In a busy holiday season, books can be a great gift or an escape from a noisy social time or a reset before the new year. We asked Leadership Education at Duke Divinity staff to recommend books that made an impact on them this past year. Here is a list made from their recommendations, to add to a to-be-read pile or a gift list for a loved one.
Memoir
“All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me” by Patrick Bringley
After a family loss leaves him burned out at his “dream job,” Bringley decides to become a museum guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Bringley’s blend of insights about how art can speak to grief, mixed with his observations about the people he encounters, made this both an educational and emotionally moving read.
Recommended by Katie Bracy
“We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People” by Nemonte Nenquimo and Mitch Anderson
Nenquimo is a Waorani tribe member and daughter of the rainforest. Her early life encounters with the oil industry and Christian missionaries propelled her into a life of activism seeking to protect the people, animals and land that are her home.
Recommended by Alaina Kleinbeck
Faith & religion
“Sacred Self-Care: Daily Practices for Nurturing Our Whole Selves” by Chanequa Walker-Barnes
This practical book walks the reader through how to create habits of self-care. Based in her experience in faith settings and expertise as a psychologist, Chanequa Walker-Barnes has created a seven-week guide.
Recommended by Wanda White
“Migrant God: A Christian Vision for Immigrant Justice” by Isaac Samuel Villegas
Villegas uses beautiful prose and storytelling to convey harsh realities. The book lends itself to personal reflection and group discussion, but it is also a call to action.
Recommended by Aleta Payne
Business & self-help
“The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About” by Mel Robbins and Sawyer Robbins
A best-selling self-help book on letting go of what you cannot control. Mel Robbins and her daughter write on how to walk away from expectations and do what is best for yourself.
Recommended by Victoria Atkinson White
“The Courage to Be Disliked: The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You How to Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness” by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
“The Courage to Be Disliked” invites leaders to practice freedom rooted in conviction rather than approval. It reminds us that authentic leadership resists the pull of competition and self-promotion, choosing instead to build community through humility and service.
Recommended by Elizabeth Tamez Méndez
“Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect” by Will Guidara
This book focuses on how to center your team and cultivate a hospitable environment in the workplace, which will translate into how you serve your clients and customers.
Recommended by Mycal X. Brickhouse
Fiction
“The Antidote: A Novel” by Karen Russell
The novel is an intense probe into settler culture and examines the connections between intersecting harms, like settler-colonial culture and violence, climate and environmental destruction, and bodily autonomy of women and queer people. The novel requires attention but has a depth of characters and insight into what happens when one buries the truth of violence.
Recommended by Alaina Kleinbeck
“How to Fall in Love in a Time of Unnameable Disaster: A Novel” by Muriel Leung
A speculative novel which follows a protagonist after her breakup in an apocalyptic New York City. The story tells how a community can be forged throughout a crisis.
Recommended by Chris Karnadi
“This Is Happiness” by Niall Williams
This coming-of-age novel is set in 1958 in Faha, a tiny village in County Clare near the western coast of Ireland. The story is told from the vantage point of 78-year-old Noel Crowe, who was 17 during the events of the book, when he went to live in Faha with his grandparents during the months that electricity came to the village. It’s funny and warm without being idealized or sentimental.
Recommended by Sally Hicks
Children’s literature
“We’re in This Together: Leo’s Lunch Box” by Raphael G. Warnock
Warnock retells Jesus’ miracle of the loaves and fishes through a magical lunch box that feeds a cafeteria of hungry school children. The very serious issue of food insecurity is addressed through a joyful story of generosity.
Recommended by Aleta Payne
“Drawn Together” by Minh Lê & Dan Santat
“Drawn Together” beautifully captures the power of love and creativity to bridge generational, cultural and linguistic divides. This word-sparse, art-rich story reminds leaders that connection often begins where words fall short — and that imagination can knit hearts together across every boundary.
Recommended by Elizabeth Tamez Méndez
