These lists are ever changing and perpetually incomplete. Some of these are crushes, books I’ve read once and adored. Some of these are true loves, books I return to time and time again. These are the ones that came to me today.
Non-Fiction:
Love Warrior: A Memoir by Glennon Doyle Melton
Finding God in the Ruins by Matt Bays
One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Carry On, Warrior: The Power of Embracing Your Messy, Beautiful Life, by Glennon Doyle Melton
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Present over Perfect, by Shauna Niequist
Of Mess and Moxie by Jen Hatmaker
Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker
For the Love by Jen Hatmaker
Hands Free Life: Nine Habits for Overcoming Distraction, Living Better, and Loving More by Rachel Macy Stafford
Only Love Today by Rachel Macy Stafford
Wild in the Hollow by Amber Haines
How to Be Here by Rob Bell
What is the Bible? by Rob Bell
Wild, by Cheryl Strayed
Rare Bird, by Anna Whiston Donaldson
Daring Greatly, by Brene Brown
Rising Strong by Brene Brown
Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
Stitches, by Anne Lamott (also Help, Thanks, Wow and Traveling Mercies… & everything she’s ever written)
Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber
Accidental Saints by Nadia Bolz-Weber
Scary Close, by Donald Miller
Theodore Rex, by Edmund Morris
John Adams, by David McCullough
The Partly Cloudy Patriot, Sarah Vowell
Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell
Team of Rivals, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Half the Sky, by Nicholas Kristoff & Sheryl WuDunn
Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans
Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
Glitter and Glue, by Kelly Corrigan
The Hole in our Gospel, by Richard Stearns
The Greater Journey, Americans in Paris, by David McCullough
Mosaic of Grace by James Prescott
The Light is Winning by Zach Hoag
Fiction:
A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Still Alice, by Lisa Genova
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett
The Fault in our Stars, by John Green (don’t let the YA classification fool you. SUPERB)
The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain
The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
Contact, by Carl Sagan
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer & The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Parting Gifts by Katrina Hodge Willis
Children’s Books:
Wonder, by R. J. Palacio
Anything, all things, everything by Dr. Seuss (my favorites are The Grinch, The Lorax, and Green Eggs and Ham. Sensing a theme? I do love a curmudgeon.)
A Wrinkle in Time, By Madeleine L’Engle
The Tenth Good Thing About Barney (great book on loss & grief)
Anything, all things, everything Harry Potter by JK Rowling
Frindle, by Andrew Clements ( a love letter to teachers and language)
The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (sigh)
Ish, by Peter H. Reynolds
The Ship Series by Jerry Aubin
The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (even though my ex-husband pointed out that it’s pretty much just a list of chores. He’s not wrong.)