Last Year's Reading: A Top 20

Among the many books read last year (as is normal for me, many of them were re-reads), I've whittled down a Top 20 to pass along. All of them are highly recommended.

They are listed in the order I read them.

1) Snow by Calvin Miller. A heartwarming Christmas novel from a great preacher, writer, and friend.

2 & 3) Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion by Jane Austen. Classic novels from one of the genre's best.

4) The Forgotten 500 by Gregory A. Freeman. A fascinating (sometimes infuriating) history about the rescue of Allied air crews from behind enemy lines in WWII.

5) The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. One of my favorite fantasy novels, full of adventure, heroism, and inspiration.

6) Fire Over England by A.E.W. Mason. An exciting historical novel dealing with the Spanish Armada's plans against England.

7) Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow. The title is self-explanatory. I found this book most instructive, challenging, and, because I agreed with many of his observations, rather comforting too.

8) The Gentleman from Indiana by Booth Tarkington. This was one of my favorite novels from this year's list of reading from the Notting Hill Napoleons, our longstanding literary club.

9 & 10) The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan and D-Day: The Sixth of June by David Howarth. Two excellent histories of the Allied landings in France during WWII.

11) I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist by Norm Geisler & Frank Turek. Apologetics of the finest (and most practical) quality.

12) Run Silent, Run Deep by Edward L. Beach. A fine WWII novel about submarine warfare in the Pacific written by a highly acclaimed Commander of the U.S. Navy.

13) The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers. A very moving WWII novel dealing with a German national fleeing from a Nazi concentration camp.

14) A Christian Manifesto by Francis Schaeffer. One of the most life-changing books for both Claire and I, we re-read this every few years.

15) Knight Without Armor by James Hilton. This is a wide-ranging novel about the Russian revolution. It is written by one of my favorite authors, yet it's quite different in subject than his other works.

16) The Christmas Room by Denny Hartford. A realistic yet uplifting novel about the lives of people involved in one way or another with Villa Vista Care Community, a nursing home.

17) Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. It's not my favorite Dickens novel but then he's never written anything but quality stuff.

18) Dawn’s Early Light by Walter Lord. A detailed history of the War of 1812 by one of my favorite historians.

19) Miss Bishop by Bess Streeter Aldrich. A lovely, inspiring novel about character, education, duty, small town life, the changing social scene of America at the turn of the century, and a life well lived.

20) Heaven by Randy Alcorn. Besides the Bible itself, I recommend this Bible study book on heaven more than anything else. An enlightening, exciting book that will change your life.