As I’ve been getting back into writing again, I’ve been thinking about what I read and how it feeds me. In September I read a poem by Benjamin Myers and a thought he had about poetry, something along the lines of how poetry feeds a particular part of the soul. I was struck by this and his poem “Field,” and felt how I have been malnourished in this regard for a while. Anyway, my list is pretty much the Well-Read Mom book club list, that’s about all I can usually keep up with. So, shout out to Well-Read Mom! This is my fourth year in it and I love it, highly recommend. It’s nation-wide so maybe there’s a group near you! I especially like when it gets me to read and love books I wouldn’t pick up on my own.
January:
-Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
-Summa Domestica by Leila Marie Lawler
-The Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot (was surprised how much I loved this, and discussing it and learning more about Eliot)
February:
–True Grit by Charles Portis (picturing the movie in my head the whole time. A fun one.)
March:
–Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (liked it, then loved it after discussing it)
–Good Inside by Dr. Becky Kennedy (helped me navigate some new parenting things this year! some good mantras to keep in mind – “This is a good kid having a hard time. I am a good mom having a hard time.” )
April:
–Works of Mercy by Sally Thomas (“On Monday mornings I cleaned the rectory for the good of my soul.” one of my all time favorite novels. Like, the kind of novel I would want to write. Has some gut punching moments of grace.)
-A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken (a reread for me but didn’t finish it this time)
May:
-The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
reading parts of Anne of Green Gables series with Evangeline
June:
–Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (didn’t finish but enjoyed)
July:
–The Mysterious Benedict Society Books 2 and 3 (summer reads with Evangeline)
August/September:
–Helena by Evelyn Waugh
–He Leadeth Me by Walter Ciszek, SJ (a friend lent to me for my retreat and it was exactly what I needed. my mantra all fall was, “For what can ultimately trouble the soul who accepts every moment of every day as a gift from the hands of God and strives always to do His will?” powerful words from a man who spent 20 years in Siberian prison camps)
–Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (was suprised by this book! loved the narrative voice, how disarming it was, how deeply Christian a novel it is for a popular audience. and the ending is amazing)
September/October:
–The Risk of Education by Luigi Guissani (still reading slowly)
–Hannah’s Children, The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth by Catherine Ruth Pakaluk (surprisingly cathartic/encouraging to hear these women’s stories and really enjoyed discussing this with other college educated women in my neighborhood who have lots of kids)
November:
–The Aeneid by Virgil (glad I read it, enjoyed learning more about it and Virgil, how many people and works have been influenced by it in the last two thousand years – crazy!)
December:
–My God and My All by Elizabeth Goudge (biography of St. Francis. soooooo good. highly recommend. makes me want to visit Assisi someday. And read more of her novels.)
And that’s a wrap!
Tag: new year
books of yesteryear and building my 2018 reading list
I started keeping track of the books I read a couple years ago and I thought it’d be fun to share what I ended up reading in 2017, with a top 5 fave list. And then, if you make it through, what’s on my list for 2018!
2017 Reading List
(I keep track of the books I’m reading each month. Some take me a few months to finish! The asterisk means started but didn’t finish. I’m a big believer in books having a right time. So, maybe I’ll finish those books someday, or maybe life’s too short to keep reading a book I don’t want to read. YOLO.)
January
- Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
- The Girls – Emma Cline
- The Enneagram: A Journey of Self-Discovery – Maria Beesing, Robert J. Nogosek, Patrick H. O’Leary
- The Story of A Soul* – St. Therese of Lisieux
February
- Lila – Marilynne Robinson
- We Should All Be Feminists – Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
- The Road Back To You: An Enneagram Journey to Self Discovery* – Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile
- Transitions* – William Bridges (reread)
March
- Transitions* – William Bridges
- The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah
- Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life – Tish Harrison Warren
April
- The Outlander Series – Diana Gabaldon (my post-partum nursing reads)
- Lilac Girls* – Martha Hall Kelly (could not handle concentration camps anymore)
May
- The Blue Castle – L.M. Montgomery
- Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting – Laura Kelly Fanucci
- The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead
- Father Brown: The Essential Tales* – G.K. Chesterton
June/July – either I didn’t read anything, or I just didn’t write it down. that’s when we packed and moved and drove cross country with 2 babies under 2 so it’s possible I didn’t read anything.
August
- Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
- Father Brown: The Essential Tales* – G.K. Chesterton
- Oh Crap! Potty Training – Jamie Glowacki
- Spiritual Lessons from St. Francis* – John Michael Talbot
- Born a Crime – Trevor Noah
September
- The Sympathizer* – Viet Thanh Nguyen
- The Righteous Mind* – Jonathan Haidt
October
- The Sympathizer – Viet Thanh Nguyen
- The Righteous Mind* – Jonathan Haidt
- Station Eleven – Emily Mandel
- Ginny Moon – Benjamin Ludwig
- Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng
November
- I Let You Go – Clare Mackintosh
- Reading People – Anne Boyle
- Devout Life* – St. Francis de Sales
December
- “Wonders Never Cease” – essay by Marilynne Robinson
- Til We Have Faces* – C.S. Lewis (reread)
- The Hate You Give* – Angie Thomas
- My Life With The Saints* – James Martin, S.J.
Top 5 Faves from 2017
- Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
- Station Eleven – Emily Mandel
- Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting – Laura Kelly Fanucci
- The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead
- Born a Crime – Trevor Noah
2018 Reading List (so far)
- The Tech-Wise Family – Andy Crouch (Chris and I listened to the audio book on our drive home from New Jersey)
- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – Barbara Kingsolver (started on Hoopla, already feel like I can’t shop at our cheap-o grocery store anymore…)
- A Severe Mercy – a love story by C.S. Lewis’s friend whose wife died young. my neighbor lent me this and I’m convicted/challenged by how much they loved their love.
- The Ninth Hour – Alice McDermott (haven’t read any of her novels yet, but read an interview in Commonweal that had me intrigued. nuns!)
- My Absolute Darling – Gabriel Tallent (don’t know anything about this, Maya just recommended it)
- The World Will Be Saved by Beauty – Kate Hennessey (Dorothy Day’s granddaughter. recommended by my friend, who also recommended Station Eleven, which was amazing. Kathleen, if you read this, you really should share all the books you read with the world.)
- and I want to read my way through Obama’s fave books of 2017, starting with these: The Power by Naomi Alderman, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout, and Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward.
What else should I read? What’s on your list? Gimme yo recs 🙂
Glimpses of Joy 