already & not yet

Each year, I set myself a goal of reading one book per week. It’s an ambitious goal and I rarely ever hit the mark. This year I’m finishing with a total of 45 books read. But given the hectic pace of the last year (senior year for the twins, getting them off to college, etc.), I’ll take it. As I said in last year’s post, quality over quantity. And as I look back over the books I’ve read this year, there’s been plenty of quality.

I have given some thought to how I want to approach things in 2024. I’m sure I’ll still be reading plenty of books that are “new” to me, but I also want to devote more time to some of the best books I’ve read over the last 10-15 years. Many of these are somewhat longer books, so I may not hit my mark of one book a week. But we’ll see how it goes. I really feel pulled to re-engage some of those texts I’ve identified as “the best” over the years. (If you want to see a full list of these books, click here.)

Anyway, here are the 10 best books I’ve read this year, with a few honorable mentions at the end.

1. A Testament of Devotion by Thomas R. Kelly. First published in 1941, Kelly’s A Testament of Devotion has been hailed as a spiritual classic. My copy includes a reader testimony hailing it as “the single most helpful written resource for the most important endeavor of my life: practicing God’s presence.” Richard Foster says, “Each time I leaf through the pages of this book, I know I am in the presence of a giant soul.” The word I would use is communion: this little book increased my sense of communion with God. Kelly talks about a life lived from the Center — out of the overflow of a deep and abiding communion with Christ. The key to actualizing this sort of life seems to be our desire, simple as that. Page 93, “Each one of us can live such a life of amazing power and peace and serenity, of integration and confidence and simplified multiplicity, on one condition — that is, if we really want to.” And page after page, Kelly’s description of such a simplified way of being is utterly compelling. Kelly directs us to our interior life, away from the world of busyness competing for our attention every waking hour, toward the cultivation of an inner sanctuary to which we can repeatedly return. I found this book to be full of deep wisdom, pairing the heart of a pastor with the competence of a field guide. Kelly reminds us that God never guides us “into an intolerable scramble of panting feverishness,” — an even more appropriate description of modern life than it was when Kelly first wrote it in 1941. I don’t think we’re conditioned to see our busyness as a sign of spiritual insecurity. More often, it seems we wear our busyness as a badge of self-importance. But I’m drawn to the life of freedom Kelly describes here, a life that is securely grounded in the love of God to such a degree that even the practical realities of my daily “yes” and “no” responses are impacted. I also love the way Kelly encourages us toward holy obedience with the simple admonition: “Begin where you are. Obey now.” I often speak with people who are saddled with so much guilt and self-loathing that their view of themselves has been radically warped. They can’t believe God truly loves them because they don’t even love themselves. But there is such a refreshing sense of grace when someone can say, with love and compassion, “Begin where you are. Seek obedience right now, in this present moment. That will be enough.” To people who are weary and heavy laden, that seems attainable, unlike so much of the religious talk people overhear. At barely 100 pages, A Testament of Devotion likely won’t take long to read. But it’s the kind of book I will be returning to again and again. I highly recommend this book. It’s the best book I’ve read this year.
2. Into the Heart of Romans: A Deep Dive into Paul’s Greatest Letter by N.T. Wright. This book is incredibly rich. Wright delves into a deep study of Romans 8, considered by many to be one of the landmark chapters in the Bible. As one of the leading interpreters of Paul in our day, Wright deftly unpacks the thematic elements of Romans 8, giving readers a sense of Paul’s argument and how it fits within the whole of Romans. This would be a great companion to a deep study of Romans 8. The chapter on Romans 8:28 alone is worth the price of the book. Highly recommended addition to Wright’s growing body of essential works.
3. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann. Grann, the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, returns with the harrowing true story of the crash of the Wager, a British naval vessel in the 1740s. Chasing a Spanish ship filled with treasure around the horn of South America, the Wager wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The Wager tells the story of this crew as they struggle to survive thousands of miles away from home. These sorts of “real life” survival stories are absolutely thrilling and this has quickly become one of my favorite genres. (See 438 Days on my “best books” list from a few years back.) I thought this was a great page-turner.
4. A Life of Alexander Campbell by Douglas A. Foster. As a member of the churches of Christ and the Restoration Movement, I had a general appreciation for Alexander Campbell and his impact as a religious reformer and leader. But Foster’s biography brought the man to life for me. Campbell looms as a man of strong conviction, as a man of confounding inconsistencies, but ultimately, a disciple devoted to the authority of God’s Word and the sovereignty of Jesus Christ.
5. Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading by Eugene Peterson. Peterson has long been one of my favorite authors and I think I read this one several years back. But I pulled it off the shelf this fall in preparation for a spiritual direction program I’ll be a part of next spring. And I was really blown away. Peterson writes that everything in holy scripture is meant to be lived — and I find tremendous wisdom in this claim. The best thing I can say about this book is that it prompted me to pick up my Bible with a sense of hunger and urgent expectation that God would meet me there.
6. Why Believe: A Reasoned Approach to Christianity by Neil Shenvi. This is Shenvi’s first book and he makes the case that the evidence for Christianity is comprehensive and compelling. What sets this book apart from many of the other apologetics texts I’ve read is that Shenvi engages deeply with the work of atheist writers and scholars. I read this one early in the year and I thought it would ultimately rank higher for me. But that says more about the quality of the books on this list than anything else.
7. Resilient: Standing Firm in a Hostile World by David Young. Young looks at the increasing hostility toward the Christian faith here in North America and encourages us to remain firmly committed to our convictions. I read a few other books along these lines this year: Eric Metaxas’s Letter to the American Church and Hold the Line: A Call for Christian Conviction in a Culture of Conformity by Erik Reed (a pastor in my hometown of Lebanon, Tennessee). But Young’s was my favorite, as it not only addressed the cultural pressure we’re feeling as followers of Christ but (more importantly) inspired me toward hope rather than despair.
8. Johnny Cash: The Life by Robert Hillburn. They say you should never meet your heroes. Maybe you also shouldn’t read your hero’s biography. I love Cash. And reading this biography made me love certain aspects of his life even more: his bold faith, his heart for the forsaken, his dedication to his craft. But reading this biography also made me want to punch the guy. But Hillburn pulls no punches and those harder-to-read elements only make this even more of a redemption story. For that, I’m thankful.
9. Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett. I guess I kind of had a thing for shipwreck books this year.
10. Lightbringer by Pierce Brown. This is book six in the Red Rising series, so you can’t really just jump right into this one. But Brown’s series continues to raise the stakes and this might be his finest work yet.

Honorable Mentions:

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer. As you can tell by some of the other entries on my list, I’ve kind of fallen into this niche of disaster literature. Krakauer chronicles the

Tracks of a Fellow Struggler: Living and Growing Through Grief by John R. Claypool. Claypool, a pastor, writes this book based on the sermons he preached during and after his young daughter’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent death. It’s brief, which is by design; there are simply no words for this kind of tragedy. But the words Claypool does use are powerful and wise, grounded in sorrow but alive with hope, too. Recommended for anyone dealing with grief.

The Baseball 100 by Joe Posnanski. A ranking of the top 100 players in MLB history. The numbering is kind of a joke, but there are far less interesting ways to tell the history of my favorite game. A great June / July read as the pennant chase begins to heat up.

Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America by Jared Cohen. A fascinating study of the eight men who assumed the Presidency without being elected to it.