Welcome to my annual recap of the books I read over this past year! For a variety of reasons, I struggled to read as much this year as I normally do, and made my 75 book goal by the skin of my teeth. I still need to find the knack of keeping a consistent reading habit while I travel a lot for work. I’m very happy, though, that despite my limited time I was able to stumble upon some pretty excellent books.
As always, my reading tastes have continued to be generally eclectic while having a few focuses for the year. I ended up going fairly heavy into sci-fi this year, partially because of one particular series that absolutely hooked me this year (more on this below). My nonfiction books have largely been focused on sociology and church leadership.
After reviewing all the books I made it through this year, here were my top ten. (Titles are linked to my Goodreads reviews.)
Fiction
Above the Circle of Earth by E. Stephen Burnett
The concept of Christian missionaries in space grabbed me from the get-go. But what I really appreciated about this book is how it used that premise to interrogate different visions of how Christians ought to interact with the world–whether in a separatist fashion, a belligerent one, or something else. The setting and specific threats faced in the book are purely fantastical. But the thematic questions are anything but that. Plus, it has some pretty great action sequences.
Crown of Chains by Erin Phillips
As I wrote in my Goodreads review, this felt like a gold standard for what a good retelling should look like. This re-envisioning of Esther really forced me to wrestle with the biblical narrative and what it’s actually saying. You definitely experience the full gamut of emotions while reading this book. And it’s one of those books that continue to pop back into my mind months later. If you’re looking for a re-imagining that’s a great story on its own right while also helping you thoughtfully engage with the original…this novel is fantastic.
Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio
When I mention that I read a lot more sci-fi this year, a lot of it is due to just plowing through this seven-book series. And while I normally try to limit myself with series to only putting my favorite entry on the Top Ten list for that year…I’m breaking that rule with Ruocchio’s Sun Eater series because of how compelling so may of the books were. This third book is the one that really first began to elevate it to one of my all-time favorite sci-fi series. The combination of shrewd political schemes, mind-bending plot twists, and a truly epic climax really sucked me in.
Disquiet Gods by Christopher Ruocchio
You know those memes about “biblically accurate angels” and what they actually look like? This book does that but with demons and the Lovecraftian conflict we get between the protagonist and an eyes-within-wheels demon in the first third of the book is one of the best action sequences I’ve read this year. And that’s just the opening of Book Six in Sun Eater.
Shadows upon Time by Christopher Ruocchio
A thought-provoking ending to the Sun Eater series that isn’t really the resolution I expected, and I had to think a bit about whether or not I liked the direction it took. But the artistic nature of the ending is part of what makes this series such a masterpiece. There are some ambitious thematic directions this series takes that I really haven’t seen anywhere else, and it’s one I expect to be thinking about for some time.
Nonfiction
Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
My boss recommended this book, and boy, was it worth the read. Excellent reflections on how to get past equating productivity with the amount of different tasks accomplished, and how to instead associate productivity with deep thinking and insight. From other reviews, it seems like this book may be less helpful for folks who don’t have as much control over their own time and what they’re doing in the workplace. But for people who can exercise more control–and especially for creatives–this book is a really helpful counterbalance to a lot of the hustle culture language that goes on today.
I Want to Trust You But I Don’t by Lisa TerKeurst
Beautifully-written book about what it looks like to rebuild healthy trust relationships after various betrayals. I read this book partially for writing research, partially for personal reasons. And a lot of this book resonated deeply with me.
Unseen Realm by Michael Heisler
I’m pretty late to the game with reading this book, but boy, was it a paradigm-changer to how to approach the supernatural world as depicted in the Old Testament. I don’t agree with all of Heisler’s conclusions, but it was a helpful challenge to several of the more-materialist assumptions I’ve made in the past. And he also had some illuminating insights on certain passages that were harder to fully grasp before.
This was a deeply thought-provoking and humbling book to read about prayer. I feel like I only really scratched the surface of this book despite taking a lot of time to mull over and re-read different parts of it. Hallesby’s reflections on what it means to view prayer relationally instead of transactionally were profound, and I don’t think I can re-read this book soon enough.
The Fourth Turning Is Here by Neil Howe
Returning to books that are paradigm-shifting but need to be taken with a grain of salt (in this case, a massive one), this book really blew my mind while helping me better understand our current political moment. It presents a pretty compelling case for why history often runs in patterns and why the cultural gridlock we see today is likely temporary. So while it does lean too heavily into history as a predictive science (and I’m not sure that many of the specific predictions the author made will stand the test of time), its core premise has provided a lot of helpful food for thought.
