Depending on the time of year and the subject matter, there are varying numbers of library books in my reading pile. As of today, 80-90% of my pile is library books. That means they have an expiration date, which increases the pressure to read them.

Curious about the titles? From top to bottom:

1. The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B. Du Bois
2. The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See, by Richard Rohr
3. Silent Compassion: Finding God in Contemplation, by Richard Rohr
4.  Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, by Richard Rohr
5. The Secret Lives of Color, by Kassia St. Clair
6. Healing is a Choice: Ten Decisions That Will Transform Your Life & Ten Lies That Can Prevent You From Making Them, by Stephen Arterburn
7. Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love, by Dava Sobel
8. The Comet’s Tale: A Novel About Sojourner Truth, by Jacqueline Sheehan
9. The Kitchen House, by Kathleen Grissom
10. The Holy Longing, Ronald Rohlheiser
11. The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd

I found the color book through 99% Invisible, a podcast my brother introduced me to. The Rohr books found their way into the stack after I was challenged and moved by the first book I read by him. Galileo’s Daughter was a recommendation from my mom, who shares my love of historical fiction. I found Healing is a Choice accidentally while fact checking a review on a related book I read recently. The Holy Longing is my homework for church, and the rest of the books are titles I selected for Black History Month (I’m running a little behind). They all came through inter-library loan at the same time, I got overwhelmed, then proceeded to get wildly behind in my reading. I’ve read one or two of them before – if I start running out of time to read all the books before I have to return them, those will be the ones I set aside.

At this point, I’m considering Black History Year – if I can keep up. One historical fiction book or a title by a Black author who made an impact on history each month. We’ll see if I can keep up with that goal!

My pile was so high that I wanted to share it – not for its height, but maybe to hold me accountable for reading all those titles, and to give you some ideas for your own reading.

Do you see any titles that catch your interest? How do you choose what you’ll read next?