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“How do you develop such rich metaphors for your speaking and writing?” I asked my colleague, a stylist whose images stick with listeners and readers. “I read as widely and talk to as many diverse people as I can,” my friend replied. I was disappointed in the reply, for I was hoping I would discover a clever technique that would help me write and speak with greater eloquence.

I’m always interested in what my friends are reading, and I find that people tend to ask me about what I’ve been reading. So, to continue that conversation, here are three books that have meant something to me recently.

Kathleen Norris’s Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life is a compelling reflection on the sin of acedia. Her descriptions of her marriage and the death of her husband are deeply moving.