Over the course of the last year, I've read a lot of books. These are, in order, the top 10 books I read in 2016 - a list that spans multiple genres.
10. Red Moon Rising - Pete Grieg
This is the second or third time that I've read this book, and it never fails to inspire me. Grieg is one of the founders of the 24/7 prayer movement and its offshoots, which have spread like wildfire around the world (especially Europe). If you ever feel like your prayers are futile or wonder if prayer actually changes anything, you need to read this book. It will motivate you and drive you. It will change the way you think about prayer. I can't say enough about this book. The only reason it's not much higher on this list is that this not my first time reading it.
9. Hillbilly Elegy - J.D. Vance
Vance tells his story of growing up in a mining town in the Midwest United States. It is hard to describe that story - at times, Vance's story is exhilarating; at others it is heartrending. Overall, there is a reason why this book has been billed as a key book for understanding why Donald Trump was able to win the presidency. This is an important book for understanding life in what is often dismissed as "flyover country."
8. Desert Solitaire - Edward Abbey
This book is an account of time spent in the back country areas of Arches National Park in Utah in the days before visitor centers, paved roads, and other modern conveniences. Abbey's memoir is filled with breathtaking descriptions of beauty and poignant cries against the declivitous destruction of places like Arches. Abbey makes you want to visit the Arches he describes...and he also makes you realize that the Arches he describes is already gone forever.
7. Destiny of the Republic - Candice Millard
The election and subsequent assassination of President James Garfield is a fascinating story. Millard tells it beautifully, switching between the story of Garfield's meteoric rise and the psychotic descent of his assassin, Charles Guiteau. Shining light on a surprisingly little known moment in our national history, Millard's book was adapted for an episode of PBS' American Experience. As with most film adaptations, the book was better.
6. Galileo's Daughter - Dava Sobel
Galileo's daughter was a nun. She went by the name of Suor Maria Celeste. She also exchanged a significant number of letters with her father throughout his life. Using these letters as a starting point, Sobel explores the life of Galileo, from his first forays into making telescopes to his relationships with the Medici family to the writings that would eventually see him condemned as a heretic. Through it all, Suor Maria Celeste stayed firmly in her father's corner. Their story makes for good reading.
5. The Oregon Trail - Rinker Buck
Imagine if someone decided, in the 21st century, to retrace the path of the original Oregon Trail. Not in a car, not by hiking, not by train, but in an actual covered wagon. This is the basis of Rinker Buck's book. At times, it reads like a buddy comedy, as Buck and his friend/co-traveler narrowly avoid hilarious missteps. At other times, it reads like an adventure novel. Along the way, Buck meets a cast of characters that is hard to describe in a single paragraph. You'll have to read it for yourself.
4. Barkskins - Annie Proulx
I'm a sucker for well-written historical fiction, and Proulx's latest fits that bill to a tee. In a tale that stretches from colonial New England to almost the present day, the lives and fates of Rene Sel and Charles Duquet and their families weave into a narrative tapestry that is richly imagined and lovingly detailed. But that's not what makes this one of the best books I've read this year. The forest is what elevates Barkskins to that level. Proulx manages to make trees into a major character in this book, and to do it beautifully. Read it and see for yourself.
3. Brilliant Beacons - Eric Jay Dolin
Lighthouses are romantic places, places of serene beauty during the calm and places of violent beauty during the storm. Eric Jay Dolin tells the story of these romanticized sentinels which stand to keep safe the many mariners who travel to and from our nation's shores. This book is filled with tales of the construction of lighthouses, and their destruction; of the role lighthouses played in war and conflict; of the heroics of lighthouse keepers who, as a matter of course, would risk their lives to maintain the light or save shipwrecked sailors. A book on the history of lighthouses might not sound thrilling, but Dolin makes it so.
2. Jungle of Stone - William Carlsen
Without the journals of John Lloyd Stephens and the drawings of Frederick Catherwood, we would know a great deal less about the ancient civilizations of Central America. These two men traveled throughout all of Central America in search of Mayan ruins, in effect "discovering" them as places of historical importance and bringing them to the rest of the world. Carlsen has told the story of these two real life Indiana Jones-es so well that the reader wishes he or she could be along for the journey. This book is not only beautifully written, it is beautifully designed and laid out. If you want the full experience, make sure you pick up the hardcover.
1. The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf
There was never any question which book would be at the top of the list. The Invention of Nature is the only book I read this year that I would put in the category of best books I have ever read. I bought this book because I thought the cover was beautiful and because I had never really heard of its subject, Baron Alexander Von Humboldt. I am so glad that I did. Wulf writes this biography of Humboldt - an explorer, author, scientist, all around polymath who, for all intents and purposes, invented the modern science of ecology - so well that it is hard to put into words. The mark of a good biography, in my opinion, is when the author can make you feel a genuine sense of loss at the death of the subject, even though you knew when you started that his death was coming. Wulf does that. She makes you feel a real tinge of grief when Humboldt dies. If you are inclined to take this top ten list as a recommendation and can only read one, read this one. You won't be disappointed.
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