2025 Reading Recap

 

I'm excited to announce that I reached my goal of reading 24* books this year. This included 12 non-fiction books (mostly theology and Christian living) and 13 fiction books (mostly children's fantasy). Find the full stats here. (note: all Amazon links below are affiliate links)

Fiction

My new all-time favorite series has got to be The Wingfeather Saga (finally displacing the Chronicles of Narnia). I think part of why I love this series so much is that it has everything I loved about Narnia (epic adventure, interwoven theology, imaginative world), but written with a more modern story-telling style. At times it can be quite whimsical such as with the origin story of Aerwiar or the mythical beasts that Peterson has invented for this tale (beware of toothy cows!). At other times it can be quite insightful, such as how Peterson reveals the beast inside of us or the numerous ways he weaves Gospel strands through the story. One of my favorite parts is how Janner Iggaby leans on knowing his identity to help him escape the monstrous fork factory. If you have not read this series, I highly recommend it. And, if you haven't listened to Andrew Peterson's music (another place his story-telling shines), I highly recommend that as well. 

Several of my other fiction reads also fall in this middle school age bracket (partly because I've been trying to gather a list of books I can recommend to my kids and my Jr Youth class at church; partly because I just really enjoy this type of fiction). The Green Ember series would come next on my recommended list with a solid 4.5 stars. This tale of two young rabbits caught in a war against the predatory wolves and birds is full of adventure and chivalry. The Jack Zulu books were also good reads, though I wouldn't rate them quite as high as the others.

Outside of that, I read the classic The Wizard of Oz and finally finished the first arc of Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. Sanderson wins major points from me for both his world building and the way he approaches themes of mental health in his series, though I'm still not quite sure where he's going philosophically. Stephen Lawhead has some really good Christian sci-fi and fantasy out there, but In the Hall of the Dragon King was not one of them (I believe this is one of his earlier works). I would instead point people to either The Song of Albion trilogy (Celtic fantasy), the Bright Empires series (historical / sci-fi), or Dream Thief (sci-fi).

Non-Fiction 

Probably the book that most challenged me theologically was Hearing God by Dallas Willard. As someone who has typically been skeptical of the idea of hearing God's "still small voice", I appreciated the way Willard addressed my concerns and offered practical advice for learning to hear His voice.

As far as books I would recommend to others, I would highlight A Praying Church (but read A Praying Life first) by Paul Miller. Miller's down to earth approach to prayer was refreshing and encouraging.

Nothing really stands out among the other books. I wanted to be able to recommend Unspoiled Endings as a gentle approach to Revelation (and, for the most part, it is), but liberal leanings in the book keep me from being able to recommend it wholeheartedly. Show Them Jesus is a good reminder to always keep Jesus and the Gospel in the forefront in children's ministry (and includes some helpful example of how he does that). Beale, as always, has excellent insights (like his idea that the notion of tradition in the New Testament stands within the thread of idolatry so often spoken of in the Old Testament), but can get quite wordy. Christopher Wright is becoming another favorite (I'm currently reading his Mission of God) for his approach to theology.

Next Year

I'm hoping for another 24 books next year (split roughly between fiction and non-fiction). As noted before, I've already started Wright's Mission of God. I also plan to re-read the Lord of the Rings trilogy with my daughter. As I start trying to exercise my own creative muscles (I've got ideas for this series about animals in space), I've added Andrew Peterson's Adorning the Dark to my reading list as well.

What about you? What were your highlights from the past year's reading journey? What do you look forward to reading in the coming year? 

 

*I actually hit 25, though for some reason the image dropped one of the Green Ember books.