When We Were On Fire – memoir of Addie Zierman’s church life in the 90s – which did not sound too different from my church life in the 70s.  She blogs here: Addie Zierman – How to Talk Evangelical

Bread and Wine – Community, sharing a meal with friends, relationships formed, and a balanced view of feasting or restraint.  With recipes. Shauna Niequist is an articulate, vulnerable writer. She blogs here: Shauna Niequist

 Every Good Endeavor – Tim Keller’s (Pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC)  book on our job as our service to God.  No matter what our job is.  

Praying for Strangers – River Jordan decides to pray for a stranger each day for a year.  She starts praying without letting the stranger know – and eventually begins to approach the person (stranger) to let him or her know what she’s doing.  She never gets rebuffed and the stories are moving.  Brave woman – who is changed through her journey.

Chasing Francis – after a brief slow start, I ended up loving this book.  Fictional memoir, Italy sounded great, as does the food, and the deep contemplation of a faith crisis in a pastor’s life. (fiction but reads as memoir)

Quiet – Susan Cain’s book telling us that Introverts have value.   Ted Talk – Susan Cain

The Long Good-bye – memoir – the loss of a mother who died too young. Meghan O’Rourke.   Very moving and thought provoking.  Thinking I’d like to be around for my daughters until they’re more ready for me to be gone. 🙂   NYTIMES review

The Rules of Inheritance – memoir of Claire Bidwell Smith on the loss of both parents when she was a teen and then young adult  – chapters in a non-linear structure.  Another blogger writer.  Claire Bidwell Smith