Favorite Books of 2023

The five novels and five non-fiction books I enjoyed most this year

Of the making of booklists, there is no end. Similiar to my posts from 2022 and 2021, here are some of my favorite books I read in 2023.

Fiction

Pachinko, Min Jin Lee (2017)
This is one of the few books that deserves the adjective ‘epic.’ It boasts a killer open sentence. It showcases one of the more compelling portrayals of a Christian pastor in contemporary fiction. The novel portrays powerful universal truths through the particulars of Korean suffering under Japanese rule, demonstrating how the human spirit can endure in the bowels of suffering and oppression. Don’t let the page count scare you; Lee is a master storyteller. The novel doesn’t lag for a second.

Cry, The Beloved Country, Alan Paton (1948)
Another acclaimed novel dealing with people, displacement, and discrimination’s ugly hand—this time in South Africa during apartheid. Father Kumalo is another unforgettable character who reveals the beauty and vice flowing in one mixed stream in the human heart and gushing out in his roles of biological and spiritual father. On the Scandal of Reading podcast, I discussed this novel through the lens of kindness with S.D. Smith — author of the Green Ember series and former resident of South Africa — and the convo was riveting.

Check out this stunning cover. I’d like to get my hands on this version.

The Samurai, Shusaku Endo (1980)
I’ll take Endo over O’Connor, Percy, and JF Powers when it comes to great Christian (read Roman Catholic) novelists. It’s a hot take, but I stand by it, at least for now. Like Silence, The Samurai explores the collision between Christianity and Japanese culture in the 17th century. Where Silence zoomed in on foreign missionaries coming to Japan, The Samurai follows low-ranking Japanese samurai as they accompany missionaries heading to the new world. It’s an unforgettable tale about the scandal of the cross, colonialism, (un)holy ambition, and the haunting specter of belief and unbelief.

The Moviegoer, Walker Percy (1962)
I can’t say I enjoyed reading this novel. But I can say I think about it quite often. Austin Carty and I have a run of episodes discussing why The Moviegoer remains prescient and relevant. Percy perceived something about the contradictory longing of the heart, bottled up that spiritual angst, and poured it out in novelistic form through the characters Binx and Kate. In more than one respect, The Moviegoer is the father to what we think of as the modern American novel. Beware the malaise!

LaRose, Louise Erdrich (2016)
Thank you to Tiffany Kriner for putting this outstanding novel on my radar. LaRose will simultaneously rend and mend your heart. Erdrich spins a tale about a Native American family and the fallout—and preternatural redemption—that occurs when a family friend, while hunting, kills a child. Erdrich’s characters are fully realized and jaggedly complex. LaRose feels like a distant cousin of Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Both novels center on memory, a spectacular, singular child, generational trauma, land, and the surprising possibility of redemption. LaRose took home a few awards, and it shows.

Non-Fiction
(I suggest getting these from the good folks at Hearts and Minds Bookstore)

Liturgical Mission: The Work of the People for the Life of the World, Winfield Bevins (2022)
With the surge of interest in liturgy among evangelicals, Bevins explains that liturgy is mission-centric. Bevins—an experienced church planter and seminary professor — draws from a wide-range of sources to paint a beautiful portrait of the church’s worship and how liturgical worship powerfully fuels mission in word and deed.

Jesus Through Medieval Eyes: Beholding Christ with the Artists, Mystics, and Theologians of the Middle Ages, Grace Hamman (2023)
This book is delightful in both style and substance. Here’s what I wrote for my endorsement: “In Jesus through Medieval Eyes, Grace Hamman offers an absorbing and accessible work of Christian retrieval, guiding readers back to the delightfully distinct treasures of medieval Christianity. With erudition and devotional care, Hamman guides us toward the radiant goodness of Christ--a goodness best beheld when we gaze upon him from a vantage point beyond our own. Whether 'medieval' as a modifier to 'Christianity' makes you sing with joy, hum with curiosity, or shriek with fear, humble readers will find this book an intellectual and spiritual feast.”

How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South, Esau McCaulley (2023)
This book deserves all the acclaim it’s received. McCaulley writes with tremendous skill, honestly and mercifully exploring his family’s story with an eye for grace and dignity, making it near impossible to read this memoir without praising the God who makes a way out of no way.

In Thought, Word, and Seed: Reckonings from a Midwest Farm, Tiffany Kriner (2023)
I bet you’ve never read anything like this. It’s a real gem. Here’s the endorsement I wrote: “Few writers can pull off the range, insight, and depth found in this book. Tiffany Kriner's voice and musings are vulnerable and perceptive, erudite yet conversational. With humane reflections that reckon with James Baldwin's haunting voice and the paradoxes and travails of academia, family, and farming, this book is genuinely remarkable and gloriously undefinable. Consider it a seed that will bear life-giving fruit in all who, with patience, attend to its pages."

Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation, Collin Hansen (2023)
When I learned of Keller’s death, I was at my diocese’s Gospel and Culture event. How fitting. The intersection of gospel and culture was the sweet spot of Keller’s incredible ministry. During evening prayer, we prayed for Keller and his family, and many of us held back tears. I would not have spent the last 12 years of my life (and counting) engaged in church planting without Keller’s influence. It’s no surprise then that I took tremendous delight in reading about Keller’s influences.

To read Hansen’s work is to re-encounter Keller, not as a singular figure, but as a person in process, molded and formed by the gospel. Readers are accustomed to hearing Keller articulate the gospel powerfully, but Hansen demonstrates how Keller encountered the gospel personally. While the biography traces Keller’s influences through family, institutions, and critical friendships, the vital influence of Keller’s life is the same one who stood at the center of his preaching: Jesus Christ.