Read more reflections on the One Word at a Time blog carnival.
What makes a great book?
- It’s hard to put down as you’re reading it.
- It stays on your mind after you’ve finished.
- Its truths change you for the good—in beliefs and in behaviors.
Reflecting back on all the books I read this year, these ten stand out as great to me.
(And a bonus ten are included below as honorable mentions.)
Atul Gawande
You’ll be inspired to create short checklists (5-9 steps is ideal) for certain routine tasks that you repeat.
Dr. Gawande provides data that using checklists will help you catch those lapses of memory and attentiveness that everybody has, allowing you to become more efficient and dependable.
Kevin Leman
If you’re married (or about to be), Christian author Dr. Leman wrote this book so you’ll have a better sex life, regardless of your starting point.
He writes tastefully but directly to both men and women on how to improve your marriage by improving your intimacy levels which improves your marriage, and round it goes.
Bob Kauflin
You’re called to be a worshiper. Worship leader/author Bob Kauflin explains that biblical worship is God-focused, God-centered, and God-exalting.
How can you gain victory in the worship wars going on inside you? This book breaks it down into the leader, the task, healthy tensions, and right relationships.
Paul David Tripp
Have you realized that this world is really messed up?
This book tells you what you need to know about living in this “broken-down house” and then equips you with Biblical tools to work on it. Paul David Tripp is one of my very favorite authors.
R. C. Sproul
Since you’re commanded to be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16), wouldn’t you be smart to learn more about his holiness?
Dr. Sproul will leave you more in awe of God’s holiness (and grace for your lack of holiness!) after you read this book than before you started it.
Paul David Tripp
This is a comfort book. A book for meditating on. A book to help you when you’re confused or down or lonely, and you need reminding that God is still there and still in control.
Based on Psalm 27, it’s divided into 52 short chapters, convenient for a year’s worth of weekly thoughts.
John Piper
Do most people understand what being born again really means? What does God intend to happen when someone is born again?
John Piper gives three benefits to understanding it: deeper assurance in God’s care; a more full treasuring of Jesus; more awareness to love others.
Andrew Murray
Jesus set the highest standard for humility, submitting his will to his Father’s. If we’re to follow his example, we also need to learn a deeper humility.
This book will impress that so strongly upon you that you’ll feel the need to do something about it.
Dale and Jonalyn Fincher
If you want Jesus to shine in your daily encounters, not only do your behaviors need to show love, but your words need to as well.
The Finchers will enlighten you on the different ways you can turn an ordinary conversation into a meaningful spiritual one.
David Allen
If you get stuck on projects left undone, Allen’s methods will teach you how to do “the next thing” as efficiently and non-stressfully as possible, and still freeing your mind from having to remember numerous details.
His approach has been tested and tried for several years; I’m glad I finally discovered it for myself this year.
BONUS
10 Honorable Mentions
and why you might want to read them:
- Age of Opportunity by Paul David Tripp
because parenting teens is challenging - The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
because these twelve resolutions can help you be happier - The DNA of Relationships by Gary Smalley
because every relationship needs improving - 66 Love Letters by Larry Crabb
because you’ll see God’s love in every book of the Bible - Won’t Let Go Unless You Bless Me by Andrée Seu
because each stand-alone chapter gives you spiritual insights - Story of a Soul by St.Thérèse of Lisieux
because this young girl had humility you need to read about - Bound and Determined by Jeanene Reese
because you’ll rethink mixed-sex working relationships - The New Kind of Love by E. W. Kenyon
because you need to love differently to love like Jesus - A Hunger for God by John Piper
because if you eat junk, you’ll ruin your appetite - Recalling the Hope of Glory by Allen P. Ross
because it straightens out who you worship and why you worship
* * *
What is a favorite book you read in 2010?
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6 comments:
I see a couple there I want to read. I haven't kept up a list of what I've read this year, but I've been planning to go back through my "Nightstand" posts and make a list later this week.
Close tie between Revival and Revivalism, by Iain Murray, or Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, by Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
Lisa, you are a prolific reader and a woman after my heart:)
I have been helped so much this year by reading and implementing suggestions in Getting Things Done!
Another favorite is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a true story about HeLa cells used in cancer research written by Rebecca Skloot.
Yet another favorite this year was Debbie Macomber's Knit Together: Discover God's Pattern for Your Life.
I also enjoyed The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns.
Wishing you a new year of good books!
Wow! Quite a list! You've done amazing job! Thank you! I'll be sure to check them out! Keep up the good work! Blessings!
Great list, Lisa. I'd feel better if I'd read at least a third of them.
Besides my Bible, I read Guide Posts, Upper Room and Charisma magazines. I did read Billy's book. I am now reading “Signs and Wonders” by Maria Woodward Etter; a diary and history of one of the most powerful woman ministers of all time, that took place in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I am being shaken!
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