We’re sending this list out earlier this year, since some welcome the suggestions for Christmas gifts. As you’ll see, I’m usually at least a decade behind in my reading (very few of these were actually published in 2025), but good books hold up with time. I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments.
I’m also announcing two “co-books of the year.” I loved all of these books in their own way, but two particularly stood out for me.
Co-Books of the Year
The Cross of Christ by John Stott
Is there a more central message of our faith than the cross of Christ and all it represents? Stott is one of my favorite contemporary writers (though he died in 2011) and this is a brilliant, well-rounded exposition of the doctrine of atonement. I suspect it will seem like a challenging book (with very long chapters) for contemporary readers, but I urge you to stick with it as the two strongest chapters are the last two. Chapter 11 is the best discussion of self-love versus sacrificial service that I’ve ever read, and chapter 13, on suffering, is as inspirational as it is brilliant.
Space to Breathe Again: Hope for the Overloaded and Overwhelmed by Tommy Thompson
If you like my books, you’ll love Tommy’s. We think a lot alike, but he’s much further down the road in learning how to create space to breathe again. I found Tommy’s book to be both inspirational and practical. He walks us through his own major life change and then guides us through a renewed journey of creating space, uncovering the subtle lies and faces of overload, demolition and renovation, redeeming time, and quieting the voices that keep us unsettled. I put this book in a list of seven others (on the paid side) focusing on how to slow down. We all know we need to. We all want to. Tommy’s book helps show me how. I loved it.
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