6 Books I Recommend—September 2023
—Grace & Truth Linkup

“The goal of reading is not to get anywhere, but to open where we are.”
– Mark Nepo

Here are 5 nonfiction books + 1 novel I recommend from what I finished reading in September. 

[See previously recommended books here]

NONFICTION

1. Falling Down and Getting Up
Discovering Your Inner Resilience and Strength
by Mark Nepo

Mark Nepo writes with great insight on our falls. If you need encouragement to get back up again, again, and again, this book will inspire you to look reality in the face, yet still continue forward. 

[Read my full review here of Falling Down and Getting Up]

2. “All the Real Indians Died Off”
And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans
by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

This is the October selection for our online Moms Demand Action book club. Some of these myths I already understood to be false about Native Americans, but other chapters taught me lessons I needed to learn. The writing is a bit more academic than I’d prefer, but it’s definitely readable and engaging.  

3. Saving Us
A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World
by Katharine Hayhoe 

A valuable book. I learned so much about the harm we’ve been doing to our planet, but more importantly I also learned what we can do about it other than groan. The book addresses our treatment of Earth from many perspectives—science, psychology, and the author’s Christian faith.

4. Speak Your Truth with Love and Listen Deeply
A Training in Mindfulness-Based Nonviolent Communication
by Oren Jay Sofer

I listened to this audiobook from Hoopla in a couple of days. It’s about how to have respectful communication without arguing, blaming, or judging. As a student of Marshall Rosenberg’s method of Nonviolent Communication, Sofer’s principles here are familiar to me but still worth listening to in his own words.

5. A Life in Light
Meditations on Impermanence
by Mary Pipher

Although engaging and well-written, I didn’t read this memoir word-for-word. Until I got to the last few chapters. Then I slowed down and read every word that Mary Pipher said (she also wrote Women Rowing North, a fabulous book about aging and one of my top 10 books I read in 2019). Her wisdom about life’s many changes is valuable. 

FICTION

6. The Golden Couple
by Greer Hendricks

The wealthy couple Matthew and Marissa Bishop agree to marriage counseling with the renegade therapist Avery Chambers. The mysterious plot takes you behind the secrets that everyone is holding on to. An interesting story! I alternated between listening to the audiobook and reading the hardback.

WHAT I’M READING NOW

• Language Power
  100 Things You Need to Make Language Work for You
  by Norbert Schmitt
• American Idolatry
  How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church
  by Andrew L. Whitehead
• Nobody Needs to Know: A Memoir
  by Pidgeon Pagonis
• I Never Thought of It That Way
  How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times
  by Monica Guzmán
• I Didn’t Sign Up for This
  A Couples Therapist Shares Real-Life Stories of Breaking Patterns and Finding Joy in Relationships, Including Her Own
  by Dr. Tracy Dalgleish

What good book have you read lately? Please share in the comments.

Grace & Truth Featured Post

Maybe you like to read as much as I do. And/or maybe you also like to write. What have you been writing lately? It’s what Linda asks in this week’s featured post. 

“What Are You Writing These Days?”

Link your own blog posts below. 

Review the rules here about adding your most recent Christian Living posts and how to be the Featured Post. Visit all four hosts social media here or websites here: Maree Dee, Lisa notes, Lauren Sparks, Tammy Kennington.

Now Let’s Link Up!

• ← Share Four Somethings—September 2023
• On the Blog—September 2023 →