My 2026 January Book Sprint
In January, I sorted through my pile (piles, really) of books to find books that I wanted to read but hadn't found the time. I organized them from shortest to longest, and then I started a book sprint so that I could make a dent in that pile before moving on to books that I wanted to read more slowly because they are important. Some of the books in my book sprint were there for 3 years.
Life is too short to read everything. Most of the time I prioritize important authors and subjects to me like J.C. Ryle, biblical studies, Robert Caro, John Piper, history, Newbury Award winners, D.A. Carson, etc. There are other books and topics that I like to dip into from time to time or books that people give me that I want to give a chance.
My January book sprint helped me read 9 books from my list that were getting buried beneath other books. I spent about 3 days per book. It was well-worth doing, but I was ready by the end of January to slow down. I like to read several books at a time and digest them slowly, but most of these books would not have been good for that.
Here is what I read (with a few thoughts on those I thought were especially good):
- Honor, Alec Ramsey (This was especially good on how Christians should treat one anotherin the church.)
- The Beauties of Divine Grace, Gabriel F. H. Fluhrer
- Pastoral Perseverance, Brian Croft and James Carroll (I loved this one. I plan on writing about a key insight from it in a couple of weeks.)
- Praying with Paul, D.A. Carson
- World Christianity and the Unfinished Task, F. Lionel Young III
- Jesus Through the Eyes of Women, Rebecca McLaughlin (This is about Jesus, not women. It is so good most people would benefit from this one.)
- Write it on Their Hearts, Chris and Melissa Swain
- Gospel Centered Kids Ministry, Brian Dembowczyk