The Books of 2021

 Well, it’s been quite a year -- one full of challenge, inspiration, and significant service in our Lord’s vineyards. The highs have been exciting and memorable, like the celebration of our 50th anniversary at a Vital Signs Ministries Pie Social, the beginning of our Sunday afternoon church services at Aksarben Village Senior Living, and the literally “high” climb up another Colorado 14er.

And the lows? Well, of course, we have had to deal with those as well.

But this post is about the books of 2021. For it has been a very good year for reading -- and re-reading.  I’ll not post here a review of all 105 titles from 2021, opting instead for just a few highlights from 4 categories: 1) Great New Reads; 2) Old Friends; 3) Ambitious But Worth the Work; and 4) My Top 10 Recommendations from this year's reading.

1) Great New Reads.  Among the books in this category I most appreciated were Through the Magic Door (Arthur Conan Doyle); Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution (Nathaniel Philbrick); Churchill (Paul Johnson); Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery (Eric Metaxas); The Eagle’s Claw (Jeff Shaara); A White Bird Flying (Bess Streeter Aldrich); Enemies and Allies (Joel Rosenberg); A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett); The Original Christmas Carol (Stephen Davey); Home for Christmas (Lloyd C. Douglas); The Christmas Child (Hesba Stretton); and Mrs. Budlong’s Christmas Presents (Rupert Hughes).

2) Old Friends.  The “lion’s share” of the books I read in any year are ones that I have read before.  That’s what’s going on in this category and, believe me, many of these books deserve the title of “old friends” more than I can express.  The Christmas Stories of Charles Dickens; Our Town (Thorton Wilder); the Richard Hannay series of adventures which begin with The 39 Steps (John Buchan);  Hamlet and Othello (Edward de Vere, aka William Shakespeare); 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne); The Napoleon of Notting Hill (G.K. Chesterton);  The Man in White (Johnny Cash); Robin Hood (Henry Gilbert); Heaven (Randy Alcorn); Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury); the WWII submarine adventures of Edward L. Beach which begin with Run Silent, Run Deep; Frost (Calvin Miller); The Wake of the Perdido Star (Gene Hackman & Daniel Lenihan); Parnassus On Wheels (Robert Morley); The Invisible War (Donald Grey Barnhouse); The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Charles Dickens); Shepherds Abiding (Jan Karon); O Little Town (Don Reid); On Christmas Day in the Morning and On Christmas Day in the Evening (Grace S. Richmond); Old Christmas (Washington Irving); Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas (Sarah Palin); The Birds’ Christmas Carol (Kate Douglas Wiggin); and Beasley’s Christmas Party (Booth Tarkington).

3) Ambitious But Worth the Work.  A re-read of Lorna Doone (R.D. Blackmore); 3 volumes of The Faithfulness of God: A Missionary Autobiography (LaVern Smith); and the 3 volume Divine Comedy (Dante Alighieri).

4) My Top 10 Recommendations from this year's reading:

* The Christmas Stories from Household Words (Charles Dickens) I absolutely love these novellas and short stories. They are always a standard feature of my Yuletide reading.

* Our Town (Thornton Wilder) This is my favorite play of all time, one in which I played a part in my high school production all those many years ago.

* The Man in White (Johnny Cash) This is a novelized treatment of the life of St. Paul. It's a fine read and unexpectedly profound and well-written.

* Heaven (Randy Alcorn) I recommend this book more than any other. It is a rich, thorough, and exciting Bible study of heaven. I read it at least every other year.

* The Richard Hannay series. (John Buchan) 5 wonderful novels I read every few years.

* The three submarine adventures of Edward L. Beach. 

* The Invisible War (Donald Grey Barnhouse) An excellent theological study of the divine plan.

* Shepherds Abiding (Jan Karon) The Christmastime entry in Jan Karon's much-beloved Mitford/Fr. Tim novels.

* The Original Christmas Carol (Stephen Davey) A theological look at the Christmas Scriptures by my favorite preacher.

*  Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas (Sarah Palin) A witty, heartwarming, and challenging non-fiction Christmas read.