Monday, January 9, 2017

2016: Year in Reading

Every year I say, "This is going to be the year I read 60 books".  I start off like gang busters then come summer my reading slows down to a crawl.  I try to make up for lost time in the Fall then Advent says, "No way brother".  Nevertheless this year I did get to 46, which was a good number for me.  I need to figure a way to count newspapers, journals and magazines too.  I take the Star Tribune, 7 days; New York Times M-F; The Christian Century; Sojourners; The Nation; Mother Jones; The New York Review of Books; The Atlantic; and Image.

Here is the list with intermittent commentary.

1.  The Celtic Way of Prayer by Esther de Waal.  (Love her books)
2.  Steeped in the Holy: Preaching as Spiritual Practice by Raewynne J. Whitley
3.  The River Why by David James Duncan (top 10 book of 2016).
4.  Long Distance: A Year of Living Strenuously by Bill McKibben
5.  Something Is About to Happen: Sermons for Advent and Christmas by Tom Long
6.  Hundred Dollar Holiday by Bill McKibben (love this book)
7.  Bin Laden's Bald Spot and Other Stories by Brian Doyle
8.  Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmer's Markets, Local Food, and Saving the Family Farm by Forrest Pritchard.  (Top 10 book of 2016)
9.  The Pastor as Minor Poet: Texts and Subtexts of the Ministerial Life by Craig Barnes
10.  Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America's Most Hopeful Landscape: Vermont's Champlain Valley and New York's Adirondacks by Bill McKibben
11.  All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doeer (top 10 book of 2016)
12.  The Passion of Revernad Nash by Rachel Basch (a pastor in New England who rides a bike, what's not to love)
13.  In the Company of Christ: A Pilgrimage through Holy Week by Benedicta Ward
14.  New Vision for the Long Pastorate by Roy Oswald
15.  Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger (got free at the Fosdick Preaching Lectures at Augsburg College)
16.  Grow a Little Fruit Tree: Simple Pruning Techniques for Small Space, Easy-Harvest Fruit Trees by Ann Ralph (top 10 book of 2016)
17.  The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement by Dr. William J. Barber and Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove (top 10 book of 2016)
18.  Composting: How to Plan, Build, and Maintain Your Own Compost System for Healthy and Vibrant Gardens
19.  Straw Bale Gardens Complete: Breakthrough Vegetable Garden Method by Joel Karsten I thought this book was goofy until I read it, great technique which I adopted this year.
20.  Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (I can see the scenes everytime I close my eyes)
21.  Just Ride: A Radical Practical Guide to Riding Your Bike by Grant Petersen great book.
22.  In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker's Odyssey by Samuel Fromartz (top 10 book of 2016)
23.  Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo (top 10 book of 2016)
24.  The Second Journey by Charles Foster
25.  Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness by Reinhard Kleist
26.  My Bread by Jim LaHey
27.  Booth graphic novel
28.  Jewelweed by David Rhodes
29.  The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (scariest and most prescient book fo 2016)
30.  Appalachia: The Voice of Sleeping Birds by Cynthia Rylant
31.  The Book of Job by Stephen Mitchell. (Great translation)
32.  My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout - God I love this woman.
33.  The Pilgrimage by Paula Coello (weird by neat)
34.  The Comforting Whirlwind: God, Job, and the Scale of Creation (last McKibben book of 2016)
35.  Book of Job Common English Bible translation
36.  The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape by James Rebanks (top 10 book of 2016)
37.  Spiritual Defiance: Building a Beloved Community of Resistance by Robin Meyers (another prescient book)
38.  America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis (like all Jim Wallis books there is a lot of Jim Wallis in it, but still worth the read)
39.  A Year on Henry's Farm by Terra Brickman (changed the way I grow garlic)
40.  The Making of a Sermon by Robert J. McCracken
41.The Wet Engine: Exploring the Mad Wild Miracle of the Hear by Brian Doyle (top 10 book of 2016)
42.  The Write Stuff: Crafting Sermons that Capture and Convince (need to return that to the library) by Susan Willobee
43.  Chicago by Brian Doyle (top 10 book of 2016 simply because of Edward the Dog)
44.  Be My Witness: The Great Commission for PReachers by Dr. Marvin A. McMickle (top 10 book of 2016)
45.  The Alchemist by Paulo Coello (why all the fuss over this book?)
46.  Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax by Michael McGregor

Best Non-Fiction Book of the Year Be My Witness by McMickle
Best Fiction book of the Year:  Raymie Nightingale


The list shows me that i need to read more fiction, poetry, kid/teen books, mysteries and biographies. And more from women and people of color and foreign authors.  Lots to do, we'd better get reading.  Have at it.

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