Courtney Ellis

It’s been many a moon since I’ve blogged on here, but as I’ve watched the pile of brilliant books grow on my nightstand, I couldn’t keep silent any longer.

In my work, I end up with a lot of things I must read. Some of these delight me, others are a slog. But even when reading is a big part of my job, I can’t help but peruse the library aisles and the bookstore shelves to pick up a few things just for me.

There’s nothing like searching for a good read. And there’s absolutely nothing like finding one.

Here are my favorite reads so far of 2023, just one per category because hey, sometimes fewer options is a grace. That’s why we like shopping at Trader Joe’s.

Nonfiction

Margaret Renkl’s The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

Oh goodness, where to begin with this one. It’s so gorgeous. It’s profound and moving and funny and deeply sad and brilliantly hopeful. With 52 short essays (enough for one per week for a whole year, if you’re so inclined!), Renkl takes us to her Nashville backyard and finds magic on every blade of grass. In a world that is burning, she invites us to put down our water buckets just for a moment or two and find the peace that the wild things bring.

This one releases on October 23, but you can preorder now and give yourself a lil’ gift that will come in a couple of weeks.

Children’s Books

Annette Whipple’s The Truth About series

It is gosh-darned difficult to find nonfiction books for kids that are both informative and whimsical. Whipple’s manage to do both. From owls to frogs to spiders (oh my!), each book invites children on a journey into greater discovery, wonder, and curiosity. When I interviewed Whipple for The Thing With Feathers, she mentioned that Whooooooo Knew? The Truth About Owls was her first in the series. When I asked how she managed to write such a phenomenal book, she told me it went through thirty-five drafts before finding its true form.

As a writer and a mom (and a mother of young writers!) that was such an encouragement to me. These books are phenomenal not because she sat down and wrote them perfectly, but because of the persistence and revision and attention to detail. That’s so much of what writing is–perspiration married to inspiration.

If you buy the hardcover versions, they have a fun dust jacket and then another animal printed on the book cover itself. A fun little Easter egg for kids to discover. Our young readers (4, 7, and 11) all ate these up, laughing all the while.

Novels

Robbie Arnott’s The Rain Heron

What a wild, weird, wonderful novel this is. It’s more folktale or fairytale than anything else, if fairytales had squid fishing boats. No character has a name, but you fall in love with them (or grow to deeply dislike some of them!) all the same. It’s a story of what really matters, who can own or be owned, and the cost and weight of kindness.

The entire book is haunted by a beautiful, macabre creature called the rain heron.

Gorgeousness and glory. I couldn’t put it down.

Cookbooks

Derrick Weston & Anna Woofenden’s The Just Kitchen: Invitations to Sustainability, Cooking, Connection, and Celebration

I am not a cookbook girl. I’m also not a good cook. (It’s possible the two are related.) But this happy golden cover grabbed my attention, and its contents lit up my heart. With interviews from folks who work at the intersection of food, religion, and justice like Kendall Vanderslice and Bruce Reyes-Chow, this is so much more than a cookbook. It contains prayers for meals, liturgy for welcome, and reminders of the many, many ways food can extend and celebrate the love of God.

Woofenden, a pastor, and Weston, coordinator for Creation Justice Ministries co-host a podcast called Food & Faith where many of these stories and recipes got their start. Their storytelling prowess comes out in the book’s back-and-forth with its many voices and themes.

Plus the Thai dressing is to die for. I *might* be making it weekly from here on out.

What are you reading, friends?