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

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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

Top 10 Books of 2014

By Ian Acheson

Iola kicked us off with a great list on Friday. I'm in awe of Iola's reading speed and haven't read nearly the volume she has this past year. 

I read more non-fiction and Biblical reference/commentaries than I do fiction so have split my list in half, well thirds in fact.

In no particular order but I will start with 5 Fiction reads that had me spellbound.

The Legend of Sheba by Tosca Lee

A fictional account of the Queen of Sheba and the effect she had on King Solomon and his empire. 

You can read my review here: Sheba






Spirit Bridge (Book 3 of the Well Spring Series) by James L Rubart

This is a wonderful series that so powerfully demonstrates spiritual warfare in a fictional context that is uplifting, challenging and thrilling in its suspensefulness.

You can read my review here: Spirit Bridge





Stranger Things by Erin Healy

It has all the hallmarks of a Healy novel: gripping suspense, characters grappling with their external and internal worlds and an insider's perspective of the "thin places" where the natural and supernatural intersect.

You can read my review here: Stranger Things 





Hacker by Ted Dekker

Interesting that this also featured on Iola's list. 

This is classic Ted Dekker: exploring the visible and invisible as he takes the reader on a heart-pumping  thriller of a ride.

You can read my review here: Hacker



The Evolution of Serialisation 

One aspect of the ebook world I really enjoy is reading novels in a serialised form. I find it fascinating we've gone back to how people first read Dickens (weekly episodes in the newspaper) and the like except in a digital form. This may not work for the truly prolific reader who devours books in a few hours, however, the weekly addition of 70 to 100 pages works well for me.

I expect in time we'll see additional features to this concept such as imagery, video, etc to make it more appealing.

I read a number of novels both Christian and secular including Operation Zulu by Ronie Kendig, Chronicles of Steele: Raven by Pauline Creeden and The Fuhrer's Daughter by Joshua Graham.

Non-Fiction

I've been in a season of reading a lot on intimacy with God and prayer. I'm pleased to see an increasing number of books being released on these subjects. It's very easy in our busy lives to get distracted from the wonder and joy of communion with God.

I can mention lots of books here but I'll restrict myself to three:

A Diary of Private by John Baillie

This was first released in 1949 and it is a small book of 64 prayers, a morning and evening prayer for 31 days plus two for a Sunday. Yes, it is full of "thees' and 'thous' which we typically don't use in modern services. I've found saying these prayers a wonderful way of commencing my prayer times during a day as it helps me take my mind off myself and focus on Him.





Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland, Jr.

This was a wonderful book that outlined how God in creating us all with different personalities expects our spiritual journeys will also vary. The author even explores how each broad personality type (think poor man's Myer Briggs) engages spiritually.

Mulholland challenges us to understand that holistic spirituality requires incorporating elements of the individual, corporate and social dimensions into our walks. I needed to read that as increasingly I've become frustrated with my "walk" but now realise that the personal dimension far outweighs the other two and hence, I have an imbalance which limits my growth.

Soul Keeping by John Ortberg

This beautifully written book helps the reader understand the soul's significance and how to care for it.

You can read my review here: Soul Keeping






Bible Reference/Commentary

I've read two fabulous commentaries that I wanted to mention.

The Book of Acts, a Commentary by C. Peter Wagner

At the time Wagner wrote this commentary there were 1,398 other books on Acts. So his one focuses on two particular aspects of Acts:

1. Power ministries, ie, supernatural acts of healing, prophecy, etc.
2. Missiological issues involved in the cross-cultural expansion of Christianity

It's not a verse-by-verse commentary but is still a hefty volume (circa 500 pages). It is written in layman's terms and does an excellent job relating Paul's epistles to his travels documented in Acts.

You can read my review here: Acts.

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians (Christ-Centred Expository Commentary) by Tony Merida (+David Platt & Daniel Akin)

For all intents and purposes is a verse-by-verse commentary and provides good explanations of each verse. It is geared to providing practical understanding and each chapter ends with a series of in-depth questions challenging the reader to further explore the concepts outlined and apply them to their life.

Ephesians is one of my favourite books of the Bible as Paul goes to great lengths to explain what we have as a result of Jesus living, being crucified and resurrected and then outlines how we should live. And it has that great series of verses near it's end on spiritual warfare!

What's not to love about it! 

I've read a few Ephesians commentaries that lack depth but this one in a relatively few number of pages (288) is both very challenging and readable. Merida does a good job bringing in other commentators work so the reader gets to hear from a number of extremely qualified voices.


Okay, that's me. I'm sure looking forward to the next in the series of Top 10s.

Wishing everyone in the ACW community a blessed Christmas and here's to a fun and invigorating 2015.

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. You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter