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5 Summer Reads for Every Age

by | Jun 30, 2020 | Book Reviews, Books

Five Summer Reads for Every Age

 

Is it just me, or is there something about summer that makes reading better than ever? Today I share some summer reads for every age (n.b. all of these are good reads for adults!). Given the sorrow and losses of the past several months, I decided to curate a list that focuses on growing in hope and love. Let me know in the comments or by email if you’ve read any of these, or suggest some of your favorites. I’m always up for new book suggestions!

Also, please note—there are affiliate links in this post. That means that if you purchase one of these books from one of these links, I get about a nickel, which I will apply to the maintenance of this website. I have begun working with Bookshop.org for every book I can find there. They support independent bookstores, and they ship relatively quickly. Check them out.

The Rabbit Listened book

The Rabbit Listened

Cori Doerrfeld

This book was a gift from my younger daughter, but even if she hadn’t given it to me, I would love it. This little gem of a “children’s book” takes about five minutes to read, but you’ll want to read it over and over, and even keep it propped up on your bookshelf to remind you—to listen first, especially when people are hurting. It’s a classic tale of a young boy whose beautiful creation has been torn down and the different ways people try to “make him better.” The chicken wants to talk about it, but Taylor doesn’t feel like talking. The bear wants to shout about it, but Taylor doesn’t feel like shouting. And so on and so forth. Until the rabbit comes. But I’ll stop there and urge you to buy the book and read and live the rest of this wonderful story for yourself.

The Secret Garden

Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Tasha Tudor

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved this book about a little girl whose world was ruined (notice a theme?) and then restored as she discovered a secret garden and some special friends. In fact, I’ve loved it so much, I’ve often referred to this classic in my teaching on story and redemption. I love my copy with the light green cover, illustrated by Tasha Tudor. If you’ve read it before, why not read it again, and if you’ve never read it, don’t wait—this book has great hope to give in this season of loss.

The Secret Garden book
The Hate U Give Book

The Hate U Give

Angie Thomas

Stories can often help us understand what lectures cannot. This brilliant story takes us right into the world of a black teen named Starr, whose best friend is killed by a white police officer. Written by Angie Thomas, a young black woman from Jackson, Mississippi, it has won numerous awards, and for good reason. A young adult novel, it (like others on this list) is an excellent read for adults; it would also be great for parents and teens to read together and discuss the issues of police brutality, activism, and systemic injustice. This profound story will have a lasting impact on the way you understand racial injustice.

The Curate of Glaston

George MacDonald

C.S. Lewis described George MacDonald, a contemporary of Charles Dickens, as “his master.” MacDonald is a great storyteller whose well-drawn characters will lead you to do some heart-searching for yourself. The curate actually comes to know the Lord; a surgeon’s blind spots are penetrated; an atheist searches for truth. The Curate of Glaston trilogy is an engaging read that will bring gospel hope.

The Curate of Glaston book
The Invention of Wings book

The Invention of Wings

Sue Monk Kidd

Warning: It’s graphic and vivid in its depiction of the brutality of slavery. Partially based in the true story of Sarah Grimke, it weaves together the tale of Sarah and “Handful,” the slave she was given for her tenth birthday. It’s a beautiful but haunting story about moving beyond limitations imposed by society, a story about the quest for true freedom. The blurb from The Washington Post explains why you should read it: “By humanizing these formidable women, The Invention of Wings furthers our essential understanding of what has happened among us as Americans – and why it still matters.”

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Why Telling Your Story Matters: Thoughts from Daniel Taylor

by | Jun 9, 2020 | Books, Writing

Why Telling Your Story Matters: Thoughts from Daniel Taylor

If you’ve been watching my YouTube Live Series on Story Feasting, you’ll know I think your story matters. Today, I’m sharing some thoughts from one of my favorite authors on story: Dr. Daniel Taylor. Read on to learn why you should share your stories, how you were born to tell stories, and how to get over the fear of writing down stories.

Daniel Taylor on Storytelling

In his book, Creating a Spiritual Legacy, Daniel Taylor, a wise man and scholar of story,  cheers on ‘every woman/man’ to “just do it,” get out there and tell a story. Not only does he encourage us; he actually shows us how to write our stories with some specific, short exercises. He includes stories from a broad spectrum of folks, old and young, to show us that leaving legacies is for everyone. Here’s a brief quote addressing the question, “why story?”.

Why storytelling matters

“Stories are, among other things, organisms for storing and preserving a life. But they do not do so in a static, mothballed way. Stories do not preserve our lives in the same way that mummification preserves a body or quite in the way that a battery preserves a charge. Rather, stories preserve a life in the way a plant preserves the sun. They absorb and embody the energy and dynamism of a life as a tree ties up the energy of the sun in its limbs, ready to be released again should someone strike a match.” Daniel Taylor, Creating a Spiritual Legacy

How you were born to tell stories:

“Everyone, I have claimed, has the ability to tell a story, and particularly a story from their own life. You do not have to be taught how to tell a story, or need “five secrets to good storytelling ” articles, or advice from people like me. Telling stories is as natural as breathing, and you have been doing it since before you could talk (pointing and crying and making faces being among our first storytelling strategies).” Daniel Taylor, Creating a Spiritual Legacy

Why you should write your stories down

To persuade us to write these stories down so that they may remain as a legacy, Taylor offers much-needed reality checks:

“We have this deep-seated misconception that anyone can talk but only writers can write – as though putting our story on paper puts us in competition with Tolstoi. Let it go. You’re not competing with Tolstoi. You’re competing with oblivion, which is what you’ll have if you don’t pass on your stories. Any story, whether beautifully or primitively written, is a strike against being forgotten.” Daniel Taylor, Creating a Spiritual Legacy

Check out this book and Daniel Taylor’s other excellent book on sharing story, Tell Me a Story. In both, you will find motivation as well as helpful instructions for writing down your stories. Making lists of stories and characters, organizing around scenes, and telling the truth are just a few of the many excellent suggestions he offers. Write a story. Leave a legacy.

And if you’ve always wanted to share your story, especially to write it down, but don’t know where to start, consider working with me as your coach. Sometimes it takes another person to spur you through the hard parts of getting that story down. 

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Five Great Reads on Love

by | Feb 25, 2020 | Bible study, Books, Marriage

Five Great Reads on Love

 

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock

To wrap up our February thinking about “love,” I offer you, my beloved readers, five books about love: single love, married love, rabbit love, caregiving love, and last but not least, Jesus’ love. I hope you’ll find at least one great read here.

7 Myths about Singleness

Sam Allberry

Because I’ve been married for thirty-seven years, it doesn’t often occur to me to read about the single life, and for that, I apologize to all of my single friends, family, and readers. Sam Allberry, a single pastor, starts with the premise that singleness is a good thing. Sadly, too many Christians see singleness as somehow “less than” God’s full design. Allberry delineates seven myths about singleness, inviting readers, both married and single, to consider what it looks like to live a fruitful and full life as a single and to welcome and respect singles in a culture that too often overemphasizes marriage and family.

Intimate Allies

Dan Allender & Tremper Longman III

Instead of telling us “how to do marriage,” Allender and Longman tell us how God does marriage. The authors trace the history of marriage back to the first man and first woman, shows how everything went awry and how the Fall affects marriages today. Then they show the hope for marriage in the redemption of Jesus Christ. One of my favorite phrases from this book is about “calling one another to glory.” Marriage, Dan Allender and Tremper Longman III suggest, is not about our happiness; it’s about God’s glory. But we can take heart, because, as we grow together in glorifying God, happiness does come!

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Kate DiCamillo

Because we all need to read more children’s books, and to become more like a little child…This is one of my favorite children’s stories that has profound truths for adults. I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll simply say that it is about a vain stuffed rabbit who is humbled through much suffering. And it’s about learning how to love. Read it. Preferably in the hardback edition with the beautiful illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline.

Helping Those Who Hurt

Barbara M. Roberts

This classic by Barbara M. Roberts, Director of the Caring Ministry at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church, is a helpful reference for all who minister to the hurting. With concise chapters on illness and aging, death, grief, addiction, rape, and many other crises, Barbara clarifies the needs in each context and offers practical counsel for a loving response. She ends with a chapter on forgiveness, a necessary aspect of the healing process. This book is about ten years old now; the only thing I could wish for is an updated version of it.

Love Walked among Us

Paul Miller

This is my favorite book on how Jesus loves, and on how we grow in love as we love like Jesus. A wonderful storyteller, Miller retells the true stories of how Jesus loved various people like the Samaritan woman, Mary and Martha, and even his enemies, the Pharisees. In the stories we discover that we can love as Jesus loved—by looking and listening, speaking the truth in love, depending on God, and dying to ourselves.  

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Reading Story: Four Books to Check Out Today

by | Oct 8, 2019 | Book Reviews, Books, Learning Story, Spiritual Growth

Reading Story: Four Books to Check Out Today

 

As promised, some brief reviews of books I’ve been reading lately. Discover “habits of grace,” see if you want to be “Educated,” find out more about “Visual Theology,” and consider the gospel hope for suffering in Tolstoy. This week, four book reviews to help you grow in knowledge and wisdom and/or joy.

Educated

A Memoir

Tara Westover

First, a caution. People who have suffered trauma and abuse may find this book very disturbing. Graphic descriptions of wounds and injuries may be hard for the squeamish (that’s me!). I listened to it like a highway driver who cannot turn her head away from an accident site. Eventually I turned to a paper copy so I could skim over the really graphic details of the injuries that kept mounting up. Despite my struggle with the graphic descriptions of violence, I still recommend this book.

It’s a fascinating, even addictive read. The driving question for me was, “How in the world did a girl who grew up in such a story become the woman who wrote this book?” It is a powerful story of redemption, not necessarily Christian redemption (the author introduces the book with a disclaimer of sorts, noting that while there is a message about fundamentalism, the memoir is not intended to be a message about any particular religion).  At the very least, there is common grace and profound healing at work, with hope for the future. Read it if you can; read it to understand how trauma affects people; read it to discover hope for healing.

A Visual Theology Guide to the Bible

Seeing and Knowing God’s Word

Tim Challies and Josh Byers

Where was this book when I was in high school, slogging through those Old Testament judges and kings? (Well, I actually loved my Old and New Testament Bible classes in high school, and they were God’s way of introducing me to the Bible which I’d never really read). I discovered A Visual Theology while planning the recent Bible study series for the blog. What an awesome gift to the world! It has eye-catching graphic charts for just about anything you might want to study in the Bible. In addition to the graphics, it is an excellent resource on the Bible. Some of my favorite parts include:

  • A well-crafted overview of the Bible and its reliability, made lively and interesting with the brightly colored graphics.
  • Some great hints about why and how to study the Bible.
  • Chapters explaining how to see Jesus in all of the Bible.

Some of my favorite graphics:

  • A gorgeous (really!) chart of all those kings I had to memorize in high school (and have long since forgotten). Right there in one nifty chart on page 143, along with the prophets that cried out to them and the passages where you can find them.
  • A depiction of the longings of Israel and how they were fulfilled in Jesus (p. 146).
  • A lovely design detailing the fulfilled prophecies about Jesus. (164-165).

This is the book you will pull out to refresh your memory or to learn something new about the Bible. I’d say it belongs on the reference shelf for any Bible teacher and most Bible students.

Habits of Grace

Enjoying Jesus Through the Spiritual Disciplines

David Mathis

This nifty little resource, which I also used for my spiritual graces series, came to me through our church library (Can I get a huge “thank God” for all the wonderful church librarians out there?! David Mathis is generous and hospitable, welcoming us into habits of “grace,” ways to grow closer to the Lord. He boils these habits down to the basics then offers supplements to add as time and season allow or require. Mathis names three main habits of grace:

  • “Hear his voice” (Word).
  • “Have his ear” (Prayer).
  • “Belong to his body” (Fellowship).

For each, he makes practical and accessible suggestions for how to go about developing healthy habits. I particularly loved the chapter on journaling “as a pathway to joy” and the chapter on fasting as a way of “sharpening your affections” in a culture focused on filling. He follows the three main categories with brief chapters about making disciples, stewarding our finances, and using our time wisely. Read this one if you want to be encouraged and/or refreshed in developing spiritual habits of grace.

Death of Ivan Ilyich

Leo Tolstoy

A follow up to reading Karen Swallow Prior’s On Reading Well, The quickest way to say you’ve read Tolstoy, but that’s not the only advantage of reading this gorgeous novella. Tolstoy, as always, does a masterful job of tracing the progression of a character, in this case, Ivan Ilych, whose ordinary pursuit of self-fulfillment is extraordinary in its description. As he agonizes through his illness, we strain with him, eager to learn how his suffering will end. The self-sacrificial love of his servant Gerisim is startling, surprising, and lovely. Read the book to discover what happens to the miserable Ivan.

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On Reading Well: Four Great Books to Check Out Today

by | Aug 13, 2019 | Book Reviews, Books, Spiritual Growth, Suffering

On Reading Well: Four Great Books to Check Out Today

 

“In a world dominated by tweets and texts, hot takes and sound bites, the call to read and to read well couldn’t be more timely, especially for the people of God.” Matt Chandler, endorsing Karen Swallow Prior’s book On Reading Well.

Do you love reading? I am what one might call a “bibliophile,” (a lover of books): I read in the morning (my Bible), read during the day for whatever I am writing about, read while working out or driving (through listening to novels on Audible), and read at night to fall asleep. And yet, I confess, this lump of metal and wires in my hands presents a real obstacle to my reading sometimes. Tweets, posts, photos, blogs…I am too easily seduced by the scroll, and there went thirty minutes I could have been reading an actual entire book.

While I’m confessing, I also realized that though I love books and telling people about books, I haven’t devoted much time to sharing these great stories on this blog, partly because it’s challenging to sum up all the things I love about certain books in a format intended for fairly quick reading. All that to say—I’m going to make an effort starting today and in the future to share some mini-book reviews with you.

Here are four wonderful ones I read or listened to this summer. Maybe you’ll skip reading the rest of this blog and start reading one of these today!

A Walking Disaster

What Surviving Cancer and Katrina Taught Me about Faith and Resilience

Dr. Jamie Aten

Read this one before (or after) the hurricane hits, or before (or after) the dread diagnosis arrives.

Dr. Jamie Aten, Founder and Executive Director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute, a survivor of colo-rectal cancer and Hurricane Katrina, takes us into the world of disaster recovery and offers significant hope. As Dr. Aten shares his personal experience, he addresses many of the questions posed by suffering people and explains how suffering can strengthen our faith and resilience. Some of my favorite chapters were on “Dealing with Pain,” “Distinguishing between Optimism and Hope,” and “Facing Our Mortality.”

Between Life and Death

A Gospel-Centered Guide to End-of-Life Medical Care

Dr. Kathryn Butler

Read this when you are faced with bewildering end-of-life decisions for loved ones or yourself.

Ideally, read it before that day comes, but if you can’t, have it nearby when it arrives.

Dr. Kathryn Butler, former critical care surgeon turned writer and homeschooling mom, offers a gospel-centered approach to end-of-life care. As a skilled surgeon who understands the complexities of end-of-life care and as a gifted teacher, she is the perfect person to help laypeople understand the often-confusing end-of-life decisions set before us.

I appreciated the introduction and beginning, in which she helps the reader understand the issues, both from a medical perspective and a Christian perspective. She kindly organized the book in a way that helps people find what they need when they need it. Topical chapters include: Resuscitation for Cardiac Arrest (hint: it’s nothing like what we see on The Good Doctor), Intensive Care, and Brain Injury. The next section, called Discernment at Life’s End, with a glossary and suggestions for further reading, includes a sample Advance Directive that is worth the price of the book.

If you are in your forties and above, you’ll want a hard copy of this one to pull out as a reference, to guide yourself or your friends when those difficult days come.

On Reading Well

Finding the Good Life through Great Books

Dr. Karen Swallow Prior

Not for English majors only. People who love books will love this book about reading books, but even people who don’t necessarily love books have something to gain from On Reading Well. Dr. Karen Swallow Prior is an English professor who centers her life in Christ. Dr. Prior makes her case that reading can help us discover “the difference between evil and good,” an argument she attributes to John Milton in Areopagitica. “Reading well is,” she argues, “in itself, an act of virtue, or excellence, and it is also a habit that cultivates more virtue in return” (Prior, 15).

Bibliophile that I am, I loved the introduction on reading well: reading to learn how to think, reading things you enjoy, reading with a pen or pencil ready to mark the book…well, let’s just say I made many marks on these pages! After making a convincing argument that reading well is a worthwhile, even enjoyable endeavor, Dr. Prior takes us on a journey through twelve different virtues, exploring each through a particular classic. Her chapter on kindness and George Saunder’s “Tenth of December” made me pray to be more kind and less envious; her chapter on patience and Jane Austen’s Persuasion encouraged me to read this one of Jane Austen’s books I’ve never read; her chapter on the Death of Ivan Ilyich and her discussion of her father’s suffering made me want to read that short novel of Tolstoi’s (which I’ve succeeded in getting my son to read though I haven’t gotten to it yet).

Read this book to discover why reading well is crucial; read it to discover more great books to read!

Queen Sugar

A Novel

Natalie Bascile

Read it if you want to stand in a steaming cane field in Southern Louisiana (or maybe if you just want to imagine what that would be like). Read it if you want to explore the themes of racism, sexism, and the Great Migration.

Natalie Baszile’s novel, set primarily in southern Louisiana, transported me to a place and a story I knew little about. Her carefully crafted and richly complex characters drew me in to their story, creating empathy. I wanted to meet these people. As they traversed various landscapes, I came to understand better the Great Migration of African-Americans in the early twentieth century and was introduced to the current trend toward reverse migration.

Read it for the plot, read it for the characters, read it for the eloquent writing! Even better, listen to the version narrated by Miriam Hyman, available on Audible and possibly in your library’s audio collection.  

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Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Book Review

by | Oct 23, 2018 | Books, Gospel living

Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Book Review

Can you find “holy” in the suburbs?

Whether you are a suburbanite or a city-dweller, Ashley Hales’ new volume, Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much, will invite and challenge you to consider what it means to live faithfully in a world of “too much,” consumerism, individualism, busyness, etc. In each carefully crafted chapter, she sheds light on how suburban and, (I would add), urban life can interfere with being a faithful citizen of God’s kingdom. Ashley calls us to a life of worshipping God more than soccer schedules and success ladders, a life of loving neighbors more than our well-insulated castles in the cul-de-sac.

Ashley plunges right in to the deep end describing how our granite countertops and the myriad consumer relics we crave have replaced golden calves as our contemporary idols:

And like all false gods—from golden calves to a Target haul—when we find worth by our affluence, it promises rest but brings stress, increasing demands, and a greater devotion to a god that will never love us and always forsake us (p.28).

After raising awareness of the contemporary golden calves we are tempted to consume, Ashley discusses the dangers of individualism, busyness, and safety, other idols found in suburbanites’ modern-day temples. Now that she’s got us squirming, Ashley invites us to repentance and encourages us with the sweet reminder of our belovedness:

God is that gentle parent who prepares a place for us. God—the one who is infinitely powerful, just, and merciful—looks at you like a starry-eyed parent fluffing pillows and washing sheets. You are his beloved (p. 90).

Throughout the book, She gives practical suggestions for moving toward God and others with chapters on belovedness, hospitality, generosity, vulnerability, and of course, my favorite— shalom.

Ashley’s gift for retelling the true story of Scripture will delight and surprise you. She reminds us that the Bible is not merely an ancient tome of tales but the actual history of God’s faithfulness to his people. Her interweaving of Scripture with sociology and theology strengthens her prophetic call. As she weaves this beautiful tapestry, Ashley draws us to repent from our indulgence in too-much-ness and invites us to return to worshipping the God who made us beloved and hospitable, generous and vulnerable.

Perhaps my favorite part of the book, though, is the section at the end of each chapter called “Practices,” what Ashley describes as “counterliturgies: new habits of seeing, being, and doing.” In this section, Ashley offers four-five practical suggestions for living out repentance in the areas she has discussed in that chapter. For example, in Chapter Two, I starred:

Get outside yourself. Begin imagining what practices you could take up that move you toward other people. Schedule thirty minutes to be available to your neighborhood. Notice its needs. Introduce yourself to a neighbor.

The practices she suggests are doable, practical, and effective. One of the practices led me to invite all of my neighbors over for an open house. Since our kids have grown up and moved away, we have few interactions with our neighbors; sadly, I wouldn’t recognize many of them if I saw them in the grocery store. Although I was a little nervous when the day came, around eighteen of my neighbors stopped in and ended up staying awhile. In this day of bitter divisiveness, it was a sweet gift of shalom, of hope for the day when every tribe, tongue, and people group will gather together to worship the Lord.

Although I may disagree that the -ism’s described in the book are unique to the suburban story (I think they look a little different in the city but still exist), and although I felt called outside my comfort zone often as I read (I needed to be), I highly recommend Finding Holy in the Suburbs. Ashley Hales is a modern-day prophet, holding up a mirror to help us see the terrifying image of what our golden calves might do to us if we continue to swallow their dust.  She gently and kindly invites us to run to the God who is running toward us. Together with God and others, she proclaims, we will celebrate redemption and move kindly into the world with a love that truly transforms.

Finding Holy in the Suburbs

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