It's the End of the Year
Remember what we've read?
“We read because without books our world shrinks our empathy thins and our liberty wanes. We read for the same reason that people have read and shared poems or stories for thousands of years, because our eyes are not enough by which to see.”
Throughout the year, I read for fun, for edification, for devotion, for learning history or philosophy or about business. I want to hear people’s stories, others’ thoughts, and I want to be filled to overflowing with good words. It is unfeasible for me to choose favorite books even from one year, though I always try. These pictures are of some of the books I’ve read this year—to aid my teaching, my own research and writing, or my own betterment.
I had the special privilege of writing the foreword for Grace Hamman’s Ask of the Old Paths. So I want to give a special shoutout to Grace’s book at the start of this issue and acknowledge that she received a Christianity Today book of the year award for it!
Other books I reviewed or endorsed this year include, but are not limited to this short stack of great reads.
Favorite reads from 2025:
#1 When Courage Calls : In February, I heard Dr. Sarah Williams on her book on Josephine Butler (a previously unknown writer to me) on the Alabaster Jar podcast and was completely taken with this woman who was too Christian for the feminists to memorialize and too feminist for the church to remember, to our detriment.
#2 The Teacher of Nomad Land : Daniel Nayeri came to visit Pepperdine in October, which was the second time we hung out this year. I reviewed the book in an earlier edition of this Substack, and it received the National Book Award. In 2023 Daniel and I discussed Calvin and Hobbes as though its great literature on my podcast.
#3 The Dignity of Dependence: In November, Ross Douthat hosted Leah Libresco Sargeant and Helen Andrews for NYT to discuss “The Great Feminization.” Her book is paradigm shifting: we should all consider “dependence” as essential to understanding human nature.
#4 Not from 2025 is George David Clark’s poetry collection Newly Not Eternal, but I delighted in his reading at the Winona Writer’s Conference in July. Here’s a snippet from his poem “The Fly”:
I love poems that teach us to attend and behold the small things, while also giving glimmers of the transcendent, and especially if they can do so with lightheartedness. So much about the character of God reflected where you least expect to find it—in a fly. The whole collection of poems stirs these types of reflections.
#5 Leif Enger’s I Cheerfully Refuse: In my segment on Curtis Chang’s Good Faith podcast, I’ll be sharing old and new books alike, including Leif Enger’s I Cheerfully Refuse, one of my top 10 reads of the year. Here is the rest of my top 10 list. And these are not necessarily from 2025, just what I happened to read this year.
#6 Carolyn Custis James’s Half the Church : After reading Jesus Feminist for the first time, re-reading RHE’s Year of Biblical Womanhood, and reading Dorothy L. Greco’s For the Love of Women, they all quoted James’s book, and I had never heard of it. The book applies Half the Sky particularly to the church, revealing how detrimental it is to treat women’s equality as a tertiary issue.
#7 Dorothy Scarborough’s The Wind : Beth Allison Barr recommended this novel to me, and I shared about reading it in the May Substack.
#8 Dorothy L. Sayers’s Love All : a relatively unknown play by Sayers that she wrote during a tough season of her marriage, but that my students put on improv-style this year. I concluded class with her talk on the “Not-Quite Human.” One student shared with another faculty member that the Sayers class showed her anew Jesus.
#9 Nancy French’s Ghosted: I’m haunted by Nancy’s memoir. She’s a great storyteller, and she tied together the ghosts in her life with the way the Holy Ghost wrote her story. I kept sharing her stories as though a friend had shared them with me.
#10 Luke Burgis’s Wanting : My first book was a Girardian reading of O’Connor and Dostoevsky. Luke’s book showcases his discovery of Girard’s mimetic theory and applies it to business and capitalism.
Honorable mention that was pure cotton candy is Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary: The audiobook was so much fun! I cannot wait to see the film coming out next year with Ryan Gosling.
Please do share your top reads from this year. After reading other people’s lists, I’ve already purchased three new books that I am excited to delve into during the Christmas holiday. Blessings on your Advent and Merry Christmas!
I just got "I Cheerfully Refuse" at a thrift store; so I'm glad to see it's been given high praise. I recognized the author from one of my favorite books - Peace Like a River (I always love a child narrator, especially if the writing is superb).
Some of the books I loved this year, in no particular order:
*The Stream and the Sapphire by Denise Levertov - some of her religious poems throughout her work, compiled together and read through Advent (not the purpose, specifically, of the book, but it was perfect timing).
*Stewards of Eden by Sandra Richter - this book is I believe, under 200 pages but packs incredible history + reflections on God's creation, and why Christians should care. She's sort of preaching to the choir here (raises hand), but I learned so much and realized this was actually book 2 of a series - but it didn't read that way.
*The Wager by David Grann - historical narrative non-fiction about an *incredible* shipwreck and the men on the boat, over the course of many years. Can't wait to see the movie coming out - it will be incredible.
*Other Minds by Peter Godfrey- Smith - a book about the history + 'knowing' of the octopus! I read this aloud to my dyslexic marine-biology interested daughter and we both loved it. There are parts that are densely academic, but it was so fascinating and had us both thinking that perhaps aliens are actually sharing our globe - in the form of octopus! LOL
*The Abolition of Man by CS Lewis - I've wanted to read this for a long time and finally picked it up. One needs a highlighter to go through it - there was so much richness and depth in this tiny book!
*Around the World in 80 Plants by Jonathan Drori - this book is a non-fiction book that is just what it says - about 2-3 page interesting + historical tidbits, along with geography and functionality of the plants from around the world. Easy to pick up and enjoy for 5 minutes, or for an hour. The illustrations are beautiful and enhance the book, and there is a surprising amount of humour written in! Cheeky, oddly enough!
*The MythMakers by John Hendrix was incredible - graphic novel was such an excellent form to tell the story of the friendship (and falling out) of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. I recommended it to so many people - especially those who were wary of graphic novels. It's a good entry point.
*The Faithful Spy by John Hendrix - a graphic novel on the time of Bonheoffer from his conversion and through his death in WWII. Excellent. Will basically read anything Hendrix writes, going forward.
*My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok - This was written beautiful. It's a melancholy story of an Hassidic Jewish boy who has to fight his spirituality and 'earthly' sides - his Jewishness and his intense artistry gift. The end was stunning.