I read 59 books this year and will finish at least one more by the end of 2020 on Thursday. If you are interested in my Year-in-Books on Goodreads click here. Out of those books I want to give you my favorite twelve (I tried to whittle it to ten but just could not) in no particular order. I based my criteria on most impactful, spurred me to change or action, broadened my reading horizons, and books I would totally recommend to all of my favorite people.

• What Every Christian Ought to Know by Adrian Rogers – this was a fantastic book to reaffirm what scripture teaches about our basic beliefs. We read this as a church for 2020 and it not only impacted me but gave our congregation a more united connection on what scripture teaches on basic beliefs of the Christian. It was perfect timing as we were forced to shut our doors for two months in the midst of the coronavirus restrictions. We opened our doors again in May and have not closed them again and much of that decision came from our time studying how the Church should respond to the world.
• 1984 by George Orwell (audiobook) – This is a book that I should have read many years ago. It was not an easy book for me but it was of great value and very timely. I will be reading A Brave New World in 2021. I am determined to read more classics in the coming months and years.
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (audiobook) – I absolutely loved this book! I had started it many times and just never kept going. I cannot give a reason for why except that the timing just wasn’t right. Life kept interrupting but not this time. I had a 20 hour round trip drive with my daughter and we enjoyed it together. We made a trip for her senior recital in June and this book will always be connected to that delightful memory for us. When we returned home we watched the BBC Miniseries dramatization of this with Timothy Dalton as Rochester. We enjoyed that, too!
• Atomic Habits by James Clear (audiobook) – Ok, I highly recommend this book to EVERY SINGLE PERSON I KNOW. It was full of practical advice and application to refine the habits that shape us. I will be rereading this one in hardback with a pencil in hand this time. It is one I will keep on my shelf longterm for occasional rereads.
• Growing in Holiness by R. C. Sproul – R. C. Sproul passed away December 14, 2017. Ligonier Ministries has been rereleasing his books and this is one I picked up this year to review. This book was a collection of Sproul’s teachings on sanctification. Sanctification is the process of growing in Christ for the believers lifetime. This was a full and impactful book and I recommend it to every Christian.
• Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport (audiobook) – This is another one of those books I will be rereading. I also have another book of his on my shelf right now called Deep Work. Digital Minimalism is a followup book to that one I think. This book is the reason I have decided to walk away from most of my social media. It is also the reason I will be blogging more instead. If you are at a place to back away from social media and the digital life in general this is definitely the book for you.
• Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (audiobook) – I have tried to read more Agatha Christie more in recent years. I am a total fan of the Poirot series as well as the Miss Marple series on BBC and A&E. This one jumped to the top of my list for this year because they are releasing the movie soon. The release got pushed back due to CV and so we read this one, or listened as the case may be, on our recent trip to our daughter’s graduation from college. It is read on Audible by Kenneth Branaugh (who plays Poirot in the movies Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express) I highly recommend this delightful twisty listen.
• ESV Journaling Bible (from Crossway Publisher) This Bible was given to me by my daughter for Christmas two years ago. I had picked it up and used it sporadically for looking things up but finally decided to use it as I read through the Bible this year. As a first in my Bible reading experience I actually finished the Bible twice this year. This one is the one I started in July and finished it this morning. I took so many notes in the margins and decided that this is my favorite format. There are not study notes. It is just scripture and room to write. As a study Bible this is a gem! I loved it so much my husband bought me a CSV journaling Bible to use in 2021 for my Bible in a Year reading plan. Journaling Bibles are now at the top of my list for encouraging one to really dig into God’s Word. I highly recommend them!
• Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis – This is another one of those books I should have read many years ago. It is fiction but quite eye opening in showing the spiritual battles we fight each day as Christians. We have a real enemy as we live out our lives on Earth. It is not a long read but it is a powerful one.
• Night by Elie Wiesel – Wow… I don’t even know what to say about this one! It is my last read of 2020 and I picked it up because it had been in my TBR so long it was gathering cobwebs and because it was super short. I kind of knew what to expect so I braced for impact but it grabbed me by the throat and has been hard to put down at night when I have been reading it. I chose to read it before bed… not sure why except that I needed something to read before bed. It has kept me up past my bedtime three nights in a row but I have been taking small bites just because it is so hard to read. I have to make myself put it down to sleep. This is also one of those books I should have read years ago. I tend to beat myself up over that sometimes but I am reading it now and it is changing me as are so many books I have read this year. It is worth your time if you have not read it. I understand it is the first in a trilogy. I think I need to find the other two books.
• Count it All Joy by Helen Roseveare – I picked this book up on a recommendation from an online friend. It is another tiny book but it is hard to read, too. By hard to read I mean it contains hard things. Books like this one remind me of how easy our lives here in America really are. Helen was a missionary for many years. She served as a medical missionary. She remained single all of her life and she suffered some horrible things as she served. In this tiny book she shares how God kept her close through all of these times. It is an obscure book… not making any “book of the year” awards but if you are looking for Christian living biographies this is definitely a great one to find.
• September by Rosamunde Pilcher – I finally read this book after years of being in my TBR shelves and I read it in September. Pilcher jumped to my “favorite authors list” this year because of this book. It is not Christian and might offend some people’s sensitivities about worldly things but it was well worth my time to read such a well written story. That being said, it is still a gentle fiction and not graphic in the least. If a book makes me continue to ponder it months after I have read it I know it is a great story for me. I have had very few books do that for me in my lifetime but this is one. Maybe I will do a post on that list someday. LOL

Note that I read more audiobooks this year. We did several very long roadtrips and they are delightful company. This list is certainly not a list that shames the other books I read this year for I can assure you that almost every book I read was inspiring in some way. I decided several years ago I would not read something that was not. I do get the random dud from publishers to review and you can look up my goodreads reviews or scroll through my reviews here to see, in more detail, what I thought of each book I was sent this year. For the most part I loved almost all the books I read this year.

I have made a few decisions based on the Coronavirus mess this year. I have decided that I will be taking far fewer books from publishers. Most of them are moving to ebook format only and my poor old eyes just cannot read from those on a regular basis anyway.

I will be posting more on books to come in 2021 but for now this is the best of what I read this year. It was a record year for me. My biggest reading month was March with 10 books finished. My lowest month was June with only 2 completed. When the clock strikes midnight Thursday night I will have read 60 books in 2020. My goal for next year will be 52 again. I will read what I can and share all my favorites along the way. I hope you had a great reading year. If you read at least one book you loved then I suspect you did.

Here is to 2021 and all the books we will enjoy ahead!

~Leann