I began last year’s list with, “Well, 2020 happened.” Well, 2021 happened too! Over the past year I resigned my 12-year pastorate at Wellington Street Pentecostal Church in Bracebridge, Ontario and moved my family to Peterborough, Ontario to become the Director of Pastoral Leadership at Master’s College and Seminary. Since I’m now part of the full-time teaching faculty, you’ll see a variety of books in this year’s list that support my courses.

If you’re new to this blog, I read about a book a week—a practice I’ve maintained since I returned to Seminary in 2000. My reading journal, which began in a paper notebook in 2000, moved online in 2008. You can read my thoughts on all the books I’ve read since 2008 (if you want to). I increased my pandemic reading quite a bit—to around 75 books—so this list will be longer than usual. You should also know that I have book reviews scheduled to be published months ahead of time so this list technically only reflects the book reviews I published on my blog in 2021.

A couple notes before we begin. The categories are not perfect but they’ll do the job. I do read odd books from time-to-time that don’t fit in any one category. All the books are linked to my book reviews if you’re curious. Finally, for the OCD among us, each section is alphabetized by the author’s last name.

Fiction

• Collected Stories by Roald Dahl
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
• An Echo of Things to Come by James Islington
• The Light of All that Falls by James Islington
• The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
• A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan
• Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan
• Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
• New Spring by Robert Jordan
• The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan
• The Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
• The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
• The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
• Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan
• Beren and Lúthien by J. R. R. Tolkien
• Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandermeer

As you can see, Robert Jordan dominated this list. The reason for this is my running habit. I ran 1,744 km in 2021 with The Wheel of Time in my earbuds. It was a fantastic way to relive the epic 15 book saga. Although there are some strong books in this series, my favourite from this category has to be Crime and Punishment. This dark book vividly illustrates the nature of sin and the psychology of repentance. It’s a classic for good reason!

Biography

• • St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton
  • A Burning in My Bones by Winn Collier
  • Marshall McLuhan by Douglas Coupland
  • On the Boundary by Paul Tillich
  • C. S. Lewis: A Biography by A. N. Wilson

  

  In this category there is simply no competition. Winn Collier’s biography of Eugene Peterson, A Burning in My Bones, is the most moving biography I have ever read—and I don’t say that lightly. Eugene Peterson’s writings have had a profound impact on my life (see his final As Kingfishers Catch Fire below) and Collier handles his life with grace.

  Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, History, etc.

  • Atomic Habits by James Clear
  • Archive Fever by Jacques Derrida
  • Collapse by Jared Diamond
  • Propaganda by Jacques Ellul
  • Self-Reliance and Other Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Lost on Everest by Peter Firstbrook
  • The Remarkable Existentialists by Michael Allen Fox
  • Two Short Accounts of Psycho-Analysis by Sigmund Freud
  • The Long-Shadowed Forest by Helen Hoover
  • Turning Points by Mark A. Noll
  • Canoeing in the Wilderness by Henry David Thoreau
  • Grandstanding by Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke

  This is, admittedly, a miscellaneous category which makes it more difficult to choose a favourite. That said, Grandstanding stood out as a highlight. In this book, Tosi and Warmke write a phenomenological description of grandstanding: using moral talk for self promotion. As the chapters tease out the nuances of this phenomenon, I went from criticizing others to considering my own complicity.

• A runner-up in this category would be Canoeing in the Wilderness. Despite the chronological distance between Thoreau and the modern world, his description of canoe camping brought many of my own trips to mind.

  Craft—Teaching, Running, Music

  • Marching Off the Map by Tim Elmore
  • Teaching College by Norman Eng
  • Quick Strength for Runners by Jeff Horowitz
  • How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy

  All four of these books are strong in their respective ways. However, Tweedy’s How to Write One Song is brilliant. He walks the reader through the process of songwriting, with particular attention to the challenge of writing lyrics. The lyric-writing exercises Tweedy uses (along with examples from his own songs) are worth the price of admission.

  Theology

  • Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew About the Bible by Michael F. Bird
  • Theology of the Old Testament by Walter Brueggemann
  • Preaching God’s Word by Terry G. Carter, et al.
  • Dominion and Dynasty by Stephen G. Dempster
  • Grasping God’s Word by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hayes
  • Prayer and Modern Man by Jacques Ellul
  • Concerning Spiritual Gifts by Donald Gee
  • The Apostolic Fathers II by G. P. Goold, ed.
  • The Book of Pastoral Rule by St. Gregory the Great
  • On Christ and God by Gregory of Nazianzus
  • The Gift of Prophecy by Wayne Grudem
  • Untamed by Alan Hirsch & Debra Hirsch
  • Ephesians by Andrew T. Lincoln
  • Thinking through Paul by Bruce W. Longenecker and Todd D. Still
  • The Practice of Prophecy by Dennis Lum
  • The Gospel in a Pluralist Society by Lesslie Newbigin
  • Awaiting the King by James K. A. Smith
  • The Great Omission by Dallas Willard

  Theology is a pretty broad tent. Many of the books on this list are exceptional, especially the classics from Gregory the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus. Still, a decision must be made and it’s hard to compete with Theology of the Old Testament. Walter Brueggemann has been a significant voice in my life and this is his most significant work. This theology of the Old Testament is postmodern in its approach, valuing the complexity of canonical voices.

  Spiritual Formation

  • The Sense of the Call by Marva J. Dawn
  • Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
  • The Great Sex Rescue by Sheila Wray Gregoire
  • Canadian Pentecostal Reader by Martin W. Mittelstadt and Caleb Howard Courtney, eds.
  • A Church Called Tov by Scot McKnight
  • As Kingfishers Catch Fire by Eugene Peterson
  • On the Road with Saint Augustine by James K. A. Smith
  • Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard
  • Simply Jesus by N. T. Wright

  There’s a blurry line between the categories of theology and spiritual formation. This is especially true with me since I tend to read theology for spiritual formation. However, these books are somewhat distinct since they are aimed at a more general audience. My favourite in this category is Jesus and John Wayne. You’ve probably heard the buzz around this book by now. Suffice to say that it’s worth the hype. If you’re interested in understanding the unholy marriage between evangelicalism, patriarchalism, and patriotism, Kristin Kobes Du Mez has you covered.

  Church Leadership

  • Leading Life-Changing Small Groups by Bill Donahue
  • Coaching Life-Changing Small Group Leaders by Bill Donahue and Greg Bowman
  • Building a Life-Changing Small Group Ministry by Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson
  • The Connecting Church 2.0 by Randy Frazee
  • Leading Change Without Losing It | Carey Nieuwhof
  • Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders
  • The Emotionally Healthy Leader by Peter Scazzero
  • Visioneering by Andy Stanley

  Can I be honest? I struggle with most church leadership material. It so often takes the form of a ‘successful’ leader writing to tell others how they too can succeeded if they follow the advice of the leadership guru. There are often valuable things to be learned, but the reader is responsible for doing the work of contextualization and theological reflection to see how it might benefit them. Okay, rant over. The best church leadership book I read this year was The Emotionally Healthy Leader. Scazzero cuts through method and technique to get to the heart of the leader.

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  So there you have it—everything I read in 2021 categorized and considered. Have you read any of these books? What do you think? What would you recommend? Feel free to let me know in the comments. If you’re interested in these sort of things, this is the fourth year I’ve written a post like this. Here are the previous three:

  • 2018: A Reading Retrospective
  • 2019: A Reading Retrospective
  • 2020: A Reading Retrospective