In 2019, I read seventy-four books.
Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash
50 novels
22 non-fiction
1 poetry
1 children’s book
Of the novels, I read: twenty were romances (including one mystery romance and eight regency romances), three mysteries, one sci-fi, seven literary, and eighteen women’s fiction.
Of the non-fiction, I read: four sociology books, three spirituality/religion, two psychology, and two craft of writing books. I read one each of: history, memoir, anthology, biography, and one geopolitical.
My favorite stories
Three were Marisa de los Santos’ books about the same family. I loved the warmth and the nuanced dynamics of the relationships within each book. The three I read were:
Love Walked In *** Belong to Me *** I’ll be Your Blue Sky
Other favorites were:
The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen
Death and other Happy Endings by Melanie Cantor
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Trail of Broken Wings by Sejal Badani
Hangman Blind by Cassandra Clark
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
The Enlightenment of Bees by Rachel Linden
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harm
Family Baggage by Monica McInerney
Recommended Non-Fiction
These first five books focused on the study of race and relationships and what’s going on in our culture today. I had served a multicultural church for six-years, until May. At my current setting, I facilitate a white privilege discussion group through community education and they like to meet monthly. The books I’ve found helpful are:
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo
My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Well-Read Black Girl, edited by Glory Edim
The two books, I enjoyed, related to church and spirituality are:
The Four Vision Quests of Jesus by Steven Charleston
Canoeing the Mountain by Tod Bolsinger
Other books, I appreciated:
The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
Atomic Habits by James Cleary
Whole Again: After Toxic Relationships by Jackson MacKenzie
Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown
DIVERSE Books
During my six years at the multicultural church, I learned so much from the black clergyman I served with and from the people of color who attended our church and were part of the Bible Studies, choir, and social gatherings. Any person who lumps all black people as being alike speaks from ignorance.
I currently serve a church that is primarily white people. I want to continue to learn about racism, white privilege, how so many of our institutions reinforce racism, and I want to be part of a conversation with other people so that we can share with one another what we have learned and that makes it easier for us to share with our family and our friends. Baby steps.
My white skin shelters me, if I want to just slide through life.
A few years ago, I made the choice to read more books written by people of color. Fiction and non-fiction.
As I look back at 2019, I read twenty-four books that were not by white, Christian, heterosexual people. Not even half, but better than the previous year.
I read books by Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Middle Eastern Americans, Indian Americans, Native Americans, black Americans. I read books by transgender, gay or lesbian people, and people of Jewish and ancestor religious traditions. I read one book by a Nigerian woman. Three books by an Irish, a Scottish, and a black British woman.
Some of the books, I enjoyed. Others I appreciated because I learned something new, what lives are like for people of color or learning more about the privilege and difficulties of being a white person.