This year books have helped me stay sane, if I was ever sane to begin with. In the latter half of the year I read more fiction than any other genre, needing a vehicle in the evenings and in quiet moments that enabled me to relax and escape, to visit unfamiliar and strange worlds, to deepen my understanding of human nature and the human psyche, to broaden my understanding of those around me and of myself, and to simply enter into and experience the joys and pleasures of reading.
My media log from 2010 and every year since is found here. I don’t know when I began writing reflection essays like this one, but past editions I produced for this website are here: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
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How Many Books Did I Read This Year?
After experimenting with this over many years, I’ve settled on a yearly goal of 60 books. That’s five books a month. Sound like a lot? I assure you, it is doable. Here is how I do it.
I read 65 books this year. The first book I finished was Quentin Tarantino’s Cinema Speculation. The last book I read was Larry McMurtry’s All My Friends are Going to Be Strangers. I revisited three old friends this year: Charles Portis’s True Grit, Dallas Willard’s Renovation of the Heart, and Frank Herbert’s Dune. I enjoyed rereading all three.
I watched 93 movies and viewed 6 complete television series. Books are one thing that kept me sane. Film helped, too. My favorite movies this year include The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), Ghostbusters (1984), Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023), The Sum of All Fears (2002), Jackie Brown (1997), Oppenheimer (2023), Barbie (2023), and Back to the Future (1985).
My friend Harry urged me to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Complete Series (2005-2008). David and I took it in together during the summer, and it was a positive father/son experience. It is brilliant. I also enjoyed Netflix’s Arnold and Beckham documentaries. I recommend them both.
What Were My Favorite Books This Year?
I’m glad to say I read a lot of good stuff this year. Topping my list are two works of fiction: Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities and Cixin Liu’s Three-Body Problem.
Bonfire of the Vanities was published in 1987, but it addresses political, social, racial, and economic dynamics that remain present in American life today. This is tragically so. I think this has less to do with the state of American progress and more to do with the enduring foibles of human nature. We do incredible things. We destroy ourselves. I found this book gripping, gut-wrenching, and true.
Three-Body Problem is a science fiction novel that will soon debut as a Netflix television series. I checked out a copy from the public library after hearing it raved about by one person in particular, though I heard others I respect offer similar praise. Without a liberal arts education, I wouldn’t have been able to understand portions of the book, particularly about physics. The result: I was more thankful for the education I received but didn’t always enjoy or demonstrably appreciate. To my teachers who endured me as a grumpy youth: You win.
What’s the book about? Earth encounters an alien civilization. This civilization lives on a planet that is in orbital relationship to three sun-like stars, and because of the inconstancy of this planet’s relationship to these three stars, a very different history, culture, and civilization from that of Earth emerges. When this civilization discovers Earth, a planet with predictable planetary rhythms resulting from a stable orbit around a single star, they begin a journey across the galaxy to conquer Earth. How does this civilization discover Earth? We bounce a signal off the sun, amplifying the signal and providing the power necessary for it to reach neighboring systems. Why? It was one person’s decision, a person who was deeply wounded by the Cultural Revolution in China. The novel moves across past, present, and future. It is imaginative. There is an element of mystery. The scientific writing is fascinating. But the core thought experiment is what hooked me: we assume alien races would be benevolent, or at least somewhat like our own. That isn’t guaranteed. Contact could bring chaos. In this novel, it does.
Other books I enjoyed and/or appreciated are Cormac McCarthy’s The Passenger and Stella Maris (these strange novels are part of a set), Ted Chiang’s Exhalation: Stories, George Marsden’s An Infinite Fountain of Light: Jonathan Edwards for the Twenty-First Century, James K. A. Smith’s How to Inhabit Time, Richard Russo’s Nobody’s Fool, Dan Jenkins’s You Gotta Play Hurt, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life, and Tish Harrison Warren’s Advent: The Season of Hope.
One Christian living book I enjoyed to a surprising degree: Don Everts’s The Spiritually Vibrant Home: The Power of Messy Prayers, Loud Tables, and Open Doors. If you are raising a family, if you are a grandparent, if you are a single person who is wondering how best to invite others to share in a common life, if you are a pastor wondering how to equip your people to practice hospitality in the everyday, this book provides several great ideas.
Did You Hate Anything?
I know hate is a strong word. But I almost always hate something that I read. I did not enjoy David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. I did not enjoy Patrick deWitt’s French Exit: A Novel.
While I respect the approach and positions of both of the following authors, I did not particularly enjoy Michael J. Rhodes’s Just Discipleship: Biblical Justice in an Unjust World or Ian J. Vaillancourt’s Treasuring the Psalms: How to Read the Songs that Shape the Soul of the Church. These two books do not reach the “hate” level. But I have disagreements with Rhodes concerning his ideological framework and structural critiques of Vaillancourt’s finished product. In evaluating each book, I have tried to be charitable to both authors, see value in each project, but have no plans to revisit either work.
What Are You Reading Right Now?
This will be the second straight year I continue pecking at Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism. It is considered a classic work in the field of Christian spirituality (and particularly of mysticism), but, by golly, it is hard to read.
Next up for me: Collin Hansen’s Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation.
What Did I Learn from My Experience Reading This Year?
This has been a very challenging year for me personally, and I have not been able to write about it much. Our family began the year navigating an illness which I wrote about here and here. Thankfully, Molly is much better. She’s in a new job. Our kids have been a lot happier this year than they were last, and we’re very thankful for the growth they have evidenced personally and in character, academically, socially, spiritually, and athletically.
Beginning in May (I think that’s when the trouble started), I experienced an increased onset of symptoms that worsened over the succeeding months, eventually diagnosed as resulting from Epstein-Barr Virus. I hit the apex of my sufferings in September, spent the next few weeks visiting doctors and making adjustments in several demanding areas of my life, and began the work of discerning the best path toward healing. Rest, rest, and more rest were prescribed. A good diet, exercise as able, and adequate sleep were also recommended. The stuff we’re always told to do.
It was hard to rest. It was hard to let important things go. It was hard to do things that had been easy, or to quit doing things that I enjoyed. I had to quit playing basketball. I couldn’t coach. It was too hard on the system. It was hard to think, hard to talk, hard to teach. I think, talk, and teach for a living.
Books provided a respite. I couldn’t read challenging nonfiction works, at least not at the pace I am accustomed to. I moved over to fiction. Well told stories can carry a person, and they carried me. Well told stories provide characters we can identify with. A well told story can challenge the intellect, though often in more indirect ways. A well told story opens new worlds. Wonderful stories also form the soul. They stir the human spirit. The best stories can make us better. They can heal.
Movies and television also provided a respite. Taken together, I marvel at the products of human culture. Creating is a human act. I think this is a reflection of the divine nature. We make because God is a maker. Great civilizations produce great works of art, wondrous stories, delightful music, brilliant paintings, clever poetry. And jokes. Comedy. If art is being made, if culture is being produced, there will always be debates about the sacred and profane, the transcendent and the vulgar. Not all art that is produced is good, beautiful, and true. But some of it is.
I’m glad to live in a moment when I can access thousands of products of human culture at the click of a button. I can read great works of history both classical and contemporary. I can read philosophy and theology from across the ages. I can survey the history of film. I can listen to almost any piece of music, performed by the greatest musicians and produced with the finest technical skill. I can research great pieces of art, not only the finished products that hang on museum walls or that reside in private collections. I can learn about the process, the artist, the moment that produced each work. Some experiences of these great works of art can be, and are, superior to others. I would rather view a painting or hear a piece of music performed in person than I would encounter it through the internet. Nonetheless, riches are at our fingertips. The world offers us an abundance of horrors. We do well to pause and wonder at the world’s marvels, more numerous than we often consciously remember and realize.
As for another great treasure, the Bible continues to be my daily companion, and I continue to urge Christian people to make reading Scripture part of their life rhythm. There are many different ways of reading the Bible. You can read inquisitively and academically. It is worthwhile to study the Scriptures carefully and in depth, and I do. Most days, I read devotionally. I read as an act of love for God. I encourage others to do the same. You never know how God might meet you.
What are you reading, and what should I add to my list?