My Favorite Books of the Year: Part One

Close to half of the books that I read this year were rereads. Several of the rereads were my favorite books this year, so I thought I would write two lists: best books that I read for the first time and best rereads.

I'm pretty selective about what books to read, so I loved 75-85% of the books that I read. These are just the ones that I scanned on a list and immediately called these my favorites of the year. I'm thinking a new standard for best books is the books that you read again.

These are books that I read for the first time.

Fiction

  • Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. I like to read juvenile fiction and young adult fiction when I go on vacation. I read this while we were in Williamsburg, VA for vacation. It's wonderful. Everything about it is great.
  • The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. This is a really fun, but bizarre mystery. If you like quirky humor and mystery with a little absurdity thrown in, then this is great. This is another young adult novel.
Non-Fiction
  • In Harm's Way by Doug Stanton. I've heard about this book on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis for a while. When I finally got around to reading it, I loved it. The pacing and storytelling are amazing. The events are even more incredible. 
  • Singing in the Fire by Faith Cook. This is a collection of short biographies. I really like biographies. These teach, inspire, and entertain at the same time. I think of some of these people's lives regularly.


Christian Non-Fiction and Theology
  • The Joy of Preaching by by Phillips Brooks. This is an important book on preaching. I loved it. I see echoes of it and responses to it throughout other preaching books that I read.
  • A Hunger for God by John Piper. This is on fasting. It's so good. After fasting regularly for several years, this was the book I needed to help me see that fasting is much bigger than I realized. There is so much to be said about it. Piper never comes right out to wrap the topic up in a neat bow. I had a professor once comment that Piper was like a basket weaver making something that doesn't make sense until the end. This is like that and well worth it.

Popular posts from this blog

Brewing 16 oz of Coffee in an Aeropress--My Coffee Recipe

My French Press Recipe for 16 oz of Coffee

Proposal for a Small Church Website: The 4 Things Small Church Websites Need