While I’m reporting on my book lists from last year, here are few more highlights from a really solid year of reading:
Intellect of the Year - Dorothy L. Sayers
Last month, I finished the last two volumes of her letters (right up to her death in 1957), and I must say that I will miss her. Sayers was a genius whose mind was alive with scholarship, passion, precision, humor, and Christian truth. Her wide-ranging writing (children’s literature, detective fiction, humourous plays, dogmatical pageants, poetic translations) was incredibly prodigious and insightful. I’m so glad to have come to know her.
Thanks to the National Portrait Society for permission to use this image.
Audiobooks: Harrowing, Hilarious, and Historical
I’m more of a “podcast guy” than a “full audiobook guy,” but I really enjoyed imbibing several books this way in 2024, especially How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key. If “enjoyed” is the right word to describe the almost visceral experience of listening to Key tell the harrowing story of his marriage? It’s 100% funny, 100% scary, 100% bonkers, and 100% profound. [Read Brett McCracken's take at The Gospel Coalition.]
I also relished a deep dive into the history of Marvel Comics in Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe, learned a lot about Christian rock and roll (for good and ill) in Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? by Gregory Alan Thornbury, and stayed enthralled by the offbeat story-spinning of Charles Portis in The Dog of the South.
Inspector Joseph French
In 2024, I continued my attempt to consume all of the “Inspector French” novels of Freeman Wills Crofts. By my count, I read 9 of them this year.
Joseph French is a chief inspector with Scotland Yard, and he does yeoman’s work as a detective. He always goes to painstaking lengths to break an alibi, to get to the bottom of things, and to bring his man to justice. They are not always exciting adventures because good police work is often repetitive and routine. But the plots are often ingenious and the endings are always satisfying.
A New Book by My Favorite Living Novelist
To be honest, while I was happy to be reading the newest Enger novel, I didn’t really know how to access it. I couldn’t quite figure out what the genre was or how the dystopian world worked in the story he was telling. A sui generis genre is exciting to encounter but unfamiliarity can breed confusion.
After I read it, I listened to a great interview Enger did with Jonathan Rogers at the Habit Podcast where he explained more of the backstory of and inspirational sources for I Cheerfully Refuse including its many allusions to the saga of Orpheus.
I’ll understand it better next time around.
Perhaps the best part of reading I Cheerfully Refuse was how it reminded me how much I love Enger’s writing and propelled me to re-read and delight in all three of his previous novels.
Bonus: Do yourself a favor and listen to this talk by Leif Enger on reading for pleasure.
Welcome to 2025, another year of adventures with books!
