I used to have a feature here on Saturdays called the Saturday Review of Books. And every year around the end of the year, I dedicated that Saturday Review to lists of books for the old year or for the new year or for anything in between: Favorite Books of This Year or What I’m Reading Next Year or The Best Books of All Time According to Blogger #1 or really any book list that came out on a blog somewhere at the end of the year. So, I’ve been collecting these lists, and now I’ll post a few each day. If I don’t already have yours linked here, please leave a comment and a link. I love book lists, and I like sharing them with you all.

Let the listing begin!

My Favorite Books of 2020 by Russell Moore. Most of Mr. Moore’s list is non-fiction of the theological and sociological persuasion, and for the most part I’m not a fan of those kinds of books. But I am looking forward to reading Marilynne Robinson’s Jack, the newest in her Gilead set of stories.

The 2020 For the Church Book Awards by Ronni Kurtz. “[W]e are pleased to present our readers with a few books that stuck out as exceptional from this past year. In this, our fourth annual For the Church book awards, each member of the editorial team chose two books—a winner and a runner-up—to honor and to recommend to you.” Of the book on this award list, I am most interested in Alan Jacobs’ Breaking Bread With the Dead, about reading and learning from old books.

Cody Glen Barnhardt: 10 Favorite Books I Read in 2020. Mr. Barnhardt is not the first to suggest Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sufferers and Sinners by Dane Ortlund. My pastor also suggested it earlier this year, and I’ve seen it on other lists. Maybe someone is trying to tell me something?

Hungry for Good Books?: The Annual List 2020 Edition. Trina Hayes has her entire list of 100 or more books read during this year of the plague. And I spotted a few possibilities there: Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles, The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay, The Women of Copper County by Mary Doria Russell, Eliza Hamilton: the Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton by Tilar Mazzeo. I could probably find more, but my TBR list is already way too long.

Dewey’s Treehouse: 25 Top Books I Want to Read in 2021. “Enough with long lists. If I get these done, I’ll be happy.” ~Mama Squirrel. OK, it’s a great idea in theory, but MY list is already miles long. And I can’t resist the this (long) title on the Treehouse short list: Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise by Katherine Rundell.

Gift Books for Grown-ups by Betsy at Redeemed Reader. Several of these are already on my own TBR list, and several others I’ve already read and enjoyed. I daresay any of them would make a lovely gift—for someone else or for yourself. (And I still added more books to the TBR list from this one.)

I’ll link to a few more book lists tomorrow, maybe yours if you leave me a comment?