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2017 Reading Challenge: What I Read in December

It’s hard to believe that 2017 closes in only a few hours. Before it does, I want to give a final report on my 2017 Reading Challenge.

I set the goal to read 104 books by the end of this year, and by now I’ve read all that I’m going to read for 2017. The final count is in …

2017 Reading Challenge Breakdown & Favorites

Goal: 104 books
Books Read: 74
Number of Books Short of My Goal: 30

It truly is amazing to me that I read 74 books. I cannot be more thankful for this challenge. It stretched in me so many wonderful ways that really have nothing to do with reading books.

I’ll write a bit more about what I learned from my year of reading later, but for now, I want to share the highlights of the year and what I read in December.

This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.

Best Books Read So Far (best books determined by inability to put it down):

What I Read in December:

Wonder, by R.J. Palacio – This was a family read-aloud, and it was truly wonderful. We listened to the majority of it on Audible during our 30 hours in the car over the Christmas holiday. It was my favorite read-aloud of the year. I loved how it communicated the thoughts and feelings of children while also navigating the challenges of being different. It presented many opportunities for discussion within our family – talking about what makes a good friend, how we should treat others that don’t look like us, what happens to us when we die, and so much more. This is a must read book.

Every Good Endeavor, by Timothy Keller – This might be my favorite non-fiction book of the year. I’m only sad that I hadn’t read it sooner. This is a thoughtful and insightful book on the subject of work and calling. It was refreshing, challenging, and such an eye-opener for me. Whether you work outside the home, work at home, or stay at home. It doesn’t matter. You will gain new insight into the purpose of work and how it can be used for God’s glory.

The Whole Christ, by Sinclair Ferguson – My husband and I listened to this book on Christian Audio together while in the car for 30 hours (sensing a theme?). This book revisits the Marrow Controversy – an eighteenth-century debate related to the proper relationship between God’s grace and our works. This book explains how our understanding of the relationship between law and gospel determines our approach to evangelism, our pursuit of sanctification, and even our understanding of God himself. In a world that teeters between legalism and antimonianism, this is a must read book. I need to re-read it in order to fully grasp all Sinclair Ferguson shared.

Bartholomew’s Passage, by Arnold Ytreeide – This was our advent reading for this year. The boys (4 & 6 years old) absolutely loved it. Sam used the word, “intense,” when explaining why he chose it as his favorite book of the entire year. The story follows a young boy, Bartholomew, through the tyranny of Roman soldiers separating his family, to his enslavement and escape, along with his adventures to discovering the Messiah has been born. It doesn’t shy from hard topics, and you will need to know your children well before taking on a book of this nature, but we welcomed the difficult topics and it was perfect for my boys. We plan to read Jotham’s Journey next year.

The Forgotten Spurgeon, by Iain Murray – I’ve had this book on my shelf to read for several years. It’s interesting to me how God allows us to read books at just the right time. I wouldn’t have appreciated this book when I first bought it, but I picked it up this time when I was ready to receive what it had to offer. This isn’t a fluffy book to read in passing, but it is a book that sheds a lot of light on church history as we neared the turn of the 20th century. Spurgeon’s ministry endured three great controversies, and those controversies have had lasting impact on our Christian culture today. This book whet my appetite for church history and for Charles Spurgeon’s ministry.

* Books I recommend reading
** Books I recommend reading aloud with your kids

The Light Reader

The Avid Reader

The Committed Reader

The Obsessed Reader

Other posts you might be interested in:

What about you? How did you do with your reading goals this year?

This post contains my affiliate links. See my full disclosure policy here.

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