Anne Bogel at the wonderful Modern Mrs. Darcy. She listed the novel among 15 compulsively readable literary fiction titles that sounded about perfect this fall. Even though I didn’t totally jive with some of the book’s premises, I loved the narrator’s voice, felt completely surprised by the plot. (For best results, don’t read the complete book summary before reading the book!)
This book quoted on Goodreads:
One of my favorites:
“The happening and telling are very different things. This doesn’t mean that the story isn’t true,
only that I honestly don’t know anymore if I really remember it or only remember how to tell it. Language does this to our memories, simplifies, solidifies, codifies, mummifies. An off-told story is like a photograph in a family album. Eventually it replaces the moment it was meant to capture.”
― Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Audio Books
All 7 Books in the Harry Potter series on Audible
J. K. Rowling, read by Jim Dale
A Sacramental Life categories: Friends | Peace & Justice
One of the most helpful soothers for a stressful 2020 was listening to favorites on audiobook. We also drove back and forth to Texas accompanied by Jim Dale 100% of the way.
37. Chamber of Secrets, Book 2
36. Sorcerer’s Stone, Book 1
38. Prisoner of Azkaban, Book 3
39. Goblet of Fire, Book 4
40. Order of the Phoenix, Book 5
41. Half-Blood Prince, Book 6
42. Deathly Hallows, Book 7
43. Return to the Hundred-Acred Wood
by David Benedictus, read by Jim Dale (2009, 3 hrs 7 min, Unabridged)
A Sacramental Life category: Friends
It was 80 years ago, on the publication of The House at Pooh Corner, when Christopher Robin said good-bye to Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. Now they are all back in new adventures, for the first time approved by the Trustees of the Pooh Properties. This is a companion volume that truly captures the style of A. A. Milne - a worthy sequel to The House at Pooh Corner and Winnie-the-Pooh.
My review in 3 or more words: delightful | heartwarming | whimsical
I would listen to Jim Dale read the phone book.
Children’s Books
See additional excellent titles for this category listed below under the Apostles Reads heading.
44. Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children
by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter (Schwartz & Wade Books, 2020. 40 pages)
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A Sacramental Life category: Peace & Justice | Creators & Cultivators
A stunning picture book about Mary Mother Jones and the 100 children who marched from Philadelphia to New York in a fiery protest against child labor.
Here's the inspiring story of the woman who raised her voice and fist to protect kids' childhoods and futures-- and changed America forever. Mother Jones is MAD, and she wants you to be MAD TOO, and stand up for what's right Told in first-person, New York Times bestelling author, Jonah Winter, and acclaimed illustrator, Nancy Carpenter, share the incredible story of Mother Jones, an Irish immigrant who was essential in the fight to create child labor laws. Well into her sixties, Mother Jones had finally had enough of children working long hours in dangerous factory jobs, and decided she was going to do something about it. The powerful protests she organized earned her the name the most dangerous woman in America. And in the Children's Crusade of 1903, she lead one hundred boys and girls on a glorious march from Philadelphia right to the front door of President Theodore Roosevelt's Long Island home.
Open this beautiful and inspiring picture book to learn more about this feminist icon and how she inspired thousands to make change.
My review in 3 or more words: fascinating | delightful | inspiring
I can NOT believe I didn’t know anything about Mother Jones (other than the super-progressive periodical named after her.) I also can NOT believe her life story or at least this portion of it hasn’t been made into a feature film. (I confess I’ve spent a lot of time trying to decide who I’d cast as Mother Jones.) This is one of the finest children’s books I’ve seen in a long time and is worth reading no matter your age.
A few of my favorite pages:
by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, illustrated by Nancy Tillman (Zonderkidz, 2014. 30 pages)
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A Sacramental Life category: Ordinary Time
Let There Be Light combines the extraordinary talents of Nancy Tillman, the New York Times bestselling author of On the Night You Were Born, and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu in this retelling of the biblical story of creation. The pairing of Archbishop Tutu's lyrical text from The Children of God Storybook Bible and Tillman's wondrous illustrations bring the pages of this board book to life for readers young and old.
My review in 3 or more words: beautiful | inspiring | theologically-lyrical
A few of my favorite pages:
Englewood Review of Books
46. The Minister's Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Doubt, Friendship, Loneliness, Forgiveness, and More
by Karen Stiller (Tyndale Momentum, 2010. 256 pages)
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A Sacramental Life categories: Daily Work & Callings | Family | Church
She never expected to be a minister's wife. And the life she discovered was more challenging--and more beautiful--than she could have anticipated.
We all wrestle with tough questions about life and faith, and Karen Stiller has learned that answers don't come any easier when you're married to the minister. What does it mean to live faithfully in our complicated world? Is there a place here for me--the real me? What does everyone expect of me, and what if I fail? In The Minister's Wife, Karen shines a light on the rhythms and tough realities of the spiritual life for each and every one of us. She explores how community helps us grow; the unexpected beauty of doubt; the messy pain of families and funerals; how church can hurt and heal; and the beauty of showing up when sometimes it is more appealing to go to a coffee shop on a Sunday morning (even when you're the pastor's wife).
Warm, witty, and achingly honest, The Minister's Wife is a memoir in essays on choosing to belong, and an invitation to join a spiritual adventure.
My review in 3 words or more: warm | witty | inviting | simply and delightfully honest
My latest review at Englewood Review of Books: Living in the Fishbowl: A Review of The Minister’s Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Doubt, Friendship, Loneliness, Forgiveness, and More by Karen Stiller
I want to buy a copy of this book for every single clergy spouse I know. I’d also love to sit down over a cup of tea for a long, hilarious chat with the author, Karen Stiller.
This book quoted on Goodreads
One of my (many) favorites:
“All this pain and healing and all these moves have turned us into wanderers. There is so much wandering throughout the Bible: movement, shifting, and following. Trusting, leaving, and arriving. We follow God and love follows us.”
― Karen Stiller, The Minister's Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Doubt, Friendship, Loneliness, Forgiveness, and More
Apostles Reads Selections
You can read more about what our church’s reading group, Apostles Reads, enjoyed together in 2019 and the types of books we select here.
47 The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again
By J.R.R. Tolkien (Mariner Books, 2012. 300 pages)
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A Sacramental Life category: Friends
Apostles Reads season: Lent
A great modern classic and the prelude to The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.
"A glorious account of a magnificent adventure, filled with suspense and seasoned with a quiet humor that is irresistible . . . All those, young or old, who love a fine adventurous tale, beautifully told, will take The Hobbit to their hearts." - New York Times Book Review
My review in 3 or more words: adventurous | heartwarming | classic
Other great reviews:
The Hobbit: a review by my friend Walter Wittwer via Chains Gone
We haven’t been able to meet for our discussion yet which makes me even more grateful for Walter’s astute and authentic observations. For example, this little concluding gem of a sentence: “A little like people I know. Some days you want to give them a big hug and other days you want to…..not give them a hug.”
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of my (many) favorites:
“There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
48. Cry, the Beloved Country
By Alan Paton (Scribner Book Company, 2003. 320 pages)
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A Sacramental Life categories: Apostles Reads | Family | Peace & Justice
Apostles Reads liturgical season: Ordinary Time (summer)
"Cry, the Beloved Country" is a beautifully told and profoundly compassionate story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, set in the troubled and changing South Africa of the 1940s.
The book is written with such keen empathy and understanding that to read it is to share fully in the gravity of the characters' situations. It both touches your heart deeply and inspires a renewed faith in the dignity of mankind. "Cry, the Beloved Country" is a classic tale, passionately African, timeless and universal, and beyond all, selfless.
My review in 3 more words: challenging | emotionally inspiring | reflective | slow-paced
The story is exquisite, rich, sad, and joyous and Zulu priest Stephen Kumalo has become one of my all-time favorite novel characters. I loved being able to re-read with our Apostles Reads community and, especially, for the insight and personal experience our South African friends Etienne and Beth Maree were able to contribute to the conversation.
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of (many) favorites.
“The tragedy is not that things are broken. The tragedy is that things are not mended again.”
― Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country
49. Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery
by Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah (IVP Books, 2019. 224 pages)
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A Sacramental Life categories: Apostles Reads | Peace & Justice | Church
Apostles Reads liturgical season: Ordinary Time (autumn)
You cannot discover lands already inhabited. Injustice has plagued American society for centuries. And we cannot move toward being a more just nation without understanding the root causes that have shaped our culture and institutions. In this prophetic blend of history, theology, and cultural commentary, Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah reveal the far-reaching, damaging effects of the "Doctrine of Discovery." In the fifteenth century, official church edicts gave Christian explorers the right to claim territories they "discovered." This was institutionalized as an implicit national framework that justifies American triumphalism, white supremacy, and ongoing injustices. The result is that the dominant culture idealizes a history of discovery, opportunity, expansion, and equality, while minority communities have been traumatized by colonization, slavery, segregation, and dehumanization. Healing begins when deeply entrenched beliefs are unsettled. Charles and Rah aim to recover a common memory and shared understanding of where we have been and where we are going. As other nations have instituted truth and reconciliation commissions, so do the authors call our nation and churches to a truth-telling that will expose past injustices and open the door to conciliation and true community.
My review in 3 or more words: ecclesially-essential | challenging | historically-foundational
This book quoted on Goodreads.
One of my (many) favorites:
“Where is hope if not in a land covenant with the God of Abraham? We have been trained to read the Scriptures, especially the Old Testament, incorrectly. We have been taught to put ourselves in the place of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We read the Old Testament as if the United States it eh chosen people of Israel. But in the Old Testament narrative, Americans would be the citizens of the pagan nations. Hope for the United States does not emerge from being the promised and chosen people like the Jews, but instead, we take our hope from how God treats the other nations in the biblical narrative.
The hope for the United States comes from a God who was willing to negotiate with Abraham over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. The hope for the United States comes from a God who pulled Rahab out of the city before he destroyed Jericho. The hope for the United States comes from a God who said to Jonah, "Should I not be concerned" when he protested that God had sent him to prophesy to the pagan city of Nineveh. The hope for America does not come from a land covenant with God - it comes from the character of God. And the character of God is not accessed by our exceptionalism but through a humility that emerges from the spiritual practice of lament.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery
50. Hiawatha and the Peacemaker
By Robbie Robertson, illustrated by David Shannon (Harry N. Abrams, 2015. 48 pages)
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Born of Mohawk and Cayuga descent, musical icon Robbie Robertson learned the story of Hiawatha and his spiritual guide, the Peacemaker, as part of the Iroquois oral tradition. Now he shares the same gift of storytelling with a new generation.
Hiawatha was a strong and articulate Mohawk who was chosen to translate the Peacemaker's message of unity for the five warring Iroquois nations during the 14th century. This message not only succeeded in uniting the tribes but also forever changed how the Iroquois governed themselves--a blueprint for democracy that would later inspire the authors of the U.S. Constitution.
Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator David Shannon brings the journey of Hiawatha and the Peacemaker to life with arresting oil paintings. Together, Robertson and Shannon have crafted a new children's classic that will both educate and inspire readers of all ages.
The hardcover version includes a CD featuring a new, original song written and performed by Robbie Robertson.
My review in 3 or more words: historically-well-told | gorgeously-illustrated | adventurous | relationally-inspiring
I loved pairing this book with Mark Charles and Soong Chan-Rah’s sobering Unsettling Truths (above) so that the kids at Apostles could enter the conversation about peace and justice for the indigenous people who owned and cultivated the land we all live on today.
A couple of my favorite pages:
A couple of years ago I began using Amazon affiliate links as a way to bring in some pocket change from the books I share on the blog. I was challenged by an independent bookseller to reconsider this strategy as Amazon has a horrible reputation in its dealings with authors and other members of the book industry. I want to champion local business and humane working relationships and so I've included an IndieBound link that will direct you to purchase any of the following books from an independent bookseller near you. I've also included the order link for one of my new favorite booksellers, Hearts and Minds Books. Using the link I've provided you can order any book through heartsandmindsbooks.com, a full-service, independent bookstore, and receive prompt and personal service. They even offer the option to receive the order with an invoice and a return envelope so you can send them a check! Brian and I've been delighted with the generous attention we've received from owners Byron and Beth Borger. We feel like we've made new friends! (I also highly recommend subscribing to Byron's passionately instructive and prolific Booknotes posts.)
Go to my reading lists page to see my reading lists from 2018 and previous years.
Here's my Goodreads page. Let's be friends!
Linking up with another good reading resource: Modern Mrs. Darcy's monthly Quick Lit post.
p.s. This post includes affiliate links in this post because I'm trying to be a good steward, and when you buy something through one of these links you don't pay more money, but in some magical twist of capitalism we get a little pocket change. Thanks!