The Books I Read in 2022

2022 was a great year for reading. I read a record number of books. Part of that is because I prioritized reading and listening to books over other things. I didn’t listen to any podcasts—not even one episode. I read in the small margins of my days. I filled the gaps with books. I shut off Facebook and Instagram. I stayed on Twitter because it’s the social media app I like best and where I get all my news and follow all the baseball accounts I like.

Looking back over the list, I re-read a lot of books this year. The re-reads won’t make the “best” list because they likely made them already in years past. You’ll just have to guess which those are.

So I made it through a lot of books this year. And, as always, I will recap what I read below.

A few notes before you get started:

• The list isn’t in any type of ranking. I just look at what I read in chronological order and then put it in either the best or the rest category and list it here. So the last of the best is not the worst, just the last I read.

• My reading is a bit eclectic, as I think everyone’s should be. You’ll find works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and theology. You’ll find different thinkers and influences. It’s the way I like to read.

• I separate the list into “The Best” and “The Rest". By no means do I intend to communicate “The Rest” are no good. Quite the opposite. I try to be discerning about what I read. Life is too short not to be. But some books rise above the others. Maybe I leave some out of my best list that you would include. That’s what makes these lists so fun.

• “The Best” means the books I enjoyed the most this year. It doesn’t include re-reads, and some classics I read for the first time don’t make it. If they’re a classic, they should probably be on the list, but whatever. I reserve the right to like what I like, just as you do.

• If you have some book recommendations for me this year, leave a comment. I’m always on the lookout for a good read.

• All the links are Amazon affiliate links, so if you buy it from that link, I get some money from the purchase.

Now, on to the list!

The Best

Job is considered one of the Bible’s wisdom books, and Eric adds wisdom to wisdom. If you are suffering (and who of us won’t at some point?) this book will help you understand your suffering. It doesn’t give every answer to every question. Not even the Bible does that. But it does point us to the God who is with us in our suffering, and that is worth more than any answer ever could be.

Chipper Jones was my favorite baseball player growing up. I wore number 10 because he did. I played third base because he did. He was a lifetime Brave, and I am a lifetime Braves fan. He played baseball the right way throughout his career, even during the height of the steroid era. He is the best switch-hitter to ever play.

So, yeah, I loved this book because I love Chipper Jones, the baseball player.

Sometimes you just need to read a book that isn’t too heavy. This one certainly qualifies. That’s not to say it doesn’t have poignant moments. If you’ve ever watched The Office, you know how they can sneak some meaningful moments amid hilarity.

This book is basically an oral history of the show. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at all the actors and actresses and writers, and staff members that made the show so great. The one thing that constantly stood out throughout the book was Greg Daniels’s impact. There are some nuggets of leadership held in this book that surprise and make you laugh.

This is my must-read novel this year. Steinbeck’s saga that retells the story of Cain and Abel is so well-written and so engrossing. It’s a long read but well worth every minute.

As a leader at my company, in my church, and inside my home, anxiety is a constant enemy. I have my ups and downs, my good times and bad times. Anxiety, for me, is basically a constant, but certain times are far worse than others. This book helped give me some tools for managing it and understanding the effect it has on others—and the effect others’ anxiety has on me.

If you’re a leader, this is a must-read.

If you were around Twitter in 2016, you might remember a bit of debate raging on your timeline. No, I’m not talking about the Presidential election. I’m talking about the Trinity.

I followed the debate as closely as I could, but honestly, I just didn’t have the proper vocabulary or understanding at the time. I felt as if I was constantly playing catch-up as I listened and read these wise pastors and scholars discuss.

Matthew Barrett was one engaging during that time, and this book is, in part, a result of that. It is clear and engaging. You don’t need to be a scholar to understand it, but you’ll feel like one when you’ve read it.

I love reading Bible commentaries. I know that makes me a nerd, but I don’t care. When it comes to commentaries, I like things that are thorough and well-researched. I like my commentaries to have insight I can’t get anywhere else—not because it’s heretical, but because it just goes where others don’t or can’t.

Leon Kass’s commentary on Genesis checks all of those boxes. Kass is not a Christian himself. He is a Jew. But what he does helps us understand what the book of Genesis is saying from a historical and literary perspective. He doesn’t make connections Christians would. There is no talk of Jesus. In that regard, there is much to be desired. But that doesn’t mean we can discount the immense value of the work. If you’re a fan of the book of Genesis, as I am, this is a must-read for you. You will find it fascinating.

I like to think I like art, but really, I don’t “get it." Maybe you’re that way too. If so, Ramsey’s book will help you understand some of the greatest works of art in the world. In addition, he will help you see the connection of art to Christianity. Many of the greatest works of art are explicitly Christian works, and the artists were intentional in their artistry.

Here is a book that’s worth picking up and savoring. Don’t read it too fast, and take time to look up the works to truly grasp the wonder of it all.

C.S. Lewis is objectively one of the greatest writers and thinkers to walk this earth. How did he get that way? One way is his deep understanding of Medieval times. I know that sounds weird, but this book makes the argument, and it succeeds. Lewis understood the great books. He was more than conversant in them. They swam around in his head all the time and permeated his thinking. If you love Lewis as I do, this book will help you understand him more.

Sometimes you just need someone to give you some good news. Sam Storms does that in this book. It’s a book about sin, which doesn’t sound like good news, but it is so gospel-soaked that you don’t leave a chapter without feeling deeply loved by Jesus. God’s forgiveness of our sins is the best possible news in this world, and there isn’t a single one of us that doesn’t need to understand how forgiven we truly are.

Truman’s book made a lot of “best of” lists last year, but it took me a year to pick it up. Some books help us understand our times a little better. Truman’s work certainly does that. He dives into the LGBTQ+ issues and explains where the social thinking behind them came from. Taking you back into the history of philosophy, you’ll walk away from this book with a better understanding of our times that will equip you to think more clearly about what’s going on because you understand how we got here.

One critique I have about the book is that I wish he spent more time providing some solutions to our modern age. But that’s probably another book of the same length. This is step one: understanding.

I won’t say this is a great beach read because I don’t think people read books like this on the beach. But I did. Ferry takes us through the history of Western thought and shows how we got to where we are. Combined with Truman’s work, it really helped me understand the foundations of modern philosophy. His chapter on Christianity is worth the price of the book. Though not a Christian himself, he cannot deny the immense impact Christianity has had on the world for good. Christianity simply answers the deepest longings of our soul better than any other philosophy ever has. Pick up this book to learn more.

My guess is you’re seeing this book on some “best of” lists this year. For good reason. It’s the kind of book that comes along every so often where anytime someone asks what fiction to read, this book pops up in the replies. It’s a surprising book. I didn’t expect the depth of emotion in it. The story of an immigrant family finding their way in America but with a deep Christian faith at the center. It’s funny and heartbreaking and breathtaking all at the same time.

Okay, it’s confession time. Until the year of our Lord, 2022, I had never read the Lord of the Rings books. Furthermore, I had never seen the movies all the way through. I saw the second in the theater when it came out because my friend and I didn’t see anything else on the list that interested us. We chatted through most of it and walked away thinking, “Meh.”

Here’s my take. I was just too young and stupid. I remember Ray Ortlund saying he tried reading the books when they first came out, but he didn’t find them interesting. Then he picked them up years later and couldn’t put them down. He realized the books hadn’t changed at all, but he had. He had lived enough to give meaning to Tolkien’s epic story.

I won’t say any more about the others immediately after. I included all three books on The Best list this year. How could I not?

Here was a book I was absolutely floored by. I picked it up during a week off at a used bookstore and sat down on my porch one morning to read it. I read it all the way through that same day. I couldn’t put it down. So much of what Reeves says in this book resonated deeply with my heart. It is about evangelicalism, but not in the way you might think. It’s about the gospel and why evangelicalism is simply the best way to explain the kind of people the gospel creates.

This is a book that I carry with me all the time and refer back to. It’s marked up like you wouldn’t believe. I open it about once a week and flip through the pages. It now sits on my shelf next to Ray Ortlund’s The Gospel because these two books just make such a great pair.

I saw someone whose literary taste I admire talk about this book on Twitter. If Twitter ever fails, this is one of the things I will miss most—finding books I would never know to pick up.

Keegan’s little novel is a Christmas story about the small things that make a big difference. It’s a short read—only 70 pages. I read it in one sitting but carried it with me for far longer. It is one that I will re-read every now and then simply for the beauty of the prose and the story.

I don’t consider myself an angry person, but like everyone, I get angry sometimes. What is going on during those times? Ash helps us understand by taking us inside God’s word on the matter. There is righteous anger. There is sinful anger. And it’s hard to know the difference sometimes. Even more, it’s hard to know how to deal with our anger properly.

If you struggle with anger or want to understand it better, this is the book for you.

I love Backman’s novels. This one is the next in the Beartown saga, continuing the story and wrapping up some loose ends the others leave untied. Like all his books, you’ll be surprised by how moved you are by people you know are made up because their stories are all too real in this world.

Here’s a rule to live by: if Bob Dylan writes it, read it. He wrote a biography years ago called Chronicles: Volume 1. Volume 2 never came out. Maybe that’s intentional. I don’t know. It was a great read, and I wish there was another one coming.

But here’s at least something new from Dylan. He calls it a philosophy of modern song, but it’s more accurate to say it’s Dylan riffing on some great tunes. Of course, he dips into philosophical items from time to time, but there doesn’t seem to me to be a cohesive philosophy springing from the pages. It doesn’t matter. Dylan’s insight into these classic songs and his retelling of them in his unique personification is worth every penny.

Sometimes it’s good to hear from different parts of the world. We can get so caught up in what’s happening here. I understand why that happens. But every now and then, we need to look outward and listen to Christians from other, more difficult parts of the world.

Here’s a book that does just that. Taken from sermons from Chinese pastors during the COVID pandemic, this book will encourage you to look to Jesus as your only hope. I listened to this book, which I always recommend if books are a complication of sermons. Throughout, I found myself convicted and encouraged. You will be too.

I read anything Tim Keller publishes. He is, in my opinion, one of God’s greatest gifts to the church in his generation. This new book on forgiveness is one everybody should put on their shelves. It is a wealth of wisdom on what the Bible says about forgiveness and how, through Christ, we have the resources and power to forgive because we have been forgiven by God.

Some stories are so amazing you can barely believe they are real. This is one of those stories. Enslaved in Auschwitz, Walter Rosenberg was one of the few who escaped and lived to tell his story. Along with another man, he found a way to warn the world of what was really going on. The problem was, no one did anything about it. The story is wild and heartbreaking and a warning all at once. It’s one of those Holocaust stories that should be told and retold again and again.

Some books come along that are must reads. This is one of them. If you want to understand how we got where we are, Scrivener will help you see. The air we breath is thoroughly Christian, even if our culture denies that permeating past. Our modern sense of freedom, justice, equity, and all the rest finds its roots in the Bible. We can ignore the Bible if we want, but we can’t deny its influence.

Perhaps nothing is more commonplace in the Christian world than apathy to the things of God. How do we get back to the place of passion? How do we restore our zeal? Uche Anizor gives a great gift to the church in this book taylor made for our modern malaise.

The Rest