January Book List
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I usually read 50 books a year. Roughly one a week. Since I am traveling this month, these books are short and sweet. I can only carry one in my pack at time! Each leg of the journey I switch out for the next book.
Invitation to Solitude and Silence
Ruth Haley Barton
A dear friend sent me this book as I prepared for my own one-month solo trip. There will be much solitude and silence and this book has given me some insight into a more intentional time. “In silence we create space for God's activity rather than filling every minute with our own” Barton writes.
She gives practical direction as well. I found myself taking photos of pages as I will use them as guidelines on this trip.
Joy Marie Clarkson
Clarkson shares personal stories and prescriptive lists on how to find goodness in your own life. Her writing is like sharing a cup of tea with a friend. Clarkson shows you how to choose to be happy. She pulls from scripture, literature, art and regular life. I find many parallels between her work and my own. We have a similar lens we view the world through.
Joy also shares recommendations for film, music and art that can be used as touchstones or portals into a happier life.
C.S. Lewis
Lewis equates Joy with God. His pursuit of Joy fades when he finds God is pursing him. His personal voice rings through the prose and it is good to read the dynamics between his father, brother and himself.
As you read Lewis’ account of his coming to faith, you begin to see how God was persuing you too, in different parts of your life.
Sam Selvon
I have never heard of this book or writer so I was shocked to see it in the Penguins classics. This short book walks through the trails of immigrants to England from the West Indies in the 1950’s. It is written in dialect bringing you into the voice of these characters. You get a sense of the daily trails of just trying to survive and the endless cycle as immigrants attempt to get ahead in a new country.
Claire Keegan
I read Keegan’s Small Things Like These over Christmas break and fell in love with her lush story telling in sparse prose. Her story brought me hope in goodness and mankind. I jumped at the chance to read another of her books. Her books are quite short. You’ll find yourself slowing down, reading sparsely as you to not want it to end.
This book is absolutely breathtaking. It is the story of a young girl sent away to her mother’s kin for the summer and the space there for her to blossom. It is a testimony to stability, attention and kindness. I will read ANYTHING Keegan writes from here on out.