What We're Reading

Hello! We wanted to take a moment as a team and thank you for following along with our posts so far! This new platform has been such a blessing for all of us as we try to write about all of the things the Lord is teaching us.

As always, we’ve been reading! So, we wanted to share with you some of the works we are currently reading. Feel free to join us in our reading—we’d love to hear your thoughts about these works or any others you think we should add to our stack!

Karen:

Fall is the most exciting time for me as I look at my reading list. Back-to-school feelings are in the air, and I’m always ready to add a few titles to my to-do list. As part of my prayer time, I’m reading Handbook To Prayer by Kenneth Boa. My husband and I are reading this one together, and it has been a blessing in so many ways. Currently, I am studying the book of Judges, using Verse by Verse ministries as a companion study. As part of a class I’m taking through the CiRCE Institute, The Iliad by Homer and Norms and Nobility by David Hicks are constant companions. While I try to prepare for Concordia writing, I am reading Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. My granddaughter and I are reading Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne. We try to get together periodically for tea and a short story from the Hundred Acre Woods. And late at night, when I just want something to relax with, I’m listening to Naomi Novak’s Temeraire series. It’s a historical fiction written for young adults, set in the Napoleonic Wars, but there are dragons!

Maggie:

For me, fall marks the transition between my “for-fun” summer reading list and the daunting list of upcoming academic reads. In this transition period, I’ve been reading some books on Christian art and reading habits. I finished and LOVED both Andrew Klavan’s The Truth and Beauty and Jessica Hooten Wilson’s Reading for the Love of God. I’m currently in the middle of Walking on Water by Madeline L’Engle as my “morning read.” I’m listening to The Myth Made Fact by Louis Markos on my long car rides. For my World Literature II course, for which I’m a teaching assistant, I read Tartuffe and The Rape of the Lock. I’m especially grateful for Wilson’s work because it has inspired me to consider all of my upcoming reading list as a spiritual habit and practice. My classes this semester are focused on rhetorical pedagogy and theory, so I’m frequently reading articles in the College Composition and Communication journal.

Elisabeth:

Fall is an incredibly magical season. I can feel my reading desires beginning to shift a bit in anticipation of the cooler temps and shorter days. I have been reading Anna Karenina for a while now, and I am loving the deep, spiritual truths that are weaved throughout the story. All the family ties and intertwined relationships are a real representation of family and its complications. I always have a biography or autobiography close by that usually deals with a political figure. I’ll just say my current biography is a presidential read that I have been nibbling on for a while. I am reading Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime with one of my classes that I’m teaching, and while I read it in parts last year, I will be reading it in its entirety this year. I enjoy books that describe personal experience and its influence on one’s perspective. Noah’s book certainly does that. In the last week, I have been reading The Giver, and I’m having similar feelings while reading it that I have when reading 1984. While I would love to say that I listen to an educational or reading podcast, I tend to lean more toward conspiracies, crime, and mafia-themed podcasts. (Shame . . . )

Luke:

One of my favorite days happened yesterday! I arrived home from work with a package sitting on my porch containing a new round of books. A few of them that I am most excited to crack open are: Nostalgia: Going Home in a Homeless World by Anthony Esolen, Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse by Timothy P. Carney, and Taking Hold of God: Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer by Joel R. Beeke and Brain G. Najapfour. Currently, I am enjoying Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath. I am teaching through the book of Romans with my youth group, so there are a couple of study bibles and two or three commentaries close by as I prepare to teach each week. In a somewhat unsuccessful attempt (due to crazy travel schedules with work for the last couple of months) to increase my reading of fictional literature, I am slowly making my way through The Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis. Finally, when I want to read something profound but only have a small amount of time, I continue to pick up In Defense of Sanity, which is a collection of essays written by G. K. Chesterton selected by Dale Ahlquist, Joseph Pearce, and Aidan Mackey.

Trey:

In my classes, I am currently teaching through the book of John. I’m using a variety of commentaries to prep, and I have also really enjoyed the Verse by Verse Ministries’ commentary during my commute. Over the summer, I began a quest to rekindle my middle-school passion for reading. I wanted to remember what it felt like to read “just for fun” and totally immerse myself in the stories I loved. I’m in the process of reading the Chronicles of Narnia all the way through. I also restarted my favorite book series as a middle-schooler, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. These characters made me enjoy reading, and I also credit them for inspiring my passion for the classical world. It’s been great to explore these worlds again! On my “up next” list, I plan to tackle the Divine Comedy.

Andi:

For my family, fall is the beginning of another homeschooling adventure with my teenage daughter. In my preparation for her, I’ve been reading Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff. This book is a retelling of The Iliad for younger readers. It’s a great resource to use to better understand and immerse yourself in the story before tackling the language and literary elements. I’ve been reading the books of John and Acts alongside various commentaries, including Verse by Verse Ministries (if you can’t tell, we’ve all been sharing this resource with one another!) I also have a C.S. Lewis book going, and my current reread is The Great Divorce. I’m also planning to use Paradise Lost by Milton and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by Blake to provide more context on Lewis’s intentions for the book and its connection to the Great Conversation.

Are you reading any of the same works? Let us know! We’d love to host an online conversation with you (or any others)! Please drop your book recommendations in the comments!