Organizations are publishing their 2023 best books lists, so I decided to write about the books that I read this year and the ones that I’m planning to read in 2024. Since I’m always finding new and interesting books, the list for next year might change. I mostly read non-fiction and take a lot of notes. My goal is to read at least 12 books in 2024, so we’ll see.   

Here is the list of the books that I read in 2023:

• Patton A Genius for War by Carlo D’Este. 

A comprehensive biography of General George Patton draws on hitherto unavailable letters, diaries, and memoirs, uncovering many new facts to create an insightful and definitive portrait of an American military hero. (From the Amazon website)

• Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. 

This classic study of Washington takes readers deep inside the Trump White House, the Biden White House, the 2020 campaign, and the Pentagon and Congress, with eyewitness accounts of what really happened. Intimate scenes are supplemented with never-before-seen material from secret orders, transcripts of confidential calls, diaries, emails, meeting notes and other personal and government records, making Peril an unparalleled history. It is also the first inside look at Biden’s presidency as he began his presidency facing the challenges of a lifetime: the continuing deadly pandemic and millions of Americans facing soul-crushing economic pain, all the while navigating a bitter and disabling partisan divide, a world rife with threats, and the hovering, dark shadow of the former president. (From the Amazon website)

• In the Beginning Was the Word: The Bible in American Public Life, 1492-1783 by Mark Noll. 

In the beginning of American history, the Word was in Spanish, Latin, and native languages like Nahuatal. But while Spanish and Catholic Christianity reached the New World in 1492, it was only with settlements in the seventeenth century that English-language Bibles and Protestant Christendom arrived. The Puritans brought with them intense devotion to Scripture, as well as their ideal of Christendom — a civilization characterized by a thorough intermingling of the Bible with everything else. That ideal began this country’s journey from the Puritan’s City on a Hill to the Bible-quoting country the U.S. is today. In the Beginning Was the Word shows how important the Bible remained, even as that Puritan ideal changed considerably through the early stages of American history. (From the Amazon website)

• Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond. 

In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor. Those of us who are financially secure exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. We prioritize the subsidization of our wealth over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside those of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow. (From the Amazon website)

• Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sink. 

In his work with organizations around the world, Simon Sinek noticed that some teams trust each other so deeply that they would literally put their lives on the line for each other. Other teams, no matter what incentives are offered, are doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure. Why? The answer became clear during a conversation with a Marine Corps general. “Officers eat last,” he said. Sinek watched as the most junior Marines ate first while the most senior Marines took their place at the back of the line. What’s symbolic in the chow hall is deadly serious on the battlefield: Great leaders sacrifice their own comfort–even their own survival–for the good of those in their care. (From the Amazon website)

• Cien Años de Soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude) by Gabriel García Márquez. (from the list of 100 books everyone should read before they die)

One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendiá family. (From the Amazon website)  

Stepping Up a Call to Courageous Manhood by Dennis Rainey. 

As men, all of us face decisions in life that demand courage. Big or little, complex or straightforward, these choices—let’s call them battles—matter a great deal. One courageous choice leads to another; tomorrow’s integrity depends on today’s bravery. (From the Amazon website)

Love & Respect by Emerson Eggerichs. 

This is a terrible book that teaches incorrect Christian doctrine regarding the relationship between a husband and wife. I do not recommend this book.

Battlegrounds by H.R. McMaster. Read my review here

Battlegrounds is a groundbreaking reassessment of America’s place in the world, drawing from McMaster’s long engagement with these issues, including 34 years of service in the US Army with multiple tours of duty in battlegrounds overseas and his 13 months as national security advisor in the Trump White House. It is also a powerful call for Americans and citizens of the free world to transcend the vitriol of partisan political discourse, better educate themselves about the most significant challenges to national and international security, and work together to secure peace and prosperity for future generations. (From the Amazon website)

Feeling Great by David D. Burns

Feeling Great is based on 40 years of research and more than 40,000 hours treating individuals with severe mood problems. The goal is not just a rapid and complete elimination of negative feelings but the development of joy and enlightenment. (From the Amazon website)

The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. Read my review here.

The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant is the first comprehensively annotated edition of Grant’s memoirs, clarifying the great military leader’s thoughts on his life and times through the end of the Civil War and offering his invaluable perspective on battlefield decision making. An introduction contextualizes Grant’s life and significance, and lucid editorial commentary allows his voice and narrative to shine through. With annotations compiled by the editors of the Ulysses S. Grant Association’s Presidential Library, this definitive edition enriches our understanding of the pre-war years, the war with Mexico, and the Civil War. Grant provides essential insight into how rigorously these events tested America’s democratic institutions and the cohesion of its social order. (From the Amazon website)

Re-Create & Celebrate by Cindy Georgakas. Read my review here.

In this unique book, Cindy guides her readers through simple steps to achieve the life they have always dreamed of. Not simply life goals, but a whole new outlook and way of living. Through her transformational techniques and practices, which she has gained from decades of experience in the field of life coaching, she provides a teaching memoir and workbook containing the tools to build a blueprint to a life of fulfillment, inner peace and happiness. (From the Amazon website)

There is Nothing for You Here by Fiona Hill. I’m still reading, but I promised I’ll finish it this month. 

Fiona Hill grew up in a world of terminal decay. The last of the local mines had closed, businesses were shuttering, and despair was etched in the faces around her. Her father urged her to get out of their blighted corner of northern England: “There is nothing for you here, pet,” he said.  The coal-miner’s daughter managed to go further than he ever could have dreamed. She studied in Moscow and at Harvard, became an American citizen, and served three U.S. Presidents. But in the heartlands of both Russia and the United States, she saw troubling reflections of her hometown and similar populist impulses. By the time she offered her brave testimony in the first impeachment inquiry of President Trump, Hill knew that the desperation of forgotten people was driving American politics over the brink—and that we were running out of time to save ourselves from Russia’s fate. In this powerful, deeply personal account, she shares what she has learned, and shows why expanding opportunity is the only long-term hope for our democracy. (From the Amazon website)

My planned reading list for 2024 Books:

• The History of Puerto Rico by R.A. Van Middeldyk.

The author of this volume was the first to give to the reader of English a record of Spanish rule in this ‘pearl of the Antilles.’ Mr. Van Middeldyk was the librarian of the Free Public Library of San Juan, an institution created under American civil control. He has had access to all data obtainable in the island, and has faithfully and conscientiously woven it into a connected narrative, thus giving the reader a view of the social and institutional life of the island for four hundred years. (From the Amazon website)

• The Puerto Ricans A Documentary History by Cal Wagenheim, Olga Jimenez de Wagenheim, and Luis Martinez Fernandez

50th anniversary edition 1973-2023. This expanded edition covers 500 years of Puerto Rico’s history, providing a kaleidoscopic view of the island’s past. It begins with a preface by the editors celebrating the 50th anniversary of the book’s first printing and includes new sections on the debt crisis and the end of the bankruptcy procedure in 2022, the COVID pandemic and its consequences, the hurricanes from Maria to Fiona and their aftermath, The 2022 elections and the upcoming plebiscite. (From the Amazon website)

• The History of Philosophy by A.C. Grayling

The story of philosophy is an epic tale, spanning civilizations and continents. It explores some of the most creative minds in history. But not since the long-popular classic by Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, published in 1945, has there been a comprehensive and entertaining single-volume history of this great, intellectual, world-shaping journey. With characteristic clarity and elegance, A. C. Grayling takes the listener from the age of the Buddha, Confucius, and Socrates through Christianity’s capture of the European mind, from the Renaissance and Enlightenment on to Mill, Nietzsche, Sartre and, finally, philosophy today. Surveying in tandem the great philosophical traditions of India, China, and the Persian-Arabic world, and astonishing in its range and accessibility, Grayling’s The History of Philosophy is destined to be a landmark work. (From the Amazon website)

• You Will not Have my Hate by Antoine Leiris. Recommended by Secret Library Book Blog. Read a great short review here

On November 13, 2015, Antoine Leiris’s wife, Hélène Muyal-Leiris, was killed by terrorists while attending a rock concert at the Bataclan Theater in Paris, in the deadliest attack on France since World War II. Three days later, Leiris wrote an open letter addressed directly to his wife’s killers, which he posted on Facebook. He refused to be cowed or to let his 17-month-old son’s life be defined by Hélène’s murder. He refused to let the killers have their way: “For as long as he lives, this little boy will insult you with his happiness and freedom.” Instantly, that short Facebook post caught fire, and was reported on by newspapers and television stations all over the world. In his determination to honor the memory of his wife, he became an international hero to everyone searching desperately for a way to deal with the horror of the Paris attacks and the grim shadow cast today by the threat of terrorism. Now Leiris tells the full story of his grief and struggle. You Will Not Have My Hate is a remarkable, heartbreaking, and, indeed, beautiful memoir of how he and his baby son, Melvil, endured in the days and weeks after Hélène’s murder. With absolute emotional courage and openness, he somehow finds a way to answer that impossible question: How can I go on? He visits Hélène’s body at the morgue, has to tell Melvil that Mommy will not be coming home, and buries the woman he had planned to spend the rest of his life with. (From the Amazon website)

• Just Discipleship by Michael J. Rhodes. Bob on Books has a great review here.

Many Christians and churches are rediscovering that God cares deeply about justice, but opinions abound as to what an approach to biblical justice might look like in contemporary society. What exactly does the Bible mean by justice, and what does it have to do with poverty, racism, and other issues in our world? More importantly, how do we become the kind of people who practice justice? Biblical scholar Michael Rhodes argues that the Bible offers a vision of justice-oriented discipleship that is critical for the formation of God’s people. Grounded in biblical theology, virtue ethics, and his own experiences, he shows that justice is central to the Bible, central to Jesus, and central to authentic Christian discipleship. Justice stands at the heart of Scripture. Following Jesus demands that we become just disciples in an unjust world. (From the Amazon website)

• Cuentos Puertorriqueños de Hoy by René Marqués. 

Published in 1959, the book is a compilation of 17 stories written by eight Puerto Rican authors. 

• El Viento Conoce Mi Nombre (The Wind Knows my Name) by Isabel Allende. My favorite author in Spanish. 

Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht—the night his family loses everything. As her child’s safety becomes ever harder to guarantee, Samuel’s mother secures a spot for him on a Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England. He boards alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin. Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita Díaz and her mother board another train, fleeing looming danger in El Salvador and seeking refuge in the United States. But their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and seven-year-old Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes her tenuous reality through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination. Meanwhile, Selena Durán, a young social worker, enlists the help of a successful lawyer in hopes of tracking down Anita’s mother. Intertwining past and present, The Wind Knows My Name tells the tale of these two unforgettable characters, both in search of family and home. It is both a testament to the sacrifices that parents make and a love letter to the children who survive the most unfathomable dangers—and never stop dreaming. (From the Amazon website)

• Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West by Andrew Wilson

In Remaking the World, Andrew Wilson highlights 7 major developments from the year 1776―globalization, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the Great Enrichment, the American Revolution, the rise of post-Christianity, and the dawn of Romanticism―and explains their relevance to social changes happening today. Carefully examining key documents and historical figures, Wilson demonstrates how a monumental number of political, philosophical, economic, and industrial changes in the year of America’s founding shaped the modern West into a “WEIRDER” society: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic, Ex-Christian, and Romantic. This thoroughly researched yet accessible book offers a unique historical perspective on modern views of family, government, religion, and morality―giving Christians the historical lens they need to understand today’s post-Christian trends and respond accordingly. (From the Amazon website)

• Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. This book and A Call to Action by Jimmy Carter were recommended by Keith and he has a great discussion here

With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope. They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS. Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty. (From the Amazon website)

• A Call to Action by Jimmy Carter

A Call to Action addresses the suffering inflicted upon women by a false interpretation of carefully selected religious texts and a growing tolerance of violence and warfare. Key verses are often omitted or quoted out of context by male religious leaders to exalt the status of men and exclude women. And in nations that accept or even glorify violence, this perceived inequality becomes the basis for abuse. (From the Amazon website)

• The Forgotten Americans by Isabel Sawhill

One of the country’s leading scholars on economics and social policy, Isabel Sawhill addresses the enormous divisions in American society—economic, cultural, and political—and what might be done to bridge them. Widening inequality and the loss of jobs to trade and technology has left a significant portion of the American workforce disenfranchised and skeptical of governments and corporations alike. And yet both have a role to play in improving the country for all. (From the Amazon website)

• Of Boys and Man by Richard V. Reeves.

Boys and men are struggling. Profound economic and social changes of recent decades have many losing ground in the classroom, the workplace, and in the family. While the lives of women have changed, the lives of many men have remained the same or even worsened. Our attitudes, our institutions, and our laws have failed to keep up. Conservative and progressive politicians, mired in their own ideological warfare, fail to provide thoughtful solutions. (From the Amazon website)

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. (from the list of 100 books everyone should read before they die)

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional towns of West Egg and East Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession with the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan. Considered to be Fitzgerald’s magnum opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval and excess, creating a portrait of the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream. (From the Amazon website)

Maybe in 2024:

• William Tecumseh Sherman Memoirs.

The Memoirs of William T. Sherman is a landmark autobiography featuring Sherman’s recollections of the years prior to, during, and following the U.S. Civil War. We hear detailed accounts of Sherman’s coming-of-age, his military training, his rise through the ranks, and the battles he participated in. Pages are filled with meticulous details of troop movements and battle tactics, with Sherman’s prowess as a general in full evidence upon every page, together with his encounters and correspondences with other prominent figures of the time. (From the Amazon website)

• Robert E. Lee A Life by Allen C. Guelzo

In Robert E. Lee, the award-winning historian Allen Guelzo has written the definitive biography of the general, following him from his refined upbringing in Virginia high society, to his long career in the U.S. Army, his agonized decision to side with Virginia when it seceded from the Union, and his leadership during the Civil War. Above all, Guelzo captures Robert E. Lee in all his complexity–his hypocrisy and courage, his outward calm and inner turmoil, his honor and his disloyalty. (From the Amazon website)

• Sheridan The Life & Wars of General Phil Sheridan by Roy Morris Jr.

This outstanding biography restores Sheridan to his place in American military history; examines his relationships with contemporaries like Grant, Sherman, and his ill-fated subordinate George Armstrong Custer, and makes the momentous age he lived in come back to life. (From the Amazon website)

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Also, The  Economist published their list and you can see the list here: https://www.yearendlists.com/2023/economist-the-best-books-of-2023 

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