Readers choice Archives

Goodreads has its massive Readers Choice Awards every year. Here were the winners for 2023. I keep things simpler at Bob on Books. “Readers’ Choice” is determined by the numbers of views books reviewed in 2023 received. Here are the most viewed reviews of books in 2023. The link in the title takes you to the publisher’s page for the book. “Review” hyperlinked takes you to my full review.

10. Four (and a half) Dialogues on Homosexuality and the Bible, Donald J Zeyl. Cascasde Books: Eugene, OR: 2022. A fictional dialogue between four students representing four different interpretive approaches to the Bible regarding homosexuality and same sex marriage. Review

9. A Christian Theology of Science, Paul Tyson. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022. Rather than simply another treatment of the way science and religion ought relate, begins with creedal Christianity, develops a theology of science, and argues that Christians treat theology as their “first truth discourse.” Review

8. The Priesthood of All Students, Timothée Joset. Carlisle, Cumbria, UK: Langham Global Library, 2023 (Also available in French and Spanish editions). Contends from historical, ecclesiological, theological, and missiological perspectives that the idea of the priesthood of all believers has been essential to the student-led, non-clerical character of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, and helps account for it global spread to 180 countries. Review

7. The Deluge, Stephen Markley. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2023. A novel imagining the interaction of accelerating impacts of climate change and the unraveling of societies. Review

6. Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament, Sandra L. Glahn. IVP Academic, 2023. Through a study of literature, epigraphic, art, and architectural evidence, proposes that Artemis, far from being a fertility goddess, was a virgin, who aided women in childbirth, and considers the implications for our reading of 1 Timothy 2:11-15. Review

5. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. New York: Harper Collins, 2022. An adaptation of the David Copperfield story set in rural western Virginia, centering on a child, Demon Copperfield, raised by a single mom until she dies, the abuses of foster care he suffers, and after a football injury, the black hole of opioid addiction. Review

4. Garden City: Work, Rest, and the Art of Being Human, John Mark Comer. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015. An argument that our work is an important aspect of what it means for us to be human, setting our work in the context of the arc of God’s work taking humanity from the garden to the new garden city in the new creation. Review

3. The Cookie Table: A Steel Valley Tradition, Alice Crosetto. Charleston, SC: American Palate, 2023. The story of this northeast Ohio/western Pennsylvania wedding tradition, its beginnings and a description of the ins and outs of cookie-baking, table set-up, types of cookies, and etiquette, and some of the uses of cookie tables beyond weddings. Review

2. The Wager, David Grann. New York: Doubleday, 2023. An account of the shipwreck of the Wager, part of a naval squadron in one of England’s wars against Spain, and the effort of her captain to maintain order as the survivors struggled just to eat, and the divisions and mutiny of those who wanted to sail back to Brazil. Review

1. Ordinary Grace, William Kent Krueger. New York: Atria Books, 2013. Two boys in a rural Minnesota town encounter a series of deaths, including one within their family, and discover something of the “awful grace of God.” Review

A few concluding observations. Demon Copperhead and The Wager were also on my “Best of 2023” list. Ordinary Grace represents my “author find” of the year, William Kent Krueger. I really like his works. I can see why he was your favorite. I was delighted to see that my classmate Alice Crosetto’s book on The Cookie Table came in third. Youngstowners love their cookie tables! Garden City was kind of a sleeper, garnering views throughout the year. I was pleased that Sandra Glahn’s Nobody’s Mother, a fine piece of biblical scholarship, caught the interest of so many. And as someone partial to Ohio authors, I was pleased that two Ohioans (Alice Crosetto and Stephen Markley) made the top ten.

As I conclude, I’m reminded that you are the reason for these books being listed here. It’s nice to not just be writing for oneself! Thank you for following and engaging this blog–many of you for more than ten years!

Last week I posted my list of “best” books of the year. It is always fascinating to me that rarely is there a relationship between my “best” books and the books followers of this blog are most interested in. Of the 174 books reviewed to this point in the year, here are the top ten according to the number of views their reviews received on the blog (as of 12/19/2018–some were close). The choices were heavily weighted on the religious end of spectrum, which reflects the following of the blog. I do hope those who read theological books also explore other genres! I think this enriches our imagination, our understanding of the world, and of what others who may or may not share our beliefs are thinking. So, here is the list:

Canoeing the Mountains, Tod Bolsinger. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press – Praxis, 2015. This book explores leadership in uncharted territories using the journeys of Lewis and Clark. This didn’t get a huge number of initial views, but steady traffic throughout the year. Review
Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng. New York: Penguin Press, 2017. This was on my “best books” list as best literary fiction. Here’s my synopsis: “When Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl rent a duplex apartment from Elena Richardson, the matriarch of a successful Shaker Heights, Ohio family, it sets in motion a series of events, “little fires” that culminate in a fire that burns down the Richardson home, and transforms the lives of both families.” This has been neck and neck with #1 all year. Review
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, Robin DiAngelo. Boston: Beacon Press, 2018. Robin DiAngelo coined the term “white fragility” in 2011 to describe the discomfort whites often experience in discussions of racial issues. She both describes this, and better ways to engage. Review
Twelve Lies That Hold America Captive, Jonathan Walton. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, Forthcoming January 8, 2019. This book hasn’t even come out yet! It discusses twelve cultural myths that form a kind of American folk religion that are in conflict with the hope we find in the gospel and the vision of the kingdom of God. Review
The Lost World of the Flood, Tremper Longman III & John H. Walton (with a contribution by Stephen O. Moshier). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2018. One of the “Lost World” series of books, all of which seem tremendously popular, this one on the flood narratives of Genesis 6-9. Review
Husband, Wife, Father, Child, Master, Slave, Kurt C Schaefer. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2018. The author argues that the household codes in 1 Peter are actually a subtle satire opposing the norms of the Greco-Roman culture of the day. Review
Water at the Roots, Philip Britts (edited by Jennifer Harries, foreword by David Kline). Walden, NY: Plough Publishing, 2018. This also was on my best books list as an account of the extraordinary life and the writings and poetry of Philip Britts, a leader of the Bruderhof community that migrated to Paraguay. Review
Washed and Waiting (revised with new Afterword), Wesley Hill. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016 (originally published in 2010). This is the narrative of a celibate, gay Christian man, including thoughts about the recovery of the place of celibacy and the importance of spiritual friendship in the church. Dr. Wesley Hill is a professor of biblical studies at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA. Review
Biblical Leadership: Theology for the Everyday Leader. Benjamin K. Forest and Chet Roden, eds. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2017. This is a study of leadership in the Bible, book by book. Review
The Lost World of the Israelite Conquest, John H. Walton and J. Harvey Walton. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2017. The second “Lost World” book to make this list. It explores the Canaanite conquest and argues that this was not a divinely commanded genocide or Holy war. Review

Looking over the list, several of these books were “near misses” on my best list and two made it. Perhaps it shouldn’t surprise me, but a number have an element of controversy, dealing with issues of race, Christianity and American culture, social roles, sexuality, the Flood narratives, and the Conquest narratives. It is also striking to me that two deal with the issue of leadership, including the book that was tops in views.

Looking over these statistics reminds me that each of these views represented a real person interested enough to visit my blog and read at least some portion of the review. TI love connecting people and good books, but that only works when people visit as you did this year. Thank you!