Books to Help You Wait Well

Maura Gentry recommends four novels that can help you embrace the spirit of Advent.  

This past Sunday, I listened to Father Mike Schmitz’s homily for the First Sunday of Advent. In his homily, he talked about how impatient we have become when it comes to listening to stories. It can be so tempting to skip ahead to the end, or to refuse to engage in long-form stories at all because it feels as though it takes up too much of our time.

The Story and the Marathon

In his homily, Father Mike compared listening to a story (or watching a movie) to running a marathon. The goal of a marathon is not simply to get from Destination A to Destination B; the goal is specifically to run from one destination to the other. If you took a cab along the same route, you would get to the same destination, but the whole purpose of the marathon becomes null.   

Sometimes the story is more important than the ending, Father Mike pointed out. The journey of a marathon is more important than the destination. Though the season of Advent prepares us for the greatest event in history, the birth of Christ our King, the journey toward Christmas is an important part of the Christmas celebration itself.

The Sweetness of Christmas After the Waiting

If we hadn’t waited millennia for Christ to come, His birth would not have been so sweet. In fact, despite being highly anticipated and prophesied, His birth was still overlooked. How much more so, then, are we called to wait in joyful hope — to remember that the story can be just as meaningful as the ending if we allow Him to lead us.   

But it can be hard to conceptualize how to wait well. It occurred to me that some of my favorite works of fiction are those that make the reader wait. In certain books, even, it feels as though there isn’t much of a plot other than time passing. Some readers label such books as “boring,” or “slow,” but that’s not the purpose of the story the author is trying to tell. In fact, the lack of plot (arguable, but still) is the purpose. We are meant to pause and ponder; watch gears turn in the characters’ minds and in turn our own. Isn’t that a reflection of how the Lord works in us? It’s often when it seems like nothing much is happening — like we are stuck, waiting — that the Lord is doing the most work in our hearts.   

Four Novels to Help You Embrace the Waiting

Here are a few novels to help you embrace Advent as a time of joyful anticipation, of waiting, of slow and sometimes indiscernible change of heart:   

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

The main plot is that a girl grows up at the turn of the century. In fact, Francine Nolan has a hard life in the slums of Williamsburg, but she somehow makes the most of it - and learns about the world as she does. The quintessential waiting novel.  

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

A tale of a family and the house that holds their history throughout generations. I cannot more emphatically recommend listening to the Tom Hanks audio recording.  

At the End of the Santa Fe Trail by Servant of God Sister Blandina Segale

Sister Blandina is a champion of the American West who personally knew Billy the Kid. Her diary is a quaint picture of the harsh life missionary sisters and priests led when settling in Colorado and New Mexico. Though dotted with excitement, much of her work was to wait and obey and do the best she could with what little she had.  

A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler

This short novel tells the story of a man named Egger, who lives in a remote mountain village his entire life and expects nothing more. He observes the beauty and power of the landscape around him throughout his life’s challenges and though there is no driving plot necessarily, the reader is engaged by his contemplative nature.  

I hope that one of these novels might help you enter more fully into the patience asked of us this Advent season. Though commitments increase and excitement for the holiday rightfully builds, may we all remember what it is to wait well, to enjoy the story as we anticipate its joyous ending.   

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Copyright 2025 Maura Gentry
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