Favorite Books Read in 2019

Last week I listed the seventy books I was able to read in 2019. Here are my favorites of those books from different categories. For longer reviews of each of book, see my Goodreads here. The categories are as follows:

Best Devotional Books
Best Theological Books
Most Theology-Impacting Books
Books that Most Inspired Me to Be a Better Man
Most Interesting Books
Best Books About Christ
Best Books About Culture
Best Ministry-Impacting Books
Books With Uniquely Great Chapters or Pages
Best Books Written Over 100 Years Ago
Best Non-Christian Books
Best Books About Writing
Most Disappointing Books
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Best Devotional Books

1. Enjoying God by Tim Chester – Solid theology and an enjoyable read. But what made this stick out was his great applications at the end of each chapter. Really well done.
2. Knowing Christ by Mark Jones – Beautiful, dense yet devotional theology. He increased my joy in the glory of Christ.
3. Heaven, How I Got Here by Colin Smith – He retells the story of the thief on the cross. Excellent in almost every way. His second book, Heaven, So Near-So Far about Judas was also excellent, but this first one was much better.
4. The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges – A classic, devotional book. Encouraging and stirring to read.

Best Theological Books

1. Rejoicing in Christ by Michael Reeves – Excellent through and through. He’s pretty easy to read and even funny at times, but more important is his stunning theology of Christ, specifically, on what it means for us to be in Christ.
2. Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper – I’ve read this twice before, but even still, it was excellent theology and I loved reading it. Specifically, chapter 5 about God’s nation-focus in the gospel was eye-opening this time around.
3. Knowing Christ by Mark Jones – Beautiful, devotional yet dense theology. He increased my joy in the glory of Christ.
4. Desiring God by John Piper – Amazing, as always. Some chapters are better than others, and I think he even gets clearer about Christian Hedonism in later books, but still and incredible book.
5. Unity of the Bible by Daniel Fuller – When you read this, it’s shocking how much Fuller truly did influence Piper. So many things which are Piper’s emphases come directly from Fuller and his exegesis. But even besides that, Fuller’s argumentation and exegesis is great.
6. At the Heart of the Universe by Peter Jensen – Perhaps the most surprising hidden gem I found this year. I just pulled it off the shelf, but he is Lewis-like in his though processes and made some really creative, excellent points.
7. Heaven by Randy Alcorn – His chapters on the intermediate state and animals were incredibly eye-opening. Besides those, the book was still good, just quite redundant.
8. No Quick Fix by Andrew David Naselli – Well written, concise, and clear about higher life theology. Good history and exegesis.
9. Dogmatics in Outline by Karl Barth – I read two books by Barth this year. Both were way better than I expected. I disagree on many of his Neo-orthodox views; nevertheless, he is quite conservative and very spot on with many of his views of Christ. I loved hearing how Christ-centered he was.

Most Theology-Impacting Books

These specifically are books which changed or broadened my theological views the most.

1. The Theology of the Book of Revelation by Richard Bauckham – This perhaps is the clearest treatment of eschatology and Revelation I’ve ever read. I think it’s on spot with what John (and God) intended to communicate in the book of Revelation, and I agree with him on almost all of it.
2. The Invitation System by Ian Murray – The best (yet short) book I’ve read addressing the altar call and perhaps why it is often hurtful to do. His argumentation and biblical support are very good, so are his quotes from other pastors and theologians through history.
3. Knowing Christ by Mark Jones – Beautiful, devotional theology. He increased my joy in the glory of Christ.
4. The Last Days According to Jesus by R.C. Sproul – This book gave me a fuller appreciation for partial preterism (a theological view about the book of Revelation and Jesus’s second coming). I personally am not fully convinced of many of partial preterism’s tenets, but Sproul does an excellent jobs showing how it may be quite biblical.

Books that Most Inspired Me to Be a Better Man

1. Rejoicing in Christ by Michael Reeves – Excellent through and through. It inspired me to be a better man because his theology of being “in Christ” was so encompassing and inspiring.
2. The Imperfect Pastor by Zack Eswine – A humbly refreshing book, encouraging me to be a humbler, less-about-me man.
3. Reset by David Murray – A helpful, practical book about resting in ministry and life. I’ll read it again.

Most Interesting Books

1. The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall & Tony Payne – Perhaps the best single book on ministry I’ve ever read. Insightful, biblical, pastoral, and amazingly practical.
2. Factfulness by Hans Rosling – I just loved reading this. His statistics and points about the world were fascinating.
3. The Gospel-Driven Church by Jared Wilson – Wilson is a great, entertaining writer. But more important, I think he is spot on with the gospel-centered (and non-overly-traditional and non-attractional) approach to ministry he presents.
4. The Last Days According to Jesus by R.C. Sproul – See below for why it broadened my theology. It’s in this category because his ideas were fascinating and new to me, making it was a page-turner.
5. Unity of the Bible by Daniel Fuller – When you read this, it’s shocking how much Fuller truly did impact John Piper! So many of things which are Piper’s emphases come directly from Fuller and his exegesis. But even besides that, Fuller’s argumentation and exegesis is great.
6. At the Heart of the Universe by Peter Jensen – Perhaps the most surprising hidden gem I found this year. I just pulled it off the shelf, but he is Lewis-like in his though processes and made some really creative, excellent points.

Best Books About Christ

1. Rejoicing in Christ by Michael Reeves – Excellent through and through. He’s pretty easy to read and even funny at times, but more important is his stunning theology of Christ, specifically, on what it means for us to be in Christ.
2. Knowing Christ by Mark Jones – Beautiful, devotional theology. He increased my joy in the glory of Christ.
3. On the Incarnation by Athanasius – I was surprised at how readable this was, but how his argumentation was fantastic. It’s inspiring to read such Christ-centered theology from the 300s.

Best Books About Culture

1. How to Be an (A)theist by Mitch Stokes – This book was spot on in so many ways. Very well researched and explained. I just wish it was shorter and more condensed.
2. Competing Spectacles by Tony Reinke – A shorter book, but some really good insights and mediations on technology and our love for the spectacle.
3. 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You by Tony Reinke – I didn’t enjoy the second half as much as I did in 2017, but still an excellent, insightful book.
4. Gen Z by Barna Group – Barna does a great job not only with research and statistics, but then with small insights from various people on how to reach the generation for Christ.
5. The Myth of Equality by Ken Wytsma – Although I disagreed with a lot of it, I am glad I read this book. It was good for me to see another Christian explain his view on why there is a lack of equality and why race still might be more of an issue than many conservative Christians admit. He brought up some fascinating points—hence, once again, proving the importance of reading (really reading) the points of others.

Best Ministry-Impacting Books

1. The Trellis and The Vine by Colin Marshall & Tony Payne – Perhaps the best single book on ministry I’ve ever read. Insightful, biblical, pastoral, and amazingly practical.
2. The Gospel-Driven Church by Jared Wilson – Wilson is a great, entertaining writer. But more important, I think he is spot on with the gospel-centered (and non-overly-traditional and non-attractional) approach to ministry he presents.
3. Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper – His chapter 5 argument about God’s primary concern for the nations was excellent and very ministry changing.
4. The Invitation System by Ian Murray – The best (yet short) book I’ve read addressing the altar call and perhaps why it is often hurtful to do. His argumentation and biblical support are very good, so are his quotes from other pastors and theologians through history.
5. Brothers, We Are Not Professionals by John Piper – This was my third time reading this. Yet always certain chapters stick out and convict or encourage me. I will continue to keep reading it.

Books With Uniquely Great Chapters or Pages

1. The Whole Christ by Sinclair Ferguson – This whole book wasn’t great, although it did have some excellent points. But the handful of pages about the centrality of Christ and what it means to be in Christ (pages 47-55) were perhaps the best 9 pages I read all year.
2. Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper – His chapter 5 argument about God’s primary concern for the nations was excellent and very ministry changing.
3. Christ Before the Manger by Ron Rhodes – As a whole, this book wasn’t great at all. But his chapter on proving that Christ is “the Angel of the Lord” from the Old Testament was stellar—great argumentation and biblical support. It was worth reading just for these pages.
4. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – I thought the book was merely okay, but I was fascinated by the pages where Beatty explained how and why they developed such censorship. The book was worth reading for these pages alone.

Best Books Written Over 100 Years Ago

1. On the Incarnation by Athanasius – I was surprised at not only how readable this was, but also how his argumentation was tight and compelling. It’s inspiring to read such Christ-centered theology from the 300s.
2. The Heart of Christ by Thomas Goodwin – Beautiful Puritan theology of Christ. If you think the Puritans were harsh or too blunt or not tender, read this and you’ll see Goodwin’s tender, pastoral heart—a heart that loves Christ and loves his people.
3. Paradise Lost by John Milton – It is very difficult for me to read poetry, especially 1660’s poetry. Nevertheless, the times I did get into a flow, it was somewhat enjoyable to read. But more important, Milton’s retelling of the Fall was fascinating, especially the last few chapters.

Best Non-Christian Books

1. Factfulness by Hans Rosling – I just loved reading this. His statistics and points about the world were fascinating.
2. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl – He tells his story of surviving a holocaust concentration camp and then shows how important having a sense of meaning is to survival. Excellent through and through.

Best Books About Writing

1. On Writing by Stephen King – The best writing book I’ve read. That being said, the first hundred pages were a drawn-out biography—it could’ve and should’ve been shorter. But once he started actually discussing writing, it was great.
2. On Writing Well by William Zinsser – This is a close second behind King’s work. It’s a classic for a reason. Some excellent, practical insights.
3. Dreyer’s English by Benjamin Dreyer – The first seventy pages or so of this book was stellar, and even funny. But then it become more of a reference work.

Most Disappointing Books

Some of these are not necessarily bad books. Rather, for some I simply had somewhat high expectations that were not even close to met.

1. The Sun Also Rises by Earnest Hemingway – Terrible. His writing is simple and unique, but his dialogue was frequently confusing. More importantly, the plot was so vain. Totally not worth reading.
2. Enjoying Intimacy with God by J. Oswald Sanders – I’ve read Sanders before and really enjoyed some of it. But this book just seemed like thrown together sermons—sermons which weren’t even that great. A poor read.
3. On the Beach by Nevil Shute – Like Hemingway’s book above, this is known as a classic. And although it at least had a decent plot, it was boring and predictable.
4. On Being a Pastor by Derek J. Prime & Alistair Begg – I had high expectations of this because it sounds like a great ministry book, and has some great reviews. But a lot of it is extra-biblical, and it’s way longer than it needs to be. The book is mainly written by Prime, not Begg, which I think makes a difference. But more important, it’s just not a good read. Other ministry books are much better.
5. Wordsmithy by Doug Wilson – I had high expectations from this. But I was sorely disappointed. Wilson’s writing strategy is more about clever quips—which I do not think is top on the list of what makes good writing. He gives less actual writing advice.
6. Astonished by God by John Piper – Of course, being Piper, it had some excellent points. But you can tell this is not a book he spent a ton of time on. Rather, it was sermons that were thrown together, with some (strangely formatted, at times) applications at the end of each chapter.
7. Discipling by Mark Dever – It’s a small book, and he had some good points about discipleship. But if I was trying to convince someone of discipling’s importance, I wouldn’t give them this.

See my favorite books from 2017 here and from 2018 here.