Books Read 2019

I am pleased with my reading list for last year. I had set a goal to read 20% fiction. I didn't quite make it, but came closer than in previous years. I will make the same goal for the coming year.

This year I am adding occasional annotations.

 

Books Read 2019

 

 

Fiction

 

1.      Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn, November 1916 -- I have read many novels by Solzhenitsyn I like -- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Cancer Ward, In the Inner Circle. The Russian Revolution historical novels are not his best work. I am continuing to read them, but only because I have gotten so far in I want to try to finish.

 

2.      Scott Turow, Limitations -- there is no better modern writer of legal fiction than Scott Turow.

 

3.      Aleksandr Solzhnitsyn, The Red Wheel, March 1917 Node III Book 1

 

4.      Robert Penn Warren, All the King’s Men -- it took me about 50 pages to get into it, but this was a great read.

 

5.      Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop

 

6.      Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native

 

7.      Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

 

8.      Samuel Shem, The House of God: the Classic Novel of Life and Death in an American Hospital -- this seems to be intended as a sort of Catch-22 for medical residents. It was funny at times, but it is not Catch-22, which is by far the best of the genre.

 

9.      Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son -- I have read most of Dickens' novels. I love reading Dickens. I hated this book. All of the bad things people say about Dickens characterize this novel. Read David Copperfield. Read Tale of Two Cities. Trust me: skip Dombey and Son.

 

 

Nonfiction

 

10.  Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will. Luther's writing style translates well -- into English and across generations.

 

11.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics. It is impossible not to admire Bonhoeffer's courage. As a theologian and Christian writer, he is given more credit than he really deserves. Note to American evangelicals: he is not really one of you.

 

12.  Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology: Vol. III (Soteriology). I read the earlier 2 volumes the previous year. I like Hodge. He is brilliant at times. Like all of us, he at times is the prisoner of his age. 

 

13.  Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension, Planting an Orthodox Presbyterian Church

 

14.  G.K. Beale, Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Beale is always worth reading. If you are interested in biblical theology, read Beale.

 

15.  G.K. Beale, The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism

 

16.  Sinclair Ferguson, In the Year of our Lord. 

 

17.  Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. This was an interesting read, though I disagreed with most of its reasoning. 

 

18.  Meredith G. Kline, Images of the Spirit

 

19.  D.G. Hart, From Billy Graham to Sarah Palin: Evangelicals and the Betrayal of American Conservatism. Hart's book length efforts, whether in his major field of American Christianity or on contemporary concerns, are always worth reading.

 

20.  Danny Olinger and Geerhardus Vos, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church. For the record, I talked to Olinger and he doesn't like the cover to the book. The book itself -- intro by Olinger, rest by Vos, is excellent.

 

21.  J. Daniel Hays, The Tabernacle and the Temple: a Study of God’s Dwelling Places from Genesis to Revelation. This has really good information on the furnishings and on Herod's renovations. I disagreed with some of Hays' conclusions, particularly his harsh treatment of Solomon's temple.

 

22.  Richard C. Barcellos, Getting the Garden Right. I found this really helpful while preparing my study of the temple. Read Beale's book first, though.

 

23.  Darryl Hart, A Secular Faith

 

24.  John L. Girardeau, Calvinism and Evangelical Arminianism

 

25.  Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: a Report on the Banality of Evil. This should be read by nearly everyone.

 

26.  Darryl Hart, Recovering Mother Kirk

 

27.  Donald Rumsfeld, When the Center Held. This is an apologia for the Ford administration. I am not really a fan of Ford's political vision, though he seems to have been a decent man.

 

28.  Michael J. McVicar, Christian Reconstruction. This was a very good biography of RJ Rushdoony. It helped me understand a movement that has had an unfortunate influence on American reformed churches.

 

29.  D.G. Hart, John Williamson Nevin: High-Church Calvinist

 

30.  Paul Hendrickson, Hemingway’s Boat: Everything he Loved and Lost. This was an interesting take on an unfortunate man -- and family.

 

31.  George M. Marsden, Religion & American Culture. I have read a lot of Marsden. This would be  a good text book for a course in American church history, but is too general for those of us wanting a deeper dive. If that is you, check out Marsden's other works.

 

32.  John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied

 

33.  John R. Muether and Danny E. Olinger, eds., Confident of Better Things: Essays Commemorating 75 Years of the OPC

 

34.  Ron Chernow, Titan: the Life of John D. Rockefeller. All of Chernow's biographies are outstanding. This is no exception.

 

35.  Walter Stahr, Seward: Lincoln’s Indispensable Man. Begins slowly, but is worth the read. 

 

36.  John Gray, Seven Types of Atheism. I really enjoyed and benefited from this. Gray is a British philosopher and atheist. He gets the origins of Christianity completely wrong, but his breakdown of different varieties of atheism is interesting and helpful.

 

37.  RC Sproul, John Gerstner, and Arthur Lindsley, Classical Apologetics. These writers don't like John Frame. While I have disagreements with their own apologetic approach, I overall enjoyed reading this.

 

38.  D.G. Hart, Still Protesting: Why the Reformation Matters

 

39.  Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor. For decades I have heard what a great book this is for pastors. Now that I have finally read it, I have no idea why others praise it. Bleh!

 

40.  Edmund P Clowney, Called to the Ministry

 

41.  C. John Miller, Powerful Evangelism for the Powerless

 

42.  D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: its Causes and Cure. As a series of sermons, it is sometimes repetitive and uneven, but I still found it good and helpful.

 

43.  David F. Wells, The Courage to Be Protestant. Wells has an integrated theological approach rare among evangelicals. He is always a good read.

 

44.  John Pollock, Wilberforce. I enjoyed this biography. Skip the monstrosity produced by Metaxas and read this instead.

 

45.  J. Gresham Machen, God Transcendent. Machen preached these sermons in the '20's. They are excellent.

 

46. K. Scott Oliphint, God with Us. Oliphant has been charged with teaching views outside confessional standards, though the charges have been ultimately withdrawn following a complex procedural history. Whether other charges will be filed remains at present uncertain. Anyway, this book is the reason for the charges. Frankly, Oliphant's book is awful for its deviations from historic orthodoxy.

 

47.  David F. Wells, Above all Earthly Pow’rs

 

48.  Jim Mattis and Bing West, Call Sign Chaos. Mattis is a fascinating person.

 

49.  Bryan Caplan, The Case Against Education. I expected to like this book and found it disappointing.

 

50.  Alister McGrath, Heresy: a History of Defending the Truth.

 

51.  Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life. I read this after reading and hearing about all of the fascination among evangelicals with Peterson. I understand that they like many of his conclusions, but his reasoning is eccentric and generally not consistent with historic Christianity. Evangelicals should find someone else to be fascinated with.

 

52.  Chad Van Dixhoorn, God’s Ambassadors. I read this after hearing the author at a conference. This presented aspects of the Westminster assembly I wasn't previously aware of.

 

53.  Alister McGrath, The Twilight of Atheism. Part 1 of the book is interesting; The last half generally is not terribly helpful.

 

54.  Mortimer J. Adler and Charles van Doren, How to Read a Book. This book is beneficial. I would especially recommend it to serious students and young adults.

 

55.  Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils

 

56.  Alf J. Mapp, Jr., The Faith of our Fathers. Mapp is happy that the founders mostly believed in morality and an afterlife. Whatever. 

 

57.  Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., Whoredom: God’s Unfaithful Wife in Biblical Theology. I think the publisher later changed the provocative but offensive title. The book is actually interesting and well-done.

 

58.  C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock. Lewis is brilliant at times, maddening at others.

 

59.  Doris Kearns Goodwin, Leadership in Turbulent Times. This is a good read, though if you have not read Goodwin, check out her work on Lincoln, Team of Rivals, first.

 

60.  Michael S. Lundy and J.I. Packer, Depression, Anxiety, and the Christian Life: Practical Wisdom from Richard Baxter. Baxter was a terrible theologian, but this work on pastoral care for the mentally ill is actually helpful.