All the Books I Read in 2021
I read 36 books in 2021, more than I’ve ever read in a year.
But Jordan M. Poss read 114, so I feel like a dunce.
All the same, here are micro reviews of what I read. Or listened to. I counted the audiobooks because . . . well, because it made the list longer.
The Best
In Order to Live - Yeonmi Park - Nonfiction narrative of a young girl escaping communist North Korea. Emotionally exhausting and highly, highly recommended.
The Key to the Missionary Problem - Andrew Murray - Murray’s exceptional portrait of the state of Christian missions in . . . 1917. Fascinating.
Atomic Habits - James Clear - Recommended self-help book that pleasantly avoids pretense, empty promises, word-count-filler, and ego.
Travels in Siberia - Ian Frazier - The first travelogue I’ve ever read. An absolute banger. Over-length is my only criticism here.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich - Leo Tolstoy - It’s every Russian literature cliché put together, yet it’s transcendent. Best novella ever written.
The Horse and His Boy - CS Lewis - Read for the first time this year. One of the very best of CS Lewis’s Narnia books.
Rainbow Six - Tom Clancy - Clancy still puts every thriller writer I’ve ever read to shame. It doesn’t kick into high gear until halfway through its immense—immense—length, but when it does, it goes crazy-go-nuts in the best way.
The Good
Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki - There’re these two dads, right. . .
Corporate Worship - Matt Merker - Thoughtful, short volume on the role of music in biblical church services.
The Pursuit of God - AW Tozer - Basic theology classic. Must-read.
So, You’re New to Sales - Bryan Flanagan - Encouraging basics for those in sales.
Fault Lines - Voddie Baucham - How should the church respond to the threat of Critical Race Theory? Well-answered in this powerful volume.
Why Does God Care Who I Sleep With? - Sam Allberry - Short, helpful book on Christ and human sexuality.
The Call of the Wild - Jack London - Brutal, adventurous fun.
Wild Bill - Tom Clavin - Great biography of Wild Bill Hickock. The latter half of his life was more interesting than the first . . . sad, fun, adventurous, and human.
Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky - Very good, even powerful sci-fi about a society of spider aliens. It’s not perfect, and it’s really weird, but it’s also a terrific achievement for the genre.
The Nutmeg of Consolation - Patrick O’Brian - I try to read at least one Patrick O’Brian novel a year. This Aubrey/Maturin adventure didn’t disappoint.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis - So there’s this lion . . .
The “There”
Right Thinking in a World Gone Wrong - John MacArthur - Not the most hypnotic read ever, but a nonetheless valuable book about how Christians should respond to various aspects of modern culture.
Social Media Marketing 2021 - About as on-the-nose at its title. I found it useful in my role as a social media guy at Canyon Ridge Baptist Church.
The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C Clark - Well-written, literate sci-fi. Also pretentious and bone-headed. About two-thirds of the way through, the author smugly declares that when aliens show up, every human being on earth will decide there can’t be a God and become atheist. Gold-plated crap.
Thrawn - Timothy Zahn - A Star Wars book. It’s an origin story about Grand Admiral Thrawn, who I guess only existed in books and in one of the cartoons, but got referenced in The Mandalorian and I can’t keep up with all the stupid mythology anymore stop it. In this story, Thrawn is basically Sherlock in space—always right, never wrong, socially inept yet entertaining, always winning some intergalactic game of 4-D chess. Wheee.
The Language of Sales - Tom Hopkins and Andrew Eilers - Salesmen should be nice.
The Kremlin Conspiracy - Joel C. Rosenberg - a Christian Jack Ryan-type thriller. Some good stuff in it, though I felt it was rushed.
The Persian Gamble - Joel C. Rosenberg - Sequel to the above book. Same criticism as the first one. Some parts lacked thoughtfulness in the plotting department, yet I also found it engaging and fun.
1000 Yards - Mark Dawson - A free sample book from the popular author Mark Dawson’s website. A little weak on plot—it felt like it was just “there”—but I must commend the craftsmanship. It’s excellently written.
Hot Garbage
Pericles - William Shakespeare - Shakespeare wrote plenty of bad plays. This is one of the worst.
Timeline - Michael Crichton - Below-average Crichton novel. Good history, I suppose, but the characters are shallow even for Crichton, and they’re treated like pinballs bouncing through an amusement park ride.
The Midnight Library - Matt Haig - I got it because it was popular. Well-written and researched. High-fashion pop-philosophy self-actualization garbage.
Doctor Who - Scratchman - Tom Baker - A Doctor Who book penned by THE BEST DOCTOR, TOM BAKER. And one of the nuttiest books I’ve ever read. Like, the Doctor goes to hell in it. Truly a wild experience, probably for fans only.
Ads for Authors Who Hate Math - Chris Fox - Poorly-written cash-grab promising to help authors think through ads to sell their books. Unhelpful and lazy.
Dead and Breakfast - Kate Kingsbury - A cozy mystery that didn’t click with me.
Books that Friends Wrote
The Wanderer - Jordan M. Poss - Got to read a draft of my friend Jordan’s next book. I don’t know if I have any liberty to spoil it here, but it’s a staggering, insanely stylish new direction for him.
Vulture - Matt Bjerk - A draft of a friend’s work-in-progress. Really excellent work; I hope he releases it this year.
