Best Reads of 2024
It’s time for my annual run-down of the best books I’ve read over the last twelve months. I’ve read dozens, so there are plenty to choose from. Someone asked me recently how I manage to read as much as I do. It helps that I’ve always loved reading. You make time for the things you love. But it also helps that I’m a fairly quick reader and reading is an important part of my vocation.
Theology/Christian Non-Fiction
Danielle Treweek’s The Meaning of Singleness comes out in first place. Though it’s a challenging read, it has the potential to revolutionize the way our churches think about being single. I found it enormously thought-provoking. My review of it will appear in Clarion later next year and then I’ll post it here as well.
Defeating Evil by Scott Christensen is a runner-up. If you struggle to understand why evil exists in a world created by a good God and ruled over by him, you need to pick this one up.
I’ve been doing a fair bit of reading this year on domestic abuse. One of the most insightful books I’ve read in that area is Leslie Vernick’s The Emotionally Destructive Marriage. I’ve posted some highlights from it over here.
General Non-Fiction
Early in 2024, I read Dr. Peter Attia’s Outlive. This book is about longevity and it challenged me to take my health more seriously. As a result of this book, and a few other factors that came around the same time, I decided to take up running this year. This one is my top pick for non-fiction.
One of our daughters had Men Who Hate Women on her shelf and it caught my interest. It’s not a Christian book and there’s plenty to find objectionable from a Christian perspective. Yet Laura Bates does offer some good insights into incels, pick-up artists (PUAs), men going their own way (MGTOW), men’s rights activists (MRAs) and other misogynists. I also learned about “honey badgers,” women who dismiss female victims of abuse.
Fiction
I’ve read several books by Alexander McCall Smith and enjoyed each one. My favourite, however — and the top fiction pick for 2024 – is The 2 ½ Pillars of Wisdom. This trilogy (in one book) focusses on Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria Von Igelfeld who was “the author of a seminal work on Romance philology, Portuguese Irregular Verbs, a work of such majesty that it dwarfed all other books in the field.” Hilarious.
I enjoy the Southern Gothic style, so a runner-up in the fiction department is Carson McCullers, The Member of the Wedding. It inspired me to write this blog post over here.
Happy reading for 2025!
