Reading List 2024
My first post of each new year always contains the list of books I read the previous year. If you’d like to see the previous posts, you can do so here: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Mostly I do this for accountability. But I also know a few other book nerds who enjoy these sorts of posts. For what it’s worth, using my Excel spreadsheet it seems my total from 2013–2024 includes 804 books and 209,316 pages. But who’s counting?
I guess I am.
In these posts I typically offer a few myopic comments that, I hope, offer some color to what would otherwise be a boring list. I figure some discussion is better than none, even if I end up ignoring stuff a few people might have considered more important.
I’ll start by mentioning Harrison Scott Key and his memoirs. I have three of his memoirs on the list, the gateway book being his most recent and seemingly most widely read book, How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told. I have to give a spoiler alert and trigger warning in case you venture to read the book: he writes about his wife’s affair and portrays the agony in vivid, raw descriptions. While I liked the book, I struggled with it for several reasons. The language is a bit rough in some places and pretty sarcastic in other places—even though I understand why both the curse words and sarcasm are authentic to the author and his experience. But the deeper reason I struggled with the book is that it maps too closely with a real-time situation I know about in a church—and even though the book ultimately offers more hope than despair and exalts the importance of real, Christian community, the proximity to reality made it hard to read.
Moving on, a good friend of mine encouraged me to read two Wendell Berry books about the people who belong to the fictitious town of Port William (Hannah Coulter and The Memory of Old Jack). I’d only read Jaber Crow before when we read it for a church book club, but that was almost ten years ago. If time allowed, I’d read all the novels and short stories about the Port William membership, as it’s called. Maybe someday there will be time. (Thank you, Joe, for suggesting these books and the heartfelt discussions of them.)
There’s been lots of appreciative buzz in my pastor circles about The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt, which is sort of strange that the book is getting this kind of reception among Christian pastors because Haidt is an atheist. But he’s a strange atheist; he’s warm to religion, even evangelical Christianity, in a way that strikes me as both wonderful and odd. In the book, Haidt persuasively argues that two trends are causing massive problems, namely, overparenting in the real world and a lack of parenting and oversight in the online world. These problems manifest themselves in especially disturbing ways among those who became teenagers after 2010 and the advent of the smartphone. At alarming rates, young girls increasingly tend toward depression and suicide, while young boys tend toward porn and passivity. I encourage you to read the book. His common-sense applications in light of these trends seem sensible and wise (for example, no smartphones or social media for people under the age of sixteen). Someday in the not-too-distant future, I believe we’ll view ubiquitous smartphone usage the way we now view smoking on airplanes.
As has been the case a few times in previous years, I wrote several of the books on my reading list. And this year, all the ones on the list written by me are currently unpublished—and maybe always will be. The first unpublished book I’m calling The Author as Abram: Writing to the Land God Will Show Us (A Memoirish Essay to Encourage Christian Writers). In this book I tell the story of how I became a writer, despite the fact that when I was in high school I hated both reading and writing. (It’s one of the reasons I chose mechanical and aerospace engineering as my college major. I figured I wouldn’t have to read as much.) I really love this book project, even though it’s gotten mixed reviews from the handful of people who have seen early drafts. Not sure if I can fix that or if it is anything that necessarily has to be fixed. I’m currently thinking I’ll self-publish it sometime in 2027. That’s highly subject to change. Right now, it sits at 50k words. The second unpublished book on the list that I wrote is Fire Hammer Rain: Reflections on the Life of the Word of God in the Life of the Preacher. Basically this is a diary of what I’m learning and experiencing as a preacher. I hope many years from now I’ll write more about preaching that will be published, so I’m starting to collect thoughts now.
Toward the end of the year, I started the research phase for my current book project, a book about the return of Christ, so you’ll see some books with that theme toward the bottom of the list. (The lists always go in chronological order of when I read each book, by the way.) The working title is The Last Shall Be First: How the Return of Christ Makes Everything Sad Untrue. My hope is that it will encourage Christians, especially those suffering. The book will be my first traditionally published book. It’s scheduled to be released with Baker Books in the summer of 2026. The first draft of the manuscript is due May 1 of this year, so I’ll be busy finishing that in the spring. Among the books on the topic that I’ve read so far, a clear standout is Chris Davis’s book Bright Hope for Tomorrow: How Anticipating Jesus’ Return Gives Strength for Today. His book is so good. I hope I can write something half as helpful.
One final book I’d love to mention. It’s called Broken but Beautiful: Reflections on the Blessings of the Local Church. This book comes out with Gospel-Centered Discipleship in just a few weeks . . . and I’m the general editor! I’m really happy with it. I’ll say more about the book when it launches, but it’s some of the best writing we had on our website about the local church.
Okay, the end.
Did you have any favorites from last year? Let me know in the comments below.
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Books per Year
Pages per Year
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In order of completion, this year I read . . .
The Author as Abram: Writing to the Land God Will Show Us (currently unpublished) by Benjamin Vrbicek (160 pages)
Murder Your Darlings by Roy Peter Clark (352 pages)
Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic by David Epstein (368 pages)
Evangelicals Incorporated: Books and the Business of Religion in America by Daniel Vaca (336 pages)
Can Women Be Pastors? (Church Questions) by Greg Gilbert (64 pages)
Be True to Yourself by Matt Fuller (192 pages)
Male and Female He Created Them: A Study on Gender, Sexuality, & Marriage by Denny Burk, Colin Smothers, and David Closson (136 pages)
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown (304 pages)
How God Sees Women: The End of Patriarchy by Terran Williams (400 pages)
The Blueprint of Grace: Seeing and Submitting to God’s Design for Sanctification by Robert Allen (122 pages)
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (288 pages)
Bright Hope for Tomorrow: How Anticipating Jesus’ Return Gives Strength for Today by Chris Davis (240 pages)
The Bible: Romans to Revelation, Part 6 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age by Samuel James (208 pages)
Why Should I Be Baptized? (Church Questions) by Bobby James (64 pages)
How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told by Harrison Scott Key (320 pages)
The World’s Largest Man: A Memoir by Harrison Scott Key (368 pages)
The Preacher’s Portrait: Five New Testament Word Studies by John Stott (119 pages)
Congratulations, Who Are You Again?: A Memoir by Harrison Scott Key (368 pages)
The Bible: Genesis to Deuteronomy, Part 1 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Watership Down by Richard Adams (640 pages)
The Art of Stability: How Staying Present Changes Everything by Rusty McKie (155 pages)
Leadership and Emotional Sabotage: Resisting the Anxiety That Will Wreck Your Family, Destroy Your Church, and Ruin the World by Joe Rigney (120 pages)
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry (190 pages)
Finish Line Leadership: Setting the Pace in Following Jesus by Dave Kraft (224 pages)
The Author as Abram: Writing to the Land God Will Show Us (currently unpublished) by Benjamin Vrbicek (160 pages)
The Bible: Joshua to Esther, Part 2 of 6 by God (300 pages)
The Memory of Old Jack (Port William) by Wendell Berry (176 pages)
Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson (352 pages)
Church Planter: Nine Essentials for Being Faithful and Effective by Tony Merdia (194 pages)
The Bible: Psalms to Song of Solomon, Part 3 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover (368 pages)
Bright Hope for Tomorrow: How Anticipating Jesus’ Return Gives Strength for Today by Chris Davis (240 pages)
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (304 pages)
Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination by Eugene Peterson (224 pages)
Always Longing: Discovering the Joy of Heaven by Stephen R. Morefield (162 pages)
Heavenward: How Eternity Can Change Your Life on Earth by Cameron Cole (200 pages)
From a High Mountain: 31 Reflections on the Character and Comfort of God by Timothy M. Shorey (157 pages)
Are We Living in the Last Days?: Four Views of the Hope We Share about Revelation and Christ’s Return by Bryan Chapell (256 pages)
Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today by John Stott (320 pages)
The Bible: Isaiah to Malachi, Part 4 of 6 by God (300 pages)
Fire Hammer Rain: Reflections on the Life of the Word of God in the Life of the Preacher (unpublished) by Benjamin Vrbicek (150 pages)
Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Second Coming of Christ by John Piper (304 pages)
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt (400 pages)
The Great DeChurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? by Jim Davis, Michael Graham, and Ryan P. Burge (272 pages)
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright (352 pages)
Blessed: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Revelation by Nancy Guthrie (272 pages)
The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery by Ross Douthat (224 pages)
How Will the World End? by Jeramie Rinne (96 pages)
Heaven on Earth: What the Bible Teaches about Life to Come by Derek W. H. Thomas (112 pages)
Eternity Changes Everything by Stephen Witmer (128 pages)
Not Home Yet: How the Renewal of the Earth Fits into God’s Plan for the World by Ian K. Smith (176 pages)
Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality by Nancy R. Pearcey (336 pages)
How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home by Derek W. H. Thomas (157 pages)
The Bible: Matthew to Acts, Part 5 of 6 by God (300 pages)