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January 2, 2021 by David Hansen

2020 Books and Reading

Reading is one of the things that serves multiple purposes in my life. It helps to make sure that I am growing as a person, as a leader, and as a preacher. It sparks my creativity. It makes me happy.

But 2020 was a year!

With the stress of the pandemic, a civil rights crisis, and an economic crisis, I found it difficult to read what I normally would. Instead, I consumed lots of more passive media – television and podcasts. A diet of comfort food media for me.  (I rewatched all of Scrubs. Twice.)

That said, there was some great books on my pile this year, for a grand total of 29 books. In addition, there were some devotional books that aren’t on this list.

For 2021, am I back to my lead-metric goal of reading 30 minutes a day – successful 100% of the days so far 😉

(Read my 2019 Reading List here.)

Biography

  • Isaac’s Storm, Erik Larson
    • Fantastic account of the Great Galveston Hurricane.
  • Midnight Rising, Tony Horwitz (John Brown)
  • Eliza Hamilton, Tilar Mazzeo
    • A good addition to Ron Chernow’s account, rounding out the story by seeing it from Eliza’s perspective.
  • Rebel Cinderella, Adam Hochschild (Rose Pastor Stokes)
    • Never had heard of Rose Pastor Stokes before, a fascinating story.
  • His Truth is Marching On, Jon Meachum (John Lewis)
    • So many parallels to today. Definitely on the re-read pile.

Leadership

  • Talking to Strangers, Malcolm Gladwell
  • Plantation Jesus, Skot Welch, Rick Wilson
    • On the re-read pile – used it in a small group study as well.
  • How to Lead When You Don’t Know Where You are Going, Susan Beaumont

Spirituality & Self-care

  • The Road Back to You, Ian Cron, Suzanne Stabile
    • Definitely going on the read again pile
  • Inspired, Rachel Held Evans
  • Unearthing You, Marlon Hall
  • It’s Okay to Laugh, Nora McIerny

Fiction

  • Thrawn: Treason, Timothy Zahn
    • I love the Thrawn story and am super excited about the possibility of a TV series based on it.

Theology

  • Fire By Night, Melissa Florer-Bixler
  • Faith in the Face of Empire, Mitri Raheb
  • Preaching in Hitler’s Shadow, Dean Stroud
    • Sermons from Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. Powerful.

Culture and Society

  • White Rage, Carol Anderson
  • Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
  • The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
    • Eye-opening. Alexander’s research and voice are also featured on the Netflix documentary 13th.

History

  • Holy War: The Crusades & Their Impact, Karen Armstrong
  • Jerusalem: The Biography, Simon Sebag Montefiore
  • Flowers in the Gutter, KR Gaddy
    • Marketed as a young adult book, this is a fantastic history about a resistance movement in WWII Germany I knew nothing about
  • The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson
    • On the re-read pile

Graphic Novels

  • The Boys, vol 4 & 5
  • Second Coming
  • Firefly: Sting
  • Watchmen
  • They Called Us Enemy
    • Great account by George Takei of the internment / concentration camps in the US during WWII.

 

First up in 2021 and already underway is A Promised Land, President Barak Obama’s new memoir.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Books, Goals, Reading list

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