Here are a few of my favorite books from 2019.

1. Holy Bible, God
I read the whole thing cover to cover in 58 days. This was a “reader’s” version which had no chapter or verse numbers, so it read like a story. I was amazed at how that changed the reading experience.

2. The Worship Pastor: A Call to Ministry For Worship Leaders and Teams,
Zac Hicks
Zac Hicks was the speaker at a conference I attended in March. I used his book as a basis for our worship team devotions for the rest of the year. He expanded my understanding of what it means to be a worship leader.

3. Spiritual Rhythm: Being With Jesus Every Season of Your Soul,
Mark Buchanan
I would read anything Mark Buchanan writes, but this topic is near and dear to my heart so I gobbled it up. He used the seasons of the year to connect with the ups and downs of our spiritual lives. As always, he tells great stories while weaving in solid truths.

4. The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows, James Bryan Smith
We all probably have some skewed ideas about God that we’ve picked up along the way. Smith looks at what Jesus had to say about God to help straighten out our misconceptions. After all, “the most important thing about a person is what they think about God.” He is good and beautiful.

5. Upside-Down Spirituality: The 9 Essential Failures of a Faithful Life, Chad Bird
Bird is another really engaging writer that a friend introduced me to this year. He’s an ex-pastor, ex-seminary professor and current truck driver who challenges his readers to continue the upside-down, countercultural way of life that Jesus presented in the gospels.

6. Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus, D. A. Carson
I borrowed this book because of one chapter I wanted to read in preparation for leading our women’s Bible study. Then I read the whole thing. It’s a book of theology for non-theologians like me who just want to better understand the scandalous cross of Christ.

7. Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul,
Hannah Anderson
Another borrowed book from a friend — a community of book lovers is a beautiful thing. I loved the way she used a garden theme to show how to cultivate humility, something sorely lacking in our contemporary culture.

8. Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling and the Mystery of Making, Andrew Peterson
My gold medal book of the year. If you are at all interested in community, creativity, art, and connecting with the Creator, read it. Just read it. Peterson is a gifted writer, songwriter, singer, teacher, publisher, filmmaker and grace-filled lover of beauty. His work is a treasure.

Of the 38 books I read this year, I did manage to squeeze in 12 works of fiction: Dickens, Austen and C. S. Lewis being my favorites.

What were your top reads in 2019?

~She reads books as one would breath air, to fill up and live.~
Annie Dillard

My oldest grandson just turned 7 and he’s starting the magical journey through the “Little House” series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Seeing those books on my shelf bring back memories of long afternoons, reading aloud while the kids colored or played with Legos. Now I read aloud to PB, until I hear soft snores from his side of the bed. Reading aloud is still one of my favorite things to do, especially on days like today.

The 2019 version of “The Long Winter” doesn’t quite measure up to Laura Ingalls’ prairie blizzards that started in October and continued until April. Day after day of forty below temps and snow that piled up to the rooftops created real hardship in the late 1800’s.

If we run out of milk, I can go a few blocks to Kwik-Trip and pick up a gallon.
I don’t worry about getting lost in a whiteout blizzard on my way to the barn.

If the north wind howls, I can flip a switch and turn on the fireplace.
I don’t sit for hours and twist hay into sticks to feed the cookstove.

If the snow piles up, I can start up the snowblower.
(Well, PB can start up the snowblower.)
I don’t have to shovel a path to the outhouse.

If all the businesses in town close, I can survive on what’s in my pantry.
I don’t worry about the supply train and my dwindling tin of flour.

Really, people.
We have it so good.
Snow is an inconvenience, not a threat to our existence.
Look out the window and say a prayer of thanks
that you’re not twisting hay into sticks for cookstove fuel.
Go read chapter 19 of “The Long Winter” this afternoon,
and rejoice.

At the end of the year, I like to go back and look over the list of books I read in the past twelve months. Since 2004, I’ve been keeping a list of the titles of every book I’ve read, reread, or ditched. Here are the five books that meant the most to me in 2018.

1. The Adventures of Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
I’ve seen the movie “Oliver” and can sing “Consider Yourself” with a British cockney accent, but I hadn’t read Dickens until this past year. The old classics make you work hard, but, oh, the reward. The language is deep and rich and weighty. As usual, the book is better than the movie. (Although I did stop to hum “Food, Glorious Food” on page nine.) Dickens’ style is so unique; the chapter titles were sometimes almost as long as the chapters.

Chapter XXXVI: Is a Very Short One, and May Appear of No Great Importance In its Place, But it Should Be Read Notwithstanding, as a Sequel to the Last, and a Key to One That Will Follow When its Time Arrives

I’m glad I didn’t live in Victorian England, but it was a lovely visit and I’ll definitely return to Dickens in 2019.

2. Recapturing the Wonder, by Mike Cosper
I received this book as a birthday gift in 2017, but didn’t get beyond the first few pages before putting it on the shelf. In December of 2018, I picked it up and wondered what was wrong with me before. This is a gem of a book. I learned a valuable lesson — sometimes a book isn’t ready for me and sometimes I’m not ready for it. Books are patient and don’t mind waiting for the right time.

“Life with God is an invitation into a world where most of what makes sense to you crumbles. It’s far richer than you imagined, far less orderly and sensible, and far more mysterious. Like Job, once you begin to see the wonder of it, you find yourself awestruck and, somehow, satisfied.”

3. Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End, by David Gibson
I read this book in preparation for a Bible study on Solomon. I needed help with Ecclesiastes which is fairly dark and pessimistic. Gibson changed my whole perspective on Solomon’s reflection of his wayward life. This book shakes up the current culture’s view of what it means to live “the good life.” Thinking about death is actually supposed to help us pay attention to our limitations as human beings and embrace life as the wondrous gift it is.

“Life is not about the meaning that you can create for your own life, or the meaning that you can find in the universe by all your work and ambitions. You do not find meaning in life simply by finding a partner or having kids or being rich. You find meaning when you realize that God has given you life in his world and any one of those things as a gift to enjoy.”

4. 24/6, by Matthew Sleeth, MD
I read this book a couple years ago, but revisited it while doing research on the Sabbath. Dr. Sleeth makes a strong case for something called rest and literally prescribes a 24 hour break every week in order to maintain physical, mental and spiritual health.

“In the 24/7 world, we ‘pencil’ friends in on the calendar. These loose commitments frequently fail to materialize. We have the best of intentions, but intentions don’t build relationships. Filling in every Sunday on our calendar with ‘FOR THE LORD’ in permanent ink changes our perspective. Honoring a Sabbath every week makes us more committed and serious about our relationship with the Lord. This is even more crucial today, when things travel as fast as the speed of light. God designed us to spend one day a week at the speed of stop.”

5. Beautiful Outlaw: Experiencing the Playful, Disruptive, Extravagant Personality of Jesus, by John Eldredge
This is my gold medal book of the year. I read it in April and I’m still thinking about it. In exploring the personality of Jesus, Eldredge uses words like “fierce”, “scandalous” and “beautiful”. This book helped me step beyond the Sunday-school Jesus that is meek, mild and melancholy. I love the descriptions of Jesus laughing, turning over tables, and grilling fish on the beach for the boys.

“We actually come to think that service for Jesus is friendship with him. That’s like a friend who washes your car and cleans your house but never goes anywhere with you — never comes to dinner, never wants to take a walk. We are meant to love the man himself, know him intimately. First things first. Love Jesus.”

May your reading life in 2019 be especially rich and satisfying!

“There is more treasure in books
than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.”
Walt Disney

In the spotlight are the books I read in November. Reading will slow down for me in December, but I expect to roar into the new year with renewed enthusiasm.

One Summer: America, 1927, by Bill Bryson — I’ve been enthralled by the 1920’s ever since I found my cousin’s diaries and letters written in 1927. Then I found Bryson’s book, which documents some of the significant events of that year: Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic, Babe Ruth’s 60 home runs, the sculpting of Mount Rushmore, the release of “The Jazz Singer” — the first “talkie” — to name a few. Unfortunately, my cousin didn’t make the pages of One Summer, but reading this provided a wonderful backdrop to her preserved memories.

All Things New, by John Eldredge — I listened to the author read a few chapters of this book on his podcast (Conversations with John Eldredge and the Team at Ransomed Heart) and had to read the complete book. Not many non-fiction books can make my heart race with excitement, but Eldredge’s beautiful portrayal of the future new heaven and new earth was thrilling.

Holy Roar, by Darren Whitehead and Chris Tomlin — For our one word “praise”, the Hebrew language has seven words. In this small volume, Whitehead breaks down praise into seven different ways it can be expressed. God enjoys them all. Some of Tomlin’s lyrics are included at the end of each chapter that embody the kind of praise described. I hope in heaven we get to speak Hebrew and Greek. They are such rich languages with layers of meaning and beautiful depth.

I like this chair. I sit in it every morning. It’s a really good reading chair.

Here’s what I’ve been sitting in this chair reading lately.

• The Wild Birds, by Wendell Berry — I thought I had read all of the books in Berry’s Port William series, but lo and behold, there was one more. And it was sitting on the public library shelf eight blocks from my chair. This is a compilation of six stories featuring some of his beloved characters. It’s been really fun to read one author’s works over the course of a year.
• Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading, by Eugene Peterson — Eugene Peterson is the author of The Message version of the Bible, but he’s written a whole slew of other books besides. I liked the idea that reading is an art. I labored through the first few chapters, wondering if I had the brain power to keep up with Peterson’s academic style. Then we started understanding each other and I underlined the daylights out of the rest of the book. I’d like to read more from him in 2018.
• The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah — I picked up this hardcover at a library book sale for $1. Library book sales are the best. This was a historical novel about two sisters living in occupied France during World War II. I learned some things about that time in history, but didn’t really connect with the characters. Instead of getting wrapped up in the story, I was too aware that I was reading a story.

Where is your favorite place to read?

“Ordinary people have big TVs. Extraordinary people have big libraries.”
–Robin Sharma–

See that green thing? It’s an ivy plant — the one and only living green thing in our house. I don’t do plants. They give me anxiety. Yet another thing to take care of. But this guy refuses to die despite my abuse. I do better with books. Here’s what has been on the shelf in September.

• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport — I heard the author of this book on a podcast and was intrigued. He said that people are losing their ability to spend extended periods of time on focused activity. Constantly responding to distractions is reprogramming our brains and robbing us of our capacity for deep work. Newport offers four startling rules to recover from this malady. I’m not going to list them, because then you might not want to read the book. I have implemented one tip: instead of planning my periods of focused work and filling up every other space with distractions (email, Instagram, Facebook, etc.), I schedule my time on social media (half hour in the morning and half hour in the late afternoon) and stay away the rest of the day. I dare you to try it.
• Giants in the Earth, by O. E. Rolvaag — I read this book as a senior in high school. When picking out a read-aloud for PB and myself, I thought this would fit the bill. It’s about Norwegians homesteading in South Dakota in the 1800s. It’s a lot longer than I remembered. After renewing the book twice, I still had to photocopy the last 30 pages so we could finish it. My Norski husband would have been just fine out on the prairie, living in a sod house. I might have gone off the deep end, just like the wife in Rolvaag’s story.
• A Place in Time, by Wendell Berry — Reading this was bittersweet as it is the last title from the pile of the Port William series of books I got for Christmas. I expect to read these again someday. After spending ten months living in the pages of 11 books, the characters are like family. Wendell Berry has renewed in me the love of story.
• The Complete Book of Home Organization, by Toni Hammersley — This book was a feast for the eyes with so many beautiful pictures. I stuck post-it notes on all the pages that had ideas I liked. Then I took off all the post-it notes and returned the book to the library. Sigh. That’s what people used to do before Pinterest.

“I do not want to just read books;
I want to climb inside them and live there.”
~Unknown

One of life’s greatest pleasures is reading outside on a nice summer day. Soon I’ll be taking my reading indoors by a fireplace, which is another one of life’s greatest pleasures. Gosh, there are lots of pleasures in this life. Here’s what has been on the shelf this month:

• The Attentive Life, by Leighton Ford — This book is meant for slow, contemplative digesting. It asks the question, “Why is it important to pay attention?” Then the author walks through different seasons of life using the ancient “prayer hours” from morning to evening. His call to attentiveness helped me ask the questions, “Am I paying attention to what God is doing?” and “Lord, what am I missing?”
• Circuit Chautauqua, by John E. Tapia — I read this book strictly for the sake of research. PB saw me reading it one day and asked, “Do you think I would like that book?” To which I answered, “This book would bore you out of your skull.” DO NOT READ THIS BOOK, unless you had a relative who performed in the 1920s on the Chautauqua tour. If you are wondering, “What is Chautauqua?”, just never mind.
• Teaching to Change Lives: Seven Proven Ways to Make Your Teaching Come Alive, by Howard Hendricks — I loved this. Hendricks writes with the perfect mix of humor, conviction and practical suggestions. I underlined the dickens out of this volume, which is filled with quips like, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks — which is true if you’re teaching dogs, and if you’re teaching tricks. But you and I are not in the business of either one. We’re teaching people, and we’re teaching truth.”
• A World Lost, by Wendell Berry — I’m almost done reading the Port Williams Series with only one title left now. I’m putting off reading it because I don’t want my time with these characters to end. This story is about the passing of time and the power of memory. Although it has a melancholy feel, Berry tells the story with gentleness.
• If You Want to Write, by Brenda Ueland — The big word there is “If”. After being quiet all summer, I know for sure that I do, I do, I do want to write. Some much needed inspiration was in this book to help me kick off the fall and kick me in the pants.

What’s your favorite season for reading?

Summer on the porch, or winter by the fire?