Favorite Books of 2008

As the end of the 2008 approaches it appears to be common practice in the blogosphere to write a post of your favorite books from the year so that is what I have done. Below you will find a list (in no particular order) of my favorite books with a very short synopsis.

Too Busy not to Pray - Bill Hybels - This is a phenomenal book written by a great pastor. The book gives some of the most practical advice on prayer I have ever heard. The book goes through some fundamental truths of the Gospel related to prayer including: What kind of God do we pray to?, why pray?, does prayer really work?, what hampers our prayer? and finally He gives us a great model to follow in our prayer life. The goal of the book is help those how struggle to maintained a disciplined prayer life through encouragement and some very practical advice. Its a great read and I highly suggest it.

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis - This is a very short book by C.S. Lewis but in terms of theological and philosophical truth its weight must be measured in tons. The purpose of the book is to form an argument against the subjective nature of the intellectual culture of his time. What's so great about this book is that it is message is timeless and has never been more applicable than it is today. Lewis makes a convincing argument that the death of objective law and morality will ultimately result in the abolition of man because the man with the most temporal power have the ability to impose his own subjective law on "weaker" individual thus rendering them powerless. One of the most influential books related to apologetics and absolute truth.

East of Eden - John Steinbeck - This is probably my favorite literary work of all time. Its a bit on the long side (600 pages) but its impossible to put down after you read the first 50 pages. East of Eden is a complex and layered retelling of the story of Cain and Able found in Genesis. Though the book has an engaging and well formed plot, I think Steinbeck deserves the most praise for his character development. Throughout the book you notice that he is gradually developing each one of the characters to reveal their true heart. There are no archetypes, each character is thoroughly "normal" and Steinbeck shows each of their motives throughout the story.