What's In the Book Pile for 2016
It's never too late for an old blog to learn new tricks, right? I humored my love for list-making with a 2016 reading list. I'm sure the titles will change (maybe even often!), but this gives me a general direction to aim for the coming months.
This year, I'm part of two different reading groups made up of friends and sisters. You can find the lists here: Take Our Ultimate Reading Challenge / A Year of Reading the World, & Liturgy of Life reading group. Go to my Book Pile page to see my reading lists from 2015 and previous years. I've also finally figured out Goodreads, and am slightly addicted! I think I'll be adding my book blurbs there instead of in a monthly post here. Not sure yet. Here's my Goodreads page. Let's be friends!
Reading Challenge Group (via Popsugar):
1. DONE (read blurb here) > A book based on a fairy tale: The Christmas Mystery, written by Jostein Gaarder
2. DONE (read blurb here) > A National Book Award winner: Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates
3. A YA bestseller: The Book Thief- Markus Zusak (Australia)
4. A book you haven't read since high school: The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom
5. DONE (read blurb here) > A book set in your home state: The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution To Improve My City, One Block At A Time - David Sloan Wilson
6. DONE (read blurb here) > A book translated to English: The Church of Mercy - Pope Francis
7. DONE (read blurb here) > A romance set in the future: Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
8. DONE (read blurb here) > A book set in Europe: Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt (Europe)
9. DONE (read blurb here) > A book under 150 pages: The Prophetic Imagination - Walter Brueggemann
10. DONE (read blurb here) > A New York Times bestseller: All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
11. DONE (read blurb here) > A book that's becoming a movie this year: Silence - Shusaku Endo (Asia & Liturgy of Life)
12. DONE (read blurb here) > A book recommended by someone you just met: The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team and the World- Peter Scazzero; The Emotionally Healthy Woman: Eight Things You Have to Quit to Change Your Life - Geri Scazzero with Peter Scazzero; Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It's Impossible To Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Immature by Peter Scazzero
13. DONE (read blurb here) > A self-improvement book: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life - Barbara Kingsolver (Liturgy of Life)
14. DONE (read blurb here) > A book you can finish in a day: A Grief Observed - C.S. Lewis (Liturgy of Life)
15. DONE (read blurb here) > A book written by a celebrity: Along the Way: The Journey of A Father and Son by Martin Sheen & Emilio Estevez
16. A political memoir: Strength to Love - Martin Luther King, Jr
17. A book at least 100 years older than you: The Consolation of Philosophy - Ancius Boethiusv (Europe)
18. A book that's more than 600 pages: The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
19. A book from Oprah's Book Club: Jewel: A Novel - Bret Lott
20. A science-fiction novel: Children of God - Mary Doria Russell
21. DONE (read blurb here) > A book recommended by a family member: Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes - Shauna Niequist
22. A graphic novel: The Complete Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
23. DONE (read blurb here) > A book that is published in 2016: Roots and Sky: A Journey Home in Four Seasons by Christie Purifoy
24. DONE (read blurb here) > A book with a protagonist who has your occupation: Let Us Keep the Feast: Living the Church Year at Home - Jessica Snell (Liturgy of Life)
25. A book that takes place during Summer: A Month in the Country - J.L. Carr
26. A book and its prequel: The Chronicles of Narnia
27. DONE (read blurb here) > A murder mystery: Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike novels) - Robert Galbraith
28. A book written by a comedian: The Joker: a Memoir - Andrew Hudgins
29. A dystopian novel: Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
30. DONE (read blurb here) > A book with a blue cover: Bright Evening Star: Mystery of the Incarnation, by Madeleine L'Engle
31. A book of poetry: Idiot Psalms: New Poems - Scott Cairns
32. DONE (read blurb here) > The first book you see in a bookstore: Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within - Natalie Goldberg
33. DONE (read blurb here) > A classic from the 20th century: The Problem of Pain - C.S. Lewis (Liturgy of Life)
34. DONE (read blurb here) > A book from the library: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (Book 1) & The Tears of the Giraffe (Book 2) - Alexander McCall Smith (Africa)
35. An autobiography: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir In Books - Azar Nafisi (Asia)
36. A book about a road trip: The Alchemist - Paolo Coelho (South America)
37. DONE (read blurb here) > A book about a culture you're unfamiliar with: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis - J. D. Vance
38. A satirical book: Wise Blood - Flannery O'Connor
39. A book that takes place on an island: Back Channel: a Novel - Stephen L. Carter
40. DONE (read blurb here) > A book that's guaranteed to bring you joy: Dakota: A Spiritual Geography - Kathleen Norris
Liturgy of Life Reading Group:
1. DONE (read blurb here) > January 17th - February 13th: A Grief Observed- C.S. Lewis
2. DONE (read blurb here) > February 17th - 24th & April 3rd - May 28th: The Problem of Pain - C.S. Lewis
3. DONE (read blurb here) > May 29th - July 2nd: Silence - Shusaku Endo
4. DONE (read blurb here) > July 3rd - November 18th: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life - Barbara Kingsolver
5. DONE (read blurb here) > February 28th - March 2nd & November 20th - December 15th: Let Us Keep the Feast - Jessica Snell
Ministry, Church, Theology, Spiritual Practice, Anglicanism, Mission list:
1. Considering for Lent: Discovering Our Spiritual Identity: Practices For God's Beloved - Trevor Hudson
2. Figured I should read, considering my blog title: Sacramental Life: Spiritual Formation Through the Book of Common Prayer - David A. DeSilva
3. Because my friend Phaedra recommended it: Monk Habits For Everyday People: Benedictine Spirituality For Protestants - Dennis Okholm
4. Because I keep hoping to do this in a more formal way: Crafting A Rule of Life: An Invitation to the Well-Ordered Way - Stephen A. Macchia, Mark Buchanan
5. DONE (read blurb here) > Because I love books about books + I love Eugene Peterson: Take and Read: Spiritual Reading -- An Annotated List
6. Because I keep hoping to be a better Sabbath-practicer: Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight - Norman Wirzba
7. Because I have so much more to learn & pretty soon I'll be an Anglican priest's wife: The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography - Alan Jacobs
8. Because everything about this title inspires me: Creating A Spiritual Legacy: How to Share Your Stories, Values and Wisdom - Daniel Taylor
9. Because, Sabbath: The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath - Mark Buchanan
10. Because I need to understand this more fully: Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper - Brant Pitre, Scott Hahn
11. Reading with our group of healing ministry leaders: A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World - Paul E. Miller
12. DONE (read blurb here) > For several important reasons: The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society - Henri Nouwen
Leftover To-Read Stack from 2015:
1. Death Comes For the Archbishop - Willa Cather
2. Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More - Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist - Karen Swallow Prior
3. The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present - Phillip Lopate
4. DONE (read blurb here) > Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within - Natalie Goldberg
5. DONE (read blurb here) > Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead - Brene Brown
.....
Go to my Book Pile page to see my reading lists from 2015 and previous years.
