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Every year, I keep a list of the books I read throughout the year so that, when I look back, I can see what I was wrestling with both personally and intellectually. Below you will find this year’s list. The books that are asterisked are given a more detailed review in the Books I’m Reading tab.
Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100
The Human Condition (2nd Edition)
The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and “Tougher Standards”
The Schoolhome: Rethinking Schools for Changing Families
Raising a Modern-Day Knight: A Father’s Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood
The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
In the Hall of the Dragon King (The Dragon King Trilogy)
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children
Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations
The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle
The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out
The Curate’s Awakening (Hampshire Books)
Staying Close: Stopping the Natural Drift Toward Isolation in Marriage
All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir
Anne Frank’s Tales from the Secret Annex
The Lords of Discipline: A Novel
Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis Signature Classics)
Worldly Wisdom: Great Books and the Meanings of Life
Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World
**The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School
Curriculum Theory: Conflicting Visions and Enduring Concerns
**Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America
**In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin
**Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
**Desire of the Everlasting Hills Publisher: Anchor
**Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling
Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America (Simon & Schuster Lincoln Library)
Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be : A Breviary of Sin
Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever
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The Wisdom Initiative 
Out of your reading list I’ve read three: Tale of Two Cities, Nicomachean Ethics, and The Diary of Anne Frank.
Personal Reviews
ToTC- I had to read this one for Pre-AP English my sophomore year of high school. I don’t mind required reading for school, but I don’t like analyzing every inch of it. Reading is very much like an adventure to me where I prefer to come to my own conclusions. So, this book was kind of ruined for me with all the studying and analyzing, but Dickens is an excellent writer. I’d recommend it to anyone as a novel.
NE- I have a wonderful love-hate relationship with Aristotle. Some of his writings put me to sleep while others really stimulate me intellectually. NE is of the latter. My favorite sections had to be on virtue and friendship, if memory serves me correctly.
AF- You really chose a poignant, eloquent read. No spoilers here. Just enjoy it.
Thank you! I appreciate your take on these texts. I am a fan of anything Dickens! My favorite is To2C and Nicholas Nickelby. I read Aristotle’s Ethics every year to keep my mind and spirit fresh. I read the Diary of Anne Frank this summer en route to Munich and Dachua. I’d love to know what you wrestled with this year. Scott Martin
The WisdomInitiative scottamartin.org Twitter: samartin01
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I’ve read a lot of books this year, mostly for school but some for pleasure.
For school, two works that reallly stuck out to me personally were Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy and St. Bernard’s On Loving God. If there’s anything the aptly addresses our consumerist and fortune-driven culture, it’s the former. I adored the latter because, well, it’s about loving God.
For pleasure, among other books, I read The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky and La Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri. If there’s a writer that can aptly portray human frailty, it’s Dostoevsky. La Vita Nuova was simply a continuation of my Dante fanaticism. Might I recommend the “Commedia” to you when you have time? Heh, I love it so much that I’ve already read through it twice.
I am actually a third through the “Consolation” and halfway through “The Brothers Karamazov”. Personally, I like “Crime and Punishment” better, but the “Grand Inquisitor” scene in “Brothers” is timeless! I love “Vita Nouva” and have read the “Commedia” in Italian when I studied in Florence during my undergrad. In short, it seems like great minds think alike! Thanks for recommendation of “On Loving God”. I will check it out!
Pilgrim’s Progress is one of my very favorite books, if not my favorite of all time. If you enjoyed Bunyan’s work, I highly, highly recommend “Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.”
I’ve read the “Ragamuffin’s Gospel” but, for the life of me, I cannot remember my thoughts at the time. It must not have had a great impact because I just don’t remember whether or not I like it.
I went through a period of time when I was struggling with organizational religion. I read anything I could get my hands on but was most comforted by classical theologians. Charles Spurgeon, Oswald Chambers; there were modern writers as well, Charles Stanley and his son, Andy Stanley and others. These fundamentalists inspired me as and validated my own interpretation of biblical teaching.
What a wonderful idea to catalogue your reading for the year. I think I’ll adopt that idea for the coming year.
FD
You are right: “The Pilgrim’s Progress” is a great read! I read it for the first time this year and really enjoyed it. I will check out “Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.” I think you would really connect with Brennan Manning’s “All is Grace”. It is such a deep, heartfelt memoir that speaks to the depths of the human condition and the grace of God. I also like Oswald Chambers! I look forward to seeing what you read throughout 2013!
Ooh! I’m a little envious that you got to read Dante’s most well-known works in Italian…and in Florence, too!
Yes, I loved that scene in The Brothers Karamazov, very psychological. Assuming you’ll keep reading, I think you’ll really enjoy the scene of Ivan’ts nightmare. No spoilers, though! The final book I’m finishing for this year is the Silmarillion by J.R.R Tolkien.
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