8 Books I Recommend—October 2021 + 1 Minute Video Review
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
Below are 8 books I recommend from what I finished reading in October plus a 1-minute video review.
Don’t forget that Nonfiction November begins Monday, November 1. Find the details here for this reading challenge.
[See previously recommended books here]
Nonfiction
1. Where the Light Fell
A Memoir
by Philip Yancey
How did Philip Yancey turn into a wonderful spiritual writer about suffering and grace? Now we can know. This is his memoir. It’s a hard story (he went through difficult seasons), but a beautiful one.
[click here if you can’t see the 1-minute book review]
[see more quotes here from Where the Light Fell]
2. Soundtracks
The Surprising Solution to Overthinking
by Jon Acuff
If your brain works overtime, spinning in circles, this is a helpful book to jump off the overthinking treadmill. We all have soundtracks we play in our mind; switch to a better one. Jon Acuff is an easy-to-read author with good content.
3. Leaving the Witness
Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life
by Amber Scorah
This memoir reads like a novel. Amber Scorah chronicles her journey as a devout Jehovah’s Witness. But when she decides to get out, everything changes. A fascinating read.
4. Shoutin’ in the Fire
An American Epistle
by Danté Stewart
As a white woman, I don’t know what it’s like to live in a Black body in white Christian spaces. But Danté Stewart explains it. He writes beautiful, heart-wrenching prose that cuts to the bone. You have to feel something when you read his words.
[more here about Shoutin’ in the Fire]
5. Preventable
The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response
by Andy Slavitt
Want to hear what happened behind-the-scenes during the pandemic in 2020? Andy Slavitt kept notes from his multiple interviews and eye-witness accounts as it happened. It’s very interesting yet sad to read. And also important material for next time. (I also recommend his ongoing podcast about the pandemic, In the Bubble)
Fiction
6. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
by Charlie Mackesy
Although the font is a little difficult to read, this simple, short book is a poignant story of a curious boy meeting new friends. He learns about life and love and being kind. A quick but powerful read.
7. One True Loves
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The story pulled me in from the first chapter: Emma Blair is engaged to her old friend Sam when she gets a phone call from her presumed-dead husband Jesse. He’s alive. Now what?
8. The Book of V.
by Anna Solomon
Three stories in one. (1) A reimagining of the Esther story from the Old Testament, (2) a banished senator’s wife in the 1970s refuses to perform a humiliating act in front of guests, and (3) a modern day woman in Brooklyn tries to keep her life together. I love how the stories overlap (note it does get raunchy in places).
Reading Now
- Your Story Matters
Finding, Writing, and Living the Truth of Your Life
by Leslie Leyland Fields - Abuelita Faith
What Women on the Margins Teach Us about Wisdom, Persistence, and Strength
by Kat Armas - Reasons to Stay Alive
by Matt Haig - Benefit of the Doubt
Breaking the Idol of Certainty
by Gregory A. Boyd - I Take My Coffee Black
Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America
by Tyler Merritt
What good book are YOU reading this month? Please share in the comments.
My books on Goodreads
More books I recommend
This has to be at least the third time a fellow blogger has recommended Yancey’s book, Lisa. That usually shouts “must-read” to me, so I’ll be looking into it. Thanks for all your reviews.
Blessings!
Thank you, Lisa. I appreciate your recommendations.
I always enjoy reading about the books you share, Lisa. I also have enjoyed reading Phillip Yancey and so this one sounds like one I should add to my list to read.
Always appreciate your book lists!
I was just thinking that it had been a while since I bumped into one of your 1 minute reviews! Great choice for a featured book!
I found “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” so sweet!
as usual love your list. I am rereading soundtracks. Yes easy to read but lots of truth in it too. My self talk needs some positivity.
I asked my public library system to order Yancey’s latest. It always makes me smile when good Christian books show up there!
Some interesting reads this month! I have heard so many good things about The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse. I’ll have to try and get my hands on it.
Have a great November!
Interesting mix of titles! I added The Book of V and Leaving the Witness to my TBR based on your comments about them.
Great list! Check out what I read in October at Girl Who Reads. I have some nonfiction recommendations on the list if you are still looking for titles to read in November.
Lisa, I already had a hold on “Where the Light Fell” at my library, and now I’ve added “One True Loves” as well. I’m currently in the middle of “Murder Your Darlings” (thanks to your recommendation). I read a little a time … it’s good food for thought as I work on my own writing projects. 🙂
Interesting assortment of books. I like your combination of fiction and nonfiction even though I tend to avoid nonfiction. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
These sound like a great mix of books!
Nice video review! I really should do something like that to practise getting to the point — last time I tried I was just getting into my stride when the timer went.
In October I finished 2 Kings and started 1 Chronicles (I don’t want to race through but if I can finish Chronicles & Ezra-Nehemiah so that I am reading Isaiah over Advent and Christmas I’ll be very happy).
Also read a lovely little book called The Soul of Wine: Savoring the Goodness of God by Gisela H. Kreglinger (2019). Good on savouring God’s gifts, on work as prayer (the author is from a Franconian wine-making family). Wine is very much part of my life, so this voice was helping imbue normal life with a Christian light.
I hope you are enjoying I Take My Coffee Black–I have a copy of this to read soon and think it will be an important read for many. One True Loves sounds like a novel I’d really enjoy.