by Elizabeth Hunter—
In 1904 Jewish writer Franz Kafka wrote to a friend, “If a book does not wake us…why do we read it? …A book must be the ax to break the seas frozen inside our soul.” Certainly, many people of faith have found this to be true. Stories—the spiritual and the secular—increase our empathy, understanding and love for our neighbors. For Christians, books can bring to mind our baptismal call—something reformer Martin Luther encouraged us to remember daily.
Stories in books—like Jesus’ powerful, provoking parables— carry us like boats across barriers of geography, time, experience, culture, religion and more. Whether through a printed page, e-reader or audiobook, we connect deeply with unexpected folks (real and fictional). Walking in their steps, hearing their thoughts and discovering a world unknown to us can enrich our faith. Many Christian writers see reading—as widely as possible—as part of their spiritual practice. In addition to Scripture and devotional reading, Gather writers frequently read a wide variety of works.
For example, I recently finished Educated, by Tara Westover (HarperCollins 2018), a compelling memoir of a young woman determined to go to college (despite a lack of formal schooling), who almost didn’t survive her off-the-grid fundamentalist upbringing. It was worth the three-month wait to borrow the library’s copy. I also read How to Raise an Adult (St Martin’s Griffin 2016), author Julie Lythcott-Haims’ case for not “overparenting,” but encouraging the resilience of people from toddlers to teenagers. There were many implications for youth involvement in congregations.
At presstime, while “social distancing” during the COVID-19 crisis, I often escaped into the colorful stories and photos of In Her Footsteps: Where Trailblazing Women Changed the World, a travel guide to historic places touched by women’s leadership and creativity (Lonely Planet 2020). I also found a new prayer partner in Meta Herrick Carlson, whose Ordinary Blessings: Prayers, Poems and Meditations for Everyday Life helped me widen my gaze and pray more than pandemic prayers (Fortress Press 2020).
Just for fun, I asked other Gather writers what was on their bookshelf. Here’s what they said.
ANGELA T. KHABEB
I’m reading My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakem (Central Recovery Press 2017). The author is a therapist, a “soul medic” who works with people experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, from U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan, to police officers in Minneapolis, to black Americans suffering from race-based trauma. When I’ve finished this book, I hope to read Stringing Rosaries: The History, the Unforgivable, and the Healing of Northern Plains American Indian Boarding School Survivors, by Denise K. Lajimodiere (North Dakota State University Press 2019). The author, born to two boarding school survivors, interviewed many survivors of a practice that forced children to forget their cultures, languages and religions.
—Khabeb is a pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, and the author of a chapter in Still a Mother: Journeys through Perinatal Bereavement, Joy M. Freeman and Tabatha D. Johnson, editors (Judson Press 2016).
CATHERINE MALOTKY
I am reading with two intentions right now: to read more fiction and to be open to the amazing human diversity around me. My book group recently read Neither Wolf Nor Dog, in which author Kent Nerburn explores what it might mean to go deeply into the pain of another’s culture. We also read The Great Believers, by Rachel Makkai, a book that took me deep into the early years of the AIDS crisis, and how the trauma of those years is still with us all, the LGBTQIA+ community especially. Outside of my book group, I also read My Grandmother’s Hands (just like Angela). It opened my eyes to the impact of trauma on the instincts and responses of the traumatized. More compassion is my takeaway. Up next will be a book I’ve meant to read for years, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism, by Robin DiAngelo. Maybe the fact that it’s been on my list for a while is evidence of the truth of the title!
—Malotky is a retired ELCA pastor, and author of Carrying Them with Us: Living Through Pregnancy and Infant Loss, by David Engelstad and Catherine Malotky (Fortress Press 2019), about what the couple learned from the death of their infant daughter, Erin, 35 years ago.
KATHRYN A. KLEINHANS
To enrich my faith life, I’m reading ¡Gracias! A Latin American Journal, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, and We Will Feast: Rethinking Dinner, Worship, and the Community of God, by Kendall Vanderslice.
—Kleinhans serves as dean of Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. She is the editor of Together by Grace: Introducing the Lutherans (Augsburg Fortress 2016).
CARA STRICKLAND
Finishing an M.F.A. in 2019 took up all my reading time, so reading for fun in 2020 has been a delight. A couple of recent favorites are Dani Shapiro’s Hourglass, a memoir about her marriage, and Julia Child’s My Life in France, which is all about her great career in food. Now I’m really looking forward to digging into Lauren Winner’s The Dangers of Christian Practice.
—Strickland writes about food, faith and life at carastrickland.com.
JULIE A. KANARR
I’ve been reading: An On-Going Imagination: A Conversation about Scripture, Faith, and the Thickness of Relationship, edited by Walter Brueggemann, Clover Reuter Beal and Timothy Beal; Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong In the Real World, by Matt Parker; Rules For Visiting, by Jessica Francis Kane; and Wild Ride Home: Love, Loss, and a Little White Horse, A Family Memoir, by Christine Hemp.
—Kanarr serves as a pastor at Christ Lutheran Church, Belfair, Washington. This year she is celebrating the 30th anniversary of her ordination.
HELEN HOLLINGSWORTH
I recently read Telling Yourself the Truth, by William Backus and Marie Chapian. I’ve also had fun reading The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. Next I hope to read The Hidden Rift With God, by William Backus.
—Hollingsworth is a retired pastor who teaches online classes and operates a community food bank.
DENISE RECTOR
I just read The Source of Self-Regard, a collection of essays, speeches and meditations, by Toni Morrison. Next up are The Inheritance Trilogy, by N.K. Jemisin and On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong.
—Rector is a Ph.D. student at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
SARA ZARR
I recently read Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by Caroline Fraser. There is so much packed into this Pulitzer-winning biography, but what struck me especially was the history lesson built into it. Laura Ingalls Wilder was alive from shortly after Lincoln was assassinated through Eisenhower’s first term. The way this book follows an important century of American history through the life of one Midwestern woman and her family makes it both a great read and a learning experience. For fun, I also read Varian Johnson’s The Parker Inheritance, a great, multi-layered, middle grade novel. Next I plan to read My Victorians: Lost in the Nineteenth Century, by Robert Clark, one of my favorite essayists.
—Zarr writes essays and young adult fiction. She is a two-time Utah Book Award winner, and a National Book Award finalist for her first novel, Story of a Girl. Her new book is Goodbye from Nowhere (Harper Collins/Bray+Balzer 2020).
KAREN G. BOCKELMAN
I’m reading Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. It’s so powerful I can only read a bit at a time. For fun I read mysteries—especially anything by Louise Penny, most recently A Better Man. With second graders at a local elementary school, I’ve been reading Pete the Cat books. Next on my list is The Overstory, by Richard Powers.
—Bockelman is a retired ELCA pastor in Duluth, Minnesota. She is called as a wife, mother, preacher, writer and church volunteer.
BEV STRATTON
To explore life questions, I’m reading Mary Pipher’s Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing as We Age. For fun, I recently read Lori Gottleib’s Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed.
—Stratton is a couples therapist in Roseville, Minnesota, and professor emerita of religion at Augsburg University (Minneapolis).
ROZELLA H. WHITE
I’m reading The Power of Meaning: Finding Fulfillment in a World Obsessed with Happiness, by Emily Esfahani Smith, a book that opened my mind to the markers of a meaningful life. Next I want to read Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that the Movement Forgot, by Mikki Kendall. The book addresses how mainstream feminism and feminist theory have failed women of color and women from varying socioeconomic classes. It also invites us to do and be better.
—White is the author of Love Big: The Power of Revolutionary Relationships to Heal the World. As the #LoveBigCoach, she helps people uncover what is meaningful and create lives that align with their values.
SUSAN SPARKS
I’m reading Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World, by Tim Marshall. I’m also reading illustrator Carlie Mackesy’s first book, The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse (Ebury Publishing 2019). I recently read The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World, by Peter Wohlleben (Greystone Books 2016). I want to read Richard Powers’ The Overstory.
—Sparks is a pastor, comedian and columnist. She is also the author of Laugh Your Way to Grace and Miracle on 31st Street: Christmas Cheer Every Day of the Year—Grinch to Gratitude in 26 Days!
YOUR TURN
Dear readers: What have you read recently? How did it affect you? Please comment below. We’d love to hear from you!
Elizabeth Hunter is editor of Gather.
This article is from the June 2020 issue of Gather magazine. To read more like it, subscribe to Gather.
The two most important books I read last year are: Factfulness by Hans Rosling. This book by a medical doctor who has worked all over the world deflates many of the myths we Americans hold. For example, did you know that all over the world even in third world countries, most girls do get to go to school?
The other book is called Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan Metzi. It explained to be how our country has come to be so divided politically. It delves into the consciousness of white folks who are literally starving and dying by degrees and explains why they refuse any help from government agencies. An eye-opener for our times!
My congregation’s Season of Creation study book has been Witness Tree — Seasons of Change with a Century Old Oak, by Seattle Times environmental reporter Lynda V. Mapes. An accompanying feature for a streamed Sunday service was our interview of Lynda about her year-long experience with this special oak in the Harvard Forest. Next on my list is Overstory by Richard Powers and The Hidden Life of Trees. (Our Season this year focused on… Trees!)
I am currently reading Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God by Kaitlin B. Curtace who is a member of the Potawatomi Nation and is a Christian. She writes so beautifully! I have just started it, so I can’t say much, but I believe she has a great deal to teach us. The NE Minnesota Synod’s Together Here group has begun a Zoom study on this work.
I’m disappointed that the only book mentioned by your contributors that dealt with racism was Just Mercy cited by Bockelman. I would have hoped that they would have given readers many suggestions on this topic – books such as Biased, So You want to talk about race, How to be an anti-racist, Cross and the Lynching Tree, books for children and many others.
Elizabeth – I very much appreciate your voice, elevating the importance of learning about racism and how to intentionally be anti-racist. Your additional reading list is a valuable contribution to the list. That said, I invite you to re-read the article. I see at least 4 other race-based books exploring racism and anti-racism from different angles: My Grandmother’s Hands (it’s byline is Racialized Trauma and the Pathways to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies), Stringing Rosaries: The History, the Unforgivable, and the Healing of Northern Plains American Indian Boarding School Survivors, White Fragility (it’s byline is Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism) and Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that the Movement Forgot.
I’m still reading The Warmth of Other Suns, The Epic Story of American’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson. It has taken me months of picking it up and putting it down, due to the vastness of the material and the power of the individual stories being related. It is hard to read of others, in some instances, our neighbors, your neighbors being driven from their homes, due to lack of humanism, and greed. The millions that left the south to find a better life, found the struggle for every day needs still unbelievably hard, in the their new home. But so far, all say it was worth it. Thank God for strong determined spirits.
This was an amazing, educational and very eye opening book which is very pertinent to what I, someone with white privilege, didn’t know anything about. I am so grateful for Isabel Wilkerson’s research and writing.
I live the book by Linda Richman: I’d Rather Laugh
It is difficult sometimes, but you can control how you react to things. When I found out I had a tumor in my kidney, I didn’t let it get me down (although waiting a month for surgery was a real test!) I thought about Linda’s book several times through that ordeal!)
I just finished “A Walk Across the Sun” by Corban Addison. I could not put it down! It begins with two sisters in India who become orphaned by a tsunami and end up being trafficked. Meanwhile, a lawyer in the US witnesses a kidnapping, and through a series of events ends up in India working for a human rights organization fighting sex trafficking. I was aware of this problem but after reading the book I want to take action by supporting one of the organizations the author supports: International Justice Mission.
I just finished Heather Cox Richardson’s How the South Won the Civil War. It was illuminating if a bit disheartening, and an important read right now.
For fun, I am reading (and LOVING!) Trudy J. Morgan-Cole’s A Roll of the Bones, a historical novel about the first white settlement in Newfoundland.
I’m reading and savoring The Gift of Years by Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun. It’s full of wisdom and encouragement. Each chapter is on a different topic- Dreams, Loneliness, etc. It’s a book to read slowly and ponder.
I have finished the last in the alphabet series by Sue Grafton, Y. This book was especially hard to get through because it was the last book in the series of many, many years of writing. One heroine, one story of her life that grew with her and the times. And we grew with her. I read Y slowly so I could hang on as long as I could. Before Z was finished, Sue passed away. Her family chose not to finish the book or hire anyone to finish the book. Everything about Kinsey, the heroine, is left to our imagination. We will also never know what happened to Henry, or William and Rosie. Did Anna keep her baby or put her into an open adoption? Did Dietz ever come back to Kinsey? And actually, did Kinsey make it to the end alive? She’s been blown up, beaten up, almost buried alive. It was a wild ride. And we all rode with her. “The alphabet ends with Y.” That said it all. So did my tears at the end.
I just completed “The Tortuous Path: Atonement and Reinvention in a Broken System” written from personal experience by Christopher Pelloski. For some time I’ve been concerned about the ineffectiveness of the penal system in the USA, as well as the increasing number of individuals who are labeled sex offenders. Depending on your personal experience you probably think the worse when learning that someone is registered as a sex offender. However someone who has not had any contact with an individual can still be forced to register as a sex offender which then severely limits where they can live, where they can work as well as where they can go even after incarceration and treatment. Due to misinformation and lack of understanding for individuals described by Pelloski congregations often refuse to be a support to these individuals when it is needed the most. I have personally known two congregations who refused to allow the required supervision for these individuals to attend worship. I hope this well written book will inspire individuals and congregations to be supportive of individuals as they reenter society following therapy.
I am currently reading New Orleans Woman by Harnett T. Kane. He writes excellent historical fiction and this book covers the story of Myra Clark Gaines and her very very long fight for legal justice in the early days of Louisiana’s statehood. It really drives home the point that we should never give up demanding and desiring justice, just as the poor widow before the evil judge in the N.T., persistence wins out….. and there were many unjust people barring her way at every turn. It tells of the reward of persistence, persistence, persistence.
If you make up a list of “Other books” in a follow up. Please mention HIDDEN FIGURES by Margot Lee Shetterly. This is about Katherine Johnson Gobel, one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist. It represents an educational and unbiased view of the integration/segregation question facing the United States in the 20th century. It also gives you a good review of the early days of the space program. From the interest of mathematics education and history, reading it just awakens avenues of which most people are unaware.
Great suggestion. Thanks! I’ll look for it.
I just finished The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas. It was a book I’d been meaning to read for years and it was well worth it! She unpacks a lot about racism in the US, and gave me a lot to think about during these tumultuous times. Another book I recommend to people is a novel with Christian implications throughout called The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon. A coming of age story involving a woman’s disappearance and a reviled sex offender living in the protagonist’s neighborhood. Quite a well-written story!
Yes! Hidden Figures is an excellent resource for helping us learn how our brilliant black sisters were and continue to be critically important to scientific innovation.