My 2020 Book Recommendations

It’s this time of year again! My 2020 book recommendations are a varied lot, bouncing from memoir to theology to parenting advice to housecleaning tips. As usual, I’ve loved looking back upon the books that have shaped me this year. I also love the exchange of book recommendations from one friend to another–please leave me your recommendations in the comments or in an email! 2020 has been a good year for reading and reflecting.

2020 Book Recommendations

Spiritual Growth

The Cross He Bore, Leahy

It’s all too easy to skim through the accounts of Christ’s suffering before and during the crucifixion. This short book of reflections on Christ’s great atonement and glory causes you to slow down, to meditate on each step of His journey toward being the great Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. I highly recommend using it as a devotional, reading a chapter or even just a few pages each day until you reach the beautiful epilogue. You will be drawn to greater praise and thankfulness for the One who had mercy on you, a sinner.

Growing in Holiness, R.C. Sproul

Sproul wrote this book with his trademark straightforwardness. Here, he takes the mysticism out of sanctification and encourages us to pursue growth in holiness while trusting in the grace of Christ that has already cleansed us from our sin.

Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age, Reinke

One of my favorite reads this year, absolutely on point for 2020. Humans are made for awe, Reinke claims. We fill that void with everything from war to live sports to movies, and we’ve currently allowed the media to provide almost all of our awe-inducing spectacles. We get angry, feel sadness or delight, or grow apathetic to the various spectacles provided for our amusement. Reinke discusses the science behind some of this media entrapment and urges us to look to Christ crucified as the ultimate and only “awesome” spectacle worth our total focus. (From one of my reading notes: ‘We have to decide how active we want to be in our own lives. Will we sit and be entertained to death? Even bingeing on morally neutral entertainment asks us to give ourselves to something less than Christ.’)

The Envy of Eve: Finding Contentment in a Covetous World, Melissa Kruger

Mrs. Kruger’s insightful study of the Scriptural pattern of covetousness (see, desire, take, hide) shines a light on our own covetousness, whether it be for children, money, a certain type of lifestyle, or even musical talent. I was deeply convicted by her words and yet encouraged that Christ can make covetous people like us into unselfish people who live for Him. (Ligonier Ministries has an excellent video series on the same topic by Mrs. Kruger, which I also highly recommend.)

God’s Guidance, Elisabeth Elliot

Elisabeth Elliot’s calm, unwavering trust in God shines in this book. I didn’t finish reading this book and then run to change anything in my own life; I simply emerged from its pages with a desire to trust God more. Anything Elisabeth Elliot has written has been an encouragement to me.

The Bruised Reed, Richard Sibbes

This was my Puritan read of the year. Its gentle, pastoral tone toward the “bruised reeds” that all of us are without Christ’s strength was the perfect thing for me to read this past April, during our county’s “shelter in place” order. If you’re looking for a readable Puritan, try this book.

The Life of Prayer, Edith Schaeffer

Mrs. Schaeffer gives some practical, wise advice on praying without ceasing, fasting, and learning to pray while believing both in God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. Some of the earlier chapters were unnecessarily verbose, but the book overall was a helpful read on prayer.

The Valley of Vision, Bennett

This collection of Puritan prayers has been my constant companion this year, resting in the stack of my Bible and journal for daily use. I have loved and learned from its richness of theology drawn into the language of prayer and worship.

Adorning the Dark, Andrew Peterson

When I found out about this book, I at once wanted to read it. Andrew Peterson’s song lyrics are some of my favorites. They’re truthful and vulnerable, Christ-exalting and filled with wonder.

Throughout the early pages of this book, I kept thinking, “Somehow he knows me!” The writer, musician, artist, or adventurer will resonate with Andrew’s childhood desires for something MORE than the ordinary pattern of small-town “slowth,” which was my favorite word in the book.

Whether Andrew meant for this to happen or not, as he focused on the need for community with likeminded people, I was impressed with the need for community with likeminded, yes, but different people. The artist and adventurer comes up with great new ideas, but we need solid, stable people to ground us. Read Adorning the Dark—and then go read something by J.C. Ryle or John MacArthur or some other solid, steady pastor. Rejoice in the making and the beauty and then focus all that energy on glorifying God!

Family Relationships

Risen Motherhood, Jensen & Wifler

My favorite parenting book this year came from two mothers in the trenches of parenting themselves. Chapter by chapter, they remind us to look to Christ as our only hope, addressing topics as varied as school choice and peanut butter choice and reminding us that even as we do our best we cannot trust in our own choices.

“It might be mundane to fold laundry, but it’s extraordinary to do it patiently with joy and a heart of love. It might be mundane to sit on the couch and read another book to a whiny four-year-old, but it’s extraordinary to show kindness and mercy to to an undeserving sinner….Our everyday moments might be ordinary, but when we accomplish them while displaying the fruit of the Spirit, they reflect our extraordinary Savior.” (p. 85)

The Five Love Languages, Chapman

I grew up hearing about the five love languages described in this book and finally decided to read about them for myself. I think the author has brilliantly summed up how different people perceive different actions and words as “love.” Whether your primary love language is gift-giving, quality time, acts of service, touch, or words of affirmation, this little book can help you understand how to better show love to your family members and friends.

The Meaning of Marriage, Tim Keller

Keller works his way through the Ephesians passage on marriage and brings practical wisdom to bear on our ordinary days of marriage. Each for the Other has been my favorite marriage book since reading it during my own days of premarital counseling, but now I have another favorite. Read this book to meet grace and commonsense joined to solid theology.

The Lifegiving Parent, Clarkson

This book caused me to spend much time in reflection and examination of my own style of parenting, and for that I’m thankful that I read it. While I cannot agree with everything Mr. Clarkson draws from his study of Scripture, I appreciate his heart for loving children. Both of the Clarksons have greatly encouraged me to love my children well rather than obsessing over poor behavioral choices.

What is a Family? Edith Schaeffer

Mrs. Schaeffer’s example of openhearted hospitality has long inspired me. Her thoughts in this book about the protection and love a home can also offer a family were ones I greatly needed to hear in my current season of life. (A home has doors to open to others—and also to close when the family needs time to recover and heal.)

Give Your Child the World, Jamie Martin

This is more of an annotated booklist than anything else, but I’m glad I have a copy to help me as I try to give my children a rich, global education. Books open the world in a beautiful way.

 

Biography/Memoir/History

 

Susie, Rhodes

This thorough biography of Susannah Spurgeon, the woman behind the great C.H. Spurgeon, was a beautiful picture of a life lived to serve and of the times in which she lived. After Charles died, Susie continued his legacy and created her own: one of ensuring the continuing education of hundreds of underpaid pastors. Her unstinting self-giving in spite of ill health inspires us and rebukes any tendencies of laziness.

Say I’m Dead, by E. Dolores Johnson

A moving memoir by a woman whose search for her roots brings to light the prejudice among both white and black communities. As the child of black father and a white mother who disappeared from her town rather than have to tell her family whom she was marrying (illegally, at that time of anti-miscegenation laws), Delores struggled to find out who she really was and where she belonged. While she shares cringe-worthy and even heartbreaking instances of racism in the United States of the fifties, sixties, and seventies, she also writes with hope for a better future.

Gold Cord, Carmichael

Amy Carmichael attempted to show God’s faithfulness in these stories of Dohnavur.

Unbroken, Hillenbrand

This biography took some time to read but brought me into World War II in a way no other book has done. Unbroken is former runner Louis Zamperini’s incredible story of survival despite impossible odds. From his unlikely escape from drowning after days on the open sea to his imprisonment in Japan to his spiritual conversion and escape from alcoholism in later life, Zamperini seemed to be the proverbial cat with nine lives. (Toward the end, this book presents a powerful story of forgiveness, so don’t give up when the pages grow long.)

Evening in the Palace of Reason, Gaines

Parallel, contrasting lives of Frederick the Great, the deceitful dictator who embraced the Age of Reason, and J.S. Bach, the composer who created a truly European music from the French, German, and Italian styles and who believed with Luther that music was theology’s handmaiden. This book leaves you with an appreciation for the fact that there were no “good old days” (the brutality common at this time makes one shudder) and with a desire to listen to Baroque music with notes on the side so that you can understand the complex theological meaning of each stanza.

Hidden Figures, Margot Shetterly

Absolutely fascinating biography of several black American women, including the famous Katherine Johnson, who helped change the world by working as mathematicians at NASA. These women were human computers (“computer” was their actual job title), processing staggering amounts of data to help put man on the moon. They were also everyday heroes, women of strong moral convictions who faithfully worked to provide for their families, serve in their churches and communities, and withstand the weight of Jim Crow.

Note: I recommend reading this book before watching the movie, since you will then know the full stories that the movie compresses into a scene or two.

When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi

A neurosurgeon’s memoir about dying and finding meaning in life. Kalanithi was a young neurosurgery resident when he got cancer. He wrote in a quietly poetic manner, unpretentiously rich from his own study of both science and literature, about his life and illness. Thinking over his time as a neurosurgeon and the questions he had to navigate with his patients, Paul asks readers, “Would you trade your ability to speak (or your mother’s) for a few additional nine months of life? Would you trade the possibility of no more seizures for your right hand’s function?” The most important question of all, one that pervades the book, is: “What makes life meaningful enough to keep living?”

Paul’s wife wrote the final, heart rending yet life-honoring portion of the book after his death.

Miscellaneous Nonfiction

The World Split Open: Great Authors on How and Why We Write, Atwood

A series of essays by writers on writing, answering questions about why one writes (to make sense of your world), what art does to the human psyche, etc. At times snobbish, definitely with an academic nose pinched over such entertainments as a “cheap sitcom,” in Jeannette Winterson’s words, this book is yet a lovely reflection on the craft of writing.

If you love Marilynne Robinson’s writing as much as I have grown to love it this year, you will be enchanted by her thoughts on beauty. (A sample quote, answering her students’ questions about the value of writing fiction: “…we are doing something so ancient, so pervasive, and so central to human culture that we can assume its significance, even if we cannot readily describe or account for it. There is no reason to suppose the invention of narrative is in any way a marginal activity. Narratives define whole civilizations to themselves, for weal or woe.”) Robert Stone’s essay on “Morality and Truth in Literature” is also well worth a slow and thoughtful read.

Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books, Reinke

This book about books and reading is a surprisingly easy and quick read. I thoroughly enjoyed Reinke’s overview of genres, his affirmation of the value of fiction, and his pervasive, contagious love for the written word.

The House that Cleans Itself, Mindy Starns Clark

This was a fun read. While some of the suggestions were slightly ridiculous (I still hold that one should put the groceries away instead of hiding them behind something temporarily), she had some great thoughts to share about praying for your family as you clean the home for them.

Note: This December, I’m currently reading Sink Reflections, by Marla Cilley, better known as Fly Lady. I started using many of Fly Lady’s routines for keeping a home clean at the beginning of this year, and her checklists have helped me keep my sanity throughout 2020.

The Minimalist Home, Joshua Becker

“Be remembered for the life you lived—not the things you bought.” —Joshua Becker This was my favorite quote from the book. This book is not a shining example of brilliant writing, but it is a thoughtful re-direction of our focus on things instead of living life to the fullest. Becker and his cowriter walk us room by room through a final declutter of our homes.

The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell

Encouraging? Not really, if you’re a parent who would like to believe that you have more influence on your children than their peers do. What The Tipping Point can be called is illuminating. It is an accessible, personable read gathering together immense piles of “dry” research on concepts as disparate as shoe trends and nicotine addictions and turning them into a page-turning collection of clever comparisons and shocking anecdotes. I felt as though I understood how the secular world works so much better after reading this book. And now I realize how important the word of mouth recommendation of normal people like you and I is for providing the very “Tipping Point” that a book like this needs if it is to be read and re-read now, two decades after it was first published.

The Millionaire Next Door, Stanley

Summarized: flashy material possessions are not an indicator of wealth. “Big hat, no cattle.” This book makes you examine your preconceptions about the behavior of millionaires, and gives you confidence that with hard work and careful savings, any ordinary American can become a millionaire.

Mother to Son: Letters to a Black Boy on Identity and Hope,  Jasmine Holmes

Jasmine Holmes’s book of letters to her sons is a whirlwind of emotions. At times she is gracious, at times lovingly exuberant. And at times her letters become a polemic against a society that could view innocent little boys as dangerous simply because of the color of their skin. Mother to Son is a well-written tribute to the beauty and fierceness of a mother’s love.

[Note: There are confusing moments within for those of us who tend to take general indictments personally. For example, should we mention how good everyone’s skin looks when we see them in church or else offend? I finished the book with unanswered questions–but perhaps that was the author’s intention.]

Fiction:

From literary to Christian historical to Gothic to science fiction. My 2020 book choices were purposefully eclectic.

Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson

What a beautiful melding of mind and mercy appears in this book. I don’t know what to make of much of it; it’s beyond my ken, the old writers might say. But I do know that the writing is some of the most achingly beautiful I’ve ever been privileged to read. (Robinson’s writing reminds me of Steinbeck’s, but she doesn’t linger on the ugliness of unregenerate thought life as he does.)

Lila, Marilynne Robinson

This book was written after Gilead as a prequel. (I recommend reading it first, as I did, because it is more accessible if you aren’t accustomed to literary fiction.)  Lila is the story of the wife of Gilead’s narrator, the old minister. She grew up as a drifter, with a life as utterly unlike small-town Gilead as possible. Robinson manages to communicate both Lila’s lack of education and natural intelligence with a light, deft hand. Lila’s struggle to figure out the concept of God’s sovereignty and “fairness” in life is one that draws readers in as we, too, attempt to understand utter mystery.

Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Quiet, wrenching, powerful fiction set in Nigeria during a coup. Adichie’s writing is forcefully elegant, refusing to draw lines between hero and villain in this novel about a young Nigerian girl coming of age. If you read only two novels this year, make them Lila and Purple Hibiscus.

Between Two Shores, by Jocelyn Green

Compelling historical fiction about a time and place not often written about by writers in the Christian historical fiction genre (Montreal in the mid 1700s). The heroine, half Mohawk and half French, faces prejudice, hardship, and the gray lines of true patriotism with courage. [You might find yourself asking some of the same questions Catherine does. Is it better to stay at war and die of hunger or bring an end to war and famine? Green dared to give this book a nontraditional ending, and I loved the surprise and satisfying moral conclusion.]

Sweeter than Birdsong, Rosslyn Elliott

Many years I read more Christian historical fiction than I can bother to keep track of in a list. So what made this book stand out? Mostly because it was not only well-written, but it was based on a true story, and the characters were thus more realistic than many protagonists are. The heroine struggles with severe shyness. The hero (Ben Hanby, author of a song that is called the Uncle Tom’s Cabin of music) is neither rich, famous, nor powerful in any way. Both main characters are incredibly relatable and loveable.

Seven Gothic Tales, by Isak Dineson

Isak Dineson was really Danish Baroness Karen von Blixen, writing in the man’s world of the early nineteeth century. While I can only truly recommend one of these stories (“The Deluge at Norderney”), all are written with striking voice and incredibly colorful descriptions. For instance: “A weight fell away from her; she flew up to a higher perch and cackled a little. Her fortune helped her only in so far as it provided the puff of air under her wings that enabled her to fly a little higher and cackle a little louder…”

Gifts, Ursula K. LeGuin

Science fiction written by LeGuin seems almost matter of fact. Of course some people can call animals from the woods, or kill you with a glance. LeGuin’s story centered on character, the easy cruelty of power, and personal “gifts,” or talents, is worth reflection.

Additional fiction recommendation:

I thoroughly enjoyed some of the humorous novels of P.G. Wodehouse (you might be familiar with his character, Jeeves, the quintessential British butler). Many of his descriptions made me laugh out loud and send random quotes to my beleaguered friends.

Next Year

That wraps up my 2020 book recommendations. What’s already on my booklist for next year? First, I want to read something by Jonathan Edwards and finally get ahold of a copy of Gloria Furman’s Labor with Hope. (A couple people recommended it to me last winter.) I also have a number of biography-history titles to work my through. I’d love to collect recommendations from you for anything you think would enrich my mind in 2021.

Note: Tim Challies’s reading challenge in late 2016 caused me to begin keeping track of and focusing my reading. Previous years’ lists: 

Favorite Books of 2019

2018: My Favorite Books of the Year

2017 Reading Challenge: My Favorite Books of the Year