These are some books I read this year.
Some came out in 2016, and some didn’t. They all made me think or feel or experience something significant. There were only going to be ten books on this list, but then it was really hard to decide which ones to cut… so it’s thirteen instead. I try to review/summarize them in one sentence, two max. I'm not linking to webpages where you can buy them because I'm lazy, and also because I'm assuming you are capable of operating The Google.
Books! Here they are:
The Emotionally Healthy Leader - Peter Scazerro
Most influential book I read all year; has shaped and informed everything from my marriage to my meetings.
The Divine Magician - Peter Rollins
That thing that you want is not actually the thing that you want, which you won’t ever realize until you get the thing and then find out that you don’t want that thing, but another thing. If that made sense, you should read this book.
The Sympathizer - Viet Thanh Nguyen
If you thought you could never sympathize with a Vietnamese communist spy living undercover in America, then you should not read this, because you will.
Divine Dance - Richard Rohr
Join the flow, and enter the dance into which the Divine invites you.
Hillbilly Elegy - JD Vance
The “American Dream” does not working for the working poor, and negative cycles of family dysfunction are almost impossible to escape.
But What if We’re Wrong? - Chuck Klosterman
A book I was planning on writing, but Chuck got to it first, saving me a lot of time. Also, gravity might not exist.
Searching for Sunday - Rachel Held Evans
Leaving a church is easy; leaving a community is not, but sometimes it’s necessary.
Everybody’s Fool - Richard Russo
Unloveable characters that you cant help falling in love with, especially if you read or watched Nobody’s Fool.
Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates
Black bodies matter.
My Struggle: Book 5 - Karl One Knausgaard
Part five of a long, slow, excruciatingly painful train wreck that you simply can’t look away from. Part six (at least, the English translation of it) can’t come soon enough.
Finding God in the Waves - Mike McHargue
Science Mike’s journey from Christian to atheist to... christian?, while deconstructing the ‘science vs. faith’ dichotomy along the way.
The Sin of Certainty - Peter Enns
Certainty is a good place to start, but a terrible place to stop; trust is a far better destination.
How To Be Here - Rob Bell
A very Rob Bell-ish book about being your most you self; if you already like Rob then you’ll love this book, and if you don’t, you won’t. (Could also be said of almost every book he’s written).
That's my list! What's yours?