Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Preventing Grace

Home
Evangelical
When All Your Dreams Come True (with book list)

When All Your Dreams Come True (with book list)

Last updated on: December 31, 2020 at 10:28 am by Anne Kennedy

When All Your Dreams Come True (with book list) 2020-12-31T10:28:48-04:00 Anne Kennedy

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Well, I have been enjoying my blogging break—sleeping till 7 and everything—but I can’t pass up this opportunity to wish 2020 an enthusiastic and delighted good-bye. After praying for its demise all these months, I must celebrate this auspicious moment of finally getting what I want. Join me in a virtual glass of something warm and a slice of cheese! We made it…well, most of us did…

Also, I have a variety of odds and ends that I wanted to sweep up—

Nailed It On Kindle

like the fact that the kindle problems with Nailed It are being resolved, along with a big SORRY that it took me so long to catch on that it wasn’t working. If you have the kindle version and it doesn’t somehow become fixed, please let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

Virtue Signaling

Also, if you were thinking about trying to become a better person and letting other people know, Melanie and I had a fun conversation (or at least I had fun) about my upcoming piece on Virtue Signalling for CRI (should be out soon). In 2021, let’s Make Humility Great Again.

All the Books

And finally, I read a ton of good books this year. I’ve been gradually upping my total of books from 40 (2018) to 60 (2019) to 80 (2020). This has turned into quite a reasonable pursuit especially when I mixed difficult books in with fun ones and reread some that I knew would not disappoint me. Here were my new favorites, listed in the order I read them (not in the order I loved them) and beyond that the few that I did not love quite so much

Books I Loved in 2020

The Towers of Trebizon—this book happened to me at the beginning of 2020 and it really bowled me over. I’m going to read it again starting tomorrow. I love it so much.

I Drink Therefore I Am—NGL, didn’t understand most of this book, in spite of having taking Wines at Cornell all those decades ago. The combination of drinking and philosophy, though, made me want to understand, so that’s something, isn’t it?

The Story of Human Language—this was an audible Great Course that I enjoyed very much. A lot of it was review for me, but John McWhorter is just so fun, especially since he can basically pronounce every single language except Chinese.

A Very Short Introduction to Beauty—this was, what’s the word?… Beautiful. Hope to listen to it again this year.

Love Thy Body—can’t believe I didn’t get to this sooner. So good for arranging the furniture of the age into some kind of comprehensible order. Honestly, it increased my sense of compassion and curiosity and lowered my rage levels, which is always a good thing.

The Order of Time—also fascinatingly far above my head. Until he concluded at the end that it’s really no problem that we die. Felt he was missing some key element. What is that? OH RIGHT…GOD.

A Place to Belong—So so so good. And, as I said elsewhere, I started reading it during the most severe part of lockdown, and so wept onto all the pages. Really helped me cope, for one thing, and then also put language around why church is a necessary and essential proposition, especially in the time of covid.

The Soul of Shame—have also raved about this elsewhere. Really helpful. So much more helpful than literally everything by Brené Brown.

An Experiment in Criticism—read this swiftly alongside a child for some reason. Can’t believe I hadn’t read it before. Excellent of course.

Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood—also have written about this elsewhere. An excellent and provocative, as I have been saying to myself, opening salvo.

Anxious—I mean, this was the book to read in a year like this. So good. Very practical and prodding, both.

Becoming Sage—this book was all too timely, for me, as I considered the reality that I’m not getting any younger. Grateful for Michelle’s gracious push back on the cult of youth (especially since no one says that about me anymore).

Le Crime de l’Orient Express—listened to this, having never read it or seen the movie, then watched the old one, then listened to it in English. Hopefully will watch the new movie, though I hear it wasn’t as good as the old.

Home Cooking—Not sure why I hadn’t gotten all the way through this, but it’s beautiful.

The Coddling of the American Mind—so interesting, especially as it is a couple of years old. Curious what they would say after this year. All their predictions essentially came to pass.

All That’s Good—so very timely in a year when I was prepared only to think dark and terrible thoughts, Hannah dragged me out of the mire.

Companions in Suffering—In some sort of fit of providence, God arranged for me to read this right before my mom and dad lost all their stuff. So that was convenient. Thanks God! Great book.

The Odyssey—the new translation, read by Claire Danes, is just fantastic, as all of you know as you listened to me rave about it. Wish someone would do this to Dante so that I could get through it a little more easily.

Richard Rohr and the Enneagram Secret—very helpful encyclopedic look at Richard Rohr’s theology and why there are so many better ways to gaze at your own navel.

Miss Pym Disposes—A fun, short mystery, exactly the sort of thing you need after a lot of serious reading.

The Caxton Lending Library—Also fun. Might have read it in an hour while eating a whole block of cheese.

Live Not by Lies—very good, of course, if extremely discouraging. But seriously, you might as well read it because 2021 is not promising to be any better than 2020.

Marriage in the Middle—For real, marriage is hard, and you might as well face facts, but also it’s worth it. Don’t give up!

Darwin Devolves—this is older, of course, and I haven’t tackled his other ones, and also, I’m not smart enough to read this sort of book, but I found it very interesting. Someday I should read it again to see if I’ve gotten more intelligent.

Another Gospel—so so excellent. Have raved about it all over. Read. This. Book. Then give some away. Then read it again.

Planet Narnia—loved this! Even though I mangled the description to all the people I told about it, and made them think that I was weird and into conspiracy theories. But seriously, read it even though I can’t tell you why.

Save the Cat—I don’t know if I’ll ever manage to write a novel or even a short story, but this was very good. And, curiously enough, when I tried to plot out a beat sheet for the whole Bible, it totally worked. It’s true, every story is essentially the same.

The Book of the Dun Cow—only got through this because I was also reading Save the Cat. Kept me from freaking out because it’s quite suspenseful (for me), but good! Totally worth it!

The Promise of Ankles—this is more my speed. I don’t know what I’ll do when McCall stops doing 44 Scotland Street, IT’S MY FAVORITE.

The Seventh Train—Bit dark, but so good. Wasn’t sure as it went along, where it was going, which is kind of the point. Tried plotting it out by the rules of Save the Cat and yes, it does work! Really good.

The Pilgrim’s Progress—oh my gosh, I hated this so much, but I felt bad about hating it, so I’m putting it in my list of good books, rather than bad ones, as I know that I am the one that’s wrong (I think) and not the book. Still, I feel I shall have some things to say about this at some point.

The Pilgrim’s Regress—much more my speed, although, I have noticed that Lewis does fall so easily into some sort of schmaltzy lyricism whenever he talks about women. Anyway, by turns funny, but also insightful. A good treat after enduring the real one.

So there you are, I basically loved everything I read this year. But there were some that I’m jumbling onto the Dumb/Not Worth Your Time list.

Books I Didn’t Love Quite So Much in 2020

When Bad Things Happen—this wasn’t terrible, but so disappointing, because the book itself was full of examples of people being bad, even when he insisted that they were good. Also, I’m sorry, but his reading of the bible was extremely disappointing.

Untamed—do I need to say anything about this? You. Are. Not. A Cheetah.

I Thought It Was Just Me—This wasn’t all bad, but it made me extremely dubious about what constitutes actual research in the social sciences. Seems too much like she arrived at all the conclusions she already had.

Blue Like Jazz—wanted to like this, much as I love Portland, but honestly, it feels so 2001. Doesn’t really stand up as a classic or anything.

The Road Back to You—This was well written and funny, but so wrong-headed I don’t even know what to say. Just one big long exercise in confirmation bias, that’s what it is.

Didn’t See That Coming—Yeah, I’m sorry Rachel, we all saw it coming and we don’t believe you that you didn’t.

Books I’m Reading Right Now

At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances

The Problem of Pain

Eustace Diamonds

The Righteous Mind (almost done)

Cynical Theories

Why Does God Allow Evil

And hopefully, if I can get a copy, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman.

My singular goal, for 2021, is to get to 100 books by the end of the year. I think I can do it because I am also committed to giving up the Doom Scroll. Already this week I’ve managed to, every time I start to move my thumb down my screen, go straight over to my kindle app, and just start reading any book. From thence to picking up a physical tome has been but a five-minute search around for whatever it was I actually reading…oh! That’s why I always end up on the internet.

And Finally

Happy NEW YEAR!!! If you wait long enough, like God, eventually bad things go away (so that more bad things can take their place…or the end comes…either way, at least it’s a change of scenery.)

books

Counting Down

Previous Post

December 22, 2020

Living with the List

Next Post

January 3, 2021 Why Do I Call Myself Good?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Children in Conversation culture watch Daily Devotions Demotivations with Anne faith alone for the grandparents GAFCON In conversation with children In the News Kitchen Notes Lambeth Learning Notes Life Going On Men are Human Notes from Home Pictures Reading the Bible Saturday Links Sermons Signs of the Apocalypse The Bad Word Association The Prayer of Jonah Travel Notes Uncategorized Witless Wednesdays Work and the Christian

Select a Month June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which king had dreams interpreted by Daniel?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ahasuerus Nebuchadnezzar Belshazzar Darius

Books by This Author Books by Anne Kennedy

See All Titles »