Take and Read
Recommendations for Lenten Reads and Listens
The three Lenten disciplines that the church has traditionally practiced are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In order to aid in prayer life, and to fill our time gained from fasting with something better, Ellie and I often choose a book or two to read during the season of Lent that will encourage us in our faith and in the living out of that faith in virtuous lives. There are of course many options out there for Lenten reading, ranging from devotionals to novels to poetry and everything in between. Today, we are going to recommend a handful of books that we have personally read and enjoyed that we think would make for great reading this season. And, as a bonus, a playlist of Lenten music you can listen to all season long, at the end of the article.
Non-fiction:
First, if you’ve never read through the Bible in a year before, Lent is as good a time as any to begin. Many Bibles have a yearly reading plan printed inside them, but there are also plenty available online. It doesn’t need to be January 1st in order to start this great habit, so if you haven’t started already, you may as well take the plunge and start today.
The Book of Concord At my church, people are reading through the Augsburg Confession and Smalcald Articles during Lent, having read through Luther’s Large Catechism last year and the Formula of Concord the year before that. If you’ve never read through these, or if it’s been a while, these are excellent reading material, and splitting the book up into sections that you read over a few consecutive Lenten seasons makes the reading very manageable.
Augustine’s Confessions I just finished rereading this in one of my book clubs, and it is truly a great book. The final few chapters get much more philosophical and are harder to read, but even so it is worth the effort, especially for the wonderful autobiographical sections at the beginning of the book.
The Word in the Wilderness by Malcolm Guite. This book is a collection of poems, one a day for the whole season of Lent. I found it to be an excellent compilation, with a good commentary offered on each poem. Malcolm Guite publishes the poems each day on his blog at the link above, so you can read them that way for free if you cannot get a copy of the physical book.
Bearing the Cross by Caroline Brinkley. This book offers a very short devotional reading and hymn verse for each day of Lent, but the real treasure in it is the great artwork of Albrecht Dürer with which they are paired. My children have really grown to love Dürer’s artwork, and this would be a great choice to read with the whole family as even young children can appreciate his art.
How to Be Unlucky by Joshua Gibbs. Ellie’s current Lenten read, this one is a great memoir and commentary on Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, and it offers some great food for thought on living a virtuous life.
The Hundredfold by Anthony Esolen. This book of poetry is simply wonderful. Including hymns, long monologues, and shorter poems, this book takes many familiar bible stories and verses and contemplates them in poetic verse. The poems are all new and all beautiful, and it is easy to read a couple every day throughout the season.
Novels:
The Hammer of God by Bo Giertz. For many years, this has been our father’s novel of choice during Lent, and for great reason. It tells the story of three pastors, their struggles and their strengths and their faith, in three different time periods in Sweden. It is a great novel, and well worth returning to again and again.
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather is a quiet and beautiful novel about a priest in the American southwest and his lonely and beautiful work of building a cathedral and tending to his parishioners in the new US territory of New Mexico. It is a gentle and unassuming book that is a delight to read.
Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis. This book is written as a complaint to the gods, told from the perspective of a heroine who feels that the gods have been unfair and unjust to her. It is also an incisive portrayal of human nature, femininity, loss, love, and faith. I am hard pressed to choose a favorite C. S. Lewis novel, but this one is up there for me, and I’ll be rereading it myself during Lent this year.
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset. This is a long read, but a great one, and it should be no surprise to anyone that it’s making this list after it appeared in my top five reads for 2024. What a great picture of a life of faith and sin at war- simul iustus et peccator. What a great contemplation on the medieval worldview that put God much more at the center of life, and yet struggled so much with false belief and sin. And what a great reminder of how every little act compounds into something greater, for good and for ill.
The End of the Affair by Grahame Greene. It’s been a few years since I read this book, and yet it has still lingered in my mind and memory. What is the cost of giving up your sinful life to follow God’s law and will for you? This novel tackles that very question, in quite a moving and powerful way.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Another long book, but also a gripping story you won’t want to put down, this story contrasts the lives and loves and marriages of two couples and shows how the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is both eternal life and also a fulfilling life on this earth.
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. Lewis was able to understand human nature and all our various temptations so clearly, and it shines through in this book. Humorous and insightful at the same time, this would be a great read for Lent.
Purgatorio by Dante. Despite being a Lutheran, this was one of my favorite reads of the year when I read it. Purgatory itself can be seen as a metaphor for our lives on earth, where we daily struggle against sin and trudge closer to heaven. This book has great insight into the life of a Christian, as well as overflowing with hope, repentance, virtue, community and love.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Ellie has read this multiple times in Lent, simultaneously with the Book of Job. Job has 42 chapters, and Crime and Punishment has 39, so it is a great pairing to read an average of one chapter of each daily and really explore, contemplate, and reflect upon the depravity of man and our need for a Savior.
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky. This short story (about 40 pages long) is an incredibly deep and moving exploration of the human soul, and particularly a depiction of our incapability of saving ourselves. This is perhaps Dostoevsky’s most poignant reflection on the depravity and evil he saw while living in a prison camp and in exile in Russia.
The Great Passion by James Runcie. This novel is not without its flaws, and I find that it falls short in its depiction of Lutheran theology. Be that as it may, this book will teach you to love Bach and his family, and want to spend more time listening to his music, especially that of his Great Passion, The St. Matthew’s Passion. Just for this alone it is well worth reading, and you can make it your goal to listen through the whole Passion, a couple hours long, throughout the season as well.
Books for Children:
Christ the Life of All the Living The text of this beautiful hymn is accompanied by the rich illustrations of Debra L. Swearingen. Sing this every day with your children this Lent, and they will have most of it memorized without even trying.
Story Bible This is my favorite Story Bible, which keeps a lot of the same phrases and words from the Bible, making things simpler when necessary but not dumbing down the language. The accompanying pictures are also good. This is a great one to have for young children, and it is easy to read a story a day.
To All Eternity This is a beautiful book based on Luther’s Small Catechism for children, with lots of famous artwork accompanying the text. It includes the text of the Catechism, as well as devotionals to go with it. This would be great for middle school-aged children and older.
The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis. Really any of the Narnia books would be a great choice, but The Silver Chair stands out to me as a particularly great choice. for Lent. A great adventure story, a focus on repeating Aslan’s signs to ones’ self, and one of the great professions of faith from one of the greatest and gloomiest characters.
St. Patrick by Tomie dePaola. Since St. Patrick’s day falls during Lent, you can take this opportunity to read to your kids about who he was and what he did. This is a well done children’s book about him, and it even comes in a board book!
Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula. If you want to learn more about other saints beyond St. Patrick with your children, this book has short, well written chapters on different saints throughout history. It comes from a reformed background, and so as a Lutheran there are definitely things I disagree with, but it has been a popular read with my children, and I would recommend it.
The Biggest Story and The Biggest Story ABC by Kevin DeYoung. The Biggest Story is a retelling of some Bible stories in story form. It is told in an engaging way, with bold accompanying artwork, and is great for a read aloud. Very little children will especially like the Biggest Story ABC book.
Music
Finally, if you are looking for a playlist of sacred music for the season, containing some of the best that music has to offer, you can save this playlist below and give it a listen, either straight through so that you can listen to all the long pieces as they were written, or on shuffle if you prefer a mix.