Thursday, December 29, 2016

Thus Concludes 2016


Another enjoyable reading year "in the books." This post recaps the year and presents what I consider the best of the bunch.

According to my spreadsheet, I completed 44 books this year, but read a percentage (10%-80%) of 9 more works. Those 'partials' totaled 1,362 pages read, so I feel obligated to include them- that's a lot of time. So let's make it 53 books read, and those totaled 14,008 pages- about 38 pages a day. That takes less than an hour- it's not nearly as imposing as some think, especially when 2,249 of those pages were listened to on my commute into work.

Of the 53 books, 4 were audiobooks, 2 were eBooks, and 5 came from the library or friends. I rated 23 a solid 'A' or higher, and 2 a 'C' or lower. By category, I read 12 history books, 14 religion, 7 fantasy, 5 literature, 4 Arthurian/Robin Hood, and a smattering of other genres.

Here are my top ten reads from this year:

Glen Paauw: Saving the Bible from Ourselves
Bram Stoker: Dracula
Charles Dickens: Great Expectations
John Frame: Systematic Theology
Robert K. Massie: Nicholas and Alexandra
Keith Martel: Storied Leadership
Bryan Stevenson: Just Mercy

And three honorable mentions:

Hear the Word ESV Audio Bible [we should read the Bible every year, which is why it normally doesn't appear on my lists- it's a given.  I included it this year because audio bibles vary in quality (mainly due to the narrator's performance), and this was an excellent choice.]
Susan Wise Bauer: The History of the Medieval World

Happy reading in 2017!

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