Whatcha readin'?

Did you read any good books this summer? Or maybe you’re one of those people with more time to read in winter. Either way, here are my favorite picks from my summer reading.

In fiction, Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner kept me turning the pages. I’m smitten with split-time novels, and this one does not disappoint. In the contemporary part of the story, a young American scholar interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly English woman is ready to reveal secrets about the war she has kept for decades...beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden—one that will test her convictions and her heart. The historical portion is a war-time story about a set of sisters—two out of thousands of London’s children evacuated to foster homes in the rural countryside. Although they find refuge in a charming cottage, the older sister’s ambition compels them to sneak back to London just as the Luftwaffe rains down its terrible destruction. The sisters are cruelly separated. I won’t give away the rest, but it’s a great read that makes you think about the horrors so many endured in that time and place.

In nonfiction, I found great encouragement in Erwin Raphael McManus’s book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art. McManus demonstrates how we all carry within us the essence of an artist. We all need to create, to be a part of a process that brings to the world something beautiful, good, and true, in order to allow our souls to come to life. It’s not only the quality of the ingredients we use to build our lives that matters, but the care we bring to the process itself. If you’ve ever thought you weren’t creative, think again. You were made in the image of God—the most creative artist ever. This is a book I hope to read many times. I hope you’ll read it at least once.

My third pick is fiction based on true life. Imagine being presented by your parents with your own personal slave for your eleventh birthday. Imagine being that slave. In The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd brings to life both characters in nineteenth century Charleston, South Carolina. I didn’t realize until I reached the end that the main character and her sister, Sarah and Angelina Gremke, became the most famous women in America during their lifetimes because of their fight for abolition and feminism in the years leading up to the civil war. This masterful book is a fictionalized account of their real lives.

Speaking of feminism, I’m about half-way through Sarah Bessey’s Jesus Feminist. What I like about this book is how it helps readers understand why women loved Jesus so much. A careful look at his life reveals that, in a culture where women had zero rights, Jesus respected them, honored them, taught them, included them, defended them, and valued them. If his church had followed his example of true feminism, writers like Belle Hooks (whose work I also read this summer but find too flawed to recommend) would have no cause to believe or promote the notion that Christian doctrine condones sexism and male domination. That his church has profoundly failed in this arena breaks my heart.

In scripture reading, all year I’ve been following a lovely plan provided by Shannon Long on her sweetblessings.com. This month’s theme is “God will make a way” and I am enjoying digging into daily examples of how God made a way when things looked impossible. I write out the day’s verses in my journal and then fill the page (and often the next) with my own observations and prayers. I recommend it.

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Happy reading!