David B Hunsicker
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Books: 2018 in Review

The Book of the Week Project in Retrospect

One year ago, I committed to reading and writing about one book for each week of the year. This project was inspired by my friend Jim, who reads and reviews books at Rev Jimmy Book Reviews. It was fun, but challenging. I certainly read more than 52 books but I only made it to writing about 44 of them (I cheated and included some of the readings from my Refo500 series) and some of those reviews were pretty matter-of-fact and boring. I was at a lost for what to write. I don’t think I’ll carry this project forward into 2019. But I do hope I continue to tell you about books I read from time to time. I’m brainstorming a few new projects to consider!

Here is a list of every book I reviewed this year. The ones with an asterisk (*) were my favorite reviews.

  1. The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen *

  2. Practices of Love, Kyle David Bennett

  3. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, Caitlin Doughty

  4. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee *

  5. Everything Happens for a Reason, Kate Bowler

  6. The Labor of God, Thomas Andrew Bennett

  7. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle

  8. Nice Try Jane Sinner, Lianne Oelke

  9. Forebearance, James Calvin Davis

  10. Our Father, Pope Francis

  11. Our God Loves Justice, W. Travis McMaken

  12. The Art of Fielding, Chard Harbach

  13. Liturgy of the Ordinary, Tish Harrison, Warren

  14. Future Home of the Living God, Louise Erdrich*

  15. Paul, Douglas Campbell*

  16. Are Women Human?, Dorothy Sayers

  17. The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo

  18. Barracoon, Zora Neale Hurston

  19. Militant Grace, Philip G. Ziegler*

  20. Calypso, David Sedaris

  21. Born A Crime, Trevor Noah*

  22. Capitalism, Jürgen Kocka

  23. The Relentless Revolution, Joyce Appleby

  24. Bel Canto, Ann Patchett

  25. Secularism and Cosmopolitanism, Etienne Balibar

  26. Borderline, Stan Goff

  27. The Comedians, Graham Greene

  28. The Refugees, Viet Thanh Nguyen

  29. Morality After Calvin, Kirk Summers

  30. Barth in Conversation, Vol. 1, Karl Barth

  31. A Bend in the River, V. S. Naipaul

  32. The Way of a Pilgrim

  33. The Pastor, Eugene Peterson*

  34. The Fifth Season, N, K. Jesimin

  35. The Obelisk Gate, N. K. Jesimin

  36. The Stone Sky, N. K. Jesimin

  37. To a God Unknown, John Steinbeck*

  38. Tortilla Flat, John Steinbeck

  39. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck

  40. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

  41. East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Year in review, Book of the WeekDavid Hunsicker2018, Year in review