Category: Non-Fiction
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Lenny Duncan – Dear Church
This is possibly one of the most passionate books I’ve read in a long time – the subtitle was “A love letter from a black preacher to the whitest denomination in the U.S.”, and that’s exactly what it felt like – a love letter. A book that raises as many potentially ‘controversial’ points as this
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Austin Channing Brown – I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
I’ve been trying to make more of an effort to educate myself on topics that are out of my comfort zone. It’s become abundantly clear this year through many things that have happened that it’s not enough not to be racist, but you need to be actively anti-racist too. And the only way I can
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Colin Marshall & Tony Payne – The Trellis and the Vine
I picked up this book on the recommendation of a few people from Church. As is clearly obvious, things are not normal at the moment and of course Church has been affected by that. Almost every activity we do has been cancelled or materially altered in some way, and as we start to look to
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Naomi Graham – Love Surpassing Knowledge
Having seen people I know have to leave a church due to a lack of inclusion and acceptance, I was interested to read this book to figure out what we should be doing better. As the book blurb says “Accessibility is so much more than ramps and physical access”. “When we see someone who is
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John Mark Comer – The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
I’ve had this book on my shelf for ages, and having read it, I really wish I’d picked it up so much earlier (at the start of lockdown, but ideally way before that), as it has taught me so much about myself. Just a heads up (I finished writing and had to come back to
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Chris & Rosie Ramsey – Sh**ged. Married. Annoyed.
When I pre-ordered this book earlier this year, I didn’t know how much I’d be in need of a good laugh when it finally was released in September. 6 months into lockdown/weird corona times and this book arrived in a week where I was feeling a bit down in the dumps. It proved to be
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Henry Louis Gates Jr – Dark Sky Rising
I picked up this book as something to listen to when I was decorating the spare room, and while this wasn’t an easy listen, I definitely learnt a lot. We never really learned about American history at school, so although this book was aimed at a younger age range, it was the perfect level for
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David Runcorn – Love Means Love
An insightful and clear unpicking of the ‘issue’ of same-sex marriage that has caused (and continues to cause) friction in the church. It’s a divisive issue and one that is probably not talked about enough because of the potential for upset. This book unpicks the common objections for same sex relationships and gay marriage and
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Healthy Faith and the Coronavirus
I was so impressed with how quickly this book was released when Coronavirus first hit and we all went into lockdown. I’m not so impressed with how long it’s taken me to read it, but that’s entirely my fault and not a reflection of the book! As you would guess from the title, the book
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Ben Lindsay – We Need To Talk About Race
I picked this book up to educate myself as Black Lives Matter came to a more global stage in the last few weeks. I always thought that I was a good person, that I wasn’t racist, but I realised that may not be true. And even if it is true, it’s not enough. I needed
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Graham B. Usher – The Way Under Our Feet
This book felt like it was perfectly aimed at me, tying together two of my favourite things, faith and walking. I’ve got into walking a lot this year, but I never really considered that walking has a spiritual side (apart from giving me time to listen to podcast sermons while I’m out and about). In
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Hyeonseo Lee – The Girl with Seven Names
I don’t think I’ll ever forget this book, because it opened my eyes to what life is like for some of the most oppressed people in the world. The thing that shocked me the most was that if this was a fiction book, I would have been laughing and saying that the plot was just
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Madeleine Davies – Lights for the Path
I received this book as an advance reading copy from NetGalley, and I’m so glad I requested it. I only wish that this book had been around for me a few years ago. Although aimed primarily at teenagers who have experienced loss, I think this book is valuable for any age range, I certainly found
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She Reads Truth – His Love Endures
Another fab study from the ladies at She Reads Truth. Not gonna lie – this one was slightly daunting – the study book was almost 300 pages long, and Jeremiah is definitely the longest book of the Bible I’ve ever studied in full. And I’m not gonna lie, by the end, I was ready for
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Esther Ahmad – Unveiled
I requested this book on a whim from NetGalley, I’m not sure what drew me to it, I think it was the cover, but I genuinely didn’t know what to expect. What I got was a heart-rending story of true bravery. A woman who left her devoutly Muslim family after Jesus appeared to her in
Louise Douglas 