Ah, reading. One of the many joys in life.
Once again, I’ve compiled a list of books I read and enjoyed over the last 365 days. The word “enjoyed” is quite important, as there were some books I read and did not enjoy and other books I read and semi-enjoyed—but not enough to include them in a yearly roundup.
I typically save my favorite book for last, and this year is no exception. I’ve used my Amazon affiliate link for all the books below. Happy reading!
Growing Perennial Foods: A Field Guide to Raising Resilient Herbs, Fruits, and Vegetables by Acadia Tucker
This past summer, I experienced a new joy: planting an actual garden in the ground. I’ve grown plants on porches, decks, and in my home, but in my adult life, I’ve never planted rows of anything. Enter Summer 2020 where we live on a plot of land we can call our own. I am loving the ability to cultivate this newfound interest. I’ve learned so much from local friends and I’ve also read quite a few books on the topic. Growing Perennial Foods was my favorite read (with this one being a close second). Illustrations, recipes, and tips for pests, etc. Overall, just a lovely, helpful read.
100 Techniques: Master a Lifetime of Cooking Skills, from Basic to Bucket List by America’s Test Kitchen
Holiness: The Heart God Purifies by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth
Holiness was a recent read for me. Penetrating and thought-provoking, I especially appreciated the list of heart-probing questions at the end. This would be a helpful book to go through with a member of your church body, then talk and pray through to encourage each other towards holiness.
Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life by Makoto Fujimura
I heard about Culture Care from scrolling social media (aha! I knew I could validate that time-wasting habit! kidding, not kidding) and seeing Michelle’s post recommending the read. The author, Makoto Fujimura, is an accomplished artist who spends the book issuing a call for artists to act as “cultural custodians”—stewarding both their gifts and the culture by creating beautiful, creative works with generosity.
“Generative thinking often starts out with a failure, like my failure to think and act as an artist. I have discovered that something is awakened through failure, tragedy, and disappointment. It is a place of learning and potential creativity. In such moments you can get lost in despair or denial, or you can recognize the failure and run toward the hope of something new.”
Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making by Andrew Peterson
Andrew Peterson is a ridiculously gifted human: musician, artist, fiction/nonfiction author. I think I might be jealous of him except he’s just so generous to share his knowledge. I loved this book on community and creativity, especially the part where he encourages people to get involved in the community they’re actually in, rather than pining away for the community of their imaginations, on social media, etc. (This part reminded me of Bonhoeffer’s words in this book.)
“Here’s the point. If I had waited until the songs were finished, this thing might never have happened. Sometimes you start with nothing and hope it all works out. Not sometimes—every time. All you really have is your willingness to fail, coupled with the mountain of evidence that the Maker has never left nor forsaken you.”
Olive Kitteridge and Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
I hesitated to include these fiction reads in this book list because of three reasons:
1) there is language and immorality
2) I don’t typically recommend books with those aspects and
3) this is the unkind, jump-to-conclusions-that-are-often-wrong internet I’m talking to.
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
Do you feel like you’re pursuing a lot of things to no avail? Or that maybe you don’t even know WHAT to pursue because there are so many options?
“If I didn’t have this opportunity, how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it?”
“Only when we admit we have made a mistake…can we make a mistake a part of our past.”
Written from a secular perspective, God has used it in tandem with things I’ve been studying from his Word to teach me not only what is essential, but what it looks like to practically pursue it. This is a book that would benefit any person, whether in corporate work or not (hello, me.).
The only reason I read Rebecca was for my local book club. I had zero hopes for it, but was pleasantly surprised!
This fiction read is exactly what it says on the cover: a classic tale of romantic suspense. The protagonist marries an incredibly rich widower she barely knows, then discovers that she’s stepped into the shoes of his late wife who was incredibly mysterious and hauntingly beautiful. She spends much of the book feeling insecure and like an absolute failure, so I spent most of the book feeling frustrated and wishing she would just work up the courage to talk openly with her husband, go to counseling, and SOLVE ALL THE ISSUES. The ending was such a surprise to me, but I felt like it was immensely fitting considering the last events of the book. This was the sort of book I finished and then really wanted to find other people who had read it so I could talk with them about the plot, etc. so it was a great one to read with my local book club!
I’m Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers by Tim Madigan
I’m Proud of You will make you want to love people better, be more grateful for all you have, and talk through your feelings instead of burying them. It might also make you wish you knew Mr. Rogers. (Or maybe that’s just me.)
“A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one’s heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”
The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy by Timothy Keller
How can I stop being a people-pleaser? Is it better to have low self-esteem or high self-esteem? Am I always going to care so much what people think of me? The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness answers these questions biblically and practically. You may recognize this book from previous years’ book lists. I think I’ve read it 6 times in the last 2 years. Highly recommend.
“The essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less.”
Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane Ortlund
“Our tendency is to feel intuitively that the more difficult life gets, the more alone we are. As we sink further into pain, we sink further into felt isolation. The Bible corrects us. Our pain never outstrips what he himself shares in. We are never alone. That sorrow that feels so isolating, so unique, was endured by him in the past and is now shouldered by him in the present.”
Also, I would be remiss if I failed to mention The Chronicles of Narnia, which we read out loud as a family this year. Always excellent!
What have you read and enjoyed this year? Have you read any of the titles I shared above?
What books should I add to my 2021 reading list?
Pssst!
If you’d like to look at my book lists from years past, here they are: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2012, 2011.
(And here’s a post about how to read when you don’t have time to read.)