Photo by lil artsy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-hands-holding-a-book-3563625/
Choose one or two (or twenty!) books that arouse your curiosity. Read and discuss with someone this year. Why did I choose these books? Only because I have read them and they have blessed me, or because I know they are thought-provoking. Some are classics, others are new. I do not necessarily endorse every single thing in each of these books, but they will all be stimulating and fruitful for your faith. Click on the link to find out more about each title. These are all available from any major bookseller, but the links take you to christianbook.com or amazon.com. Many can be found secondhand on thriftbooks.com.
Bible & Theology
Savoring Scripture: A Six-Step Guide to Studying the Bible – Andrew Abernathy
Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew About the Bible – Michael F. Bird
God of All Things: Rediscovering The Sacred In An Everyday World – Andrew Wilson
Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible – E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien
Gospel Allegiance – Matthew Bates (Or The Gospel Precisely, a condensed version)
Marriage & Family
Habits of the Household - Justin Whitmel Earley
The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home – Russell Moore
The Meaning of Marriage – Timothy Keller and Kathy Keller
How to Really Love Your Child – Ross Campbell
The Five Love Languages – Gary Chapman
Spiritual Formation & Christian Living
The Deeply Formed Life: Five Transformative Values to Root Us in the Way of Jesus – Rich Villodas
Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers – Dane Ortlund
With: Reimagining the Way you Relate to God – Skye Jethani
Anxious For Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World – Max Lucado
One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are – Ann Voskamp
A Curious Faith: The Questions God Asks, We Ask, and We Wish Someone Would Ask Us - Lore Ferguson Wilbert
Missions & Evangelism
Evangelism As Exiles: Life on Mission As Strangers in Our Own Land – Eliot Clark
The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World – Rosaria Butterfield
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God – J.I. Packer
History
Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History – John Dickson
The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism – Jemar Tisby
The Body, Sexuality and Gender
What God Has to Say About our Bodies: How the Gospel is Good News for our Physical Selves – Sam Allberry
Embodied – Preston Sprinkle
Biography & Memoir
The Hiding Place – Corrie Ten Boom
Where the Light Fell – Philip Yancey (Autobiography)
A Burning in My Bones: The Authorized Biography of Eugene H. Peterson – Winn Collier
God’s Smuggler – Brother Andrew
Apologetics
The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation into the Evidence for Jesus – Lee Strobel
Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion – Rebecca McLaughlin
Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis
Fiction
Peace Like a River – Leif Enger
Sensible Shoes – Sharon Garlough Brown
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
Jaber Crow – Wendell Berry
Youth
Ten Questions Every Teen Should Ask (And Answer) about Christianity – Rebecca McLaughlin
The Vanderbeekers of 151st Street – Karina Yan Glaser (Juv fiction)
The Wingfeather Saga – Andrew Peterson (YA fiction)
Other
Habitation of Wonder – Abigail Carroll (poetry)
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End – Atul Gawande
The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict – Ken Sande