What a year of reading! Between physical books and Audible, it was a packed literary year. I started 2019 re-reading the entire Harry Potter series. What a delightful way to kick off the new year! Pretty much everybody in the world has read this series, so what more can I say? This time around, I actually listened to the series on Audible and one of my more delightful memories through the winter and spring of this year was going for a weekend long run at Red Mountain Park while listening to Jim Dale’s masterful narration. To this day, when I’m running my favorite trails, each bend, valley and vista transports me Hogwarts or Godric’s Hollow, the Room of Requirement or the Leaky Cauldron. If you’ve never read the series or you think, “Tricks are for kids,” put all that aside and get on the bus. You’ll be glad you did.
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – What can I say about this book? It’s a tome. A total commitment to read. And amazing. I’m a changed person because of this book. Rarely have I read in a work of fiction the depth of character development that Dostoyevsky displays in this novel. He has an incredible grasp of the complexities and contradictions inherent in human beings. He portrays the best and worst in people and you can tell that he’s a great lover of mankind. I think probably everyone should read this at some point during their lives and I don’t know why I haven’t until now. Yes, I do actually. It’s a beast! But my life is richer to have pressed through it.
The Good Mother of Marseilles – First novel by author Christopher Shade. I heard him talk at Page & Palette bookstore in Fairhope, Alabama promoting the book and was intrigued. Snapshots of the intertwining lives of a group of characters converging under the gaze of the Good Mother of Marseilles, stuck at a point in time.
Into the Raging Sea by Rachel Slade. Who knew shipping could be so mesmerizing. This book is a fascinating look into the shipping industry and the story reads like the unfolding of a murder mystery, which in a sense it is. This is fantastic investigative journalism, John Krakauer style, heartbreaking and captivating at the same time. Highly recommended!
Alice & Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I don’t recall ever having read Alice and Wonderland as a kid, other than memorizing Jabberwocky when I was in high school. I recently saw an exhibit of Nall’s Alice and Wonderland drawings at the Eastern Shore Art Center that peaked my curiosity. I’ve always known that the story was pretty weird and the subject of a lot of speculation as to what it all means, but I went at it with no preconceptions and enjoyed the ride.
This Is Marketing by Seth Godin – Seth is so perceptive and insightful! I’m a huge fan of his daily blog and try to read everything he puts out. I love the framework that he lays out in This Is Marketing and have tried to incorporate much of it into my day job.
Building A Story Brand by Donald Miller – Next to Seth, Donald Miller is probably my second favorite marketing guru. I love the story brand framework and have used it professionally in a couple different businesses. This is also on my must read list of business books.
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. This book has so many great reviews and now I totally get it. This was my first Neil Gaiman book but won’t be my last. Fantastic retelling of Norse mythology. If all you know about Thor and Loki comes from Marvel movies, then you’re in for a real treat!
Calypso by David Sedaris – As I read about David’s hysterically dysfunctional family, I’m comforted by the fact that mine isn’t the only one! Having a sister that recently died, as he writes about in the book, I felt an odd connection, even though we’re about as different as night and day. To be honest, there was plenty of language and sexuality in this book that was a bit over the top for me, so I’m not going to go on record recommending it – you’re probably either going to love Sedaris or hate him – but I will say that I’m still laughing at many of the scenes he recounts at the Sea Section. I think that if I’m ever able to buy my own beach house, I’m inspired to name it the Wet Spot.
Educated by Tara Westover – Just read the reviews of this amazing book online. I don’t think I’m eloquent enough to do it justice. Not only has Tara Westover lived an unbelievable life, she has become an unbelievable writer and going on her journey is certainly transformational. Being a homeschool father, I had to ask myself a lot of questions while reading her story and this book really compelled me to think deeply about complexities of family relationships and the dynamics they produce as well as the influence parents wield over our children. I wish everyone would read this book.
The Gulf: The Making of An American Sea by Jack E. Davis – I’m a passionate lover of the ocean in general and the Gulf of Mexico in particular and when I ran across this history of the Gulf at Page and Pallet in Fairhope, Alabama, I couldn’t pass it up. This is great book, but it took a some work to get through the first third of it. Once I was deep in though, it was completely enthralling and infuriating at the same time. Indeed the history of the Gulf is one of exploitation, rape and pillage. I had no idea of the economics of Gulf resources and the utter waste and complete lack of foresight of the people and companies who sought and still seek profit from them. While it’s not all doom and gloom, and is a fascinating read, I do wish there were more stories of conservation and revitalization to combat the decades of damage done. I have a greater appreciation of one of my favorite places on earth.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Ok, so word on the street is that there’s a series in the making starring Kenneth Branagh and after reading this book, I’m beside myself with anticipation! What a fantastic story! I’m so glad I had the opportunity to spend some time with Count Rostov in the Metropol Hotel. Like C.S. Lewis’ wardrobe and Arthur Weasley’s tent, the spaces we occupy inside can somehow become larger than the world outside. I’m on a Russian literature kick this year and while this novel is just a few years old, it fits right in with the Karamazovs, Bezukhovs, Bolkonskys, Kuragins and Rostovs (the family line?). I have to say that the poignant wine bottle scene is forever etched in my imagination.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy – Volume 1. Goodness, did I happen to mention that I read War and Peace this year? I’ve never seen Downton Abbey (shame on me!), but I imagine that War and Peace is kind of like Downton Abbey times five. It’s pretty much got it all. Action, adventure, romance, intrigue, betrayal, incredibly complex characters, keen insight into human nature, astute commentary on culture and politics, Napoleon Bonaparte… the list goes on. Following five (large) aristocratic families through the Napoleonic wars between France and Russia, war and peace is as epic as you probably thought it was and longer!
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy – Volume 2. So after I got through 30 hours of volume 1, I realized that I was actually only halfway through the novel. I still had another 30 hours to go (thank goodness for long commutes in traffic and long weekend runs!). I know that I’ve said this before, and I’ll probably say it again after I read Anna Karenina (yea, that’s on the list for 2020), but my life is richer for having read Tolstoy. A friend of mine recently asked me if reading Russian literature was depressing and nihilistic – I guess he (understandably) thought everything Russian was about communism – but nothing could be further from the truth. It’s an amazing, epic saga and the translation by Louise and Aylmer Maude is exquisite. Highly recommended, but I also know it’s a major commitment!
Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson. Here’s a taste: “I had to learn that when you’re writing a song, you have to serve the work. You have to remember that the God the song is about knows more than you do about songwriting. Your agenda should be broad: “Let this song be a light in someone’s darkness. Let this song bring you glory, Father. Use it to lead someone home.” Then let the song suggest itself to you. Discover it. Fumble around in the darkroom, feeling for the shape of it. Don’t use your agenda to bully it into being. And when you realize it wants to go somewhere you didn’t intend, let it. Be willing to trash the rest of the song (or the essay, or the painting, or the screenplay, or the sermon) if you have to in order to find the thing it wants to be, That’s when agenda is bad. When you cast all mystery out the window because you want to make a point, you’re in essence declaring yourself the master and not the servant. Be humble. The creative act is profoundly spiritual, and therefore profoundly mysterious.” This book spoke to my soul so much so that as soon as I finished it, I started over to re-read.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. It’s been a few years since going through this series. I’ve read it to each of my children and this year was my youngest’s turn. We managed to read-aloud all books, but it took the better part of the year to do it. These stories never get old to me. I confess, when starting them, I was like, “man, I’ve read these so many times, it’s going to be a chore to get through them again.” But once we got started, it was like the magic started all over again!
Rotherweird by Andrew Caldecott. I so wanted to like this book. I still do. I picked it up at the library on a whim. Books to me are like bottles of wine and I’m easily seduced by the cover (or the label). That metaphor actually works for me on a couple different levels. Not to say that Rotherweird is bad. It’s not. I just really struggled to get into and through it. Maybe it was the year end or just the circumstances of my life this winter, but it was so difficult for me to follow and there are a lot of characters to keep track of (says the guy who read War and Peace this year!). It does seem like Andrew Caldecott pulled some themes from Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather series, which I absolutely loved, but which had more of a biblical worldview than Rotherweird. I’ll probably try and give book 2 a chance in 2020 since there’s a lot working in this novel and I’m thinking the struggle was mostly on my end. Not sure what genre to consider this, so I’ll give it a broadly “fantasy/sci-fi” classification and let you figure it out.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. I read Frank Miller’s mini-series when it first came out many years ago and re-reading it brought back a lot of memories of teenage me! And of course, the story is just as riveting, provided of course you’re into Batman. The added benefit for me is that now, as a amateur artist and illustrator, I have so much more appreciation of Miller’s artwork. The visual imagery combined with the raw story makes a superb graphic novel. So good!
Ishtar’s Odyssey by Arnold Ytreeide. Arnold Ytreeide’s Advent (and Easter) stories have been a family tradition for our kids for years. I think that we’ve been through all 4 Advent stories at least twice, maybe more. This year, I was planning on reading Dickens, “A Christmas Carol” instead, but my youngest had his heart set on Ishtar’s Odyssey again. I kind of rolled my eyes since I wanted something a little different this year, but have to admit that once Ishtar saw the star and the caravan started moving, I was totally wrapped up in it again. These books are great adventures. Highly recommended!
The ESV Study Bible – Once again this year, I’ve used the ESV Study Bible One Year Reading Plan on the YouVersion app. I’ve gone through this plan for the past few years and every year, I read scripture passages that it feels like I’ve come across for the first time. So it is with the bible, there are always deeper waters to sound. If you’ve never read through the bible, this is a good plan to do it.
Want some more book suggestions?
Yes, I actually read them all, in case you were wondering. If you want to see any of my previous lists, you can link to them below. I wish I had been going through this book recording exercise for many years, but alas, I didn’t start keeping written track until a couple years ago and even then wasn’t completely thorough.
