Jeff Crosby's "Top 25 of 2024"
Plus a classic from 60 years ago.
Jeff Crosby, president and CEO of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, has posted a list on LinkedIn of his favorite titles of the year. He has given me permission to share it with you. Here it is, verbatim.
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The "Top 25 of 2024" list of books is ready to post, and this year it was hard to winnow it down. All books had to be released between December 1, 2023 and November 30, 2024. A mix of non-fiction, fiction and one work poetry.
1. "Between Two Trailers" by J. Dana Trent, Author (Convergent)
2. "Holiness Here" by Karen Durling Stiller (NavPress)
3. "An Unfinished Love Story" by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Simon & Schuster)
4. "I Cheerfully Refuse: A Novel" by Leif Enger (Grove Press)
5. "Ghosted: An American Story" by Nancy French (Zondervan)
6. "Spirit Crossing: A Novel" by William Kent Krueger (Simon & Schuster)
7. "The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore" by Evan Friss (Viking)
8. "Healing What's Within" by Chuck DeGroat (Tyndale House Publishers)
9. "The Wise Leader" by Uli Chi (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company)
10. "What a Fool Believes: A Memoir" by Michael McDonald (Dey Street)
11. "Life After Power" by Jared Cohen (Simon & Schuster)
12. "Telling Stories in the Dark" by Jeff Munroe (Reformed Journal Books)
13. "Between the Sound and the Sea: A Novel" by Amanda Cox Writes (Revell)
14. "Midwinter Light" by Marilyn McEntyre (Broadleaf Books)
15. "Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day" by Kate Bowler (Convergent)
16. "Learning to Disagree" by John Inazu (Zondervan)
17. "A Non-Anxious Life" by Alan Fadling (IVP/Formatio)
18. "Born of Gilded Mountains: A Novel" by AmandaDykes, Author (Bethany House)
19. "An Invitation to Slow" by Mark McMinn and Lisa McMinn (Cascade Books)
20. "Claiming the Courageous Middle" by Shirley A. Mullen (Baker Academic)
21. "Speaking Words of Wisdom: The Beatles and Religion," edited by Michael McGowan (The Pennsylvania State University Press)
22. "The Wind Blows in Sleeping Grass: A Novel" by Author Katie Powner (Bethany House)
23. "Zero at the Bone" by Christian Wiman (Picador)
24. "These Tangled Threads: A Novel" by Sarah Loudin Thomas (Bethany House)
25. "Defiant Hope" by Michael Gerson (Simon & Schuster)
And one bonus title of impact released long ago:
Although I had seen the movie "Where the Red Fern Grows" I had never read the novel by Wilson Rawls. No less than C.S. Lewis has exhorted us to be reading (and rereading) older books and not just being focused on the new. And my friend Chris Fabry Live challenged me to read it. It was, indeed, a favorite read of 2024...some 60 years after the book was initially published.
In the fall of 2024, Paraclete Press will publish my next book: "World of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading," which contains a foreword by Carolyn Weber and a closing vignette for each chapter written by authors and friends. I do continue to believe in the power of books to shape discourse, to inform, to inspire, to encourage. I look forward to sharing more about "World of Wonders" by the spring of next year.
Happy reading, everyone!