My 10 Favorite Books I Read in 2018

A few years ago, when I was safely removed from the required reading of school, I started to read. And I started to like it. While I do read some books for fun, I largely try to punch above my mental weight class with my books. I figure if you go often to those great minds and deep thinkers who have so influenced societies, those classic authors who so captured the human experience, those theologians who have so accurately communicated the deep things of God—eventually something will stick.

To be sure there is much that does not stick. There are many books I start each year with eagerness only to leave unfinished. Still, I have found the searching out and reading of good books to be a habit that I want to develop further each year. I’d like to think it has expanded my mind and I know it has solidified ideas and positions in my head that were formerly rather foggy. Perhaps more foundationally, I have found certain books to have become a part of me. By shaping the way I think and the way I see the world, they have actually shaped the person I am today. Good books can have this affect if you will but let them!

Here is my list of my 10 favorite books I read in 2018: 

10. The Screwtape Letters – C. S. Lewis

I remember reading this book in High School, but there are some books that are meant to be revisited again and again. The Screwtape Letters is a good introduction into Lewis’s thought and full of practical wisdom for the Christian. It is also not too long and the brief chapters combined with the unique style (written in the negative perspective, of a devil no less!) make for a fun read.  If you have never read anything from Lewis, I think this is as good a place to start as any.

9. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

This is another book I read in High School. Unlike Screwtape I did not enjoy this one the first time around! Dickens’ verbosity and peculiar descriptions proved too much for my former self. So this was take two almost 10 years later, and this time I lost myself in the story. As far as classic novels go A Tale of Two Cities has it all: a momentous historical setting, one-of-a-kind characters, great writing. But this book is at its center about redemption, about a man “who had wandered and struggled and got lost, but who at length struck into his road and saw its end.” I love the character Sydney Carton.

8. Chancellorsville – Stephen Sears

I find the Civil War to be interesting history, whether it is the bigger picture view as a whole or the more micro figures and battles. Because of this I enjoy grazing through a book or two on such “micro” events or figures each year. Chancellorsville is famous for being Stonewall Jackson’s final battle, containing what is remembered as his most daring march. In this book Sears documents the whole of the battle with striking detail. I learned that if the battle’s outcome was due to Confederate brilliance, it was equally the result of ineptitude in the Union command. I also learned that leaders are graded not on how sound their plans are, or how much charisma they possess, but quite objectively on how those below them enact their plans. Sears convinced me that Joseph Hooker was a good general, but those in critical positions below him failed to act according to his wishes, resulting in a crushing defeat.

7. Eschatological Discipleship – Trevin Wax

We often view eschatology as the schismatic study of scriptural prophecy referring to the end times. While there is a place for that, Wax’s book is about keeping the future, the “where we are headed,” in perspective today. He shows how such perspective has a direct influence on the morality and the vitality of our faith in this life. I appreciated his treatment of some faulty eschatologies in our own culture (Enlightenment, Consumerism, and the Sexual Revolution) and how the Christian worldview succeeds where these fall short.

6. The Man who was Thursday – G. K. Chesterton

I have said before, Chesterton is a lot of fun to read, and The Man Who was Thursday is no exception. Chesterton’s fast paced story line and paradoxical prose in this book actually inspired an entire genre of mystery books in the years after its publication. The reader follows detective poet Syme as he seeks to defeat anarchy in all of its subtle manifestations. The book twists and turns and then goes completely inside out as the reader wonders how he came to be discussing the goodness of God in a world full of evil.

5. Lincoln Team of Rivals – Doris Kearns Goodwin

As stated previously, I like reading about the Civil War. This title looks more at the macro picture, yet it is so long and so detailed that you get a very complete picture of Lincoln and those surrounding him during his presidency. Brilliantly written, laden with direct source material, winner of the Pulitzer Prize--Team of Rivals is unquestionably a fantastic work. When I finally finished it after a couple of months of reading, I was so attached to the figures I was sad to done. The book is about Lincoln the master politician, who comprises his cabinet of individuals he defeated in the Republican primary. There are many leadership gems to glean in this one and much to learn from Lincoln.

4. A Model of Christian Maturity – D. A. Carson

D. A. Carson is one of the premier NT scholars today. If you have read anything of his you will know the guy is on the smart side of things. A Model of Christian Maturity is an exegetical walk through 2 Corinthians 10-13, which is a personal and moving testimony by the apostle Paul to the easily deceived Corinthians. This book helped shape the way I view weakness and humility in the Christian walk, with the major takeaway being: you never outgrow weakness in this life. We never in this life progress beyond the need for Christ’s sustaining power and continual aid. “The highest life I ever hope to reach, this side of heaven, is to say from my very soul—‘I the chief of sinners am, but Jesus died for me.’”

3. Delighting in the Trinity – Michael Reeves

A good friend recommended this book to me and I am thankful she did! If you asked the average evangelical what he thinks of the doctrine of the trinity there is a high possibility eyes will begin to glaze over. Unfortunately, the trinity is largely viewed as a confusing doctrine that has no real bearing on how we live our lives today. The problem is that this assessment cannot be any further from the truth, and any vagueness we have with respect to this doctrine will be to our Spiritual detriment. Reeves shows in this book how central the trinity is to the Christian religion. It is this doctrine which allows God to be loving in His very nature, and as a result, it is this doctrine which determines the outward shape of our faith.

2. The Abolition of Man / That Hideous Strength – C. S. Lewis

Lewis said The Abolition of Man is the “preface” to his third installment of the Space Trilogy, so I think I am allowed to combine two into one. But you don’t need to read them together, in fact, The Abolition of Man can be read in two sittings and stands well by itself. The problem is that it will require a few additional readings (or several in my case) to follow along with Lewis’s packed logic. This book has drastically altered the way I see the world, and I now see The Abolition of Man everywhere. I see a lack of moral imperatives in a world that has severed itself from any transcendent law. I see men without chests. Everywhere I look I see the conditioned, hanging on to fragmented portions of that moral law, and swelling those portions to "madness by their isolation". I see conditioners, like poultry farmers, raising these conditioned ones for their own purposes. And I now see technology and progress as mixed bags of good and bad; a means by which man gains more power not over nature but over man. Read this book, read it again. Lewis is a prophet and we are living in the fulfillment of this book.

1. The Bruised Reed – Richard Sibbes

The Bruised Reed is a short book by English Puritan Richard Sibbes in 1630. Despite being almost 4 centuries old, The Bruised Reed remains largely readable to modern audiences. This year it has given me deep comfort in a God who condescends to us in our weakness as we struggle and falter through this world. Far from a harsh and disappointed father, Sibbes paints a picture of a God who mercifully inclines to the weakest and most diseased child, and whose judgement will ultimately bring forth victory in the life of even the poorest saint. A book to be treasured, and one I hope to read many times in the future.
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Click here to see my favorites of last year.