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My next five 2020 reads are, as usual, quite a mixed bag! Have you read any of these? Or are any of them on your to-read list?

My mom enjoys Harlan Coben books and lent me this one thinking I might enjoy it. And to a certain extent, it did. I’ve read a few of Coben’s books and I always have very mixed feelings — I always find his writing riveting and I’m very pulled into the story and engaged by all the twists and turns, and yet I almost always find them dissatisfying in the end. It’s hard to explain why.

This one was no exception. It was a fun weekend read, and I sped through it and was hooked. But I put it down after the ending with a “meh” feeling. Enjoyable, but not really very memorable to me.

Back to C.S. Lewis! I read the first two books in the Space Trilogy in 2019, and with the third I’m able to cross some more C.S. Lewis books off my “must read” list.

This book is strange. Very, very strange. And a lot of it was hard to follow. I’m honestly still not sure I entirely get it. And there were parts in it that were really gory and disturbing (which was the case in the second book, too). So why four stars? Because it’s C.S. Lewis, which means it still manages to have incredible depth and meaning. There were so many nuggets throughout and charming parts of the story and other things that I’m still thinking about months later. And there were even parts that I found incredibly healing and illuminating when it comes to struggles I’ve had my entire life. So do I recommend it? It’s hard to, since it’s so incredibly bizarre. But it’s good, too.

One of my best friends invited me to her monthly book club last year, and this was my first book to read with them. The book club helped contribute even more variety to my reading list!

This one was enjoyable, but not a favorite for me. It kept me interested, and Patchett’s writing is really excellent, especially when it comes to settings and making you see and feel what’s going on. (Also, the audiobook was narrated by Tom Hanks, which didn’t hurt!) But ultimately, the story fell a little flat for me and I never found the main character that compelling. It was interesting, though. Enough to make me consider looking for more books by this author.

This was a quick read recommended by one of my best friends. I know several people who also read it last year, as part of an ongoing effort to understand the role and responsibility of Christians in the wake of some of the government overreach that went on in 2020.

I did really appreciate it, and found it very biblical and interesting, but I was a little disappointed at the lack of practical application for myself. Which isn’t the book’s fault, I was just personally looking for something that would help me figure out more what I’m supposed to do personally, in my everyday life, to react to these things — when to resist and when to obey. This book is really more geared towards the responsibility of the “lesser magistrates” — lower or more local governmental entities — to resist and hold in check tyranny by higher authorities.

The area where I was really motivated was in my responsibility to become more aware of and involved in local elections — I have always believed in the importance of local politics but have never lived that out before. So this book helped encourage me to make more of an effort to research and stay informed about my local and state authorities so that I can vote and be involved in a more informed way.

When this book first came out in 2013 (has it really been that long?) Dekker released it as four separate “episodes” first. The first episode was free, so I read it and was hooked. The second was only 99c, so I read that and was still hooked. But the remaining two episodes were full price and I didn’t have much money at the time, so I kept hoping to find the full book at the library sometime. Finally last year I thought, “I should just find and finish that book,” so I ordered a copy from Thriftbooks.

I always find Ted Dekker a little hit or miss, and this one is hard to rate. On the one hand, it was strange (normal for Dekker) and a bit disturbing (also normal), and towards the end I felt it started to get a little out of hand, like he hadn’t quite planned the last half of the story and it didn’t feel as tight or well-plotted as the first half. But still, it was interesting and powerful. Usually with Dekker’s books even if they fall a bit flat or aren’t my favorite, I end up thinking about and impacted by the message long after I’ve finished reading. This message, about reality and how we discern and know it and what and who we trust, was no different. It’s a quick read, interesting, and if you can get through a lot of weirdness, I think it’s worth reading (I read the other two books in the series later in the year and liked them even better).

Thank you for sticking with me for the first third of my 2020 reads! I’ll be back later this week with five more reviews for you.