The last time I shared what I’ve been reading was about a year and a half ago. I’ll leave out the couple of books that weren’t worth mentioning but, in no particular order, here’s what I’ve been reading:
- Come Abide by Con-solatio A Ministry of Presence. Con-solatio is the organization with which I volunteered in Honduras for a year. It has deeply formed the way I live my life. This newly published book is a compilation of reflections from many American volunteers who have served in homes all across the world. My heart burned as I read about the friends we are introduced to in the book and the way they teach us to love compassionately. I wrote a little reflection about it for their newsletter here- https://con-solatio.org/come-abide-a-trove-of-gems/
2. A Mother’s Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot. I stumbled across this one when I was re-visiting my rule of life that I’d written during my year of following St. Ignatius spiritual exercises. There were some helpful organizational pieces in the book and she reminded me of some good ways to prioritize my time to reflect my actual priorities. However, she kind of stressed me out! I love to make lists and have calendars and be organized, but she takes it to the next level. I listened to myself when I felt myself getting defensive and realized I don’t need to follow everything she suggests (she says that herself too, but the over achiever in me struggles to “do less”). I would still recommend this book for any mother wanting to really think through her priorities, but don’t let her stress you out.
- 3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Dystopian novels are scary and smart. They do such a good job of painting a picture of the way things can go, if we’re not paying attention. They always begin with some authoritarian government seeking a perfect system of utopia, but the level of conformity needed to control the “utopia” causes the hell these dystopias become. Our real government will never be able to create a perfect system that creates a perfect world because ultimately we are dealing with people and people are not robots. In our real world, we accuse one side of being fascists and the other side of being communists, because those are real dystopias that happened and the pendulum will continue to swing. I was interested in this book because I kept hearing it used as a pro-choice alarm system, however, a very intelligent friend who doesn’t follow the social media trends and innocently read it, was telling me how much it reminded her of what was happening BY the pro-choice groups. How could two sides read the same book and both think it’s their story?? I had to find out. The atrocities in the book are hardly caused by criminalizing abortion, the atrocities in the book are caused by the outrageous abuses of surrogacy and a terrifying decline in fertility. Very few organizations in our real world are pointing out the inherent injustice of surrogacy, but the ones who are are pro-life groups. If someone with means can use the body of someone without means, that is a system of inherent injustice. There is a government “religion” in the book that everyone must believe, but the real religions of our real world are the ones forming protests and underground railroads in the story, so it is not an anti-religious book either, the way I’ve heard it portrayed. I read a couple interviews with the author and she connected the punishments towards the former abortion doctors in the story to the Nuremburg trials. The author herself.
- 4. The Catholic Table by Emily Stimpson Chapman. Hospitality is very important to me. Food is such a beautiful, universal way to share meaningful moments with others. In this book she shared her thoughts and reflections about food, hospitality, feasting and fasting, and Eucharist. I ate it up. 😊
- 5. The Whole Language by Gregory Boyle. Father Greg is the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang rehabilitation program in the world. This book is the third of his sharing the stories of dignity and compassion he’s experienced from the many gang members he has loved over the years. I would recommend his first two books before this one. Maybe I’m just more sensitive now that I’m a mom, but a couple of the tragedies he shared in this one made me physically sick. The horrors that people can experience is hard to hear, but Father Greg always ends with hope and restoration. The stories in all three books are truly inspiring and I highly recommend anything from Father Greg Boyle. He is a humble and hopeful writer and speaker.
- 6. Rewilding Motherhood by Shannon K. Evans. I would recommend this book for any mom feeling overwhelmed by what motherhood is “supposed” to be. She is a feminist writer with many beautiful reflections on being a woman and a mother.
- 7. Look Me in the Eye My Life with Asperger’s by John Elder Robison. This is a memoir written by a man who wasn’t diagnosed with asperger’s until he was an adult. This book is already a bit outdated, but it was still an interesting read. He looks back on his life and reflects on how his experiences and identity growing up without an actual diagnosis largely affected him. People thought he was weird or even a psychopath. Once he was finally diagnosed and he understood more he was able to make sense of his stories in a new light. So much more has been discovered since he wrote the book, but it was still interesting to hear his experiences from his point of view.
- 8. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. It’s become part of my tradition to read a Kristin Hannah novel when we go to the Oregon Coast. This wasn’t my favorite of hers, but it was a sweet story of two best friends who stay best friends through the decades of their lives. However, the Netflix series based on the book is awful! They completely change fundamental parts of the characters and relationships and, of course, add in a whole bunch of unnecessary sex.
Stay tuned for part two and let me know what you’ve been reading!
It’s fun to see what you’re reading! Love you lady!