Sonderbooks Nonfiction Book Reviews

Nonfiction Reviews:
What's new?

January 9, 2021

Announcing the 2020 Sonderbooks Stand-outs! This is my twentieth list of my favorite books from a year of reading! Check them out!

My #1 Sonderbooks Stand-out in Christian Nonfiction, Jesus Undefeated: Condemning the False Doctrine of Eternal Torment, by Keith Giles, is a book that clearly explains Biblical support for Universalism and the belief that Jesus will succeed in completely saving the world.

Happy Reading!

Christian

Jesus Undefeated

by Keith Giles

The New Testament
A Translation

by David Bentley Hart

Proof of Heaven

by Eben Alexander, M.D.

Every Knee Shall Bow

by Thomas Allin & Mark T. Chamberlain

Christ Triumphant

by Thomas Allin
edited and annotated by Robin A. Parry

Christianity After Religion

by Diana Butler Bass

Hope Beyond Hell

by Gerry Beauchemin

Love Wins

by Rob Bell

Reckless Love

by Tom Berlin

Defying Gravity

by Tom Berlin

Pastrix

by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Accidental Saints

by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Shameless

by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Tattoos on the Heart

by Gregory Boyle
read by the author

by Gregory Boyle

by Heath Bradley

by John Burke

by Todd Burpo

by Lorna Byrne

by Lorna Byrne

A Message of Hope from the Angels

by Lorna Byrne

Stairways to Heaven

by Lorna Byrne

Safe Journey

by Julia Cameron

Boundaries

by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend

Shattered Dreams

by Larry Crabb

Resurrecting Easter

by John Dominic Crossan & Sarah Sexton Crossan

The Power of Love

by Michael Curry

The Sacred Romance

by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge

Waking the Dead

by John Eldredge

Captivating

by John and Stasi Eldredge

Walking with God

by John Eldredge

Love & War

by John and Stasi Eldredge

Beautiful Outlaw

by John Eldredge

Moving Mountains

by John Eldredge

Feel

by Matthew Elliott

Searching for Sunday

by Rachel Held Evans

Inspired

by Rachel Held Evans

At the End of the Ages...
The Abolition of Hell

by Bob Evely

Raising Hell

by Julie Ferwerda

The Church of Mercy

by Pope Francis

The Spirit of Saint Francis

by Pope Francis

The Name of God Is Mercy

by Pope Francis

Until They Are Found

by Peter Gray, B.Th.

Universalism, the Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years

by John Wesley Hanson

More Glimpses of Heaven

by Trudy Harris

That All Shall Be Saved

by David Bentley Hart

Transforming

by Austen Hartke

Hearing Heart

by Hannah Hurnard

Her Gates Will Never Be Shut

by Brad Jersak

A More Christlike God

by Bradley Jersak

A More Christlike Way

by Bradley Jersak

Creation and the Cross

by Elizabeth A. Johnson

Did God Kill Jesus?

by Tony Jones

Praying for Strangers

by River Jordan

Leatherbound Terrorism

by Chris Kratzer

Help Thanks Wow

by Anne Lamott

Your Life in Christ

by George MacDonald
edited by Michael Phillips

The Evangelical Universalist

by Gregory MacDonald

Always True

by James MacDonald

The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything

by James Martin, S.J.

Building a Bridge

by James Martin, S.J.

Champagne for the Soul

by Mike Mason

The Source of Miracles

by Kathleen McGowan

Naked Spirituality

by Brian McLaren

Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?

by Brian D. McLaren

A Praying Life

by Paul E. Miller

The Promise

by Robert J. Morgan

Then Sings My Soul

by Robert J. Morgan

Nothing But the Blood of Jesus

by J. D. Myers

To Heaven and Back

by Mary C. Neal, M.D.

Cold Tangerines

by Shauna Niequist

The Return of the Prodigal Son

by Henri J. M. Nouwen

The Only Necessary Thing

by Henri J. M. Nouwen
compiled and edited by Wendy Wilson Greer

A Bigger Table

by John Pavlovitz

Called to Create

by Jordan Raynor

The Universal Christ

by Richard Rohr

The Rapture Exposed

by Barbara R. Rossing

The Face of Water

by Sarah Ruden

Paul Among the People

by Sarah Ruden

Heaven's Doors

by George W. Sarris

I Do Again

by Cheryl and Jeff Scruggs

God Is Able

by Priscilla Shirer

The Prodigal's Perspective

by Robert E. Steinkamp

Your Father Knows Best

compiled by Bob and Charlyne Steinkamp

Inventing Hell

by Jon M. Sweeney

Simply Enough

by Tim Timmons

Free of Charge

by Miroslav Volf

One Thousand Gifts

by Ann Voskamp

Being Christian

by Rowan Williams

Wearing God

by Lauren F. Winner

The Day the Revolution Began

by N. T. Wright

Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God

by Brian Zahnd

Creativity

The Watchman and Other Poems

by L. M. Montgomery

The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables

by Catherine Reid

The Story of English in 100 Words

by David Crystal

Show and Tell

by Dilys Evans

Measure for Measure

edited by Annie Finch and Alexandra Oliver

Art Matters

by Neil Gaiman
illustrated by Chris Riddell

Stunning Photographs

by Annie Griffiths

Steal Like an Artist

by Austin Kleon

Making Mischief

by Gregory Maguire

What We See When We Read

by Peter Mendelsund

The Annotated Anne of Green Gables

by L. M. Montgomery
edited by Wendy E. Barry, Margaret Anne Doody, and Mary E. Doody Jones

The Alpine Path

by L. M. Montgomery

Singing School

by Robert Pinsky

Poems for Life

The Pun Also Rises

by John Pollack

Reading Like a Writer

by Francine Prose

Children's Book-a-Day Almanac

by Anita Silvey

What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night

by Refe & Susan Tuma

Current Issues

The Women of the 116th Congress

foreword by Roxane Gay
portraits by Elizabeth D. Herman and Celeste Sloman

Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds

by Ian Wright
illustrated by Infographic.ly

Dear Ijeawele
or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A Fistful of Rice

by Vikram Akula

NurtureShock

by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman
read by Po Bronson

Top Dog

by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
read by Po Bronson

Open Borders

written by Bryan Caplan
artwork by Zach Weinersmith

This Is What a Librarian Looks Like

by Kyle Cassidy

23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

by Ha-Joon Chang

Tears We Cannot Stop

by Michael Eric Dyson

$2.00 a Day

by Kathryn J. Edin & H. Luke Shaefer

Haiti After the Earthquake

by Paul Farmer

Al Franken, Giant of the Senate

by Al Franken

The End of the Suburbs

by Leigh Gallagher
read by Jessica Geffen

Histories of the Transgender Child

by Julian Gill-Peterson

This Book Is Overdue

by Marilyn Johnson

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

by Barbara Kingsolver

Fire in the Ashes

by Jonathan Kozol

The Story of Stuff

by Annie Leonard

Think Like a Freak

by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
read by Stephen J. Dubner

Tell Me How It Ends

by Valeria Luiselli

Between Two Worlds

by Elizabeth Marquardt

So You Want to Talk About Race

by Ijeoma Oluo

The State of Affairs

by Esther Perel

Shiny Objects

by James Roberts

God Believes in Love

by Gene Robinson

Me and White Supremacy

by Layla F. Saad

Breaking Free

by Abby Sher

Men Explain Things to Me

by Rebecca Solnit

Shade

by Pete Souza

Just Mercy

by Bryan Stevenson

Thirty Million Words

by Dana Suskind

A Fighting Chance

by Elizabeth Warren

The Parents We Mean To Be

by Richard Weissbourd

The Hour of Land

by Terry Tempest Williams

Health

All Is Well

by Louise L. Hay & Mona Lisa Schulz, MD, PhD

Walk Your Butt Off!

by Sarah Lorge Butler with Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, and Michele Stanten

The Brain That Changes Itself

by Norman Doidge, M.D.

Choosing Brilliant Health

by Rick Foster and Greg Hicks

You Can Heal Your Life

by Louise L. Hay

Peace, Love, and Healing

by Bernie S. Siegel, M.D.

Humor

Strange Planet

by Nathan W. Pyle

Calypso

by David Sedaris

Library Mascot Cage Match

by Bill Barnes & Gene Ambaum

Vader's Little Princess

by Jeffrey Brown

The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love

by Jill Conner Browne

The Sweet Potato Queens' Field Guide to Men

by Jill Conner Browne

Fat Is the New 30

by Jill Conner Browne

Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington

by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein

Bossypants

by Tina Fey

Raising Demons

by Shirley Jackson

Furiously Happy

by Jenny Lawson

The New Yorker Book of Kids* Cartoons

edited by Robert Mankoff

The Anthology of Really Important Modern Poetry

by Kathryn and Ross Petras

The Complete Peanuts: 1967 to 1968

by Charles M. Schulz

The Complete Peanuts: 1969 to 1970

by Charles M. Schulz

The Complete Peanuts: 1971 to 1972

by Charles M. Schulz

The Complete Peanuts: 1973 to 1974

by Charles M. Schulz

The Complete Peanuts
1999 to 2000

by Charles M. Schulz

Horseradish

by Lemony Snicket

99 Stormtroopers Join the Empire

by Greg Stones

Exploring Calvin and Hobbes

by Bill Watterson

Musings

Living Buddha, Living Christ

by Thich Nhat Hanh

Almost Everything

by Anne Lamott

The Book of Joy

by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
with Douglas Abrams

Breakfast Epiphanies

by David Anderson

Miss Alcott's E-mail

by Kit Bakke

Maeve's Times

by Maeve Binchy

Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve

by Ben Blatt

Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give

by Ada Calhoun

Faith and Will

by Julia Cameron

Let Go Now

by Karen Casey

Peace
A Day at a Time

by Karen Casey

Flirting with Pride and Prejudice

edited by Jennifer Crusie

On Living

by Kerry Egan

Dreaming in Chinese

by Deborah Fallows

The Gift of Anger

by Arun Gandhi

Our Own Selves

by Michael Gorman

Our Singular Strengths

by Michael Gorman

Knitting Yarns

edited by Ann Hood

Knitting Pearls

edited by Ann Hood

The Gift of an Ordinary Day

by Katrina Kenison

Firstlight

by Sue Monk Kidd

When the Heart Waits

by Sue Monk Kidd

Traveling With Pomegranates

by Sue Monk Kidd
and Ann Kidd Taylor

Good Prose

by Tracy Kidder & Richard Todd

Confessions of an Amateur Believer

by Patty Kirk

Nine Essential Things I've Learned About Life

by Harold S. Kushner

Some Assembly Required

by Anne Lamott
with Sam Lamott

Small Victories

by Anne Lamott

Hallelujah Anyway

by Anne Lamott

The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life

by Steve Leveen

Camino Divina

by Gina Marie Mammano

The Dance

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

The Yarn Whisperer

by Clara Parkes

Pursuing the Good Life

by Christopher Peterson

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake

by Anna Quindlen

Not Becoming My Mother

by Ruth Reichl

Kitchen Table Wisdom

by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.

My Bookstore

edited by Ronald Rice

Rilke's Book of Hours

by Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy

When I Was a Child I Read Books

by Marilynne Robinson

Falling Upward

by Richard Rohr

Gratitude

by Oliver Sacks

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair

by Nina Sankovitch

Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper

by SARK

Glad No Matter What

by SARK

Love, Magic & Mudpies

by Bernie Siegel, MD

Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book

edited by Anita Silvey

Shelf Discovery

by Lizzie Skurnick

Dear Fahrenheit 451

by Annie Spence

Humans of New York

by Brandon Stanton

When Strangers Meet

by Kio Stark

Tiny Beautiful Things

by Cheryl Strayed

Brave Enough

by Cheryl Strayed

The Wisdom of Sundays

by Oprah Winfrey

Still

by Lauren F. Winner

The Writer Who Stayed

by William Zinsser

Personal Growth

Keep Moving

by Maggie Smith

Everyday Ubuntu

by Mungi Ngomane

Say This, Not That

by Carl Alasko, PhD

Tell Me No Lies

by Ellyn Bader, PhD, and Peter T. Pearson, PhD

What Happy Women Know

by Dan Baker, PhD, and Cathy Greenberg, PhD, with Ina Yalof

Why Does He Do that?

by Lundy Bancroft

Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

by Lundy Bancroft
and JAC Patrissi

Four Ways to Click

by Amy Banks, M.D.
with Leigh Ann Hirschman

Beyond Codependency

by Melody Beattie

Codependent No More

by Melody Beattie

The New Codependency

by Melody Beattie

The Language of Letting Go

by Melody Beattie

Steering by Starlight

by Martha Beck

Emotional Vampires

by Albert J. Bernstein, PhD

The Mother's Book of Well-Being

by Lisa Groen Braner

The Gifts of Imperfection

by Brene Brown

Daring Greatly

by Brené Brown

Rising Strong

by Brené Brown

Braving the Wilderness

by Brené Brown

Dare to Lead

by Brené Brown

Quiet

by Susan Cain

You Can Be Happy No Matter What

by Richard Carlson, PhD

Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow

by Karen Casey

Each Day a New Beginning

by Karen Casey

The Trance of Scarcity

by Victoria Castle

In the Ever After

by Allan B. Chinen

Sink Reflections

by Marla Cilley—the FlyLady

Women Who Run With the Wolves

by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Controlling People

by Patricia Evans

Verbal Abuse Survivors Speak Out

by Patricia Evans

The Verbally Abusive Man: Can He Change?

by Patricia Evans

The Verbally Abusive Relationship

by Patricia Evans

Victory Over Verbal Abuse

by Patricia Evans

Surviving Survival

by Laurence Gonzales

The Art of Storytelling

by Hannah B. Harvey

The Power Is Within You

by Louise L. Hay

You Can Heal Your Heart

by Louise Hay
and David Kessler

Life Loves You

by Louise Hay and Robert Holden

Thresholds

by Sherre Hirsch

Happiness Now!

by Robert Holden, PhD

Loveability

by Robert Holden

The Forgiving Self

by Robert Karen, PhD

I Need Your Love -- Is That True?

by Byron Katie

Loving What Is

by Byron Katie

The Ten Things to Do When Your Life Falls Apart

by Daphne Rose Kingma

"I Love You But I Don't Trust You"

by Mira Kirshenbaum

Joyful

by Ingrid Fetell Lee

Attached

by Amir Levine and Rachel S. F. Heller

The Orphaned Adult

by Alexander Levy

How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It

by Patricia Love, EdD, and Steven Stosny, PhD

Forgive for Good

by Dr. Fred Luskin

Forgive for Love

by Dr. Fred Luskin

The Willpower Instinct

by Kelly McGonigal, PhD

The Upside of Stress

by Kelly McGonigal

Overcoming Passive-Aggression

by Tim Murphy, PhD, and Loriann Hoff Oberlin

Sacred Choices

by Christel Nani

So Good They Can't Ignore You

by Cal Newport

The Marriage Benefit

by Mark O'Connell, PhD

Emotional Freedom

by Judith Orloff, MD

Deeper Dating

by Ken Page

The War of Art

by Steven Pressfield

Staying Connected to Your Teenager

by Michael Riera, PhD

The Four Tendencies

by Gretchen Rubin

ScreamFree Marriage

by Hal Edward Runkel
with Jenny Runkel

Real Love

by Sharon Salzberg

Back to Life

by Alicia Salzer

Option B

by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant

Change Your Life Without Getting Out of Bed

by SARK

Prosperity Pie

by SARK

Runaway Husbands

by Vikki Stark

This Is Not the Life I Ordered

by Deborah Collins Stephens, Jackie Speier, Michealene Cristini Risley, and Jan Yanehiro

The Gaslight Effect

by Dr. Robin Stern

You Don't Have To Take It Anymore

by Steven Stosny, PhD

Living and Loving After Betrayal

by Steven Stosny

Soar Above

by Steven Stosny

Empowered Love

by Steven Stosny, PhD

The Science of Happily Ever After

by Ty Tashiro

The Book of Forgiving

by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu

How to Avoid Falling in Love with a Jerk

by John Van Epp, PhD

Living With the Passive-Aggressive Man

by Scott Wetzler, PhD

He's Just No Good For You

by Beth Wilson

A Woman's Worth

by Marianne Williamson

Science & Math

Experimenting with Babies

by Shaun Gallagher

The New York Times Book of Physics and Astronomy

edited by Cornelia Dean

The Jazz of Physics

by Stephon Alexander

Patterns of the Universe

by Alex Bellos and Edmund Harriss

Here's Looking at Euclid

by Alex Bellos

How to Bake Pi

by Eugenia Cheng

Where the Animals Go

by James Cheshire and Oliver Uberti

The Numbers Behind Numb3rs

by Kevin Devlin and Gary Lorden

Mathematics 1001

by Dr. Richard Elwes

Lost Animals

by Errol Fuller

Trees Up Close

by Nancy Ross Hugo
photographs by Robert Llewellyn

The New York Times Book of Mathematics

edited by Gina Kolata

Ken Libbrecht's Field Guide to Snowflakes

What If?

by Randall Munroe

The Periodic Table
A Visual Guide to the Elements

by Paul Parsons & Gail Dixon

Thunder and Lightning

by Lauren Redniss

Proofiness

by Charles Seife

Headstrong

by Rachel Swaby

True Stories

Know My Name

by Chanel Miller

My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me

by Jason B. Rosenthal
read by the author

The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh

by Kathryn Aalto

The Second Journey

by Joan Anderson

Symphony for the City of the Dead

by M. T. Anderson

Playing It by Heart

by Melody Beattie

Free for All

by Don Borchert

Everything Happens for a Reason
And Other Lies I've Loved

by Kate Bowler

Going Into Town

by Roz Chast

First Cameraman

by Arun Chaudhary

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

by Amy Chua

You're Never Weird on the Internet (almost)

by Felicia Day

A Jane Austen Education

by William Deresiewicz

Four Seasons in Rome

by Anthony Doerr

Hope and Other Luxuries

by Clare B. Dunkle

Elena Vanishing

by Elena and Clare B. Dunkle

Footnotes from the World's Greatest Bookstores

by Bob Eckstein

Resilience

by Elizabeth Edwards

Kindness and Wonder

by Gavin Edwards

Zeitoun

by Dave Eggers
narrated by Firdous Bamji

As You Wish

by Cary Elwes

The Journal of Best Practices

by David Finch

Little Princes

by Conor Grennan

Charles and Emma

by Deborah Heiligman

All Creatures Great and Small

by James Herriot

Left to Tell

by Immaculee Ilibagiza
with Steve Erwin

Led by Faith

by Immaculee Ilibagiza
with Steve Erwin

Our Lady of Kibeho

by Immaculee Ilibagiza
with Steve Erwin

The Boy Who Met Jesus

by Immaculee Ilibagiza

All There Is

collected by Dave Isay

The Plantagenets

by Dan Jones
read by Clive Chafer

The Girl's Guide to Homelessness

by Brianna Karp

Super Late Bloomer

by Julia Kaye

Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy

by Jacqueline Kennedy
Interviews with Arthur M. Schlessinger, Jr., 1964

Mountains Beyond Mountains

by Tracy Kidder
read by Paul Michael

Strength in What Remains

by Tracy Kidder
read by the author

Beyond Magenta

written and photographed by Susan Kuklin

As We Forgive

by Catherine Claire Larson

Out of the Depths

by Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana

by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

The Card Catalog

by The Library of Congress
foreword by Carla Hayden

I'm Proud of You

by Tim Madigan

Listening for Madeleine

by Leonard Marcus

Helen Oxenbury
A Life in Illustration

by Leonard Marcus

The Real Thing

by Ellen McCarthy

The Wilder Life

by Wendy McClure
performed by Teri Clark Linden

Waking Up in Heaven

by Crystal McVea
and Alex Tresniowski

Argo

by Antonio Mendez and Matt Baglio
read by Dylan Baker

Hamilton
The Revolution

by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter

The Map of My Dead Pilots

by Colleen Mondor

This Is Not the Story You Think It Is...

by Laura Munson

Born a Crime

by Trevor Noah
performed by the author

The Atlas of Beauty

by Mihaela Noroc

The Audacity of Hope

by Barack Obama

Dreams From My Father

by Barack Obama

Becoming

by Michelle Obama

Barefoot in Baghdad

by Manal M. Omar

Feynman

written by Jim Ottaviani
art by Leland Myrick
coloring by Hilary Sycamore

The Reading Promise

by Alice Ozma

Struck by Genius

by Jason Padgett and Maureen Ann Seaberg
performed by Jeff Cummings and Kate Rudd

A Game of Birds and Wolves

by Simon Parkin

Love Isn't Supposed to Hurt

by Christi Paul

A People Tall and Smooth

by Judith Galblum Pex

French by Heart

by Rebecca S. Ramsey

Radioactive

by Lauren Redniss

The Mind's Eye

by Oliver Sacks
read by Oliver Sacks and Richard Davidson

Persepolis

by Marjane Satrapi

Crazy for God

by Frank Schaeffer

Sex, Mom, and God

by Frank Schaeffer

To Timbuktu

by Casey Scieszka and Steven Weinberg

Beneath the Tamarind Tree

by Isha Sesay

Hidden Figures

by Margot Lee Shetterly

Stitches

by David Small

Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing

by Megan Smolenyak

Obama
An Intimate Portrait

by Pete Souza

Humans of New York
Stories

by Brandon Stanton

Born on a Blue Day

by Daniel Tammet
read by Simon Vance

My Stroke of Insight

by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.
read by the author

A Three Dog Life

by Abigail Thomas

Paris, My Sweet

by Amy Thomas

Keep Moving

by Dick Van Dyke

A Beautiful, Terrible Thing

by Jen Waite

Educated

by Tara Westover
read by Julia Whelan

You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons

by Mo Willems

Call the Midwife

by Jennifer Worth
read by Nicola Barber