Each year I keep a list of the books I read. It’s fun to look back and see what I read and how it corresponded with my personal and emotional journey. It’s also a nice record-keeping tool.
At the beginning of every year, I create a basic list of things I intend to read. I do this knowing that I will inevitably add many more titles along the way. Sometimes I’m in a store or a library and a book just calls to me. I cannot ignore it. So, it gets added to the pile for the year. My basic list this year was more of a goal than a collection of specific titles. I wanted to be intentional about reading works written by people of different faiths, cultures, and backgrounds than my own. I wanted this for both fiction and non-fiction choices. It is a practice I will continue.
I am a firm believer that fiction can teach you things you’ll never glean from non-fiction, so I’ll never shy away from including both categories. The power of story can plumb the depths of your emotions and insights, so don’t discount fiction!
Non-fiction
Pure – Linda Kay Klein |
White Mughals – William Dalrymple |
The Color of Compromise – Jemar Tisby |
A Year of Biblical Womanhood – Rachel Held Evans |
A Forever Family – Rob Scheer |
Hillbilly Elegy – JD Vance |
Pastrix – Nadia Bolz Weber |
Faith Unraveled – Rachel Held Evans |
The God Who Sees – Karen Gonzalez |
All the Places to Go – John Ortberg |
The Very Good Gospel – Lisa Sharon Harper |
The Ultimate Exodus – Danielle Strickland |
Everything Happens for a Reason – Kate Bowler |
|
Fiction
Rise of the Mystics – Ted Dekker |
Dear Martin – Nic Stone |
Sundowners – Lesley Lokko |
Little White Lies – Lesley Lokko |
Where’d You Go Bernadette – Maria Semple |
The Forgotten Garden – Kate Morton |
The Tree Bride – Bharati Mukherjee |
Paris by the Book – Liam Callanan |
A Discovery of Witches – Deborah Harkness |
Shadow of Night – Deborah Harkness |
A Private Affair – Lesley Lokko |
Big Stone Gap – Adriana Trigiani |
This is how it Always is – Laurie Frankel |
The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf – Mohja Kahf |
The Book of Life – Deborah Harkness |
Time After Time – Lisa Grunwald |
Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood |
Drowning Ruth – Christina Schwarz |
The Identicals – Elin Hilderbrand |
The President is Missing – Bill Clinton/James Patterson |
Summer of ’69 – Elin Hilderbrand |
A Spark of Light – Jodi Picoult |
What did you read this year?