I love this image because of the value of reading is its power to illumine our lives and our vision even in the darkest hours. As I look ahead to 2024, I anticipate politically contentious times and more global conflict and ecological challenges. I think of St. Augustine who drew upon his spirituality and his extensive reading to write The City of God as he watched the decay of the Roman Empire. Yes, sometimes, books offer a temporary escape, but we cannot escape our times. The best books offer us the vision, the imagination, the principles, that give us the wherewithal to meet our times. This reading challenge is not about numbers but about nourishing your soul and illumining your life. Feel free to embrace one challenge or all twelve. I offer twelve, one for each month, but take the time you need.

A Founding Document or Its Equivalent. Many Americans, for example, have never read the Constitution, nor the debates about the Constitution in the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers. The founding document I will read is_____________.

A Book on the Country or Birthplace of My Ancestors. Where we are from shapes who we are and what we value yet we often have only scattered memories. Maybe it is simply learning about the town where our parents were born or the country reflected in our surname. The book I will read about my family origins is____________.

A Book by a Celebrated Author From that Country or Birthplace or Ethnic Background. What authors were your ancestors talking about? Literature is part of a cultural heritage. Knowing yours enriches your life. The book I will read is____________.

A Book by a Great Author of the Country in Which You Hold Your Citizenship. Literature is also part of our national heritage. They help us understand something of what it means to be part of this people. The book I will read is____________.

A Story of Courage. It could be fiction or non-fiction. Courage takes all kinds of forms from courage in battle to the courage to stand for a principle to the courage to put oneself at risk to save another. All of us wonder how we will meet such challenges. Stories give us models to inspire and show the way. The story of courage I will read is__________

A Book on the Other. A step toward tyranny is to incite fear or hatred of the other and to portray them as less than fully human. Find a book on an “other” for you, one that acquaints you with their country, or culture, that portrays the riches of their humanity. Perhaps you have one friend from that culture who could suggest something for you to read that you could discuss. The book on the “other” I will read is____________.

Start a New (For You) Series. Louise Penny’s Gamache series got me through the pandemic. The principled police inspector and his love for his wife and children made me want to become a better version of myself, if not another Gamache. Great series draw you into the lives of their characters and help us return to our own lives with fresh perspective. The series I will begin this year is____________.

A Story of Resilience. People have sometimes faced formidable challenges and prevailed because they refused to give up. Read one of their stories and consider what challenge you face where you will not give up. The story of resilience I will read is____________.

A Book that has been Challenged or Banned. Do you know that 60 percent of the books challenged or banned in the US reflected the work of just eleven people? Here is one list of books banned in 2023 that includes Charlotte’s Web, The Diary of Anne Frank, and The Grapes of Wrath. It is concerning that small minorities are exercising such power without broader attention. Reading such books helps us understand better what is being banned, stand with banned authors, and refused to allow this to continue unchallenged. The banned or challenged book I will read is____________.

A Book on an Issue that Touches or Could Touch your Community. Is there something that keeps turning up in the local news or even in the “back fence” conversations? Is there one issue on which you could become an informed citizen and mobilize others. We focus so much on national issues and fail to work on local challenges. In my community, the issue is a housing shortage and institutional buyers making it increasingly difficult for first-time home buyers to get into a home, a key to wealth accumulation. The issue I will become better informed about is__________.

A Book that Deepens Your Appreciation of Beauty. This could be a book of poetry, an art book, a gloriously illustrated children’s book, a piece of beautiful science or nature writing, a book on music appreciation–whatever. To fight for beauty and resist the banal, we have to know and love beauty. The beautiful book I will read is____________.

A Book That Deepens Your Inner World. There are great books on spirituality in every religious tradition as well as works on deepening our inner lives written from non-religious perspectives. The pandemic challenged the development of our inner worlds as we faced isolation, loss, and our own mortality. How might we build on the lessons of that time? The book I will read to deepen my inner world is____________.

You might already have some of these books in your personal library or TBR stack. Some topics may interest you but you have no idea where to begin. Your bookseller or librarian can be a great help to you. I apologize to those who were looking for more “fun” fare. I do hope those who use this challenge will find much they enjoy as well as much that is illuminating. Great books often do both for us. I do believe we may face difficult times ahead (though I dearly hope I’m wrong!). This passage from the Lord of the Rings always reminds me of what we can and cannot control in such times

” ‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.

‘So do I, said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’ ”

J. R. R. Tolkien

I hope this reading challenge helps fit you for whatever the times bring, to have the sense that you have both read and lived well in your time. Read well, my friends.