2020 Book Recommendations
Written by Sally Anne Groomes
Please consider reading from this carefully curated collection of books involving three of the most universal yet thought-provoking themes–marriage, death, and faith.
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
For November’s book club pick, I couldn’t resist selecting a good novel that invites you to find your coziest blanket and pour a nice cup of tea. Marilynne Robinson’s Lila is a classic bildungsroman (think Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, To Kill a Mockingbird) that makes my English major heart flutter. We meet Lila as an abandoned child and the novel charts her complicated physical, emotional and spiritual trajectory into and through adulthood, marriage and motherhood. The characters are richly developed and the marriage at the heart of the novel is one so full of grace and tenderness that once and cannot help but become deeply invested in this story.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
With equal parts excitement and trepidation, I would like to announce and provide a bit of a warning for our October book club selection of Joan Didion’s “The Year of Magical Thinking.” While not all of my selections thus far have been inherently “Christian literature,” all have been at least faith-adjacent. Didion’s memoir departs completely from this trajectory with its absence of any theological center and abject nihilism at its core. I realize many may be asking, “Why on earth did you choose this, Sally Anne?!” I selected it for several reasons: Didion’s exploration of grief struck a chord with millions of readers—it is a national bestseller and won the 2005 National Book Award for Nonfiction and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography/Autobiography. Her thoughts and ideas resonate with this fallen world and as Christians in this world, I believe it’s valuable to know precisely what we are up against. I have never read a more comprehensive and raw depiction of marriage, loss, and grief so completely separate from God. For me, in order to be a light for Christ, I find it helpful to know precisely the depth of the darkness that surrounds those who haven’t met Him. But please, dear readers, don’t let this scare you away! As I have found that reading this book (this will be my third time) produces within me an abiding gratitude for Jesus Christ and the unmitigated comfort provided in knowing and loving Him.
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
In light of our deep dive into Patti Henry’s historical yet somewhat fictional development of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis’s love story this month, September’s Book Club choice basically selected itself. I cannot help but go straight to the other source as we will be delving into C.S. Lewis’s gripping and raw meditation on loss and spiritual struggle following the death of Joy in “A Grief Observed.” I’m eager for us to examine Lewis’s powerful insights while also finding common threads that poignantly connect to the books that we have already read together.
Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan
After reading Lewis’s devastating memoir of loss following Joy’s death described in A Grief Observed, I was captivated to find Callahan’s creative attempt to fill in the gaps surrounding this compelling relationship with August’s book club read, Becoming Mrs. Lewis, which is Patti Callahan’s historical reimagining of the friendship and eventual marriage between C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman. The characters, their works, and major events which occur in the text are real, while the spiritual and emotional connection that develops is Callahan’s masterful conjecture. However, the blurry line between fact and fiction matters little as readers are taken on a journey which reveals powerful truths about faith, friendship, and love.
The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
It is my long-held belief that summer time is for fiction. I love heading to the beach, pool, or my backyard with a novel and an icy beverage in hand (I have recently rediscovered the magic of ice cold cherry Kool-aid; my kids and I are all rocking the slight red mustache on a daily basis 😂). My July pick for Sally Anne’s Book Club provides everything I love in a novel—deeply developed characters, multi-faceted relationships, relatable struggles and a dedication to overcoming them throughout the plot. This is a book I couldn’t put down yet dreaded finishing the last page and leaving the fictional world that these characters created. I hope you love it, too!
Two-Part Invention (The Crosswicks Journal, Book 4) by Madeleine L'Engle
American essayist E.P. Whipple said that “Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time.” Two-Part Invention has been a lighthouse in my life, shining a clarifying and guiding light upon the vast uncertainties and struggles. Reading this book has helped me better negotiate faith, illness, marriage and death with grace and fortitude. I hope that perhaps this memoir may have also impacted a few of you in a similar way.
Sally Anne is a former literature and writing professor and has carefully curated a collection of books involving three of the most universal yet thought-provoking themes–marriage, death, and faith. Sally Anne’s Book Club is a member-led group within the Collective and open to members on the Dive Collective network.
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Sally Anne Groomes
Washington, D.C.
Sally Anne is a former literature professor who still cannot be caught without a book close at hand. Currently, she is raising her two kids, running many miles, and adventuring around the world one duty station at a time with her husband (a Navy doctor). She loves Jesus with all her heart and is learning daily how to count it all JOY.
Learn more about Sally Anne here and find her on Instagram at @sagroomes21.
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Whether you are looking for an advent devotional, a cozy nonfiction read, or a festive holiday fiction—here is a list of recommendations to get you started. I hope these encourage some special reading moments this Christmas season!