I finished 11 books in November for a total of 64 so far this year so it was an excellent month in the stacks!
Lead by Paul David Tripp is a book I have been discussing with a group of guys from my church. It strikes that delicate balance between deeply convicting and encouraging. Tripp pulls no punches and some of them land squarely in your gut, but then he is quick to point you to the glorious truth of the gospel. It’s like every page is shouting, “Yes, you really are a mess! And Jesus loves you and desires to work through you in the church.” As we have discussed this book, there have been some tears and a deeper desire to stay close to Jesus as we work to serve His people. This book is going on my annual reading list.
Spiritual Direction for the Care of Souls edited by Gary Moon was more academic than I anticipated and I got a lot out of it. This book covers the major traditions like Catholic, Orthodox, Methodist, Reformed, and Pentecostal and explores how they approach the ministry of spiritual direction in soul care. Each chapter provides an overview of that tradition’s approach, highlights some practices within the approach, and discusses its interactions with psychotherapy. It was an interesting read and while a couple of the approaches aligned far more with my theology, there were others that resonated with me at least in part and I was grateful to learn from them.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I cannot believe I’ve never read this before! I think it must be because I approached it with a child’s mind of, “This is going to be dull!” It was anything but. I was moved to tears when I read about the redemption of Scrooge and the clear and immediate evidence of his transformation and how the joy he experienced was only made complete when it was shared with others. All Biblical stuff. I read this one for book club but I am adding it to my list to read each December.
Hideki Smith and the Omukade. Welcome back to Portersville, the sleepy town in the mountains of North Carolina and home to Hideki Smith and his sister Em, and to a prison under a mountain filled with monsters from Japanese folklore. Oh, and some have escaped!
A.J. Hartley brings us back to the heroics of the “loser” Hideki, his newly discovered powers, and his sister’s ability to transform herself into a fox as they are once again called upon to perform the thankless job of saving the lives of everyone they know!
I enjoyed the first book in this series and this one is even better. Hartley is able to do more with the cast of interesting characters he established in Hideki Smith: Demon Queller, and the writing itself feels richer and deeper and even personal. Not just for Hartley, but for us as readers too. We know these people. We ARE these people.
This is not just an adventure story with battles, monsters, magical beings, mystery, thrills, and quite a few chills. And it has plenty of that.
It is also a story about love and family and rejection and loss and community and connection and trying to figure out who you are and where you fit in and all the things that make up rich, full, and challenging lives.
Don’t be surprised if you lose some sleep staying up reading this and don’t be surprised if you laugh out loud, shed a few tears, and even shout in triumph and terror.
This is a “just one more chapter” page-turner of a book. It’s one you can get lost in and it’s one you’re thinking about days after you’re done.
The Steadfast Love of God by Sam Storms was not what I was hoping for and I think that may warp my opinion a bit. It read like a series of transcribed sermons, which is fine, but I am used to far more theological meat from Storm’s books. This one was more pastoral. There are a few chapters where I have massive amounts of underlined passages and others that looked like I skipped over them.
Foster by Claire Keegan was fantastic. I read this one for book club and have fallen in love with Keegan’s writing. I will faithfully read everything she writes for as long she practices her craft. The depth she can go to with such economy of words is a massive gift that so few possess. And it seems to me that her writing is crafted with a love for language and story and for her readers. Keegan is the kind of writer you celebrate.
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is another one I loved for all the reasons I loved FOSTER and more besides. There is a weight to this book and it grows on you as the story advances. You can feel an inevitability in it. You know it is working toward an ending that you will carry away with you. I am going to read this again. In fact, I am going to study it. Keegan’s writing is a master class in craft.
The Singer Trilogy by Calvin Miller is collection of poetry in the tradition of C.S. Lewis, or so the book blurb goes. I can see how it was inspired by Lewis, but this is something different. The trilogy is a retelling of the New Testament with the first volume being about Jesus, the second is about the growth of the church, and the third is about the end of all things. It felt a little heavy handed in places and in others there was far more depth. I don’t know if I would call this “good” but it was interesting. And I enjoyed the art work.
The Songs of Jesus by Timothy Keller is a year-long devotional through the Psalms, in which Keller constantly points to Jesus, which of course, I loved.
On the TBR Stack
Here is what I am reading as I finish out the year:
- On the Incarnation by Saint Athanasius
- Multiply by Francis Chan
- The Last Gunfight by Jeff Guin
- The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
- The Affections of Christ Jesus by Nijay Gupta
- The Complete Short Stories by Flannery O’Connor
- Letters and Papers from Prison by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (this will probably carry over into January)
- The Complete Poems by Langston Hughes (ditto on this one)
Joseph McBee 