My Top Five Favorite Non-Fiction Books of 2017

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Last week I shared my Top Five Favorite Fiction Books from 2017. This week I'm happy to bring you my favorite non-fiction books. It's a variety, that's for sure. A writing/creativity book, a couple of memoirs, a theological book, and a cookbook. Can't say I stick with just one genre of non-fiction!  

1. Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art – Madeleine L’Engle

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I don’t know why I had never read this before, but this book inspired me in many ways. I took lots of notes and wrote down many quotes from it, such as this: “We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.” This is a book I’ll go back to over and over again.

2. Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness – Alexandra Fuller

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I’m a memoir junkie, and this one did not disappoint. It is the story of Fuller’s growing up in Africa with parents who were a bit unconventional. It is well-written and funny, but also poignant. She has another, previous memoir called Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight that I’ll probably read this year.

3. At Home in the World: Reflections on Belonging While Wandering the Globe – Tsh Oxenreider

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As a person with full-blown wanderlust, this book satisfied me in many ways. Yet, I’ll admit, I also kept feeling just a tiny bit uncomfortable about the many places she describes. Some were downright primitive! She doesn’t sugar-coat what life on the road with kids looks like, but this is still a good book to get lost in.

4. Keeping Place: Reflections on the Meaning of Home – Jen Polock Michel

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   Jen is a personal friend, but that doesn’t mean I can’t love her work. She is one of the most deep, thoughtful, theologically sound writers I know, and this second book of hers does not disappoint. It’s a good reminder of where we really belong.

5. The Hoosier Mama Book of Pie – Paula Haney

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My lack of pie-baking skills is well-documented, so when my friend, Kathy, asked me to visit a new-to-us bookstore in Chicago called Read It and Eat and take a pie baking class, I was ALL IN. (That was one of the most-fun things I did all year!) And while I was in this amazing bookstore I found this book that I didn’t even know existed from my favorite pie shop in the city, Hoosier Mama. (If you haven’t ever been there, you need to go.) My pie-baking world is complete.

So now I'd love to know, what were YOUR favorite non-fiction books of 2017?

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