SIX BOOKS FOR COLLEGE GRADS

We know you want to honor some college grads in your life and while there are dozens of great books that are ideal for this big step into adult life (or for anyone wanting to renew their commitment to Christian faith at a key time in their life) we want to highlight just five; okay six.

These are the best choices. They really are.

And three or four we’ve been recommending for years as there has been nothing more germane. That I edited one of them, well, makes it sort of special — okay, I’m real biased — but, really, these three have been essentials for the post-college transition.

And now, just this season, we have a new fifth suggestion, a very handsome prayer book custom made for young adults which is classy enough to be a very special gift.

(Frankly, it is useful for almost anyone even if it is subtitled as “Rites of Passage.” And then we’ll add another recent book useful for any and everyone, but that seems perfect for a collegiate or as a graduation gift.)

I’ll try not to go on and on about these although each one is dear to my heart. I’ve got personal connections of one sort or another with all six so it will be truly a joy to get to send a few out. We are here to serve you and based on our pretty wide awareness of the publishing world, we are confident that these books are very appropriate for gift-giving to young adults this time of year. You search is over. We’ve got you covered. I’ll keep it succinct.  ALL ARE 20% OFF, too.

Serious Dreams: Bold Ideas for the Rest of Your Life edited by Byron Borger (Square Halo Books) $13.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.19

Yep, this is my baby, a book I’m proud that we put together a decade ago, mostly out of sheer necessity. I felt like there just wasn’t a good small gift made to honor graduates, especially that would remind church-going grads that God cares about their transition into the world of work and that underscores the sense that they are called by God into whole-life discipleship, in every zone of life, including their future jobs.

It’s a collection of fabulous graduation speeches by women and men we admire (and one by me) each given at Christian colleges or universities. Believe me, each one is inspiring, some actually brilliant. Whether your grad went to a faith-based or church affiliated college or not, these addresses call one and all to learn how to live well in a new stage of young adult life. It is bold and captivating and pretty practical. We think it has held up well over the last years and we highly recommend it.

A few years ago I wrote a long “back story” of why I feel so strongly about this little volume and I’ll share that link below if you’re curious. I hope you enjoy reading about our store’s mission, my graduation speech about being sons and daughters of Issachar at Geneva College in Western Pennsylvania, and the great authors I pulled together to publish this project. From the always wise Richard Mouw to the visionary Amy Sherman to the late, great John Perkins, and several more, Serious Dreams: Bold Ideas… offers upbeat commencement addresses, motivational, full of inspiration and guidance. Each one is stellar and repays repeated readings (even, I might add, for those not commencing to a new place or job.)

They each hold up a big vision of dreaming God’s dreams, especially about making a difference in one’s vocation or career field. Most offer ways to imagine how God is going to meet the young adult in his or her job search and personal issues and each chapter will remind them (in different ways) to care deeply about the ways in which they serve God in the marketplaces of life. You’ll love Nicholas Wolterstorff’s tender story about seeing with “two eyes.” You’ll love Claudia Beversluis’s use of a Wendell Berry poem. And if you are a Steven Garber fan, he’s got a rare piece in here.

There are nice reflection questions after each chapter and a hefty introductory essay that I wrote that is said to be pretty touching, encouraging, and practical. (You can read it in a link I share below if you care to.) The final epilogue is by Erica Young Reitz, now a well-respected expert in the personal struggles many grads experience in their transitions out of college and author of her own book, After College.

Here is the big backstory of some of what inspired us to create Serious Dreams. And, a nice, short introduction to each chapter.  

Here is a wordy overview of the book, a thank you to our first customers, and a reprint of the whole first chapter. The print is a bit small, but if you can manage, it’s a fun read.

 

After College: Navigating Transitions, Relationships, and Faith (revised edition) Erica Young Reitz (IVP) $18.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

When Erica worked in campus ministry at Penn State University she learned that there was a lot of stress and anxiety — only growing worse after Covid and the rise of the ubiquitousness of cell phones — among college seniors. Sure they were excited about graduating and if they had been mentored well by robust leaders and good churches, they maybe had not only a healthy personal faith but a vision for their lives; many want to be of use in the world, serving God by taking up their careers with Christian distinction. Maybe they had what some might call a Christian world and life view, helping them integrate the various sectors of their lives into one beautiful life (or maybe not.) Still, the famous Mary Oliver line resonates.

And maybe that is part of the problem: many students want to live well but are nervous about finding a job, keeping friends, worrying about everything from finances to sexuality. Stuff I wrote about in the introduction to Serious Dreams — moving home, finding a church, forming friendships, not expecting to cause heroic social transformation in an entry level job — plagues young adults. Excited, sure. Maybe even visionary. But many were hurting inside, full of anxiety that surprised even the most caring campus mentors.

So Erica started a program, offering a semester full of classes and mentoring sessions focused on the upcoming transitions out of college and into new jobs and cities and habits. She loved these kids well as they were becoming young adults and her passion for this project led to her writing this one-of-a-kind book. She went on and got a Master’s degree in the philosophy of higher education doing original research on this topic, interviewing hundreds of college seniors and those in their post-college years. She has become a recognized expert on the topic and has appeared on podcasts and as a conference speaker.

A new edition of the After College book came out, adding more insight that she has developed and making the book that much more interesting and practical for twenty-something readers. It isn’t academic but it isn’t simplistic, either.

You can read more of what I said about this wonderful resource here: 

And it’s fun to think that Erica got her publishing debut contributing her clear and charming afterword to Serious Dreams. It brought some needed practical guidance to that motivational and inspirational book. Now she has her own good book and we very highly recommend it. Give it to any college grad (or, for that matter, even better, any college student approaching their senior year.) They will appreciate it.

Every Moment Holy: Rites of Passage Douglas McKelvey, illustrated by Ned Bustard (Rabbit Room Press) $32.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $26.39

I hope you know the three volumes of Every Moment Holy (each of the first three done in larger sized leather-bound hardbacks and personal sized, compact, soft flexible leather ones.) Now comes volume four and it carries the subtitle, Rites of Passage. It is created for young adults and college grads. What a marvelously designed and beautifully rendered collection of prayers to consecrate the ordinary experiences of many young adults (among others.) It has been called “a companion for young adulthood.”

As I have written before, there are more than 150 prayers and liturgies for quotidian uses, for classes, graduations, dating, anxiety, job interviews, seasons of doubt, travel, cooking, and more. There are over 30 b/w linocut illustrations by Ned Bustard. It is so handsomely designed.

The size is just a little different from the previous three EMH editions. It is a leather-covered hardback, like the larger editions of the first three, but just a bit more trim in size, and a bit thinner. It’s a fabulous size, really, in a rich tan leather with a Bustard linocut on the front. Not as small and chunky as the smaller editions but not as large as the bigger hardback editions, it feels just right. It has well-made, quality paper, tasteful, two color ink and a ribbon marker. It makes a truly great gift.

I said just a bit more about it here.

Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good Steven Garber (IVP) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

Those who follow BookNotes know that Garber is one of my favorite writers, always eloquent, always wise, never simplistic, often profound. He weaves stories from his life with film and literature, news events and history as he tells about how he walks through the world, learning as he goes, always nurturing a Christian imagination that can inspire and sober us. He wants us to learn to love well, in what he calls “the landscapes of our lives” but that means caring for the world as it is. It means being implicated, being responsible. (Not a bad charge for young ones soon to be called bona fide adults.)

You may know he has developed that theme of knowing the world as it really is in his respected and serious Habits of Hope: Essays on Making Peace with the Proximate. (I wrote a bit about it here.) I’d like to say that is an ideal book for an inspired and eager, young culture-maker and history-maker but, alas, it may be a bit much for some young adults. If you give Hints of Hope tell them to be sure to dig it out ten years from now (or sooner, if they grow weary) when it could save their faith or their very life.

For now, though, it seems a deep reflection of what keeps us going — namely, a sense of vocation — is ideal and this thoughtful book will inspire those given to careful reading. Visions of Vocation is a truly wonderful book, a bit deep, well-crafted, and truly one of the best books of our lifetime. I’ve suggested it as an ideal gift for thoughtful grads often before. One reviewer noted how it helps us work through the tough dilemmas of this oh-so-beautiful and yet sadly broken world and I am sure that young adults today are deeply aware of the wounds of the world and the struggle to keep going. This artful writing will touch them deeply, if they are open. The Van Gogh cover is beautiful, too, isn’t it?

Visions of Vocation by Steven Garber seems to help the graduate take what they learned in college — much of it abstract “head knowledge” — and learn to apply it, so to speak, allowing what we most deeply know to get embodied in the very habits of our hearts and the ways we live.

I’ve highlighted it often and written a bit about it before. Take a look here; I hope you know it, and can now ponder if it would be a good option for young adults you want to honor with a substantial read. .

The Seamless Life: A Tapestry of Love and Learning, Worship and Work Steven Garber (IVP) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

For those perhaps not ready to dive into Garber’s detailed Visions of Vocation, I highly recommend the compact sized Seamless Life: A Tapestry of Love & Learning, Worship & Work, which is, again, a personal favorite. It is a nicely done paperback with full color photographs for each chapter. A tapestry it is! I’ve given numbers of them away (and we have a lot of good books to chose from here when we want to offer a little gift, believe me.)

Steve’s Seamless essays are extended chapters that, although somewhat random, are delightfully arranged, with great pieces with him sharing personal stories of his parents and his past, his growth as a young adult, his studies, movie reviews, and memorable adventures, and much about his passion for helping others integrate faith and work. As he insists, we must relate worship and work, bringing together our curiosities and passions about the world with a robust and profound faith. His storytelling in Seamless is charming and mature. These short essays make a great little gift and could be life-changing. I’m a fan.

You can read or reread my early celebration of it here: 

To Live Well: Practical Wisdom for Moving Through Chaotic Times Alan Noble (IVP) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

I’ve written about this before (here) and at the time it was brand new. As I’ve worked with it more, enjoyed Dr. Noble’s good lines and fine writing (and his ever current interest in popular culture and the ethos of our times) I’ve come to believe this would make a great, great gift to commemorate a college graduation. As Gospel Coalition author Tim Challies puts it, To Live Well is “philosophical yet practical, profound yet understandable, and always deeply Biblical.” I would add that it is serious and yet playful, sober yet enthusiastic.

He knows it is hard to live well. He gets it that virtues demand a life structured around deep personal growth and interior transformation. He knows that character formation doesn’t come easy. He knows that the lives of most of us are already too demanding and we are oversaturated. (It is interesting that his first book was about bearing witness in a distracted and digital age; another was about coping with deperession.)

Noble is clear about God’s grace being the foundation for any development in virtue and that living well is itself a gift. Maybe that’s the thing: realizing (as his previous book put it) “we are not our own.” Life is a gift. Can God’s abundance and gift-giving nature be the foundation for a life well lived? Can we make some personal choices and nurture habits that facilitate the best sort of human flourishing?

Noble is an energetic college prof and he knows how to speak to young adults. He invites them here to choose decisively, act justly, suffer steadfastly, live moderately, believe soundly, hope resolutely, and love rightly. That sounds like quite a book, eh?

Get a few and give them away. You are planting seeds that will last, even in these chaotic, fragmented times.

The first phrase on the flyleaf of this nice hardback offers a line that I’m sure will resonate with those who recently sat through commencement speeches: “You were told to live a meaningful life, but no one ever told you how.” This book will help and I hope you have somebody in your life you can comfortably give it to.

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