We’re over halfway to Christmas, which means our annual (We can say that now, I think, since we’ve done it both Decembers that 606 has been around) Jólabókaflóðið is still months away. So when a friend recently tagged me in a post asking me to share the covers of some of my favorite books on Facebook, I decided to do that work here at 606, just in case you need some recommendations.

The rules of the Facebook game are that you are to post with comment and to tag others. I’m not going to follow those rules.

These aren’t my all-time favorite books. (As a book lover, such a task isn’t just impossible–it feels hurtful to all the books who have helped me along the way but that might not earn a spot.) So here is what I’m into right now.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, which you should read for its religious themes as well as its advice. I think there is some feminism in here, too, but I’m still thinking about it.

The Penderwicks, which is gentle but fun, with better sentence-level writing than most children’s books. We’re reading it aloud right now.

The Bell and the Blackbird by David Whyte. A friend recently introduced me to his work, and I’m grateful.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. Even if YA lit isn’t your thing, read it.

Rethinking Narcissism: The Secret to Recognizing and Coping with Narcissists by Craig Malkin. I’m a little late to this book, but I’m finding it interesting and useful.

Okay, not my book, but this is my 15-year-old’s find from his high school library today–a 1940 copy of the Mutiny on the Bounty trilogy, which he has been searching for for awhile. It hasn’t been checked out since 1997, but it’s coming home with him today. If old musty books aren’t your thing, you might be interested in the part of the story that is about adventure on the high seas–or the part about globalization and slavery (The goal of the original expedition was to see if breadfruit from Jamaica could be grown in Polynesia in order to feed slaves.) or the part about race or about militarism and violence or about masculinity.

Thank you to my friend Q. for asking me to share some books!

Rebecca