I hesitate to recommend Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, because—although it has been almost universally acclaimed as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century since it was published in 1980—I found it difficult to enjoy. It is a story of the generational effects of family dysfunction culminating in the emotional and physical abandonment of two young girls. Robinson’s main character Ruth reflects on the consequences of the narcissism of parents.

“Then there is the matter of my mother’s abandonment of me. Again, this is the common experience. They walk ahead of us, and walk too fast, and forget us, they are so lost in thoughts of their own, and soon or late they disappear. The only mystery is that we expect it to be otherwise.”

Although the discerning reader can sense the underpinnings of a biblical worldview (Robinson is a deacon in her congregational church), any redemptive thread is buried in an overwhelmingly depressing plot. From a literary standpoint, it is a masterpiece. Robinson’s wordplay will leave the aspiring novelist asking, “Why can’t I write like that?” But I found more nuggets of theology in Sheriff Bell’s internal diary entries in Cormac McCarthy’s macabre No Country for Old Men and in the family tragedy of Leif Enger’s transcendent Peace Like a River.

So Brave, Young and Handsome, by Leif Enger – It’s not as good as his first novel, Peace Like a River, but Enger’s trash is better than almost everyone else’s treasure.

The Reagan Diaries, edited by Douglas Brinkley – Regardless of your opinion of our 40th president, this book will help you understand his heart.

Methland, by Nick Redding – An agonizing look at the sociological, demographic, economic and spiritual aspects of drug addiction in small-town America.

Not for Sale, by David Batstone – The global human trafficking crisis told through the stories of several of its victims. A stomach-turning must-read.

The Lost World of Genesis One, by John Walton – A readable exploration of how Genesis 1′s Ancient Near Eastern readers/listeners may have understood the creation narrative.

The Language of God, by Francis Collins – The head of the Human Genome Project—also an evangelical—explores God’s fingerprints in biology.

Finally Alive, by John Piper – An important exploration of the new birth that exposes modern evangelicalism’s lack of precision in understanding God’s work of redemption.

The Pianist, by Władysław Szpilman – You probably saw the Palm d’Or-winning film when it was released nearly a decade ago. The book is even better.

Tortured for Christ, by Richard Wurmbrand – The convicting, disturbing, inspiring memoir of the Romanian pastor and Voice of the Martyrs’ founder.

Isaiah, by Raymond Ortlund Jr. – I read this commentary as I was working my way through Isaiah. Profound, pastoral, theologically sound exposition of the gospel in Isaiah.

One of the books I read over my Christmas vacation was John Walton’s The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate—highly recommended for anyone unsatisfied with the major interpretations of Genesis 1: Young Earth Creationism and the Framework, Day-Age and Gap Theories.

For instance, Young Earth Creationism (YEC) had become increasingly problematic for me, as I read about the geological and astronomical evidence for an ancient universe and began to ponder the theological significance of living in a cosmos that was created 14 billion years before my arrival. Additionally, I did not see an exegetical necessity for a 6,000-year-old earth and found increasingly problematic YEC’s extreme attempts to reconcile scientific evidence with their biblical interpretation.

Although it is built on solid Ancient Near Eastern scholarship, Walton’s book is brief and highly accessible to the average reader. The core of his argument is this: The author of Genesis 1 was not attempting to argue that God created the material substance of the universe—his ancient readers would have all assumed this to be true. Instead, Genesis 1 is an account of God’s ordering and arranging the cosmos into a temple which would reflect His glory and from which He would rule. With this view, Walton argues, it is unimportant whether one believes the universe is 6,000 years old or 14 billion years old, because this is simply not what Genesis 1 is about.