A new year has arrived, so it’s time for me to post my reading list for the past twelve months. This is an annual tradition for me at this point. You can browse through my previous years’ lists here. This year I hit thirty-nine books, which is an all-time low for me, although only by one book compared to my 2019 total. I’m not sure why that is and frankly don’t think it matters all that much. But I still like stats.

Some disclaimers are in order. First, the things I list here are mostly pleasure reading for me. (Although thankfully I have the kind of job where pleasure and work reading blend together at points.) And when it comes to pleasure reading, I am an unapologetic believer in the “Read Whatever Interests You Next” philosophy. There’s little strategy, although you can see some patterns here. For many books I don’t even recall why exactly I read them. Second, obviously one does not have to agree with the premise of a book in order to read it or even learn from it. You’ll see some doozies in this list because of that simple reality. Try it some time.

As normal, I have listed things in loose categories. Otherwise, it’s just an unsorted list. Here are the winners of this year’s fake awards:

• Most Unexpectedly Interesting: Isaacson, Elon Musk. I tore through this in about a week. Isaacson if a great writer and Musk is wildly fascinating.
• Driest but Most Informative: Bingen, Hellenistic Egypt. It was labor, but I learned a bunch.
• Most Boring and Predictable Screed: Campbell, Jesus v. Evangelicals. A strange mixture of autobiography and recycled political hot-takes scolding Christians. 
• Surprisingly LOL-able: Harris, The Linguistics Wars. Harris is a wonderful writer and turns this supremely niche and technical scholarly war into a great story. If you’re at all into linguistics, you need to read it.
• Most Embarrassing: Brooks, Devolution. Who knew that the author of World War Z also wrote a novel about bigfoot? How did I not know this? Why did I immediately read it once I found out?

With that, my 2023 list:

Politics & Culture

• Ilan Stavans, Jewish Literature: A Very Short Introduction
• Peachy Keenan, Domestic Extremist: A Practical Guide to Winning the Culture War
• George Lakoff, Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate: The Essential Guide for Progressives
• Constantine R. Campbell, Jesus v. Evangelicals: A Biblical Critique of a Wayward Movement
• Stephen Wolfe, The Case for Christian Nationalism
• Andrew Torba, Christian Nationalism: A Biblical Guide for Taking Dominion and Discipling Nations
• Philip S. Gorski, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy
• Richard J. Mouw, How to Be a Patriotic Christian: Love of Country as Love of Neighbor
• Paul D. Miller, The Religion of American Greatness
• Christopher F. Rufo, America’s Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything

History

• Martin Goodman, A History of Judaism
• Donald M. Lewish, A Short History of Christian Zionism: From the Reformation to the Twenty-First Century

Theology(ish)

• James K.A. Smith, On the Road with Saint Augustine: Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts
• Christopher Watkin, Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture
• Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Christianity: Unleash a Revolution in Your Life in Christ

Bible Topics

• Mark Ward, Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible
• Iain M. Provan, Seeking What is Right: The Old Testament and the Good Life

Ancient World

• Eva Mroczek, The Literary Imagination in Jewish Antiquity
• Yonatan Adler, The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological-Historical Reappraisal
• Jean Bingen, Hellenistic Egypt: Monarchy, Society, Economy, Culture

Fiction

• John Grisham, The Firm
• J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• José Saramago, Blindness
• Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere
• Gregg Hurwitz, The Last Orphan
• Max Brooks, Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre

Biography

• Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk
• Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

Dictionaries & Language

• Kory Stamper, Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
• Randy Allen Harris, The Linguistics Wars: Chomsky, Lakoff, and the Battle Over Deep Structure (2nd ed.)
• Ilan Stavans, Dictionary Days: A Defining Passion
• Roy Harris, Language, Saussure, and Wittgenstein: How to Play Games with Words
• Peter H. Matthews, Language: A Very Short Introduction
• Peter H. Matthews, Grammatical Theory in the United States: From Bloomfield to Chomsky
• John McWhorter, The Language Hoax

Other

• Ian Whitelaw, The History of Fly-Fishing in Fifty Flies