I love reading through all the books that other people have read over the past year and adding some of the picks to my reading wish-list. This is absolutely the best way to find new things to read. I am not though, very good at actually then reading them. Last year I managed to read just one book (although I’m currently in a second) from last year’s list. But it’s a fun exercise and it does mean I have a long and fascinating list. The other net positive is that I get asked about books all the time and so my list acts as a source of recommendations too!
I’ve not chosen something from every list but where I have I’ve been disciplined and chosen just one book. Here are the books that if I had nothing to do but read I would read, and who recommended them1.
How to Speak a Sermon: So That People Will Listen
I could have picked about 50 books that Jonathan raved about but I went for this one. Here’s what Jonathan Black said:
Of the making of many [preaching] books there is no end. But, this one’s fantastic. Preaching isn’t reading. With a high view of preaching, Trotter encourages extempore (but not impromptu—i.e. well prepared, not off the cuff) preaching. If you’re a preacher, read this!
The Wide Wide Sea
Andrew Batson, and to be honest lots of other people recommended this one. I actually already own it – so just got to read it!
Hampton Sides, The Wide Wide Sea. The last voyage of Captain James Cook is one of the more interesting and unique events in history: he was the first European to find the Hawaiian Islands and talk to the people there, and later, returning to the islands after mapping the coast of Alaska, was killed by them. The causes and meaning of those events have been debated ever since, and Sides delivers a careful, sympathetic and engaging account of the entirety of Cook’s final expedition.
Not Old, Not Young, Not Done
Tim Challies recommended this one saying:
This book has offered us exactly the guidance we needed to face these challenges and opportunities well. I didn’t know how badly we needed Not Old, Not Young, Not Done, nor how much we would benefit from reading it together. I highly recommend it to anyone else who is already in the afternoon of life or who will soon be.
Everything Is Never Enough
There were about five books from Brad East’s list that I thought about here, but this one has appeared on so many lists and topped so many awards that I think, well it must be good!
“Everything Is Never Enough is many things at once, but above all, it is a marvel. It is a searching commentary on the most challenging book of the Bible. It is an invitation to anyone curious enough about life to be dissatisfied with it to press on that bruise, to learn from the pain, to see beyond it to its sources—both without and within. I am overwhelmed and impressed, not to mention jealous, that Bobby Jamieson is this learned, this wise, this incisive.”
Ghosted
Jez Field raved about this one saying,
I can’t speak highly enough about Ghosted, and it’s author Nancy French. She is a courageous, articulate, inspiring woman and appears to have packed several lifetimes into one. How so much can happen to one person is baffling... It’s a story of loss, of surviving abuse, of adoption, of miracles, of traditional conservatism, of political isolation, of fighting corruption and of exposing some of the rottenness in the American evangelical church. Truly worth your time.
The pleasures of reading in an age of distraction
Recommended by Sam Hailes:
The highest compliment I could pay this book is it’s written by someone very well read, but can be enjoyed by those who are not! It’s written in a way that never makes you feel unworthy. On the contrary, it inspired me to read more, read more widely and most of all, read with enjoyment.
Papyrus
Recommended by Lex Loizides:
This is a wonder-filled ride through the story of books, from the early classical period in Greece, through to the romance of the great library of Alexandria, all the way through to a myriad of intriguing modern anecdotes of writers and lovers of books. A book about books might sound dull, but a story-filled panorama of the precious – and often fragile – carriers of ideas from age to age, now that’s a good premise for a book!
Nonesuch
Again I could have chosen a bunch of the books recommended by Mark Meynell but I’m also a Spufford fan and it’s good to have some fiction on the list.
It’s the first of a new series. Set in the London Blitz, it is characteristically genre-busting, clever, funny, brilliant and gripping. Historical fiction-cum-FightingFascism-cum-time-travel-cum-Good-vs-Evil. So when it comes out, you really must get Nonesuch and all that follows it.
The Teacher of Nomad Land
I really enjoyed Nayer’s Everything Sad is Untrue so I was delighted to see that he had written another book. Recommended here by Russell Moore:
Read this. It’s amazing.
War and Peace
I had a crack at this decades ago. It was a single volume work of a thousand pages or so, so holding it was hard work let alone reading it. After about 500 pages I couldn’t remember who was who or what was going on and with another 800 pages to go or whatever I gave up. Time to do battle with Tolstoy again. Maybe. Recommended by, amongst others, Henry Oliver:
Tolstoy’s greatness is made out of his clarity: he gives you everything you need. There is nothing hidden, implied, or “unreliable”. He shows you everything that history is made of. This is the greatest, grandest way of telling a story—the vivid, cinematic, expansive realism of which so few writers are really capable.
Tim Keller on the Christian Life
I’m a big Keller fan and his writings always bless me and make me think and help me grow. So why not keep reading! Recommended by Trevin Wax:
Matt Smethurst has done us all a service by digging deep into Tim Keller’s sermons (not just his published work) and summing up key points of his teaching on the gospel, prayer, suffering, friendship, and more. Drawing from decades of material, Smethurst distills the essence of Keller’s theology and pastoral heart into 10 rich chapters. The result is part biography, part theological guide: a “Keller’s Greatest Hits” that captures the grace, humility, and Christ-centered vision that shaped one of the most influential pastors of our generation. This book reinvigorated my commitment to believe the gospel Keller preached and live the way he lived—rooted in grace, radiant with hope.
The Transfiguration of Christ
This sort of description, given here by Andrew Wilson, will get a book added to my list ten times out of ten.
The best sort of doctrinal study: biblically illuminating, devotionally satisfying, theologically compelling and stylistically readable. The best book I’ve read on the transfiguration, and better than most books on other things as well.
Made In Our Image
The cover alone gets this book onto the list, but looks like an important read on the topic of the times. Recommended by Stephen McAlpine:
Driscoll’s genius is not simply in how he unpacks how far we have come in the AI world, and the rapid pace of change. It is in dialling down the anxiety for Christians who are dealing with these changes. In fact, we have the armoury in the gospel story of salvation (from creation to new creation) that shows that God’s concern for human beings made in his image means that whatever technology does, the future for humans is assured.
The elder led church
Recommended by Tim Suffield who said of it:
There are lots of books about being an elder, but very few about the functioning of an eldership team. We’re going to use this with our developing eldership team.
The Place of Tides
I really enjoyed reading English Pastoral this year so I’m very willing to read more by Rebanks. Nadya Williams with the tip:
On tiny and uninhabited (by humans) Norwegian islands, above the Arctic Circle, eider ducks come to nest each spring, and duck women (and men) have cared for them for generations, collecting their soft eider down as their reward (a feathery gold!). In his new book, the author and farmer James Rebanks shadows one such “duck woman,” Anna. It’s a beautifully written book about a lot more than duck care–about the relationship we moderns have with place, nature, and calling.
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