I’m thankful for all the books I read in 2019. By God’s grace, it was another good years of reading. We are blessed to have so many good books to read and so many that free to download online.
About half the books I read in 2019 were rereads–some I have reread multiple times. I think a REALLY good book is one that we find ourselves rereading multiple times.
Every year I try to read a mixture of books, including classics that I have never read in the past. I really enjoyed reading the unabridged “Count of Monte Cristo” by Dumas; it such a good story and fun to read–it is long, so it took 5 months to work through! I started working my way through Jane Austen’s catalogue this year, and am glad I did–you can download these for free at Project Gutenberg website.
This year we started reading longer books outloud to our children. We managed to work “The Hobbit” by Tolkein. I’m looking forward to doing more of that in 2020–our plan is work through the Narnia series!
If I could only recommend one book from all that I read this year, it would probably be the Puritan read “The Saints Everlasting Rest” by Richard Baxter. I read the abridged version, which can be downloaded for free from monergism.com. Baxter wrote the book when he was on his deathbed and had a lot of time to ponder eternity–he ended up recovering. In his day it was a best-seller and over 1,000 pages long! The abridged version (100 or so pages on kindle) is well worth your time. He helps the believer see how glorious and wonderful heaven is and how wise and valuable for Christians to think more about heaven daily–Baxter argued we ought to take ourselves by the hand and remind ourselves of the glories of heaven and being with Christ. The more I read the Puritans the more I see how much wisdom they had.
I also really enjoyed “The Clouds Ye So Much Dread” by Grieser. We certainly had some tough times to walk through as a church in 2019 with the passing away of one of our members, and this book helps a believer trust in the goodness of God even in the midst of uncertainty and hardship. Here’s a post I wrote on the book several months ago.
Below is the list of the books I made it through in 2019–a few I only made it several hundred pages in…
2019 Books
- “Lincoln” by David Herbert Donald
- “Parenting” by Paul David Tripp
- “The Magician’s Nephew” by C.S. Lewis (reread)
- “After the Flood” by Bill Cooper
- “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis (reread)
- “What Can We Know About God?” by R.C. Sproul
- “Expository Apologetics: Answering Objections with the Power of the Word” by Voddie Baucham
- “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis (reread)
- “The Horse and His Boy” by C.S. Lewis (reread)
- “Confessions” by Augustine (reread)
- “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
- “Divine Comedy” by Glen Scivener
- “The Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan (reread)
- “The Clouds Ye So Much Dread: Hard Times and the Kindness of God” by Hannah K. Grieser
- “Christians Get Depressed Too” by David Murray
- “Prince Caspian” by C.S. Lewis (reread)
- “Why on Earth Did Anyone Become a Christian in the First Three Centuries?” by Larry Hurtado
- “Fairy Tales” by Brothers Grimm
- “The Christian Ministry” by Charles Bridges (reread)
- “Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis (reread)
- “The Cross of Christ” by John Stott (reread)
- “The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations” Edited by Michael W. Holmes
- “Life Together” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (reread)
- “The Pastor’s Guide to Leading & Living” by O.S. Hawkins
- “This Momentary Marriage” by John Piper
- “Evangelism in the Early Church” by Michael Green
- “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” by C.S. Lewis (reread)
- “A Gospel Primer” by Milton Vincent (reread)
- “Gay Girl, Good God” by Jackie Hill Perry
- “Weakness is the Way: Life With Christ Our Strength” by J.I. Packer
- “Silver Chair” by C.S. Lewis (reread)
- “The Crook In the Lot” by Thomas Boston
- “Christianity Considered: A Guide for Skeptics and Seekers” by John Frame
- “J. Hudson Taylor: A Man in Christ” by Roger Steer
- “A History of English Baptists” by A. C. Underwood
- “Can We Trust The Gospels?” by Peter J. Williams
- “Absolute Surrender” by Andrew Murray (audio)
- “The Good God” by Michael Reeves (reread)
- “Enjoy Your Prayer Life” by Michael Reeves
- “The Last Battle” by C.S. Lewis (reread)
- “The Count of Monte-Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas
- “The Bible” (ESV) by God (reread)
- “The Happy Christian” by David Murray
- “Out of the Silent Planet” by C.S. Lewis (reread)
- “Fire Road” by Kim Phuc Phan Thi (audio)
- “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien (read aloud as family)
- “Sense and Sensibility” by Jane Austen
- “Perelandra” by C.S. Lewis (reread)
- “Christian Ethics: Four Views” edited by Steve Wilkens
- “How to be an Atheist: Why Many Skeptics Aren’t Skeptical Enough” by Mitch Stokes (reread)
- “The Saints’ Everlasting Rest” by Richard Baxter
- “That Hideous Strength” by C.S. Lewis
- “Unseen Realities: Heaven, Hell, Angels, and Demons” by R.C. Sproul
- “Emma” by Jane Austen
- “Greco-Roman World of the New Testament” by James Jeffers (only first 200 pages)
- “A New Testament Biblical Theology” by G.K. Beale (only first 350 pages)
- “On the Incarnation” by Athanasius
