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Josiah DeGraaf

Top Ten Books Read in 2022

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This year was a squeaker for me in my ability to reach my Goodreads goal by the years’ end. But I managed to squeeze by with one book to spare in hitting my goal of hitting 75 books. I’ll blame my September move from small town North Carolina to river town Pennsylvania for why things came down to the wire this year.

I find myself re-reading books more often as the years go on, so the list of new titles I read each year is slowly shrinking. But there were some deeply moving and resonant new works I read this year. So here are my 10 favorite books I read for the first time this past year (book titles linked to my longer Goodreads reviews).

  1. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

This was a rather eye-opening look at the very physical ways that trauma can affect people—and what true healing really looks like. Both as a writer and as someone who wants to know how to best help others who may struggle with trauma in my own life, I found this book quite helpful.

  1. Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

This is one of the last books I read this year, and thus a very recent addition to this list. But it was one of those memoirs that just snuck up on you. One moment you were laughing at the author’s humorous escapades. And the next moment he hit you with a load of poignant truth.

  1. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark

I adored the setting of this world. Because yes, I am that kind of reader who loves a Jane Austen/Charles Dickens take on the fantasy genre. The climax of the book left me disappointed. But the charming journey made even the disappointing destination well worth it. [Read more…] about Top Ten Books Read in 2022

Rings of Power isn’t a Terrible Adaptation. It’s Just Disappointing

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The first episode for Rings of Power may have been one of the more surprising first episodes of a TV show I’ve seen.

Not because of any shocking plot twist within the episode itself. But because of how low my expectations were going into the show. A bad marketing campaign made me quite worried that the show was just being used as a cash cow with little intent to meaningfully adapt Tolkien’s world. And the fact that the screenwriters’ only prior experience had been as uncredited writers for Star Trek Beyond didn’t give me much trust either.

But then the first episode intrigued me. It was slow. But Tolkien didn’t often write fast-paced fiction, and I was quite open for a slow-burn approach. The showrunners seemed to have a deep passion for Tolkien. Middle-Earth looked stunning. And by the end of the second episode, I at least liked Elrond/Durin & Arondir/Brownyn’s plot lines. And my dismal hopes turned into rather rosy expectations.

With slow shows, however, you can’t really measure how good they are until you see the ending they’re building toward. So aside from a few side tweets here and there on Twitter, I intentionally avoided saying much about the show until I could see it in its entirety.

Now that I’ve seen the ending, though, while I didn’t hate the show, I can’t help but feel that the showrunners made a colossal mistake. [Read more…] about Rings of Power isn’t a Terrible Adaptation. It’s Just Disappointing

Top Ten Books Read in 2021

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This is certainly a fashionably late time to still be posting book recaps of 2021. It’s been a rather busy end of 2021 and beginning of 2022 for me over here in North Carolina. But lest I break the tradition I’ve been sticking pretty regularly to over the past several years, I did want to post about my top ten books from last year before the month of February rolls around.

As has been the standard for these lists, I generally keep re-reads off this list (unless it dramatically changed my view of the book), so those won’t be represented. But without any further commentary, let’s dig into my favorite new reads I’ve done this past year. (As always, titles are linked to my longer reviews.)

10. Truman by David McCullough I’ve always enjoyed David McCullough’s biographies of different presidents. This book was no exception. A great work that really did an admirable job in bringing the 33rd president of the United States to life.

9. No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert This is a fantastic contemporary novel that wrestles with a number of important and relevant issues that Christians face in the world today. I really appreciated the book’s honesty, its care, and its complexity in the different issues that it explored. And it was certainly an enjoyable book to boot!

8. That Pale Host by L.G. McCary This book feels very contemporary, but is certainly more in the speculative fiction realm than the last book. It’s the sort of story you read that screams authenticity where the primary tension stems from the very real challenges we face in various relationships in life. Gripping read. [Read more…] about Top Ten Books Read in 2021

Top Ten Books Read in 2020

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Well, what a year this has been. I’ll spare you the obligatory comments about the craziness of 2020. Needless to say: despite everything else, I’ve managed to continue my standard reading pace I’ve kept up these past four years, including a lot more re-reading than I have for a while! Most of my re-reads were of classical works of literature, but there were a few non-classics as well. Because I generally keep re-reads off this list (unless it dramatically changed my view of the book), those won’t be represented on this list. But without any further commentary, let’s dig into my favorite new reads I’ve done this past year. (As always, titles are linked to my longer reviews.)

10. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni

Khaled Hosseni was on my TBR list for a while before I finally got into him this year. I went back and forth on whether to include Kite Runner or A Thousand Splendid Suns in this slot, but ended up choosing Kite Runner since it was my first introduction to his beautiful prose and haunting themes.

9. Good & Angry by David Powlison

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this year about what it means to deal with injustice in biblical ways. I found this book quite helpful as I did so.

8. Breakwater by Catherine Jones Payne

An excellent example of the type of Christian-produced fantasy I’m ever searching to read: imaginative, thoughtful, surprising, relevant, and poignant. [Read more…] about Top Ten Books Read in 2020

Top Ten Books Read in 2019

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With the turning of the year, it’s about time for my annual post on my favorite books I read over the course of this past year. I’m posting it a bit later into the new year this time around due to living pretty internet-free over a couple weeks I spent in Greece (which was amazing!) during the holiday season. But without any further ado, here’s my favorite works I read this past year (book titles are hyperlinked to longer Goodreads reviews for interested parties).

10. Demon in Democracy by Ryszard Legutko

I got the privilege of reading this book for a book club, so the discussion may have biased me a little on this book and I’m not sure how much I agree with all of its points. But as a book questioning the sustainability of Enlightenment-era liberal democracies, it sparked a lot of thoughts on my end and was quite good, nit-pickings aside.

9. The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu

It was a toss-up between this book and the first in the trilogy, The Three-Body Problem. But there was a bunch to love about this series between its creative worldbuilding, thought-provoking themes, and superb plots. The characterization wasn’t phenomenal, but for idea-driven sci-fi, it was great!

8. Rhetoric of Love by Douglas Jones

This is a bit more textbook-y than the other works on the list and I probably wouldn’t have necessarily picked it up if I wasn’t a Rhetoric teacher (or a partial Rhetoric teacher at any rate). However, it fundamentally shifted several parts of my beliefs on how to best persuade others. Like with Demon in Democracy, even when I disagreed with the work, it made me think. It being written by an old high school teacher of mine was an added bonus. [Read more…] about Top Ten Books Read in 2019

Short Story: A Wish Fulfilled

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This story is part of the Chronicles of Morshan short story collection.

The god-blessed was hunched in the corner of the tavern again, his body shrouded by a gray cloak. His breeches disappeared underneath tall boots, and his tunic’s sleeves extended to the fingers of his gloved hands. Perfect garb for winter.

Yet, outside, oppressive summer heat drove travelers to the tavern in search of a drink.

“Nothing good can come of him being there,” Erich muttered as he sized the god-blessed up. “You don’t linger in another god-blessed’s town unless you’re a troublemaker.”

“You could report him.” His daughter Erin cleaned off a glass. “Tanner would send men pronto.”

“And if this god-blessed retaliates and ransacks our tavern?”

She shrugged and filled the glass with ale. “Better than facing Tanner’s wrath if he learns you housed a god-blessed.”

“He’s not lodging here.”

“He slept in the stalls the last couple nights. I doubt the authorities will care for nuances.”

Erich dug his fingernails into his palm as Erin left to bring ales to the patrons. She was right, of course. If Tanner found out, their livelihood would be at risk.

But he couldn’t just evict a god-blessed.

A crowd flowed into the tavern, so he busied himself with taking orders, assigning rooms, and pleasing customers. But the presence of the god-blessed weighed on him. How could he remove someone who might be able to burn his eyes to a crisp?

Finally, the string of customers at the counter evaporated, leaving the tables packed—all except for the five surrounding the god-blessed.

Erich rubbed his forehead. Patrons would gossip about the man with the turquoise eyes, and word would reach Tanner. To avoid a fight in his tavern, he needed to tactfully kick out the god-blessed.

He picked up a mug and poured in a stout from the tankard before slipping into the main room. Five hunters yelled and banged their table as they recounted the details of a hunt. He edged past them and a few other tables to approach the god-blessed.

Erich set down the mug and pushed it over to the god-blessed. “Can I help you, sir?”

The god-blessed raised his head, revealing a youthful face with barely any stubble. Beneath furrowed eyebrows, dark rings lined his unfocused eyes. “Am I causing a problem?” he asked in a gentle tone.

Erich’s gaze drifted to the young man’s dagger; he knew better than to trust an apologetic god-blessed. He plastered on a smile. “Of course not, sir. I noticed you didn’t order anything today or yesterday and wanted to make sure your needs were met.”

The crease in the god-blessed’s forehead deepened. “So you brought me a beer.”

“I’m eager to accommodate you in other ways, sir.”

“So you can make me comfortable, or so you can bribe me to leave?” [Read more…] about Short Story: A Wish Fulfilled

Top Ten Books Read in 2018

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Didn’t quite hit 100 books this year (ended in the eighty-something range). I suppose the older you get, the harder it becomes to find time to read. Working two part-time jobs on top of a full-time job probably doesn’t help things either…

Anyways, since I’ve made a tradition of doing this the last several years, here are the top ten books I read over the course of this past year (book titles linked to my longer Goodreads reviews). Got to say, issues with finding time to read aside, I got to read some pretty fantastic works over the course of this year.

10. Fawkes by Nadine Brandes

Christian fantasy is a mixed bag, and modern Christian allegory even more so. But Fawkes did a marvelous job of rising above the top with the first modern allegory I’ve actually enjoyed reading—and a dang good story along with that.

9. The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath

I don’t normally put business/marketing books on my Top 10 List, but this work is really half psychology in its exploration of what creates memories and what causes people to change the way they live over a short period of time. This book not only gave me a lot of valuable tips for running websites and teaching, but it left me with a better understanding of how people work.

8. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Post-apocalyptic fantasy wasn’t something I realized I wanted until I read this book, and man was it good. This was the best work of speculative fiction I read this year and between some innovative plot twists and imaginative worldbuilding, it more than earned that spot. [Read more…] about Top Ten Books Read in 2018

Short Story: A Heretic’s Sacrifice

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This story is part of the Chronicles of Morshan short story collection.

Emiel was twice a heretic.

When he rejected the Twelve Gods for Adolsin, the church labeled him a heretic. And when he held onto the Twelve Gods’ powers after pledging himself to Adolsin, even his fellow heretics called him a heretic.

The numerous enemies Emiel had gathered over the years caused many near-death experiences. But he didn’t mind. Enemies made escapades more fun.

Emiel landed softly on the cold stone floor, his rope dangling beside him. He scanned the area. No guards this time of night. He stretched. Kesean always said he stretched like a cat. He was never sure whether she meant it as a compliment or not.

His back cracked. He grimaced. Hiding above the chapel’s rafters for seven hours had stiffened all his joints. Orin had suggested that he disguise himself as part of the wall. Unfortunately, Emiel’s shapeshifting powers didn’t work that way.

Emiel padded along the stone floor toward the exit. A chill crept through his socks. He probably should have worn shoes. But shoes were so unnatural. How could he stay on his toes if he couldn’t feel the surface he was standing on?

He arrived at twin doors adorned with fancy carvings intended to honor the Twelve Gods. As if the Twelve Gods gave a rat’s tail for the happenings on earth. Emiel considered finding a knife to make some interesting changes to the carvings. But he wasn’t sure Adolsin approved of vandalism—even if he would be defacing false deities. And Emiel had a job to do. He pushed the doors open and tiptoed into the main hall of the manor. [Read more…] about Short Story: A Heretic’s Sacrifice

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