Dozen Top Reads of 2022

In 2022, I billed the following 9 books as "highly recommended" - listed in order read, not in order of preference:

The Reading List by Sarah Nisha Adams - Fiction

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth - Fiction

Redeeming Your Time by Jordan Raynor - Non-fiction

The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni - Fiction

The God of the Garden by Andrew Peterson - Non-fiction

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle - Fiction

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate - Fiction

God Walk by Mark Buchanan - Non-fiction

More Than Grit by Gretchen A. Carlson - Middle Grade Fiction

I'm giving the following books an honorable mention:

Holier Than Thou by Jackie Hill Perry - Non-fiction

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah - Fiction

Dear Dana by Amy Weinland Daughters- Non-fiction

What were your favorite books this year? I'd love to hear them.

2022 - Fourth Quarterly Review

To assist my blog readers, I summarize my reading four times a year, providing a brief description, the page count, and a grading scale (💖5 thumbs up - highly recommend, 4 thumbs up - enjoyed, 3 thumbs up - good, 2 thumbs up - meh, and 1 thumb down - regret, wishing I could get back the time invested). I read the following books during the fourth quarter of 2022 (links to full reviews can be found in the side-bar, or after 2022, found through the search bar at the right):

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah - A mother and daughter survive the Alaskan frontier and their abusive husband and father. 449 pages (I listened in audio form, 12 CDs, 15 hours), 👍👍👍👍-1/2

The Birdcage by Eve Chase - Three half-sisters return to the family estate twenty years after a mysterious occurrence during an eclipse fragmented their relationships. Atmospheric and dark. 369 pages, 👍👍👍-1/2

Just Show Up: The Dance of Walking Through Suffering Together by Kara Tippetts and Jill Lynn Buteyn - When a friend or family member is facing a struggle, presence will always be more important and useful than platitudes. 194 pages, 👍👍👍👍

One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson - The summer of 1927 comes alive with humor and flair, thanks to Bryson's sharp eye and ready wit. 637 pages (I listened in audio form, 14 CDs, 17 hours), 👍👍👍👍-1/2

Every Note Played by Lisa Genova - Concert pianist, Richard Evans, faces down his ALS diagnosis and accepts the begrudging assistance of his ex-wife, causing all past mistakes to surface again. Like a musical piece, full of emotional swells and moving passages. 298 pages, 👍👍👍👍-1/2

The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel - A recounting of the decade focused on space exploration: sordid lives and grand ambitions, tragedy and triumph. 320 pages (I listened in audio form, 7 CDs, 8 hours), 👍👍👍

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore - This great non-fiction book focuses on revealing the true story behind the set of women injured by their occupational exposure to radium. Fascinating! Infuriating! 504 pages (I listened in audio form, 13 CDs, 16 hours), 👍👍👍👍

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg - Two children run away from home, hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and discover a mystery about a statue in the museum. 168 pages (I listened in audio form, 3 CDs, 3-1/2 hours), 👍👍👍

What You Wish For by Katherine Center - From a new-to-me author I cannot wait to read again comes a book about seeking love, being real, facing challenges, and embracing joy. 306 pages, 👍👍👍👍-1/2

💖The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate - A Louisiana woman unearths the fascinating story of slaves searching for lost loved ones. This one made me cry. A dreadful history but full of redemption. 417 pages (I listened in audio form, 12 CDs, 15 hours), 👍👍👍👍👍

The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery by Ross Douthat - The author's lengthy battle with Lyme disease challenges his view of the medical establishment and our entitlement mentality toward health. 197 pages, 👍👍👍

The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani - When loss drives Jaya to visit her mother's homeland in India, she learns the tragic story of her mother and grandmother and finds strength to face her dreams. 390 pages, 👍👍👍-1/2

Murder, Motherhood, and Miraculous Grace by Debra Moerke with Cindy Lambert - Riveting true story of a foster mother who faces an unexpected request that demonstrates God's grace and redemption. 317 pages, 👍👍👍👍-1/2

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - My favorite book, when a teen, has gone down a tick in re-reading it as an adult. Still a well-written and exciting novel, but not top-billed status. 384 pages (I listened in audio form, 14 CDs, 15.75 hours), 👍👍👍👍

💖God Walk: Moving at the Speed of Your Soul by Mark Buchanan - A thorough and delightful exploration of walking as spiritual practice. This book is chock full of book and movie recommendations. 226 pages, 👍👍👍👍👍

💖More Than Grit by Gretchen A. Carlson - Twelve-year-old Sissy Grumme hatches a plan to help her family come up with the $5 deposit necessary to get electricity extended to their Kansas farm. Sometimes facing obstacles brings maturity and teaches us to rely on more than our own personal grit. 220 pages, 👍👍👍👍👍

Dear Dana: That time I went crazy and wrote all my 580 Facebook friends a handwritten letter by Amy Weinland Daughters - I was hooked from the start. This memoir highlights a lost art I'd love to reinstitute myself (were it not for my scraggly handwriting and weak wrists) and gives me ideas for 2023 (not a duplication, but a similar strategy). 304 pages, 👍👍👍👍-1/2

Dear Santa by Debbie Macomber - Simple, clean, Christmas romance. Perfect light-hearted holiday read. 243 pages (I listened in audio form, 4 CDs, 5 hours), 👍👍👍

Alaskan Holiday by Debbie Macomber - Another simple, clean, Christmas romance, this time set in Alaska. 243 pages (I listened in audio form, 4 CDs, 5 hours), 👍👍👍

Book Review: Alaskan Holiday

Keeping in the Christmas holiday theme, I've been listening to Debbie Macomber holiday novels. This one, Alaskan Holiday, was pleasant enough. My single complaint is that the narrator for the male parts of the narration was over-the-top in his voicing of the characters. It was grating. Still, the story held my attention. It is a simple tale of love challenged by the isolating Alaskan frontier. Palmer is eager to propose to Josie, but knows she is due to return to Seattle, Washington, to her dream job working with a famous chef in a new restaurant. He's unsure she will choose isolation in Alaska with him, over the amenities and opportunities of a big city without him. Both narrations for Palmer and Jack irritated me. My favorite part of the whole audio book was in the introduction by the author. Macomber shares two pithy quotes about Alaska that had me laughing:

1) "In Alaska, the men are men, and so are the women!"

2) "It is also said for single women in Alaska, the odds are good, but the goods are odd!"

Alaskan Holiday provides a lighthearted, warm Christmas tale. I simply recommend reading a hard copy rather than listening to the audio version. 

Book Review: Dear Santa

Sometimes when I pop into the library with few minutes to spare, I grab audio books that are on display. Debbie Macomber is a tried-and-true author. This book, Dear Santa, was a great holiday accompaniment to my daily treadmill time. The romance was light-hearted, with the feel of a Hallmark Christmas movie.

Lindy Carmichael is happy to be home for the holidays in Wenatchee, Washington, but is struggling to capture the holiday cheer. Her life in Seattle is on tenterhooks waiting for the acceptance or rejection of a work bid. Given that her best friend has just taken up with her ex-boyfriend, she's grateful for a two-week vacation with her parents. When her mother unearths her old letters to Santa, Lindy wonders if she's too old to write her hopes and dreams to Santa again. Will the magic still hold? If Santa delivers, can she graciously accept the gifts she coveted? While the story line felt predictable, it held my attention. No better way to prepare for the holidays than to dive into a small Christmas romance novel. 

Book Review: Dear Dana

Two things converged to bring this compulsively readable book into my life. Thanks to an Amazon gift card from a friend, I felt free to spend the money on books. Then, to earn more sweepstakes entries, I signed on for Book Bub. This has been a double-edged sword for me. While I love book recommendations, the daily smattering of titles increases my burgeoning wish list and TBR piles. For this book, I saw the title (Dear Dana: That time I went crazy and wrote all 580 of my Facebook friends a handwritten letter), noticed the low e-book price ($.99), clicked to purchase, and immediately started reading (on my Kindle for PC).

I love everything about this idea. Letter writing saved my life! When I moved in my senior year of high school, when I launched out at a college where I knew not a soul, when I moved overseas to live and work in England for seven months, and when I courted my husband during graduate school, letter writing kept me going. I still keep a stack of those old letters in my closet. I may not read them often, but they are too significant to throw away. They were a lifeline to sanity when loneliness might have driven me crazy.

Crazy! That's what Amy Weinland Daughters must have been to embark on this daunting task. But, how cool! Amy noticed a Facebook friend, Dana, posting about her son's battle with cancer. When the mother and son moved to Memphis for his treatment at St. Jude's, Amy felt compelled to send letters. Sadly, the stricken son died. Amy recalled a comment by a neighbor who, after grieving her lost husband, mentioned that at some point the casseroles and letters cease. Amy didn't want that to happen to her Facebook friend, even though they hadn't seen one another in thirty years. But how to continue expressing her condolences and prayers? She didn't even have an address for Dana. This little realization triggered something that resonated deep within. The impact of receiving a handwritten letter is incalculable. What if Amy wrote a letter (not just a note, but a 2-pager) to every Facebook connection she had?

What's even crazier? She put feet to the plan. She created a spreadsheet, placed the names in a box, pulled out each name, and wrote to each individual, no matter how close or distant in life. I rarely highlight passages in memoirs, but I did so in this book. The exercise changed Amy's heart, and mine too. I wanted to share a few of those nuggets, but in writing them down, they took up almost two pages. Here are a few key points: small, everyday actions can morph into big things; writing letters is therapeutic for both the sender and receiver; intentional letters have no monetary value, but exponential personal worth; and our interactions with people can change us if we remain open and teachable, looking for that potential in even seemingly insignificant or limited relationships (i.e., Facebook friends you have never even met but connected with through some random situation).

She presented one concept I'd love to explore more. Dana asked Amy to join in a 5K for cancer awareness. The physical exertion of this was more than Amy was accustomed to (after health issues). Her observation about praying through the physical pain struck me. She wrote, "Not only did turning my focus to God get me through the next lap, I prayed in a way I never had before. Being depleted physically seemed to augment me spiritually." I'm guessing this principle might apply to fasting as well. Hmm.

As her sister-in-law said, "Don't think that your words aren't life to someone and aren't well received if they don't quite know how to respond." So often, we crave feedback from what we send out into the world. This is inspiration and encouragement for writing, as well as posting on Facebook. Amy wrote, "The key is to... continue to press on boldly... regardless of any lack of feedback." She encourages the reader to never let a lack of "likes" keep you from sharing something that might help another individual.

Amy's correspondence with Dana was life-giving. She gave of herself in prayer and writing. Dana responded, "Know that every word you write matters!" In the same way, through her Facebook letter writing project, Amy learned, "Being connected to each was far more than an exercise in randomness and instead a very deliberate pattern that meant God had been looking out for me through relationships from the beginning."

Deal for today only: To the first five individuals who send me their email that is attached to their Kindle account (you can easily read with the Kindle for PC or Kindle on phone app), I will gift you a copy of this e-book. Express your interest and send your email address to wendy@wendygortonhill.com. Merry Christmas and happy reading and letter writing! 

Book Review: More Than Grit - Highly Recommend

Let's imagine my husband had to identify one complaint about me (ha, only one?). It might be my propensity to seek bargains. I will admit, sometimes the bargain, once chased, ends up being less than a bargain (i.e., a pair of running shoes I purchased for $5 and then ended up donating because they hurt my feet). Sometimes, in pursuing the bargain, I waste time and money. But occasionally, I end up thanking God for the deal. (Some previous gems: our new-in-box treadmill, a solid wood lyre end table, my alto horn, the bench and end table in my book nook, and the book-themed desk and file cabinet.)

However, none of those finds netted the even greater find, a friend. Lately, I've been searching for a small table or cabinet to hold a sewing machine. After my mother-in-law's passing, her machine went to my niece and my niece offered me her old machine. So, there I was perusing Facebook Marketplace, when I saw an adorable Old Curiosity Shop knick-knack. I had just completed Great Expectations and was feeling my old author love spring anew. God turned this little transaction into a marvelous connection. It turned out the seller had just published her first book, like me. Eager to help a fellow author, I purchased her book More Than Grit.

If this is her debut effort, Gretchen Carlson can only have a bright future ahead. Billed as a middle-grade historical novel, with extended appeal to history-keen young adults and adults, More Than Grit tells a multi-layered story of belligerent bullies, fast friendship, and troubled times. It is 1939 in a rural Kansas town. Farmers and townspeople alike are abuzz with news of electricity. But times are tough and they require a $5 deposit in order to extend the resource. Twelve-year-old Sissy Grumme can tell her parents may struggle to secure the sum. She devises a plan that may place herself and others in danger.

I loved the way this story weaves in and out with a narrow and wide lens. On the one hand, you have Sissy's problem with a small-town bully. On the other, you have a much bigger bully, Hitler. Prejudices emerge on local and international scales. Sissy learns and grows through her encounters with a war-scarred recluse and her friendship with a gypsy girl. She struggles to balance duty and desire and learns that scarred, scared people can change. What a testament to the power of story! The reason our individual stories matter is that they play out in bigger arenas with universal appeal. What touches a person also touches a nation, which also touches an international sphere.

Gretchen's author website provides additional resources (discussion questions/activities arranged by chapter). This book would make an outstanding read-aloud, with a journal question or activity assigned for each read-aloud session. Each question/activity gives readers a chance to interact with the history and quotations from historical figures. They also encourage personal connections. Homeschooling families and mother-daughter book clubs will appreciate the many discussions the book prompts. Keep your eyes open for more, because I'm convinced that Gretchen Carlson has a significant gift for historical fiction. 

She also addresses my personal pet-peeve (mentioned here and here), by producing a book that is faith-affirming without hammering the message like an anvil over the heads of readers. She gets it right. Faith shines through on the strength of the story. Everyone can agree. We all face troubled times that will require more than grit. 

Book Review: God Walk - Highly Recommend

I talked in a previous post about a book recommendation I saw on Facebook for a book on walking as a spiritual practice. My friend linked to a Renovare podcast with Nathan Foster and the book's author, Mark Buchanan. The book, God Walk: Moving at the Speed of Your Soul, was outstanding! I highly recommend it, whether or not you practice walking. Buchanan has such a distinctive voice, uses excellent illustrations, and explores all the spiritual benefits of walking (if that isn't too emphatic a description!). Plus, I adore books that recommend other books. I had to go back through the entire book to make a list of the book, poem, and movie suggestions (27 of them). Read the notes at the end. Well worth the investment!

God walked and urges us to walk with Him. Walking is an automatic and often undervalued ability. Buchanan breaks down the many uses of walking for spiritual nourishment. He recommends 3 miles per hour as "God speed." He even breaks his book into 3 sections: Mile One - Setting Out; Mile Two - Making Tracks; Mile Three - Pressing On. Various chapters cover forms of walking: walking as exercise, as friendship, as prayer, as remembering, as suffering, as healing (to mention more than a few).

As much as I appreciated the structure of this book, I loved the stories and illustrations. He retold the prodigal son's story to illustrate how we retrace our steps to recover lost things. A story about Wab Kinew explored how walking works out your pain and your identity. In discussing the fascination some have with "The Walking Dead," he urges the reader to be "the walking living," an incarnation of Christ to others around us. Some stories are fictional (one about a man in Poland seeking buried treasure); some are taken straight from his own family life (one about his perilous, but worthwhile, drive up the Amalfi Coast, and another about grace and youthful accidents - don't miss the footnotes for this story).

Despite my struggle with memory these days, I relished his chapter on walking as remembering. Walking seals perceptions and memories tied to the location. I've noticed this with audio books. I can bring to mind the exact locations along the road where I encountered certain bits of the story if I listened while driving. But, it is true of walking, as well. As he writes, "The texture of each moment was tied to the footfall of each journey." As the Israelites walked in the wilderness, Moses urged them to remember.

Buchanan emphasizes how it isn't always easy to find and follow the good way. "Ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." (Jeremiah 6:16) We need the Holy Spirit and God's Word. I loved a small passage about gray areas that require discernment. (When to submit to authority - Romans 13 - and when to resist - Revelation 13; grace that prompts change or grace that "merely perpetuates abuse and keeps letting the abuser walk away unchanged"; when our love and compassion is pure and selfless, and when it is "enablement or codependence or false altruism.")

Mark Buchanan earned the 8 endorsements inside the front cover. I leave you with 2:

"Mark Buchanan has... written something for one and all that is thoughtful, compelling, and practical: this is essential reading for those keen to come to a greater appreciation of the interplay between the interior life and our bodies." - Gordon T. Smith, author of The Voice of Jesus

"With his trademark lilt and languorous style, Mark Buchanan saunters, but never rambles, down an ancient track nearly lost to the Christian tradition. His is an invitation not to get in more steps but to slowly walk with God himself. This book is a good gift to the global church." Jared Brock, author of A Year of Living Prayerfully 

Book Review: Great Expectations

I remember the thrill of visiting the Dickens Museum in Rochester, England. One display showed a scene from Great Expectations. When I read this as a teenager, it was my favorite book. Dickens became my favorite author. I wrote research papers about him in high school, college, and graduate school. I created a special walking tour for one of my Wheaton professors to offer his future students (I wonder if Dr. McClatchey ever truly used it, after all the time I poured into that tour packet). Throughout the 80s and 90s, I amassed a collection of Dickens books and memorabilia. 

Dickens' characters sprung vivid in my mind and I loved his commentary on societal ills. My Dickens collection is vast. At the Dickens House in London, I purchased this poster with the famous image of Dickens at his desk surrounded by the many fascinating characters from his imagination:

(This unfinished oil painting by Robert William Buss is titled, "Dickens' Dream." Credit: Alamy Stock Photo from Country Life.co.uk) 

It was interesting to listen to this book as an adult. I'm sure I responded differently. Thoughts of generosity and gratitude, of spite and revenge, struck me. Young Pip's terrifying encounter with an escaped convict on the moors near his small village creates a startling opening. He is a dutiful and obedient boy. Thus, he follows orders to visit the local recluse, Miss Havisham, and "play" for her with her adopted daughter, the beautiful Estella. Miss Havisham is almost as frightening as the convict. She sits in a faded wedding gown in a room with a decaying wedding table and cake, promising to remain there until they lay her out in permanent rest upon the table. It is no wonder that Pip falls for Estella and she becomes the object of his heart's desire. Of course, he feels no hope for attaining her, until fortune shines on him when an anonymous donor provides funds to make him a gentleman.

I will admit, my thoughts faded off while listening because the words flow in antiquated form. It was, perhaps, harder to focus on the audio story than if I had physically read the book. Still, it was a worthwhile endeavor. Thankfully, the audio version provided both of the two endings Dickens crafted. In my opinion, the sadder ending felt more true. 

I still credit the author for his impressive ability to provide vivid settings and characters in time-true dilemmas that speak to the milieu of the Victorian age. He accurately portrayed social ills, and he actively persuaded societal changes. He both responded to his historical time and altered it. What a master! And I cannot say now which of his books I would bill as my favorite. I still love so many of them: A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, The Tale of Two Cities. But, gone are the days where I dreamed of working in a Dickens museum enticing patrons into a similar love of this brilliant author. Indeed, this is only the second time I've picked up a Dickens book in the last decade.

Book Review: Murder, Motherhood, and Miraculous Grace

The deeper the darkness, the greater God's grace appears and the brighter His light shines through our woundedness. Murder, Motherhood, and Miraculous Grace is a very difficult book to read. The darkness is overwhelming. Yet, through this tragic tale, I recognize anew my own capacity for evil and sin and my reliance on God's gift of grace. Debra Moerke, with the assistance of Cindy Lambert, tells her story of fostering, then losing, a precious child. When caught up in feelings of judgment and anger, God steps in to remind of her own need for grace. He prompts her to answer the call by showing grace to one whose actions have wounded her beyond measure. This story goes deep into the depths of sin, yet rises to the triumph of forgiveness and mercy, shown by both God and Debra (through God's help).

How easy it is to look at the sins of another and think, "That's despicable! How could someone do such a thing? Why did God allow this extreme evil? How can He possibly redeem this brokenness?" Although Debra Moerke doesn't go into great detail, she honestly admits she is just as capable of the evil action taken by the birth mother in this story. Indeed, her actions (actions society sanitizes and accepts) bear the same results. When the birth mother calls Debra with her initial request for a prison visit, God compels Debra to respond with grace and go. Then another request requires even further grace, but God enables her to shine forth His love to overpower the darkness. We are all sinners in need of God's forgiveness and grace. Only He can redeem the fallout of our broken lives. This story is especially important because it is not only a testimony of redemption, but a reminder that any light in our lives comes from the Father of light, who infuses our darkness for the glory of His kingdom. May God be praised!