Books 2021: Part 1
Even though I barely scraped by in reading my goal of 30 books in 2020, I signed myself up for the challenge of reading 35 this year. Is this logical? No, but that’s part of the fun. Here are the 10 books that kicked off my 2021:
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
Is there a better way to start the year than in the world of Narnia? I started this book years ago, but for whatever reason I had a hard time getting into the Shasta and Bree storyline. But thanks to a Narnia movie marathon with my roommates, my mind was ready to dive back in. Honestly, the chapter “The Unwelcome Fellow Traveler” is reason enough to read this book.
The quote I’m taking with me: “Shasta was no longer afraid that the Voice belonged to something that would eat him, nor that it was the voice of a ghost. But a new and different sort of trembling came over him. yet he felt glad too.”
Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
While I’m sad that a hologram of Ben Barnes’ face didn’t float above this book as I was reading it, I still enjoyed it. The whole subplot of the Pevensie children being unable to see Aslan because of fear is very convicting for me. But, as always, Aslan’s correction and love is beautiful.
The quote I’m taking with me: (Yes, it’s the one you’ve read a dozen times...probably on Pinterest.) “‘You have listened to fears, child,’ said Aslan. ‘Come, let me breathe on you. Forget them. Are you brave again?’”
No Pain, No Gaines: The Good Stuff Doesn’t Come Easy by Chip Gaines
One of the perks of my job is that I can read our books months before they’re released to the public. And I flew through this one. It’s vulnerable. It’s brave. It calls us up and out, beyond what we often dream to be possible for our lives and the world. After a year like 2020, I think the words in this book are needed. Chip’s thoughts on people who make you swerve (when you’re driving through life asleep at the wheel) and the dangers of transactional living are things I think about often. And a side note: there’s a section written by Chip’s dad, and he includes a note he wrote to Chip when he was a teenager. I may or may not tear up every time I read or talk about it: Chip, I need you to believe in yourself like I believe in you.
The quote I’m taking with me: “Till my dying day I will believe we all thrive when we follow our better instincts.”
Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
Three books down and…five more to go. Yeah, I didn’t realize how many books were in this series. Anyway, this was the book I’ve been waiting for (spoilers coming). After a couple hundred pages of Anne suppressing her feelings for Gilbert (even after the sweetest confession of love ever), she finally wakes up and admits she loves him back. Classic to any Anne story, this one is charming, funny, and heartfelt. (Philippa was such a fun character to read.) Watching Anne grow up is a little bittersweet—part of me wants her to stay the wild thirteen-year-old forever, but it’s also endearing to watch her wrestle with hard things, like death and confusing romantic feelings.
The quote I’m taking with me: “‘All life lessons are not learned at college,’ she thought. ‘Life teaches them everywhere.’”
Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money: The Handbook of Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey
I know, some of you are wondering how I’m so late to the Dave Ramsey train. Well, here I am. I’ve obviously heard about him for years and lots of my friends have either taken FPU or have followed his program. And yes, I understand the hype now. If nothing else, I’d recommend reading this book or listening to the Dave Ramsey Show just for laughs—his personality is larger than life, and he can get quite sassy. But in all seriousness, as a twenty-something who’s thinking about the future and trying to learn even more ways to be smart with money, this book was helpful for me. I’m blessed with wise and generous parents who had already given me a great foundation when it comes to finances, and Dave’s principles just feel like another tool in my belt.
The quote I’m taking with me: “…single adults have to pay even more attention to impulse purchases, especially those brought on by stress or what I call the ‘I Owe It To Myself’ syndrome. If you’re single, you have a great responsibility to manage your money, because no one is looking over your shoulder. It’s up to you!”
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
If you’re a writer, or honestly just a human with a pulse, I need you to open another tab and order this book. (Or be super awesome and run to your local bookstore.) I first read Bird by Bird for my AP Language class in junior year of high school, and I remember loving it. But after several years of professional writing under my belt, Anne’s words strike a totally different cord. She’s honest, sharp, and hilarious (this is one that makes me laugh out loud). Anne makes you feel seen as a writer—every frustration you’ve felt or question you’ve asked, she meets it with vulnerability and wit. And more importantly, she reminds you why you wanted to write in the first place. It’s not about getting published. It’s about offering something beautiful and redemptive to the world. Writing isn’t a means to an end. Writing is the end, the gift, if we live like it. And I need that reminder again and again.
The quotes I’m taking with me (yes, multiple): “To be a good writer, you not only have to write a great deal but you have to care… A writer always tries, I think, to be a part of the solution, to understand a little about life and to pass this on.”
“You are going to have to give and give and give, or there’s no reason for you to be writing. You have to give from the deepest part of yourself, and you are going to have to go on giving, and the giving is going to have to be its own reward. There is no cosmic importance to your getting something published, but there is in learning to be a giver.”
“Sometime later… you figure out that the real payoff is the writing itself, that a day when you have gotten your work done is a good day, that total dedication is the point.”
“If something inside you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Don’t worry about appearing sentimental. Worry about being unavailable; worry about being absent or fraudulent. Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If you’re a writer, you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act—truth is always subversive.”
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
I’ve noticed a trend with myself the past couple of years. Every new year, I am hit with the brutal reality that I am, in fact, not an invincible machine. And praise, because how sad does that sound, to only see yourself as a machine? I want to be creative, to keep my mind open, to push myself as a writer, and to produce work I’m proud of. So even though I read the first half of this book last year (and took a break because, to be honest, it’s not the most engaging), I picked it up again this spring. I realized that too often at work, I’m scattered. I’m a reactor—someone needs me, I respond. While that has made me notorious for being fast and reliable, it doesn’t always allow myself to produce my best, most creative work. Or as Cal would call it, deep work. This guy went to MIT and teaches at Georgetown, so let’s just say he knows some things. Cal is way more intense with his practices and disciplines than I may ever be, but he gave me nuggets to chew on. After making a few small adjustments at work, I can already tell my focus is changing and deepening.
The quote I’m taking with me: “The ability to concentrate intensely is a skill that must be trained… The creative insights that Adam Marlin now experiences in his professional life, in other words, have little to do with a onetime decision to think deeper, and much to do with a commitment to training this ability every morning… Efforts to deepen your focus will struggle if you don’t simultaneously wean your mind from a dependence on distraction.”
When People Are Big and God Is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man by Edward T. Welch
Ouch. That’s how I felt starting, reading, and finishing this book. Earlier this year, I started to notice a pattern: I was taking friends’ and family member’s comments very personally. Their criticism wounded me and their praise held me up. That realization came with a lot of dread, because I suddenly felt transported back to senior year of high school, when I tended to eat, sleep, and breathe people’s approval of me. After an enlightening and convicting conversation with a mentor and friend here in Waco, she (a fellow people pleaser like me) recommended this book. I could have stopped at the name alone, which addresses my root problem of seeing people as bigger than God, therefore fearing them. Dissecting this book probably requires its own post, but for now I’ll just say that this book was so informative and enlightening for me. It helped me diagnose my fear of man, and instead inspire a beautiful, freeing fear of God.
The quote I’m taking with me (a game-changer): “The person who fears God fears nothing else.”
Bibliostyle: How We Live at Home with Books by Nina Freudenberger and Sadie Stein
For years, I’ve wanted my own library. It probably started at a young age, when I used to sneak into my uncle’s study, filled with books, maps, and the scent of his pipe. Even as a little kid, I thought this place was the stuff of dreams—pipe scent and all. As I’ve had a little practice creating spaces of my own and have learned how to do that in a way that feels authentic to you and your story (thanks, Magnolia), that desire for my own library has only intensified. And now that I’ve read Bibliostyle, that longing is through the roof. I devoured this book. Traveling to several countries and many cities around the world, Nina and her team probably saw thousands upon thousands of books during the tour to create this. The journalist in me geeked out over Sadie’s writing, as each profile read like its own travel piece. The photos alone are drool-worthy, which is why I’m making my coffee table Bibliostyle’s permanent home. While I probably won’t have thousands of books in my library one day (but I won’t limit myself), Bibliostyle inspired me to keep surrounding myself with pieces that are meaningful to me—including the books that have shaped me and those I still have yet to open.
The quote I’m taking with me: “Whatever I read is a reminder of places I have been, or of where I’d like to go. Adventures—even tame ones.” -Carolina Irving
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L’Engle
I can’t count how many times this book has been recommended to me or brought up in conversation in the past couple of years. Similar to Bird by Bird, it just seems like one of those bedrock books that every writer (and artist) needs to read. Within the first few pages, I understood why. I’ve never read A Wrinkle in Time (I know, I’m sorry!) or any of Madeleine’s other books, but I can tell from this one that her work is rich and honest. She covers so many relevant topics in this book: Why she doesn’t like the term “Christian art,” why children are perhaps the greatest and wisest critics we have, why your creativity is a clock you have to wound again and again, and why you have to let your work speak instead of wrangling it into something it wasn’t meant to be. I’m walking away from this one with new motivation and urgency to create and with a sense of comfort, knowing that the crazy, wildness in my brain is shared by more people than I think.
The quotes I’m taking with me: “So we must daily keep things wound: that is, we must pray when prayer seems dry as dust; we must write when we are physically tired, when our hearts are heavy, when our bodies are in pain. We may not always be able to make our “clock” run correctly, but at least we can keep it wound so that it will not forget.”
“We live under the illusion that if we can acquire complete control, we can understand God or we can write the great American novel. But the only way we can brush against the hem of the Lord or hope to be a part of the creative process, is to have the courage, the faith, to abandon control.”
“To serve a work of art, great or small, is to die, to die to self. If the artist is to be able to listen to the work, he must get out of the way; or, more correctly, since getting out of the way is not a do-it-yourself activity, he must be willing to be got out of the way, to be killed to self…in order to become the servant of the work.To serve a work of art is almost identical with adoring the Master of the Universe in contemplative prayer. In contemplative prayer the saint (who knows himself to be a sinner, for none of us is whole, healed, and holy twenty-four hours a day) turns inwards in what is called “the prayer of the heart,” not to find self, but to lose self in order to be found.”
Ten down, 25 more to go. Wish me luck, because Goodreads says I’m five books behind schedule. Whoops. Happy summer reading!
