2017 Reading List

Over the last few years I have developed a reading system, which I shared about in a previous post (Reading Two Five), so I thought I would share my reading lists from the past few years as I developed the system.

Here are the books I read in 2017. It was another great year of books, but you will find an imbalance between the categories. I also got married in 2017, and so a number of books were focussed on that.

LITERATURE:

• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• Exile And The Kingdom by Albert Camus
• The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• This Side Of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Standout: The Great Gatsby. While I had seen the movies, I hadn’t read the book, but I so enjoyed the pace of Fitzgerald’s narrative.

ACADEMIC:

• Eat This Book by Eugene H. Peterson
• The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
• Christ & Culture by H. Richard Niebuhr
• Christ & Culture Revisited by D.A. Carson
• Love Wins by Rob Bell
• Toward a Pentecostal Ecclesiology ed. by Jon Christopher Thomas
• Executing Grace by Shane Claibourne
• Mandate to Difference by Walter Brueggemann
• The Intolerance of Tolerance by D.A. Carson

Standouts: The Divine Conspiracy. There were so many illuminating moments while reading this book.

CRAFT:

• Worship: Adoration and Action ed. by D.A. Carson
• True Worshipers by Bob Kauflin
• How to Read the Psalms by Tremper Longman III
• Spirituality of the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann
• Fruit of the Soul: Luther on the Lament Psalms by Dennis Ngien
• Faith On Trial by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
• The Heart of the Artist by Rory Noland

Standouts: The Heart of the Artist. As a worship pastor, and a supporter of the arts, this book was helpful in how to work with artists and foster their creativity in the church.

EXPERIENCE:

• Resistance, Rebellion, and Death by Albert Camus
• Water to Wine by Brian Zahnd
• Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis
• The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
• The Rule of Benedict by Benedict of Nursia
• No Compromise by Melody Green (and David Hazard)
• Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Words Without Music by Philip Glass

Standouts: Words Without Music, and The Practice Of The Presence Of God. I have enjoyed listening to the music of Philip Glass, so it was fascinating to read about his life and process. Brother Lawrence’s classic was a great challenge as I read a number of books on prayer.

PROCESS:

• Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller
• Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero
• Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard Foster
• Answering God: The Psalms As Tools For Prayer by Eugene H. Peterson
• Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller (With Kathy Keller)
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown
• Fairness is Overrated by Tim Stevens
• His Needs, Her Needs by Willard F. Harley, Jr.
• Sex God by Rob Bell
• Love Is A Decision by Gary Smalley & John Trent
• In the Name of Jesus by Henri J.M. Nouwen
• Leading from the Second Chair by Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson
• Beauty Will Save The World by Brian Zahnd
• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Standouts: Essentialism. This book was incredible in articulating the complexity of simplicity.

Runner-ups: Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God, and Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home. These are both wonderful books on prayer. Keller’s book helped me in developing my understanding of what prayer is. Foster’s book helped give me many types of prayer to practice.

 

Here are other reading lists:
2015 Reading
2016 Reading

What are some of your best book recommendations? Let me know in the comments below.