Here are my favorite things I remember reading this year (and one of my New Year's resolutions is to start keeping track of what I read!)
Christian Non-Fiction
Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation by D.A. Carson
A scholarly focus on the prayers found in the Pauline epistles, but organized in such a way that Paul’s example becomes very applicable. I found the chapter on “A Sovereign and Personal God” to be very helpful, as well as the examination of how Paul prays for others (and what he prays for them).
Glimpses of Grace: Treasuring the Gospel in Your Home by Gloria Furman
This isn’t the book I was expecting (wanting) but one I needed. I would have liked for Furman to have imparted some wisdom on how to make the whole mom/wife/chief-dish-scrubber thing easier, but she doesn’t. Instead, she points to the ongoing need for the gospel in the life of every believer and reminds the reader that even (especially?) the mundane tasks of our ordinary lives are God’s means of our sanctification. That dish-scrubbing has cosmic significance.
Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel by Russell Moore
The tag for this book reads: “Keep Christianity strange.” Moore, who is president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, contends that the “Christian America” that so many are remembering wistfully never actually existed--what was there instead was a cultural Christianity, focused around “good values” rather than redemption through Christ. It’s passing is not bad news. Because Christianity is no longer the assumed cultural default, it starts to seem weird, and Christians will have to articulate who we are and what we believe, and the gospel, not the almost-gospel of values and morality, will be heard.
Other Non-Fiction
I love Bill Bryson, who has written about quite a few things, but primarily travel and language. One of his earlier works, Notes from a Small Island, was ostensibly a travelogue of his time in Britain, but worked more as a funny, though often petulant memoir. His later travel-writing, especially his work on Australia, In a Sunburned Country, was more informative, with bits of interesting history and culture, while maintaining the hilarious personal narrative. I often wished he would do another book on Britain in the newer style. The Road to Little Dribbling is it.
What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam
I’m slightly obsessed with habits and trying to find the most effective methods of getting things done without going crazy. This short work is full of useful, practical insights and anecdotes from Vanderkam’s research and interviews. The print version of this also includes two other works by Vanderkam originally in e-book form: What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend and What the Most Successful People Do at Work.
Fiction
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
This one didn't make it to my comps reading list in grad school, so my director suggested I pick it up sometime once I was done with everything. I finally did, and, oh wow. Amazing. Nearly 1,000 pages of mystery, romance, detective story, legal drama, insanity, death, near-death, family ghosts, sorrow, redemption, and spontaneous combustion. Everything a Victorian novel should be.
A Tangled Web by L.M. Montgomery
I have a long-standing, very serious relationship with the works of L.M. Montgomery, and I am finally completing my collection (I only lack a few of the short story collections now). A Tangled Web is one of the lesser known works, and it is rather different from the Anne books most are familiar with--it’s set later, in the early 20th century, and it’s a bit darker, more acidic. It focuses on the feuds and rivalries of the interwoven Dark and Penhallow families, and shows off Montgomery’s decided powers of capturing a community, both its ordinariness and eccentricities.
The Likeness by Tana French
This is my first novel by French (though it’s the second in her Dublin Murder Squad series). The premise is interesting though implausible, but I most enjoyed the setting--an estate inhabited by a group of young, secretive English PhD students. It’s low on gore, high on psychological games, with a distinct Victorian Gothic vibe in the midst of a modern detective novel.
Kids’ Books
The Big Book of Things that Go by DK Publishing
As a testimony to how much my two year old loves this book, I will admit that I have hidden this one many, many times to be spared yet another storytime with the same book. It’s a thorough detailing of trucks, trains, boats, construction equipment, and farm vehicles with photographs and border illustrations. It’s not my favorite for reading out loud (there’s no narrative; it’s more like super brief encyclopedia entries), but the kid has accumulated quite a few hours poring over the over-sized pages.
On the Farm, At the Market by G. Brian Karas
We found this one at the public library and Nathan requested it quite a few times before we had to return it. It is a narrative, with characters at different farms preparing their goods (veggies, cheese, mushrooms) for a farmer’s market. The illustrations are cute, and we enjoyed a behind-the-scenes look at how beans are packed, cheese stirred in great vats, and mushrooms grown on artificial “logs.” Good for inspiring the “where does our food come from” question.
Blogs
Modern Mrs. Darcy (Anne Bogel)
Bogel’s site is primarily about books--book reviews (I especially appreciate her ability to compose brief but amply informative synopses) and reading lists (there’s a 2017 reading challenge that looks interesting) and all kinds of literary goodness. She also has a weekly podcast called “What Should I Read Next?” where she chats with a guest about their favorites and makes recommendations accordingly. The Modern Mrs. Darcy and I seem to have similar taste and my to-be-read list is growing by the week.
Challies (Tim Challies)
I came across Tim Challies’s blog when I was researching commentaries on Ephesians. The tagline on his blog is “Informing the Reforming” and he seems to specialize not only in book reviews, but in compiling information and references that are abundantly useful. For example, he recently posted “The Collected Best Christian Books of 2016” in which he synthesized the “Best of 2016” lists from sites like The Gospel Coalition and Desiring God as well as from individual writers like Kevin DeYoung and Russell Moore (see above). I appreciate this practical, bookish Christian resource.
