10 Books I Recommend—November 2021
“Each book is a mind alive, a life revealed, a world awaiting exploration.”
– Dean Koontz
Below are books I recommend from what I finished reading in November.
Underneath the recommendations by me is a list of recommendations for me that I gathered from participating in Nonfiction November this month. It’s a wonderful way each year to discover the best nonfiction books to read. The linkup to see more “New to My TBR” is with Jaymi at The OC Book Girl for Week 5 of #NonficNov.
[See previously recommended books here]
Nonfiction
1. Good to Grow
Embrace an Abundant Life in Your Good Body
by Amanda Reynolds
This is an encouraging invitation to view our bodies in a more holy way, regardless of what our bodies look like or how much we like or dislike them already. Amanda shares lessons from personal experience and from scripture about how to grow our body image out of the weeds and into fruitfulness.
2. Factfulness
Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
by Hans Rosling
Most of us are wrong about global trends on world population, people in poverty, women and schooling, etc. This book is a fascinating approach to setting us straight and finding hope for our world.
3. Grateful
The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks
by Diana Butler Bass
Being grateful doesn’t always come naturally to us. This is a great jump-start to improving your gratitude attitude.
4. Embracing Uncertainty
by Susan Jeffers
An oldie but a goodie. The only thing we know for certain is that things will change. This book helps us make peace with that. It’s a perfect fit for my One Word 2021 UNCERTAINTY.
5. When Everything’s on Fire
Faith Forged from the Ashes
by Brian Zahnd
Instead of walking away from faith altogether when it becomes too inconsistent to believe any longer, Zahnd offers a solution of renovating our faith instead. And encourages us to hang on to Jesus no matter what.
6. God Can’t
How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils
by Thomas Jay Oord
While I like to think about things God CAN do, it’s also comforting to know there are things God CAN’T do (for example, God cannot lie; God cannot do evil; God cannot be unloving; etc.). I like to be challenged in my thoughts of God, and this book does that as Oord addresses the problem of suffering. Just as with all books, you can take or leave the authors’ thoughts as you read them.
7. Benefit of the Doubt
Breaking the Idol of Certainty
by Gregory A. Boyd
I found great encouragement in this book to not measure our faith by our certainty of it. The blurb on the back of the book says it best: “Embrace a faith that doesn’t strive for certainty but rather for commitment to Christ in the midst of uncertainty.”
8. Everything Happens for a Reason
And Other Lies I’ve Loved
by Kate Bowler
Kate Bowler was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer at just 35 years old. She walks us through her next steps, rooting out helpful and nonhelpful advice along the way.
9. Reasons to Stay Alive
by Matt Haig
I’m working through all of Matt Haig’s insightful books. This one tells us how he found reasons to continue living while he dealt with depression and anxiety.
Fiction
I did squeeze in one novel during this Nonfiction November month. And it is quite the page turner.
10. Before I Go to Sleep
by S.J. Watson
This is a great story about Christine’s journey with memory issues. Every day she wakes up to a new world, even though it’s exactly the one she left the night before. What role does her husband Ben play and how can she discover the real truth?
Reading Now
- The Story of You
An Enneagram Journey to Becoming Your True Self
by Ian Morgan Cron - The Divine Dance
The Trinity and Your Transformation
by Richard Rohr - The Wisdom of Your Body
Finding Healing, Wholeness, and Connection Through Embodied Living
by Hillary L. McBride - Anatomy of a Miracle
by Jonathan Miles
Adding to My TBR from #NonficNov Readers
- Planet of the Blind
(recommended by Lory) - Know My Name
(recommended by Sam B’s Bookstagram) - The Girl with Seven Names
(recommended by Reading Ladies Book Club)
What good book are YOU reading this month? Please share in the comments.
MORE READING
- What Will You Read Next? How Do You Decide?
- Is This Really Nonfiction? 3 Books Almost Too Weird to Be True
- 3 Best Books on Writing I’ve Read This Year
My books on Goodreads
More books I recommend
You are certainly ending the year with a blaze of glory in exploring your 2021 Word!
I really should stay away from these posts because I come away with more books on my TBR!
Benefit of a doubt and God Can’t look like interesting reads. I will be adding them to my tbr.
I bet I would like Factfulness! I read a book years ago about raising “free range” children and it talked about how our perceptions of the world are skewed and that most violence, kidnapping, etc. was at an all time low but we had a heightened awareness of it because of global media. That really stuck with me (it was a long chapter with actual facts and data and stats to back it up but that was the gist). It’s a sad truth that fear sells and the media really seems to feed on our fears.
Nice harvest!
I added 17 nonfiction books to my TBR this month: https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/11/29/nonfiction-november-2021-new-on-my-tbr/
As for fiction, I enjoyed a lot Before I Go to Sleep, read a long time ago
A great selection of books! I hope to participate in Nonfiction November next year, I had too much going on this year and didn’t know about it until it was too late to adequately participate.
I’ve just read a great thriller – Unforgiven by Sarah Barrie.
I added a ton of books to my TBR during Nonfiction November
Wishing you a great reading week
I got a great deal out of Factfulness, a book I read this month after hearing about it here.
Planet of the Blind made a big impression on me. Hope you enjoy it too. Know My Name is on my list from last year’s NFN … I hope to get to it soon.
God Can’t and Benefit of the Doubt look like intriguing reads. It would be a good to be reminded of the things God can’t do. I am currently reading The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron. I enjoy his sense of humor in the midst of really helpful explanations of the Enneagram types.
Have a blessed December!
And have you read the latest book by Watson? I haven’t yet, even though I really enjoyed this one here. I guess I’m afraid I’ll be disappointed.
Here is my November wrap-up: https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/12/01/2021-november-wrap-up/
I always appreciate your book recommendations, Lisa. Thanks for sharing!
That kate Bowler book was wonderful. Lots of wisdom too. Love your list as usual. Thanks Lisa
Intriguing list, with your “uncertainty” in mind! Certainty is a poisonous idol indeed.
I’ve wondered since [I can’t remember when] whether you knew Rosling’s work (eg gapminder) [maybe when I was reading Pinker’s Enlightenment Now]. Statistics and humanism at their best.
I’m most tempted by Good to Grow, not because I have a weight problem (a waist problem maybe) but I love food and drink, and bodies, and (more intellectually) embodiment. Another Bonhoeffer (and CS Lewis maybe?) thing is that Christianity is not against the body as such like some other religions are. Capitalism is like a Devil’s voice saying we should be like this or that.
Thank you for participating in Nonfiction November! I’m so glad you found some new titles to add to your TBR pile.
Thank you for these book recommendations! I haven’t heard of them before, but each of the nonfiction books sounds like they will personally help me especially now as the pandemic is getting worse and I won’t be able to see family again this year.
We’re having to modify our gatherings again this year for Christmas, but I can’t complain about that, compared to your situation. I’m sorry you won’t get to see your family again this Christmas, Danielle. 🙁