The Quest for 100 Books In a Year (Round 2)

 

Another year has come to a close, and with that, it's time for my end-of-the-year review.  From the two pictures, as far you know, I sat all year in the same spot and read, just letting the beard grow long and lush. Who's to say that didn't happen?

Before last year, the most books I'd read in a year was 26.  But, with some sort of new combination of grit and moxy (and no social life), I tallied 100 in 2019.  Like the first four-minute mile, my eyes were opened to my own capabilities and I decided to go for 100 again in 2020.  

Here's a bit of recap and analysis of those reads.

Top 5 Overall Favorite Reads of the Year

1. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah- This book is just fantastic.  Kristin Hannah sweeps you into this story emotionally and takes you into the depths of feelings associated with WW2.  As I said in my original review, the war-torn emotions are unbearably palpable.

2. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer - A very niche book about the brain's capabilities and memory competitions in the U.S and Europe.  His writing is rich and the memory palace technique is fascinating.

3. On the Road with Saint Augustine by James K.A. Smith - I have liked James K.A. Smith for a while now, so naturally picking up his most recent book was an easy decision.  This is one of his best, in my opinion, combining church history analysis with great philosophical prose and diction.

4. The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister - This was one of the most beautiful stories I read all year (along with The Nightinggale, of course).  Her descriptions of the scenery through the sense of smell was unique and captivating.

5. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - A fiction that reads like a non-fiction teaches you so much about the world.  As I said in my review, Hosseini put clarity and poignancy to the Afghan honor and shame culture.

Top 3 Couldn't-Put-Down Page Turners

1. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

2. The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff

3. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Top 3 Books That Changed My Perspective

1. The Lucky Few by Heather Avis

2. Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America by Chris Arnade

3. Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma

Top 3 Christian Teaching Books

1. Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortland

2. Born Again This Way by Rachel Gilson

3. Disability and the Gospel by Michael S. Beates

Top 3 Most Fascinating Memoirs

1. The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger

2. The Adventurer's Son by Roman Dial

3. A Promised Land by Barack Obama

Top 3 Most Gripping Non-Fiction

1. The Last Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff

2. In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

3. The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton

Top 3 Books I Should Have Stopped Reading

1. Paper Lion: Confessions of a Last-String Quarterback by George Plimpton

2. Pirate by Clive Cussler and Robin Burcell

3. The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward

Top 3 Fun and Light-hearted Reads

1. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Sample

2. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

3. Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

And, with that, another year has come to a close.  As I reflect back on my 2020 reads--a year full of processing a new child with a rare genetic syndrome, a pandemic that raged across the world, and lots of time at home trying to live in the chaos that is 3-kid life--I find that I gravitated toward both fiction and non-fiction fairly equally.  The fiction helped me escape challenging life around me, and the non-fiction helped me to learn and dream vicariously through others' stories. 

Last year I ended on a Bill Gates kick, having watched the Inside Bill's Brain documentary on Netflix. And, again this year, I conspicuously find myself ending the year on a Bill Gates kick, just recently discovering and listening to the Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions Podcast.  Bill, the offer still stands, if you'd like to go hangout together, read and discuss books, and drink Diet Coke together, hmu.

100 Books In a Year

This year I set a goal to grow as a reader. I committed to reading 35 books at the beginning of the year, which felt like a stretch since the most I'd ever read in a year was 26. I read 6 books the first week of January, after which a crazy idea plopped in my head. What if I read 100 books in a year? That would be a book every 3.5 days.  

Alongside this idea came a commitment to grow in my life by reducing. To be honest, I had begun hating the chatter of our current digital age, notification after notification bombarding me on my smartphone. I deleted all social media apps, stopped being active on them, and took off any and every app possible to create a dumbphone out of my smartphone. I also minimized watching so many sports and shows in my life.

To get to 100 books was really challenging, and if I'm honest, I probably minimized relationships a little too much to accomplish my goal; which is to say, I'm still growing and need to not completely value reading and introverted time over developing friendships and getting out there and being social.

My friends became my books this year, for better or worse.  Above is a picture of us all hanging out, having a good time together.

And with that, here is a bit of analysis of my year of reading 100 books:

Top 5 Overall Favorite Reads of the Year

1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - This book was absolutely delightful. Let the slow pace and beauty take you along a ride, and try to not read it too fast.

2. Confronting Christianity by Rebecca McLaughlin - An apologetic book for the ages. This is now my go-to book to give someone wrestling with truth and religion. As I said in my review, it is intellectually sharp, historically rooted, scientifically grounded, theologically sound, and persuasively argued.

3. The Cubs Way by Tom Verducci - The Cubs won the 2016 World Series and Verducci engagingly chronicles the journey it took the Cubs organization to get there and all the details of each of the 7 games of the now-famed World Series.

4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - As I said in my review, this book took my breathe away with its suspense and unknown darkness. I literally took a breathe after reading it because I really hadn't for 200 pages, so gripped by the story. I'm also captivated by any father-son relationship and this story has a great one.

5. The Geography of Genius by Eric Weiner - I really connected to this book on a motivational level. There was just something fascinating about the history of the most innovative places and times of our history as mankind. It made me feel the insignificance of an ordinary life compared to the innovative genius of the Da Vincis and Newtons.

Top 3 Couldn't-Put-Down Page Turners

1. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

2. Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftin

3. American Kingpin by Nick Bilton

Top 3 Books That Changed My Perspective

1. On Writing by Stephen King - King's book is eye opening to how hard it is to make it as a writer.

2. Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef - If you have doubts about God being able to change the heart of any man or woman that seems too far from Him, this book should help correct those doubts in a really helpful way.

3. Them by Ben Sasse - Sasse showed me a slight, albeit ever-so-slight, glimmer that politics can be used for the good of mankind and the dignity of life.

Top 3 Christian Teaching Books

1. Confronting Christianity by Rebecca McLaughlin

2. A Little Book on the Christian Life by John Calvin

3. 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You by Tony Reinke

Top 3 Most Fascinating Memoirs

1. Educated by Tara Westover

2. The Speechwriter by Barton Swaim - So wonderfully deadpan and witty.

3. The Faith of Christopher Hitchens by Larry Taunton

Top 3 Best Investigative Biographies

1. Bad Blood by John Carryrou - Being in the hospital with our newborn recently and seeing the importance of accurate blood labs made this book all the more harrowing looking back.

2. Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

3. The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel - Weird and quirky in all the right ways.

Top 3 Should Have Stopped Reading Books

1. The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho

2. Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks

3. Paris In Love by Eloisa James

Top 3 Fun and Lighthearted Reads

1. I'll Have What She's Having by Erin Carlson

2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

3. I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel

Anne Bogel's book is a good book to end on because her title pretty much describes my existence this last year. And with that, I better get back to reading (while maintaining friendships, hopefully). If you've read this far, thanks for being a Goodreads friend of mine--a community of people I know and don't know (Bill Gates being in that list even) that I've truly grown to love this last year. 

Bill, if you are reading this, could we hangout sometime and just silently read together and then maybe talk a bit? I'll bring the Diet Coke!
___________

My Original Where the Crawdads Sing Review: A book that eventually won me over with its slow and steady beauty. At times it was slowly majestic, and at others, breathtakingly tragic. I found myself learning cultural insights that I never thought possible through a fictional murder mystery.

Bringing the Beard Back

Death by Love: Letters from the Cross

As I began reading this book, it quickly became apparent to me that Driscoll's writing style is much more pastoral than I would have expected. This book, heavily due to that fact, quickly became one of my favorite books long before I finished the last page. The combination of cross-centered theology and practical application of the gospel is far unmatched by any other book I've read. In fact, Driscoll is so real and caring for those he is ministering to, both inside and outside of the book, that you get a real taste for his heart as a pastor. His minister's heart, interwoven through the text of this book, is one thing I came to really respect.

The book consists of twelve letters written to twelve individuals, meant to witness gospel truths to ways they have sinned, been sinned against, or both. For example, in one letter written to a man named David, a man who would call himself a Christian because he follows all the rules of Christianity (good morals, basically), the author writes of how only Jesus' righteousness and work on the cross could save David. There is nothing he can do, even by what he thinks to be "good" morals, as his self-righteousness, no matter how good, will get him nowhere with God.

Through some of the most real and devastating sins--rape, molestation, pride, violent abuse--Jesus' person and work on the cross are appropriately applied. In the book's simplest form, Jesus dying on the cross and resurrecting from the grave is the solution to any sin of man, even the most dark and horrific. After all, the killing of a perfect man was one of the most dark and horrific events in history, but Jesus came for this very purpose, to love wicked man enough to die the death he deserved.

This pastoral book helped me to see Pastor Mark minister to those in and around his church in an astounding way. He was bold, yet gentle; forthright, yet truthful; and even blunt, yet filled with the grace of Christ. Each person he ministers to is done so with an appropriate signpost, if you will, pointing to Jesus. The harsher the sin, the harsher the message. This is not to say that all sins are evaluated differently in God's eyes; they are not. Each sin does, though, have differing earthly consequences, especially as to who they affect.

Another big positive to this book, is its Christology, or theology of Christ, which is applied to real-life situations in a way that would minister to any reading heart. What Jesus has done for all of mankind is made new and understandable. Through twelve unique people and their stories, it is sure to impress the gospel on you in significant ways.

It is for these very reasons that I would give "Death by Love" my highest recommendation. It does just what it is categorized to do: Make theology practical. Jesus' act of reconciling, revealing, sacrificing, atoning and much, much more will be a lot more clear and visible after reading this book.

"Theology/Practical Life" (5 of 5 STARS)

Three Cups of Tea

Greg Mortenson was a twenty-something man living the stereotypical lifestyle of searching for, but having not yet found, purpose in life. After receiving a nursing degree from the University of South Dakota, he became an addict of climbing. Not long after acquiring a taste for this new adventure hobby, his ambitions soared and he attempted to climb K2, the second tallest and most feared mountain in the world, situated in Northern Pakistan. It was there, after failing to reach the summit, that a purpose began developing which involved the little-known Baltisan people of Korphe, Pakistan.

Nearly at the point of death, the Korphe people treated and nursed the first American they had ever met back to health. The over-sized, soft and lovable Mortenson quickly became a good friend. Before leaving, the Pakistani people were promised their first school by the inspired American. It is here that this young, now ex-climber, developed his sense of purpose in life: building elementary schools for young children, and in particular, young Muslim girls.

Soon Mortenson is building one-to-three classroom schools throughout Pakistan, wooing and befriending Pakistani's as he goes along and casting vision for Americans on what it looks like to curb terrorism through education, not war. This comes as the U.S. is on the verge of going to war against terror.

From a worldy, secular perspective, this is a refreshing piece of literature, depicting one of the greatest humanitarian efforts of our time. It is an eye-opening picture of the people of the Middle East that the American government and media are simply not depicting in their broadcasts of the war torn area. Not only that, but the very reason for Mortenson's successes were due to the kindness and trust of many accommodating Pakistan and Afghan men and women.

From a Christian perspective, it was sad to see a man who grew up with Christian parents find no purpose in Jesus. Mortenson completely abandoned his faith in Christ for a relativistic take on being good to all, which is fine and well, but was not grounded in an absolute truth.

The greatest strength of "Three Cups of Tea" is that the feared people of the Middle East are seen as just that, people. In fact, very few have anything to do with radical Islam. People from the area are rather sad to see hate rise between their country and America. In a revolutionary take on relations between warring countries, you can hardly come away without having a changed perspective on world politics. Moreover, you might just find yourself advocating education over war in the combat against terrorism.

Recommendation:

I would recommend this book to anyone with a misguided, misinformed or incomplete view of the Middle East, Muslims, or the War on Terror. It is an enjoyable and engaging read, and though some parts seem slow and trivial, overall it will open your eyes to relevant world events and talking points.

"Humanitarian" (4 of 5 STARS)

The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

Wow! This book is perhaps one of the most simply-spoken, profound gospel presentations I have ever heard.

Central to this book is the idea that we are not just prodigal sons, but God is also a prodigal God. In other words, we not only radically rebelled against God and sinfully turned away from him, but that He was all the more radical for taking us back. No matter our idolization of other things--in the case of the prodigal son in Luke 15, the son idolized pleasure and living the good life--God radically accepts us in the depths of our sin and receives us back with a welcome-home party of great proportions. In fact, as I learned, the father in the parable risked his family's name to celebrate the return of his lost, sinful son.

Keller starts to get radical himself when we deepens the discussion, defining the elder son with just as much "lostness" as the younger. We often forget, as he points out, that a self-righteousness will no more save us than losing our righteousness, or dignity, as the younger son does. I found this to be the most revolutionary truth of the book. I will let Keller explain:

"Here, then, is Jesus's radical redefinition of what is wrong with us. Nearly everyone defines sin as breaking a list of rules. Jesus, though, shows us that a man who has violated virtually nothing on the list of moral misbehaviors can be every bit as spiritually lost as the most profligate, immoral person. Why? Because sin is not just breaking the rules, it is putting yourself in the place of God as Savior, Lord, and Judge just as each son sought to displace the authority of the father in his own life." (pg 43)

I found this book a fascinating, quick read. I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone. It presents the gospel in such fresh way that you cannot not change after reading it.

-ae

10 Million Words Blog - Tim Challies

I recently discovered Tim Challies' new blog entitled "10 Million Words" which you can find here. You can also go to his original blog entitled "Informing the Reforming" here. Challies is an evangelical blogger and author.

His newest blog's undertaking is to read every top-15 non-fiction book on the New York Times bestseller list throughout all of 2010. If accomplished, as you can guess, this will add up to more than 10 million words read and an average of 3 books read each week. According to Challies' overall goal of the project, "I am interested in the cultural and worldview implications of all of these books. They will provide, I’m sure, a snapshot of where America is at as she enters a new decade."

Personally, I think this is a fascinating idea and I am anxious to see how this blog unfolds. I have been following it for about 2 weeks, and so far, it has indeed proven to be really interesting.

- ae