I can’t help but add to the barrage of end of the year lists. Read these works at your own risk. You may mess around and get a paradigm-shift.
The Outsider, Richard Wright
Like Baldwin, Wright left the U.S. for France, and wrote a work, while not as great as his earlier novels, it’s at least as interesting. Wright doesn’t break new ground here: Cross Damon is much like Bigger from Native Son but with an advance degree in philosophy. An engrossing story in a haunting sort of way.
Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry - Hans Boersma
The right book at the right time can change everything. Boersma’s sacramental ontology and theology was that for me. An all-time personal classic.
Reading Scripture with the Great Tradition - Craig Carter
A Baptist cousin to Boersma’s book, Carter writes with depth and passion about the need to return to premodern exegesis for the sake of the Gospel. The preacher and academic in me were dually pleased with this offering. The chapter on Augustine’s reading of the Psalms, and the methodology of “christological literalism” is stellar.
Praying the Bible: An Introduction to Lectio Divina - Mariano Magrassi
A book about the Bible that made me marvel at the wonder of Scripture. Magrassi writes about Scripture sacramentally and historically, so he writes about it beautifully, and at the same time, practically. I now consider this book a personal classic.
Love in the Ruins - Walker Percy
A lasped Catholic invents a tool to diagnose the malaise at the heart of humanity while the American South unravels and Democrats and Republicans try to out-dimwit the other party. Somehow Percy saw in the 1971 what was and what was coming. Even though it was a slog at some points, there were too many revelatory moments to not finish and benefit from Percy’s rollicking work.
Reading for the Love of God: How to Read as a Spiritual Practice - Jessica Hooten Wilson
This was an advance copy, and I expect this book to be make many “best of” lists in 2023. How do we read literature well as Christians? How is reading something we can do for the love of God? Hooten Wilson is a master reader, so it’s no surprise she’s also a master teacher. You can pre-order a copy at the link above.
Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing - Judy Blume
A total read aloud hit with my sons (10 and 8). I devoured Fudge’s antics as a kid and I loved reliving that delight with my boys. Through Peter (and Fudge), Blume captures well what it’s like to be a kid.
Managing Leadership Anxiety - Steve Cuss
A helpful primer on the leadership anxiety for Christian leaders. Cuss knows the quirky and heavy challenges of ministry, which he speaks to from a skilled distillation of family systems and leadership theories from Edwin Friedman and others. I can’t imagine a ministry leader or pastor who would not benefit from this book.