My first post of each new year always contains the list of books I read the previous year. If you’d like to see the previous posts, you can do so here: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. Mostly I do this for accountability. But I also know a few other book nerds who enjoy these sorts of posts.

As has been the trend over the last few years—as my children have gotten bigger and my responsibilities in life and at church have also gotten bigger—I read fewer and fewer books. I hate the phrase “it is what it is,” but . . . it is what it is. I’m content to know that, before the Lord, I’m making the right choices.

Small as the totals were this year, I had a few favorites. Twice in the early months of the year I read Timothy Keller’s book Forgive: Why Should I and How Can I?. And, yes, that means I count the book on my list twice. Such a great book, by the way. I also enjoyed Collin Hansen’s biography of Keller. If you happen to listen to the audiobook, Hansen included a few classic Keller sermons.

I typically read several books about writing. This year the best two were Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies and Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg. The Stein book has some PG-13 rated content, so be aware. And the Klinkenborg one has an interesting structure, but I loved it.

I reread All the Light We Cannot See in anticipation of the Netflix series and my article on the book for Christianity Today. No, I didn’t love the series as much as the book, but it did get better and better across the four installments. I also had a cool email exchange with Anthony Doerr after the article, which made my day. . . or maybe my week.

Also a re-read for me was Everything Sad Is Untrue: (a true story) by Daniel Nayeri. Oh man, this is a good book. I read it again for our church book club, and I’m glad I did. It can be a little goofy, but it makes serious points.

I’m a sucker for books about fathers and sons, and I already love Bret Lott, so I really enjoyed his book Fathers, Sons, and Brothers, which is a memoir of his growing up as the son of an RC Cola salesman. The book is not new, but new to me. Related to this theme of father and sons, I also re-read The Road by Cormac McCarthy around Father’s Day, which has become something of a semi-annual tradition for me.

Probably my favorite book of the year, although it came out last year, was Rembrandt Is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art through the Eyes of Faith by Russ Ramsey. I know so little about the art world yet I’m fascinated by it. The phrase “in the wind” from the title has a double meaning. Rembrandt painted himself into the disciples’ boat on the Sea of Galilee, so that’s one meaning. The other meaning comes from the art world. For a painting to be “in the wind” means that it’s stolen, which happened to that particular Rembrandt. Ramsey’s chapter on Rembrandt, along with the epic story of Michelangelo carving the epic David statue, made the book for me. Ramsey is a top-shelf Christian writer, and I echo what one of my writing friends said of Ramsey: “I want to be like him when I grow up.”

I don’t want to skip over the handful of books I endorsed, so I’ll mention those as well. I wrote endorsements for Memorizing Scripture: The Basics, Blessings, and Benefits of Meditating on God’s Word by Glenna Marshall, Trading Faces: Removing the Masks that Hide Your God-Given Identity by John Beeson and Angel Beeson, A Time to Mourn: Grieving the Loss of Those Whose Eternities Were Uncertain by Will Dobbie, and A Call to Contentment: Pursuing Godly Satisfaction in a Restless World by David Kaywood. I’ll say that Will’s book is particularly interesting in that it’s a book written on a needed but underrepresented topic, the time when a believer has someone close to them pass away who likely was not a believer. Will brings pastoral and biblical wisdom to the topic.

I also wrote a review for The Gospel Coalition of Drew Dyck’s excellent book Just Show Up: How Small Acts of Faithfulness Change Everything (A Guide for Exhausted Christians). Drew loves his books with two subtitles, but I don’t hold that against him because so do I.

Did you have any favorites from last year? Let me know in the comments below.

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In order of completion, this year I read . . .

1. Forgive: Why Should I and How Can I? by Timothy Keller (272 pages)

2. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (368 pages)

3. Fathers, Sons, and Brothers by Bret Lott (208 pages)

4. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It’s Impossible to Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Immature by Peter Scazzero (240 pages)

5. Forgive: Why Should I and How Can I? by Timothy Keller (272 pages) [Yes, I read this twice and I’m counting it twice.]

6. Recovering Eden: The Gospel According to Ecclesiastes by Zack Eswine (264 pages)

7. The Author as Abram: Writing to the Land He Will Show Us (currently unpublished) by Benjamin Vrbicek (160 pages)

8. Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies by Sol Stein (320 pages)

9. The Bible: Romans to Revelation, Part 6 of 6 by God (300 pages)

10. Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End by David Gibson (176 pages)

11. The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis (160 pages)

12. All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore (304 pages)

13. Memorizing Scripture: The Basics, Blessings, and Benefits of Meditating on God’s Word by Glenna Marshall (160 pages)

14. Trading Faces: Removing the Masks that Hide Your God-Given Identity by John Beeson and Angel Beeson (248 pages)

15. The Bible: Genesis to Deuteronomy, Part 1 of 6 by God (300 pages)

16. Spare by Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex (416 pages)

17. Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir by William Zinsser (240 pages)

18. The Word within the Words (My Theology, 3) by Malcolm Guite (96 pages)

19. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (592 pages)

20. Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making by Andrew Peterson (224 pages)

21. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (287 pages)

22. Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg (224 pages)

23. On Revision: The Only Writing That Counts (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) by William Germano (208 pages)

24. Church History 101: The Highlights of Twenty Centuries by Sinclair B. Ferguson, Joel R. Beeke, Michael A. G. Haykin (100 pages)

25. The Bible: Joshua to Esther, Part 2 of 6 by God (300 pages)

26. Go Outside: ...And 19 Other Keys to Thriving in Your 20s by Jared C. Wilson and Becky Wilson (144 pages)

27. Understanding and Trusting Our Great God (Words from the Wise) by Tim Challies (244 pages)

28. Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel by Anthony Doerr (608 pages)

29. The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase by Mark Forsyth (256 pages)

30. The Winners: A Novel (Beartown Series) by Fredrik Backman (688 pages)

31. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (416 pages)

32. The Gospel Waltz: Experiencing the Transformational Power of Grace by Bob Flayhart (255 pages)

33. The Bible: Psalms to Song of Solomon, Part 3 of 6 by God (300 pages)

34. A Time to Mourn: Grieving the Loss of Those Whose Eternities Were Uncertain by Will Dobbie (96 pages)

35. Where the Light Fell: A Memoir by Philip Yancy (320 pages)

36. Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation by Collin Hansen (320 pages)

37. Just Show Up: How Small Acts of Faithfulness Change Everything (A Guide for Exhausted Christians) by Drew Dyck (192 pages)

38. Abiding Grace: Unmerited Favor for Salvation and Life by Glen Whatley (158 pages)

39. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (531 pages)

40. Diary of a Pastor’s Soul: The Holy Moments in a Life of Ministry by M. Craig Barnes (240 pages)

41. A Call to Contentment: Pursuing Godly Satisfaction in a Restless World by David Kaywood (176 pages)

42. Everything Sad Is Untrue: (a true story) by Daniel Nayeri (368 pages)

43. The Chosen by Chaim Potok (272 pages)

44. The Bible: Isaiah to Malachi, Part 4 of 6 by God (300 pages)

45. Rembrandt Is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art through the Eyes of Faith by Russ Ramsey (272 pages)

46. Creationland (a currently unpublished play) by Stuart Reese (150 pages)

47. Christmas Uncut: What Really Happened and Why It Really Matters by Carl Laferton (80 pages)

48. The Bible: Matthew to Acts, Part 5 of 6 by God (300 pages)