Ever since I was a kid, I have loved reading. Some of my fondest childhood memories involve books. Reading through The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with my sister, spending countless hours in the middle of the mall reading the latest Matt Christopher book while my mom shopped, donating my favorite book to the library at Northeast Elementary when I finished 6^th grade, and many more.

One of the values that Lyndsey and I are trying to instill in our girls is the love of reading. Lyndsey reads a few books every night with the girls (I love that C hasn’t outgrown the “kids” books) on top of the many books she reads with them during the day for homeschooling. We read through three CS Lewis books as a family this year, and I want to go through some of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books in 2025. C and I read through the first three Harry Potter books together before we watched the movies. She’s learning that the book is almost always better than the movie. 🙂

Books are plentiful in our home. Books bring us joy. Books make up the majority of each of our wish lists on Amazon. There is always time for a trip to our favorite bookstores.

Groucho Marx said, “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” Yes and amen!

I hope you are a lifelong learner who loves to read as well.

Below are the books I finished in 2024. They are in the order that I finished them. My favorite read in 2024 was #23 with #22 being a close second.

1. Practicing the Way (Comer)
2. The Magician’s Nephew (Lewis)
3. Cat and Dog Prayer (Sjogren and Robison)
4. The Doctrine of the Church (Criswell)
5. Oneness Embraced (Evans)
6. The Green Ember (Smith)
7. My Utmost for his Highest (Chambers)
8. Life Together (Bonhoeffer)
9. Gentle & Lowly (Ortlund)
10. Rare Leadership (Warner & Wilder)
11. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Lewis)
12. The Joy Switch (Coursey)
13. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
14. Dreamkeeper Saga #1 (Butler)
15. Living From the Heart Jesus Gave You (Friesen et al)
16. The Unhurried Pastor (Craft & Martin)
17. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
18. Renovated (Wilder)
19. Delete That (Crist)
20. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse (Mackesy)
21. Leadership Essentials (Ogden)
22. A Deeper Walk (Warner)
23. Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury)
24. House of the Interpreter (Jeffrey)
25. The Metalogicon (John of Salisbury)
26. In Tune with the World (Pieper)
27. Leisure (Pieper)
28. The Life of the Mind (Schall)
29. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
30. Wise Parenting (Stieglitz)
31. Everyday Gospel: A Christmas Devotional (Tripp)
32. Contagious Faith (Mittleberg)
33. The Horse and His Boy (Lewis)
34. A Daily Word for Men Devotional
35. Faith: A Guided Prompts Journal (Nelson)

What did you read this year? What’s on your list for next year?

Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash