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Have you read the 17 Best Books of 2017?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

The internet is awash with lists containing the “best books of 2017.” I love reading them and seeing which books I’ve read, which are on my to-read list, and which are brand new to me.

You might also enjoy the 9 Books I Loved in 2014,  10 Books I Loved in 2015, and  My top 15 books in 2016. In working on this post I went back and looked over my lists; so many good books, people. So many.

This year I made loose categories for the best books of 2017 (at least best books I read). Without further ado, I bring you . . .

Memoirs

What Falls from the Sky: How I Disconnected from the Internet and Reconnected with the God Who Made the Clouds by Esther Emery—From my notebook where I record what I read: “Esther is the kind o f story teller people dream of being. She is deep without being preachy. She is funny without going for cheap laughs. She is in love with Jesus in a way that rings true. She is real and profound in a way that invites people into deep waters.”

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance—Gorgeous story teller! Many of his stories from Kentucky sounded like they came from the 40s or 50s, but he is younger than me! Read this to wrestle with learned helplessness and personal responsibility. Also to see the power of have one (or more) solid adult pour into a kid (in his case, his grandma).

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren—Hope writes of her 20 years of working in a science lab with her lab partner Bill. I love when I finish a book and care about a subject in a way the “pre-reading Amy” would have laughed at. Books that change me are keepers. I wrote, “Their passion for soil, plants and trees are infectious! I love plants even more. Trees are amazing.”

(You know I am a memoir addict, so this is but a tip of the iceberg :))

Novels

A Man Called Ove: A Novel by Fredrik Backman—I read this twice, once with the Velvet Ashes book club. This crusty old man encouraged us to slow down and get to know a person’s story. Beautiful writing . . . I am so impressed that it is translated into English!

Shiloh by Helena Sorensen—Also read for Velvet Ashes book club. Sorensen interacted with us and was an absolute delight! “Helena writes in such a way that familiar topics can be seen from unfamiliar angles. The idea/reality of all we lost in The Fall hit home again.”

Ink by Alice Broadway—Alice is in a writers group I’m in and this book was first published in the UK and unavailable in the U.S. Mutual friend Tanya made sure this book found its way into my hands and I am grateful! “This may been the next YA trilogy. Alice is super talented!” Deals with the subject of a faith crisis as one grows up. Book two is in process and I cannot wait!

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel by Rachel Joyce—I loved this book! So many parallels with A Man Called Ove—I sort of annoyed anyone within a seven mile range with my over analysis of Harold and Ove. Strong themes of purpose, aging, regrets, and redemption.

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden—First of all, 640 pages, so gold star to me. But that is not why it made my top-17 list. If you are interested in cloistered life, this is a must-read. Godden tells the story of Phillipa, an “older” convert in an insightful and sensitive way.

(As one not drawn to fiction, 2017 was a good year!)

Non-fiction

Katharina and Martin Luther: The Radical Marriage of a Runaway Nun and a Renegade Monk by Michelle DeRusha—I blogged about this here: Need an idea to celebrate the 500-year-anniversary of The Reformation?

The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile—Want to understand yourself better? (and maybe have a bit of insight on those around you), this is the book for you. The Enneagram looks at nine personality wiring, their strengths and shadow side, highlighting how that personality plays out in health and unhealthy situations. I loved the podcast related to this book.

Those Who Wait: Finding God In Disappointment, Doubt, And Delay by Tanya Marlow—I blogged about this book here: Waiting, Waiting, Waiting {God do you care?}

 (I read so much non-fiction, it was hard to narrow it down!)


Leadership/Organizational Health/Professional Growth

Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman—Want to understand why you (or others) do what you do? At times, we can be our own worst enemies when it comes to irrational behavior. Of interest to me, as I work with teams, is the importance for any healthy system to have: initiators , blockers (they give the opportunity to see from another light), supporters (and who they choose to support), and observers (fairly neutral). You need all four.

Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg—”I didn’t realize there was so much to be said about the sentence :). An engaging books that will have me over-analyzing sentences in a good way.”

The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business by Patrick Lencioni—By far the best book I read this year when it comes to fostering a healthy work environment. I could NOT stop talking about it all summer. Every organization needs “smart” people — good with strategy, marketing, finance, and technology. Too many organizations think that having “smart” people is the advantage. They are wrong. A system also needs to be “healthy”—minimal politics, minimal confusion, high morale, high productivity, and low turnover. “Healthy” is the true advantage.

The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals by Christ McChesney and Sean Covey—Okay, by far the second best book I read this year when it comes to organizations! This book will help you think in terms of “Wigs”—wildly important goals—to help anchor you in the midst of the “whirlwind” of life. We all get caught up in the whirlwind, but we can still accomplish wildly important goals. Good for personal, professional, spiritual, and health goals and for individual and team use.

(Anyone else underwhelmed by the cover design in this category? I like white, but come on!)

Books I endorsed

Stretch Marks I Wasn’t Expecting: A Memoir on Early Marriage and Motherhood by Abbie Smith—”Filled with laughter, tears, searing honesty and gorgeous writing, this is one of the best reads of the year. Quite simply, this is a stunning book. Smith writes about motherhood in such a way that whether you have had children or not you can relate to having Stretch Marks you don’t expect. Let the gentle waves of this prose wash over you and water your soul.” Amy Young, author of Looming Transitions and Love, Amy (How fun is that!! I’ll have to tell you how I met Abbie in another post. She is delightful!!!)

Books I wrote

Love, Amy: An Accidental Memoir Told in Newsletters from China by Me (Amy Young)—Being an author and having people read your offering to the world is a humbling, exciting, encouraging, awkward at times, empowering, and so vulnerable you want to throw up and never look anyone in the eye again. Above all? A complete honor. If Looming Transitions was born out of the teacher part of me, Love, Amy is the birth child of my essence and my hope for engaging this wonderful world we share.

What did you read in 2017 that was a keeper? What are your reading goals for 2018? Do tell, we book addicts and lovers need to help each other out.

Book, Faith

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting {God do you care?}

Hi friends, last week I had a chance at A Life Overseas to talk with my friend Tanya about her new book. I first met Tanya when I lived in China and we have been friends ever since.  I don’t want you to miss out on this interview because it combines so many of my loves: friends, faith, and books. You’ll notice it is geared towards folks serving overseas, but I double dog dare you to find you can’t relate at all to my conversation with Tanya :). If you’re looking for an advent book, wait no further. I love this book so much my small group is going through it and I’m teaching an advent Sunday School class. Without further ado, I bring you one of the loveliest people I know . . .

Tanya Marlow author of Those Who Wait: Finding God In Disappointment, Doubt, And Delay. Years ago Tanya asked me to guest post for her God and Suffering series. (That series, by the way, is a gold mine.) Though we have never met in person, you can see why I’m drawn to Tanya, she do

Tell us a bit about your background. What did you dream your life would be like?

I was a typical good-Christian-girl, wanting to live my life for God and serve God in full-time Christian ministry. As a kid, I thought my calling was in cross-cultural work overseas. (This may have been because it was viewed as the ‘highest calling’ in Christian circles, with maximum holiness points. Although my motives were relatively pure in wanting to serve God, they may have been tinged with little compassion-competitiveness….!)

I didn’t end up overseas, but by my twenties, I was happy. I was living my dream of working fulltime as a Christian minister, lecturing in Biblical Theology, happily married to someone also in Christian ministry.

Then chronic illness struck me, and my life was turned upside down.

 

How has the whole issue of waiting featured in your life?

In 2010, I gained a baby and a disability. I have Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), an autoimmune condition which affects every cell in my body, like a giant faulty battery. Before, I was active and fit – now I can barely walk around the house, and need to lie in bed 21 hours a day. Before, I was seeing people all the time, speaking and pastoring: now my ministry has morphed into the few words I can tap out from my bed in a week.

There’s no real treatment for ME, and the illness is underfunded and under-researched. There’s a very slim possibility of full recovery, and I could deteriorate further, like so many other bedbound ME patients.

A new Oscar-tipped documentary, Unrest, tells the story of what it’s like to live with ME. Your life becomes an eternal semi-colon, stuck on pause while the world continues around you.

I wait for improvement, I wait for deterioration. I’m stuck in the middle, living in uncertainty.

For seven years, I have grieved my old life. Often I have felt laid aside and rejected, and I’ve railed at God for my new prison.

It’s been hard – excruciatingly hard at times – but I’ve discovered something of God’s hidden kindness in barren places.

Why do you think the issue of waiting is particularly pertinent for people living overseas?

Although I never quite made it to overseas work (and ended up marrying a Church of England vicar in my native Britain), I still have the most respect for those in that sector, and have long been an enthusiastic supporter of those called to serve abroad.

To be in cross-cultural work is to be in-between, always. A life overseas is a continuous state of waiting:

  • to feel settled,
  • to return home,
  • to be able to understand the language instead of feeling stupid,
  • to stop crying at night from homesickness,
  • to feel like an intelligent person again who has something to offer society,
  • for the kids to be happy,
  • for fruit to show
  • for letters and emails to arrive
  • for the money to come through
  • for a home and place to belong.

Waiting is hard. To be in a liminal, in-between state for a short time is discomfiting and exhausting. To be in a season of waiting for decades can be soul-crushing.

Because Those Who Wait is honest about the reality and discomfort of waiting, I hope it can be a source of encouragement for those who feel exhausted with living in an in-between state.

Why choose the four heroes that you did? Why not others? What drew you to these four?

I was drawn to the liturgical season of Advent, particularly the lightning of the Advent candles.

The first candle stands for the Patriachs. I chose a ‘matriarch’, Sarah. Through her story, we deal with disappointment and bitterness, waiting for joy and fulfilled promises.

The second candle represents the Prophets, so I chose Isaiah. We rarely think of him as a person, rather than just a prophetic mouthpiece. I wanted to explore the personal cost of his truth-telling, and through that how we with delay and frustration as we wait for justice and peace in our land.

John the Baptist is the next candle. Through his story, we explore our struggle with doubt as we wait to live out our life’s calling.

And Mary, mother of Jesus’ story is the story of all humanity – dealing with disgrace and isolation as we wait for Jesus’ coming.

Advent is a season that celebrates and marks the discomfort of waiting, as we consider how the saints waited for Jesus’ appearance, and how we long for this world to be restored at Jesus’ second coming.

Advent gives us permission to name our deepest longings, and lament that this world is not as it should be. Those Who Wait can be read at any point, but the Advent season really speaks to our waiting journey, and the book is structured in 24 short chapters. Many readers of Those Who Wait are saving their books to savour through Advent.

I wanted to explore these issues through story, like an engaging novel, because it’s through re-entering the story God can speak to our souls in new ways. It’s always good to remember that our revered Christian heroes are actually human – and the Bible is more honest than we are about the struggle of waiting.

Which section did you enjoy writing most?

Like your own children, you’re not supposed to have favourite characters. (But mine’s John the Baptist.)

In any other period of history he would have been revered as THE prophet of God – but he was overshadowed by his cousin, then waited for years in prison before his traumatic death at the hands of Herod.

Where was God in his waiting and suffering? This is the question that drove me. What really surprised me was the kindness of God to John – and to us. Through writing Those Who Wait, I discovered that God is in the waiting with us, groaning with us, being merciful in unexpected ways, if we can only pause to spot it.

What is your hope for this book?

My hope is that churches, organisations and small groups can meet around this book (there are reflective exercises, group questions and even six Bible studies), and that through the journey they will be able to work through their own discomfort, disappointment or doubt that accompany seasons of waiting.

For people long-jaded by the same old sermons and Bible stories, I hope it will reignite a passion for the honesty and dynamism of the Bible..

Most of all, I pray that readers will encounter God in these pages and find it transformational. May it bring perspective, purpose and empathy for weary hearts, and may God always meet us in the waiting place. This is my prayer.

Tanya, thanks for sharing a bit of your journey as an author and Christian with us.

Over to you, dear reader. What are you waiting for? Which of the four Biblical heroes can you relate to now? Leave a comment and you might win a copy of Tanya’s book. Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for you.

Winners will be notified by Sunday. 

Book, Summer Reading Challenge

Summer 2017 Reading Challenge is Over {Enter and win}

The day that we have all been longing for is here :)! The end of the Summer 2017 Reading Challenge. Like runners at the end of a race, maybe you have stumbled across the finish line and are now collapsed and gasping for air.

But once you catch your breath, HIGH FIVE TO YOU! You made it! I made it! We made it! On Tuesday as I checked into the gym, I chatted with the front desk gal about what I had going on this week. I mentioned writing this post about the end of our Summer Reading Challenge ad told her the goal was 7 books, but that I had read 16 books. A trainer standing next to her looked at me like I am an alien and asked, “Do you have a job?!”

Ha!!! I do. But these challenges help me live into the person I want to be. So, I repeat. HIGH FIVES all around! We made it.

Well, how did it go? Remember, in The Summer Reading Challenge the goal was to read seven books between June 1 and August 17th. You enter for one of the ten $10 Amazon gift cards by leaving a comment on this post. Even if you didn’t read seven, still share what you read! This isn’t really a contest so much as a chance to share and a chance to see how many books we read collectively.

I’m going to put the categories here if you want to cut and paste them into the comments. Also feel free to just list books, whatever works for you.

  1. A book related to professional development (can be loosely interpreted).
  1. A book that helps you understand part of history better.
  1. A book placed in a country you’re not familiar with OR about a country you’re not familiar with.
  1. A YA book.
  1. A book recommended by a friend.
  1. A graphic novel.
  1. A book you’ve been meaning to read.
  1. A book published more than 100 years ago.
  1. A book recommended by a teenager.
  1. A biography.
  1. A play.
  1. A memoir
  1. A book by someone you might not spiritually agree with.
  1. A book that won an award.
  1. A book you read years ago and have meant to reread.
  1. A book that has been translated into English.
  1. A book that is more than 700 pages  (counts for two books!)
  1. A mystery.
  1. A book related to a skill (like cooking, writing, photography, or web-design).
  1. A book by an author you know. 

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1. A book related to professional development (can be loosely interpreted).

Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant. Sheryl’s husband dropped dead on the basketball court, dropping her into Option B for her life. Interested in learning about fostering resilience? This book is for you.

The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business by Patrick Lencioni. A must read. One of the best reads of the summer. Life is messy and hard, yes. But that doesn’t mean we are helpless. Highly skilled people are not the primary advantage, organizational health is. Again, a must read for your family, team, church, non-profit, or job.

Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David. If you find yourself stuck in a pattern of thinking or behaving that isn’t helping you? This books will help.

2. A book that helps you understand part of history better.

Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang. This two book graphic novels brilliantly tells the Boxer Rebellion in China (1900) from both the side of the Boxers and a Chinese convert to Christianity (Saint). If history really isn’t your bag, maybe try coming in through the side door of the graphic novel.

4. A Young Adult (YA) book. 

Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad by M. T. Anderson. From Amazon: “This is the true story of a city under siege: the triumph of bravery and defiance in the face of terrifying odds. It is also a look at the power—and layered meaning—of music in beleaguered lives. Symphony for the City of the Dead is a masterwork thrillingly told and impeccably researched by National Book Award–winning author M. T. Anderson.” Longest siege in recorded history (872 days) and more people died in this siege than all of American and British deaths. Fascinating and disturbing.

5. A book recommended by a friend.

The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway. Okay, so half read in May, half after the challenge began. My friend (and also an author) Kay Bruner recommended this memoir for the Velvet Ashes book club. From Amazon, “Conway spent her first 11 years in the windswept grasslands of Australia, where her father owned 30,000 acres of arid land. Though his ability to understand the land was extensive, an eight-year drought finally defeated him, and he comitted suicide. A few years later, Conway’s oldest brother died in an automobile accident. The two deaths plunged her mother into depression. Out of this tale of hard work, drought, and sorrow, Conway emerges with character and personal strength.”

6. A graphic novel.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. From Amazon: “Jin Wang starts at a new school where he’s the only Chinese-American student. When a boy from Taiwan joins his class, Jin doesn’t want to be associated with an FOB like him. Jin just wants to be an all-American boy, because he’s in love with an all-American girl. Danny is an all-American boy: great at basketball, popular with the girls. But his obnoxious Chinese cousin Chin-Kee’s annual visit is such a disaster that it ruins Danny’s reputation at school, leaving him with no choice but to transfer somewhere he can start all over again.”

7. A book you’ve been meaning to read.

Ugh. The ONE book I started this whole challenge last summer to read? Still have not read. Sigh :).

9. A book recommended by a teenager. 

Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey by Nick Bertozzi. My oldest niece read this last summer and recommended it to me. Bonus, this is a graphic novel and read quickly. If you want a quick, light read about Shackleton, this is a good place to start. If you want more, try Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage.

12. A memoir.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance. Wow. I had to keep reminding myself that J.D. is YOUNGER than me. I was not reading the life of someone from a different era. He writes beautifully honest about the hillbilly culture he was able to escape. One takeaway? Do not underestimate the power of one person (his grandma) to change a life.

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron. If someone you know and love has experienced or experiences depression and you don’t, this memoir is for you. Styron is able to verbalize his experience in such a way that you will go, “Oh, wow, it’s like that?” A short, but powerful read.

13. A book by someone you might not spiritually agree with.

Letters to a Young Muslim by Omar Saif Ghobash. I discovered this book in the library trying to find a book by or about the Dalai Lama. Ghobash is interesting because he is half-Russian, half-UAE, studied in London, and is now the ambassador to Russia from the UAE. These letters were written to his sons. He seems more of a moderate muslim. It wasn’t a bad read, but didn’t really help me understand a perspective that different from a western educated person.

14. A book that won an award.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel by Rachel Joyce. It won the UK National Book Award for New Writer of the Year 2012.“You have to love Harold Fry, a man who set out one morning to mail a letter and then just kept going. . . . Like Christian in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, Harold becomes Everyman in the eyes of those who encounter him. . . . Harold’s journey, which parallels Christian’s nicely but not overly neatly, takes him to the edge of death and back again. It will stick with you, this story of faith, fidelity and redemption.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune. I’m a fan of Harold! If you liked A Man Called Ove: A Novel, this is your kind of book.

16. A book that has been translated into English. 

Speaking of . . . A Man Called Ove: A Novel by Fredrik Backman. I am 75% through re-reading this book. We are reading it for the Velvet Ashes book club and loving it!

17. A book that is more than 700 pages (counts for two books!)

Double UGH. See #7

19. A book related to a skill (like cooking, writing, photography, or web-design).

Is finding readers a skill for a writer? I think so :). The Prosperous Writer’s Guide to Finding Readers: Build Your Author Brand, Raise Your Profile, and Find Readers to Delight by Honoree Corder. 

20. A book by an author you know. 

Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer by Ed Cyzewski. I loved this book. Though I didn’t come out of the Catholic tradition, I found Ed to be a fellow companion in seeking to add contemplative practices to his life.

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You can see I didn’t read in every category and I’m drawn to non-fiction more than fiction. Next summer I’m going to make better categories to encourage novel reading :). Seriously? Why didn’t I read a novel or a play? Why can I not pass up a memoir (I didn’t include all I read because I am an addict and this is embarrassing).

I come back to this not being a contest, if you read four books and that was your goal, great! I just find that I’m more likely to accomplish my goals if I tell people what they are.

I can’t wait to see what you’ve been reading. I’ll pick winners next Tuesday so you have time this weekend to leave a comment.

Thank you for joining in!

Amy

P.S. I have a little something up my sleeve for us in September :). Are you curious? Ha!—That was a clue.

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Book, Summer Reading Challenge

Why you need a challenge

In truth this should be titled Why I need a challenge.

Short answer? To grow and change.

I know, I kind of hate it too. Oh that I would just do what was in my own best interesting without needing the gentle nudge or, if I keep ignoring signs, the harsh slap of a challenge.

I am now far enough into my “health challenge” to see the good that has come from it. Now, mind you, not all challenges come with silver linings, I get that. Some are awful tragedies and no amount of contortionist positive thinking can negate the awfulness. But, real tragedies are more the exception than the rule. Annoying case in point: without my health challenge, I would never have made changes to my diet that will probably pay off for decades to come.

It wasn’t knowledge that stood between me and change. I knew that I probably “should” cut back on sugars and maybe not eat as much bread or bagels as I was. But knowledge isn’t the best motivator. Enter a challenge, and suddenly that change I had been meaning to make was made.

You know this is the second summer for the Summer Reading Challenge.

If you are anything like me, when I announced the challenge I was flooded with endorphins and good feelings.

Yes! Yes! A reading challenge, count me in. I looked over the categories and made a mental plan.

And then I promptly went out and “accidentally stumbled upon” a memoir I must-read-right-now-or-die. Well, ain’t nobody got time for death, so I read it. And then I read another memoir and another.

Clearly I have a type.

Left to my own, I will read nonfiction book after nonfiction book, mixing memoir and other genres.

Joining this challenge myself forces me to read books I DO want to read. I really do. But without the nudge of the challenge, I—sigh—won’t. I wish I would. I want to be the kind of person who does all the right things all the time.

Cue the angelic laughter.

So, I called my niece and asked her about that graphic novel she read and some other Young Adult book she recommended a year ago. People, sometimes we just start somewhere. Armed with the two titles, I set off to the library in search of Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad and Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey.

Looking for Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey in the graphic novel section I stumbled upon a graphic novel about the Boxer Rebellion in China!!!!! What?! They make graphic novels about Chinese history? On impulse I checked out Boxers by Gene Leun Yang and discovered reading the cover that Part 2 of the series is Saints telling the missionary side of the Boxer Rebellion.

As if that wasn’t enough, I shared the above picture on Facebook and a friend linked this article from Christianity Today

Gene Yang: A Graphic Novelist Caught Between Two Worlds.

In full discloser, I haven’t actually read Boxers yet. But my sister Elizabeth has and then she got Yang’s American Born Chinese and texted me “Really liked it. Quite a fast read. I’ll keep it for you.”

So, I am going to read Boxers, Saints, and American Born Chinese.

And this is why you need this challenge. Left on your own, your thing may not be memoirs or nonfiction, but you have a thing. And you love your thing and that is good. But just look what you may be missing. This challenge has lead my family down a rabbit hole of graphic novels we never knew existed. Will I become a raving graphic novel reader?

Um, no. Not a chance.

But am I grateful that for my own good I’ve discovered an author I didn’t know and will learn about the Boxer Rebellion? Without hesitation, yes.

It is not too late to join in the challenge. It’s not too late for your own reading rabbit trails. It’s not too late to share this adventure with other readers. Challenges are good for us :).

What books have you read during this challenge that you might not have read otherwise? Share and let us check them out too.

Book, Love Amy

Grace and peace and zombies

We had a couple of days to kill after a conference ended  and before we needed to head back home—me to Beijing, and my friend Sherri to Hefei, Anhui, China—and had decided to spend it reading by the hotel pool.

Glorious!

I tend to be one of those readers that has several books going at once and jumps around in my reading.  Now, don’t think me overly spiritual, but I pulled out my bible to get a bit of a head start reviewing Revelation since my small group was going to study it. Seeing as Revelation is near one of my favorite books, I got distracted and read Philemon first.

“Grace to you and peace from God.” Familiar enough. So familiar I missed it. Until I read a variation in Revelation.

That night at dinner I struck up the stimulating dinner conversation on the phrase grace to you and peace from God with particular interest in the prepositions to and from, emphasizing them like that as I spoke . Yes, I even pulled out my bible and started flipping to different books wondering on the variations of the greeting.

Is it any surprise Sherri switched the subject to zombies?

Problem is, I have as much interest in zombies as she does in Pauline greetings. We ended up having the most bizarre, yet satisfying conversation in which I talked about prepositions, greetings, and the frequency in scripture and Sherri talked about zombies.

I don’t come from a tradition that “passes the peace” and though I’d read and studied many of Paul’s letters, I tend to skip over the introduction to get to the meatier stuff, viewing them more as a perfunctory version of “Dear Grandma and Grandpa, how are you? I’m fine.”

Grace to you and peace from God.

I’m ashamed to admit that this phrase has almost become like the teacher in Charlie Brown, “Wanh, wanh, wanh,wuh-wahn, wahn.”

Appearing 18 times in the New Testament, in one form or another, it’s easy to tune it out, rushing on to the good stuff. Turns out, it is the good stuff. The most common rendition is Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The simplest is in 1 Thessalonians and simply Grace and peace to you. To Timothy, Paul includes “mercy” and Peter in his two letters adds “abundance,” reminding me that they too lived real lives with annoying people, financial pressures, and their own failings.

Paul, in his “I will not play one side against the other and we have got to figure this out. Like NOW” incorporates both Greek/gentile culture (grace) and Hebrew (peace). He refuses to use a separate greeting to each group, and enriches the tradition with a uniting and expanded greeting: both groups, all people really, need grace and peace.

Grace to you and peace from God.

I assumed this is the peace that passes all understanding and lands on us from God allowing us to be zombie-like in our interactions with people. Tra-la-la I can put up with you because I’m in my happy place. Maybe Sherri and I weren’t as far off in our conversation as it appeared.

Simply put, no. It’s not a zombie like attribute to be able to deal with those we encounter, be it friends, family members, foes, or strangers. Ours is a God not of escape, but of engagement.

Since that initial conversation I’ve researched and mulled over grace and peace. The order is significant. Grace and then peace. Grace given by God so that as we interact with one another, it’s not based on our own merit or goodness (Whew! Because if you’re anything like me, we’d be playing Russian roulette with what might come out me when left to my own). But if we leave it at grace, it’s easy to slip into the focus being on ourselves and experiences; adding “peace” brings the relational aspect into the mix as well.

Grace from God so that I can have peaceful interactions with others, with creation, with my possessions. Grace for the days my fuse is short or the internet is slow or someone is sick or someone says something annoying or doesn’t want to talk about what I want to talk about at dinner, wink. Peace in my response to that which God has invited me into.

Almost a year and half have passed since the grace, peace, and zombie’s dinner. Like a good zombie waking from the dead, this phrase is now alive for me, no longer a phrase to skim past, it bounces around in my soul and off my lips.

Grace to you and peace from God.

This post first appeared on Micha Boyett’s “One phrase” series. Love, Amy is a series of letters. While I”m no Paul in my letter writing ability, I am a fan of receiving letters.

Book, China, Love Amy

Love, Amy is HERE {6 ways you can help}

“When will your book be done?”

I have a love/squirm relationship with that question. After sharing a project, the upside is all of the cheerleaders and people who genuinely are excited. On the downside, if you don’t have a definite date to publish, you get to be shifty again and again with, “Oh, I’m working on it.”

Publishing a book can be a lot like having a baby. You know it will happen, you just don’t know exactly when or how the birth process for that baby will be. (Famous line in our family comes from my Grandpa Farley as he was having to reschedule a flight back to Michigan because I was not entering the world at the predicted time. “Now, when don’t know when the baby will be born, do we?” Eternal scream from pregnant woman ensues.)

“Now, we don’t know when the book will be published, do we?” Eternal, oh you get it. But today?

Go ahead, ask me. “When can I buy Love, Amy: An Accidental Memoir Told in Newsletters from China?”

I’ll try not to smile too big when I say, “Today!!!!!!!”

Love, Amy is on Amazon (both Kindle and print) and at Createspace. I earn slightly more if you buy a print copy at createspace, but if you’ve got a good gig going on with Amazon, guilt free buy from Amazon.

This is the second time I’ve launched and again I feel a bit like I’m saying to you, “Do you like my baby? Will you, my people help raise her? Will you stand with me in the good times and hard? Will you still like me even when she disappoints or does stupid things?”

And all the people said, “We will!”

You might wonder, That’s great, but I’m not sure what to do. What can I do? Here are six ways you can help with this raising of Love, Amy:

1. Celebrate! Of course I hope this book sells decently because I truly believe that too often we believe that our stories don’t matter. They do. Love, Amy shows the power of a life story unfolding over time and helps those who write newsletters.

But if this books sells and I have no one to share it with, what have I gained? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. What is worse than watching sports by yourself and having no one to high-five? Nothing. Okay, there are worse things, but in that moment, it’s pretty low.

I’m high-fiving you! Woot, woot! If you weren’t here, there would be no book. I did it. You encouraged me. We did it. Let’s enjoy this moment.

2. May I boldly suggest, buy a copy of Love, Amy. Purchased copies through Amazon are the only way that Amazon will start to recommend Love, Amy as an “also bought.”

3. But here is a simple way that won’t cost you a dime. This week it is annoyingly important to train the Amazon search engine—the second most powerful search engine right now. So, instead of clicking on the hyperlinked title, go to Amazon and in the search bar type in “love amy.” FYI, Amazon only lets your device count once for searching for an item. So, thank you in advance to those of you just got the idea to pull up something on Netflix and hit the refresh button on Amazon and keep typing “love amy.” You can still do it, but Amazon will never know.

If you really want to help? Ask friends and strangers if you can use their phone to call someone and then quickly go to Amazon, search “love amy” and put the phone up to your ear. After thirty seconds say, “I guess they’re not there. Thanks!” Just kidding.

Mostly :).

4. Suggest or give Love, Amy to someone you know who loves memoirs or writes newsletters. The best way a book sells is through word of mouth. If you tell them and they know you, they are much more likely to buy it.

5. Leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. It does not need to be five stars (though if that’s what your heart is saying, go with your heart!). Amazon is funny, she just likes to see the amount of reviews. The more reviews (even three or four star), the more she will say, “Hey, maybe I should tell other people about this book.” The goal is 75. Have you left one for Looming Transitions?

6. Tell someone about Love, Amy. You know tons of people I don’t know. You know people living in Sweden or working at this church or for that organization. You know you neighbor’s cousin who is moving to Brazil or your former coworker who writes boring newsletters. You know mission committee members and pastors and counselors.

This includes sharing on social media. Thanks for all of the shout outs!

Here is an image for Instagram:

You might be a blogger who would like to interview me or write a review of Love, Amy (I can offer a copy as a giveaway). Who could you tell about this book?

///

Three final thoughts:

  • If you want to buy Love, Amy in bulk, use the contact form below and I can work with you on a discounted rate.
  • I find authors who only talk about their books tedious. We get it, you wrote a book. How about living a life too?! My bias, I know. Later I’ll share a bit of the journey of this book and wanted to warn you incase you fear that every post is going to be about this book. It’s not.
  • Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If any book is a communal one, this one is. If these letters had not been read for years, there would be no book. If you had not read these words and said, “Hey, you’re not half bad,” there would be no book. And starting with you, if you the word about Looming Transitions had not gotten out, I would never have spent the last year “birthing another baby.”

This is not my contribution to the world. It is ours. Look what we’ve done.

Because today is a day of celebration! Leave a comment and I’ll draw one of your names and you can give this book to someone you know—yourself included :).

The Office GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

As we launch this book and wait to see how God will use it, I want to end with the benediction I gave at the end of the acknowledgments:

I thank my God every time I remember you. Philippians 1:3

Love,

Amy

Contact form for inquiries as to me speaking to your group about China or newsletters, buying bulk orders, or your thoughts on the Broncos’ chances next year.

Book, Summer Reading Challenge

Summer 2017 Reading Challenge

I’ve shared that two summers ago my predominant emotion was resentment.

Resentment, no surprise, is a terrible bedfellow. Last summer I set out to make some changes and because I associate “Summer” and “Reading” so strongly, I wanted a way to help “I’m busy” not be a reason to me me (and you) from the joys of summer reading.

I love my local library, but I fail at their summer reading program. You need to have a user name, password, and then daily (or weekly) log your reading. Turns out it is a few too many steps for me. When I googled “summer reading challenges” most results were suggestions for libraries to host a reading program. Exit Plan B.

Last spring as I was gardening I decided, why not hold the reading challenge I was looking for?! Thus was born the hit Summer 2016 Reading Challenge!

Like a kid pouring over the toy catalog in days gone by, I’ve chatted with family members, dreamed about books, and looked for ways to expand the reading challenge. Today, I  am excited today to reveal this summer’s reading challenge!

It will start now, June 1, and run through August 17, 2017. To enter, read seven books from the twenty categories. Along the way I’ll have encouraging posts (for example, you may not know any teenagers to get a recommendation from, so I’ll interview a few and get recommendations for you).

What’s different? Five categories have been added! And instead of five winners, ten of you can win.

What’s in it for you? All who leave a comment on August 17th telling us the names of the books they read will be entered to win one of ten $10 Amazon gift cards.

Sound like fun?!

Here is the challenge and I’ll link to a document where you can print it out and keep track of your reading:

  1. A book related to professional development (can be loosely interpreted).
  1. A book that helps you understand part of history better.
  1. A book placed in a country you’re not familiar with OR about a country you’re not familiar with.
  1. A Young Adult (YA) book. Here are 37 YA Books You Need To Add To Your Reading List.
  1. A book recommended by a friend.
  1. A graphic novel.
  1. A book you’ve been meaning to read.
  1. A book published more than 100 years ago.
  1. A book recommended by a teenager. Several years ago my teenage teammate Gabe handed me Ender’s Game and said, “Amy, read this.” I never would have chosen it, but I love Gabe so I read it and LOVED it.
  1. A biography.
  1. A play.
  1. A memoir.
  1. A book by someone you might not spiritually agree with.
  1. A book that won an award.
  1. A book you read years ago and have meant to reread.
  1. A book that has been translated into English. 
  1. A book related to a skill (like cooking, writing, photography, or web-design).
  1. A book by an author you know. 
  1. A mystery. 
  1. A book that is more than 700 pages (counts for two books!)

Download the challenge and print it off to track your progress. I’ll be posting on Instagram the books I read. Post pictures of yourself reading or the books you read and use #Summer2017Reading Challenge. I can’t wait to get ideas from you!

~~~

In short: Seven books from June 1 to August 17.

Are you in? Pick a couple of categories and share a recommendation or a book you plan to read for that category.

Feel free to share this reading challenge with fellow readers. Anyone over ten is welcome. Why should the kids have all the fun!

Book, Looming Transitions

Book Cousins {Giveaway: Enter and will a free book!}

You may wonder what a book cousin is. Come near and I will tell you a story.

Once upon a time Amy and Joann worked for the same organization in China. As colleagues, they trained and then supported foreign English teachers scattered around China. But more than that, they were friends, good friends.

One of them was destined to write a book and her name was Joann. One of them was destined to go through a mid-life crisis and thought that writing a book would be a brilliant career move because she was lacking in skills that the work force in America valued and she had grown accustomed to eating and heat in the winter and needed money and when she was crazed she was like a mama bear storming through life. And her name was Amy.

But we are getting ahead of the story.

Joann and Amy had a favorite neighborhood restaurant they nicknamed The Green Umbrella (GU for short). On the day they discovered it all of the outdoor tables had green umbrellas. Though the restaurant almost never had green umbrellas outside again, the name stuck.

Joann unleashed a monster when she helped Amy set up a blog; in fact one of Amy’s earliest posts involves a conversation over green beans at GU and the unleashed monster and maybe a bit of Joann’s sighing at what she might have done to the world.

The would often meet at the GU after a long work day or one of them returned from a work trip. Another evening Amy learned about hashtags as they munched on fried peanuts waiting for their Kung Pao Chicken. GU became a bit character in the story of their becoming authors.

One spring Amy set out to write 500 words a day on her book. And she did. From mid-January until the end of April she wrote six days a week on what would become the backbone of Looming Transitions.

That same year Joann traveled as a translator to Sichuan and when she returned, recounted discovering a church bell from—of all places—Coffeyville Kansas. Joann had called Amy while on the trip and told her about the bell, and the Kansas connection, and the indestructibleness of the church. But it was at GU while eating the deliciousness that poorly translates as family-style-tofu, that the full story came out.

Weeks, then months passed. Over time, plates of green beans, peanuts, and spicy meat were consumed as Joann and Amy moaned and celebrated, each believing in the other’s book more than her own.

Joann caught the “Bell Bug” as she called it. Having discovered one bell in Sichuan, she knew more must exist. And she was right. Always up for an adventure, Amy joined Joann as they hunted for bells in Shanghai, Qingdao, Harbin, Tianjin, and around Beijing.

And then one day the GU was demolished in the name of progress.

Unrelated to the destruction of a favorite restaurant, Joann boarded a plane and moved back to the U.S. Several months later, Amy followed suit.

And time passed. And editors were hired. And cover designers were found. And slowly, slowly all those consumed peanuts and cups of tea brought forth life.

January 12, 2016 Amy announced the birth of Looming Transitions. Joann celebrated and was quick to text or email whenever she heard of someone reading her friend’s book. And then it was Joann’s turn. The editing done, the cover ready, the layout completed.

Come close children, as I lower my voice with a dramatic pause—this is where our tale takes a turn befitting a movie. What day do you think The Bells Are Not Silent: Stories of Church Bells in China was shared with the world? January 12, 2017!

I know, I know. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I might find the timing a bit far fetched myself.

But this is the true story of how The Bells and Looming Transitions came to be book cousins.

The end.

///

I love The Bells Are Not Silent not only because I got to have a front row seat to the research and writing (and am mentioned in the book—keeping it real people), but because it highlights how God is at work all the time. We are the ones who forget to look or notice.

Here is the description from the back cover of Joann’s book:

When Joann discovered a 126-year-old bell hanging in a church in southwest China she knew that there was a story to tell. Who had decided to ship it? How had it been transported? How had it survived the political turmoil of the 1950s and 1960s? She also knew that if there was one bell, there must be others. Over the course of eight months she travelled around China looking for old church bells, finding ones from France, Germany, Russia, and the United States. This book is a collection of stories about those bells. But more importantly, they are stories of God’s faithfulness to his church in China.

To those who have eyes to see, let them tune in to what is around them. Amen? Amen.

Leave a comment sharing place you have seen God recently. Don’t overthink :)! Just share and you’ll be entered to win a copy of The Bells Are Not Silent: Stories of Church Bells in China.

Book, Guest Post

When the middle is l-o-n-g

I met my friend Britta at a writer’s conference. I did not know anyone and was lurking near the door, waiting for the organizers to open it so I could slink in and find a seat. Britta has never met a stranger and after ten seconds we had already made a connection.  She was starting a Lenten Curation website called the Meet Me in the Middle Project. Since my blog is The Messy Middle, we bonded over the word “middle.”  Since then, Britta has become a friend and I love her. (I”m also so grateful that she knows basically everything. I learned about Gumroad.com from Britta. She is the birth coach to the Looming Transitions Workbook and the audiobook.)

Everyone needs a Britta in their life.

Britta started the Meet Me in the Middle Project because our world is taken with the “before” and “after” pictures. But much of life happens in the middle . . . the messy middle. Easter is the ultimate after picture. Lent invites (forces?) us to look for God at work in the middle, knowing that the “after” is coming.

This week, I’m over at the Meet Me in the Middle Project sharing about when the middle is l-o-n-g.

If you met me, you might think I am a people person. And I am.

I just happen to be a task person who also likes people. I love the rush of accomplishing tasks. So, I try to weave into my day a few tasks that are short and concrete just so I can get a hit. Doing a load of laundry. Going to a class at the gym. Writing a blog post. I like to be able to look back at the end of the day and have a sense of accomplishment.

When Britta approached me to write for this series with a before and after picture, I wanted to pick a meaningful example where you would marvel at my deep insights on some ordinary part of our lives. The pictures would have been so amazing you might have been jealous. Just saying.

But what came to mind wasn’t a tidy task; instead, I sensed God say, “Amy, where do you see me meeting you in the middle of long tasks? When the end is not necessarily in sight. You know, the ones where you are in danger of getting lost in the weeds? Or distracted by something that might have more of an immediate pay off.”

Read about when I almost got lost in the weeds.

Have a great weekend. Enjoy lots of basketball :)

Book, Faith, Learning lessons

Need an idea to celebrate the 500-year-anniversary of The Reformation?

These are a few of my favorite things:

—History

—The Christian Faith

—Biography

—Good writing

—(Singing songs from The Sound of Music, but I digress)

Combine them all together and you get one of my ultimate good things: A history book that also is biographical and that helps me understand both my faith and Christian history better. Sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it?

But I bring you good news! Such a book exists!

Knowing that October 31, 2017 will mark the 500 year anniversary of what is know at The Reformation, I wanted to do something this year to mark it, but what? Author Michelle DeRusha has been working on Katharina and Martin Luther: The Radical Marriage of a Runaway Nun and a Renegade Monk that comes out today and offered me an advance copy.

Manna from heaven, people. I tell you this book is manna that will feed, entertain, and educate all while being so readable. If I’m honest, this book goes on my stalker list. You know, those books that when you read you feel compelled to stand up, walk around the house and find someone to read a part of the book out loud to. Multiple times a day.

Katharina and Martin Luther: The Radical Marriage of a Runaway Nun and a Renegade Monk is such a book. Michelle captures the culture (like did you know many nuns and priests were nuns and priests because their parents basically had to sell/give them to the monastery to finically help their own families?), the big picture church context, and the personal (you will grow to know Katharina and Martin in ways that humanizes both to the point you wish Katharina made some of her beer for you!).

I loved this book so much I couldn’t help—polite book stalker vernacular— but ask Michelle some questions about it:

1. How long did you work on this book? Roughly what percentage did you research and what percentage did you write?

It took me about eight months to research and write the book. It’s hard for me to estimate exactly what percentage of that time was devoted to research and what percentage was devoted to writing, because I did each in segments. For instance, before I wrote the early chapters about Katharina and Luther’s years in the convent and monastery, I did all my research on monastic life in the Middle Ages/early modern period. Once I had compiled copious notes on that topic, I wrote those chapters. Then I moved on to the chapters on Luther’s theology. I researched his major theological treatises, especially his writings related to marriage, and then I wrote those chapters. And so on and so forth. So I didn’t do all the research and then all the writing, but went back and forth as I focused on different aspects of their lives.

Suffice to say, though, I did A LOT of research. I pretty much abandoned all reading for pleasure during those eight months and almost entirely read books having to do with Luther, Katharina, the Reformation, and life in early modern Germany. I was constantly spouting facts to my family, who frankly didn’t really care what Germans in the 1500s ate or wore. But I kept talking about it anyway, because I couldn’t help myself!

2. What did you have to cut out but you wish you hadn’t?

I became fascinated with the topic of monastic life in the Middle Ages/early modern period when I was researching it, and ended up writing quite a bit more about that subject in the first draft than was actually included in the final book. My editor told me to “rein it in.” That was a good call on his part, because people typically aren’t going to read this book to learn about every little detail of monastic life, but instead are probably looking for a well-rounded picture of Katharina and Luther’s life together. I lost my focus for a bit there and followed my own interest rather than keeping the interests of my readers top-of-mind. My editor graciously got me back on track.

Meet the author of this amazing book . . . Michelle DeRusha

3. What are one or two facts from either Katharina or Martin’s life that still surprise you?

Oh, where to begin? Regarding Katharina, I was shocked to learn that women during that time period were not considered citizens unless they were married. Single women, including widows, were required to have a male guardian who oversaw their finances and general livelihood. Single women were truly in a precarious position.

I was also surprised by the genuine tenderness shared by Katharina and Luther. Going into this project, I knew Katharina and Luther had married for convenience (or I should say, she married for survival, he to make a point), rather than love. But what I didn’t understand before I began to explore their marriage was that they grew to genuinely love each other, and they shared a remarkable respect and affection for one another. It was truly a delight to see how their relationship grew over time.

4. Have you always liked history? How did writing this book influence how you see our modern day from a different perspective?

I haven’t always been a big history fan in the classic sense. I didn’t typically enjoy history classes in high school and college, and I was never one to, say, pick up a book about the American Revolution or the Renaissance. I have always loved biography, however. I clearly remember reading biographies of Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale in grammar school, and even when I was in graduate school, I often read biographies of women writers and artists, like Virginia Woolf and George O’Keefe, for pleasure. I think personal story is my preferred lens through which to view history. History has to be grounded in narrative for it to be meaningful for me.

Without getting too much into politics here, I will say that researching and writing about Luther’s theology of marriage helped me understand our modern-day discussion of marriage in a deeper, more comprehensive way. Luther reformed the institution of marriage, and 500 years later, we are still exploring and grappling with the results of those reforms and with the definition of marriage in general. Luther began a conversation we are still engaging in 500 years later, and I think that’s fascinating.

Michelle, thank you! I love hearing more about a book :). Your editor may have been right, but if you want to write a supplemental book, you have at least one reader!

Dear Messy Middler, if you are going to do only one thing this year to mark the 500 year anniversary of The Reformation, read this book. Then stalk your friends and family, annoying blessing them with insights because you cannot not share (and we all know what double negative do . . . they make us do that which we could not not do).

Because any anniversary is more fun with presents, you can win a copy of Katharina and Martin Luther: The Radical Marriage of a Runaway Nun and a Renegade Monk by leaving a comment and telling us one of your favorite things OR a piece of trivia about The Reformation or the Luthers. I’ll chose a winner on Friday and get you set up for your weekend reading :).

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