The Discipline of Reading

What we’re reading so far in 2025.

Photo by Blaz Photo on Unsplash (edited)

I firmly believe that beautiful disciples are often those who read widely and allow the perspectives and stories of others to challenge and form them.

Lisa Hensley

wrote recently about the discipline of the library browse, which inspired me to consider what I’ve read in the last few months. So, let’s take a little break from our regularly scheduled programming to chat about our favorite books from the first quarter of 2025.¹

Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson
Robinson approaches sacred Scripture with both curiosity and reverence, a posture I pray for grace to maintain toward God’s word. This was an absolute delight to read. Can she please write one for every book of the Bible?

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
Enger writes characters with a reality and tenderness matched by few other contemporary novelists. Even when the world is dark and full of evil (as it has always been), there is beauty to sustain those who have eyes to see it and hearts to cultivate it.

A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards
This book has officially made it onto my list of favorite books of all time and is one I’ll probably return to every year. It’s that good. If you are in public ministry of any kind, this will bless you and challenge you.

The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
I love to geek out about nature, especially with prose as beautiful as this. Now I just wish I could find the equivalent of this book for the flora of the Colorado Desert.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
This was just a pure delight to read. It had me laughing out loud and taking deeper breaths at the end of busy days. Not everything we read needs to be a serious spiritual tome. As

Deidre Braley

reminded us recently, delight is a discipline, too.

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin
I cried. I swore. I laughed out loud. I listened to this one read by the author and it is a wonderful memoir. I loved that Lara is so brutally honest about her own mistakes and shortcomings, while also pointing out the ways that the “justice” system heaps additional burdens upon those who have already “done their time.”
CW: Language

Blessed Are the Rest of Us by Micha Boyett
I learned about this one from K.J. Ramsey, who said it was one of the few Christian nonfiction books she could actually manage to read during her seasons of intense suffering. What a refreshing way to frame the Beatitudes, not as blessings we earn for actions performed, but gifts we enjoy just by virtue of being our broken, beautiful selves.

Platforms to Pillars by Mark Sayers
It’s 2025. Platforms are shaping who gets elected, who gets book deals, who gets heard, and who gets cancelled. We all need this book. Mark Sayers uncovers an alternative to our platform society without giving readers a prescription for how to be in it, but not of it. I appreciate how he trusts the reader to discern the specifics for themselves in partnership with the Spirit and faithful community. Because of that, I can see this book becoming a modern classic.

The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton
I added this one to my TBR after reading The Many Lives of Mama Love. I also listened to this one as an audiobook. Picture me fighting back tears while fighting through my last few reps at the gym. So good. (Also, Hinton’s mom is the MVP of this story, and I want to be that kind of mom.)
CW: Some language

Tell me, what have you been reading lately? Hit reply or leave a comment below.

In pursuit of Beauty,

1. All links are affiliate links, which just means that if you choose to pick up one of these books, I get a few pennies for my own reading habit.