What happens when you take a group of complete strangers and throw them together in harsh conditions as something of a sociological experiment in the name of “reality TV”? Well, it’s sort of like Survivor, but in the case of Journey to Christmas, it’s more like a discovery of what the nativity story is all about.
Time to fire up your e-readers, update your Amazon wishlists, or head to the local bookstore: We have dozens of summer book recommendations to inspire, educate, distract, and enchant. Despite the connotation of a "summer read," we don't skip over the good stuff for guilty pleasures during the summer months. Here you'll find stirring fiction, deep devotionals, historic reads, poetry, biography, and more.
Enjoy our picks and share yours in the comments. Happy reading!
For when your devotional life is wilting in the heat: Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin.
On vacation I pause my chapter-by-chapter daily Bible reading and spend the week focusing on one particular passage. This year, I'm looking forward to using Women of the Word to guide my reading. Wilkin is simple, practical, and unapologetic about the plain hard work of Bible study—just what I need to get my head out of those fluffy white clouds.
– Megan Hill
For a good listen on a long roadtrip: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is dark and brooding, but it is so extraordinarily well-crafted. Tartt masterfully portrays the fragility of human existence and the terror of facing it without faith. I heartily recommend the audiobook—that is, if you have 32 hours to spare.
– Jen Pollock Michel
For those who are craving grace: Home by Marilynne Robinson.
If you've never gotten around to reading Gilead by the same author, you needn't do so in order to enjoy Home, which can be understood as a retelling of the Prodigal Son. For anyone who has ever loved someone who seemed to be unredeemably lost, and for anyone who has ever felt themselves wandering in search of home, this book is a balm.
– Rachel Marie Stone
For grown-up English majors: The Whole Five Feet by Christopher Beha.
This memoir takes us through the year Beha decided to read the Harvard Classics in their entirety. In addition to a meditation on the value of reading, Beha weaves together thoughts on faith, family, and what matters in life in a remarkable readable story. (I'm also looking forward to Beha's new novel Arts and Entertainments, out in July.)
– Amy Julia Becker
For the hard-working woman: The Measure of Success by Carolyn McCulley and Nora Shank.
I often struggle to find purpose in my work as a stay-at-home mom, and while the book discusses varying types of work, I was helped by the emphasis on seasons of a woman's life. I felt free to embrace my season with young children without having to do everything I want to do before I'm 40.
– Courtney Reissig
For a reminder about how the world can change in a single summer: One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson.
Bryson's wit and skill as a storyteller is put to excellent use in this page-turner, which weaves together the newsworthy events of a single summer in this country into a fun and enriching read, featuring notables like Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, and Calvin Coolidge.
– Michelle Van Loon
For spiritual renewal: An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor.
Reading Barbara Brown Taylor makes you slow down, breathe deeply, and want to encounter the living God all over again through embodied spiritual practices such as walking, carrying water, and getting lost.
– Liuan Huska
For an in-depth biography that has the pace of a novel: Junipero Serra by Steven W. Hackel.
This is one of the first biographies I've read of Serra that isn't thinly veiled hagiography. Hackel, a University of California historian, takes a thorough look at the Spanish Franciscan father who brought Catholicism to California and the effect it had on native populations.
– Laura Turner
For the anxious parent who's worried they're doing it wrong: All Joy and No Fun by Jennifer Senior.
This book carefully explores the landscape of modern parenting, the ways in which our culture both demands more from parents and, in a strange way, expects less. Though not faith-based, Senior's book concludes with a stirring call to duty that is beautifully Christ-like and freeing.
– Rachel Marie Stone
For a glimpse into a shameful chapter of American history: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.
This fictionalized account of the pioneering abolitionist Sarah Grimke and the slave girl she received on her 11th birthday is an important addition to this year's spate of works examining the immense and lasting evil wrought by slavery. While less than satisfying artistically, The Invention of Wings is a riveting and sobering read.
– Karen Swallow Prior
For musicians, music lovers, or anyone who just likes a well-written historical biography: Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson.
Johnson packs a surprising amount into this compact little biography, with an emphasis on Mozart's faith. Highly readable as well as educational.
– Gina Dalfonzo
For a book by a church father that's worth the effort: Confessions by Saint Augustine.
This is a book many of us have heard a lot about—and have never disciplined ourselves to read. But it's worth the effort. Augustine's struggle, before his conversion, with selfish ambition and illicit pleasures could have easily played in our century, and there's no better guide for understanding desire in the context of faith.
– Jen Pollock Michel
For mystery lovers (and maybe Harry Potter fans, too): The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith, aka J.K. Rowling.
The second in Galbraith's Cormoran Strike series (the first being Cuckoo's Calling), The Silkworm takes on a stomach-turning murder and the stomach-turning publishing industry. Amid the thick plot and delicious writing, we're invited to wonder how much Rowling actually believes about the many proclamations her characters make about the writing life and publishing biz.
– Caryn Rivadeneira
For poems so good you'll want start memorizing: Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson.
This biography of George Washington Carver in poems is apparently considered a children's book, but I didn't think that from reading it – and it's easily one of the best books I've read in a while. I haven't memorized enough things in my adulthood, but I'd like to memorize at least one of her wonderful poems in this book. I can't recommend it highly enough.
– Anna Broadway
For literature geeks: My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead.
Even though I'm not the world's biggest Middlemarch fan, I enjoyed this. Mead demonstrates how we develop relationships with our favorite books, and how they intertwine with and affect our lives over time.
– Gina Dalfonzo
For a devotional you'll want to read again and again: Images of Jesus by Anselm Grun.
I picked up this book at a retreat center because it's the kind of book I've wanted to write. I started reading it slowly in order to absorb it and I couldn't put it down. I'm calling Byron Borger at Hearts & Minds Books and ordering it straight away.
– Marlena Graves
For psychological suspense with fascinating characters: The Secret Place by Tana French.
It isn't out until late summer, but that gives you time to read the four other novels in her Dublin Murder Squad series. They're loosely connected by characters but stand alone as mysteries, making them each a satisfying, well-written read.
– Alicia Cohn
For a classic that can stand the test of time: Bleak House by Charles Dickens.
I don't read Dickens the same since chortling my way through Mallory Ortberg's guide to whether you're in a novel of his, but the Englishman keeps impressing me with his descriptions. And even though he wrote about a vastly different world, many of his characterizations remain prescient.
– Anna Broadway
For a family memoir that you won't be able to put down: The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy.
I would read anything Conroy wrote. This reflection on his tortured relationship with his father is written in Conroy's achingly wrought style, which isn't for everyone. But those who love evocative sentences and crazy families (aren't they all) will find their attention rewarded here.
– Laura Turner
For a beatific vision of the hope we have in God, in this life and the next: Surprised By Hope by NT Wright.
This book has impacted my theological perspective more than any book I've read in recent years. Wright beautifully communicates not just the hope we have of glory in the next life, but what that hope means in this life, especially in our moments and places of despair.
– Halee Gray Scott
For fans of spiritual memoir: Something Other than God by Jennifer Fulwiler.
Though Fulwiler is Catholic, her story of her journey out of atheism is a winsome and engaging read for Protestants as well.
– Gina Dalfonzo
For award-winning American fiction: Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner.
Not only does it have, arguably, one of the most beautiful titles in all of literature, but this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is a must read for those who love big, expansive stories that plumb the depth of their characters' histories, brokenness, and desires. Its vivid exploration of our American frontier past is also fascinating. Dig in and enjoy.
– Jennifer Grant
For an imaginative view of Jesus: The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare. I read this novel as a middle schooler and keep coming back to it for the fun-to-read and redemptive story of Daniel bar Jamin, a hot-headed young Zealot whose encounters with Jesus change everything.
– Liuan Huska
A four-part documentary series, released this month by Tyndale House (and airing in early December on CTS), Journey to Christmas follows five North Americans from all walks of faith – including an agnostic – as they trek to and through the Holy Land for three weeks, visiting key spots in Christian history and culminating in Bethlehem on Christmas Day.
Local Christian historian Nizar Shaheen serves as their guide, giving the biblical and Christian context for each stop along the way, answering the pilgrims’ questions. Interviews with Bible scholars are interwoven throughout the series, which is more like a blend between reality TV and a documentary.
Some of the best parts come when the five travelers – all young adults – gather at the end of the each day to discuss what they’ve seen, learned, and experienced. The lone Christian’s faith is strengthened on the journey, but what about the other four, including one who says he’s disappointed in God and seeking spiritual guidance? What will each of them find along the way?
The four 45-minute episodes are not only interesting and entertaining, but also serve as a good springboard for families or study groups to discuss the true meaning of Christmas in the context of history and geography – of walking the trails where the magi, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus walked. The DVD includes a discussion guide.
The series can be purchased at ChristianBook.com, and here’s the trailer:
