Well, this is late.
I read a lot of old books. By that I don’t mean Thucydides, Sophocles, or Dickens. I mean used books accumulated from Ebay, Goodwill, Thrift Books, McKay’s Used Books, Rhino, and Mostly Happy Books at Music Valley Antiques and Marketplace. I can’t afford the $25-35/per of new releases. That’s why my annual list is “the best books I read” that year rather than the best books of that year.
Memoir, theology, history, and fiction, here’s the list of best books I read in 2023.
More Than I Imagined, John Blake
A beautiful memoir by CNN journalist, John Blake, son of a black father, describing his attempt to find his white mother. Powerful, spiritual, insightful.
The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory, Tim Alberta
A devastating critique of Late Evangelicalism by a journalist and faithful follower of Christ. This one can’t be brushed aside as a liberal attack or Leftist drivel.
To Be A Woman, Katie McCoy
Compassionate, biblical look at what the transgender movement means for girls and women.
Blood Brothers, Elias Chacour
A foundational book for understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by a Christian Palestinian pastor-theologian.
Kill Anything that Moves, Nick Turse
Drawing on declassified records in some cases and ignored records in others, Turse illuminates the gruesome ways the US military prosecuted the war in Vietnam showing that shooting anything that moves is no guarantee of victory.
Fever in the Heartland, Timothy Egan
The true story of the enormous KKK influence across middle America in the first half of the 20th century and how the sexually perverse predilections of the most powerful Klansman of all brought it down.
All My Knotted-up Life, Beth Moore
A beautiful, God-honoring memoir, Moore leaves few things covered as she writes about her upbringing, childhood abuse, marriage struggles and victories, parenting, and her unlikely—save for the economy of God—rise from local church Bible teacher and aerobics instructor to internationally renowned Bible conference leader.
From the Garden to the City, John Dyer
A needed reminder of technology’s capacity to create as many problems as it solves and the direct effect of that dilemma on Christian discipleship.
The Cutting Season, Attica Locke
From one of my favorite modern novelists, Locke deftly covers the intersections of race, history, and power in this tale of a Louisiana plantation murder.
Sycamore Row, John Grisham
Second in Grisham’s Jake Brigance series, this is one of the best at his very best.
Comments are open. What were your favorites this year?
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