After having read through and then compiled all the lists of books that people read in 2022 I find myself thinking, I’d like to read that and so I make another list of all those books. I’m actually pretty terrible at then following up and reading those books or at least straight away. I’ve only just managed to read 4 out of 22 selected for 2020, 2 from the 2021 list. I appear not to have done this exercise last year. However I enjoy the process, it’s kind of like browsing in a bookshop (one of my favourite ways to while away a few idle hours and making a few hours idle is good thing to do from time to time) or nosing a friends bookshelves only digitally. The TBR (To Be Read) book pile is a fluid thing and I think that is always the way of things. Interests shift, what feels timely turns out not to be so, what you want to read then is not what you want to read now and so on. Yet just capturing the thought ‘I think I’d like to read that’ sows a seed that may one day turn into an enjoyable few hours of reading. Without further ado here is my theoretical reading list for 2023¹

Quadruple lock

• An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong (recommended by Leah Libresco Sargeant, Jason Kottke, The Economist and apparently Barack Obama)

Triple safe

• Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell, (recommended by: Tyler Cowen, Mark Meynell, Alan Jacobs)

Double tips

• The Genesis of Gender by Abigail Favale (recommended by: Andrew Wilson, Trevin Wax)
• Everything sad is untrue by Daniel Nayeri (recommended by: Trevin Wax, Kevin Halloran)
• Of Boys and Men by Richard R. Reeves (recommended by: Tyler Cowen, The Economist).
• The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary by Jonathan Pennington (recommended by: Andrew Wilson, Liam Thatcher) *new preaching series on The Sermon on the Mount in 2023
• You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News by Kelly Kapic (recommended by Tim Challies, Thomas Creedy)

Single leads

• Biblical Critical Theory by Christopher Watkin (recommended by: Trevin Wax)
• The God of the Garden by Andrew Peterson (recommended by: Trevin Wax)
• River Kings: The Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads by Cat Jarman (recommended by: Andrew Wilson)
• Surprised by Jesus: Subversive Grace in the Four Gospels by Dane Ortlund (recommended by: Andrew Wilson)
• The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Petersen (recommended by: Liam Thatcher)
• The Inconvenient Gospel: A Southern Prophet Tackles War, Wealth, Race, and Religion by Clarence Jordan (recommended by Russell Moore)
• Either/Or  by Elif Batuman (recommended by Jason Kottke)
• Dead in the Water by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel (recommended by The Economist)
• The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston (recommended by Nadya Williams)
• How To Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now by James K.A. Smith (recommended by Theos)
• The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision by Erika Bachiochi (recommended by Ryan T. Anderson)
• The Men We Need: God’s Purpose for the Manly Man, the Avid Indoorsman, or Any Man Willing to Show Up by Brant Hansen (recommended by Tim Challies)
• The Manual: Getting Masculinity Right by Al Stewart (recommended by Tim Challies)
• A Multitude of All Peoples: Engaging Ancient Christianity’s Global Identity by Vince L. Bantu (recommended by Thomas Creedy)

1. All links are affiliate links to Amazon. Which means I get a small commission if you click on a link and then buy something. [↩]