Gift a Book on Neighboring This Year

 

Holiday shopping is in full swing. Whether you are shopping for a gift for family members, co-workers, or neighbors, let me suggest some books as gifts.

All of these books share a common theme: neighboring.

New neighboring books from 2023 and 2024 would make a nice gift.

Allen, Jennie. Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World. WaterBook. 2023.

Hayes, Walker and Craig Cooper. Glad You're Here: Two Unlikely Friends Breaking Bread and Fences. Moody Publishers. 2022.

Halton, Carissa. "Little Yellow House: Finding Community in A Changing Neighbourhood." The University of Alberta Press. 2023.

Kaplan, Seth. Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time. Little Brown Spark. 2023.

Kelly, Kevin Ervin. Irreplaceable: How to Create Extraordinary Places that Bring People Together. Matt Holt. 2024.

Killam, Kasley. The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health Is the Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier, and Happier. HarperOne. 2024.

McKinney, Chris and Elizabeth McKinney, Neighborhoods Reimagined: How the Beatitudes Inspire our Call to be Good Neighbours. 10Publishing, (2024).

Siegler, Jeff. Your City is Sick: How we can improve the economic, social, mental and physical health of millions by treating our cities like people. Lulu. 2023

Smith, Emily. The Science of the Good Samaritan: Thinking Bigger About Loving Our Neighbor. Zondervan, 2023.

Swanstrom, Todd and Alan Mallach. The Changing American Neighborhood. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2022).

Warnick, Melody. If You Could Live Anywhere: The Surprising Importance of Place in a Work-from-Anywhere World. Double Day, 2022.

Weibel, Jonathan  and Steve Lutz. Front Yard Mission: How to Start a Love God, Love Neighbor Movement in Your Neighborhood. Front Yard Mission. 2024.

Wallace, Jennifer. Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—and What We Can Do About It. Penguin. 2023.

Here is a list of some my past favorites.

Placed for a Purpose – Chris and Elizabeth McKinney live in Columbia, Missouri, and have written an inspired book about the importance of building relationships with those around us.

The Hopeful Neighborhood Field Guide – This is a short read, but it has work and questions that come with it. The organization that puts out this book is in St. Louis. The field guide would make a great book club read in your neighborhood.

Start With Hello – This book contains practical ideas for being a good neighbor. The author is an introvert, so the book has a practical application if you think that fits your personality.

Celebrating the Third Place – This is an update on the classic idea by Ray Oldenburg about Third Place gathering spots in our community and how important it is to have one.

The Connected Community – This is a new book by John McNight, the father of asset-based community development, and it applies to neighborhoods too.

Abundant Communities - This is a great read and the original work from John McNight, the father of asset-based community development. Great examples in this book.

The Simplest Way to Change the World –Dustin Willis’s book is all about hospitality. It turns out hospitality may not be what you think, but we could use more!

Better Together – This follow-up by Robert Putman to Bowling Alone, this book builds on this idea of social capital and how important that is to individuals and our community.

Reach Out, Gather In – This is a 40-day devotional book met to be read just a few pages at a time. Karen Ehman has included both study questions and recipes in this practical book.

There are other books here and many others to consider. My reading list is included on my blog at https://we-are-neighbors.blogspot.com. Use "neighboring resources" in the search bar to find my extensive reading list.

I keep getting asked if I have a neighboring book out. The answer is: still waiting. I am currently working on two different books, and I hope that those will be available by next year on Amazon with some of my other books at https://amazon.com/author/davidlburton.


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