For Children
My
recommendation here is quite simple—the Book of Proverbs. I plan to read
through it this summer with my kids and I think that would be a good program
for all families. Did you know that Proverbs was compiled with young people in
mind? Youth is a great time to soak up the wisdom in that book. There are a
couple of spicy passages about sexuality in the first nine chapters, so you may
want to skip over those sections depending on the age of your children.
Fiction
My
list shows me that I apparently need to get some more fiction titles on my
reading list, but here are two that I can recommend to you:
The
Genius Plague, by David Walton. This page-turner tells the tale of a
viral fungus that gives people increased brain power. I know—it sounds weird,
but it makes for a great story!
The
Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I recently heard a “classic”
described as a book that’s bound to be boring, but this classic is anything
but. Be prepared—this is not a short book. I actually read this one 20 years
ago and it took me an entire summer. But the payoff is worth it as this story
leads you to consider the battle of good versus evil and how that battle plays
out in every human heart.
Non-Fiction
I
tend to be drawn toward war stories since they naturally make for high drama.
Wars also tend to be significant turning points in history, so reading about
them often helps us understand the present day. Most war stories tend to have
bad language that I cannot condone, but I do tolerate it in a book for the sake
of learning more about history. Two good war stories I’ve read recently are The
Last Stand of Fox Company, by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin about a conflict in
the Korean War, and Last Men Out, by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin about the
last Americans in Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. Another good book in
this category would be Sea Stories, by William H. McRaven, the
recently-retired commander of the Navy’s SEAL teams.
One
period of history I’d never learned much about was the fight for independence
in Texas, so I filled in some of that gap in my knowledge by reading Sam
Houston and the Alamo Avengers, by Brian Kilmeade.
If
you ever feel like the Bible gets misquoted and misused in present-day debates,
you should know that this is not a new phenomenon. For some helpful historical
context, read A Holy Baptism of Fire and Blood, by James P. Byrd to see
how the Bible was used by both abolitionists and slaveowners during the Civil
War.
Christian
Living
I’m
a late-comer to this book since it’s been out for many years, but if you want
to be encouraged by God’s kind faithfulness in the midst of dark times, you’ve
got to read The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom. A book with a similar
focus on God’s help in times of need is The Sacred Acre, by Mark Tabb,
the true story of a high school football coach in Iowa and the impact of his
faith on his whole community.
We
all have opportunities to help people who are dealing with grief, and we’d all
be better at doing that if we’d read What Grieving People Wish You Knew
about What Really Helps (and What Really Hurts), by Nancy Guthrie.
The
Apostles’ Creed, by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is a good book for learning some
basic theology through an ancient summary of Christian faith while also seeing
how some of those ideas have come under attack in the present time.
Heavy
Lifting
In
this category for this year I will recommend Simply Trinity, by Matthew
Barrett. This book takes a close look at the doctrine of the Trinity, focusing
on how this doctrine was understood in ancient times versus how it is often
presented today. Any time you discuss the Trinity, things get deep quickly and
that’s true of this book as well, yet it remains fairly readable for a general
audience.
