After hitting a personal record of 154 books read in 2016, I decided to scale things back this past year. Apparently being a full-time English teacher leaves me with a lot less free time than being a college student teaching on the side. Who knew. I still got to 101 books, but the vast majority of those books were read before August when reading time went out the window.
It was easier to choose my top 10 this year since I was sorting through a lot less books, so here are the top 10 books I read in 2017 (yes; my list is pretty eclectic–I have a lot of varied tastes). I included a brief snippet about the book below, and the titles are linked to my Goodread reviews for the few of you foolish enough curious enough to want to read more of my thoughts on these books.
10. The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
This is an odd book in many ways. One of the best works of Christian speculative fiction I’ve read–and it was also written by an atheist. It markets itself as a sci-fi first-encounter-with-aliens book–but it’s really about the trials of a long-distance marriage. It doesn’t fit into many neat categories. But it was also a breathtakingly beautiful and profoundly tragic work. Really fascinating stuff.
9. A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
I had no idea Lewis published a book like this–a raw journal-like look at his personal struggles and thoughts following the death of his wife. Lewis is honest about his doubts, his anger, and his confusion. But while most of the book is depressing and somewhat-dark, the gleams of light present in the book are all-the-more powerful for that. [Read more…] about Top Ten Books Read in 2017
