What’s on your nightstand? Here are the books The Star’s Opinion staff is reading now

As part of our jobs, we read. A lot. But sometimes we make time to read for pleasure, and we in The Star’s Opinion department thought we’d share what’s on our bookshelves with you from time to time: fiction, nonfiction, memoirs and other tomes. We’d love to hear what you are reading. Send your favorites to oped@kcstar.com

‘Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror’ edited by Jordan Peele

In honor of the month of October and Halloween, I’m reading a new anthology written by African American authors, and edited by horror master Jordan Peele (“Get Out,” and “Nope.”) I ordered the hard copy and the audiobook, which is nice, because the authors read their own stories. My favorite chapter so far is “The Rider,” from the inimitable Tananarive Due, about Freedom Riders in the South and the horror of a swamp. Expect the African American experience mixed with horror, just like Jordan Peele prefers. Warning: Due’s chapter is tame, but others in the book have graphic violence, sexual imagery and profanity.

Yvette Walker, Opinion editor

‘Say Nothing’ by Patrick Radden Keefe

This is an excellent overview of “The Troubles,” the three-decade war in Northern Ireland between the Irish Republican Army -- which wanted to unite with the rest of Ireland -- and the territory’s British government. Though it has nothing to do with the current Israel-Hamas war, the parallels are striking: Enemies live side-by-side who for familiar reasons (history, religion, colonization, political ambition) feel entirely justified visiting murder, torture and oppression on each other. It’s a process that makes life miserable for the vast number of innocents just trying to get through the day, and breaks the spirits of nearly everybody involved. It’s a lesson we’re doomed to learn over and over again, apparently.

Joel Mathis, regular contributor

‘How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South’ by Esau McCaulley

When I was jet lagged and woke up at 3 a.m. recently, I grabbed a book I’d just gotten, hoping that in a few minutes, I’d be back in dreamland. But just a couple of chapters into Esau McCaulley’s new memoir, I knew I wanted to keep reading even more than I wanted some sleep, so I got up and made coffee instead. It’s an old-fashioned view, recently backed up by science, that reading can make us better, more empathetic people. And like a lot of my favorite books, “How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South” delivers in that way. McCaulley’s storytelling is as real as it gets, and yet the way he treats everyone in his life with hard-earned compassion made me want to follow his example. I never did go back to sleep that morning, and was not even a little bit sorry.

Melinda Henneberger, metro columnist and editorial board member

‘The Turn of the Screw’ by Henry James

After watching Mike Flanagan’s excellent “The Haunting of Bly Manor” on Netflix, I wanted to go back to his source material. So I finally picked up the copy of Henry James’ novella that’s been sitting unread on my bookshelves since college. The classic piece of Gothic fiction builds a palpable sense of dread, even though I knew the ending before I began. Virginia Woolf wrote in 1918 that the governess, one of the book’s central characters, realizes that the ghosts in the story “reveal to her the presence all about her of an unmentionable evil” — a theme that’s still perfectly contemporary.

Derek Donovan, deputy opinion editor

Sometimes, I forget to stop and breathe.

Earlier this year, I made a promise to myself to take a few moments each morning to reflect and praise God. I begin reading from a daily devotional book given to me by a close family friend. I admit, my daily reading of “From the Rising of the Sun,” a morning and evening devotional filled with praise for the Lord”s work, has been hit or miss.

In recent weeks, I’ve spent a few moments each day reacquainting myself with Scripture through this book.

With each passage, I feel reconnected with God’s word. In the book, we’re implored to praise God for our current situation — good or bad. We are given practical solutions to everyday problems and reminders of God’s grace.

For example, a recent morning devotion covered the idea of honoring others we perceive as less than. It read: “It is easy to honor, love, and be friends with those that are like us, but it is Christ-like to look for those who may need a friend and make them feel loved and respected by honoring them above yourself.”

Powerful stuff.

The passage was pulled from a Romans verse in the Holy Bible: “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

Over the last few weeks, I’ve used this book as a reminder of God’s grace and will. Reading from it regularly has allowed the everyday grind to not overshadow the work of serving others.

Toriano Porter, columnist and editorial board member