Weekly Readings 01/07/2026
This week's reads are all about neurotheology, Buddhism, Sad Girls, and nuns!
As the New Year starts, I, of course, could not help but to one-up my previous reading goal of 75 books for 2025, to 100 books for 2026. Doable? Maybe.
So, of course, I started off with a bang by reading not 1, not 2, not 3… but 4 books at once! If there’s one thing about me, it’s that I’m a mood-reader. When I get bored of one book, I just switch over to the next.
Because of this strategy, I find myself making connections between each book, even if they are not related to each other at all. Making these (sometimes arbitrary) connections helps my memory retention — and I end up filling pages and pages of journals with these connections, my thoughts, and questions that lead me to deeper research. So, if you are a mood-reader like me, I definitely recommend reading a few books at a time and taking notes of connections you see between them. Better if they’re completely unrelated subjects!
With that out of the way, here’s what I’ve been reading for the first week of 2026.
A Change of Habit by Sister Monica Clare / ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I believe I first saw this book recommended to me on TikTok, and I have to say, this was one of the better recommendations I got from that god forsaken app.
This book is a memoir following Sister Monica Clare and her journey through an abusive childhood & a confusing adulthood, where she finally gave in to her lifelong, childhood dream: becoming a nun.
This book was not what I expected going into it — Sister MC is witty, understanding, and more progressive than I would have expected of a nun. I learned a lot about the process of becoming a nun through this book (not that I have interest in becoming one; it was just interesting to learn about how rigorous of a process it was), and reading about Sister MC’s story was… humanizing. All of the doubts and fears she peppered throughout the book — throughout all of her decision-making in becoming a nun, and her fears of getting kicked out of the covenant once she was officially accepted — it was eye-opening to see that someone who would feel so confident dedicating themselves to God would be riddled with second-guesses. It made me realize that none of us are as confident as we seem — and I think that’s a good thing! It was a nice reminder that none of us are truly alone in our struggles, even when we become something as highly venerated as a nun.
This book, at a glance, may seem like it will push religion on you — but I promise it is quite the opposite. The religious language is secondary to the overall theme of this book, which I believe is all about finding confidence in yourself and not allowing your self-doubts to rule your life — especially when you have a goal in mind.
Overall, five out of five stars from me on this one. Highly recommend picking this one up if you want a heartwarming, relatable story. (And, be sure to check out Sister Monica Clare on TikTok! She shares tons of stories about her life in the covenant and, frankly, she is hilarious.)
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath / ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book was a re-read for me (is anyone surprised? probably not), and I fell more in love with this book the second time around. I think I first read this book when I was 21 or so, so my frontal lobe definitely wasn’t fully developed yet. I’m not quite finished with the book yet (about halfway through it now), but wanted to share my thoughts so far.
I found myself enthralled with Plath’s (unconventional) humor throughout the pages of this book. I didn’t notice it on my first read, but god, she is hysterical. One of my favorite things about re-reading books is finding all of my old annotations — sometimes I found myself asking, “Why did I highlight this?” and other times, I looked upon the passage with so much love and comfort.
I don’t want to get too deep into the plot of this book, because I feel everyone should read it (if everyone hasn’t already) — so, if you are interested in a partially autobiographical account of Sylvia Plath, I recommend picking this one up. It’s lovely, sad, and all around a great read. Five out of five starts on this one, of course.
Neurotheology: How Science Can Enlighten Us About Spirituality by Andrew Newberg / not rated yet (unfinished)
A good friend of mine recently showed me the term “neurotheology”, which is essentially the intersection of neurology and theology. I immediately, of course, went down a rabbit whole to see if any books had been written about the subject. This book is one of those books!
I am only ~3 chapters into this book, but it has already sparked a lot of ideas for me, and has proved to be an essential reading in my personal studies. This book talks about how, while many people may argue that science and religion are vastly different, they are in fact intertwined together — and studying one, or the other, will help us answer questions about their relationship.
If you are interested in finding answers or attempting to answer questions such as:
Can we determine why some people are devoutly religious whereas others are complete atheists?
What research can explain both the beneficial and detrimental effects of religion on the health and well-being of individuals, societies, and all of humanity?
How can we explain the tenacity of religion in virtually every culture and age?
How might we determine if religious people are crazy in a particular way or just the same amount of crazy as everyone else?
What perspective can we take to understand the profound impact of spiritual and mystical experiences on a person’s life?
…then I recommend picking up this book (or any book on theology, really), as this book hopes to uncover some of the answers to these questions. Not officially rating this one yet as I’m not quite finished with it, but it is worth checking it out if you are a theology nerd like me!
Radical Acceptance / not rated yet (unfinished)
When I mentioned to a friend of mine that I was reading this book, they told me that their therapist recommended other works by Tara Brach — you know it’s good when your therapist recommends it!
Radical Acceptance is all about letting go, taking pause, ‘radically accepting’ your life, and how you, too, can embody the Buddha.
As someone who has little knowledge of Buddhism, this feels like a great primer — it’s not overwhelming with Buddhist theology, nor does it contain dry passages of Buddhist scriptures. This book outlines how to practice this idea of ‘radical acceptance’, why it is beneficial to you, and even gives examples of when it it best to practice radical acceptance.
This book has been very enlightening for me, as a very anxious person, and I think most people that participate in our go-go-go capitalistic society would benefit greatly from it. This book shows you how to slow down, show up for yourself, and avoid pitfalls such as complacency or nihilism.
I don’t feel quite ready to rate this one yet (only 50 pages into this book as of writing this), but I will be sure to follow up with my rating once I’ve finished it! If you are a person that’s interested in the ideas of meditation, mindfulness, or Buddhism; or if you’re an anxious person looking for help in slowing down, this book is definitely for you.
Up Next
Like I said before, I am a huge mood-reader, so whatever books I pick up next may be a total mystery to me — but a few I have been eyeing recently, and most likely will read in the near future, include:
A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck
The Great Cosmic Mother by Monica Sjöö (TikTok has also been advertising this book like crazy to me, so I really hope this was a good recommendation)
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (yes, I, too, have given into the “please-come-to-my-cottage-this-summer” brainrot. send help, and memes.)
I’m going to try and do this on a weekly basis (or at least, on a somewhat regular basis). I have been seeing some fellow writers here on Substack doing monthly wrap-ups, and I am in love with the idea, but I read a LOT and it would be hard to smash everything I read in a month into one written piece. Anyhow, let me know in the comments what you’ve been reading, and if you plan on picking any of these up!