Danielle Klafter

Bookshelf

I’m a bibliophile, so I’m always reading about four, five, or ten books at a time. Reading is often my way to process the world. The following list is by no means a prescription for what I think you should be reading. But I offer it here as a glimpse of my favorites for what has been meaningful, challenging, life-altering, or just plain interesting to me. Browse at your own risk.

Note: I haven’t included all my loves because that would just be too much, and I’ve tried to limit myself to listing only one book per author, but other titles are worth exploring as well. Most recent reads are at the top of each category.

A whole separate page on resources related to parenting and passing on contemplative spirituality to children is located on my parenting page.

Fiction

  • The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (2025)
  • The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (2020)
  • The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (2015)
  • A High and Hidden Place by Michele Claire Lucas (2005)
  • We Must Be Brave by Frances Liardet (2019)
  • Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner (1987)
  • My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrich Backman (2015)
  • The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall (2019)
  • The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish (2017)
  • The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (2012)
  • Virgil Wander by Lief Enger (2018)
  • The Sandhills Ballad by Ladette Randolph (2009)
  • All the Light We Cannot See by Anothony Doerr (2017)
  • The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (2007)
  • The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield (2012)
  • Plainsong by Kent Haruf (1999)
  • A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (2007)
  • The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
  • March by Geraldine Brooks (2006)
  • The Book of the Dun Cow (trilogy) by Walter Wangerin (2003)
  • Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry (2000)
  • A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House (2001)
  • Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (2004)
  • A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859)

Memoir & Non-Fiction

  • Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May (2020)
  • The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong (2004)
  • Devotion by Dani Shaprio (2010)
  • Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans (2015)
  • Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor (2014)
  • All Over But the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg (1998)
  • Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl (1946)

Attachment Relationships

  • Passionate Marriage by David Schnarch (1997)
  • Fair Play by Eve Rodsky (2021)
  • Hold Me Tight by Dr. Sue Johnson (2008)
  • How We Love by Milan and Kay Yerkovich (2016)

Spirituality

  • A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle (2005)
  • The Sin of Certainty by Peter Enns (2016)
  • The Wood Between the Worlds: A Poetic Theology of the Cross by Brian Zahnd (2024)
  • New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton (1961)
  • Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien (2012)
  • In Trouble and In Wonder: A Spiritual Commentary on the Gospel of Thomas by Lynn C. Bauman (2014)
  • The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth by Beth Allison Barr (2021)
  • How Your Church Family Works: Understanding Congregations as Emotional Systems by Peter L. Steinke (1993)
  • Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening by Cynthia Bourgeault (2004)
  • Putting on the Mind of Christ by Jim Marion (2000)
  • The Wisdom Jesus by Cynthia Bourgeault (2008)
  • The Awakened Heart by Gerald G. May (1991)
  • The Naked Now by Richard Rohr (2009)
  • A Hidden Wholeness by Parker J. Palmer (2004)
  • Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by David Johnson and Jeff VanVonderan (1991)
  • Copernicus and the Jews: The Separation of Church and Faith by Daniel Gruber (2016)

Exploration of the Divine Feminine

  • The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine by Sue Monk Kidd (2016)
  • The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd (2021) (a novel)
  • The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity by Cynthia Bourgeault (2010)
  • Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics by Mirabai Starr (2019)
  • The Mystics Would Like a Word: Six Women Who Met God and Found a Spirituality for Today by Shannon K. Evans (2024)

Writing

  • 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round by Jami Attenberg
  • Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life by Dani Shapiro (2013)
  • Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (1995)

Poetry

  • Two Funerals, Then Easter by Rachel Joy Welcher (2018)
  • Beloved on the Earth: 150 Poems of Grief and Gratitude (2009)
  • Let Evening Come by Jane Kenyon

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