I’m really trying to channel Gen Z’s The Great Lock-In energy for the fall. The idea is to focus on goals and habits far in advance of January 1, so when the New Year hits, you’re ready to go. I’ve been working out regularly and focused on my sleep schedule. I have also been knocking off books long present on my TBR pile.
If you are looking to add structure and excitement to your 2026 reading goals, then come join me and Laura Tremaine at Slow Read: The Stand as we make our way through Stephen King’s epic over the first six months of next year. We’ve already started recording episodes and y’all it’s going to be 🔥.
Fully Alive: Tending To The Soul In Turbulent Times by Elizabeth Oldfield
The freedom I long for is something more internal. I want to be, want them to be, liberated in mind. The Bible talks about sin tangling us up and slowing us down, and it feels to me like lies. The lies I believe about myself and other people. The lies about what actually makes us happy. The seductive temptation of disconnection. Those I want to be free of.
I had the distinct honor of traveling with Elizabeth Oldfield on a Common Ground Pilgrimage this fall. She was the chaplain on the trip, and I was struck by her incredible kindness, profound wisdom, and wicked sense of humor. Of course, when I got back, I wanted to spend more time with Liz and her lovely British accent, so I started listening to her book.
I finally had time to finish it on a recent road trip, and I was blown away. Crying, laughing, and nodding my head vigorously as I made my way down the Western Kentucky Parkway. Free from so much of the baggage Christians are saddled with in the United States because of her own personal conversion experience, Liz carefully walks through the parts of Christian teaching and tradition that she finds particularly helpful in our modern lives. She put into words so much of what I have been struggling with over the past several years, from climate anxiety to social media rage. I left this book feeling convicted and inspired to make changes that will deeply connect me to my community and those around me, helping me feel more fully alive. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and Liz is so incredibly transparent and forthright that you will absolutely gain something of value even if you are not in the Christian tradition and have no desire to be.
Hondo by Louis L’Amour
Whatever wells of gentleness might lie within him were guarded and deep.
The last official “first book” for our First Books Book Club, Hondo, was Louis L’Amour’s first great success as a novelist. He became the best-selling Western writer of all time, selling an estimated 330 million books. I knew him as my grandfather’s favorite author and remember him always having a Louis L’Amour novel next to his armchair.
Now, I know why. This book was fantastic. The characters were sympathetic and affecting without becoming caricatures. The pacing of the plot was damn near perfect, and the setting was the star. I have developed quite an affinity for westerns over the past several years. I think they are an underappreciated genre, and reading L’Amour - a giant of the genre - confirms that even more.
For the Love of Mark Twain: A Cozy Academia Friends-to-Lovers Story by Kalyn Gensic
After all, one could hardly forget a voice that was clearly still alive in one’s head.
I get a lot of books mailed to me - lots of books about politics and our democracy. Imagine my delight when I opened a recent package to find two romantic comedies. THEN, imagine my delight when I find out the author, Kalyn Gensic, is a longtime listener of Pantsuit Politics and that she set the first novel at a fictional liberal arts university in PADUCAH, KENTUCKY!
This is a charming story - I particularly loved the familial atmosphere between the heroine and her coworkers - but having it set in my hometown was a true treat. Plus, it ended on Thanksgiving! If cozy romances are your thing, I highly recommend this one.
All Things Left Wild by James Wade
Still we forge onward, as if ours were the first world, as we alone by our very existence are inimitable across the vastness of the universe, and in doing so we elevate our own creations to underserving positions of power and importance.
In The First Books Book Club, we always pick a modern premiere novel to accompany our classic. James Wade’s novel was the pick for our Western quarter. I liked this novel overall. The plot was interesting and the characters engaging. Wade tiptoed up to self-importance with some of his prose, and I didn’t love the ending, but I enjoyed reading this novel. I can’t wait to talk about it.
We will discuss both Hondo and All Things Left Wild on Thursday, December 11th at 7pm CST AND I’ll be revealing the picks for 2026! I don’t want to brag but they are really, REALLY good. (Here’s a hint… 🇺🇸🎂📚)
Everything is Tuberculosis: The History And Persistence Of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green
As Barbara Duden has written, “Pain is in the body. It leaves no trace for the historian.”
I found this book interesting, and John Green is brilliant and clearly cares about the world. That said, this book could have been a long read. Now, my hunch is that he is using the proceeds to fund his charity initiatives to fight tuberculosis, which is good and noble. However, as a reader, I felt like I was treading water much of the time.
What I Didn’t Finish
When McKinsey Comes To Town: The Hidden Influence of the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm by Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe
Speaking of books that could have been a long read, I quit reading this book after Chapter 4 when it became clear that it was going to be one rage-inducing case study after another about how this secretive consulting firm claims to be values-driven but really pursues profits at the expense of corporations, entire industries, governments, and authoritarian states. The only thing that kept me from throwing my Kindle across the room was remembering this reporting from The Free Press.
What did you read in November?
Thank you so much for featuring For the Love of Mark Twain! I had the most delightful conversation with a writer from Paducah Life Magazine, and it was so much fun talking Kentucky with her ❤️.
A couple of weeks ago on the podcast, you mentioned the value of reading classics. I wanted to say that the Timothy West readings of Anthony Trollope novels on Audible are some of my favorites. I slowly worked my way through the Chronicles of Barsetshire over several summers, and they were so charming and cozy. Definitely recommend!
The best things I read this month were "Unreasonable Hospitality" by Will Guidara and "I was Anastasia" by Ariel Lawhon. I completely disagree about "Everything is Tuberculosis." I thought he took a subject that could be dry and unenticing and made it read more like a novel. I loved it. 5 stars.