My best reads of 2006

Well, since everyone else does a list, I thought I'd do mine, with something near and dear to my heart...books. (Similar format to my 2005 list.) Summary...it looks like I'll finish48 books this year, just 4 shy of my goal. The catagory breakdown is as follows: Fiction 17 Christian Living 14 Non-Ficiton 6 Leadership 6 Church 3 Theology 2 Okay, so here's my recommended books from 2006 in no particular order: (obviously, not all were published in '06, but I read them in '06).

favorite author writes a book on a topic that I was afraid would be boring -- but I was challenged, and it changed my prayer life -- post link i was introduced to Anne Lamott this year, and while her Plan B (released in 2006) was disappointing, this book is one I'll read again and again post link at the time of this writing, I'm 2/3 of the way through this book, but it's my favorite fiction book of 2006 (it was published in 1995 -- that's how behind the curve I am!) it says that it's a history book, but it's really great analysis of global trade, free markets, outsourcing, etc. -- I can't stress enough how important this book is post link what do you expect? another great book from David McCullough i had low expectations for this book, but it really challenged to think about the roles of jealousy, envy, anger and greed in my heart

excellent book that added new words to my leadership vocabulary like "hedgehog concept," "level five leader," and "the stockdale paradox." post link leadership always involves personal pain -- if you don't believe it, you need to read allendar not only to come to that realization, but then also learn how to deal with some of the pain of leadership. post link

I barely knew anything at all about the Mayflower before I read this book -- according to some news pieces that I saw about this book, I'm not the only one!

Book Review: Three

This weekend I tried to read some Christian fiction. Okay, I finished it, but I wasn't happy. I read Three by Ted Dekker. I'd heard a lot of good stuff about Mr. Dekker. I was disappointed. The plot was decent enough, but the writing was utilitarian, characters were fairly one-dimensional and there was no sense of pacing, expect to pause and theologize for a couple of pages. So I'm retreating back into the world of good fiction. Right now I'm reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire (yes, I've gotten caught up in the hype of the musical). Someone's going to have to do quite a bit of convincing to get me to try another book of Christian fiction.