Books I Read in 2015
You all know we well enough to know that reading is a huge value to me. My family gets annoyed by the stacks of books that are piled up in my office and on my nightstand. I just can’t get enough. I buy 
books faster than I can read them.
Today I’m in Wisconsin visiting my sister and nephew. We got 8 1/2 inches of snow last night which is keeping us in for the day and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Piles of white outside the window, fireplace roaring, tea steaming in my mug and a good book in hand – rather idyllic!
But before I get lost in a book today, I thought I would share my favorite books from 2015. Here are my top 3 by category.
Business/Leadership
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
by Greg McKeown
A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix
by Edwin Friedman
Managing Corporate Lifecycles Hardcover – September 14, 1999
by Ichak Adizes
Personal Growth/Self-Leadership
Humility
Rising Strong
by Brene Brown
Leading Change Without Losing It: Five Strategies That Can Revolutionize How You Lead Change When Facing Opposition (The Change Trilogy)
by Carey Nieuwhof
Church Leadership
Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code: Seven Keys to Unleashing Vision and Inspiration
by Samuel R. Chand
Called to Serve: Creating and Nurturing the Effective Volunteer Board
by Max DePree
#20s Church: Open Your Ministry to the Power of a Generation (Church Unique Intentional Leader Series) (Volume 3)
by Heather Stevens
Spiritual Growth/Christian Living
Overwhelmed: Winning the War against Worry
by Perry Noble
Breaking Busy: How to Find Peace and Purpose in a World of Crazy
by Alli Worthington
My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer
by Christian Wiman
Fiction
The Complete Anne of Green Gables Boxed Set 8 Volumes
by Lucy Maud Montgomery
The Paris Wife
by Paula McLain
All the Light We Cannot See
by Anthony Doerrr
What are some of your favorite reads from this past year? Share with us!
What is your reading goal for 2016?
My goal every year is to read 52 books – one book a week and I like to read a variety of different categories. If you’ve never set a reading goal before, I encourage you to set one for this year and share it with us!
Let’s encourage each other to keep reading, learning and growing! Leaders are readers!
I am committing to reading 24 books in 2016….2 a month. I want to set a goal I can actually do and possibly surpass
That’s a great goal Raquel!
I love that idea of 52 books for each week! That would definitely be a challenge for me. I, instead, will choose twelve books for each month. I’m great at starting books, but never finishing them so I think 12 books will be a good number.
Love it Samantha! Can’t wait to see what you read!
My reading goal gor 2016 is 24…2 per month. I know I can do that and possibly surpass it. Happy Reading!
Hi, thank you for your recommendations and the encouragement. It is great to have a reading goal and to share and be accountable to someone to encourage one another. I will also choose 24 books, two a month. Hopefully I will surpass this too! Enjoy!
I’m commenting because Anne of Green Gables books were my favorites when I was young. I need to read again and introduce my daughters, 6 & 4, to the beloved series! My goal In 2016 is to read at least 10 pages a day. Not sure how many books this will translate to, probably 3 per month. I, as well, collect books faster than I can read them 🙂
My goal is always 52 books per year too. I’ve only ever made it once (it was a very unique year and I ended up reading like 70 books). Most years I end in the mid-30s and I’m content with that.
One of my favorite books from 2015 was Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies.
One of my reading goals for 2016 is to read 10 books on leadership by June 30, 2016.
I tend to be a slow reader (often reading more than one book a time does not help) – My goal each year is 20 books and I will fall short this year. I am going to push for 30 next year though.
Here are two of my favorites. The first may seem strange for a faithful protestant but it is Finding the Monk Within: Great Monastic Values for Today by Edward C. Sellner – It is a collection of short bios or the early Monastic Fathers (and a few mothers) – It is a great snap shot look at some men and women who had a great passion and disciplined faith.
The second is One Little Spark: Mickey’s Tend Commandments and The Road to Imagineering by Marty Sklar – It is a great book on project management and creativity used by the Disney Imagineers who design and build all the wonderful Disney Parks.
Jenni,
I love that you read a lot and that you give us advice on what you have benefitted from (and even the fiction reading you have enjoyed)! A great book that i have read on relating God’s will to our work is written by Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work; and for fiction, The Invention of Wings.
Thanks for this recommendation, Heather!