Some of my favourite 2016 Reads: Part 2 - Non-fiction

It’s a time for 2016 favourite reads from some of the ACW gang. I shared my fiction ones two weeks ago and now share my non-fiction.

I read more non-fiction. Hey, I’m a “learner” in every strengths profile I’ve completed so reading and/or studying non-fiction works fills my learning bucket. Oh, it’s probably also why I’m happy to be preached to when reading fiction (so long as it gels with the story) The ratio of non-fiction to fiction is roughly 60:40. Fiction has actually grown in the last couple of years through judging and the large number of novellas that are now available.

Enough of the pre-amble let’s get to the list and in no particular order. However, in saying that two books have had a significant impact on me and I’ll lead with those.

The Forgotten Way (Ted Dekker) – Ted and I are of a similar age and interestingly we’ve both been on a journey these past few years going deeper with the Lord. I believe most of us get to a point in our faith walk where we ask the question: “Is this all there is?” only to conclude it’s not and we want more. More of God. More of Jesus. More of the Holy Spirit.

The Forgotten Way is a series of 21 devotions where Ted explores his journey on discovering the “more.” I’ve now read it 7 times plus shared it with about ten people so think it’s pretty significant.

The Broken Way (Ann Voskamp) – I read most things Ann writes. I just love Ann’s heart for Jesus. Ann’s humility, her understanding of the Word and her wholehearted devotion to Jesus is such a good example for all of us. The Broken Way is a call to bring all of ourselves to Jesus, yes, even our brokenness, our stuff, whatever that may be. He came to bind the brokenhearted, which we all are. We are all broken. Sin does that. In bringing all of ourselves to Jesus we establish true intimacy with Him enabling us to discover who He made us to be.

I’ll be brief on the rest otherwise we’ll be here till January with this post. My reviews are linked and a couple of them I’ve already featured during the year.

Awe (Paul Tripp) – we’re created for awe but too often we set our dials towards things of the world rather than to the One who created us. Excellent. Excellent.

Moving Mountains (John Eldredge) – I too read everything John writes. This one is on prayer. I’ve read a lot of books on prayer. I enjoy praying and appreciate learning what others think about it. This is very practical and will get you praying more and help develop greater intimacy with Jesus. And that’s what I look for in a good book on prayer.

Who I am in Christ (Neil T. Anderson) – there are a lot of books out there on “identity in Christ”, “who I am” and so forth. This is a 36 “chapter” devotional style book that looks at identity from 3 angles: “Our Acceptance in Christ, our security in Christ and Our Significance in Christ.”

Really good stuff. I’ve read it a couple of times now and will dive in again soon I expect.

Two other quick mentions, both of which I’ve featured here on ACW:

The Story of With (Allen Arnold)

Idols of the Heart (Elyse M. Fitzpatrick)

If you’re a non-fiction reader I’d love to know of any that particularly grabbed you this past year.

Wishing all of my ACW friends an especially blessed Christmas and New Year. And here’s to a great year of reading in 2017!

Grace and peace,

Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel of speculative fiction, Angelguard, is available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Angelguard was the recipient of the 2013 Selah Award for Best Speculative Fiction. You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter

Some of my favourite 2016 reads: Part 1 - fiction

Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles/
FreeDigitalsPhotos.net

It’s that time of year when we start seeing the “Best ofs” across multiple media platforms so I thought I’d add to the discussion with my own. A number of other ACW authors will be contributing their own selections during December so watch out for those ones as well.

Most of the books I read are good and it’s often hard to distill a shortlist of the best ones hence, the title of my post: Some of my favourites. These are ones I recall with much fondness for various reasons.

I read more non-fiction than fiction so I thought I’d bring you a sample of both. Let’s start with the fiction and I’ll share the non-fiction ones in my Book Review post on 15 December. In no particular order, here goes:

The Harbinger Series. Four authors, each take one character, and take turns to write an episode each month. I love the episodic style (ala a TV series). As a reader I know the story is “live”, the next episode is being drafted as I read the latest one.

Presently there are 16 episodes and the series has been running now for 18 months, I guess. It’s speculative fiction with lots of craziness but some very clever storylines as one comes to expect from authors of the calibre of Bill Myers, Angie Hunt, Frank Peretti (now succeeded by Jeff Gerke) and Alton Gansky.

The series has now been picked up by Bethany House (previously self-pubbed) which will enable wider distribution.

AD 30 (Ted Dekker) The first in his two-part Biblical fiction series where we meet Maviah who is unexpectedly called to rescue her people. She goes on a daring adventure crossing multiple lands until she comes to Israel where she provides a unique perspective to the ministry of Jesus.

One of Dekker’s best. I’m feeling very guilty that I haven’t got to the sequel AD 33 yet but plan to very very soon.

The Long Journey to Jake Palmer (Jim Rubart) Jim’s stories just keep getting better and better. As I wrote in my review:

"The writing, the depth of insight in his characters and his ability to weave the mystical, spiritual and natural together is simply outstanding. I loved this novel. You can't not read this novel and not be impacted by the themes of healing, discovery of identify, where we place our significance and the absolute desire our Creator has for us to know Him."

This is probably the best novel I’ve read this year.

The Curse of Crow Hollow (Billy Coffey) This was a great surprise for me. I’d never read any of Coffey’s until this one. Known for his “Southern Spirituality” this story oozes with a voice from the deep south. What I particularly appreciated about this novel besides the voice was Coffey’s portrayal of good and evil within a small town. Excellently written with a brooding creepiness.

The Occupied (Craig Parshall) Another new author for me. I just finished this one. Classic detective story told in the first person with a supernatural twist which was a lot of fun to read.

My Dabble in Romance

I continue to read quite a lot of romance. Contemporary, historical, biblical, suspense, you name it. It’s not a great surprise to me having read Pride and Prejudice more times than I can remember (and all of her collection).

A few to mention:

Herringford and Watts Series (Rachel McMillan) – this series is simply delightful. Rachel’s voice is sophisticated and witty. Yes, witty. And her two detectives: Merinda Herringford and Jemima Watts are fabulous creations. Sample one of the novellas if you want to give it a try.

Close to You (Kara Isaac) – wow. First novel. Wow. Such a fun premise, the whole Hobbit-tour thing where romance blossoms. Two well developed characters. I’m running hard trying to get to Kara’s second one which everyone tells me is even better.

Thirteenth Chance (Amy Matayo) – Amy’s stories have many admirers down under and so I decided to sample her latest. Oh wow. Can this girl write. And Olivia Pratt! What a creation. I was awe of how Amy developed such a complex character: her insecurities, her weirdness, her dagginess (hey, I’m a dag too) and her meekness. A relatively simple story so well written and two great leads.

Too Pretty and All is Bright (Andrea Grigg) – our own Andrea creates marvellous characters. These were both a delight to read simply because her leads are so relatable and fun to watch.

That’s it from me. I’ve gone on for too long. I hope you found something of interest here.

What one author did you discover this year that you’ve now become a raving fan of their work? I’d love to read in the comments below.

Till 15 December for the non-fiction Part 2.

Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel of speculative fiction, Angelguard, is now available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Angelguard won the 2013 Selah Award for the Best Speculative Fiction novel. You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter