Hey all. Been a while since my last post. We have been very busy in the Backroom house. Needless to say, I have been very slack on the blog since August. Since my time for blogging is still somewhat limited, I thought I would start the year off with a short post: a book list of some of my favorite reads from last year with minimal comments. Enjoy and pick up these wonderful works of literature. Fantasy Novels-I took the liberty of maxing out the benefits of long car rides to work by binge-listening to the entirety of Brandon Sanderson's various Cosmere novels. Fair warning, these books have their mature moments so read carefully with Biblical discernment. 1. Stormlight Archives: Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Oathbringer (this last one has some heavy war imagery so be forewarned)-Fantasy and high adventure with plenty of political intrigue and plenty of secrets, or as Pattern calls them "Delicious Lies!" 2. Mistborn series: Mistborn, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages-Fantasy on a smaller scale, a great cast of characters, surprise ending worth reading to the end
3. Mistborn series 2, The Wax and Wayne series: The Alloy of Law, Shadow of Self, The Bands of Mourning-Western meets Sherlock homes+Magic, set centuries after the 1st series. Caution against Wayne, he has quite the mouth on him at times. More Mature than other Sanderson works.
4. Stand-alone works: Elantris (1st novel Sanderson published and one of the best I have read in a long time), Warbreaker (Early chapters have some mature issues dealt with, not for younger readers), Arcanum Unbound (A collection of short stories from across the various series. Save this for last (contains major spoilers) but do read Edgedancer between the 2nd and 3rd Stormlight books for better context)
Theological works 1. Exalting Christ In The Book of Hebrews by Albert Mohler-I used this for my verse by verse study in Hebrews. Excellent work as always from Dr. Mohler
2. When Sinners Say I Do by Dave Harvey-My wife and I did this with our church family's marriage class 3. Why Trust The Bible by Greg Gilbert-Check out my review here. 4. Family Worship by Donald S. Whitney-Short and excellent read on family worship
5. Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry-Part biography, part theological treatise, JHP provides a beautifully worded masterwork. Get the self-read audio version if you can.
6. Insider Outsider by Bryan Loritts-A raw take on church and race, Pastor Loritts gives an honest account of his time as a black preacher in white evangelicalism.
7. Woke Church by Eric Mason- Another recent work on racial reconciliation, Dr. Mason seeks a path forward in the current political climate.
8. Reviving the Black Church by Thabiti Anyabwile- What I loved about this book was that Rev. Anyabwile showed that the biblical pattern of church life is for all churches regardless of context, yet it also can address Afro-American church congregations' particular historical needs.
See you next time. RWG