Everyone has things they enjoy doing. Mine include eating good food, watching football, and reading. Have you ever noticed that reading is one of the few things you can do as much of as you want and no one complains? I’m writing this over the Thanksgiving holiday so there have been a few times recently that people said to me with a judgmental tone of voice, “Are you going to have another piece of cake?” “Are you going to watch another football game?” But no matter how much I read, no one ever says, “Are you going to start another book?”
People will tell you that exercise is good for you, but you shouldn’t overdo it. They preach moderation in all things, including eating or working in your job. But no one ever says that you read too many books. I’ve done my share of over-eating, but no one warns you of the dangers of over-reading. Over-reading isn’t even a thing. Ever felt guilty for reading too many books? I didn’t think so.
Why is that? Well, I’m sure you’re thinking because no one likes to read that much! And that’s probably true for most people. But I’d like to suggest that the real reason is because reading offers a lot of upside with very little downside.
Here are a few of those “upsides” to reading.
Maybe you’ll have some extra time to read over the holidays, maybe you’re looking for a Christmas gift for a reader on your shopping list, or maybe you want some book recommendations for yourself heading into 2020. Let me suggest some books I enjoyed reading in 2019. Just to be clear these aren’t my favorite books of all time, but my favorite of what I read this year.
Here are a few of my “Best Reads” lists from years past.
There’s something wrong with our country. Everyone can feel it and yet there isn’t common agreement about the source of the problem. Or let’s ask a different question: When President Trump was a candidate for the Republican nomination, he declared the American dream is dead. Why did that resonate with so many people? With economic prosperity and technological convenience on the rise, why are depression, loneliness, opioid addiction, and suicide also rising in certain demographic categories? This book offers surprising answers.
By now we’ve all heard the statistic that 81% of evangelicals voted for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Angela Denker, a former journalist and now Lutheran pastor, goes on the road to try to understand why those who profess the same faith she does voted for a different candidate than she did. She finds that the answers were as diverse as Christians themselves.
The author doesn’t fit our expectation. He is an openly gay, British, conservative who is also an atheist, although he says he is friendly toward Christianity. Murray is unafraid of tackling difficult cultural issues and often does so in a provocative way. The title accurately describes what you can expect to find inside—a critique of identity politics.
I’m a big fan of this author and would eagerly read anything he wrote. His multivolume biography of Lyndon Johnson is insanely good, as is his big book on Robert Moses and the building of NYC. If you’d like to get a taste of Caro’s approach to research and his writing style without committing to thousands of pages, “Working” serves as a great introduction. Here’s my guess: This won’t be the last Caro book you’ll read.
One could say that this book is about the transformation of NYC between the 1920s and 1960s and be both accurate and entirely wrong. This book is about power. It’s about how Robert Moses, an unelected idealist, accumulated and used power, allowing him to be the most influential New Yorker for four decades. It’s about how one man brought great progress and great problems to America’s biggest city.
This book traces the development of anti-American hatred among Islamic radicals and the development of Al-Qaeda through the prisons of Egypt, the countryside of Sudan, and the halls of power in Saudi Arabia. Follow John O’Neil, the FBI’s Counterterrorism Chief as he tries to convince the rest of the government to pay attention to an undetected threat.
Browder tells the story of how during the collapse of the Soviet Union, he saw an economic opportunity to make money in the newly formed Russian economic system. In the process, he encountered a corrupt government led by Vladimir Putin and the oligarchs. It’s when Browder challenged their power that the story turns into a page turner.
The first sentence ranks among the best opening lines in literature: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” What makes Tolstoy so insightful is that he knows the human heart, so he can show not only what a person did, but also why he or she did it. This is a book to take your time with, both because it’s long and because it’s worth pondering.
Both intelligent, Israeli spy thrillers.
This book is a delicious description of what happens to a group of friends when it’s announced a new gifted school is opening. Some have said this book predicted the college admissions scandal.
Occasionally, I read a book that I should have read in high school or college (but didn’t for all the usual reasons) and I never regret it. There are reasons that books are called classics. Steinbeck doesn’t disappoint. This long meditation on life outside of Eden is full of rich characters and interesting plot twists.
Throughout the centuries, the Church has always struggled to figure out how to be at home in a particular culture without becoming captive to that culture. Zahnd believes that the Church in America has become more like America than Jesus. His provocative style calls the Church to self-examination to see whether we are building a kingdom based politics, money, and violence or love, justice, and mercy.
The Church has a mixed record on racial issues. Yes, the abolitionists were predominately Christian, as was much of the civil rights movement. But churches also helped institutionalize racism in the decades of Jim Crow and opposed the same civil rights movement. Christians would do well to learn about the checkered history of the Church so that they can better represent Christ’s love today.
I grouped these together because they are all, broadly speaking, about the same subject: Understanding the biblical storyline. For me, the Bible comes alive the more I grasp the whole story of the Bible instead of just individual verses. Bartholomew lays out the big picture and if this topic is new to you, it’s probably the place to start. Schreiner and Beale each trace a particular theme (Kingdom and Eden respectively) and both are excellent. Perrin is a little more advanced than the others.
Many people think the Gospel is something you believe so you go to heaven when you die. These authors show the good news of the Gospel is more about Jesus returning as the King to reestablish his Kingdom on Earth than it is about getting us off of Earth and into heaven. If you are going to read only one book on this list, make it Gospel Allegiance.
Sometimes, people avoid the Old Testament because they are intimidated by these difficult issues. This book upholds the truthfulness of Scripture while explaining how it fits with what we know from history and science.
Human beings are worshippers. We will either worship God or something else. Zahl shows how we’ve taken God’s good gifts and turned them into ultimate things. Insightful and practical. I promise you’ll see yourself in at least some of these chapters.
This author spoke at The Crossing in October and her writing is as good as her speaking. She answers all of the tough questions thoughtfully and winsomely. This would be a good gift for the person who is open to Christianity but has serious questions.
As an entry in this series of short introductions to a wide variety of topics, Bauckham, a world class scholar, looks at the original sources to examine the person of Jesus, as well as His teaching. Great book to give to an educated skeptic.
First century Rome has a lot in common with 21st century America. There’s a lot we can learn from how the first Christians built the Church, shared God’s love with their world, and changed the Roman Empire.
Consider using some of the books listed above as inspiration for a holiday gift guide, or perhaps add some to your own must-read list for the New Year. And speaking of the New Year, are you focused on setting the right types of goals for 2020? What kinds of goals should those be?
Download your free copy of our eBook, “5 New Year’s Resolutions You Need To Set,” where you’ll be challenged by Keith Simon to consider five resolutions that are designed to change what really matters most: Your heart.