YEAR END: My Most Surprising Books of 2023

Citizen of Heaven

These are the biggest surprises, mostly good ones, that I got in the second half of 2023. Since I’m going back and editing the livestream I shared with my Facebook group, Heaven Citizens, I get to make an important correction. One of the books on the list was not in front of me; in fact, I never actually bought it in the first place. And since I didn’t see it, I skipped over it. So if you actually counted down with me, you may have noticed there were only nine slots mentioned instead of ten. The book I omitted was “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson. Actually I read it while standing there in the clearance section. As I go on to mention with a couple of other books that appear on the list, I wish I’d just ponied up the $2 or whatever and bought it. Check out the Whining episode from a few months ago for my thoughts. A terrific allegory on a very important subject — staying motivated when the breaks don’t go our way. Anyway, with that out of the way, here’s the list. Enjoy.

10. Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
9. The Messiah Book, by Peter Jacobi
8. Passover, by David Mamet; and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, by T.S. Eliot
7. Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury
6. The Joe Shuster Story, by Julian Voloj and Thomas Campi
5. The Quick and the Dead, by Louis L'Amour
4. The Secret Sharer, by Joseph Conrad
3. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, by Thad Carhart
2. Putting an X Through Anxiety, by Louis Giglio
1. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Hal Hammons serves as preacher and shepherd for the Lakewoods Drive church of Christ in Georgetown, Texas. He is the host of the Citizen of Heaven podcast. You are encouraged to seek him and the Lakewoods Drive church through Facebook and other social media. Lakewoods Drive is an autonomous group of Christians dedicated to praising God, teaching the gospel to all who will hear, training Christians in righteousness, and serving our God and one another faithfully. We believe the Bible is God's word, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, that heaven is our home, and that we have work to do here while we wait. Regular topics of discussion and conversation include: Christians, Jesus, obedience, faith, grace, baptism, New Testament, Old Testament, authority, gospel, fellowship, justice, mercy, faithfulness, forgiveness, Twenty Pages a Week, Bible reading, heaven, hell, virtues, character, denominations, submission, service, character, COVID-19, assembly, Lord's Supper, online, social media, YouTube, Facebook.