2019 Book Awards and Reading List

Happy 2020, everyone! This is my 10th annual Book Awards. Last year, January was a hectic time and I didn't get around to a review of the books I read in 2018, but this year, I'm getting back on track. Click on the "Book Awards" tag at the bottom of the post, if you want to see my previous year-end book reviews.

Here are the rules that I'm using. For each category I choose the book I read over the past year that I enjoyed the most. These aren't books that were published in 2019; just books that I read for the first time in 2019. I don't count re-reads as eligible, so if you see something amazing on my list of books that didn’t get chosen, it might be because it was a re-read this year and so wasn’t in the running.

So without further ado, here are the awards for 2019.

Best Book I Read Out Loud to My Kids This Year: 

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

                               

So, yes, I have read this book many times. However, this is the first time I've read it out loud to the kids, so I'm counting it in the running. This year, we finished up an out-loud read through of the Harry Potter books, and read a couple of history-ish  books and the Arabian Nights, but none of these other books can hold a candle to Treasure Island, a true classic that deserves to be read and re-read by all children everywhere. 

Best Fiction Book I Read This Year:

I'm going to have to call a tie on this one. Both of the following books were fantastic in their own way. Both are by the same author and take place in the same fictional town. Both cover roughly the same time period, although one starts and ends earlier, and one lasts longer. Both are beautiful and bittersweet in their depiction of vanishing rural communities. One is told from the perspective of a woman born and raised in the community and the other from the perspective of a man who adopts the town and is in turn adopted by the town.

Hannah Coulter and Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

Best History Book I Read This Year:

Sailing from Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World by Colin Wells

This book on Byzantium is a gripping tale told in three parts. Wells shows how the city of Byzantium influenced Western Europe, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. This was a fun book to read because, while I already knew a lot of the Crusades info, there was far more I didn't know and many of the gaps in my own personal knowledge of European and Middle Eastern history were filled in by an excellent guide who knows how to tell a good story.

  

Best Theology Book I Read This Year:

The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship by Jeffrey Meyers

I read many great theology books this year, but this one, I think, has had the most direct impact on me. Meyers places Christian worship and liturgy firmly on biblical footing, asking the reader to think deeply about why we do what we do in church. This is an absolute must-read for any pastor or worship leader.

  

Best (Other) Nonfiction Book I Read This Year:

Being There: How to Love Those Who Are Hurting by Dave Furman

This is something we can all get better at. Selfishness is rooted deep in our hearts, and being able to be there for someone who is hurting is not something that comes naturally to us. An excellent book on the subject.

Best Book About Cultural Issues I Read This Year:

Defending Boyhood by Anthony Esolen

Everything Anthony Esolen writes is worth reading. This book is especially good if you are raising boys, because our culture is hard on boys and boyhood needs defending.

And now, here is the full list of books I read this past year:

• How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer Adler 12/19
• The New English Bible 12/19
• Le Morte D'Arthur, vol. 1 by Thomas Malory 12/19
• Using New Testament Greek in Ministry by David Alan Black 12/19
• The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis 12/19
• The Arabian Nights: Their Best Known Tales by Kate Douglas Wiggins 12/19
• Readings in the History of Christian Theology, Vol. 1 (William C. Placher, ed.) 11/19
• The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis 11/19
• Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar by William Mounce 11/19
• Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose 10/19
• Spectacular Sins: And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ by John Piper 10/19
• The Spirit of Early Christian Thought by Robert L. Wilken 10/19
• The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization by Anthony Esolen 10/19
• Out of the Depths by John Newton 10/19
• Gear by Doug TenNapel 10/19
• Doctor Strange Vol. 3: Herald by Mark Waid 10/19
• You Who? Why You Matter and How to Deal With It by Rachel Jankovic 9/19
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe 9/19
• Supernova by Kazu Kibuishi 9/19
• Firelight by Kazu Kibuishi 9/19
• Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry 9/19
• Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi 9/19
• Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry 8/19
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Pensees by Blaise Pascal 8/19
• Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson 8/19 
• Kings Watch (Vol. 1) by Jeff Parker 8/19
• Prince of the Elves by Kazu Kibuishi 8/19
• Common Sense by Thomas Paine 8/19
• The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston 8/19
• The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi 8/19
• Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur 8/19
• Lynchburg: A City Set on Seven Hills by Clifton Potter 8/19
• Dance of Death by Douglas Preston 8/19
• Brothers, We Are Not Professionals by John Piper 7/19
• Defending Boyhood by Anthony Esolen 7/19
• A History of Christian Apologetics by John Warwick Montgomery 7/19
• X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont 7/19
• Stories of Great Americans by Edward Eggleston 7/19
• The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi 7/19
• Secret Wars by Jim Shooter 7/19
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 7/19
• Guns for General Washington by Seymour Reit 7/19
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad 7/19
• Brimstone by Douglas Preston 7/19
• The Forge of Christendom: The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West by Tom Holland 7/19
• The Stonekeeper's Curse by Kazu Kibuishi 7/19
• Cocktail Time by P. G. Wodehouse 6/19
• Sailing from Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World by Colin Wells 6/19
• Love Does for Kids by Bob Goff 6/19
• Boundaries for Leaders by Henry Cloud 6/19
• Wulf the Saxon by G. A. Henty 6/19
• Meetings that Work: A Guide to Effective Elder Meetings by Alexander Strauch 6/19
• The Wrath of Mulgarath by Tony DiTerlizzi 6/19
• The Ironwood Tree by Tony DiTerlizzi 6/19
• Lucinda's Secret by Tony DiTerlizzi 6/19
• The Seeing Stone by Tony DiTerlizzi 6/19
• The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi 5/19
• Uncle Fred in the Springtime by P. G. Wodehouse 5/19
• Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World by James Jordan 5/19
• Strange: The Doctor is Out! by Mark Waid 5/19
• Uncle Dynamite by P. G. Wodehouse 5/19
• Doctor Strange Vol. 2: Remittance by Mark Waid 5/19
• The Authorship of Hebrews: The Case for Paul by David Alan Black 5/19
• The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare 5/19
• Eternals by Neil Gaiman 5/19
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling 5/19
• The Case for Covenant Communion (Gregg Strawbridge, ed.) 5/19
• The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship by Jeffrey Meyers 5/19
• Hellboy, Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola 5/19
• Iron West by Doug TenNapel 5/19
• Secret Wars by Jonathan Hickman 5/19
• The Infinity War by Jim Starlin 4/19
• Creature Tech by Doug TenNapel 4/19
• Paedofaith by Rich Lusk 4/19
• Four Portraits, One Jesus: A Survey of Jesus and the Gospels by Mark Strauss 4/19
• The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis 4/19
• Leading In Worship by Terry Johnson 4/19
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare 4/19
• Henry IV: Part 2 by William Shakespeare 4/19
• Henry IV: Part 1 by William Shakespeare 3/19
• Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling 3/19
• Richard II by William Shakespeare 3/19
• Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance 3/19
• A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs 3/19
• Chosen by God by R. C. Sproul 3/19
• The Prison Sayings of Samuel Rutherford by Samuel Rutherford 3/19
• Memories and Stories of Paint Bank by Opal Caldwell 2/19
• The Four Men: A Farrago by Hilaire Belloc 2/19
• Being There: How to Love Those Who Are Hurting by Dave Furman 2/19
• The Box of Delights by John Masefield 2/19
• A Prayer Journal by Flannery O'Connor 2/19
• Know Why You Believe by Scott Oliphint 2/19
• A Rhetoric of Love by Douglas Jones 1/19
• Why Children Matter by Douglas Wilson 1/19
• Written in Stone: The Ten Commandments and Today's Moral Crisis by Philip Ryken 1/19
• J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey 1/19
• Inerrancy and Worldview: Answering Modern Challenges to the Bible by Vern Poythress 1/19
• The  Clouds Ye So Much Dread: Hard Times and the Kindness of God by Hannah Grieser 1/19
• Christian Apologetics by Cornelius Van Til 1/19
• Rules for Reformers by Douglas Wilson 1/19
• 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson 1/19
• Entries by Wendell Berry 1/19
• The Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude by Martin Luther 1/19