We are about halfway through the year and I thought I would write a little reading life update. I am on track to read 60 books this year. Here is a recap of some of my favorites.

My favorite book of January was The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. I listened to it on audio and it is read by Tom Hanks. The Dutch House is a lovely novel telling the story of a brother and sister over the course of nearly fifty years. If you are looking for a good fiction book to get lost in, I highly recommend this book.

Most of my reading in February was focused on academic books, but my favorite book that month was another audiobook. I listened to Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements by Charlene Carruthers (read by the author). This book had been on my radar since Carruthers visited Yale Divinity School in 2018. Here is a good explanation of why you should read this book:

“Charlene Carruthers is a powerful organizer, radical thinker, paradigm-shifter, and one of the most influential political voices of her generation. Anyone seriously interested in the struggle for Black liberation in this country needs to listen carefully to what she has to say.”

—Barbara Ransby, author of Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement and Making All Black Lives Matter

Considering the major ways the world changed in March, I still managed to read some good books that month. My favorite was The Time is Now: A Call to Uncommon Courage by Joan Chittister. It is a slim book, but it packs a punch. Sister Joan writes about prophetic spirituality to resist oppression and injustice. Very timely and the short chapters are easy to read whenever you have a few minutes.

During the stay-at-home time of the pandemic, I read a few pages each day from The Genesee Diary: Report from a Trappist Monastery by Henri Nouwen. It was a wonderful book to savor. It really is a diary of Nouwen’s seven-month sabbatical at Abbey of the Genesee in upstate New York. Nouwen is self-reflective, without being too self-conscious, and examines the busyness of his normal daily life as an academic. I shared the quote below on my Facebook page in April.

“I wonder if I really have listened carefully enough to the God of history, the God of my history, and have recognized the Divine when God called me by my name, broke the bread, or asked me to cast out my nets after a fruitless day? Maybe I have been living much too fast, too restlessly, too feverishly, forgetting to pay attention to what is happening here and now, right under my nose. Just as a whole world of beauty can be discovered and one flower, so the great grace of God can be tasted in one small moment. Just as no great travels are necessary to see the beauty of creation, so no great ecstasies are needed to discover the love of God. But you have to be still and wait so that you can realize that God is not in the earthquake, the storm, or the lightning, but in the gentle breeze with which God touches your back.”

From Henri Nouwen’s The Genesee Diary, pages 94-95.

Once I turned in final papers, I enjoyed devouring seven books in May! A highlight of my May reading list was Grace Is a Pre-Existing Condition: Faith, Systems, and Mental Healthcare by David Finnegan-Hosey. This book was just published in February 2020. I had pre-ordered my copy because I really enjoyed David’s first book, Christ on the Psych Ward. Again I shared a favorite quote from this book on Facebook.

“In our current social and political crisis, it’s important to keep in mind that whole systems need to change. No single thing is going to be the one thing that does it. We need to acknowledge that and try not to get defensive about it. The one or three things that I can focus on today – the protest I can attend, the representative I can call – isn’t going to fix everything. We can’t all move everything at once. Care for yourself and for others, knowing that the struggle is both urgent and long-term. Pick a place you think you can intervene. Do it knowing that your actions are part of a larger system.”

Grace is a Pre-existing Condition by David Finnegan-Hosey, page 92.

We are almost at the end of June and I have finished eight books this month. Interestingly enough, this month I read three books on Kindle, listened to three on audio, and only two were physical paperbacks. I might have re-read a book for the first time ever. Since the beginning of the year, I could not stop thinking about The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Over a few days this month, I re-read this classic. It was interesting to read this book again about fifteen years after my first reading. The first time I read the book I was about the same age as Holden. I don’t think I realized how much trauma Holden had suffered with the death of his younger brother and the death by suicide of a classmate. I am very glad I re-read it and it gave me a lot to think about.

Another book I finished reading in June was Part-Time is Plenty: Thriving Without Full-Time Clergy by G. Jeffrey MacDonald. Newly published in April 2020, I participated in a four-week book group organized by The BTS Center. From late May to mid-June, we met for one hour a week to discuss sections of the book. The book group greatly enriched my reading experience. I recommend Part-Time is Plenty to my clergy colleague friends. The book is full of ideas for your full or part-time ministry.

What have you been reading or listening to? If you want to know all of the books that I have read so far in 2020, check out my Goodreads account. I regularly update my reading list there. Happy reading!