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!
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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.