Reading List 2021
My first post of each new year always contains the list of books I read the previous year (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020). I post the list for personal accountability, not to showboat. Knowing I have to confess my list helps me stay on track.
The total this year comes to 93 books. You can see from glancing at the graphs below how the tonnage relates to other years. I’d love to include a massive, annotated write-up about my discoveries, but this year I think I’ll let my “no comment” be the comment. It just takes too much time to write a post like that.
If I were to comment, I’d tell you I read every Fredrik Backman book and his darker books tended to be too dark for me but I simultaneously seemed to like them better than the lighter ones.
And I’d tell you that I read about four or five books in 2021 from author-friends that will be published by traditional publishers in 2022. It’s always fun to root for friends. I even wrote the forward for a book coming out in May with Christian Focus.
I’d also tell you that in these annual posts I often flag that I attempt to read the Bible cover to cover each year. I made it again this year and did it in The Message version. I know, I know—gasp. The reasons for this shift were several, but riding the cultural fad wasn’t one of them. I missed it by like fifteen years. The Message version of the Old Testament historical books and prophets sang melodies I’d never noticed before—in a good way—but places like the Psalms and other poetry had too many pop cliches, in my opinion. This year I’m going back to my ESV Study Bible, with the goal of reading the “book introductions” as I go along.
Okay, okay, I have to stop with all the comments. Just call me on the phone if you want to talk about them.
Here’s one update that might interest you and has little to do with reading lists. Now that I finished writing and submitting several articles this fall and winter to other websites, I’m returning to a book project I began last summer on my sabbatical. I’m calling the book Author as Abram: Writing to the Land He Will Show Us (A Memoirish Essay to Encourage Christian Authors). I probably have 40 pages of the 160 or so written.
Speaking of articles and books and sabbaticals, may I make a request? If you didn’t pick up a copy of my book that I compiled during my sabbatical called Shepherd and Sheep: Essays on Loving and Leading in a Local Church, I’d love for you to do so. The book has some of my best writing collected in one place. The feedback on the book has been—how shall I say this?—small but meaningful.
And if you had a favorite book from your recent reading lists, please let me know in the comments. I’m always on the hunt.
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Books Read, 2013–2021
Pages Read, 2013–2021
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In order of completion, this year I read . . .
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (384 pages)
Sabbaticals: “How-To” Take a Break from Ministry before Ministry Breaks You by Rusty McKie (122 pages)
Echo Island by Jared C. Wilson (272 pages)
Catching Fire (The Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins (391 pages)
Five Masculine Instincts: A Guide to Becoming a Better Man by Chase Replogle (208 pages)
Blogging for God’s Glory in a Clickbait World by Benjamin Vrbicek and John Beeson (181 pages)
Mocking Jay (The Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins (391 pages)
A Subversive Gospel: Flannery O’Connor and the Reimagining of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth by Michael Mears Bruner (260 pages)
The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing by Jonathan K. Dodson (240 pages)
Win the Day: 7 Daily Habits to Help You Stress Less & Accomplish More by Mark Batterson (256 pages)
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel by Suzanne Collins (528 pages)
Here in Spirit: Knowing the Spirit Who Creates, Sustains, and Transforms Everything by Jonathan K. Dodson (160 pages)
The Bible: Romans to Revelation, Part 6 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Ecclesiastes and the Search for Meaning in an Upside-Down World by Russell L. Meek (80 pages)
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance (272 pages)
What Editors Do: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book by Peter Ginna (320 pages)
To Be Continued: The Unstoppable Mission of Jesus by Tony Merida, Christy Britton, and Amy Tyson (261 pages)
The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation by Rod Dreher (272 pages)
Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents by Rod Dreher (256 pages)
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis (176 pages)
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution by Carl R. Trueman (432 pages)
Fail: Finding Hope and Grace in the Midst of Ministry Failure by J.R. Briggs (208 pages)
Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes by Jonathan K. Dodson (192 pages)
The Bible: Genesis to Deuteronomy, Part 1 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Before You Lose Your Faith: Deconstructing Doubt in the Church by Ivan Mesa (139 pages)
Over The River: The Story of Joshua (Kaleidoscope Kids’ Bibles) by Chris Ammen (115 pages)
Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson (247 pages)
The Secular Creed: Engaging Five Contemporary Claims by Rebecca McLaughlin (125 pages)
Before the Lord, Before the Church: “How-To” Plan a Child Dedication by Jared Kennedy (108 pages)
How to Reach the West Again: Six Essential Elements of a Missionary Encounter by Timothy Keller (60 pages)
Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches by Russell Moore (256 pages)
The Mission of the Body of Christ (Retelling the Story Series) by Russ Ramsey (256 pages)
Hiroshima by John Hersey (160 pages)
Home: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson (336 pages)
Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life by Douglas Wilson (124 pages)
With Those Who Weep: A Theology of Tears by S.A. Morrison (122 pages)
Lilia: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson (272 pages)
Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction by Jack Hart (280 pages)
Copyediting and Proofreading for Dummies by Suzanne Gilad (384 pages)
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (531 pages)
The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear without Losing Your Soul by Russell Moore (304 pages)
Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr (224 pages)
Shepherd and Sheep: Essays on Loving and Leading in a Local Church by Benjamin Vrbicek (160 pages)
The Bible: Joshua to Esther, Part 2 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexuality by Rachel Joy Welcher (216 pages)
Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue Through Our Words by Richard Hughes Gibson, James Edward Beitler III (248 pages)
Green Lights by Matthew McConaughey (304 pages)
Housekeeping: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson (352 pages)
Seven Questions about Heaven by Stephen R. Morefield (144 pages)
Gospel-Centered Discipleship by Jonathan K. Dodson (176 pages)
The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcom Gladwell (256 pages)
Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul by Hannah Anderson (208 pages)
All That’s Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment by Hannah Anderson (224 pages)
The Writer’s Diet: A Guide to Fit Prose by Helen Sword (88 pages)
Men and Women in the Church by Kevin DeYoung (176 pages)
Jack: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson (320 pages)
#Blessed: Intentional Gratitude in a World that Celebrates Self Everything by Laura Pyne (152 pages)
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson (397 pages)
The Bible: Psalms to Song of Solomon, Part 3 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Wordcraft: The Complete Guide to Clear, Powerful Writing by Jack Hart (282 pages)
Becoming by Michelle Obama (448 pages)
From Everlasting to Everlasting: Every Believer’s Biography by Will Dobbie (208 pages)
Letters and Life: On Being a Writer, On Being a Christian by Bret Lott (192 pages)
Pastors and Their Critics: A Guide to Coping with Criticism in the Ministry by Joel R. Beeke (192 pages)
A Promised Land by Barack Obama (768 pages)
Before We Get Started: A Practical Memoir of the Writer’s Life by Bret Lott (224 pages)
Woke-Free Church: For the Deliverance of the Body of Christ from Social Justice Captivity by Jeff Kliewer (165 pages)
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez (384 pages)
The Art of War: Complete Text of Sun Tzu’s Classics, Military Strategy History, Ancient Chinese Military Strategist by Sun Tzu (137 pages)
When I Was a Child I Read Books: Essays by Marilynne Robinson (224 pages)
The New Journalism by Tom Wolfe (120 pages) [I only read the long, historical background and not the anthology part]
Anxious People: A Novel by Fredrik Backman (352 pages)
Us Against You: A Novel (Beartown Series) by Fredrik Backman (448 pages)
Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing by Andy Crouch (192 pages)
The Bible: Isaiah to Malachi, Part 4 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Deacons by Ben Bechtel (150 pages)
Britt-Marie Was Here: A Novel by Fredrik Backman (336 pages)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) by Agatha Christie (304 pages)
Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential by Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman (160 pages)
The Art of Pastoring: Ministry Without All the Answers by David Hansen (224 pages)
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry: A Novel by Fredrik Backman (384 pages)
The Deal of a Lifetime: A Novella by Fredrik Backman (96 pages)
Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel by Anthony Doerr (640 pages)
Things My Son Needs to Know about the World by Fredrik Backman (208 pages)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (304 pages)
When Prayer Is a Struggle by Kevin Halloran (160 pages)
And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer: A Novella by Fredrik Backman (96 pages)
Lament for a Father: The Journey to Understanding and Forgiveness by Marvin Olasky (112 pages)
The Weary World Rejoices: Daily Devotions for Advent by Megan Hill (127 pages)
Ten Words to Live By: Delighting in and Doing What God Commands by Jen Wilkin (176 pages)
The Ten Commandments: What They Mean, Why They Matter, and Why We Should Obey Them by Kevin DeYoung (208 pages)
Art and the Bible by Francis A. Schaeffer (95 pages)
The Bible: Matthew to Acts, Part 5 of 6 by God (300 pages)