Bookshelf

* No affiliate links here. Just sharing our favorites.

Spiritually Inspiring

Yearning for the Living God by F. Enzio Busche

God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew

Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

The World's Religions by Huston Smith

• Fall in love with every major religion in the world by reading this book! It's like art appreciation for religion. Smith describes why a believer wants to participate in her religion, what makes her heart sing in her religion's teachings and practices.

Spiritual Self-help

The Knight in Rusty Armor by Robert Fisher

• A fictional allegory for getting out of addiction through authenticity and vulnerability.

The Four Agreements (a Toltec wisdom book) by Don Miguel Ruiz

• Contains profound wisdom I keep re-learning in deeper ways: Be impeccable with your word. Don't take anything personally. Don't make assumptions. Always do your best.

Walking with God: How to Hear His Voice by John Eldredge

Moving Mountains: Praying with Passion, Confidence and Authority by John Eldredge

Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul by John Eldredge

• He helped Chris find a real relationship with God, and helped me (Sarah) understand Chris better.

Following the Light of Christ Into His Presence by John Pontius

The Triumph of Zion - Our Personal Quest for the New Jerusalem by John Pontius

The Lost Language of Symbolism: An Essential Guide for Recognizing and Interpreting Symbols of the Gospel by Alonzo Gaskill

Self-help

Nonviolent Communication: Life-changing Tools for Healthy Relationships by Marshall B. Rosenberg

Between Parent and Child: The Best-selling Classic that Revolutionized Parent-Child Communication by Dr. Haim G. Ginott

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown

Women Food and God by Geneen Roth

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

Beautiful & Epic

She Walks in Beauty: A Woman's Journey Through Poems selected by Caroline Kennedy

The Subject Tonight Is Love: 60 Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky 

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

• I am grateful to Hugo for illustrating the slow, deliberate refinement of the priest's soul in the opening chapters. And then exploring the way that one polished life changed another's, which then changed the world around him and most especially his soul. Contrast the barrenness of Javert's perspective, with the raw journey and unexpected beauty of Valjean's. This is an exalted epic of a read, particularly in the unabridged version.

The Emperor's Soul and The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

• Sanderson has a brilliant way of exploring themes without telling you what to think, writing easy-to-read prose (it slips through your mind like butter in a skillet), and developing stories of epic heroism. My favorite part of The Emperor's Soul are the parallels I see to the careful precision God uses to shape our souls. I also liked pondering art as an expression of the artist versus cheap reproductions that hold the form, but not the purpose, of its beauty. In The Way of Kings deeply broken characters grow in power by making oaths that transform their greatest trials into their greatest strengths. I love reading through these transformations; they remind me of God's ways. Unfortunately, Sanderson's books are too violent for me. But back when I engaged in more leisure than I do now, the themes, complexity and heroism were worth skimming over the violence.