Top 10 Books of 2010

This week I finished compiled the books I read in 2010 — 55 this year, with a handful of others partially read. It’s been fun to look back over and remember them. It was a struggle to come up with a top 10, but here’s what I finally chose, not in any particular order. The first five are non-fiction, the rest fiction.

1. Hoping for Something Better: Refusing to Settle for Life as Usual, a Bible study through the book of Hebrews by Nancy Guthrie, reviewed here.

2. Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter, essays on various aspects of the death and resurrection of Christ from people such as Charles H. Spurgeon and Martin Luther to John MacArthur and Joni Eareckson Tada, compiled by Nancy Guthrie, reviewed here.

3. Parting the Waters:Finding Beauty in Brokenness by Jeanne Damoff, reviewed here, about the near-drowning of her teen-age son and the struggles, growth, and lessons of faith and beauty resulting from it.

4. Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent, reviewed here. The cover says it is about “A modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together.” But it is about so much more — poverty, prejudice, the true nature of benevolence and grace, and the great things two men on opposite ends of the economic spectrum learned from each other.

5. Our Daily Walk devotional by F. B. Meyer.

6. A Distant Melody by Sarah Sundin was reviewed here. A WWII story about two ordinary, flawed human beings who found each other despite a number of obstacles.

7. Christmas at Harrington’s by Melody Carlson. Sometimes second chances don’t come easily, but they do come.

8. This Fine Life by Eva Marie Everson, reviewed here. A privileged small-town girl falls in love with a man with a shady past, and their developing relationship, even after the wedding provides lessons in forgiveness, perseverance, and friendship.

9. Words Unspoken by Elizabeth Musser,  reviewed here. A young girl witnesses her mother’s death in a car accident, blames herself, and even a year afterward ha panic attacks when she tries to drive. An elderly man who helps young people learn to drive takes her on as one of his last students, and they impact one another’s lives.This was particularly well written in that strands of different people’s lives who at first don’t seem related are woven together beautifully.

10. Where My Heart Belongs by Tracie Peterson, reviewed here. A prodigal daughter story, but with unexpected layers.

I am linking this to Booking Through Thursday which asks us which books we read in 2010 are the best, worst, and favorite. Those are the best, I would have trouble narrowing it down to one favorite, and I’ll leave the worst. I mentioned in individual reviews over the year a couple that I did not like for various reasons, but I don’t want to be any more negative than that.

I’ll also be linking either this or the whole list of books read (or both) to Semicolon. She hosts a weekly review of books on Saturdays, a great place to see reviews of books you’re thinking about reading or to compare notes with someone who has read the same books as you. This particular Saturday, January first, she has reserved for book lists: “a list of your favorite books read in 2010, a list of all the books you read in 2010, a list of the books you plan to read in 2011, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books.”