A winter in books.
what I read winter 2021-22 📚
Happy almost-spring. The light is coming and the clocks agree now. Finally.
Lately I’ve been having a lot of tough conversations, reflecting on two years of a pandemic, and generally feeling the weight of the world, so this week I’m talking about books. The beauty, humanity, and truth I seek in books makes life more beautiful, human, and true to me. Reading is my gateway into worlds and imaginations of how to build the world I want to live in. Which is not one where there is war and COVID, but here we are.
So, I read on.
What I read this winter
This winter was a season of grieving, rebuilding, and growing while unlearning, rethinking, and reframing many chapters of my own story and worldview.
In books I picked up, I read toward beauty>knowledge.
Curiosity>certainty.
Quality>quantity.
Depth>distance.
A look inside my reading life is a peek inside my mind, heart, and soul. I know not everyone reads the ways I do. No shame in any reading game!
But here’s a slice of mine.
What follows are books I finished in the order I read them. I mark the format/how I read them (🎧📱📙), whether a book was a reread (🥈), and a rating based on the following (entirely subjective) criteria that generally allows me to sort them into favorites. I’m probably too liberal with “favorites”, so now you know.
Best books I've read in a long time. Exact book pairing for my season of life. Contender for a lifetime favorite. (⭐⭐⭐)
I LOVED it, have already recommended it to others, will probably reread and give away copies if I haven't already. (⭐⭐)
Really enjoyed its finding me this season. I may reread someday and likely recommend. (⭐)
There are books I start and abandon, and they’re not included here because I don’t leave bad book reviews. I prefer to assume I just wasn’t the right reader at the right time.
I’ve been reading a lot of non-majority privilege (often silenced) authors lately, and I acknowledge BIPOC and LGBTQ+ authors in my list(🖤🏳️🌈). This intentionality continues to evolve my preferences as I make decisions about what to pick up next.
The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music ⭐⭐
by Dave Grohl 🎧📱
I'm a Nirvana superfan. I started this hoping for an insider look at the band, its formative years, it incredible success and influence, and its tragic demise with Kurt Cobain’s death. It’s so much more than that. I finished the book in love with Dave's spirit, heart, humor, and art. Highly recommend the audio version read by the author… there’s music.Terraform: Building a Better World ⭐⭐⭐
by Propaganda 📙🖤
In this collection of essays and poetry, musician and activist Propaganda looks at the ways in which our world is broken and challenges us to create a better, more equitable world through terraforming: creating a livable world out of an inhospitable one. I once got to meet him at an event where he was performing and I’ve been drawn to his art ever since. Terraform is inventive and captivating.Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual ⭐⭐
by Luvvie Ajayi Jones 🎧🖤
Luvvie invites us to step into our power and cause “good trouble”, as John Lewis called it. Practical, tangible, and highly entertaining audio version,readperformed by the author who is delightful and freaking hilarious.Outlove: A Queer Christian Survival Story ⭐
by Julie Rodgers 🎧🏳️🌈I listened to this on flights to Texas and back, and cried many times on those planes at the pain she’s experienced. Julie, a lesbian, tells her journey of rising to a place of influence within the Christian ex-gay movement and as a chaplain at an evangelical college, and all the parts of herself she had to sacrifice to get there. Her story’s one of reconciling her relationship with sexuality, faith, and church that she shares with such tenderness and vulnerability that left me both hopeful and heartbroken. God, I hope people take to heart just how damaging and lethal gay conversion therapy and anti-gay theological and political worldviews are. I’m glad she’s still here to tell her story.
Waging Peace: One Soldier's Story of Putting Love First ⭐
by Diana Oestreich 📱Diana went to the frontlines of the Iraq war and found herself confronted with choices she never thought she’d have to make: like taking the bullets out of her gun, refusing to run over a child when ordered to do so, and treating the “enemy” as a combat medic and friend. This is the story of how she returned home a peacemaker.
Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance ⭐⭐
by Jessamyn Stanley 📱🖤🏳️🌈I highlighted the whole book. Jessamyn is a liberated, helpful guide in the world of yoga, but maybe more importantly, an awake life. About yoga, she says “Yoga links the deepest and most conflicted aspects of myself. The light and the dark. The bad and the good. The ups and the downs. It’s both a process and a destination, both a question and an answer.” YES. Grab this one.
The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self ⭐⭐
by Martha Beck 🎧🏳️🌈This one is part memoir, part self-help. But the thing I’m still turning over in my head and life with this one is the quality of integrity our lives can have. Martha walks us through questions to bring our inner worlds and outer worlds into alignment. I needed this book and its guidance.
Finding Refuge: Heart Work for Healing Collective Grief ⭐⭐
by Michelle Cassandra Johnson 📱🖤I read this looking to explore and apply the idea of collective grief more deeply, and Michelle invited me into thinking about it in ways I hadn’t considered. Michelle is a master of the writing craft. There’s a story in this where the author writes about keeping honey bees and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Especially poignant as we begin to heal collectively from the pandemic and the destruction of our “normal” together.
Sorry For Your Troubles ⭐⭐⭐
poetry by Pádraig Ó Tuama 🥈📙🏳️🌈Ó Tuama is my favorite poet, hands down. I picked this up as Russia invaded Ukraine to try to make sense of what I saw. Miraculously, it helped in the way only art can. It’s a collection of poems about the 30 years of conflict of the Troubles in Ireland. Pádraig has a way of getting to the heart of things, especially the realities of wars in and around us.
Before the Next Bomb Drops: Rising Up From Brooklyn to Palestine ⭐⭐⭐
poetry by Remi Kanazi 🥈📙🖤When I saw the flooding of support for Ukrainians defending their homeland and rights, I thought of Palestinians, who aren’t offered the same respect and support of the world for resisting Israel’s violent occupation. This double standard grieves me and I won’t stop pointing it out. Remi’s poetry is a helpful companion through.
Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of the Human Experience ⭐
by Brené Brown📱
Dr. Brown introduces us to research on the language surrounding emotions and experiences. Part reference, part memoir, this guide helped me broaden my emotional vocabulary. Immensely practical and helpful. Read a hard copy if you can. The ebook experience wasn’t great with illustrations and images in this one!
Shoutin’ In The Fire: An American Epistle ⭐⭐
by Danté Stewart 🎧📱🖤
I almost don't have words to describe this one. I’m humbled by Danté’s generosity with his story as a Black man in America. I saw someone say “throw away your copy of “White Fragility”, and I agree. Reading his words changed me and I'm asking better questions of my country, the American Church, and more importantly, myself.
On Being Human: Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard ⭐⭐⭐
by Jennifer Pastiloff🥈📙📱
I first read this in early 2021 and I couldn't articulate it well then but I felt so seen in reading this book. She listens — like really listens — as evidenced by her observations and connections. They’re poetry. Jen’s a writer’s writer, and she’s deaf. In this memoir, she's tender, raw, and honest as she dismantles shame and hunts down beauty. I have recommended this one more times than I can count. I'm rereading it already, and I just booked her “Creativity, Cooking, Connection Retreat” in Italy this fall.
I get all my book recommendations from friends and writers, so I hope to hear from you if you’re a reader. Let me know in the post comments if you’ve read any of these.
What are you reading this spring, and what books should I add to my list?
Happy reading,
P.S. I’m currently reading This Here Flesh, by Cole Arthur Riley (the creator of “Black Liturgies”); The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion; and The Practice: Shipping Creative Work, by Seth Godin.