You may notice that the books in these photos are not actually the books I’m sharing in this post. A few weeks ago I took photos of the books I still needed to write about, but I ended up combining them into different posts than the photos. If I wait until I can regather all the books from the library and re-take the photos, these posts will never get published, so please just view the books in the photos as previews for what is to come, and not necessarily for the particular post!
At the start of 2025, I created some reading goals and categories. I am going to revisit that post soon, but one category I did not include was reading about fashion and clothing. Maybe I thought it felt too frivolous for Substack at the time, but one of my unspoken goals was to read books to help me rethink how I shop for and wear my clothes. I’m sharing two of those books in this post.
One category I did not include, and indeed would probably never include, in my reading goals is to read books about philosophy. It’s just not my jam. But that’s what I accidentally did end up reading a couple times this year. So there are two books that dip into philosophy below as well.
How To Dress Your Best by Ellie Jean Royden
This book was great for helping me to analyze my personal style from a different angle. Royden has created her own systems for developing personal style, the most original of which is her “style roots” system. I really resonated with this method of thinking about style, and it has helped me understand the common themes I am drawn to in my clothes.
I also really appreciated her way of explaining “dressing for your body type”. She has broken down body lines by width, length, and curviness, and her advice has given me a new understanding of why I like certain silhouettes on myself and dislike others. Her approach is very body-positive in that she doesn’t want you to think of one body type as superior of another (this is disconnected from weight). Overall, I found it very helpful.
Note: There is one sort-of nude picture in the middle of the book - all critical areas are covered, but I was careful when reading that page around my kids.
Overdressed by Elizabeth Cline
I listened to this book over the summer, and what stands out to me as I reflect on it now is the historical information about how fabrics were produced in the past vs. now. The author explores how clothing has become more and more disposable. She focuses on the impact to the environment and the conditions for factory workers in developing countries. A great book to make you think about the clothes you buy.
Shop Class As Soul Craft by Matthew Crawford
This is one of those books that is impossible to absorb upon the first reading - I feel like I need to read it again even to explain it well. This is a philosophy of work, particularly the trades and the value of working with your hands in some way. My takeaways from this book are that the trades have been branded as being for the people that are not “smart enough” for college, but in reality require a ton of intelligence, creative-thinking, and problem-solving skills - and are often more intellectually satisfying than many of the desk jobs that require a college degree.
One of the chapters stands out in my memory because it made me think about how as everything has become more computerized, we have lost a tangible, physical connection to our belongings. People no longer understand how to fix basic machinery, as they once did, and indeed it is sometimes impossible for an average person to fix their own appliances because we have computerized too many things. It has made the world more disposable in our minds.
Those two things are just a sampling, there was so much in this book. I need my own copy the next time I read it so I can annotate and highlight to my heart’s content.
The Kingdom Of Cain: Finding God In The Literature Of Darkness by Andrew Klavan
I was interested in reading this book because I have picked up some of Klavan’s fiction books and enjoyed them, and I’ve also put down some of his fiction books because of overly graphic content. In this book, he talks about being a writer of crime stories and his philosophy behind doing that as someone who considers himself a Christian (as an aside, I can never figure out whether he is Catholic or not). I was expecting a little more literary analysis in this book - instead it’s a lot more about analyzing movies inspired by real-life murders, and the trail of evil philosophies behind them. He discusses several real life murders as a jumping off point for some of his philosophical and moral points, weaving his own conversion story into the book.
While there was a lot I agreed with, there were many points that I disagreed with. He at times veers toward a touch of sacrilege, and he comes off somewhat cavalier toward certain serious sins (getting involved with dark subjects to research books, for example). There were also theological points he made that I don’t think are biblical. This review would get far too convoluted if I tried to address every point that I took issue with. I’ll just give one example – Klavan suggests that death did not come into the world as a result of sin. He speculates that perhaps Adam and Eve would have died anyway, but that may be death wouldn’t have been such a terrible thing if not for their knowledge of good and evil that came as a result of the Fall. This is not in line with what Scripture teaches. Of course Klavan takes one of the very verses I would cite and abandons the plain meaning of the text, interpreting it in a way as to support his own thinking on the subject. I generally urge caution with Christian writers who treat Scripture that way.
When Klavan shares about his journey from being an atheist to coming to faith in God, that is where his writing really shines. Some passages were really beautiful. So whether I agreed or disagreed with various parts, this book was at times inspiring and gave me plenty to think about.
Content Notes: Several murders are described in all their depravity, though Klavan tries to be delicate in explaining certain details.
Every Believer Confident by Mark Farnham
This book is a “philosophy” of evangelism in a way, but at the core it is a very practical book about how to engage unbelievers in spiritual conversations. Notice I didn’t say “how to present the gospel” - the author does cover that, but he doesn’t believe in beating people over the head with the gospel whether they like it or not. Farnham promotes having real conversations with people about what they believe, in order to fully understand them, and then includes how to naturally move the conversation toward the truth of the gospel. I love his emphasis on gentleness and also on clarity. He explains how to be clear about the gospel and warns against phrases or techniques that will leave the listener feeling ambushed, or leaving the truth of Scripture muddied. I learned alot from this book that I hope to be brave enough to put what I learned into practice. I will be having all my kids read this at some point in high school. I highly recommend it as a bridge between learning about apologetics and actually practicing it!
I have two more book posts to share in the queue, so stay tuned!
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