In celebration of a decade spent writing Let Every Heart, I’m sharing my very favorite books of all the books I’ve read in the past decade. This blog began in January of 2015. In the past ten years, I’ve blogged about: books, following Jesus, missions, adult friendship, marriage, discipleship, raising children, education, music, spiritual growth, and a great many other things. The content that everyone anticipates most? It seems to be the annual post, at the end of each calendar year, in which I share my favorite books read in the past twelve months.

Thus, I’ve decided to share an extra special post. I’ve jotted down my favorites of, not just this year, but the entire decade. How did I determine my favorites? These certainly aren’t all of the books that I’ve rated with five stars on Goodreads. That list would be much too extensive. The only prerequisite for making this list? These are the books that have stayed with me year after year. These are the stories that I’ve cherished, that have changed me for the better, or that have simply left some sort of lasting impact. Some have left me thinking deeply about an ethical issue within the pages of fiction. These are the books that I’ve recommended again and again to close friends or written about on the blog. You’ll even find a few books on this list that I’ve never or rarely mentioned in the posts on this blog. Why? The story stayed with me.

I won’t tell you that every book is fully glorifying to God or edifying to your soul. There are things within these memorable books that I may not have written myself, but these books are the lasting ones. These are the ones in which you won’t become bored. You’ll keep turning the pages. Each of them has some redeeming quality, some truth, some speck of goodness, or something lovely. Those are the things I want to fix my mind on. Most books are solid through and through and drew me closer to my Savior. I’ll try to be specific about the differences.

If you see an asterisk beside a book, it means you should do your own research, wade a bit cautiously, and expect elements or parts that I wouldn’t necessarily condone. An asterisk doesn’t equal a questionable book. This list is solid. An asterisk equals a questionable element or scene. Got it? Most books will be without an asterisk. The majority of these books will leave you better. Most of these books will be glorifying to our Savior.

An * equals research first, reader beware, slightly questionable content, language, scene, etc. Also, because I read some of these books nine or ten years ago, I may have forgotten something. Please be ready to extend a bit of grace if I’ve forgotten something that doesn’t quite line up with my theology or ethics. I don’t think every book recommendation can fully represent my heart. Rather, these recommendations recommend my memory. Our memories can betray us, but I’ll give this my best shot. Let’s do this!

I’ve narrowed down my list to my top 100 most memorable books from the past decade.

My Favorite Non-Fiction Books of the Decade

• Anything: The Prayer that Unlocked my God and my Soul by Jennie Allen
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs
• The Women of Easter by Lis Curtis Higgs
• The Lifegiving Home: Creating a Place of Becoming and Belonging by Sally Clarkson
• Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff
• The Broken Way: A Daring Path into the Abundant Life by Ann Voskamp
• Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making by Andrew Peterson
• Let’s All Be Brave: Living Life with Everything You Have by Annie F. Downs
• Daring to Hope: Finding God’s Goodness in the Broken and the Beautiful by Katie Davis Majors
• Raising World Changers in a Changing World By: Kristen Welch 
• The Read Aloud Family: Making Meaningful and Lasting Connections with Your Kids by Sarah MacKenzie
• Women of the Word: How to Study our Bible with both our Hearts and our Minds by Jen Wilkin
• On the Bright Side: Stories about Friendship, Love, and Being True to Yourself by Melanie Shankle
• Giddy Up, Eunice: Because Women Need Each Other by Sophie Hudson
• Boy Mom: What Your Son Needs Most from You by Monica Swanson
• Risen Motherhood: Gospel Hope for Everyday Moments by Emily A. Jensen
• I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel
• Waymaker by Ann Voskamp
• Strong Mothers, Strong Sons by Dr. Meg Meeker
• Beholding and Becoming: The Art of Everyday Worship by Ruth Chou Simons
• The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon
• The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian
• What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing By Dr. Bruce Perry
• The Way of the Shepherd: 7 Secrets to Managing Productive People by Kevin LeMan
• Foster the Family by Jamie Finn
• Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen
• Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become Like Him, Do as He Did by John Mark Comer

My Favorite Memoirs of the Decade

• Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis Majors
• The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines
• The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
• The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond
• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
• Rhinestone Jesus: Saying Yes to God when Sparkly, Safe Faith is not Enough by Kristen Welch
• Sisters First: Stories from our Wild and Wonderful Life by Jenna Bush Hager 
• Strong and Kind by Korrie Robertson 
• Hope Heals: A True Story of Overwhelming Loss and an Overcoming Love by Jay and Katherine Wolf
• Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me about Life, Love, and Baking Biscuits by Reese Witherspoon
• Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton
• Everybody Fights so Why Not Get Better at It by Penn and Kim Holderness*
• The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King

My Favorite Fiction Books of the Decade

• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult*
• Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng*
• Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner
• One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus*
• Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
• What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty*
• The Yada Yada Prayer Group (Entire Series) by Neta Jackson
• Where do I Go? (And the rest of the Yada Yada Prayer Group House of Hope Series. This is a spin off of the Yada Yada Prayer Group series and might be even better than the first series. Characters carry over. Loved every part of both series!) by Neta Jackson
• A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult *
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (The audiobook is narrated by Tom Hanks)
• The Winter Street Series (I loved  all four books. Begin with Winter Street. All four books begin with the word Winter and the order is Street, Stroll, Storms, and Solstice…and you’ll remember the end of the series forever.) by Elin Hilderbrand* 
• Christy by Catherine Marshall
• The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas*
• The Bridge by Karen Kingsbury
• Summer of ‘69 by Elin Hilderbrand*
• The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
• The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah*
• The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth*
• The Wish Book Christmas by Lynn Austin
• 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand*
• Class Mom Series by Laurie Gelman* (Read and loved the entire series of four books)
• Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult*
• In Five Years by Rebecca Serle*
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth*
• The Five Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand*
• A Baxter Family Christmas by Karen Kingsbury
• The Only One Left by Riley Sager*
• The Women by Kristin Hannah
• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon*
• Marmee by Sarah Miller

My Favorite Children’s Fiction: Chapter Books of the Decade

• Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
• Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar
• The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
• Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
• The Old Willis Place by Margaret Peterson Haddix 
• The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis
• The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley 
• Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
• Out of My Heart by Sharon M. Draper 
• Somebody on this Bus is Going to be Famous by J.B. Cheaney
• The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (I didn’t enjoy The One and Only Bob, unfortunately.)
• The BFG by Roald Dahl
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Audiobook Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis 
• Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix
• Falling Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix

My Favorite Children’s Picture Books of the Decade

• God’s Very Good Idea: A True Story of God’s Delightfully Different Family by Trillia Newbell
• Africa is Not a Country by Margy Burns Knight
• Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story by Cynthia Rylant 
• Psalm 23 by Barry Moser
• The Energy Bus for Kids by Jon Gordon
• Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Irene Latham
• Who Sang the First Song? by Ellie Holcomb
• Known: Psalm 139 by Sally Lloyd Jones
• Found: Psalm 23 by Sally Lloyd Jones
• We are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines

Sweet friends, thank you for reading my words for the past ten years. I hope this list of my top 100 reads since 2015 will leave you with many worthwhile options for your own reading life.

More than I turn to any other book, I turn to scripture. Of all of the books I’ve read in the past ten years, it has been the Word of God that has sustained me. His Word is truly a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105

From my reading heart to yours,

~Courtney