If your home is carried by the spine of a book, if you find yourself up past midnight to devour just one last chapter, if you’ve ever left the party early because there’s a riveting tale tented on your nightstand, you’ll know what it means to encounter joy in 300 pages or less.
Books are doors propped open to a room beyond. Expanding, truth-telling. And in a world that churns continuously, there exists an odd comfort in falling head over heels with a 1940’s housewife protagonist or AIDS activist or Pulitzer prophet and closing their curtain – leaving each behind with a final farewell.
It’s the best reminder I know: that The End is never the end.
The story, of course, lives on. The character traits, the lessons, the words unsaid and lives unlived. If attention is paid, we’ll find both the path and the destination to a mind ineffably changed.
And so, for the curious, here are 12 books I’ve found to be worth considering and re-considering, each with a profound lesson for us all:
Click above images to view/purchase: Trust Life, Flight Behavior, The Little Prince, Walden
Click above images to view/purchase: It Starts With Food, Man’s Search for Meaning, Loving What Is, How to Talk So Kids Will Listen
Click above images to view/purchase: When Helping Hurts, The Alcohol Experiment, Tattoos on the Heart, Home
From parenting to charity, suffering to short ribs, there’s so, so much here.
Pick one.
(Report back.)
there is no list
Can you tell me which browser you’re viewing in? It’s a visual list with all book covers linked – happy to do some digging to ensure you can see it! :)
I can’t see a list either :( I’m browsing in Chrome from my Mac. Hope that helps, Hoosier friend. xx
Oh no – thanks for letting me know! I keep hearing Safari’s doing the trick! :)
How to Talk so Kids Will Listen was a total game changer for me! I use strategies I learned in that book every single day with my children.
Flight Behavior has been on my shelf for literally years and I’ve yet to pick it up. Maybe this is a sign I should?
Thanks for sharing your beautiful words and your reading recommendations!
AMEN. I loved that book. And yes to Flight Behavior! I loved it!
I had trouble viewing the list with Chrome on my mac, but safari worked!
Thanks for this list :)
You’re welcome; thanks for letting me know Safari worked! :)
No list on Chrome on a PC either. The funny thing is there doesn’t seem to be a space for it either… (One extra return.)
Ah, my apologies! Here’s the list!
https://www.amazon.com/Trust-Life-Yourself-Wisdom-Louise/dp/1401956025/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=trust+life&qid=1560802648&s=gateway&sr=8-1&linkCode=li3&tag=d0272-20&linkId=54b77d69e87386d1f4baeea023df4e9b&language=en_US
https://www.amazon.com/Flight-Behavior-Novel-Barbara-Kingsolver/dp/0062124277/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=flight+behavior&qid=1560802681&s=gateway&sr=8-1&linkCode=li3&tag=d0272-20&linkId=3dddd45569ed9c1369ef455180955a7d&language=en_US
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Prince-Antoine-Saint-Exup%C3%A9ry/dp/0156012197/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=the+little+prince&qid=1560802707&s=gateway&sr=8-2&linkCode=li3&tag=d0272-20&linkId=969b0f62227fdd33eb36175a8a2fe2e6&language=en_US
https://www.amazon.com/Walden-Civil-Disobedience-Henry-Thoreau/dp/0451532163/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=walden&qid=1560802733&s=gateway&sr=8-3&linkCode=li3&tag=d0272-20&linkId=bf972c020d84e3b7f61afe6c05d22073&language=en_US
https://www.amazon.com/Starts-Food-Discover-Whole30-Unexpected/dp/1628600543/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=it+starts+with+food&qid=1560802821&s=gateway&sr=8-1&linkCode=li3&tag=d0272-20&linkId=d4a78089d5e8a9519b597293d6a4cb8a&language=en_US
https://www.amazon.com/Search-Meaning-Classic-Tribute-Holocaust/dp/1846042844/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=man%27s+search&qid=1560802875&s=gateway&sr=8-3&linkCode=li3&tag=d0272-20&linkId=00d57763cac030fc02bdad19e8c4ab8a&language=en_US
https://www.amazon.com/Loving-What-Four-Questions-Change/dp/1400045371/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=loving+what+is&qid=1560802902&s=gateway&sr=8-1&linkCode=li3&tag=d0272-20&linkId=3981773765e75e9266575a38c9ee65ed&language=en_US
https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Kids-Will-Listen/dp/1451663889/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=how+to+talk+so+kids&qid=1560802241&s=gateway&sr=8-2&linkCode=li3&tag=d0272-20&linkId=87ae60eb5df42913317ef51b4753b032&language=en_US
https://www.amazon.com/When-Helping-Hurts-Alleviate-Yourself/dp/0802409989/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=when+helping+hurts&qid=1560802133&s=gateway&sr=8-1&linkCode=li3&tag=d0272-20&linkId=52cba4da5d85f3447c6076e12251a88e&language=en_US
https://www.amazon.com/Alcohol-Experiment-Alcohol-Free-Challenge-Interrupt/dp/0525537252/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=the+alcohol+experiment&qid=1560802153&s=gateway&sr=8-1&linkCode=li3&tag=d0272-20&linkId=e1e5fba9faa5975ce5eb2810f9a6aa60&language=en_US
https://www.amazon.com/Tattoos-Heart-Power-Boundless-Compassion/dp/1439153159/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=gregory+boyle&qid=1560802308&s=gateway&sr=8-1&linkCode=li3&tag=d0272-20&linkId=882f2bae7d579217402af85825616422&language=en_US
https://www.amazon.com/Home-Novel-Marilynne-Robinson/dp/0374299102/ref=as_li_ss_il?keywords=home+gilead&qid=1560802392&s=gateway&sr=8-1&linkCode=li3&tag=d0272-20&linkId=fb2abe61110c47d1c20d1cd7bc1f68ae&language=en_US
Thank you for sharing your list of beloved and enriching books, Erin! I’ve read “The Little Prince,” “Walden,” “Man’s Search for Meaning,” and “Tattoos on the Heart,” and I heartily agree with their inclusion :) I look forward to reading the other books in your list. I’m going to start with Kingsolver (I’ve read and loved many of her other works) or Katie – whichever book comes first in my library hold :) If I may, I’d recommend Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “Gathering Moss” or “Braiding Sweetgrass” :)
Oh hooray! Thank you so much for your lovely recs! Adding them to my library list asap!
I love this and I love that you exist. Your essays are always a breath of fresh air. Thank you
thank you so much, sweet rebecca!