This was the year I rediscovered fiction. Ever since seminary, I've struggled picking up a fiction book and have it maintain my attention. Even though I believe in the importance of reading fiction, I can still fall prey to the lie that it is somehow a waste of time.

"Research suggests that reading fiction may provide far more important benefits than nonfiction. For example, reading fiction predicts increased social acuity and a sharper ability to comprehend other people’s motivations. Reading nonfiction might certainly be valuable for collecting knowledge, it does little to develop EQ, a far more elusive goal." Harvard Business Review

However, for Lent this year, I gave up podcasts (I listen to exclusively tech and productivity podcasts) and replaced that time with fiction audiobooks. Years ago, pre-kids, Emily and I had tried audiobooks during our 10-hour drives between Indiana and Iowa. But it never stuck for me. My attention wandered, and I felt like I was missing most of what was happening in the book. In hindsight, I think we were just choosing poor books and/or narrators. This time, I sought out lists of well-regarded fiction audiobooks (and got advice from a book-expert friend) and started with Fairy Tale by Stephen King, read by Seth Numrich. I was feeling emotional before the first chapter finished and was fully hooked, using every spare minute I had to listen to the 24-hour, 6-minute-long book.

While I eventually did go back to my podcasts during my commute, I did go through a long spell of audio book fiction.

I'll confess that this was not my strongest reading year. If it weren't for my discovery of audiobooks, plus a bunch of whole-family reading time, it would have been a sorry year of reading for me.

Favorite Fiction

Fairy Tale by Stephen King. I haven't read lots of King, but what I've read I've loved. This books builds on well-known hero's-journey sorts of tropes. But add in a dead mom and a loyal dog and I adored this book.

Babel: An Arcane History, R. F. Kuang. Another fabulous audiobook, read by Chris Lew Kum Hoi and Billie Fulford-Brown. If I ever teach seminary, I plan on making this book required reading for students doing biblical translation. Part history, part magical-realism, part how-to-guide on throwing a revolution.

Tress of the Emerald Sea, Brandon Sanderson. I've been avoiding Sanderson in that he writes exactly what I want to read (a big, wide, connected world of fantasy and sci-fi) and he publishes massive books faster than I can read them. But Emily and I tend to read a book together in the evening and this was her choice for us. It was sweet, charming, and breezy, with narration that can make you laugh out loud.

Wayward Children Series, Seanan McGuire. I started reading these way back when we lived in Iowa, and I wanted to finish the series. While I couldn't get all the way through (the library didn't have them all!) I made a decent dent through the 10-total books. While it's a connected series, it can also be read as an anthology of sorts, with a different kid falling through a different magical door into a weird world. They can tend towards the macabre, but the insights the author brings to gender, disability, love, heartbreak, childhood, and parenting are brilliant.

Becky Chambers. She might be my favorite author of the year. I read her Monk and Robot duology (A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy). These were peaceful, almost meditative reads about a non-binary tea monk and their interactions with a sentient robot as they consider the nature of consciousness and the meaning of life. Chambers's The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet gave me Firefly vibes—a spaceship crew of misfits, making their way through the 'verse, just trying to do a job.

The Expanse series, James S. A. Corey. This is the opposite of the cozy, friendly, hug-of-a-book that Becky Chambers writes. It's hard-ish sci-fi with flawed heroes, but so flawed that you hate their guts. The suspense is pulse-raising. I'm only a book-and-a-half in, but I'm hooked enough to know I'll be finishing the series.

The City We Became / The World We Make, N. K. Jemisin. These two books would also be required reading in my imaginary seminary-class, right along side Walter Wink's much more biblical and theological The Powers series. How do you write about the demonic, invisible, spiritual powers of xenophobia, capitalism, and nationalism that are attempting to ruin our world? Jemisin figured out how in this duology. The second book ends a bit unsatisfyingly (and Jemisin basically agrees in her afterward, as she was hit hard by the pandemic and the last year of the Trump-administration), but they're still a fun, adventuresome read.

The History of Middle Earth, J. R. R. and Christopher Tolkien. Imagine your favorite author wrote their novels in Google Docs. Then imagine that after their death, not only was all of their unfinished works published, but also the entire Google Doc edit history was well. That's essentially what Christopher Tolkien (J. R. R.'s son) did with the Tolkien literary estate. The History of Middle Earth is a twelve-volume literary history of everything Tolkien wrote, rewrote, edited, deleted, or stashed away for later development. I'm only two volumes in, but as a literal card-carrying member of the Tolkien society, it is fascinating.

The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis. Part of our family rhythm has been doing family read-alouds. We're slowly working our way through The Chronicles of Narnia (in publication order, because we're not monsters).

The Vanderbeekers, Karina Yan Glaser. This was also in our rotation of family read-alouds, though now it's become our go-to audiobook-in-the-car option for longer drives. A delightful, heartwarming (if not downright sappy at times) middle-grade series about a family of seven who lives in Harlem and the adventures they have saving the neighborhood with love and kindness.

Favorite Non-Fiction

The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk. As a child of complex developmental trauma, I put off reading this book for a long time. But as part of my certification process for being a trainer in Advanced Trauma Competent Care, it was required. And though it's a difficult read, I'm glad it was required. It helped me see all sorts of patterns within myself and develop strategies on how to move forward. It's long, it's technical, but it's very good.

Atheist Delusions, David Bentley Hart. I keep a running note in my note-taking app called "Christianity Is Good, Actually." This book is attached to that note. It's essentially a history book that explains how we have Christianity to thank for human rights and scientific discoveries, and how many of the historical atrocities attached to Christianity are much more likely to be evil men leveraging religion as a form of social control than an actual function of orthodox faith.

The Power of Ritual, Casper ter Kuile. A great introduction to how ritual is a useful, healthy tool for our lives, even if you don't believe in any higher power or spirituality.

Hamilton, Ron Chernow. Reading this 818-age tome was a personal achievement of sorts. My kids were obsessed with the musical's soundtrack this summer. So every day we'd listen to it while I drove them to camp. And then, when I drove back to work (or when mowing the yard, or running, or every other spare moment), I'd listen to or read Lin Manuel's historical inspiration. It was deeply fascinating and (as a fellow Enneagram Type 3) I found inspiration Hamilton's tough beginnings and rise to stardom.

Not My Favorites

Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Emily and I read this series as part of our evening read-togethers. I'll be honest—I don't get the hype. I found the writing bland and my emotions utterly unengaged during the whole series. After five books, I feel like I still know very little about Percy's inner-life, motivations, or feelings. And the existential threats that he was facing made such little impact on Percy's own world, much less my own. I enjoyed the Disney+ series though, so that's something.

Shady Hollow, Juneau Black. This book had all the makings of something fun. A murder mystery in a town of talking animals? Let's go. But the mystery was uninspired, there was little wit or charm. Yawn.

Everything Else

• A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting, Sophie Irwin
• The Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Sue Lynn Tan
• Cross Vision, Greg Boyd
• The God Who Risks, John Sanders
• The Flag and the Cross, Philip S. Gorski, Samuel L. Perry
• The Other Significant Others, Rhaina Cohen
• Plenty Good Room, Andrew Wilkes
• The Politics of Jesus, Obery M. Hendricks