Well, it’s that time of the year. The last few weeks of the year where it’s apropos to ask questions about reflections, aspirations, and of course, a question that starts with, “What’s the best…?”
So, let’s do an easy one today in hopes of getting some responses from many people. You know how this works.
- I ask you a question.
- You answer.
- We solve world peace.
So, here are the questions:
- What are couple of the best books you’ve read this past year?
- What are couple books on your “to read” list for 2011?
My answers:
Best books this past year:
- Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. Re-read it for the ump-teenth time. Something about Holden Caulfield.
- Testament of Hope by MLK. Another re-read but technically a different experience when it’s not part of a professor’s syllabi. And I’m still reading through it currently.
- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. It’s often overlooked because of Beloved.
Books on my to-read-list:
- Sabbath by Abraham Heschel
- Race: A Theological Account, J. Kameron Carter
- What’s so Amazing About Grace by Phillip Yancey. Time to re-read this.
Your turn.
And if you’re interested:
- Here’s the conversation we had a year ago over the same question.
- My personal list of the 30 essential books for Christians. And yes, I confess some of them are a bit too heavy.
EUGENE CHO 
Best books I’ve read this year:
-Evolving in Monkey Town by my good friend Rachel Held Evans
-Green Like God by Jonathan Merritt
-O Me of Little Faith by Jason Boyett
-Hear No Evil by Matthew Paul Turner
-The Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder (I tried to read it a couple of years ago, but didn’t get it. Wasn’t until I picked it up again that I got it)
-A New Kind of Christianity by Brian McLaren
To read next year:
-Your Secret Name by Kary Oberbrunner
-A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren
i need to read rachel’s book. i hear it’s great but also because i really like her blog.
Best Books I Have read this Year:
Under the Overpass by Mike Yankowski
Remember Why You Play by David Thomas
Will read in 2011:
The Principle of Path by Andy Stanley
The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg
Best reads this year: Primal by Mark Batterson, Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakuar
For 2011: Finishing off my Hemingway collection, Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris, and Radical by Platt
Read:
The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (still reading)
Want to Read in 2011:
Listening to Your Life by Frederick Buechner
How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon D. Fee/Douglas Stuart
Rees Howells Intercessor by Norman Grubb
There is Always Enough by Heidi and Rolland Baker
When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson
…and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? but I might get to that one before the New Year 😛 Have you read the Harry Potter books Pastor Eugene?
i love buechner.
as for the harry potter books, no, i haven’t read them. to be honest, i’m not that interested. no particular reason except for time.
I take it we’ll see you at the 2011 Palmer Lecture @ SPU when Dr. Carter comes to town! Details below, just in case others want to go:
The School of Theology is excited to announce the 2011 Palmer Lecture on Thursday, January 27, given by Dr. J. Kameron Carter.
Dr. Carter teaches theology and black church studies at Duke University in the Department of Divinity. He has written Race: A Theological Account (New York: Oxford UP, 2008) and is finishing the upcoming book The Secular Jesus: Religion and the Project of Civilization (forthcoming, Yale University Press).
Dr. Carter’s work focuses on articulating a new religious and Christian social imagination for the 21st century. We cordially invite you to the Palmer Lecture presented by J. Kameron Carter.
Date: Thursday, January 27
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: Upper Gwinn Commons
Speaker: Dr. J. Kameron Carter
Cost: Free
yup. saw him briefly during my visit to duke earlier this year.
he made me want to bust out my bow-tie again.
looking forward to it.
Read/Re-read/Reading:
The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez – History was my worst subject in high school and college but this book on the history of the church was illuminating and written in a flowing, narrative style with surprisingly little bias.
Systematic Theology: Perspectives from Liberation Theology edited by Jon Sobrino – this was my first introduction to liberation theology and while I have some issues, I found it a fascinating (and much needed) way to look at the Bible and doctrine.
Sin: A History by Gary Anderson – amazing look at the metaphors we have used to describe sin (what it is and how it works) and how they have changed through time.
Will read:
A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis.
The Gospel in a Pluralist Society by Lesslie Newbigin.
…and whatever I get assigned for school.
i’m interested in this _general theory of love_ … bell hooks wrote one that is amazing and beautiful and kind of my guiding set of principles, called _all about love: new visions._
Books I enjoyed this past year:
The Rule of St. Benedict (Joan Chittister’s edition)
The Gospel According to Jesus by Chris Seay
In Constant Prayer by Robert Benson (part of Phyllis Tickle’s series on Ancient Practices)
The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
Books to read:
new works by Stephen Lawhead
the rest of The Ancient Practices series
Markings by Dag Hamarskjold
Boundaries by Cloud & Townsent
Best of 2009
– The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen
– The Cross of Christ by John Stott
– Kitchen Confidential & Medium Rare by Anthony Bourdain
To read in 2010
– No Condemnation in Christ Jesus by Octavius Winslow
– Just Kids by Patti Smith
– The Pleasures of God by John Piper
– Romans, John, Acts, 1 & 2 Peter Commentaries by RC Sproul
(Also, unless I need for assignments, I am not going to purchase any books for 2011. I have plenty of books I need to read.)
My best books this year were actually for school:
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
An Unquiet Mind by Kay Jamison
oh, and the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
To read next year:
Souls in The Hands of a Tender God by Craig Rennebohm
More school books! But I am studying contemporary social policy and advocacy, so they will be interesting books at least.
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
It is some fine, fine literature.
Best books in 2010 for me:
“Soul Revolution” by John Burke
“The Core Issue” by Christine Caine
On the ‘to read’ list (or currently reading) for 2011:
“Church Unique” by Will Mancini
“The Tangible Kingdom” by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay
Crazy Love by Francis Chan and Radical by David Platt
Hole in our Gospel by Richard Stearn (I think I read it towards the end of last year though)
And I wasn’t going to say it but Joseph named it first, but Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain was a really fun read, as was Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh.
Top for 2011 is Theology for a Trouble Believer by Diogenes Allen. I might get to that before the end of the year though…
wow. dr. allen. title sounds really intriguing.
Read:
The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson
Better, Atul Gawande
Young adult books: The Hunger Games! Re-reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader! Re-reading some Harry Potter!
Reading/to Read:
Freedom, Jonathan Franzen — hyped up, but good so far.
White, Richard Dyer
A bunch of great books by Vivian Paley, who wrote White Teacher!
I loved _What’s So Amazing About Grace?_ I agree, worth a re-read, and worth seeing how our understandings of it change over time.
2010:
Abba’s Child (Brennan Manning)- this actually has made it to my lifetime best reads list
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (Donald Miller)
2011:
Prayer (Philip Yancey)
Emotional Intelligence (Daniel Goleman)
Best I read in 2010:
When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead, Newbery winner)
The Reason for God (Tim Keller)
What the Dog Saw (Malcom Gladwell)
For 2011:
The Next Christians (Gabe Lyons)
After You Believe (N.T. Wright)
I too loved this book by Gladwell. Such a great writer
adrienne/barry:
if you could recommend 1 book by gladwell, what would it be?
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (celebrating its 50th year)
By far my favorite book this year is a collection of essays, mostly about race, by Eula Biss, Notes From No Man’s Land: American Essays. The author is a phenomenal writer. Thanks to your reminder I brought home my copy of Race by Carter to begin reading over the holidays.
Best so far this year:
C.S. Lewis. Till We Have Faces
Robert Jordan. The Wheel of Time: Towers of Midnight
Brandon Sanderson. The Stormlight Archive: The Way of Kings
Italo Calvino. Invisible Cities
Elizabeth Strout. Olive Kitteridge
Cormac McCarthy. No Country for Old Men
Philip Schultz. Failure
Erich Maria Remarque. All Quiet on the Western Front
Lisa Genova. Still Alice
Thanks for sharing your books and this opportunity to put me into re-think about books!
Best books for 2010
1. a New kind of Christianity by Brian McClaren
2. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe-I reread it after I read it when I was in Elementary school. Amazed by heartbreaking details and difference in views how white and black see Christianity.
3. Korean Book-욕쟁이 예수 by 박총(I highly recommend it for you!)
4. Another Korean book- 불편해도 괜찮아 by 김두식 (about human rights and movies.)
books for 2011
1. The God delusion by Richard Dokins
2. Reason, Faith and Evolution by Terry Eagleton.
3. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
4. to kill a mocking bird by Harper Lee
(3,4, will be the re-read. I can’t wait!)
thanks for the book recommendations.
i really really wished i had learned how to read korean more fluently. but i’ll recommend it to my wife!
Best reads of 2010:
The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel
Clairvaux Manifesto by Kirk Bartha
To read for 2011:
Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology by Greg Boyd
The End of Religion by Bruxy Cavey (re-read)
Is that your real Catcher in the Rye book?
nope. found it online and thought it was a great pic.
What a great way to do a new years list! Makes you think about what you’ve been thinking about this year!
So… the best of 2010:
Obama – Dreams from My Father (which saved me from the incredibly dry “The Missional Leader” by Roxburgh and Romanuk but surprisingly covered a lot of the same sort of ground).
Ramsey – War and the Christian Conscience.
Marx & Engles – The Communist Manifesto (for the highs and lows!)
and looking forward to in 2011:
Twain – Huckleberry Finn
Alinsky – Rules for Radicals
Sachs – Common Wealth
😀
I read Evolving in Monkey Town, O Me of Little Faith, What the Dog Saw, and Why We Make Mistakes. All fascinating. Sorry to say, I actually disliked Song of Solomon (dislike is not a strong enough word.) This coming year, I’m most looking forward to reading Mark Twain’s autobiography. It’s been 100 years since his death, and vol. 1 has finally been published!
1. To change the world by James Davidson Hunter
2. The shaping of things to come by Micheal Frost and Alan Hirsch
3. When helping hurts: How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert
4. Pedagogy of the Oppressed Paulo Freire
5. Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
6. How to get Cliff Lee to travel coast to coast to coast with you by Bryan Todd
how in the world did you guys get cliff lee? crazy.
It’s been a year of lots of great reads for me. Some of the best:
Conquest: Sexual Violence and Native American Genocide – Andrea Smith
The Blue Parakeet – Scot McKnight
Return of the Prodigal Son – Henri Nouwen
Evolving in Monkey Town – Rachel Held Evans
On the 2011 list:
Abusing Scripture – Manfred T. Brauch
Race: A Theological Account – J. Kameron Carter
Reality Bites Back – Jennifer Pozner
Jesus and Politics – Peter Heltzel
Oops, that last one should be:
Jesus and Justice: Evangelicals, Race, and American Politics – Peter Heltzel
I also re-read “Catcher” this year, and it remains one of my favorite books of all time. =)
I also read a book called “Zeitoun” by Dave Eggers this year that was extremely compelling and interesting. It’s a nonfiction narrative about a family that lived through Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans; tells the story of survival, racism, faith and religion in a modern context, and it’s incredibly page-turning. I bought a copy just to lend out to friends.
On my To-Read list for 2011: “Mere Christianity” (C.S. Lewis), “Welcoming But Not Affirming” (Stanley Grenz), “Emma” (Jane Austen) and “Finally Feminist” (John Stackhouse)
Best books:
The Year of Living Biblically -A.J. Jacobs
The Unlikely Disciple -Kevin Roose
Books to read:
Babywise III
The Grapes of Wrath
Best Books Read:
White Tiger
True Grit
Forgotten God
Books Still to Read:
Audacious Faith
Super Sad True Love Story
Justification
Soul Survivor by Philip Yancey
The Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley
The Yancey one is older, but I just read it this year.
The one by Farley is an interesting read.
The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by bell hooks
The Coming Insurrection by the Invisible Committee
Anarchy Works by Peter Gelderloos
The New Testament and the People of G-d by N.T. Wright
“Come Out My People!” G-d’s Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond by Wes Howard-Brook
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Forthcoming books to be read:
Consensus by Peter Gelderloos
Where We Stand: Class Matters by bell hooks
Binding the Strong Man by Ched Myers
and I am sure many more!
I’m late to this party but I’m posting anyway! =)
Best of 2010:
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace
American Pastoral, by Philip Roth
Honorable mentions:
The Living, by Annie Dillard
Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts
On tap for 2011:
Colonel Roosevelt, by Edmund Morris (the long-awaited third installment in his superb biography of TR, begun with The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex)
Some non-fiction; it’s been a while…
The Warmth of Other Sons is my vote for book of the year and probably the decade.
Other good books read this year:
-Chalmers Johnson’s trilogy- Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic
-The Koreans: Who They Are, What They Want, Where Their Future Lies. One of the best Korea books I’ve read.
Books to read in ’11:
-More of Chalmers Johnson’s books esp. MITI and the Japanese miracle
-Andrew Bacevich’s The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War
-Chang-Rae Lee’s The Surrendered
-American Saint: Francis Asbury and the Methodists by John H. Wigger
top 2 read in 2010
Missional Small Groups by M. Scott Boren
AND: the gathered and scattered church by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay
to read in 2011
The Integrated Life by Ken Eldred
The Silver Chair by CS Lewis
Having read Catcher in the Rye once; I can’t imagine anyone reading it again. This has to be one of the most highly overrated books ever. No wonder Mr Salinger became a recluse? I would, also, be embarrassed to to be seen in public if I had written such tripe.
Hi Bill, Salinger didn’t become a recluse because he wrote the book. I think, for a large part, the book was an extension of himself. It exactly the type of ideals that Holden Caulfield values that would eventually lead to someone wanting to become a recluse. It has nothing to do with being embarrassed about writing that type of book. I am curious, however, why you didn’t like the book.
Hi Cate,
Actually, I know little-to-nothing about Mr Salinger. Safe to say that it wasn’t embarrassment over writing this book that caused him to become a recluse. I was being facetious. :):)
One word would describe why I disliked the book……….boring. I didn’t find it a well-written novel, but for some reason I continued reading till the end. Is it possible that the enamorment with Catcher In The Rye is that many relate to Holden Caulfield?? His story, apparently, resonates with many for some reason?
Bones of the Master by George Crane http://www.amazon.com/Bones-Master-Journey-Secret-Mongolia/dp/0553379089 is an interesting book that talks about the experiences of a Mongolian Monk Tsung Tsai, Buddhist who during the repression by the Chinese Regime during the “Great Leap Forward” which occurs around 1959+/- migrates on foot from Mongolia to Hong Kong! That is a long long route, it spans the whole nation of China in fact, North South. Government Troops raided the Monastery and kill the 110 year old venerable Master of the Monastery so Tsung Tsai flees to freedom. After that, Tsung Tsai eventually went to live in the State of New York, I think in fact, Woodstock. Also in the book, Crane who is Tsung Tsai’s neighbor and author of the book both go back to Mongolia some decades later. Even in Tsung Tsai’s early life, the Japanese invaded China when he was a kid and that was a real hard time too.
What’s interesting is Venerable Master Hsua Hua set up the City of 10,000 Buddhas in Northern California. He was at the same Monastery as Tsung Tsai in their youths. http://www.cttbusa.org
Secondly, a bit of a landmark book on Running is called Born to run. A different kind of running book, all I can say and reviews galore over at amazon so many people know of it already. Recently published in the past few years.