The Top Eight Books I Read in 2020

As 2020 draws to a close, I was looking back at the list of all the books I have been able to read this year. However, a few of the books I read stood above the rest.

As some of you might know, I have been reviewing books on GoodReads for a good part of this year, so please enjoy my short reviews of the top eight books I have read this year. Please note that the only books on this list are books that I read for the first time in 2020. If I didn’t do that, The Lord of the Rings would be on my list every year.

8. A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream, by Yuval Levin

This is a thoughtful book and well worth your consideration. As institutions have largely ceased to become molding institutions and rather have become platforms to be exploited by individuals who desire celebrity and acclaim, we have consequently lost trust in those institutions the standard for the principles they once held. This is far beyond the political book, and it touches on just about all areas of society. He may not be right about everything, but I think his overall approach.

7. I'll Push You: A Journey of 500 Miles, Two Best Friends, and One Wheelchair, by Patrick Gray and Justin Skeesuck

Mind blown. What a great read. This book provides important thoughts on all of the following: disability, male friendship, vulnerability, adventure, determination, community, church, Christianity, and so much more. Buy this book.

6. Hobbit Virtues: Rediscovering J. R. R. Tolkien's Ethics from The Lord of the Rings, by Christopher A. Snyder

This is an excellent read. Many people have talked about the virtues on display in Tolkien's work, but I found this book particularly comprehensive. Snyder argues that Tolkien can be used as a guide to rediscover the language of virtue ethics, so he might take a traditional virtue such as courage and trace it through Eastern and Western culture before showing how it applies in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

5. Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth, by John Garth

This book is a must read for Tolkien fans. One thing that really stands out to me in this volume was not only the impact of the war, but also the impact of the TCBS on his development. Tolkien did not come to love community through the Inklings. It started far before, and it really brings out how important finding our tribe is for us.

4. To Think Christianly: A History of L'Abri, Regent College, and the Christian Study Center Movement, by Charles E. Cotherman

I saw this book recommended on Facebook by one of my friends, and I thought it sounded interesting, so I picked up a copy of it. I am very glad that I did. Christian study centers provide a model of Christian engagement that very well might be effective in our era of academic secularization. I think there's a great deal we can learn from this book. Even if you don't have a college nearby, I think this method of hospitality applies no matter where you find yourself. This is definitely a recommended read.

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3. Called to the Life of the Mind: Some Advice for Evangelical Scholars, by Richard J. Mouw

What an excellent little book. I bought it because it was on sale for Kindle, but I am very glad I did. I think this serves as an important corrective to some of our temptations to say if one is not called to the "ministry" formally, their endeavors are not "Christian." We need Christians in all fields to serve as Christians where they have been blessed, and that includes higher education. This is a very practical book. 80 pages, not much to it. You can read it in an hour, but I would definitely recommend it.

2. Born to Wonder: Exploring Our Deepest Questions -- Why Are We Here and Why Does It Matter? by Alister McGrath

The central metaphor of this book is considering a journey along the Road. You live out the very real experiences of joy and sorrow that play out on that Road. Sometimes, we try to look for a Balcony-level perspective. We want to see from the top down in order to gain an understanding that there is a greater purpose that we cannot see from our position on the Road.

The problem with being on the Road is that while we might try to understand the Balcony, there are going to be times when we simply don't know and we wonder. This wondering can be positive or negative. We wonder why the world is created and is so amazingly beautiful. We wonder why humans are so awful to each other. We try to understand the Balcony, but sometimes the answer is not clear.

For Christians, and McGrath is a Christian, we have many answers revealed to us through revelation. However, even for Christians, we cannot understand all the things of God. As a result, we wonder. We try to fit the pieces together.

This is an extremely valuable work. Some will be frustrated with McGrath. He basically says that part of our journey on earth is learning to be humble and open to wondering. For people who like certainty, that is tough. Even if I can't see from the Balcony all the time, I can still believe that there is Someone who knows and the Road is taking me where I am meant to be.

1. Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents, by Rod Dreher

You all know that I am a Rod Dreher fan boy, so I had preordered this book months ago, and I polished it off within 48 hours of receiving it.

First, let me just throw some things out there. A lot of people are not going to like this book. A lot of people are going to say it is alarmism. A lot of people are going to be offended by his characterization of soft totalitarianism.

In response to these, you don't have to like his contentions for them to be true. Alarmism seems less alarmist when people who lived through the totalitarianism of the Soviet bloc identify similar symptoms in our culture and in theirs. When certain tendencies across time and space and manifest themselves in different cultures, it is not unreasonable to search for common threads.

This is a valuable read. It is worth your time and worth thinking about. I don't know that any of us want to find ourselves in a totalitarian state commanded by thought police.