Yes, it is April 2020, but even though we’re well into the next year I wanted to post my list of books read in 2019. This is mostly to keep myself accountable and to remember what I’ve read, but I also really love getting book recommendations from friends and find that their recommendations are what I tend to enjoy reading the most. So here’s my list, in case you are the same:
The picture is the poem which inspired the title for the book on Elisabeth Elliot. I enjoyed the poem so much that I turned it into a picture that I could look at often to remember to not try and figure out all the future details, but just do what the Lord has set in front of me for now.
1. The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard
2. Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elisabeth Cline
Life from other Perspectives
For the last few years I have been trying to read books by people who are not like me (white, Christian, American--any one of those categories at least). It has been extremely informative and opened my eyes to how people from other backgrounds experience life differently. C.S. Lewis’s book details his experience of losing a spouse, Lisa Gungor’s book discusses her and her husband’s fall from grace within Christian circles as they struggled with belief, and Michelle Obama’s book detailed her life before meeting Barack and how his presidency shaped their family’s lives. Lisa Gungor’s book was probably my least favorite read this year, but I was glad to hear her side of the story as I had only heard third-hand accounts of her move away from faith. I definitely recommend the others.
1. A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
2. The Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Seen by Lisa Gungor
3. Becoming by Michelle Obama
Faith
My faith is really important to me and, as such, I try to devote a significant amount of my yearly reading to learning how to deepen it. This year’s selections came almost exclusively from friends’ suggestions, and they were all great.
- Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis Majors
- Uncommon Marriage by Tony and Lauren Dungy
- Letters to the Church by Francis Chan
- Elisabeth Elliot: Do the Next Thing by Selah Helms
- Is God Anti-Gay? By Sam Allberry
- Everybody Always by Bob Goff
- The Book of Forgiving by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu
The picture is the poem which inspired the title for the book on Elisabeth Elliot. I enjoyed the poem so much that I turned it into a picture that I could look at often to remember to not try and figure out all the future details, but just do what the Lord has set in front of me for now.
Parenting
Parenting three very different children comes with lots of challenges, and parenting them outside my own culture has brought its own difficulties. These two books have tons of practical advice for parents in these particular situations (raising children outside the parents’ home cultures and raising children who struggle with executive function skills) and we have implemented some to great success. I listened to both of these as audiobooks but want to purchase hard copies in the future because both are books I plan to read again to keep their messages fresh in my mind. Can’t recommend these enough!
1. Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds by David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken
2. Smart but Scattered by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare
1. Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds by David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken
2. Smart but Scattered by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare
Sustainability
In 2019 I tried to focus more on sustainability, not only as a way to help conserve resources but also as to how it relates to forced labor and human trafficking. These two books were incredibly informative and have already impacted how I shop, mend, recycle, repurpose, etc. Highly recommend!
In 2019 I tried to focus more on sustainability, not only as a way to help conserve resources but also as to how it relates to forced labor and human trafficking. These two books were incredibly informative and have already impacted how I shop, mend, recycle, repurpose, etc. Highly recommend!
1. The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard
2. Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elisabeth Cline
Mental Illness
These are very different books but both informative in different ways. The first focuses on one family’s journey through recurring mental illness and the second discusses the Church’s role in supporting families who are affected by mental illness. Both were fantastic.
1. My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward by Mark Lukach
2. Troubled Minds by Amy Simpson
These are very different books but both informative in different ways. The first focuses on one family’s journey through recurring mental illness and the second discusses the Church’s role in supporting families who are affected by mental illness. Both were fantastic.
1. My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward by Mark Lukach
2. Troubled Minds by Amy Simpson
Social Justice
This is a super broad category but as social justice in general is important to me, I always try and fit in a few reads that are related to it. All three books are related to issues within the US, an area about which I was lacking knowledge (I had learned a lot about issues in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, but hadn’t focused on the US). All are really insightful, no matter your level of expertise.
1. Rethinking Incarceration by Dominique Gilliard
2. Renting Lacy by Linda Smith
3. Somebody's Daughter by Julian Sher
This is a super broad category but as social justice in general is important to me, I always try and fit in a few reads that are related to it. All three books are related to issues within the US, an area about which I was lacking knowledge (I had learned a lot about issues in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, but hadn’t focused on the US). All are really insightful, no matter your level of expertise.
1. Rethinking Incarceration by Dominique Gilliard
2. Renting Lacy by Linda Smith
3. Somebody's Daughter by Julian Sher
Life from other Perspectives
For the last few years I have been trying to read books by people who are not like me (white, Christian, American--any one of those categories at least). It has been extremely informative and opened my eyes to how people from other backgrounds experience life differently. C.S. Lewis’s book details his experience of losing a spouse, Lisa Gungor’s book discusses her and her husband’s fall from grace within Christian circles as they struggled with belief, and Michelle Obama’s book detailed her life before meeting Barack and how his presidency shaped their family’s lives. Lisa Gungor’s book was probably my least favorite read this year, but I was glad to hear her side of the story as I had only heard third-hand accounts of her move away from faith. I definitely recommend the others.
1. A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
2. The Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Seen by Lisa Gungor
3. Becoming by Michelle Obama
What books have you been enjoying during this time of quarantine? Any that you would recommend? If you’ve read any of the books on this list, I would love to discuss them with you. Probably over Zoom. :)
