Summary:
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Total books read | 54 | 53 | 53 |
| Fiction | 8 | 4 | 8 |
| Poetry (and about poetry) | 5 | 6 | 1 |
| History/Biographies | 13 | 17 | 13 |
| Theology and ministry[1] | 16 | 22 | 19 |
| Essays/Short Stories | 8 | 3 | 6 |
| Humor | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Nature | 6 | 9 | 13 |
| Politics | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| Memoirs | 10 | 11 | 4 |
| Writing (how to) | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Titles by women | 14 | 7 | 16 |
| Read via Audible | 20 | 20 | 26 |
| Books reviewed | 30 | 34 | 39[2] |
The numbers do not add up as some of the books fit into multiple categories.
A few additional insights into my reading:
Of the books read this year, I have met 14 of the authors.
I’m still reading a lot more non-fiction than fiction, but I read more fiction in 2023 than 2022.
This year I read only 9 non-American authors (and the nine include Canadians and British authors).
My favorite fiction book of the year is Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead. My favorite non-fiction would be Wendell Berry’s The Need to be Whole. Both books have a lot to say about healing our broken world. Below, I highlight a monthly favorite with the photo.
According to Goodreads, I read 15,475 pages this year for an average of 292 pages per book. To see my Goodread year end summary, click here.
January
Sherry Blackman, Tales from the Trail: Stories from the Oldest Hiker Hostel on the Appalachian Trail
Earl V. Shaffer, Walking with Spring (second reading, first read this book in the mid-80s)
Barry Lopez, Horizon
Robert Caro, Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing (I might come back and review this book if he would finish his final volume on LBJ)
Harlow Giles Unger, Henry Clay: America’s Greatest Statesman
Miroslav Volf, A Public Faith: How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good
Christopher A. Hutchinson, Rediscovering Humility: Why the Way UP is Down
February
John Burgess, After Baptism
C. Lee McKenzie, Shattered
Merrill Gilfillan, Chokeberry Places: Essays from the High Plains
Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead
Thorpe Moeckel, Down by the Eno, Down by the Haw: A Wonder Almanac
March
Douglas Tallamy, The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of our Most Essential Native Tree
Rick Bragg, The Speckled Beauty: A Dog and His People
Mills Kelly, Virginia’s Lost Appalachian Trail
Joel B. Green, 1 Peter
Barbara Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Tony Horwitz, Spying on the South: Travels with Frederick Law Olmstead in a Fractured Land
Jeff Darren Muse, Dear Park Ranger (I read an advance copy, the book was published in May)
April
Bill Bryson, One Summer: America 1927
Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina
Caroline Grego, Hurricane Jim Crow: How the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893 Shaped the Lowcountry South
Fleming Rutledge, The Undoing of Death: Sermons for Holy Week and Easter
Martin Clark, The Substitution Order
Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism
May
Mark Reisner, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water (I read most of this book in the mid-1990s, this time I listened and re-read interesting selections)
Adam Neder, Theology as a Way of Life: On Teaching and Learning the Christian Faith
Shelby Foote, Jordan County: A Novel
June
Sara Seager, The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir
Larry L. King, In Search of Willie Morris: The Mercurial Life of a Legendary Writer and Editor
Ivan Doig, Ride with Me, Mariah Montana
July
Leslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society (2nd time read, first read in 2001)
Dominic Ziegler, Black Dragon River: A Journey Down the Amur River at the Borderlands of Empires
Robert Macfarlane, Underland: A Deep Time Journey
Dan Epstein, Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s
August
Robert Rauk, The Old Man and the Boy (This is my 4th time reading this book since I was in Jr. High)
Ben McGrath, Riverman: An American Odyssey
September
Daniel G. Hummel, The Rise and Fall of Dispensationaliam: How the Evangelical Battle Over the End Times Shaped a Nation
Patrick Wyman, The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shocked the World, 1490-1530
Colin Thubron, The Amur River: Between Russia and China
October
James S. Currie, The Kingdom of God is like… Baseball: A Metaphor for Jesus’s Kingdom Parables
Sarah Clarkson, This Beautiful Truth: How God’s Goodness Breaks into our Darkness
Wendell Berry, The Need to be Whole: Patriotism and the History of Prejudice
November
Ernest Best, 2 Corinthians: Interpretations
C. K. Barrett, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Donna Giver-Johnston, Writing for the Ear, Preaching from the Heart
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants (review coming soon)
C. Lee McKenzie, Rattlesnake
December
Suzanne McDonald, Re-imaging Election: Divine Election as Representing God to Others and Others to God
Richard and Elizabeth Raum, Drive-Through Christmas Eve and Other Christmas Stories
Tristan Gooley, How to Read Water: Clues & Patterns from Puddles to the Sea
Leslie Leyland Fields and Paul J. Willis, A Radiant Birth: Advent Readings for a Bright Season
Click here for my reading list from 2022, 2021 and 2020
Did you have a favorite book that you read last year? What’s the title and why did you like it?
Bloggers with recaps for their yearly reading:
Bob’s essay on his 2023 reading
If you’d like me to highlight your 2023 list here, just send me a link.
I love seeing people reading books. I know some people don’t read any books at all. I think you read a good number of books.
You have been known to add to my TBR. This year is no exception. My wife and younger son have read Demon Copperhead and highly recommend.
Great picture, by the way!
That’s a good years reading 🙂
I hope 2024 has started well for you, my good wishes.
All the best Jan
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There are a bunch that sound great. I could be busy reading off your list,
I really could up my reading game is I got into something like Audible. I really need to investigate that. It would be nice if I could download them, or parts of them to my phone so I could listen to them where ever I go. Currently, I mostly listen to NPR while in my car and NPR podcasts when I’m outside.
Another good year for you and you seem to be fairly consistent. I have several you read on my TBR. I’ll try to get to Demon Copperhead this year for sure.
I’m now on the library waitlist for Braiding Sweetgrass. I’ve had a few people recommend it to me. Congrats on finishing Demon Copperhead. That’s a big book. I hope 2024 is a great reading year for you!