For the past few years, we’ve kept a sticky note on our fridge to track which books we’ve read throughout the year. This year, I set myself a goal of reading two books per month. Thanks to both kids being in school as well as discovering audio books from our local library, I managed to exceed my goal and read 30 books! Here are my top 5 picks, listed in the order of which I read them:
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A novel written for middle-schoolers, the story was so compelling that I finished it in one evening. It follows the experiences of a girl named Ally who, as we come to find out, has dyslexia. Insightful, funny, and moving, it opened my eyes to what it can feel like to navigate school for a dyslexic child. I loved it because it was both compassionate and hopeful.
Written by an American botanist, professor, and Indigenous author, this book was the most beautiful and insightful collection of essays I read this year. If you’re looking for depth and wisdom, you’ll find it here. It’s a relatively long book but well worth the time. Reading this book helped me feel more connected to the earth and grew my respect for the Indigenous way of understanding and interacting with our world.
This book tells the real-life story of an atypical girl growing up in Pakistan. Maria Toorpakai Wazir became the top female squash player in Pakistan but was forced to flee her country because the Taliban wanted her dead. Inspiring, gripping, and heart-wrenching at times, this book had me in awe of how a strong father (and mother) can shape a child’s life. It was also sobering to learn about the realities of oppression in some parts of the world.
This book tells the story of four women in their individual and interconnected journeys with God and the role of spiritual direction in their journeys. Interspersed with several instructional pages on various spiritual practices, it is part novel and part spiritual formation textbook. Reading it was almost like attending a retreat. I loved it because it illustrated so well how spiritual direction enriches people’s lives in a daily sort of way.
If you need a reminder of how spacious, gracious, and lavish God’s love is toward us, read this book. Father Gregory Boyle gathers stories from his 30+ years of working with gang members in the Los Angeles area and weaves them together around various themes to create a picture of hope in some of the most challenging circumstances. This book had me laughing, crying, and thankful for Jesus and his grace. His follow-up book, Barking to the Choir was quite good, too.
Honourable Mentions
Raise Your Voice by Kathy Khang (social justice)
All the Colors We Will See by Patrice Gopo (essays on race)
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (novel)
Becoming by Michelle Obama (memoir)
That Good Night by Sunita Puri (palliative care)
Invited by Leslie Verner (hospitality)
The Other Side of Sadness by George A. Bonanno (grief)
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (novel)
The Art of Stillness by Pico Iyer (stillness)
Free by Mark Scandrette (stewardship)