Another year full of books! (Previous summaries: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007…

I read 72 books for the year, which feels like a nice even number. There’s still a lot of theology and science fiction in the list, but I read more science this year, along with several memoirs.

Here’s the full list of reading, with particular standouts noted in bold:

Theology

  • Out of the Embers: Faith After the Great Deconstruction by Bradley Jersak
  • On the Soul and the Resurrection by St. Gregory of Nyssa
  • Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair by Duke L. Kwon
  • Sanctifying Interpretation: Vocation, Holiness, and Scripture by Chris E. W. Green
  • The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics by Stanley Hauerwas
  • Art and Faith: A Theology of Making by Makoto Fujimura
  • Not All Who Wander (Spiritually) Are Lost by Traci Rhodes
  • A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life by Parker J. Palmer
  • Trauma-Informed Evangelism: Cultivating Communities of Wounded Healers by Charles Kiser
  • Christ in Evolution by Ilia Delio
  • Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps by Richard Rohr
  • The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
  • The New Being by Paul Tillich

Green is wonderful here. I posted a few excerpts while reading it that would be a good introduction.

Science and History

  • The Evolution of Knowledge: Rethinking Science for the Anthropocene by Jurgen Renn
  • Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price
  • Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach by Mark Richards
  • Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation by Daniel J. Siegel
  • The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation by Carl Benedikt Frey
  • Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics in the Age of Crisis by George Monbiot
  • The Book of Genesis: A Biography by Ronald Hendel
  • Digging Up Armageddon: The Search for the Lost City of Solomon by Eric H. Cline
  • Secular Faith: How Culture Has Trumped Religion in American Politics by Mark Alan Smith
  • Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe by Brian Greene
  • The Book of Job: A Biography by Mark Larrimore
  • On the Origina of Time: Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory by Thomas Hertog
  • Quantum Reality by Nick Herbert
  • The Talmud: A Biography by Barry Scott Wimpfheimer
  • The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes by Donald D. Hoffman

Memoir and Biography

  • Every Good Boy Does Fine: A Love Story, in Music Lessons by Jeremy Denk
  • Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir by Wil Wheaton
  • Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy by Damien Lewis
  • Heretic: A Memoir by Jeanna Kadlec
  • Joel on Software by Joel Spolsky
  • God on the Rocks: Distilling Religion, Savoring Faith by Phil Madeira
  • All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore
  • Mystics and Zen Masters by Thomas Merton
  • Birth of a Dancing Star: My Journey from Cradle Catholic to Cyborg Christian by Ilia Delio
  • How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
  • Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann
  • Making It So: A Memoir by Patrick Stewart

I posted some appreciation for Stewart before I got my hands on his memoir. The memoir did not disappoint. He’s an imperfect, lovely man. The book was a pleasure to read. Also, he’s a great example of why we need funding for arts and arts education. But I digress.

Other Miscellaneous Non-Fiction

  • My Bright Abyss by Christian Wiman
  • Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears by Michael Schulman
  • The Ultimate Quest: A Geek’s Gude to (The Episcopal) Church by Jordan Haynie Ware
  • Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes by William Bridges

Fiction

  • The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin (re-read)
  • A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (re-read)
  • Dead Lions by Mick Herron
  • Don’t Cry for Me by Daniel Black
  • The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
  • The Bayern Agenda by Dan Moren
  • Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
  • Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
  • Hunting Time by Jeffrey Deaver
  • Ordinary Monsters by J. M. Miro
  • The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
  • The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgard
  • Babel by R. F. Kuang
  • Translation State by Ann Leckie
  • Average Jones by Samuel Hopkins Adams
  • The Odyssey by Homer, trans. Emily Wilson
  • Red Queen by Juan Gomez-Jurado
  • The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
  • Blackouts by Justin Torres
  • Starter Villain by John Scalzi
  • The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin
  • Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy
  • Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway
  • My Old Home: A Novel of Exile by Orville Schell
  • The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak
  • Time’s Mouth by Edan Lepucki
  • The Collector by Daniel Silva

Schell’s epic story following a young man’s life growing up in 20th century China is beautiful and tragic and very worth the read.

Summary

One of my goals from previous years was to read fewer books written by white guys. By my count, 24 of this year’s books meet that goal… which isn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be. That science section didn’t help in that regard. I made a stronger shift this year, though, away from theology and to science. That wasn’t super-intentional, but just where my interest was at the time.

On to 2024! I’m nearly halfway through my first book of the year.