If I wrote down all the books I start each year, the list would be long and tedious. But the number of books I finish? Well that list is far more manageable. For the last several years, I’ve started writing down the titles of books I finish – partial reads don’t go on the list.
There are still a few weeks left in 2016, but as of now I have finished 27 books. This is less than I planned (and less than usual) but I did start quite a few I haven’t yet finished. We’ll see how 2017 goes.
Of those books, I’ve chosen my top 10 favorites to share with you, listed here in no particular order. All of the “about the book” descriptions come directly from the Amazon book summaries where I am a grateful affiliate, followed by a short explanation of why I loved the book.
First Women by Kate Andersen Brower
Genre: Politics & Social Sciences
About the book: “An intimate, news-making look at the true modern power brokers at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: the First Ladies, from Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama.”
Why I loved it: While I’m not motivated to read about the policy of politics, I am deeply interested in the people. What makes them tick? What is it really like to live in the White House, to raise a family in such a high stakes political environment? I loved learning the answers to some of those questions and reading a lot of behind-the-scenes stories of the First Ladies, their relationships with their husbands, their staff, and one another.
The Way Of The Heart by Henri Nouwen
Genre: Christian Living
About the book: “The Way of the Heart clears before us a spiritual path consisting of three stepping-stones: Solitude (learning not to be alone but to be alone with God); Silence (the discipline by which the inner fire of God is tended and kept alive); and Prayer (standing in the presence of God with the mind in the heart).”
Why I loved it: I always appreciate the way Henri Nouwen can say what he means in so few words and still be deeply profound.
All the Pretty Things by Edie Wadsworth
Genre: Memoir
About the book: “This is the searing story of Edie’s soul-searching journey out of the rubble of her childhood, through the devastating choices of her adulthood, and into a life of healing and forgiveness that she never dreamed possible. ”
Why I loved it: This book both broke and healed my heart. As I read the details of Edie’s life growing up in southern Appalachia, I hung on every loss, every redemption, every connection, and every regret.
Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. I read in the carpool line, on the airplane, at my kitchen island while the dinner cooked. I stayed up too late and woke up too early just to read this book. In the end, I loved it because understanding her story helped me understand my own.
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Genre: Historical Fiction
About the book: “The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France–a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women.”
Why I loved it: I finished this book last week and am still walking around in a bit of a fog thinking about it. First, I love books about sisters – the complicated loyalties and conflicting personalities that often surround sister characters. The setting remains fascinating to me (German-occumpied France in WWII). Mostly, though, I just loved the writing. So good.
Wisdom Distilled from the Daily by Joan Chittister
Genre: Spiritual Growth
About the book: “An examination of how the Rule of Saint Benedict continues to be one of the world’s greatest models for spiritual growth and connecting with God.”
Why I loved it: My spiritual director recommended this one when I told her I wanted to learn more about establishing a rule of life. If you don’t know what that is (I didn’t), it’s simply a way of intentionally choosing a life-long rhythm to foster healthy spiritual formation.
Dallas Willard calls it “curriculum in Christ-likeness” while John Ortberg says it’s a “game plan for morphing.” I read a little every morning and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Rhythms of Rest by Shelly Miller
Genre: Christian Living/Spiritual Growth
About the book: “This book is for anyone who is weary–who longs for rest but doesn’t know how to make it a reality. Miller shows how even busy people can implement a rhythm of rest into their lives–from small windows of time to a whole morning or day.”
Why I loved it: Shelly knows the importance of creating space for our soul to breathe. Quite simply, I loved this book because it re-awakened my long-held yet recently over-looked desire to Sabbath, to put practical, tangible rhythms into place so that I can actually, fully rest each week. I will be forever grateful to Shelly for re-awakening that in me.
Falling Free by Shannan Martin
Genre: Christian Living/Spiritual Growth
About the book: “Shannan Martin invites readers into the messy beauty of living open to God’s upside-down best by telling the moving, funny, powerful story of her family’s adventure of finding God in the margins.”
Why I loved it: I’ve been waiting for Shannan to write a book for years. When I finally got my hands on an early copy of Falling Free, I had a hard time putting it down. Shannan has a way of turning a phrase into something so surprising, so stunning it will both catch your breathe and break your heart. This happened for me on nearly every single page, which is why I loved this book so much.
The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning
Genre: Christian Living/Spiritual Growth
About the book: “A provocative and poignant look at the radical, no-holds-barred love of our Heavenly Father. It is a message that will forever change how you view God.”
Why I loved it: When I think of Brennan Manning, I think of the love of God. That is the legacy he left behind – a simple story of how God loves as as we are not as we should be. I read this book on my kindle app on my phone through this year and it was the perfect message to take with me on the go to read in the normal pauses of time of ordinary days.
The Road Back To You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile
Genre: Christian Living/Self-Discovery
About the book: “Witty and filled with stories, this book allows you to peek inside each of the nine Enneagram types, keeping you turning the pages long after you have read the chapter about your own number.”
Why I loved it: I’ve read a lot about the Enneagram online but this is the first full length book I’ve read from cover to cover about it. I already knew I enjoyed Ian Morgan Cron’s writing voice (his book Jesus, My Father, the CIA and Me was one of last years favorite reads) so I was appreciative of this non-clinical perspective of the Enneagram.
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
Genre: Fiction
About the book: “A dark secret threatens to expose the best and worst in everyone tied to the estate at a thriving plantation in Virginia in the decades before the Civil War.”
Why I loved it: My friend Jessica Turner recommended this one to me and she’s not steered me wrong yet. This book is fast-paced, heartbreaking, and difficult to read at times. But I’m glad I read it and the characters stayed with me long after I finished.
As you make your own lists of books to read next year, here are my favorite books of the past two years:
Every month I send out a list of what I’m currently reading, along with a secret post you won’t find anywhere else.
Sign up here and choose The Bench to receive that note in your inbox each month.
Happy reading!
Emily says
December 8, 2016 at 8:02 AMThank you for this! I’ve enjoyed several of your suggestions in the past and am drawn to several of these…..looking forward to some new reading:)
Caroline Starr Rose says
December 8, 2016 at 10:12 AMThe Road Back to You is sitting on my desk right now!
Beth E. says
December 8, 2016 at 10:56 AMI always love your book lists. I work full time and am in grad school so I don’t have a lot of free time to read until summers, but I keep the lists handy, and the second I’m done with classes in the spring I start reading!
Richella Parham says
December 8, 2016 at 10:58 AMAlways love seeing what you’re reading. I, too, read The Nightingale this year. In fact, I became somewhat obsessed with reading WWII books (an ongoing interest of mine), particularly Nazi-occupied Europe. So I have to ask: have you read All the Light We Cannot See? If you have, I’d love to know what you thought about it. If you haven’t, I’ll say GET THEE TO A BOOKSELLER. Seriously.
By the way, I couldn’t agree more about Edie’s memoir. I’m not much of a memoir person, usually, but All the Pretty Things? Riveting.
Emily P Freeman says
December 8, 2016 at 2:53 PMYes I have read All the Light 😉 It took me a while to get into it. I know! I must not be very literary. I know Doerr took something like 10 years to write it. The writing was phenomenal. The story was just a bit slow. I’m the worst.
Tanya says
December 11, 2016 at 9:23 PMEmily, No, you’re not the worst. As an English teacher (now SAHM), I thought I should love All the Light, but I didn’t and couldn’t. I finished it, but I too thought it was slow. However, I am reading The Kitchen House right now and have given up sleep (crazy with a baby who wakes during the night) to stay up reading. Thanks for posting the list.
Sarah Farish says
December 8, 2016 at 11:26 AMI can’t say enough about All the Pretty Things. (And The Glass Castle, which is similar.) I grew up in a Southern West Virginia trailer park, and Wadsworth captures the experience in ways that are uncanny to this heart.
Shelly Miller says
December 8, 2016 at 12:39 PMEmily!!! I’m so humbled and honored. Oh my goodness, day made. Thank you. What grace!
Megan says
December 8, 2016 at 2:41 PMSeeking God: The Way of St. Benedict by Esther de Waal is another great book on Benedict’s rule. I’ve been reading about it too this year!
Becky says
December 8, 2016 at 4:23 PMLove this list! All the Pretty Things is at the top of my 2016 reads. Wow. I still think about her story at least every other day. Redemption. Yes! And Falling Free is on my Christmas list to Santa!
Sam says
December 8, 2016 at 5:16 PMSo cool that you write a list of the books each year! Thats a great idea I might need to borrow starting this January! Amazing post! Also love that you linked us to your 2014 and 2015 list, definitely gonna check those out!
Cathy says
December 9, 2016 at 5:25 AMThank you for sharing your list. I have keep a list of books read since Silas was born (over 20 years). When I look back at the list, it is like looking at a journal. It shows what I was interested in each year. I loved Rhythms of Rest too!
Rachel says
December 9, 2016 at 10:15 AMLove this list! I’m interested in reading so many of them for myself. I had my first baby this year & it got me out of my normal rhythm of reading. So looking forward to 2017 and maybe reading some of these recommendations!
Shannan says
December 9, 2016 at 11:16 AMThank you!!! I LOVED Edie’s book and recommend it to everyone.
And I’m adding Rhythms of Rest and The Kitchen House to my list right…now.
Torrie says
December 11, 2016 at 11:42 PMI totally agree about The Nightingale being such a memorable book! Although there were a couple parts that didn’t *quite* ring emotionally true to me, I was blown away by the gorgeous depiction of the setting, the overall idea of the story, and, especially, that ending of all endings. Definitely one I won’t be forgetting anytime soon!
I need to do my own end-of-year wrap-up reading list sometime in the new few weeks, but if I had to choose a few that made my top 5, I would have to choose Essentialism, All the Light We Cannot See, Outliers, and An Everlasting Meal: Cooking With Economy and Grace. I don’t think any of those were actually released this year (I just read them this year), but I consider all of them life-changing, for different reasons.
Thanks for your list! I’ll have to check a couple of these out.
http://autodidacticambitions.blogspot.com
Cindy says
December 22, 2016 at 1:12 AMI feel like I know you because I have read two of YOUR books and recently heard you speak at TOFW in Sacramento. And now seeing your top reads for 2016 I have added a couple more to my “to read” list. I love recommendations from people I admire and respect. One I’d feel you’d also love is called Ordinary Grace. Check it out ❤️
emily p freeman says
December 22, 2016 at 7:20 AMHi Cindy! Well it sounds like you have me confused with another author named Emily Freeman – I’ve never been to Sacramento 🙂