2013 Book Reading Goals

I knew it wasn't going to be too difficult to surpass my 2012 book reading since I read a grand total of five books. Here's what I finished in 2013:

The Firstborn Advantage - Kevin Leman
Parenting Today's Adolescent - Dennis Rainey
The Grand Weaver - Ravi Zacharias
A Free People's Suicide - Os Guinness
Trading Places - Les & Leslie Parrott
When Godly People Do Ungodly Things - Beth Moore
1776 - David McCullough
George Muller Man of Faith and Miracles - Basil Miller
The Lotus and the Cross - Ravi Zacharias
In the Presence of Mine Enemies - Howard & Phyllis Rutledge
Have a New Husband by Friday - Kevin Leman
Seven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness - Eric Metaxas
Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery
Unglued - Lysa TerKeurst
The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
Born Again - Chuck Colson

My top two for the year were Born Again and Seven Men, but there wasn't one book that I didn't learn something from.

One major goal I had for 2013 was to introduce some world literature--something besides American or British to my reading list. I finished 85% of Les Miserables, and I'll finish the rest this year. You can tell from my reading list that I haven't been including much fiction. I purposefully got away from it when I found myself reading the same fiction books over and over. I decided I was spending too much of my time reading the same stories over and over again, and I wasn't challenging my thinking or expanding my worldview. My plan is to slowly reintroduce new fiction into my lists so that I can be balanced and yet not fall into the trap of reading the same books over and over.

I hope you'll make time to read good books that will challenge you spiritually and mentally. I finished the Bible three times last year, and that has really been transformational. Remember when you're making your reading lists that people inspire, but God transforms. So don't read other books to the exclusion of the Bible.