Books I Loved Reading In 2014
I love books and I love to read. This past year I started keeping a little better track of the books I read using a simple reading log at the back of one of my notebooks. This makes it a lot easier to not only remember the books I read, but what I actually read about!
Here are some of the highlights from last year:*
Miracle Motors by Peggy Morrison: If you haven’t read this book yet you’re missing out. It was hands down my favorite book of the year. Peggy is a top-notch storyteller, a great thinker, and a Quaker minister who rides a motorcycle through places like the rainy hills of Oregon, the desert heat of Nevada, and the filled-streets of Burundi. This is part memoir, part narrative theology, part motorcycle diaries, and part battle-cry. You will laugh, cry and be challenged by this book. If you liked Nadia-Bolz Weber’s Pastrix, then I promise you will love this.
A Hidden Wholeness by Parker Palmer
I’ve read A Hidden Wholeness a couple of times but this past year I read it again with a small group from my meeting. It was a lovely experience working through this lovely text. In the process I put together a bunch of sketchnotes for a study I have made available here.
The Sketchnote Workbook by Mike Rohde
I loved Mike Rohde’s “sketchnote handbook” so much that I have worked really hard to incorporate sketchnotes into my teaching, writing and journaling. I was excited to learn that Mike Rohde was putting together a second book, “sketchnote workbook,” which truly is a fantastic sequel, and was even more excited to learn that I have a cameo in his book!
This is a wonderful and challenging text that I read throughout the year. hooks is always a creative thinking who brings the personal and academic together well. I recommend this text for men who are looking for an alternative approach to maleness that lies outside of patriarchy.
In the Company of the Poor by Gustavo Gutierrez
I read this for the class I taught at Earlham School of Religion last Summer, “Poverty, Empire and the Bible.” It is an incredibly helpful book that puts Paul Farmer and Gutierrez in dialogue. Rooted in liberation theology, this book is informational, inspiring and practical.
Becoming a Healthier Pastor by Ronald Richardson
Following my interest in Family Systems thinking, I continue to study this school of thought, specifically in the context of ministry. Ron Richardson’s two books, the one above and his other book, Creating a Healthier Church, are well-grounded in theory, written in lay-terms, and very practical. I am currently reading Creating a Healthier Church with the elders of our meeting. I recommend both of these for anyone interested in good primers to family systems, especially if you are in leadership within a faith community.
Leave a comment below and let me know what book(s) you loved reading last year?
Note: There are affiliate links embedded to Powell’s, independent bookstore in the NW.