I love words. Here are a few I've read recently.
2022
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
On the Spectrum: Autism, Faith & the Gifts of Neurodiversity by Daniel Bowman Jr.
Goldenrod by Maggie Smith
Bringing up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman
Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans and Jeff Chu
The Wisdom of Your Body by Hillary L. McBride
A Burning in My Bones by Winn Collier
Glory Happening by Kaitlin B. Curtice
Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon
A Promised Land by Barak Obama
Madam Speaker by Susan Page
Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes DuMez
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
I Guess I Haven’t Learned that Yet by Shauna Niequist
Now What by Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers
Beach Read by Emily Henry
A Place on Earth by Wendell Berry
Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
A Prayer Journal by Flannery O’Connor
2021
Educated by Tara Westover
When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd
Native: Identity, Belonging, & Rediscovering God by Kaitlin B. Curtice
Wintering: The Power of Rest & Retreat in Difficulties by Katherine May
A Rhythm of Prayer: Edited by Sarah Bessey
Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor
The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle
The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Inspired by Rachel Held Evans
Blessed by Kate Bowler
The Matriarch by Susan Page
The House by the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver
What You Wish For by Katherine Center
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler
Where the Light Fell by Phillip Yancey
The Land Remembers by Ben Logan
Help, Thanks, Wow: Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lammont
The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman
Tribe, On Homecoming & Belonging by Sebastian Junger
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dlila Harris
2020
In the Country of Women by Susan Straight
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
The Sacred Enneagram by Chris Hueritz
The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Humane Gardener by Nancy Lawson
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard C Morais
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Like a Mother by Angela Garbes
In the Sanctuary of Women by Jan L. Richardson
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
The Hidden Wound by Wendell Berry
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd
The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
The Mothers by Britt Bennett
Devotion by Dani Shapiro
Advent, a thread in the night by E.M. Welcher
World of Wonders by Aimme Nezhukumatathil
Honest Advent by Scott Erikson
What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski, PhD & Amelia Nagoski, DMA
2019
I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown
I Think You’re Wrong, but I’m Listening by Sarah Steward Holland & Beth A Silvers
Miss Leavitt’s Stars by George Johnson
Playing with FIRE by Scott Rieckens
Remodelista: The Organized Home by Julie Carlson & Margot Guralnick
The Gospel of Trees by Apricot Irving
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
The Shaping of a Life by Phyllis Tickle
The Writing on My Forehead by Nafisa Haji
Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames
The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
The Severed Wasp by Madeliene L’Engle
Winter by Rick Bass
An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor
The Lion in the Living Room by Abigail Tucker
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
Happy Family by Tracy Barone
2018
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
Suncatcher by Carol F Chase
Breaking Free by Rachel Jeffs
Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis
The Very Worst Missionary by Jamie Wright
Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines
Elanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Everything Happens for a Reason & Other Lies I’ve Loved by Kate Bowler
The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse by Alexander McCall Smith
High Grove, An Experiment in Organic Gardening & Farming by HRH The Prince of Wales & Charles Clover
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mizra
Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance
Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamott
Becoming by Michelle Obama
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie
2017
The Love Poems of Rumi Edited by Deepak Chopra
A Ring of Endless Light by Madeliene L'Engle
Walking on Water by Madeliene L'Engle
The Singer Trilogy by Calvin Miller
Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans
Of Mess & Moxie by Jen Hatmaker
Stop Walking on Eggshells by Paul T. Mason, MS & Randi Kreger
Obscure Destinies by Willa Cather
River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh
South of Superior by Ellen Airgood
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
Tennessee Gardener's Guide by Judy Love
Organic Gardening by Charles Dowding
The Garden Book by Julian Brown
Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown
Jenny Goes to Sea by Esther Averill
Sisters First by Jenna Bush Hager & Barbara Pierce Bush
Home by Marilynne Robinson
Sheet Music by Dr. Kevin Leman
How to Fix a Broken Record by Amena Brown
Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski, Ph.D.
Listening for Madeliene by Leonard S. Marcus
Very Married: Field Notes on Love & Fidelity by Katherine Willis Pershey
It's All Relative by A.J. Jacobs
The Reason You're Alive by Matthew Quick
2016
Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend
Living Well & Spending Less by Ruth Soukup
Memory of Trees by Gayla Marty
Lioness Arising by Lisa Bevere
The Summer of the Great-Grandmother by Madeliene L'Engle
Redeeming Sex: Naked Conversations About Sexuality & Spirituality by Deb Hirsch
The Art of Dying by Rob Moll
Eastertide by Phyllis Tickle
Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell
Carry On, Warrior: The Power of Embracing Your Messy, Beautiful Life by Glennon Doyle Melton
The Freedom of Self-Forgiveness by Timothy Keller
Wildflower by Drew Barrymore
Me Before You by Jo Jo Moyes
A Circle of Quiet by Madeliene L'Engle
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Woman Code by Alisa Vitti
Wild & Free by Jess Connolly & Haley Morgan
The Quotidian Mysteries by Kathleen Norris
The Farm on the Roof by Anastasia Cole Plakias
The Wounded Healer by Henri J. Nouwen
A Woman's Place by Katelyn Beaty
The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
The Irrational Season by Madeliene L'Engle
Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton
Still Writing by Dani Shapiro
Renascence by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Scripture, Culture & Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible by Ellen F. Davis
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
Wild in the Hollow by Amber C. Haines
2015
To Live Again by Catherine Marshall
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Help Thanks Wow, The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott
The Professor's House by Willa Cather
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
And It Was Good by Madeline L'Engle
5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Grace-Based Parenting by Dr. Tim Kimmel
Grace (Eventually), Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
House of Earth by Woody Guthrie
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
It's All Good by Gwyneth Paltrow
The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
For the Love by Jen Hatmaker
A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor
Embracing the Body by Tara M. Owens
[Pre-published, sneak peak read of a beautiful story] by Mikaela Kate
Mrs. Mike by Nancy & Benedict Freedman
French Kids Eat Everything by Karen LeBillon
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Rising Strong by Brene Brown
Out of Sorts by Sarah Bessey
Z, A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
Overextended...and loving most of it! by Lisa Harper
Two Part Invention by Madeline L'Engle