Reading List 2025
A list of every book I read last year and some reasons you might want to read a few of them too.
My first post of each new year always lists the books I read the previous year. If you’d like to see the previous posts—and I’m not completely sure why—you can find them here: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Mostly I do this for accountability, but I also know a few other book nerds who enjoy these sorts of posts. This year I got through 64 books, some longer and some very short. For what it’s worth, my Excel spreadsheet shows that my reading log from 2013–2025 includes 868 books and 225,849 pages.
As is typically the case, several of the books cluster around themes. For example, I read several books on heaven, preaching, writing, prayer, 1 Corinthians, and a few in a cluster we could call “books by Ray Ortlund.”
The books in the “prayer cluster” and “1 Corinthians cluster” were closely related to our preaching at church. The cluster of books by Ray Ortlund was included because he is awesome. His book The Death of Porn is fantastic. Still, my favorite of his comes from several years ago, his biblical theology of marriage called Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (see my review from 2017). And there’s also the cluster related to freelance book design and other writing work, which probably accounts for five books this year.
I’ll offer a few comments below, starting with some of the standouts from a few of the clusters.
From the “writing cluster” . . .
I read two reference books not meant to be read: The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style: 4th Edition by Robert Hudson and The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition by The University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff, also known as CMOS. Together these books are almost 2,000 pages. I posted a picture of CMOS on social media when I finished, and the responses were hilarious to me. A bunch of friends had questions about why anyone would do that. I can only say that in this reading quirk I’m a mystery to myself and that I resonate with the apostle Paul: “I do not always do what I want to do but what I hate I do.” (On a serious note, CMOS is the gold standard for editing and formatting, and I need to be familiar with it for my freelance work.)
I also read several books on the craft of writing, three of which are worth brief highlights. Two were re-reads, and one was new. The first was The Writer’s Diet: A Guide to Fit Prose by Helen Sword. It’s so short, but so good. The second was 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. This one is good, too, but readers should be advised that it has some adult content and language. The new book was The Storied Life: Christian Writing as Art and Worship by Jared C. Wilson. I’m always a fan of Wilson’s books, and it was delightful to have Wilson writing about writing.
From the “heaven cluster” . . .
My favorite book from this cluster, and maybe my favorite book all year, was Nancy Guthrie’s Blessed: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Revelation. I have always believed that God gave us the book of Revelation for our good. How could a Christian think otherwise? Yet all the imagery, all the debates, and all the confusion sometimes make that belief difficult and have given me hesitation about teaching the vision John received on Patmos. Guthrie’s book, however, made it easier to see that Revelation, with all its twists and turns, is not only eminently preachable by ordinary pastors to ordinary believers but also eminently believable and livable.
I enjoyed Heaven: A Comprehensive Guide to Everything the Bible Says About Our Eternal Home by Randy Alcorn. The book is huge. A friend once complained to me about it, claiming that Alcorn makes too many extrapolations from the Bible text into mere inference and relies too much on C.S. Lewis. I was ready for these criticisms. There is a lot of Lewis, but I find the criticism overstated.
Another book, The Bible and the Future by Anthony A. Hoekema, was a reread for me. It’s a bit more technical and thus not as easy, but it’s really good too. I’m not sure whether Hoekema includes any Lewis quotes, but he will gently show you why the amillennial view of the end times best fits the Bible.
From the “prayer cluster” . . .
One of our church’s goals was to pursue a culture of prayer. Our church leaders felt we had people who prayed, but we weren’t sure we could be described as a church that prayed. So I tried to help our church in this regard and also grow in prayer personally. I think we did all right, and I think I did too.
My favorite book from this cluster was Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer by Tyler Staton. I do need to flag that a few of his comments about the Bible could be worded better. So for me, it’s a qualified recommendation for discerning readers already established in their faith. Still, I see why so many people like the book. He’s a great storyteller. (Older readers might not like this book as much.)
And of course, Timothy Keller brought conviction and heat in his book Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God. We found his definition of prayer so helpful: “Prayer is continuing a conversation that God has started through his Word and his grace, which eventually becomes a full encounter with him” (48).
Against the Machine . . .
I don’t know what to think of Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity by Paul Kingsnorth. I keep seeing others talk about it, and my friend Joe recommended it. To get me excited about the book, my friend even read me a paragraph over coffee. In that paragraph, from the end of the nearly four-hundred-page book, Kingsnorth fumes about how much he wants to break all the screens that so transfix us, especially when he sees children at restaurants hypnotized by them. The whole book is one long, sophisticated, and enjoyable rant. I’m not sure he convinced me. You’ll still find me on the grid and even online. But I am sure I am more disturbed about where humanity has been and where it is heading. We should all use our phones less.
A Little Theology of Exercise . . .
Twice this year, I listened to A Little Theology of Exercise: Enjoying Christ in Body and Soul by David Mathis. It’s so short and so good. A particular benefit is his focus on connecting the stewardship of our bodies with greater delight in God, a classic David Mathis and DesiringGod theme.
Unpublished books . . .
I always read a few unpublished books (or, hopefully, yet-to-be-published books). Some of them are my own, and some are from friends.
After I finished the manuscript and two rounds of editing on my book about the return of Christ, I went back to a passion project I’ve had in the background for the last five years. The title has changed over the years, but it’s something like Writing Through the Wilderness: What Abraham Teaches Us About the Writing Life (A Memoirish Essay to Encourage Christian Writers). I hope to make publishing decisions about it in the next few months. Let me just say that it’s been tricky. But after this rewrite of the whole book, it feels more cohesive and compelling. I hope someday a reader or two will be able to say the same.
The Bible . . .
This year was something like the twentieth time I’ve read the Bible in a year. If pressed, I’d say it was number twenty-two. But I can’t be sure because I’m not sure when I started doing this. Still, I plan to keep it up.
Yes, because I move through this quickly, I’m sure I miss stuff. But we all still miss stuff, even when we slow down and zoom in. The Bible is just that big and rich. Also, as a pastor, I get plenty of chances to zoom in and slow down, so I tend to like that my personal Bible reading covers the full story.
I’m not sure if you’ve read the Bible cover to cover before, but you can do it. If you skip one day a week (as I do on Sundays), you still only have to read about 3–5 chapters a day. That probably takes twenty minutes a day and two hours a week. You probably have two hours in your weekly schedule. And don’t be afraid to hold a physical Bible and let an audiobook read the story to you. That can be really helpful for keeping you going at a steady pace and staying focused. I didn’t do this last year, though I have in years past.
Reading the Bible cover-to-cover might change everything about everything for you in just that first year. And it might not. But I’m banking on the fact that reading the Bible cover-to-cover every year will certainly change a person.
Did you have any favorites from last year? Let me know in the comments below.
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Books per Year
Pages per Year
* * *
In order of completion, this year I read . . .
The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes by Nancy R. Pearcey (352 pages)
Walking with God through Pain and Suffering by Timothy Keller (368 pages)
Heaven: A Comprehensive Guide to Everything the Bible Says About Our Eternal Home by Randy Alcorn (560 pages)
Embodied Hope: A Theological Meditation on Pain and Suffering by Kelly M. Kapic (205 pages)
Heaven: Priceless Encouragements on the Way to our Eternal Home by J.C. Ryle (105 pages)
Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview by Albert M. Wolters (155 pages)
Work and Our Labor in the Lord (Short Studies in Biblical Theology) by James M. Hamilton Jr. (128 pages)
Broken But Beautiful: Reflections on the Blessings of the Local Church by Edited by Benjamin Vrbicek (144 pages)
Green Zone: Attachment and Flourishing for Christian Leaders by Jesse Gill (208 pages)
The Visitation by Frank E. Peretti (528 pages)
The Case for Amillennialism by Kim Riddlebarger (336 pages)
The Blessed Hope: A Biblical Study of the Second Advent and the Rapture by George Eldon Ladd (167 pages)
Creationland (a currently unpublished play) by Stuart Reese (150 pages)
The Bible and the Future by Anthony A. Hoekema (354 pages)
Heaven Is a World of Love by Jonathan Edwards (128 pages)
The Bible: Romans to Revelation, Part 6 of 6 by God (300 pages)
The Nehemiah Way: Mobilize a Church Full of Leaders by John Wilson and Amy Lynch (240 pages)
Reflections on the Psalms by C. S. Lewis (192 pages)
Flannery O’Connor and the Scandal of Faith (Audiobook course) by Jessica Hooten Wilson (128 pages)
The Writer’s Diet: A Guide to Fit Prose by Helen Sword (88 pages)
A Week in the Life of Corinth (A Week in the Life Series) by Ben Witherington III (159 pages)
The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians by D. A. Carson (160 pages)
The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style: 4th Edition by Robert Hudson (624 pages)
The Bible: Genesis to Deuteronomy, Part 1 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer by Tyler Staton (272 pages)
A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul E. Miller (304 pages)
Preaching and Preachers by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (352 pages)
Prayer: How Praying Together Shapes the Church by John Onwuchekwa (144 pages)
Praying in Public: A Guidebook for Prayer in Corporate Worship by Pat Quinn (176 pages)
Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr (224 pages)
Praying Backwards: Transform Your Prayer Life by Beginning in Jesus’ Name by Bryan Chapell (208 pages)
Why Johnny Can’t Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers by T. David Gordon (112 pages)
Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller (336 pages)
Tim Keller on the Christian Life: The Transforming Power of the Gospel by Matt Smethurst (240 pages)
Good News at Rock Bottom: Finding God When the Pain Goes Deep and Hope Seems Lost by Ray Ortlund (160 pages)
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)
Writing Through the Wilderness: What Abraham Teaches Us About the Writing Life (Not Yet Published) by Benjamin Vrbicek (176 pages)
Known and Loved: Experiencing the Affection of God in Psalm 139 by Glenna Marshall (176 pages)
The Bible: Joshua to Esther, Part 2 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Essentials: Five Core Beliefs of the Christian Faith by Guy Kneebone (192 pages)
The Restoration of All Things: How the Promise of Christ’s Return Brings Us Comfort Today by Benjamin Vrbicek (192 pages)
The Death of Porn: Men of Integrity Building a World of Nobility by Ray Ortlund (144 pages)
Offering and Embracing Christ: The Marrow Theology of John Colquhoun of Leith (1748–1827) by John C. Biegel (304 pages)
Synapse (a novel) by Steven James (384 pages)
Writing Through the Wilderness: What Abraham Teaches Us About the Writing Life (Not Yet Published) by Benjamin Vrbicek (176 pages)
A Little Theology of Exercise: Enjoying Christ in Body and Soul by David Mathis (128 pages)
On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons by John A. Broadus (368 pages)
Help! I’m Married to My Pastor: Encouragement for Ministry Wives and Those Who Love Them by Jani Ortlund (128 pages)
Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon by Bryan Chapell (448 pages)
The Bible: Psalms to Song of Solomon, Part 3 of 6 by God (300 pages)
To Live Is Christ to Die Is Gain by Matt Chandler with Jared C. Wilson (224 pages)
The Storied Life: Christian Writing as Art and Worship by Jared C. Wilson (224 pages)
You’re Not Crazy: Gospel Sanity for Weary Churches by Ray Ortlund and Sam Allberry (176 pages)
Blessed: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Revelation by Nancy Guthrie (272 pages)
Free to Weep: Finding the Courage to Grieve and Embracing the God Who Heals by Brittany Lee Allen (176 pages)
Minister’s Tax & Financial Guide by Michael Martin (206 pages)
The Philosophy of Composition by E. D. Hirsch (216)
Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity by Paul Kingsnorth (368 pages)
The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition by The University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff (1192 pages)
The Bible: Isaiah to Malachi, Part 4 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Spirit-Filled Singing: Bearing Fruit as We Worship Together by Ryanne J. Molinari (208 pages)
A Little Theology of Exercise: Enjoying Christ in Body and Soul by David Mathis (128 pages)
Lost Gifts: Miscarriage, Grief, and the God of All Comfort by Brittany Lee Allen (200 pages)
The Bible: Matthew to Acts, Part 5 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Reading List 2024
A list of every book I read last year.
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, 2022, and 2023. Mostly I do this for accountability. But I also know a few other book nerds who enjoy these sorts of posts. For what it’s worth, using my Excel spreadsheet it seems my total from 2013–2024 includes 804 books and 209,316 pages. But who’s counting?
I guess I am.
In these posts I typically offer a few myopic comments that, I hope, offer some color to what would otherwise be a boring list. I figure some discussion is better than none, even if I end up ignoring stuff a few people might have considered more important.
I’ll start by mentioning Harrison Scott Key and his memoirs. I have three of his memoirs on the list, the gateway book being his most recent and seemingly most widely read book, How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told. I have to give a spoiler alert and trigger warning in case you venture to read the book: he writes about his wife’s affair and portrays the agony in vivid, raw descriptions. While I liked the book, I struggled with it for several reasons. The language is a bit rough in some places and pretty sarcastic in other places—even though I understand why both the curse words and sarcasm are authentic to the author and his experience. But the deeper reason I struggled with the book is that it maps too closely with a real-time situation I know about in a church—and even though the book ultimately offers more hope than despair and exalts the importance of real, Christian community, the proximity to reality made it hard to read.
Moving on, a good friend of mine encouraged me to read two Wendell Berry books about the people who belong to the fictitious town of Port William (Hannah Coulter and The Memory of Old Jack). I’d only read Jaber Crow before when we read it for a church book club, but that was almost ten years ago. If time allowed, I’d read all the novels and short stories about the Port William membership, as it’s called. Maybe someday there will be time. (Thank you, Joe, for suggesting these books and the heartfelt discussions of them.)
There’s been lots of appreciative buzz in my pastor circles about The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt, which is sort of strange that the book is getting this kind of reception among Christian pastors because Haidt is an atheist. But he’s a strange atheist; he’s warm to religion, even evangelical Christianity, in a way that strikes me as both wonderful and odd. In the book, Haidt persuasively argues that two trends are causing massive problems, namely, overparenting in the real world and a lack of parenting and oversight in the online world. These problems manifest themselves in especially disturbing ways among those who became teenagers after 2010 and the advent of the smartphone. At alarming rates, young girls increasingly tend toward depression and suicide, while young boys tend toward porn and passivity. I encourage you to read the book. His common-sense applications in light of these trends seem sensible and wise (for example, no smartphones or social media for people under the age of sixteen). Someday in the not-too-distant future, I believe we’ll view ubiquitous smartphone usage the way we now view smoking on airplanes.
As has been the case a few times in previous years, I wrote several of the books on my reading list. And this year, all the ones on the list written by me are currently unpublished—and maybe always will be. The first unpublished book I’m calling The Author as Abram: Writing to the Land God Will Show Us (A Memoirish Essay to Encourage Christian Writers). In this book I tell the story of how I became a writer, despite the fact that when I was in high school I hated both reading and writing. (It’s one of the reasons I chose mechanical and aerospace engineering as my college major. I figured I wouldn’t have to read as much.) I really love this book project, even though it’s gotten mixed reviews from the handful of people who have seen early drafts. Not sure if I can fix that or if it is anything that necessarily has to be fixed. I’m currently thinking I’ll self-publish it sometime in 2027. That’s highly subject to change. Right now, it sits at 50k words. The second unpublished book on the list that I wrote is Fire Hammer Rain: Reflections on the Life of the Word of God in the Life of the Preacher. Basically this is a diary of what I’m learning and experiencing as a preacher. I hope many years from now I’ll write more about preaching that will be published, so I’m starting to collect thoughts now.
Toward the end of the year, I started the research phase for my current book project, a book about the return of Christ, so you’ll see some books with that theme toward the bottom of the list. (The lists always go in chronological order of when I read each book, by the way.) The working title is The Last Shall Be First: How the Return of Christ Makes Everything Sad Untrue. My hope is that it will encourage Christians, especially those suffering. The book will be my first traditionally published book. It’s scheduled to be released with Baker Books in the summer of 2026. The first draft of the manuscript is due May 1 of this year, so I’ll be busy finishing that in the spring. Among the books on the topic that I’ve read so far, a clear standout is Chris Davis’s book Bright Hope for Tomorrow: How Anticipating Jesus’ Return Gives Strength for Today. His book is so good. I hope I can write something half as helpful.
One final book I’d love to mention. It’s called Broken but Beautiful: Reflections on the Blessings of the Local Church. This book comes out with Gospel-Centered Discipleship in just a few weeks . . . and I’m the general editor! I’m really happy with it. I’ll say more about the book when it launches, but it’s some of the best writing we had on our website about the local church.
Okay, the end.
Did you have any favorites from last year? Let me know in the comments below.
* * *
Books per Year
Pages per Year
* * *
In order of completion, this year I read . . .
The Author as Abram: Writing to the Land God Will Show Us (currently unpublished) by Benjamin Vrbicek (160 pages)
Murder Your Darlings by Roy Peter Clark (352 pages)
Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic by David Epstein (368 pages)
Evangelicals Incorporated: Books and the Business of Religion in America by Daniel Vaca (336 pages)
Can Women Be Pastors? (Church Questions) by Greg Gilbert (64 pages)
Be True to Yourself by Matt Fuller (192 pages)
Male and Female He Created Them: A Study on Gender, Sexuality, & Marriage by Denny Burk, Colin Smothers, and David Closson (136 pages)
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown (304 pages)
How God Sees Women: The End of Patriarchy by Terran Williams (400 pages)
The Blueprint of Grace: Seeing and Submitting to God’s Design for Sanctification by Robert Allen (122 pages)
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (288 pages)
Bright Hope for Tomorrow: How Anticipating Jesus’ Return Gives Strength for Today by Chris Davis (240 pages)
The Bible: Romans to Revelation, Part 6 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age by Samuel James (208 pages)
Why Should I Be Baptized? (Church Questions) by Bobby James (64 pages)
How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told by Harrison Scott Key (320 pages)
The World’s Largest Man: A Memoir by Harrison Scott Key (368 pages)
The Preacher’s Portrait: Five New Testament Word Studies by John Stott (119 pages)
Congratulations, Who Are You Again?: A Memoir by Harrison Scott Key (368 pages)
The Bible: Genesis to Deuteronomy, Part 1 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Watership Down by Richard Adams (640 pages)
The Art of Stability: How Staying Present Changes Everything by Rusty McKie (155 pages)
Leadership and Emotional Sabotage: Resisting the Anxiety That Will Wreck Your Family, Destroy Your Church, and Ruin the World by Joe Rigney (120 pages)
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry (190 pages)
Finish Line Leadership: Setting the Pace in Following Jesus by Dave Kraft (224 pages)
The Author as Abram: Writing to the Land God Will Show Us (currently unpublished) by Benjamin Vrbicek (160 pages)
The Bible: Joshua to Esther, Part 2 of 6 by God (300 pages)
The Memory of Old Jack (Port William) by Wendell Berry (176 pages)
Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson (352 pages)
Church Planter: Nine Essentials for Being Faithful and Effective by Tony Merdia (194 pages)
The Bible: Psalms to Song of Solomon, Part 3 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover (368 pages)
Bright Hope for Tomorrow: How Anticipating Jesus’ Return Gives Strength for Today by Chris Davis (240 pages)
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (304 pages)
Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination by Eugene Peterson (224 pages)
Always Longing: Discovering the Joy of Heaven by Stephen R. Morefield (162 pages)
Heavenward: How Eternity Can Change Your Life on Earth by Cameron Cole (200 pages)
From a High Mountain: 31 Reflections on the Character and Comfort of God by Timothy M. Shorey (157 pages)
Are We Living in the Last Days?: Four Views of the Hope We Share about Revelation and Christ’s Return by Bryan Chapell (256 pages)
Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today by John Stott (320 pages)
The Bible: Isaiah to Malachi, Part 4 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Fire Hammer Rain: Reflections on the Life of the Word of God in the Life of the Preacher (unpublished) by Benjamin Vrbicek (150 pages)
Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Second Coming of Christ by John Piper (304 pages)
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt (400 pages)
The Great DeChurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? by Jim Davis, Michael Graham, and Ryan P. Burge (272 pages)
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright (352 pages)
Blessed: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Revelation by Nancy Guthrie (272 pages)
The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery by Ross Douthat (224 pages)
How Will the World End? by Jeramie Rinne (96 pages)
Heaven on Earth: What the Bible Teaches about Life to Come by Derek W. H. Thomas (112 pages)
Eternity Changes Everything by Stephen Witmer (128 pages)
Not Home Yet: How the Renewal of the Earth Fits into God’s Plan for the World by Ian K. Smith (176 pages)
Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality by Nancy R. Pearcey (336 pages)
How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home by Derek W. H. Thomas (157 pages)
The Bible: Matthew to Acts, Part 5 of 6 by God (300 pages)