Best Books I've Read (or Heard)
1998-Present

My Most Favorite Book Ever = Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

The book I wish I’d written = Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (2001)

Best Nonfiction Book = The Life You Save May be Your Own by Paul Elie (2003)

2020 Literary Fiction = Raphael: Painter in Rome & Oil and Marble both by Stephanie Story
2020 Best Modern Fiction = Victim 2117 by Jussi Adler Olson
2020 Best Mystery = All the Devils are Here by Louise Penney
2020 Religious Nonfiction = America’s Prophet: Moses and the American Story by Bruce Feiler; The Wisdom Pattern by Richard Rohr, OFM

2019 Literary Fiction = The Walls of Lucca, by Steve Physioc

2019 Best Short Novel = Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

2019 Religious nonfiction = Paul: The Apostle by N. T. Wright; The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr, OFM; Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Jerusalem by Brant James Pitre

2019 Poetry = Rain and Embers by Ali Nouri

2018 Literary Fiction (to date) = Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

2018 Best Mystery = The German Suitcase by Greg Dinallo

2018 General Nonfiction = The Sagrada Familia by Gijs van Hensbergen

2018 Religious nonfiction = The Apostle: The Life of Paul by John Pollock

2017 Literary Fiction (to date) = From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon and Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

2017 Best Mystery = Beautiful Mysteries by Louise Penney

2017 General Nonfiction = The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Miserables by Robert Bellos

2017 Religious nonfiction = Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson

2018 Fiction = Officer and Spy by Robert Harris (the trial and false conviction of Alred Dreyfus)
General Nonfiction = Driving the Getaway Car, by Ann Patchett (her life as a writer and best-selling author) Religious nonfiction (3-way tie)

My Bright Abyss, by Christian Wiman (beautiful reflections on life in the midst of suffering)

Run With the Horses by Eugene Peterson (about the Hebrew Prophet Jeremiah)

God First Loved Us, by Antony Campbell, S.J. (Which God do you believe in?)

2015 Fiction (to date) = The Garden of Papa Santuzzo by Tony Ardizzone

2015 General Nonfiction = The Great Reformer by Austen Ivereigh

2015 Religious nonfiction = Ask the Beasts by Elizabeth A. Johnson, C.S.J

2014 Fiction = The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett

2014 Poetry = Evening Sun: A Widow's Journey by Aline Soules

2014 General Nonfiction = Les Miserables (for musical and movie lovers) by Steve Antinoff

2014 Religious Nonfiction = Under the Influence of Jesus by Joe Paprocki; Sacred Fire by Ronald Rolheiser

2013 Fiction = The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson (Pulitzer Prize)

2013 Fiction (Audio Book) = Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

2013 Nonfiction = In the Beginning Was the Spirit by Diarmuid O’Murchu

2012 Fiction = Lost Son by M. Allen Cunningham (based on the life of Rainer Maria Rilke) 2012 Nonfiction = Thank God for Evolution by Michael Dowd; Our One Great Act of Fidelity by Ronald Rolheiser, OMI; Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander III, M.D.

2011 Fiction = The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

2011 Nonfiction = Jerusalem, Jerusalem by James Carroll (Kindle)

2011 Poetry = The Lesser Tragedy of Death by Cristina Garcia

2010 Fiction (to date) = Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

2010 Fiction (Audio Book) = The Lightkeeper’s Daughter by Iain Lawrence

2010 Nonfiction (to date) = The Naked Now by Richard Rohr

2010 Nonfiction (Audio Book) (to date) = Constantine’s Sword by James Carroll

2009 Fiction = Christ in Concrete by Pietro DiDonato

2009 Fiction (Audio Book) = Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen; Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier

2009 Nonfiction = Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality by Richard Rohr; Where God Was Born by Bruce Feiler

2009 Nonfiction (Audio Book) = The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezzi; Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths by Bruce Feiler

2008 Fiction = Exiles by Ron Hansen

2008 Fiction (Audio Book) = The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezzvani

2008 Nonfiction = Moral Discernment by Richard M. Gula, SS

2007 Nonfiction (Audio Book) = Beyond Belief by Ann Pagels

2007 Fiction (Audio Book) = Lisey’s Story by Stephen King; Underworld by Don DeLillo

2007 Fiction = A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

2007 Nonfiction = What Paul Meant by Garry Wills and 101 Questions & Answers on the Bible by Raymond E. Brown

2006 Fiction (Audio Book) = The Confessions of Max Tivoli, by Andrew Sean Greer

2006 Fiction = The Rising Tide, by Jeff Shaara

2006 Nonfiction (Audio Book) = The Intimate Merton: His Life From His Journals

2005 Nonfiction = Credo, by William Sloane Coffin

2005 Fiction = The Green Age of Asher Witherow, by M. Allen Cunningham