Thursday, December 31, 2009

The Books of 2009

It was a very good year for reading.  On top of reading the Bible all the way through, I finished Calvin's Institutes, and found time to squeeze in more than a hundred other books (the best I've done since the kids came along).  Praise God!

[And remember, just because I read it, doesn't mean that I recommend it!]

Books Completed in 2009:

1.  Enger, Leif  So Brave, Young, and Handsome (2 Times!)

2.  Graham, L.B.  Father of Dragons

3.  Hockett, Betty  Catching Their Talk in a Box

4.  Graham, L.B.  All My Holy Mountain  

5.  Lewis, C.S.  Prince Caspian    

6.  DeJong, Meindert  The Wheel on the School

7.  Obama, Barack  Dreams From My Father

8.  Lewis, C.S.  The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

9.  Baker, Betty  Walk the World’s Rim

10.  Obama, Barack  The Audacity of Hope

11.  Mahaney, C.J. (ed)  Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World

12.  Enger, Leif  Peace Like a River

13.  Nichols, Stephen  Jesus Made in America

14.  Clark, Ann Nolan  Secret of the Andes

15.  Sailer, Don  Reclaiming the Two Books of God

16.  Blomberg, Craig & Sung Wook Chung  A Case for Historic Premillennialism

17.  Anyabwile, Thabiti  What Is a Healthy Church Member?

18.  Speare, Elizabeth George  The Sign of the Beaver

19.  Wiersbe, Warren  Be Strong

20.  Hughes, R. Kent  Living on the Cutting Edge

21.  Boice, James Montgomery  Joshua: An Expositional Commentary

22.  Hess, Richard S.  Joshua: An Introduction & Commentary

23.  Howard Jr., David M.  Joshua: The New American Commentary, Vol. 5

24.  Merkle, Benjamin  40 Questions About Elders and Deacons

25.  Lewis, C.S.  The Silver Chair

26.  Herriot, James  James Herriot’s Treasury for Christian

27.  Gannett, Ruth Stiles  My Father’s Dragon

28.  Estes, Eleanor  The Hundred Dresses

29.  Sauer, Julia  The Light at Tern Rock

30.  Davidson, Margaret  Five True Dog Stories

31.  Wells, David  No Place for Truth

32.  Peter, Ellis  The Knocker on Death’s Door

33.  Lewis, C.S.  The Horse and His Boy

34.  Carlson, Natalie Savage  The Family Under the Bridge

35.  Bishop, Claire Huchet  Twenty and Ten

36.  Li, Charlene and Josh Bernoff Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies  [Review.]

37.  Carson, D.A.  Christ and Culture Revisited

38.  Sayers, Dorothy  The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

39.  Peters, Ellis  The Sanctuary Sparrow

40.  Peters, Ellis  The Rose Rent

41.  Peters, Ellis  A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs

42.  Peters, Ellis  The Piper on the Mountain

43.  Morley, Patrick  How to Survive the Economic Meltdown

44.  Meier, Scott T. & Susan R. Davis  The Elements of Counseling

45.  Rosner, Brian  Beyond Greed

46.  James, Steven  Story: Recapture the Mystery

47.  Wells, Rosemary  Mary on Horseback

48.  McIntosh, Gary L.  Beyond the First Visit

49.  Grover, Wayne  Dolphin Treasure

50.  Miller, C. John  The Heart of a Servant Leader: Letters from Jack Miller

51.  Lofting, Hugh  The Story of Doctor Dolittle

52.  Slone, Jason D.  Theological Incorrectness: Why Religious People Believe What They Shouldn’t

53.  Richards, Jay  Money, Greed, and God

54.  Barry, Dave  Dave Barry’s Greatest Hits

55.  Blomberg, Craig  Neither Poverty nor Riches

56.  Yalom, Irvin  Love’s Executioner & Other Tales of Psychotherapy

57.  Powlison, David  Competent to Counsel?

58.  Horn, Dana  All Other Nights

59.  McInerny, Ralph  Rest in Pieces

60.  Crotts, John  Craftsmen

61.  Peters, Ellis  Rainbow’s End

62.  Carter, Stephen  Jericho’s Fall

63.  Peters, Ellis  Ransom for a Dead Man

64.  IcInerny, Ralph  Cardinal Offense

65.  Galea, Ray  Nothing In My Hand I Bring

66.  Horne, Rick  Get Outta My Face

67.  Ohrman, Paul  Living to Serve

68.  Milne, A.A.  The House at Pooh Corner

69.  Baum, L. Frank  The Wizard of Oz

70.  Robinson, Marilynne  Gilead

71.  Miller, Paul & Barbara Juliani  Come Back, Barbara

72.  Peters, Ellis  St. Peter’s Fair

73.  Forbes, Esther  Johnny Tremain

74.  Brauns, Chris  Unpacking Forgiveness

75.  Lewis, C.S.  The Magicians Nephew

76.  Peters, Ellis  The House of Green Turf

77.  Grahame, Kenneth  The Wind in the Willows

78.  Brady, Esther Wood  Tolliver’s Secret

79.  Jenkins, Jerry  Riven

80.  Sayers, Dorothy  Busman’s Honeymoon

81.  Seldon, George  Tucker’s Countryside

82.  Peters, Ellis  The Confession of Brother Haluin

83.  McManus, Patrick  A Fine and Pleasant Misery

84.  Calvin, John  Institutes of the Christian Religion

85.  O’Brian, Patrick  Master and Commander

86.  Latham, Jean Lee  Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

87.  O’Brian, Patrick  Post Captain

88.  Camery-Hoggatt, Jerry  Grapevine

89.  O’Brian, Patrick  H.M.S. Surprise

90.  Spencer, William & Aida and Steve & Celestia Tracy  Marriage at the Crossroads

91.  Strauch, Alexander  Leading with Love

92.  Carson, D.A.  For the Love of God (Vol 1)

93.  Williamson, G.I.  The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes

94.  Miller, Paul  Love Walked Among Us  [Review]

95.  Sayers, Dorothy  Murder Must Advertise

96.  Strauch, Alexander  Love or Die

97.  O’Brian, Patrick  The Mauritius Command

98.  Ensor, John  The Great Work of the Gospel

99.  Keane, Christopher (ed.)  What Some Of You Were

100.  Dever, Mark  The Gospel and Personal Evangelism

101.  Batchelor, Mary  The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories

102.  Abbaté, Michael  Gardening Eden

103.  Whalen Turner, Megan  The Thief

104.  The Holy Bible, ESV  (Robert Murray McCheyne Reading Plan)

Previous Lists:

2008 (first half, second half)

2007 (first half, second half)

2006 (first half, second half)

2005 (first half, second half)

8 comments:

Many books...much study...

Impressed that you even keep a list let alone read that many! Question - Which 5 (other than the Bible) do you recommend and why?

It is impressive. What motivates you to keep a list and post it?

@ Dan:

You humble me. I'm glad that you are my friend and reading buddy.

Looking forward to downing some books with you this year--especially Pilgrim's Progress.

@ Gino,

Wow. Limiting it to 5 is really hard. I don't recommend them all--for
example Marriage at the Crossroads has some really neat features
to it, but I didn't think it was a great book overall.

But let me pick 5 categories to give a recommendation on:

1. For fiction, if you like fantasy at all, I really enjoyed reading
the Binding
of the Blade

series by LB Graham.

They combine a biblical world view with action, adventure, and a cool
fantasy world.

(I have a hard time not mentioning my favorite Lord
Peter Wimsey novels
, but I won't.)

2. Neither Poverty Nor Riches is the best book I've ever read on
money, and I read a
lot of them
this Summer. I'm not good with money--either
conceptually or financially, and this was not a practical book but very
biblicaly helpful for getting the balance right.

3. I preached through the
book of Joshua
in 2009, and the best commentary was by my former
professor, David Howard. It was in the New American Commentary series.
It combined scholarly attention to detail, form, function, words,
structure, and so on with heartfelt piety and application. Highly
recommended.

4. Chris Braun's Unpacking Forgiveness was the freshest piece of
biblical wisdom material that I had read in some time. It takes the
biblical data about forgiveness, systematizes it without doing damage to
any of the pieces, and then applies it to life--including the hardest
cases
. It brings clarity to a very murky subject in even Christian
circles.

I also got a free copy from Chris just because he's that kind of a guy!
Thanks, Chris!

5. I guess I'll pick Calvin's
Institutes
as my fifth one for
the reasons I gave when I finished it
.

There are a lot of others that I would recommend, though. It was a good
year for reading!

Thanks for asking, Gino!

@ Matt,

Thanks for your question about motivation for keeping and posting.

I'm working on a post about that.

Gotta write a sermon right now, but hope to get back to it soon.