Books I Read in 2016

Another year, another book list. I think this year I can at least say that the unread book pile gathering dust by my bed is a little smaller than it has been in previous year.

My reading list for 2016 is on Goodreads. To summarize my year in reading:

I read 76 books in total. (This is the most for any year since I started logging in 2007.)
40 were non-fiction - primarily biography, history, and theology
36 were fiction - pretty heavily sci-fi and fantasy this year.

My favorite non-fiction:

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson. This is a wonderfully-told story of the migration of blacks from plantations in the south to cities in the north during the early-to-mid 1900’s. Sure, I’ve heard stories of the mistreatment blacks went through, but to have it brought so recent (some of the people in this book were still living circa 2004!) was sobering.
Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda. It’s Hamilton. What else do I need to say?
Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation by Michael J. Gorman. I read this as we were wrapping up a sermon series on Revelation at church. I find Gorman’s take on that apocalyptic text to be highly compelling. I blogged about it earlier this year.

My favorite fiction:

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. I found this on a pre-teen recommended reading list and read it along with my oldest daughter. We enjoyed it so much we decided to make it a read-aloud book for the whole family. Crivens!
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Lots of people have written better about this than I can. A beautiful story, beautifully told.
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. Berry has a unique voice and his stories of Port William, Kentucky, are treasures.
Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters. Imagine, if you will, that slavery was still legal in the US South, and that Underground Railroad-type activities were still happening. Interested in what happens next? Go get this book.

I don’t know if I’ll get to 76 books again this year - I know I already have a few really thick ones on the to-read list that might slow me down - but as always it’s fun to read, fun to review at end-of-year, and fun to have books to recommend and give to others.