My Non-Fiction Reading Pile

Our readers sometimes ask what we fiction writers like to read when we pick up a nonfiction. I usually have a stack of nonfiction sitting in my library room, all of them in various stages of reading, have-read, or to-be-read.

I'm of the belief, as I think most writers are, that keeping your think-tank full is a healthy way to inspire your life and your writing. I like a wide variety of nonfiction to keep me learning.


So, here is my pile...

I just finished reading this inspirational read about prayer that pushed me to think outside the box. Author Mark Batterson encourages intercessors to dream big, pray hard, and think long. 
Some favorite quotes: "Prayer and imagination are directly proportional." "May you keep dreaming until the day you die. May imagination overtake memory. May you die young at a ripe old age." "Coincidences are providences." "Coffeehouses are postmodern wells." "Parents are prophets to their children." 
And my favorite thought quotes: "Prayer is the inheritance we receive and the legacy we leave." "When we pray, our prayers exit our own reality of space and time. They have no time or space restrictions because God who answers them exists outside the space and time He created."

I'm on page 41 of 215 of this book. It's one I'm sort of dancing around, and digesting. Dan Allender is  a long time favorite author of mine, and I only recently discovered his deep friendship with John Eldredge, author of Wild At Heart.  This book is inviting readers to listen to God, the author of your life, in order to understand and tell what your life-story is saying. I'm only a mid-lifer, so I'm thinking my story is only half complete. 
I don't have plans for a memoir, but I do think it's good to discern God's bigger picture.

I still haven't cracked the cover of this one, but I've enjoyed Cymbala's Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, and it just looked interesting.

I'm on page 38 of 199 of Baker's book. Heidi tells her own story of how God "overshadowed" her with His Spirit and called her to start a children's ministry with her husband in Mozambique. She's just begun to talk about how Mary's pregnancy with Jesus has impacted her journey.

I haven't started this one, but it intrigues me incredibly to read about history medical issues, like plagues and epidemics. I just may need to write a fictional story around this piece of history!

Lastly, I picked this up while in Florida on vacation. (the pages still smell like the beach and sunscreen! sigh.)
This biography of our nation's second first lady, is excellently done. 
Holton makes the reader feel as if he's visiting over a cup of coffee about her life. Okay, well maybe more like a history lecture--but an intriguing one. I never knew she was so interested in women's lives. Though not formally educated, she left many written accounts by which we learn to know her, including "Remember the Ladies" dated March 31, 1776. In it she accomplishes her own personal declaration of independence. Her work inspired many women of her day who sought equity in the workplace, before the law, and in their families. 
Readers: Your turn!What's on your nonfiction piles?Please share.-------------Blog post by Anne Love-




Writer of Historical Romance inspired by her family roots. 



Nurse Practitioner by day. 



Wife, mother, writer by night. 



Coffee drinker--any time.


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