16 Summer Reading Recommendations

Everybody, everybody get your read on

Jun 15, 2023

Here’s what I send to our church earlier this month, a list of book recs compiled with my fellow pastor to help our parish enjoy some good reads. Hope you enjoy, too.

I don't know about you, but when I think of summer, I think of books. Few things excite me more than the idea of a summer reading list. Even if I make little headway on the list, just planning to read brings me joy.

Reading, of course, is an excellent spiritual discipline. My friend Jessica Hooten Wilson — please keep her in your prayers — has written much about the value of reading. She frames it like this: "The simple act of reading can help us learn to pray well, love our neighbor, be contemplative, practice humility, and disentangle ourselves from contemporary idols." (She unpacks why/how in her excellent book linked below.)

As Christians, we are people of the Book, and hearing and reading are vital to our formation. We thought it would be valuable (or at least interesting!) to offer some recommended summer reading to help us continue to be people of the Sacred Book and good books.

Here's to summer and the hope that you find space to read things that enrich your heart and mind!

Non-Fiction

Reading for the Love of God: How to Read as Spiritual Practice by Jessica Hooten Wilson

Strong and Weak by Andy Crouch

Pierced by Love: Divine Reading with the Christian Tradition by Hans Boersma

The Anglican Way by Thomas McKenzie

Breaking Bread with the Dead by Alan Jacobs

Living Into Community by Christine Pohl

The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Drama of Scripture by Craig Batholomew

Poetry

30 Poems to Memorize (Before It's Too Late)