Books Read in 2020

(Yearly books read post side-note: Reader, please feel free to skip this post if it sounds boastful at any point. Personal posts like this on my blog are mainly for myself, for my records and to remember the year of reading. And if it helps anyone with book advice and choice, then praise God. But please free to skip this post if it appears to you as self-exaltation.)

Francis Schaeffer in 2020

I always set study goals in the beginning of the new year. In 2020, I set out to read all of Francis Schaeffer’s books; I also set out with a much larger goal that didn’t include reading and writing. As for the former, I was able to accomplish it, and more largely due to the COVID pandemic and having more time and desire to read. As for the latter, I didn’t succeed at the large goal (I won’t mention what it was, but I know…). But I still learned a lot in the process.

As for Schaeffer, it was quite enjoyable reading his books. I always have said that the two most influential thinkers on my theology and life have been first, John Piper, and second, Francis Schaeffer. In 2018, C.S. Lewis was added, making it three huge influencers (and of course, Edwards through Piper). But I hadn’t spent a year just reading Schaeffer’s works. So I was glad to do it, and enjoyed it.

What I learned was that he is spot on when it comes to apologetics and pastoral application. His influence on me in these areas is, I hope, pervasive. His love for truth and his love for people shines through his writing. However, I also did find this year, as I read through book after book, that he does repeat himself a lot. This is fine and to be expected, but he repeated himself much more than say, Lewis or Edwards, in his works. But Schaeffer’s biggest negative I found is definitely that his books toward the end of his life became a tad too political and revolutionary (not in gospel, but in culture) for me. I knew this after reading A Christian Manifesto before, but I saw this in a handful of books. Nevertheless, he still is one of my top three influences, and for good reason.

Enjoying Reading During a Pandemic

So going into 2020, I thought reading Schaeffer (plus a few more books) would be enough. But as we all know, it was a strange year. The year of COVID, quarantining, and even some government curfews. And along with this, for me, because of much of this, as I said above it was also another year of above average book reading. I didn’t write much this year, but I was able, by God’s grace, to read 100 books again. My top reading from a few years ago in 2017 was 100 books. That was my goal from the begging then, and I struggled to do it. But to my surprise, about two thirds of the way through 2020 I realized I had read around 70 books (more than two thirds of the way to a hundred without noticing!). So from then on out, I set out to again achieve the goal of 100 (with a little paperback at the end to make it 101).

More important than the statistic, however, is that I thoroughly enjoyed reading and learning so much this year. One thing I want to note for myself before I list the books is that, now that I have read consistently for a few years, it firmly must be restated that reading really is helpful and good for me. (And I’m sure it is and would be for many others who haven’t discovered it yet, but that’s besides the point here). If I read first thing in the morning (even before my prayer time), I’m helped. If I’m discouraged, reading helps. If I’m in a fog after looking too much at Facebook or Twitter (which happens far too often than I’d like to admit), reading helps. Or if I’m stressed about something, reading helps. This doesn’t mean it’s easy—it is still not an unexacting, comfortable task most of the time. But reading focuses my mind, calms my spirit, and always leaves me happier than before I read. So, to God, I’m thankful for reading.

Now as usual, in this post and the next, as with my other previous years (see 2017 here and 2018 here and 2019 here), I will take a couple posts to review my reading. As typical, this post will cover the books I read, with ratings for each and accompanying statistics at the end. The next post will list my favorites from multiple categories.

List of Books Read in 2020

Here, then, are the 101 books God graced me to read in 2019 with my rating (out of 5 stars) for each):

Author, Title – Year Published – Date Finished – Rating (out of 5)

1. Todd Miles, Superheroes Can’t Save You – 2018 – 1/8/20 – 4
2. Francis Schaeffer, The God Who Is There – 1968 – 1/16/20 – 5
3. Francis Schaeffer, Escape From Reason – 1968 – 1/20/20 – 5
4. Francis Schaeffer, He Is There and He Is Not Silent – 1972 – 1/23/20 – 5
5. Francis Schaeffer, Back to Freedom and Dignity – 1972 – 1/25/20 – 4
6. Francis Schaeffer, Genesis In Space and Time – 1974 – 1/27/20 – 5
7. Francis Schaeffer, No Final Conflict – 1975 – 2/1/20 – 5
8. J.I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God – 1961 – 2/7/20 – 5
9. Rene Descartes, Meditations On First Philosophy – 1641 – 2/12/20 – 2
10. Douglas Wilson, Ploductivity – 2019 – 2/14/20 – 4
11. R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God – 1985 – 2/19/20 – 5
12. Barna Group, Households of Faith – 2019 – 2/25/20 – 2
13. Jana Magruder, Nothing less: Engaging Kids in a Lifetime of Faith – 2017 – 2/26/20 – 5
14. Vaneetha Rendall Risner, The Scars That Have Shaped Me – 2017 – 2/27/20 – 5
15. Francis Schaeffer, Joshua and the Flow of Biblical History – 1975 – 3/13/20 – 4
16. John Piper, Preparing for Marriage – 2012 – 3/13/20 – 4
17. Francis Schaeffer, Basic Bible Studies – 1972 – 3/14/20 – 2
18. Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, For the Children’s Sake – 1984 – 3/18/20 – 4
19. Grace Lin, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – 2009 – 3/21/20 – 5
20. Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, The Gospel Comes With a Housekey – 2018 – 3/26/20 – 3
21. David Gibson, Living Life Backward – 2017 – 3/28/20 – 5
22. Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment – 1648 – 3/31/20 – 5
23. Donald L. Alexander, Christianity Spirituality: Five Views on Sanctification – 1988 – 3/31/20 – 4
24. C.J. Mahaney, Humility – 2005 – 4/3/20 – 4
25. D. Jeffery Bingham, Pocket History of the Church – 2002 – 4/5/20 – 5
26. Daniel Akin, Ten Who Changed the World – 2012 – 4/7/20 – 3
27. Ligon Duncan, When Pain is Real and God Seems Silent – 2020 – 4/8/20 – 4
28. John Piper, Coronavirus and Christ – 2020 – 4/9/20 – 5
29. Jonathan Leeman, One Assembly: Rethinking the Multisite & Multiservice Church Models – 2020 – 4/10/20 – 5
30. Sharon James, Gender Ideology: What Do Christians Need to Know? – 2019 – 4/12/20 – 5
31. Ligon Duncan, Does God Care How We Worship? – 2020 – 4/14/20 – 4
32. Barry G. Webb, The Message of Zechariah – 2003 – 4/15/20 – 5
33. Peter J. Williams, Can We Trust the Gospels? – 2018 – 4/17/20 – 5
34. John Onwuchekwa, Prayer: How Praying Together Shapes the Church – 2018 – 4/20/20 – 5
35. Kevin DeYoung, Taking God At His Word – 2014 – 4/27/20 – 5
36. Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality – 1971 – 4/30/20 – 5
37. Mark L. Strauss, Remarriage After Divorce – 2006 – 5/4/20 – 5
38. John Calvin, A Little Book on the Christian Life – 1559 – 5/14/20 – 4
39. Jay Y. Kim, Analog Church – 2020 – 5/16/20 – 4
40. Ray Ortlund, Jr., Proverbs: Wisdom that Works – 2012 – 5/19/20 – 5
41. Francis Schaeffer, Art and the Bible – 1973 – 5/27/20 – 5
42. C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm – 1964 – 5/29/20 – 5
43. Francis Schaeffer, Two Contents, Two Realities – 1974 – 6/2/20 – 5
44. Val Grieve, Your Verdict on the Empty Tomb – 1988 – 6/4/20 – 5
45. John Stott, The Message of 1 & 2 Thessalonians – 1991 – 6/8/20 – 4
46. Anonymous, Embracing Obscurity – 2012 – 6/15/20 – 5
47. David Helm, One-to-One Bible Reading – 2011 – 6/16/20 – 4
48. Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hills to Die On – 2020 – 6/20/20 – 5
49. Tim Challies, Do More Better – 2015 – 6/22/20 – 5
50. Francis Schaeffer, No Little People – 1974 – 6/24/20 – 4
51. Trevin Wax, Holy Subversion – 2010 – 6/25/20 – 4
52. Douglas Wilson, Joy at the End of the Tether – 1999 – 6/28/20 – 5
53. Tim Keller, Prayer – 2014 – 7/13/20 – 4
54. C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves – 1960 – 7/15/20 – 5
55. R.C. Sproul, How Should I Live in This World? – 2009 – 7/15/20 – 4
56. Mark Vroegop, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy – 2019 – 7/20/20 – 4
57. C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms – 1958 – 7/24/20 – 5
58. Gloria Furman, The Pastor’s Wife – 2015 – 7/26/20 – 4
59. D.A. Carson, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor – 2008 – 7/31/20 – 3
60. John D. Currid, Against the Gods: The Polemical Theology of the Old Testament – 2013 – 8/5/20 – 5
61. John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry – 2019 – 8/10/20 – 5
62. Jared Wilson, The Imperfect Disciple – 2017 – 8/11/20 – 5
63. John Piper, The Pleasures of God – 1991 – 8/19/20 – 5
64. Francis Schaeffer, The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century – 1970 – 8/24/20 – 4
65. Francis Schaeffer, The Mark of the Christian – 1970 – 8/28/20 – 5
66. Francis Schaeffer, The Church Before the Watching World – 1971 – 8/29/20 – 5
67. Steven Johnson, How We Got to Now – 2014 – 8/31/20 – 5
68. Michael Reeves, Rejoicing In Christ – 2015 – 9/1/20 – 5
69. Benjamin Watson, Under Our Skin – 2015 – 9/4/20 – 3
70. Richard Chin, Captivated by Christ – 2019 – 9/21/20 – 5
71. Vern Poythress, Symphonic Theology: The Validity of Multiple Perspectives in Theology – 1987 – 9/23/20 – 4
72. Andrew Wilson, Spirit and Sacrament – 2018 – 9/28/20 – 4
73. Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man – 1677 – 9/30/20 – 5
74. Alec Mother, Loving the Old Testament – 2015 – 10/2/20 – 5
75. Francis Schaeffer, Death in the City – 1969 – 10/10/20 – 4
76. O. Palmer Robertson, The Final Word – 1993 – 10/12/20 – 5
77. E.M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer – 1910 – 10/12/20 – 4
78. Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity – 2012 – 10/14/20 – 5
79. Joe Rigney, Strangely Bright – 2020 – 10/14/20 – 5
80. CR Cali, The Doctrine of Balaam – 2019 – 10/16/20 – 2
81. Confession, The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith – 1689 – 10/18/20 – 5
82. James W. Sire, Scripture Twisting: 20 Ways the Cults Misread the Bible – 1980 – 10/20/20 – 4
83. Francis Schaeffer, Pollution and the Death of Man – 1970 – 10/21/20 – 4
84. Jerry Bridges & Bob Bevington, The Bookends of the Christian Life – 2009 – 10/23/20 – 5
85. John F. Haught, God and the New Atheism – 2008 – 10/26/20 – 3
86. David Platt, Before You Vote – 2020 – 10/28/20 – 4
87. Marshall Shelly, Well Intentioned Dragons – 1985 – 11/5/20 – 4
88. C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle – 1956 – 11/8/20 – 5
89. Francis Schaeffer, Letters of Francis Schaeffer – 1985 – 11/16/20 – 5
90. Mark Dever, God and Politics – 2016 – 11/19/20 – 3
91. Mark Dever, Understanding Church Leadership – 2016 – 11/19/20 – 5
92. Francis Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live? – 1975 – 11/30/20 – 3
93. Francis Schaeffer, The Finished Work of Christ – 1998 – 12/5/20 – 4
94. Jonathan Leeman, Understanding the Congregation’s Authority – 2016 – 12/6/20 – 5
95. Francis Schaeffer, Whatever Happened to the Human Race? – 1979 – 12/14/20 – 5
96. Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto – 1982 – 12/15/20 – 2
97. Mike McKinley, Church Planting Is for Wimps – 2010 – 12/20/20 – 4
98. Francis Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster – 1984 – 12/21/20 – 4
99. Lee Strobel, The Case for Christmas – 2005 – 12/24/20 – 4
100. Bobby Jamieson, Understanding Baptism – 2016 – 12/30/20 – 3
101. Charles Bridges, The Christian Ministry – 1830 – 12/31/20 – 3

Some Statistics

As with the previous couple years, I again kept track in a spreadsheet which allowed me to calculate these statistics. (Once again, reader, please feel free to skip this, especially if it comes off boastful; these are interesting mainly for myself, especially when compared to 2017, 2018, and 2019.)

• The average number of pages for the seventy books was 148 (compared with 156 from 2017, 205 from 2018, 186 from 2019). This means this was the smallest average book of my reading years. From January to March, the average page number was 149; from April to June, 139; from July to September, 164; from October to December, 146.

• For each book I wrote a quick review and gave them a star rating out of five stars. These I wrote over at Goodreads, and you can see all my ratings and quick reviews there. My average rating for my books was 4.4 stars—which is the exact same as 2017 and 2018 averages, and close to my 2019 average of 4.3 stars. Now that it has been 4 years of ratings, I can say that I’m a consistently positive book rater!

• I read a total of 14,950 pages (compared with 15,580 in 2017, 10,250 in 2018, and 13390 in 2019). That averaged around 41 pages a day (compared with 45 in 2017, 29 in 2018, 38 in 2019). Although it must be said, I do not consistently read daily like that (meaning, 38 pages a day). Reading rather comes and goes.

• My most prominent read authors were, to no surprise, Francis Schaeffer (23), C.S. Lewis (4) and John Piper (3). Besides them, I read Michael Reeves, R.C. Sproul, Douglas Wilson, Ligon Duncan, Jonathan Leeman, and Mark Dever twice each. This accounts for forty of the books; so, this means that I read sixty authors only once, totaling 68 authors in 2020.

In the next post, I give my personal favorites from various categories out of these books read.