2006 in Review -- Books

As is my custom, I read a number of books last year (here's the complete list). (As usual, it wasn't as many as I had hoped.) Here are some brief thoughts:

Fiction

The only re-reads for this year were fiction, specifically Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker series, which was just as good-yet-uneven as I remembered. 2006 was apparently a banner year for British authors at the Redd household, as I also read several of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves novels, several selections from my Complete Sherlock Holmes anthology, and Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (an interesting and enjoyable book written from the perspective of an autistic teenager). I also read C.S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces for the first time, and absolutely loved it. (Especially after listening to Peter Kreeft's lecture on the novel.) On the non-British front, Allison and I continued reading through the Lemony Snicket series, which has elicited no shortage of laughs. Unfortunately, the year (in fiction-reading, at least) was brought to a somewhat disappointing conclusion by both Eragon and The Catcher in the Rye. There's always next year, I suppose.

Non-Fiction

Sticking with the British theme, I read and enjoyed several installments of N.T. Wright's For Everyone series, including the volumes for three of the Gospels (Matthew, I'll see you in the new year). Although Wright has drawn some fire for his work on Paul, even his critics admit that his work on Jesus is phenomenal. His book on Scripture, The Last Word, was pretty good, as well. Another first-time read was G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy, which will probably become a re-read in the near future.

By far my favorite non-fiction books read in 2006 were The Lord's Service, Jeff Meyer's excellent book on covenant renewal worship, and The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism, which I found very persuasive. Vern Poythress' Symphonic Theology was also helpful, as it encourages the use of multiple theological perspectives to gain a more complete picture on a given subject.

Inspired by the fine folks at This Classical Life, my goal for 2007 is not only to read more but also to "share more" in the way of writing reviews of the books I read. (Sadly, I began reviews for several of the 2006 titles listed above, but most will probably not escape from "Draft" status.)

Here's to happy reading!