Thankfully, I was able to spend a lot of time reading this year. In fact, I was able to read more this year than any year in my life. (slightly beating out last year). And it feels like I read more really good books this year than I typically do, as many I enjoyed don't crack my top twenty.
See below for my favorites from 2020:
1. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1939)
While it is a sad story centered on the 1930s Dust Bowl era, and the poverty so many faced during this time, it also beautifully showcased how one family sticks together and creatively finds ways to support themselves and others. From being kicked off their small plot of farm land by the big bank ("the monster") to struggling to find work among the bountiful California orchards, the Joad family is met with hardship at the hands of those that already have and are greedily trying to take even more - "while the Californians wanted many things, accumulation, social success, amusement, luxury, and a curious banking security, the new barbarians wanted only two things - land and food."In her book, "On Reading Well", Karen Swallow Prior talks about how great literature embodies virtue and allows the reader to practice virtue vicariously. “Visions of the good life presented in the world’s best literature can be agents for cultivating knowledge of and desire for the good…” In Grapes of Wrath, perseverance, resiliency, hope, love for one another, and generosity in the midst of utter scarcity are all on display, contrasting the fear and greed around them.
2. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer (2019)
The title comes from something Dallas Willard once told John Ortberg, when John asked him the key to becoming all of who God wants us to be. Dallas replied, "You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life...There is nothing else. Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day.” Comer does a great job showing us how problematic our pace of life currently is, how we're way too busy and distracted to live vibrant, full, and restful lives. He then outlines how we should be emulating Jesus, in his unhurriedness, through sets of key rhythms and practices: Silence & Solitude, Sabbath, Simplicity Slowing. It was convicting and inspiring.
“For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will skim our lives instead of actually living them.” - John Ortberg |
3. Dominion by Tom Holland (2019)
For instance, Christian sexual morality was seen as repressive and outdated in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, but Holland rightly argues that these same ideals provided the underlying force for the #MeToo movement. Also, while the church has often failed in living up to its own ideals concerning the poor, the weak, and the suffering, it is from the Christian worldview that love for others (charity) ultimately derives.
It's this last point that is especially helpful in this book. Holland is not out to celebrate and condone the way Christians have often treated others in the last two millennia. He helpfully points out many instances of the hypocrisy of the church throughout history. Yet, here is what he says about that in his concluding paragraph: “Many [Christians]...have put the weak in their shadow; they have brought suffering, and persecution, and slavery in their wake. Yet the standards by which they stand condemned for this are themselves Christian; nor, even if churches across the West continue to empty, does it seem likely that these standards will quickly change."
For a more insightful review, I highly recommend this one from Tim Keller (who originally prompted me to read this book)
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4. The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer (2006)
This memoir came recommended to me by a couple of different people over the years. I'm glad I finally got to it. It was difficult to put it down. It's a moving story about a young boy, growing up without a father on Long Island. He falls in love with a local bar, run by his uncle, and the close-knit community that is formed there. Many of the men, most of whom read like fictional characters, become stand-in father figures for J.R., for better or worse. "While I fear that we’re drawn to what abandons us, and to what seems most likely to abandon us, in the end I believe we’re defined by what embraces us. Naturally I embraced the bar right back, until one night the bar turned me away, and in that final abandonment the bar saved my life."
5. Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard (2011)
Fascinating story, not only about Garfield and Charles Guiteau, the man who shot him, but about the world of the late 1800s (including the discoveries of Alexander Graham Bell and Joseph Lister). The story, combined with Millard’s writing style, made this book difficult to put down. I was deeply drawn to the man Garfield was. He was a man of great character, full of humility, wisdom, grace, strength, and joy, which not only stands in stark contrast to our nation’s current leader, but also to many of those around Garfield who pridefully sought power, praise, and control at all costs.
Quote: “Garfield could not shake the feeling that the presidency would bring him only loneliness and sorrow. As he watched everything he treasured -- his time with his children, his books, and his farm -- abruptly disappear, he understood that the life he had known was gone. The presidency seemed to him not a great accomplishment but a ‘bleak mountain’ that he was obliged to ascend.” |
6. The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton (1948)
A captivating autobiography of a Trappist monk who sought out to give himself to all worldly pleasures, but was left empty. I enjoyed the read and am encouraged by Merton's zeal to be with God and the solitude/stillness that enables that connection to flourish.
"...how strange it was to see people walking around as if they had something important to do, running after buses, reading the newspapers...How futile all their haste and anxiety seemed.”
"...no matter who you are or what you are...you are called to a deep interior life...and to pass the fruits of your contemplation on to others."
7. Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson (2006)
This was my first Peterson book. I now plan to read many more. I really love and appreciate his spirit and his love and reverence for the Bible. He challenges our tendency to bring our own self-sovereign reality to the Bible and how we prefer to read to get information out of the Bible for inspiration. Instead, he calls us to read in such a way to let God's Word get inside of us and "to form a life that is congruent with the world that God has created, the salvation that he has enacted, and the community that he has gathered...a dog-with-a-bone kind of reading.”
“‘Eat this book’ is my metaphor of choice for focusing attention on what is involved in reading our Holy Scriptures formatively, that is, in such a way that the Holy Spirit uses them to form Christ in us. We are not interested in knowing more but in becoming more.” |
8. Daring Greatly by Brene Brown (2012)
Even though I've learned about the importance of vulnerability from multiple places (including Brown's TED talks) over the last decade or so and have grown in my ability to be vulnerable, I still very much appreciated Brené Brown's thoughts here. She clarifies what I have seen to be true in my own life: that vulnerability takes great courage, because of our own shame, but it breeds deep connection with others, freedom, and a sense of belonging. I want to live a wholehearted life and want to encourage others to do the same. This book is an excellent place to learn about what that means.
Quote: “Belonging is the innate human desire to be part of something larger than us...we often try to acquire it by fitting in and by seeking approval, which are not only hollow substitutes for the belonging, but often barriers to it. Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world..."
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9. The Martian by Andy Weir (2014)
I read this in a 36 hour timespan, which I think is the fastest I've ever read a book. I really enjoyed the story and the science woven in throughout. Thankfully, I had forgotten much of the movie, so I could mostly enjoy the book on its own and still be surprised in ways.
“He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.”
LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.”
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10. The Lion's Gate by Steven Pressfield (2014)
I was struck by the love the Jewish people in Israel had for one another and for the land of their forefathers. I was struck by their courage to stand up to enemies that hated them from every direction. I was struck by their patience to endure the pain of exile for so many years. I was deeply moved as they finally regained access to some of the holiest sites of their faith.
"If there is a universal disease of the modern era, I believe it is the malady of exile. This affliction is experienced on the individual level as well as on the national and the racial—the agony of feeling that one is a part of nothing, that he belongs nowhere and to no one. Exile is the torment of being held apart (or of holding oneself apart) from one’s own deepest essence and his truest, most primal legacy. What brings a nation or an individual out of exile? Only return—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—to the place of its birth."
11. The Stand by Stephen King (1978) |
After reading the Dark Tower series for the first time a couple of years ago, I wanted to take a shot at another of King's greats. And since it is about a killer virus that wipes most of the U.S., I thought it would be an interesting read during COVID-19. While King can be a little wordy, this was a great story, one mostly centered around good vs. evil. King does a great job building depth and complexity to characters and I love the way many of the heroes are not what you would expect.
“‘You’re nothing!’ Glen said, wiping his streaming eyes and still chuckling. ‘Oh pardon me…It’s just that we were all so frightened…we made such a business out of you…I’m laughing as much at our own foolishness as at your regrettable lack of substance…’”
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12. Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund (2020)
Aided by Puritan writer Thomas Goodwin and centering on Jesus's call in Matthew 11:28-29, Ortlund uses various verses to show over and over again that the center of Christ's heart is bursting with affection and gentleness for us, and that "no one in human history has ever been more approachable than Jesus Christ.” He goes on to show how the Father's heart is the same and that "the Bible is one long attempt to deconstruct our natural vision of who God actually is."
For those that struggle with feeling like God's love for them is mixed with disappointment, this book would be a fantastic resource. My struggle is less here and more that I have a hard time letting His love actually impact me. Therefore, some of what was written landed a little flat to me, in a frustrating way. However, there were also times where my heart seemed to be stirred and warmed. I believe it's a book I should return to occasionally and I certainly recommend it for others.
Honorable Mentions:
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Habits of the Heart by Robert Bellah
The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Educated by Tara Westover
Past Years:
