Showing posts with label year's best list. Show all posts
Showing posts with label year's best list. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 31, 2025

My Top Ten Reads of 2025

In spite of spending more concentrated time in prayer (praying and fasting once a week), I read more books in 2025 than in 2024. I read a total of 73 books. Over half of those (41 books, or 56%) were 4 or 5 page-turners. 38% were 3 page-turners. Only 4 books were disappointing.

My top ten reads of 2025 (in order read, not by preference):

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston


The Wright Brothers by David McCullough


Letters from the Mountain by Ben Palpant


Saving the Saved by Bryan Loritts


The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry


Good Catastrophe by Benjamin Windle


Coming Clean by Seth Haines


The Deconstruction of Christianity by Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett


Five Mere Christians by Jordan Raynor and Kaleigh Cox


Heaven and Nature Sing by Hannah Anderson


I wish to give the following five non-fiction books an honorable mention:

You Are a Tree by Joy Marie Clarkson

Becoming Elisabeth Elliot by Ellen Vaughn

Being Elisabeth Elliot by Ellen Vaughn

E. M. Bounds: Man of Prayer by Lyle Wesley Dorsett

A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst


It appears only 2 of these highly recommended reads were fiction. I focused on nonfiction reads more than fiction this year. I read 39 nonfiction books and 34 fiction books. Plus, 11 of these 15 titles are Christian books. Out of 73 books, 44 were Christian reads. I still like to read a wide variety of books, but have been selecting more from my worldview.

Monday, December 30, 2024

My Top Ten Reads of 2024

2024 was an outstanding year for reading! Out of the 67 books I read and reviewed, 42 of them (63%) were 4 or 5 star reads. Only 3 books (4%) received a 2 star rating from me. One third of the books were 3 star reads. In looking back over the quarterly lists, I highly recommended ten books:

Do You Pray? by J. C. Ryle - Christian Nonfiction



Loving Him Well by Gary Thomas - Christian Nonfiction



A Lifelong Love by Gary Thomas - Christian Nonfiction



Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner - Historical Fiction



If I Were You by Lynn Austin - Historical Fiction



Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan - Middle Grade Historical Fiction



Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - Fiction Classic



Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt - Fiction



Catching Foxes by John Henderson - Christian Nonfiction



Waiting Isn't a Waste by Mark Vroegop - Christian Nonfiction


I would like to give an honorable mention to the following five books:

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles - Historical Fiction
Authentically, Izzy by Pepper Basham - Humorous Christian Romance
The Divine Proverb of Streusel by Sara Brunsvold - Christian Fiction
Hope is the First Dose by Dr. W. Lee Warren - Christian Nonfiction
Funny Story by Emily Henry - Humorous Romance

Monday, January 1, 2024

Top Dozen Reads of 2023

As I said in my 2023 reading analysis post, 2023 didn't seem to be a stellar year, but then, I did have a half dozen reads I highly recommended. Perhaps if I only read bestsellers, my recommendation list would be longer, but I like to read a variety. I list the following BEST books read in 2023 in chronological, rather than preferential, order (although, if pressed, my favorite of 2023 would be The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley):


Paths of Glory (historical fiction)

by Jeffrey Archer


Maureen (fiction)

by Rachel Joyce


Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy (Christian non-fiction)

by Mark Vroegop


On Getting Out of Bed (Christian non-fiction)

by Alan Noble


A Place to Land (fiction)

by Lauren K. Denton


The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley (fiction)

by Courtney Walsh


HONORABLE MENTIONS:


The Wager (historical nonfiction)

by David Grann


Beyond That, the Sea (historical fiction)

by Laura Spence-Ash


The Words We Lost (Christian fiction)

by Nicole Deese


The Body Keeps the Score (nonfiction)

by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.


The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (young adult fiction)

by Jennifer E. Smith


Tactics (Christian nonfiction)

by Gregory Koukl