Favorite Reads of 2015

I always carry a book in my purse.  I read in the car-rider line when I pick Smarty Pants up from school to fill the 20 minutes of free time.  I read after the kiddos go to bed to wind down after a hectic day.  And I read while waiting at the dentist's office to avoid awkward conversations with people I don't know (introvert problems).  I get asked one question constantly by beloved friends, casual acquaintances on social media, and strangers waiting for root canals.  "What are you reading?"  So here is the short list of books that I really enjoyed reading this year. 

Searching For Sunday by Rachel Held Evans!  This was, by far, my favorite non-fiction work of 2015.  A few years ago, I realized that I didn't believe some of the things I had been taught in the evangelical church.  I started wondering if I believed anything I was taught at all.  I started reading and praying, visiting different churches, and evaluating what I knew in my heart to be true.  It was both a painful and beautiful process.  Honestly, it was mostly a very lonely process.  RHE's books made it less lonely for me.  I've read all of her works, so the first chapter of Searching For Sunday felt like having coffee with an old, familiar friend.  I scribbled "Me, too!" and "Yes!  This!" in the margins and dogeared my favorite chapters.  I am eternally grateful to have her words on a shelf to pick up when I'm feeling like the only person left in the world who trusts science, believes in Jesus, and loves all my neighbors as myself.

It Was Me All Along by Andie Mitchell was another non-fiction fave.  I picked this book off of the shelf because I was intrigued by the cover photo (sometimes it's okay to judge a book by its cover).  I saw myself in that photo.  I wanted to know more about the beautiful little girl with her tummy hanging out of her bikini.  I was not disappointed.  Mitchell is brutally honest when writing about her rocky relationship with food.  This is a book for both the over-eater and orthorexic.

Historical fiction was my jam this year.  I couldn't get enough of it.   

The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin captivated me.  I flew through the book.  <-- See what I did there?! The book is narrated through Anne Morrow Lindberg and does a beautiful job at illustrating the excitement of the historical period and the sorrows of the Lindberg family.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant started out weird, I'll admit.  It was like reading the fifth book of Genesis, but with lots of sexual innuendo inserted.  I powered through and came to very much enjoy the story that Diamant concocted.  Take this book for what it is:  a work of fiction.  The people and places may be historical, but the author has re-imagined the Bible story we learned in Sunday School.  From what I know about Jewish tradition, even the red tent is fictional, but the way she told this story through women completely absorbed me.  She painted the settings perfectly and birthed characters that I fell in absolute love with.  Upon reading the last page of this book, I wiped my tears and said, out loud and to nobody in particular, "Damn.  That was good."

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is a historical fiction piece about an American missionary family who travels to the Belgian Congo in the 1960s.  I went into this book without a lot of knowledge about the Belgian Congo and I walked away feeling humbled (and by humbled, I mean embarrassed) by the privilege I receive as a white American in 2015.  This wasn't a feel-good read, but I think that I am a better human because I read it.

If you love Sheldon Cooper in TV's The Big Bang Theory, you will love Don Tillman in The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.  This work was my feel-good read of the year.  This is a heart-warming story about a (presumably autistic) scientist using a research questionnaire to find a wife.  It is uplifting without being hokey and funny without making fun of people with autism.  In fact, Don Tillman is portrayed in such a dignified way that I just had to know the rest of his story and read the sequel,  The Rosie Effect.

Smarty Pants reads grade level books for Accelerated Reader at school, but at home he's found interest in simple chapter books.  Barbara Parks' Junie B. Jones is his favorite series for me to read with him.  He says I read them "funnier" than Daddy.  We also enjoy The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborn because we can look up facts about the particular subject and learn more.  I have really enjoyed seeing Smarty Pants' love for reading blossom.  A chapter or two before bedtime is my favorite part of the day, and my heart soars when I catch him with a flashlight reading under the covers after bed time.  Sassy Pants joins in on the fun, too, but her interest in books isn't as diverse.  She wants to read only one book each night:  A Castle Full of Cats by Ruth Sanderson.  I'll admit that it is a cute, sing-songy story.  The illustrations are detailed enough that we find something new to talk about within the pages each time we read it.

If you, too, are a reading enthusiast, please drop a book suggestion in the comments section!