MY 2020 READING

For the first time since I was about 12 I've kept a record of all the books I finished in 2020. Those in bold are my top 10: 

January 

1. Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard 
2. Douglas Murray, The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity 
3. Brit Bennett, The Mothers: A Novel 
4. James M Hamilton Jr. Work and Our Labor in the Lord
5. Mary Oliver, Blue Horses 
6. Jan Morris, Conundrum 
7. Tim O'Brien, In the Lake of the Woods 
8. Pablo Martinez, Praying with the Grain: How Your Personality Affects The Way You Pray 
9. Chris Mullin, The Friends of Harry Perkins 
10. Martin Boyd, The Cardboard Crown

February 

1. Paul M Gould, Cultural Apologetics: Renewing the Christian Voice, Conscience and Imagination in a Disenchanted World
2. Andrew Holleran, Dancer from the Dance  
3. Tomasz Jedrowski, Swimming in the Dark 
4. John Mark Comer, Garden City: Work, Rest, and the Art of Being Human 
5. Richard Scott, Soho

March 

1. Emma Ineson, Ambition: What Jesus said about power, success and counting stuff 
2. Charles Moore, Margaret Thatcher - The Authorised Biography (Volume Three): Herself Alone
3. Philip Roth, Everyman 
4. Anne Lamott, Imperfect Birds 
5. David Brooks, The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life 
6. Penelope Fitzgerald, The Gate of Angels
7. William Fiennes, The Snow Geese

April 

1. Kate Fall, The Gatekeeper: Life at the Heart of No.10 
2. James KA Smith, On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts 
3. William Maxwell, Billie Dyer and Other Stories
4. William Maxwell, Bright Center of Heaven 
5. Doug Worgul, Thin Blue Smoke
6. Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline 
7. Martin Boyd, A Difficult Young Man

May

1. Olivia Fane, Why Sex Doesn't Matter
2. Julian Hardyman, Fresh Pathways in Prayer 
3. Peter Korn, Why We Make Things & Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman
4. Randy Alcorn, Does God want Us to Be Happy? The Case for Biblical Happiness
5. Kenneth Rose, Who's In, Who's Out: Journals - Volume One, 1944-1979 (Edited by DR Thorpe)
6. Stewart O'Nan, Henry, Himself
7. HG Bissinger, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream
8. Kenneth Rose, Who Loses, Who Wins: Journals - Volume Two, 1979-2014 (Edited by DR Thorpe)
9. Rowan Williams, Being Human: Bodies, minds, persons 
10. Frederick Buechner, The Son of Laughter

June

1. Hilary Mantel, The Mirror & the Light 
2. Garth Greenwell, Cleanness
3. Justin Whitmel Earley, The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction 
4. Elliot Clark, Evangelism as Exiles: Life on mission as strangers in our own land 
5. Stewart O'Nan, Wish You Were Here 
6. Stewart O'Nan, Emily Alone

July 

1. Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment 
2. Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving
3. Martin Boyd, Outbreak of Love 
4. Ben Lindsay, We need to talk about race: understanding the black experience in white majority churches 
5. Martin Boyd, When Blackbirds Sing 
6. Tim Winton, The Turning 
7. Francis Spufford, Golden Hill 
8. Basil Macdonald Hastings, Memoirs of a Child 
9. Tim Winton, That Eye, The Sky
10. Adam Nicolson, The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and their year of marvels 
11. Tim Pears, The Horseman
12. Louisa M Alcott, Little Women 
13. John Williams, Butcher's Crossing

August 

1. Wesley Hill, The Lord's Prayer: A Guide to Praying to Our Father 
2. Louisa M Alcott, Good Wives
3. Hermione Ranfurly, Hermione - After to War with Whitaker: the continuing diaries of Hermione Countess of Ranfurly 1945-2001
4. Jessica Martin, Holiness and Desire 
5. Brandon Taylor, Real Life 
6. Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers 
7. Paul Mendez, Rainbow Milk 
8. Jo Ind, Memories of Bliss: God, Sex, and Us 
9. Max Hasting, Did You Really Shoot the Television? A Family Fable  

September 

1. Calvin Trillin, Remembering Denny 
2. Aimee Byrd, Recovering from Biblical Manhood & Womanhood: How the Church Needs to Rediscover Her Purpose  
3. James Salter, A Sport and a Pastime 
4. Tim Pears, The Wanderers 
5. Veronique Mottier, Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction 
6. Grant Macaskill, Living in Union with Christ: Paul's Gospel and Christian Moral Identity 
7. James Lees-Milne, The Fool of Love 
8. Tim Pears, The Redeemed
9. Arthur Ransome, Swallowdale

October

1. Sasha Swire, Diary of a MP's Wife: Inside and Outside Power
2. Tom Holland, Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind 
3. Marilynne Robinson, Jack
4. Cynthia Long Westfall, Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle's Vision for Men and Women in Christ

November 

1. Arthur Ransome, Secret Water 
2. Paul David Tripp, Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church 
3. Lydia Davis, Break It Down: Stories 
4. Barack Obama, A Promised Land 

December 

1. Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half 
2. Mary Beard, Women & Power: A Manifesto
3. E Randolph Richards and Brandon J O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes
4. Beckett Cook, A Change of Affection: A Gay Man's Incredible Story of Redemption 
5. Julian Hardyman, Jesus, Lover of My Soul: Fresh Pathways to Spiritual Passion 
6. Dorothy L Sayers, Gaudy Night
7. Stewart O'Nan, The Good Wife
8. Shaun Bythell, Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops 
9. Andrew O'Hagan, Mayflies 
10. James Rebanks, English Pastoral: An Inheritance 
11. Jon Ronson, So You've Been Publicly Shamed
12. Will Young, To be a Gay Man 

THE GREAT MARRIAGE

'There will come the time, when Christ will sweetly invite his spouse to enter with him into the palace of his glory, which he had been preparing for her from the foundation of the world, and he shall as it were take her by the hand, and lead her in with him: and this glorious bridegroom and bride shall with all their shining ornaments, ascend up together into the heaven of heaven; the whole multitude of glorious angels waiting upon them: and this Son and daughter of God shall, in their united glory and joy, present themselves together before the Father; when Christ shall say "Here I am, and the children, which thou hast given me": and they both shall in that relation and union, together receive the Father's blessing; and shall thenceforward rejoice together, in consummate, uninterrupted, immutable, and everlasting glory, in the love and embraces of each other, and joint enjoyment of the love of the Father.' 

Jonathan Edwards in Dane C Ortlund, Edwards on the Christian Life, p.87.

THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF CREATION

'The whole outward creation, which is but the shadows of beings, is so made to represent spiritual things.' 

Jonathan Edwards in Dane C Ortlund, Edwards on the Christian Life, p.79.

ALL OF LIFE IS SACRAMENTAL

'Edwards teaches us, then, of the God-centredness of all joy in this fallen world. He reminds us that the formula of joy is not God and _____ so much as God in _____. Christ is not one more element to fit into an already packed schedule - one more item on a growing list of priorities. Knowing Christ means seeing all of life in a new way, with new glasses. Jesus Christ gives meaning to all properties, not only heading the list but coloring every one with new and exciting meaning. To become a Christian is to make all of life sacramental. "From him and though him and to him are all things" (Rom.11:36). True joy derives not from God and job, family, sex, friends, food, rest, driving, buying a home, reading a book, drinking coffee - but from God in these things.'

Dane C Ortlund, Edwards on the Christian Life, p.77.

ULTIMATE JOY

'Ultimate joy comes not from a lover or a landscape or a home, but through them...They point to what is "higher up" and "further back."'

Cornelius Plantinga in Dane C Ortlund, Edwards on the Christian Life, p.77.

THE ORTHODOXY OF THE DEVIL

'The devil is orthodox in his faith; he believes the true scheme of doctrine; he is no Deist, Socinian, Arian, Pelagian, or antinomian; the articles of his faith are all sound.'
Jonathan Edwards in Dane C Ortlund, Edwards on the Christian Life, p.67.

THE GOOD IN TRADITIONALISM

'The most traditional farmer in the district had the healthiest soil.'
James Rebanks, English Pastoral, p.144.

A HEALTHY WORK ETHIC

'He thought that pride in your work, no matter how modest the task, was the mark of a good man, so he mucked the cows out as if he were being judged on it every day.'
James Rebanks, English Pastoral, p.79.

THE DAMAGE REVOLUTIONS CAN DO

'The last forty years on the land were revolutionary and disrupted all that had gone on before for thousands of years - a radical and ill thought through experiment that was conducted on our fields.' 
James Rebanks, English Pastoral: An Inheritance, p.6.

WHO ALL BEAUTY REFLECTS

'All the beauty to be found throughout the whole creation, is but the reflection of the diffused beams of that Being.' 

Jonathan Edwards in Dane C Ortlund, Edwards on the Christian Life, p.27.

THE PURE FUN OF HOLINESS

'...there is nothing more thrilling, more solid, more exhilarating, more humanity-restoring, more radiantly joyous, than holiness.'
Dane C Ortlund, Edwards on the Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God, p.26.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF FOLLOWING A KING BORN IN A MANGER

'The manger at Christmas means that, if you live like Jesus, there won't always be room for you in a lot of inns.' 

Timothy Keller, Hidden Christmas, p.119. 

WHERE PLEASURE SHOULD LEAD US

'The Christian life is not an an ascetic life, but a life in which every received pleasure draws the mind up to supreme Pleasure, Christ himself, in his resplendent beauty. Joy is fundamentally a vision of God.' 

Dane Ortlund in Julian Hardyman, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, p.162.

THE LIMITS TO THE JOY OF SEX

'Human love knows no definitive consummation, no absolute fulfillment. Loving relationships are never complete. They are always ongoing, always reaching out for more. Regardless of the quality or frequency of lovemaking, there is always a measure of yearning present.' 

Dianne Bergant in Julian Hardyman, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, p.151.

CHRISTIAN BEAUTIFICATION

'Christian living is participation in God, in "the supreme loveliness of his nature". And if what defines God supremely is his beauty or loveliness or excellency, then to participate in the triune life of God is to be swept up into, and to exude that heavenly resplendence. A Christian is one who id being beatified.' 

Jonathan Edwards in Julian Hardyman, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, p.146.

THE TELESCOPE OF FAITH

'When you have a telescope, you can look through the wrong end (which makes everything look much further away than it is). Or you can look through the right end, and the distance is compressed for a moment. Too many of us have the telescope of faith turned the wrong way round, and Christ looks further away. Too many of us are so fixated on this life, particularly on what's not going well for us, with life's disappointments. The telescope is turned the other way, and heaven just seems further away even than it does without it. 

Song 5:1 makes us turn the telescope the right way around. Christ invites us to look at that day through the lens of this text and make it more real, more immediate. This text is intended to offer healing for our greyness and grumpiness. As we struggle in this life, we look through the telescope and we see the wedding feast, the perfect world and the glory that will be ours for all eternity. We see that we have not missed out on anything that matters because we are heading into the centre of the universe of all history to which marriage and sexuality point - and to which all singleness and unexpressed sexuality points to - the final climax of intimacy that will be ours in Christ.'

Julian Hardyman, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, p.104. 

MEETING JESUS

'To see Him will have an impact upon us similar to seeing and sensing all the most spectacular and precious sights and experiences added together. We may think of the most wonderful feeling of relief and gratitude we have ever experienced, when perhaps some terrible fear was removed. We may add to this the deepest sensation of love we have ever felt, and also the most humbling sense of awe and wonder.

Then we may add the greatest surge of excitement we have ever encountered, along with the most powerful thrill of triumph that ever swept over us. Finally, we may combine with all these the most profound amazement at breathtaking scenes of beauty and power that we have ever experienced. If we take all these magnificent impressions together, the very best of earthly sensations, magnified many times, we will have some small sense of the majesty and wonder of seeing Christ Jesus our Lord.' 

Peter Masters in Julian Hardyman, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, p.102.

MARRIAGE & THE BIBLE

'The marriage metaphor...keeps popping is again in the Bible like rocky granite outcrops revealing what underlies the whole landscape.'

Julian Hardyman, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, p.100.

WHAT JESUS SAYS TO HIS PEOPLE

'You have praised Me, I will praise you; you think much of Me, I think quite as much of you. You use great expressions for Me, I will use just the same for you. You say My love is better than wine, so is yours to Me. You tell Me all My garments smell of myrrh, so do yours. You say My word is sweeter than honey to your lips, so is yours to Mine; all that you say of Me, I say it to you. I see Myself in your eyes, I can see My own beauty in you. And whatever belongs to Me, belongs to you. Therefore, O My love, I will sing back the song - you have singing it to your beloved and I will sing it to My beloved. You have sung it your husband, I will sing it to My sister, My spouse.' 

Charles Spurgeon in Julian Hardyman, Jesus. Lover of My Soul, p.95.