More Best of 2014 Book Lists

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The best of 2014 Books lists are coming out strong now. There are a lot of repeat books (last year there was a summary list that someone put together to compile all the books and how often they were cited, so hopefully someone will do that again.) But I have to wonder how much book lists like these matter to general readers. Here is an earlier post on other Best Books of 2014 lists

I have to give props to Bill Gates for turning himself into a Lego to give his best books he read this year.

  • NPR – 250 titles with filters and categories to give most everyone at least a few books they would like. But 250 seems way too many to be helpful.
  • Amazon has their best selling lists of 2014.  I always am interested that the best selling Kindle books lists and paper books lists are so different.  The lists are both the top 100, but the top 10 only have 2 overlapping books. And the next 10 only have 2 more.
  • Paul Sohn at Salt and Light has the 11 most thought provoking books on leadership. This is a Christian site, but most are general books instead of specifically Christian leadership books.
  • Relevant Magazine has a list of best books to give as gifts. The list was prepared by C Christopher Smith of Englewood Review of Books and has a number of good books for a variety of readers, ages and interests. I have read two of the books on the list and have already bought two more
  • Vulture – a culture review site has their 10 best. I have never heard of the site before, but they have my top book of the year as their top book of the year.
  • Publisher’s Weekly has their top 10 books. Several lists have mentioned Thirteen Days in September about the 1978 Camp David Accords, Deep Down Dark (about the 33 trapped 69 days in the Chilean Mine collapse of 2010), and A Brief History of Seven Killings about 3 decades of Jamaican history centering on an attempted assassination of Bob Marley. I am interested in the Camp David Accords one at least.
  • Washington Post’s list (other than 7 Killings and Being Mortal) has 8 books I have not heard of.
  • Boston Globe has a variety of lists with nothing that explains them (not all that helpful)
  • Slate has staff picks. Which I think I like better than straight best of lists. I would rather get someone tell me their book that might be a bit quirky instead of the “˜best’ lists that often focus on literary merit more than enjoyability.
  • Audible has their Best of 2014 – which also has a short video and includes a number of categories, like best narration, listener favorites, and several book category lists.

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Why I Wrote Another Book About Grace

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Welcome Bob Santos. I asked him to talk about the reason he wrote yet another book about Grace. His new book, The Divine Progression of Grace ““ Blazing a Trail to Fruitful Living will be free on Kindle this weekend, but you can buy it now.

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Try doing a web search for books about grace and you will find dozens of titles””many of them by well-known authors. It makes a person wonder why anyone would consider writing yet another book about grace. Haven’t we already said all that needs to be said? In short, the answer is a definitive no.

I’ve been involved with various facets of Christian ministry for well over twenty years, and I still find a lot of people are confused about grace. Based on some recent trends, the problem is probably as bad now as it’s ever been.

“œBut,” a person might wonder, “œdoes our understanding of grace really matter all that much?” Absolutely!

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Unbroken: A Movie Review

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Once upon a time, I used to work as a denominational staff person (13 years ago) and was ordained. I must still be on some clergy mailing lists because I was invited to a clergy and ministry leaders advance showing of the upcoming movie Unbroken (releases Dec 25).

I really thought that Unbroken was an important book to read, and Bookwi.se has three separate reviews of it because it is one of those books that you just want to tell people about.

However the story is hard. This is a subject matter that you can’t enjoy, although you want to tell everyone about it.

I am not going to worry about spoilers here, this is a movie based on history and a best selling book. (I am using Wikipedia to supplement my memory of the specifics of the history.) I am sure there will be some that walk into the movie with no background, but I doubt that is true of many.

If you do not want to read spoilers, know that the movie is very well done, but I do have a few quibbles. For those that willing, keep reading.

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Scribd: A Review

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Over the past three weeks I have been using Scribd, a subscription ebook service, similar to Kindle Unlimited and Oyster. While not perfect, this is the first of the subscription services that I have seriously considering keeping the subscription after the trial.

All of the subscription ebook services have similar prices $8.99 or $9.99, all have a few hundred thousand books and a good bit of overlapping content. But there are differences.

First, Scribd and Oyster have some major publishers. Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited is primarily self published books and smaller publishers, but both Oyster and Scribd have books from 3 of the 5 major publishing houses. Much of the newest content is not there, but the back list (about a year or so old) is here and has much worth reading.

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A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor’s Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace by Brian Zahnd

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Takeaway: Very few take Jesus seriously when he about having a different type of kingdom.

As American Christians have started looking again at their eschatology (view of the end times) and moving away from dispensationalism, more Christians are starting to see that the implications of their eschatology affect many areas of their Christian life.

For instance, a number of Christians have adopted a more nuanced position on ecological issues after rejecting the traditional Dispensational idea that the physical earth was simply waiting to be destroyed as punishment for the sins of the world.  So if the earth was not condemned, then God’s command to be stewards of the earth in Genesis might still be a present command.

Brian Zahnd began re-evaluating his support of war (after originally supporting the first Gulf war and then the wars after 9/11) in response to a new look at Jesus’ words in the Gospels.  Repeatedly throughout the book, in one way or another, Zahnd asks, “What if Jesus really meant what he said.”

For Christians that really try to take scripture seriously, this is a deeply disturbing question.  It is hard not to think that Zahnd has a real point if you have heard just a few sermons from the Sermon on the Mount.  We tend to spiritualize the Sermon on the Mount, not put it into practice.

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The Butterfly and the Stone by Dan Mayhew

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I am reposting this 2011 review because the Kindle edition is $2.99.
The Butterfly and the StoneSummary: Whether you have a prodigal child, were a prodigal child or know a prodigal child, this books on the heart break of loving a prodigal and what it teaches us about God loving us is a must read.

Right up front I have to disclose that I know Dan Mayhew (the author) and his wife Jody.  I have been aware of the roots of what this book is talking about for the past decade or so since I first met them.  I have not ever met their son, but I have frequently prayed for him and the family.

So maybe I am tainted in my opinion, but the reality of a parent writing about their love of a child, and the corresponding pain of watching a child struggle through bad decisions, addiction, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (after serving in Iraq), homelessness, suicide attempts, etc., is powerful stuff.

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Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter by Russell Davies and Benjamin Cook

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I am a big fan of the BBC series, Doctor Who. I usually don’t get too locked into a television series but I quickly fell in love with the Doctor, especially Season 4 with David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Season 4 had everything: excitement, humor, a strong female character, compelling stories, phenomenal acting and a beautiful musical score. So imagine my joy when I discovered Russell T. Davies, Doctor Who’s Head Writer and Executive Producer, had written an inside look on the season I loved the most!

Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale is a year-long email conversation between Davies and journalist, Benjamin Cook as Season 4 was being written and filmed. The Great Correspondence, as Davies and Cook referred to their communications, is a unique look inside the BBC series. It’s a no holds barred look into Davies life as a he plans episodes, discusses how creative and casting decisions are made, handles budget woes, deals with location and scheduling snafus and a very deep look into the writing process. 

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Start of the Best of the Year Lists

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I love reading through best of the year Book lists to see what I missed. I tend to read a lot of books that are a few years old and not that many that are brand new. So rarely have I read more than a handful of any of the best of the year lists. Instead I use them to add to my wish lists and pick them up in the future.

So far I have noticed four “˜Best of 2014′ lists. Let me know in the comments if you have come across others.

  • Goodreads Best Books of 2014 – this is a reader choice award list with over 3 million votes cast. It tends to be a bit of a popularity contest but still interesting. It also has a lot of different categories and includes the nominations not just the top books.
  • Huffington Post Books Best of 2014 – this is from the editors of the Huffington Post Books section. It includes Lila, which is my book of the year
  • Bookriot.com’s Best of 2014 – Bookriot is a very good Book oriented website. The contributors have a best of list and are asking readers to contribute their best books of the year.
  • Amazon’s Editor’s 100 Best of 2014 – Amazon will have a best selling of 2014 later, but this is the editor’s choice list.  The book of the year is Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. I picked it up and am half way through it.  I understand the choice but I am having a hard time making it through. It is a very sad and tragic book.

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Essays on the Church by CS Lewis

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Summary: Three essays about the church.

I have been working on a two month free trial of Scribd, a Kindle Unlimited and Oyster competitor that offers unlimited access to their library (a Netflix for Books) but also has 30,000 audiobooks. It is the audiobooks I am interested in. Scribe has a far better selection of audiobooks than Kindle Unlimited. And the ebooks selection at Oyster is roughly the same as Scribd’s.

I will post a review of the service in the next week or so. By that time I will have used the service for a month.

Included in the audiobooks is several short collections of CS Lewis’ essays. These are all included in the larger CS Lewis: Essay Collection and Short Pieces, which has 135 essays. That is a little too overwhelming to tackle. But these smaller collections are organized thematically and much shorter. This one on the Church is only 3 essays and 36 minutes long.

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Most Read Book Reviews in November 2014

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Takeaway: Someone that has found meaning in a new stream of Christianity may not be the best person to talk about the stream of Christianity that they walked away from. Over the past couple years I have been intentionally trying to read books about Catholicism and part of that has been reading several stories of … Read more