26 Books in 2019

For the third year in a row I have again doubled my previous years reading goal. I read 15 in 2018 and this year I hope to finish 26. I like to follow Tim Challies’ reading challenge because it forces me to push past my first inclination and expand my mind to new ideas which helps me grow as a person.

26 books seemed daunting; that’s more than 2 a month! Especially since 3 years ago my goal of 6 total was pushing it. More so, I started the year with a newborn and am in the thick of infant + preschooler life. Still, it was doable assuming I prioritized reading over more worthless pursuits like TV, which was one of my 2019 New Years resolutions. I’m finding that I actually love to read and the last few years of my life have been enriched because of it.

In the end I only cranked out 25 total. Though I don’t exactly feel bad about that given two important factors.

1. I had an infant all year, and then I got pregnant again in September finishing out 2019 in full on fatigue and nausea mode. So I’m giving myself a pat on the back for getting this close and having lofty goals in the first place.
2. The average adult book is about 300-400 pages long. However, I read the first 3 books of the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson this year which totals (excluding Edgedancer) 3829 pages. Divide that by 400 and that’s 9.57 average sized books. So I’m going to not feel bad about that 26th book that just didn’t happen this year.

So without further ado, here is my 2019 list of reads. I’d call it a great year and I’m looking forward to 2020!

Book you can finish in a weekend:

April Morning by Howard Fast
Read the full review!
Adam Cooper, a 15 year old boy with an annoying younger brother and an overbearing father retells the events of April 18–19th, 1775. The first battle of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord. Adam leaves boyhood behind and becomes a man overnight. It’s a quick, fun read geared toward a younger audience. I enjoyed it, though I will say that it focuses far more on how he processes the events rather than the wartime realities themselves. It’s less violent or graphic than any other wartime book I’ve read.

Book about history:

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair the Changed America by Erik Larson
The Devil in the White City is a non-fiction historical account of two separate but loosely related events and incredibly it reads like a novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this read. A bit gruesome at times, but to be expected when reading about a serial killer. I didn’t know anything about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair prior to reading this. I was fascinated by all the common place things of our day that originated directly from it in quite interesting (and at times accidental) ways. Things like the Pledge of Allegiance, Pabst Blue Ribbon and most notably, the Ferris Wheel. Fun and highly interesting.

Book for Children or Teens:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
This book hardly needs a review since it’s so widely read. I had never read it as a child though and I decided to check it out from my local library and read it to my daughter. She’s 3 and I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to follow along with a chapter book but I decided to give it a try. The book does have a few illustrations throughout and we reviewed each time we sat down together. It was wonderful! My daughter loved it and was able to keep up and pay attention surprisingly well. Such a sweet experience too. In regards to the novel itself, it’s a wonderful and rich story, simple and easy to follow.

Book targeted at the opposite gender:

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
An American classic and totally worth the quick read. It’s a bit dark and gritty but real and Steinbeck deals honestly with his central theme of loneliness. I appreciate how to the point this short novel is. Each detail is meaningful, even when you don’t realize it till later. Steinbeck has a lot to say about human utility, relationships, loyalty, and the harsh realities of life for labor workers. This novel, in my opinion, is written for men about men and in fact does not speak favorably about women at all.

Book more than 100 years old:

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Truly a masterpiece and in fact more than 150 years old as it was written in 1844. Dumas is a master storyteller. I could not stop raving about this book to my husband and I couldn’t stop listening. I listened to it via Audible, which I highly recommend for 2 reasons. First, the narrator has a different voice for each character and reads with such flare it’s so fun to listen to! Second, unless you are familiar with French, you might find yourself stumbling over nouns that you can’t pronounce and lose a bit of the magic. I cannot even begin to describe the intricate detail with which Dumas weaves this story. There’s a plethora of characters; each one important, full of depth and back story. I believe this might just be my favorite novel of all time. And for the record, the 2002 film is trash. The only people who could possible enjoy it are those who have never read the book.

Book about aging:

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Ove is a crotchety old Swedish man, lonely and without a proper function after the loss of his wife and forced retirement. He’s the kind of man that believes strongly that there’s a right and a wrong way to live ones life. It’s the kind of novel you find yourself laughing and simultaneously straining to read pages through tears. It’s about family and community. The kind of family God gives unexpectedly after he’s taken some away. The kind you didn’t choose, but chose you and invaded your life while you weren’t looking. It’s about finding new reasons to live and being willing to open your heart after grief has slammed it shut. When finished I found myself giving the book a good pat as if I could give it a hug.

Book of 100 pages or less:

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
I have no idea why this book is such a classic. Perhaps I’m a curmudgeon with no sense of creativity or child-like dreams, but frankly I hated it. After having read Chronicles of Narnia with my daughter I found this at the library and thought she would love it. I was really only familiar with the story characters and not so much the story itself. The book is utter nonsense, which I guess is the appeal. But it is very difficult to follow and certainly for children it’s silly gibberish that’s so confusing it’s not even fun. I only finished it for the sake of follow-through with my daughter.

Book a friend recommends:

Let me be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot
I have mixed feelings about this book and honestly need to spend some time reflecting more in depth about it. But it’s also been over a month since I read it and I haven’t had the alone time or mental clarity to do that yet. This book provides a lot of nuggets of truth and helpful reminders about biblical womanhood in all aspects of life. Published in 1976 it’s extremely challenging towards the typical world views of our 2019 society. In a way, the book was uncomfortable. She’s shares some fairly stereotypical 50’s housewife type ideas. I had to put it down several times to consider if my negative reactions to it were because her ideas were outdated, or if she was totally right in ways I’ve been so culturally conditioned to disagree with. In the end, I think both. The book is full of biblical explanations of what it is to be female the way God created. But also some of her practical examples of how this femininity might work itself out are a relic of her time. It takes a lot of discernment and heart searching to figure out which is which.

Book about Christian Living:

Understanding Baptism by Bobby Jamieson
Great! Short, to the point, easy to read and very helpful. I highly recommend for any believer new and old that feels unsure they know the why behind what they believe about baptism. This booklet covers the foundation of what is baptism, what it is not, who should be baptized and who should do the baptism. As well as why and when baptism is different than getting dunked in any random body of water at any random time. Honestly it cleared up a bit of confusion I had surrounding my own baptism and I’m grateful.

A Novel:

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
I had expectations for this book going into it that effected the way I feel about it now that I’m finished. Unfortunately I wanted to enjoy it more than I did. I thought the book was going to follow a family through Hurricane Katrina. I wanted to step outside myself and see that event through the eyes of someone who lived it. I spent the whole novel waiting for the hurricane to come. Really the story was set a few days leading up to the hurricane and ended a day or two after. The book really was not at all about the hurricane itself. It was about life as a poor black family living in rural Mississippi. In this regard I’m glad I read it. It stretched me and made me uncomfortable at times, which I’m sure was one of the goals of the author.

Book about Theology:

The Baptism of Disciples Alone: A Covenantal Argument for Credobaptism versus Paedobaptism by Fred Malone
I really enjoyed this book, though at times I had to reread a few paragraphs. Malone is gracious to our paedobaptist brothers and sisters and truly desires the truth of God’s word to be clearly understood and taught by all. He dismantles arguments used by prominent paedobaptist teachers by showing the error and inconsistencies within them. Ultimately he argues that the paedobaptist position hinges on “an erroneous use of good and necessary inference” and does not actually follow the regulative principle of worship which paedobaptists themselves claim to hold to. Not only was I edified by this work regarding the doctrine of believers baptism I also learned a great deal about other theological concepts such as the regulative principle. This one is not for everyone, but I believe anyone who puts in the effort will benefit from this brother.

Book Recommended by a Family Member:

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Book one of The Stormlight Archive, an epic fantasy series recommended to me by my husband after he consumed every book available by the author last year. This is such and outlier for me as I never read fantasy or sci-fi. I haven’t even read Harry Potter. It took me a bit of effort to get hooked into it because there’s so much going on and I’m not familiar with books that build new worlds and magic systems. Once I got into it though, I could not put it down. Straight through the second book. The book switches between several characters point of view until they eventually all begin to merge into the greater story. The world is one beset with wars, assassins, chasm fiends, and deadly storms that fuel the magic system with stormlight. Sanderson crafts an incredibly intricate social hierarchy, religious systems, and world history that all play major roles in the overall story. It’s rare that a book causes me to literally exclaim “WOAH” out loud when the most unexpected thing happened! It’s a thrilling read and you won’t stop here.

Book With At Least 400 Pages:

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
1087 pages exactly. And it took me 6 days to finish. Riding the high of book one, I consumed the second Stormlight Archive book in record time. I also got a lot less sleep that week. As good as the first, with still more twists and turns and mysteries revealed. The character development in these books is fantastic. Part of the magic system requires the characters to wrestle a bit with who they are and who they will chose to be. This means that every character has depth, none outshines the others. I highly recommend this series. Book two comes to a more complete finish, though there is plenty of cliffhanger leading into book 3 (and the novella that takes place in between). It’s easier to pause here and take a break but I’m looking forwarding to finishing the next ones. Sanderson isn’t yet done writing the epic saga that is planned to be 10 books long! I’m totally sucked in, I’ll read them all.

Book By or About a Missionary:

Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ: The Cost of Bringing the Gospel to the Nations in the Lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton by John Piper
I’ve had this on my shelf for several years never making it to the top of my book stack. But we moved and I don’t even know where my book stack is, but I found this one and decided to give it a go. I think I never picked it up because I knew what laid inside would twist my heart in ways I didn’t want to deal with. If you’re unfamiliar with Tyndale, Judson, and Paton they are all remarkable men who gave their lives for the sake of spreading the gospel. These men took God’s promises seriously and they put everything on the line, enduring sorrow upon sorrow while clinging to the one true God they knew was in control. Their stories are inspiring and convicting. Much of what they suffered and died for, I often take for granted. Piper endeavors to provide short, easy to read summaries of each of their lives and lasting impact and does so with a surprising amount of passion. Despite being so short each story is compelling as Piper boiled each down to a laser focus using the three together to make a larger point to his readers. God uses the suffering of his people to display the sufferings and love of Jesus to the world. What you believe about God and the worth you place in heavenly things versus earthly things is bound to challenged by this book.

Book of Choice:

Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson
This is short story (in comparison to his other behemoth sized books) set in between books 2 and 3 of the Stormlight Archive series. I had trouble getting into it only because it’s a total sidestep from the main storyline and characters but it’s important backstory for major parts of book 3.

Book Published in 2019:

Parenting With Words of Grace: Building Relationships with Your Children One Conversation at a Time by William P. Smith
“You learn to trust God’s heart for you based on his words to you when you’re not at your best, and your kids learn to trust your heart for them based on your words to them when they’re not at theirs. (37)”

Most parenting books will leave you feeling defeated and acutely aware of all your worst qualities. This book however, is as full of grace for its reader as it encourages them to be with their children. I loved it and believe it’s not only applicable to those with children (of all ages) but for any relationship in which you speak to other people when both you and they may not be at their best. These two quotes point to the heart of the book we learn how to speak to our children with grace as we hear how God speaks with grace to his people through his word.

“As God speaks to us, taking into account our weaknesses, our immaturity, our fearfulness, our arrogance, our ignorance, and even our mistrustfulness, we discover someone who is worth knowing – someone who does not hold our sins against us, but treats us better than we deserve. When he speaks kindly yet directly to us, he gives us reasons to trust him and in turn to want more of him. His words invite long-term relationship as we (re)experience the gospel through them. And as you hear him talk to you, you learn to speak to your children in similar ways that give them reasons to want to continue their conversation with you despite your many missteps. (16)”

Book of Choice:

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
Book 3 in the Stormlight Archive series. In this book the storyline shifts as their enemies take new form and the once split character storylines are now fully intertwined. This book is as engaging as the rest and honestly does an even better job developing characters in my opinion. Roles and life and social structure are changing and each character must find their new place in it all. I’m really looking forward to book four coming out in Nov 2020! (Words I’ve never said about anything else)

Book on a the Current NY Times List of Bestsellers:

The Tatooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Based on interviews with a Slovakian Jew, Lale Sokolov, Morris retells this love story amid the atrocities of infamous WWII death camp Auschwitz. Despite being a love story, it certainly does not romanticize or minimize those terrible realities common in the daily life of prisoners. It’s hard to read, as you might expect. However, it’s good in a sobering way to continue to put these memories in front of yourself in real and raw ways. I did not enjoy this book, but I’m glad I read it.

Book about Christian Living:

Rejoicing in Christ by Michael Reeves
One of the best books I’ve ever read and one of the few I plan to reread (maybe annually) until every truth within is deeply known and easily recalled. Michael Reeves puts the beauty of Christ on display by taking a deep look at who He really is from many different vantage points. Jesus is the word. He is one with the Father. He sits on the throne. Jesus is the Son of God. He is the very great reward. This same Jesus emptied himself and became man. He is the better Adam. He is our brother. He is the perfect human. He is our Savior. He is the Bridegroom. He is the King. He loves his bride. Jesus Advocates for her. He is our priest. He is all of this and more and the more we behold who he is the more we can not help but to rejoice in what a great Savior and friend we have in Jesus! He is the hope we place our lives upon and we should know him more and more. Read this book.

This is the part where I totally diverge from Challies’ reading challenge. I decided to go my own way because there’s only so much time and I had way too many books in my to read pile that did not match the final few categories I had left.

Babe the Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith
Actually I read this earlier in the year. It’s the 3rd chapter book I read to my daughter this year. I’m including it in this count because I’d never read it before and honestly, it’s still a full size book even though it’s geared toward young readers. It’s a fun read and my almost 4 year old was able to follow along well. I did have to change some words on the fly so she could understand it better. Also for the sake of her not saying the “B” word believing its only meaning refers to a female dog.

A Call To Prayer by J.C. Ryle
So good. I wrote a whole post on this one. My post is a brief summary of the book though it’s hard to call it that since it’s only like 30 pages, along with my reflections. But I encourage you to just go read it for yourself!

The Enemy Within: Straight Talk about the Power and Defeat of Sin by Kris Lundgaard
I read this as part of a group book study with my church. It’s a distilled down version of John Owen’s Mortification of Sin for the modern reader. It’s much shorter, and written to be easily digestible. I think my greatest take away from it was a general sense of awareness that I had been blind to before. Awareness of my sin, yes. But more so, awareness of the work of indwelling sin within me that will continue to push forward regardless of my effort to push back. If I’m not pushing back, I’m losing and I may not even realize it. I want to read this one again sometime though to really get more out of it. Since I read it as a book study it was over a longer than normal period of time and I was distracted with first trimester pregnancy fatigue and nausea. So I don’t think I really did it justice and I know there’s more to be gained here.

New York by Edward Rutherford
This is the second of Rutherford’s books I’ve read. They’re all great. I was less invested in this one compared to his Paris book I read last year but that’s just a matter of my preferring European history over American. It was less engaging overall due to fewer storylines and a significantly shorter period of time. I can’t really hold that against him. It just is what it is. The book was well written and enjoyable nonetheless.

The Dispatcher by John Scalzi
Fun short read where people who are murdered begin regularly coming back to life and the industry that erupts around this new phenomenon. Licensed Dispatchers are hired to humanely kill anyone on the brink of death giving them a second chance at life. The implications are far reaching. Main character Tony Valdez gets roped into helping a detective hunt down a fellow dispatcher who’s recently gone missing leading you through this sci-fi mystery thriller that you can finish in one sitting. Fascinating and a bit disturbing.

Britt-Marie was Here by Fredrik Backman
I enjoyed A Man Called Ove so much earlier this year that I decided to read another Backman book. I was looking for his fun loving light hearted style that’s rich with connection and characters who care more deeply than it seems. I was looking for a similar style novel, but what I got was a near carbon copy of the first book that simply swaps the main character for a woman. I would’ve loved it if it had been the first one I read, though I would still say A Man Called Ove was better overall. It’s a different setting, different life circumstance, and different characters, but they have the same general tendencies and the story plays out in predictably similar ways. I was disappointed because I really did want more, but I didn’t want the same thing twice.

Book About Church history:

Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelly
I’m back to the Challies categories here and that’s because I started this book somewhere around March and if I’m completely honest I still haven’t finished it. But I’m counting it anyway because I’m only about 40 pages away from finishing it and I read the other 520 pages in 2019 and in my opinion that counts for something. Turns out no matter how bad you want to read about and understand 2000 years of church history, it’s just going to take you a bit of time to wade through. I’ve heard criticisms about this book along the way and in several cases I agree. He simplifies things a bit too much, and is quick to make statements like “this caused that,” when really it’s much more nuanced than that. Either way it’s still the most readable and easily digestible history book spanning 2000 years I’ve ever seen and I think it’s worth the read. For those just looking for a survey of church history it’s a great choice. Just read it knowing there’s more to the story and it’s gonna take a lot more reading to get a full picture of these events and details.

Categories I didn’t end up reading:

A BIOGRAPHY
A BOOK BY OR ABOUT A MISSIONARY
A BOOK FROM A “BEST OF 2018” LIST
A COMMENTARY ON A BOOK OF THE BIBLE
A BOOK WRITTEN BY A PURITAN
A BOOK ABOUT MUSIC OR A MUSICIAN

If you have any recommendations I’m all ears! I’d happily read something great in 2020 that fits these descriptions.

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