My reading this year has dropped off a great deal from recent years. I’m a slow reader to begin with, so when I was reading between 30 and 40 books a year over the last 5-6 years, that was somewhat of a miracle to begin with. But this year, I’ve found it difficult to carve out as much time to read, and so I’ve only managed to finish 14 books (with 2 more which I may still finish by year end.)

So, despite having read far less than usual, here’s what I liked in 2006:

The Top 5

• 5. The Myth of a Christian Nation : How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church
  by Gregory A. Boyd
  Greg Boyd taught a series of lessons on the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world at his church in Minnesota a couple of years ago. His thoughts - which included such things as suggesting Christians should not be married to politics (or certain political parties), that we should not be so quick to support war, and the idea that America is not a “Christian nation” - caused roughly 1,000 people to leave his church of 5,000 members. Sometimes that happens because one is teaching heresy. Other times it happens because one is teaching the truth. This book is an expanded version of those sermons.

• 4. The Irresistible Revolution : Living as an Ordinary Radical
  by Shane Claiborne
  I’ve read several books in the last few years that made me feel quite uncomfortable. Add this one to the list. Claiborne is a founder of a “radical faith community” in Philadelphia that is doing some amazing work among the poor and homeless. This community lives out a faith many in American churches would be unfamiliar with, one that is based on what they see in 1st century Christians as opposed to many 21st century churches. He challenges the comfortable Christianity most American Christians (myself included) are so accustomed to.

• 3. Prayer : Does It Make Any Difference?
  by Philip Yancey
  Yancey is one of my very favorites, and as expected, I loved this book. Yancey’s style of writing has always resonated with me, and his propensity to doubt and ask questions is something that hits home with me as well. He’s not like many other best-selling Christian authors, and that’s a good thing. When he says “Why pray? I have asked this question almost every day of my Christian life” early on in the book, I knew I would not be disappointed. I am not.

• 2. An Ordinary Man : An Autobiography
  by Paul Rusesabagina
  Philip Gourevitch’s We Wish To Inform You… is a great book detailing the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the events that led up to it and the aftermath. This book is a great as well, as Rusesabagina recounts his own life story, and in particular his actions to save lives during the genocide. Rusesabagina saved around 1,000 lives during the conflict by sheltering them at the hotel where he was acting manager, using every means he had available (short of violence) to do so. (His story has also been told in the movie Hotel Rwanda). An excellent book.

• 1. Night
  by Elie Wiesel
  Another biographical book, this time dealing with another horrible chapter in the world’s history, the Holocaust. Weisel was a teenager when he and his family were sent to Auschwitz during World War II. In this book, he chronicles his experiences beginning just prior to his family being sent to the death camps, his struggle for survival at Auschwitz and Buchenwald, his loss of faith in God, and his eventual liberation. This is a short book - less than 150 pages - but it is also very moving. Again, an excellent book.

Honorable Mentions

• Velvet Elvis : Repainting the Christian Faith
  by Rob Bell
  I became familiar with Bell after having read about, and later watching clips of, his NOOMA video series. His first book is very good, and offers what I guess would be called a non-traditional look at the Christian faith. I found his knowledge of Jewish culture and traditions particularly helpful to me (as was also true of McLaren’s Secret Message… listed below.)

• Last Dance : Behind the Scenes at the Final Four
  by John Feinstein
  My love for both college basketball and books usually cross paths a couple of times a year, although this year it was only once. And of the sports books I’ve read over the years, I’ve found that Feinstein’s are among the best. This is the fourth or fifth book of his I’ve read and I’m never disappointed. This look at the final four was a lot of fun.

Here’s the other books I read, which I also recommend.

• God’s Gravity : The Upside-Down Life of Selfless Faith
  by Craig Borlase
• The Revolution : A Field Manual for Changing Your World
  by Heather Zydek (Editor)
• The Secret Message of Jesus : Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything
  by Brian McLaren
• To Own a Dragon : Reflections On Growing Up Without A Father
  by Don Miller and John MacMurray
• An Inconvenient Truth : The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It
  by Al Gore
• The Lost Message of Jesus
  by Steve Chalke and Alan Mann
• Unfinished Reconciliation : Justice, Racism and Churches of Christ
  by Gary Holloway, John York (Editor)

As I said above, I am still reading two books that I may finish before the end of the year. (If I do, I will likely update this list accordingly.) One is Hearts and Minds : Raising Your Child With a Christian View of the World by John Alan Turner and Kenneth Boa. The other is Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope : Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. Both have been very good based on what I’ve read thus far.

Finally, here’s a list of 10 books I hope to read this year:

• Simply Christian : Why Christianity Makes Sense by N.T. Wright
• The North Face of God : Hope For Times When God Seems Indifferent by Ken Gire
• The Rest of God : Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath by Mark Buchanan
• Parting The Waters : America in the King Years 1954-63 by Taylor Branch
• Thy Kingdom Come : How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America : An Evangelical’s Lament by Randall Balmer
• American Gospel : God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation by Jon Meacham
• Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places : A Conversation in Spiritual Theology by Eugene Peterson
• The Gospel According to Moses : What My Jewish Friends Taught Me about Jesus by Athol Dickson
• Tobacco Road : Duke, Carolina, N.C. State, Wake Forest, and the History of the Most Intense Backyard Rivalries in Sports by Al Featherston
• To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever : A Thoroughly Obsessive, Intermittently Uplifting, and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Basketball Rivalry by Will Blythe

That’s it. That’s the list. I’m also open to any recommendations for the coming year, so if you have any, let me know.