January dances away on the calendar as I sit and type this. We’ve had snow and ice and snow again and cold temperatures to go with it all. I haven’t minded. Granted, I’ve been able to stay inside my warm and cozy house during most of it, thus not so much to mind. It has been perfect weather to hunker beneath a favorite cuddly blanket and read a book. Or brew a cuppa and sip it in front of the fire crackling brightly in our soapstone stove. I’ve lit candles most days, simmered soup on the cooktop, baked brownies and bran muffins, and embraced all the wintery vibes.

Before the month quite slips into the next, I wanted to share a list of a few books I found delightful as 2024 turned its pages. In no particular order here they are.

1. How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks

A bit of the synopsis from the book description “As David Brooks observes, “There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen—to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood.”

And yet we humans don’t do this well. All around us are people who feel invisible, unseen, misunderstood. In How to Know a Person, Brooks sets out to help us do better, posing questions that are essential for all of us: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them? What kind of conversations should you have? What parts of a person’s story should you pay attention to?”

We read this in our book club. It was a fantastic springboard for some great conversations and discussions. The chapters offered thought-provoking insights into ourselves and into other people and the relationships in between.

2. Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten

Memoir has become one of my very favorite generes. I love listening to people’s stories. It’s fascinating and interesting and it gives me a glimspe into lives so very different from mine and unique in comparison to the life I live and will ever lead.

I didn’t know Ina Garten’s name or who she was. But this book kept popping up on booklists of other readers I follow. Knowing I love memoir, I searched for the title on Spotify, found it was included, and I began to listen. It was completely delightful! I enjoyed all the food, I enjoyed listening to the ups and downs Ina navigated, th9e decisions she faced, the inner work of wrestling with who she was and what she wanted. I enjoyed hearing her name things about herself as she navigated the seasons and steps in her life.

3. Ghosted by Nancy French

Another memoir….fascinating, well-written, and sobering. I read through the pages of Nancy’s story pretty quickly. I appreciated the depth in this book and the call to any of us who want to call ourselves Christian or give lip service to calling ourselves a follower of Jesus to deeply examine what we applaud and uphold and what we are willing to diminish and overlook. Here’s the blurb about the book that accompanies it online.

“New York Times bestselling ghostwriter Nancy French is coming out of the shadows to tell her own incredible story.
Nancy’s family hails from the foothills of the Appalachians, where life was dominated by coal mining, violence, abuse, and poverty. Longing for an adventure, she married a stranger, moved to New York, and dropped out of college. In spite of her lack of education, she found success as a ghostwriter for conservative political leaders. However, when she was unwilling to endorse an unsuitable president, her allies turned on her and she found herself spiritually adrift, politically confused, and occupationally unemployable. Republicans mocked her, white nationalists targeted her, and her church community alienated her. But in spite of death threats, sexual humiliation, and political ostracization, she learned the importance of finding her own voice–and that the people she thought were her enemies could be her closest friends. A poignant and engrossing memoir filled with humor and personal insights, Ghosted is a deeply American story of change, loss, and ultimately love.”

4. The Critical Journey by Janet O. Hagberg and Robert A. Guelich

This book was oxygen and explanation for me. It helped make sense of a number of things to me as we traverse a life of faith and growth. I first heard the concepts referenced by John Mark Comer at TAG in September of 2023. I don’t remember when I ordered the book, but I read it sometime in the first three months of 2024. It felt like it clicked some pieces of a missing puzzle into place. It named things I’d felt but couldn’t explain or quite put a name to.

5. The Answer Is No by Fredrik Backman

This short story! I downloaded on Kindle as soon as I saw Fredrik Backman share it on his IG. I loved it. I laughed. It was a fun short read. I related to some of the characteristics and feelings contained within. I’m always intrigued by Fredrik Backman’s writing. He can weight a simple sentence with such a depth of meaning. He’s brilliant at creating characters whose shoes we can step into, experience with, and build empathy for the life of another.

6. Becoming by Michelle Obama

Memoir again! I listened to this one as well and it was fantastic. I also love audiobooks narrated by the author. This one was, as was Ina Garten’s. This book was a fascinating peek into the life of an ordinary black girl growing up in a small apartment with parents who loved her and also worked very hard to make ends meet….and often the ends were straining. I enjoyed hearing about Michelle’s life as she grew from young to high school to college to career to marriage to a family with two daughters and a husband with a political career and a desire to see good changes in our country and world. There’s something powerful in listening to someone tell their own story, their heart for what they do, the way they get perceived or misrepresented, and the ups and downs they experienced.

7. The Mythmakers by John Hendrix

I’ve read about C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. Watched the Tolkien movie. Heard them referenced, quoted, or spoken about at a lot of events I’ve attended. This book, though, contained much about their friendship and relationship I hadn’t heard before. I loved it! It was delightful reading through the pages. The book itself is an absolutely stunning compilation of art, words, and creativity. I pre-ordered it so I was anticipating it. It exceeded my expectations and surprised me!

8. What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci

This book wasn’t on my radar at all because I didn’t even know it was coming out. I met a writing friend in Tulsa in October. We ate Italian for dinner and then navigated to Magic City Books to browse. This new book from Stanley Tucci was on a display table and I quickly snagged a copy to purchase. I thoroughly enjoyed his first book, Taste: My Life Through Food and this second one did not disappoint. Such a great read in my opinion!
I’ve noted that I like memoirs and I noted that I like books about food. I’ve ordered a few food memoir-type books and added to my TBR.

9. The Brave In-Between: Notes from the Last Room by Amy Low

Another memoir. Another Listen. This book felt insightful and it offered inspiration to consider what life looks like when you live within an allotment of numbered days. We can argue that we all do that, but it’s not as real as when faced with a grim diagnosis. Sometimes the best description of a book is the one created by the publishers?? marketing team?? {as much as I’m ensconced in the book world I’m not sure who writes the book blurbs}
Here’s the synopsis for The Brave In-Between:

“This honest and emotional memoir presents much needed lessons and advice for navigating uncertainty in the worst of times. 

Amy Low resides in a room that is her last—her medical team is clear-eyed with her: there is no cure for Stage IV metastatic colon cancer, and the odds of long-term survival are scant. Miraculously, she’s lived four years with her diagnosis, and that life between life has changed her.
 
Through the swirl of prolonged trauma and unbearable grief, a vantage point emerged—a window that showed her the way to relish life and be kinder to herself and others while living through the inevitable loss and heartbreak that crosses everyone’s paths. Instead of viewing joy and sorrow as opposites, she saw how both exist in harmony, full of mystery and surprise. Instead of seeing days as succeeding or failing, and physical selves as healthy or unwell, she’s learned to carry both achievements and afflictions in stride. And instead of bitterness and betrayal, forgiveness—toward her body, toward others, toward herself—became her wisest light.
 
Mapping her experiences to the words that St. Paul wrote in his own last room, The Brave In-Between is a sacred invitation to explore that space between triumph and tragedy. We all have a heart to marvel at miracles, a lightness to spot the absurdity, and an imagination to pause and extend empathy for others—even when tragedy strikes. Sometimes we just need a guide.“

10. The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin

“I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be.”
—Rick Rubin

My son loves music. Creating music, playing electric guitar and other instruments, listening to music. In November, he and I were having a conversation and he was telling me about a music producer who has produced a number of best-selling albums across a variety of genres. He told me his name, Rick Rubin. Somewhere in the conversation I happened to inquire if Rick Rubin had any books because I knew that often, famous, successful, or accomplished well-known people, do write books. My son replied that he thought he did have a book. I subsequently looked it up, and with a chuckle, found that I already had The Creative Act added to a Want-to-Read list. Fast forward a bit and find my husband, son and I in Denver, CO at Tattered Cover Bookstore. I was browsing the shelves and displays and behold! There on a table was a stack of The Creative Act. I pondered for a few minutes, flipped through the pages, and then headed to the cash register. The book itself is lovely. It has a linen-textured cover and provides a great aesthetic look and feel. I was delighted to add it to my collection as a beautiful book about creativity and the way of being, as a book I’d wanted to read, and as a memento and touchstone of our trip. And yes, I really, really like this book. I enjoyed the encouragement and the challenge to act, to create, to be.

11. Delicious by Ruth Reichl

This novel was a fun read! It took a handful of ingredients and a medley of characters and swirled them into an engaging and unique story. It kept me turning pages, made my mouth water for good cheese, and showed up with a few surprises along the way.
Here’s the novel’s description ~

“Billie Breslin has traveled far from her home in California to take a job at Delicious!, New York’s most iconic food magazine. At first, Billie feels like a fish out of water—until she is welcomed by the magazine’s colorful staff and seduced by the vibrant downtown food scene. Then an unexpected turn of events leads Billie to a miraculous discovery. In a hidden room in the magazine’s library, she finds a cache of letters written during World War II by Lulu Swan, a plucky twelve-year-old, to the legendary chef James Beard. Lulu’s letters provide Billie with a richer understanding of history and inspire Billie to come to terms with her fears and her ability to open her heart to love.”

12. Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

As always, in my opinion, Malcom Gladwell does it again. I find any and all of his work fascinating. I like the way he thinks and the studies he digs into. I listened to this one and it’s on my looooooong list of books I want to re-read.

Here’s one of the paragraphs about this book ~

“Through a series of riveting stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling form of social engineering. He takes us to the streets of Los Angeles to meet the world’s most successful bank robbers, rediscovers a forgotten television show from the 1970s that changed the world, visits the site of a historic experiment on a tiny cul-de-sac in northern California, and offers an alternate history of two of the biggest epidemics of our day: COVID and the opioid crisis. Revenge of the Tipping Point is Gladwell’s most personal book yet. With his characteristic mix of storytelling and social science, he offers a guide to making sense of the contagions of modern world. It’s time we took tipping points seriously.”

It was a good book year. A good reading year. And I’m already reading my way through 2025! May your year be filled with all manner of delightful books, my comrade friends!

“Ah, how good it is to be among

people who are reading.”

– Rainer Maria Rilke