What I Read in 2021 (and Maybe What You Should Read in 2022)

I’ve been able to hit the 100-plateau of books the past few years. This year I read 111 books (the symmetry of that number made me smile). If you wonder how I read that much, this post might help spur you on and provide some practical pointers in your reading journey in 2022. I love reading for many reasons. It’s a gift to be in conversation with a multitude of wise voices, to be invited into the imaginative worlds of some of the best minds of our time, and to grow in empathy and understanding as I step into the shoes of those very different from myself.

I love the gift of reading books with friends. Most of the books I read are recommended by friends and I love it when friends read a book I recommend. If you read any of the books recommended below, I would love to hear what you think. And I would love to hear what your favorite books of 2021 were. If you want fuller reviews on any of the books listed above or just want to connect on an ongoing basis about reading, I encourage you to friend me on Goodreads.

Let me start with my three favorite books of 2021, and then we will get to the rest of the action:

Favorite Christian book:

Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley

I’ve read a number of books on race and racism over the past several years. McCaulley’s book has been the most helpful to me. Esau McCaulley writes Reading While Black in order to help the black church understand the biblical witness as it pertains to their history. To that end, McCaulley takes his readers on a tour of the Bible as it relates to policing, politics, justice, race, and anger. In short, “Reading While Black” is a theological-cultural reading of the Bible from an orthodox American black perspective.

As McCaulley considers what a biblical perspective on ethnicity might be, he says, “God’s vision for his people is not for the elimination of ethnicity to form a colorblind uniformity of sanctified blandness. Instead God sees the creation of a community of different cultures united by faith in his Son as a manifestation of the expansive nature of his grace. This expansiveness is unfulfilled unless the differences are seen and celebrated, not as ends unto themselves, but as particular manifestations of the power of the Spirit to bring forth the same holiness among different peoples and cultures for the glory of God.”

McCaulley has put together the clearest, most thoughtful, and faithful articulation of the biblical witness regarding the relevant issues of race that I am aware of. McCaulley has a unique vantage point for making these observations. A conservative black Anglican, McCaulley feels like an outsider both among white evangelicals as well as black progressives. As a white evangelical, I deeply respect McCaulley’s commitment to biblical authority. And yet, we must understand that our perspective on that authority is shaped by our lives. McCaulley says, “Euro-American scholars, ministers, and lay folk . . . have, over the centuries, used their economic, academic, religious, and political dominance to create the illusion that the Bible, read through their experience, is the Bible read correctly.” He continues, “Stated differently, everybody has been reading the Bible from their locations, but we are honest about it.” In other words, the church best understands the Word of God as we hear from the witness of our brothers and sisters across the globe and allow our blind spots to be exposed by their perspective.

Whereas previous books in this conversation have examined if the black church should give attention to America’s sin of slavery or humanity’s slavery to sin, Reading While Black enters the conversation and asks, “Doesn’t the Bible compel us to do both?”

When McCaulley comes to the final chapter of Reading While Black, McCaulley unflinchingly urges the church toward peace. “God’s eschatological vision is one of reconciliation,” McCaulley says. McCaulley refuses to choose between the paths of diminishing injustice or fanning the flames of rage. The Bible calls Christians to name injustice, pursue justice, and also to forgive and maintain unity. Christians cannot choose only one half of that equation. McCaulley says, “Peacemaking, then, cannot be separated from truth-telling. The church’s witness does not involve simply denouncing the excesses of both sides and making moral equivalencies. It involves calling injustice by its name. If the church is going to be on the side of peace in the United States, then there has to be an honest accounting of what this country has done and continues to do to Black and Brown people. Moderation or the middle ground is not always the loci of righteousness.”

There is much more to be said than what McCaulley has offered in Reading While Black, and there are certainly points of interpretation I differ with. And yet, McCaulley’s conviction to uphold the authority in the Bible coupled with his belief that we need to hear from one another’s unique perspectives is the place we must begin. I don’t know of a better guide to begin this journey. I heartily commend Reading While Black to all Christians.

Favorite Non-Fiction Book:

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Daniel James’s novel The Boys in the Boat is the story of the 1936 Olympic rowing team that hailed out of the University of Washington. James’s story focuses on Joe Rantz, a young man who was abandoned by his parents, and struggled against the psychological ravages of that abandonment and the poverty that he faced.

James follows Rantz’s journey that ends with Rantz and the Washington crew in Berlin in the shadow of World War II. It’s a story of beauty, courage, and teamwork.

I have little knowledge of interest in rowing, but James won me over with the power and grace of the sport. He begins most chapters with a quote from George Yeoman Pocock, the master boat craftsman who crafted the boats for the Washington team. Pocock says, “Rowing is perhaps the toughest of sports. Once the race starts, there are no time-outs, no substitutions. It calls upon the limits of human endurance. The coach must therefore impart the secrets of the special kind of endurance that comes from mind, heart, and body.”

James waxes eloquent about the beauty of rowing. He says, “It’s a great art, is rowing. It’s the finest art there is. It’s a symphony of motion. And when you’re rowing well, why it’s nearing perfection. And when you near perfection, you’re touching the Divine. It touches the you of yous. Which is your soul.”

And through Rantz’s eyes we see the power of the rowing team. James shares, “It was when he tried to talk about 'the boat' that his words began to falter and tears welled up in his eyes...Finally, watching Joe struggle for composure over and over, I realized that 'the boat' was something more than just the shell or its crew. To Joe, it encompassed but transcended both - it was something mysterious and almost beyond definition. It was a shared experience - a singular thing that had unfolded in a golden sliver of time long gone, when nine good-hearted young men strove together, pulled together as one, gave everything they had for one another, bound together forever by pride and respect and love. Joe was crying, at least in part, for the loss of that vanished moment but much more, I think, for the sheer beauty of it.”

James explains the pain of rowing. “It’s not a question of whether you will hurt, or of how much you will hurt; it’s a question of what you will do, and how well you will do it, while pain has her wanton way with you.”

The connections between rowing and life are there for the reader at every page and James’s writing allows the reader to make those connections.

For instance, explaining the teamwork required by a crew, he says, “The challenges they had faced together had taught them humility—the need to subsume their individual egos for the sake of the boat as a whole—and humility was the common gateway through which they were able now to come together and begin to do what they had not been able to do before.”

And again, “Harmony, balance, and rhythm. They’re the three things that stay with you your whole life. Without them civilization is out of whack. And that’s why an oarsman, when he goes out in life, he can fight it, he can handle life. That’s what he gets from rowing.”

Please pick up Boys in the Boat. Daniel James has written a perfectly crafted narrative that reflects how God shapes character in the ordinary and extraordinary alike.

Favorite Fiction Book:

Jack by Marilynne Robinson

Marilynne Robinson is an American treasure. She has created yet another masterpiece in Jack.

Jack is the love story of Jack, a shiftless but sensitive thief and Della, an intelligent and poised woman. Bridging the worlds of black and white in 1950s mid-America, Robinson has crafted a delicate and poignant story. Robinson's novel aches for grace and the need to see the other for more than they first appear. Robinson's world is one filled with "tantalizing fragility" where “So many of earth's grievances could be soothed by a little consideration.” Grace, if only... grace. Jack struggles to receive the affection and love of Della. And she offers her care at a deep cost to herself.

I fell in love with Jack and Della. I gained two new friends. What more can you ask of an novel than to make you feel, think, and love?

What follows is a run down of the rest of the books I read in 2021. There are a number of treasures here.

Christian Books:

I read a number of books on the Christian life and spiritual disciplines this year. In The Common Rule, attorney Justin Whitmel Earley offers a framework for spiritual disciples in a busy life. I’ve found his chart of daily and weekly spiritual disciples to be very helpful for myself and others. Ruth Haley Barton’s Sacred Rhythms is a similar book that urges the Christian to shape their lives around time with Christ.

Dan Allender’s Sabbath encourages us to enjoy the weekly gift God gives us of enjoying himself. Kevin Halloran similarly wants us to break through the challenges of communicating with God in When Prayer is a Struggle. Finally, Lysa Terkeurst’s book Made to Crave helps those who struggle with food by encouraging them to learn how to crave God more deeply.

I was challenged by a number of books that spoke to the heart and counseling. Larry Crabb’s classics Inside Out, Understanding People and Finding God were helpful in considering the anatomy of the spiritual heart. Encouragement by Larry Crabb and Dan Allender is a helpful consideration of the power of encouragement.

David Powlison’s The Pastor as Counselor and How Does Sanctification Work are excellent introductions of those respective topics. The Art of Turning by Kevin DeYoung is a simple but effective introduction to sanctification. The Pastor and Counseling by Jeremy Pierre and Deepak Reju and Saints, Sufferers, and Sinners by Mike Emlet were also very helpful in my continued growth as a counselor. Crossroads by Ed Welch is the best book I know for navigating addiction recovery. Untangling Emotions by Alasdair Groves and Ed Welch is important because there isn’t much written on the topic. 

Humbled by David Mathis is a thoroughly biblical approach to the topic of humility. Humility by CJ Mahaney is challenging because of Mahaney’s checkered past, but a very down-to-earth and readable approach to the subject. Ray Ortlund’s The Death of Porn was an excellent approach to the topic; the first half of the book was particularly powerful. Andy Stanley’s Enemies of the Heart is my favorite book by Stanley. He approaches the subject of mortifying sin simply and practically.

Brant Hansen’s Blessed are the Misfits encourages those who feel like they don’t belong that they are the very ones God has sought out. The Imperfect Disciple by Jared Wilson explores a similar theme.

Embodied Hope by Kelly Kapic is a rich and important reflection on the embodiment of Christianity and what that means for us as we suffer and hope for God’s redemption.

I re-read Knowing God by JI Packer and was amazed by how timeless Packer’s book is. It improves with every reading. We read The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer with the kids. It’s an amazing read and so challenging.

Jared Wilson’s The Gospel According to Satan is a great book on how the gospel is twisted by our enemy. Erasing Hell by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle is a fantastic book defending the doctrine of hell and the Jewish framework for Jesus’ teachings on hell.

Jonathan Pennington wants us to see Jesus not just as a teacher, but as one of the great philosophers in Jesus the Great Philosopher. In On the Road with Saint Augustine, James KA Smith brings Augustine alongside as a guide for modern challenges.

Two books were particularly helpful in navigating books I preached this week. Mike Cosper’s Faith Among the Faithless offers a fresh perspective on Esther and Tremper Longman’s How to Read Proverbs and is a solid introduction.

A number of books helped redefine the church in a confused age. Rediscover Church by Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman was a solid re-introduction. Worship and the Reality of God by John Jefferson Davis challenges our contemporary philosophy of worship. Rich Birch’s Church Growth Flywheel is a very different approach to church. While I have some significant disagreements to his approach, I still learned some valuable practical lessons.

Chuck DeGroat helps those who have experienced unhealthy and destructive leaders in When Narcissism Comes to Church.

On the flip side, Joel Beeke and Nick Thompson come alongside the pastor in Pastors and Their Critics. Trevin Wax urges the pastor to not merely fight the danger coming from one side in The Multi-Directional Leader. And Henri Nouwen’s The Wounded Healer was a timely read for this weary and hurting pastor.

James Davidson Hunter asks the question, “How do Christians go about transforming the world?” in To Change the World. Rebecca McLaughlin’s Ten Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity was an excellent and discussion-stirring read with our teens. Fool’s Talk by Os Guiness is a consideration of how to wisely utilize the art of persuasion in apologetics.

Stephen McAlpine helps us to come to grips with the reality that we are no longer on the “right side” in Being the Bad Guys. Mark Dever helps us understand basic biblical principles in navigating Christianity and politics in God and Politics.

Finally, Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson is an artist’s consideration of how to reflect God’s beauty in a dark world.

Not as impactful or helpful were the following books: Letters to the Church by Francis Chan (because of questionable history), Wild at Heart and Fathered by God by John Eldredge (because of a flat understanding of masculinity), Shepherding the Church by Joseph Stowell because of how dated it feels, Future Church by Will Mancini and Cory Hartman because of the lack of clarity regarding the “what next?”), Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez because of its uncharitable and selective writing of evangelical history, Erwin McManus’s The Last Arrow because it felt a little too self-aggrandizing to me, and Jon Meacham’s The Hope of Glory because of the author’s lack of trust in Scripture’s testimony.

Non-Fiction:

I read two excellent autobiographies this year. Both dealt with troubled childhoods and relationships with fathers. Born to Run by Bruce Springstein and Open by Andre Agassi are both worth reading.

WEB Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk is important to read, although was a challenge at parts. Leadership by Doris Kearns Goodwin tracks four presidencies through decision-making in challenging times. It’s up there as one of my favorite reads of the year.

The Library Book by Susan Orlean is a history of the Los Angeles library. And The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (I read the abridged edition, which is still quite long) was a dark exploration of the atrocities committed under Stalin and a reminder of the horrors of socialism.

What is a Girl Worth? by Rachel Denhollander is one of the most important books I read this year: it tracks Denhollander’s experience of sexual abuse by Larry Nassar.

Douglas Weiss’s Intimacy Anorexia is a helpful book for those who struggle with emotional connection.

Some of the non-fiction books that weren’t as helpful to me this year include Dare to Lead by Brene Brown as I found it too similar to Daring Greatly. Anthony O’Neal’s Debt Free Degree was a letdown as its important principles could have been boiled down to an article. Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton: the Revolution was too focused on the minutaiae of Hamilton for my taste. Barack Obama’s A Promised Land disappointed me in the lack of charity Obama showed for his political opponents.

Fiction:

Lydia Millet’s A Children’s Bible was an unsettling dystopian journey. Veronica Roth’s Divergent and Insurgent begin her interesting dystopian world as she explores themes of courage and friendship. Lois Lowry’s Gathering Blue and Messenger continue the journey she began in Giver and ask questions about society and worth.

I enjoyed concluding my re-reading of CS Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (perhaps my favorite in the series), The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle.

Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere is an intriguing mystery. The Guest List by Lucy Foley was very taught. And A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson was surprisingly good. Tana French’s The Searcher was better as a location-based drama than a mystery, but still good.

Paolo Coelho’s The Alchemist is an allegory–not a favorite genre of mine—but quite good.

I like most everything by Randy Singer, a writer of legal thriller’s with a moral backbone and The Last Plea Bargain and Rule of Law were no exception. In a similar veing, I appreciated The Guardians and A Time for Mercy by John Grisham.

I dipped my toe into George Martin’s Game of Thrones with the first novel of the series. I read Ernest Cline’s much anticipated follow-up Ready Player Two and was fairly disappointed. I thought The Evening and the Morning was one of Ken Follett’s stronger books.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles was very well done, although nowhere near as memorable as Kathryn Stockett’s fantastic The Help, which ought to be read by everyone.

Jane Yolan’s Mapping the Bones was a strong World War II novel about Jews fleeing the Nazis in Poland. The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis is just as strong as the excellent Netflix mini-series based on the novel.

Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds is a Grapes of Wrath-esque novel about an Oklahoma family moving to California during the Dust Bowl. I actually liked it even better than Grapes of Wrath. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is a concept novel based on the idea of the multi-verse that didn’t quite deliver in my estimation. Watership Down by Richard Adams is a surprisingly excellent novel about a colony of rabbits escaping from the impending doom of their wren.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is a gutting novel about patriarchal abuse in 20th century Afghanistan. Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a classic novel about a young girl growing up in early 20th century Brooklyn. CS Lewis’s Till We Have Faces is a remade allegory of Cupid and Psyche.

Disappointing to me was John Green’s overwrought Turtles All the Way Down, David Foster Wallace’s exhausting Infinite Jest, John Updike’s dark Rabbit, Run, and Joseph Conrad’s bleak Heart of Darkness. Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic was frankly just too weird for me and didn’t have a satisfying conclusion.

Looking Ahead:

Here are a few books I’m looking forward to reading in 2022:

Rebecca McLaughlin’s The Secular Creed, John Mark Comer’s Live No Lies, Beth Allison Barr’s The Making of Biblical Womanhood, Andrew Peterson’s The God of the Garden, William Lane Craig’s In Quest of the Historical Adam, Gavin Ortlund’s Why God Makes Sense in a World that Doesn’t, Jennie Allen’s Get Out of Your Head, Elyse Fitzpatrick’s Found in Him, Dane Ortlund’s Deeper, Michael Reeves Rejoice and Tremble, and Robert Mullholland’s Invitation to a Journey.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Photo by Tom Hermans on Unsplash

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