Through the Year with George MacDonald366 Daily Readings
Review posted December 16, 2025.
Winged Lion Press, 2012. 406 pages.
Review written December 16, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com.
Starred Review
I normally wait until I have finished every page of a book to write a review, but I decided to make an exception in this case, just in case someone's looking for daily devotional readings for 2026. (Not that you couldn't start midyear.) I've read a page a day from this book for all of 2025, and it has enriched my life.
I have long been a George MacDonald fan. C. S. Lewis famously said, "I consider George MacDonald my master," and I could say the same. It was George MacDonald's nonfiction writings, which I first encountered in Discovering the Character of God and Knowing the Heart of God, that I first grappled with the idea that God will save everyone - and it was George MacDonald's obvious deep knowledge of Scripture and deep love for God that helped me dare to believe it.
I've already read MacDonald's Unspoken Sermons and other nonfiction many times. So this book was a nice way to be reminded of his ideas with a dose each day. Each day's reading is one page from MacDonald's writings - mostly the nonfiction. The book also includes important events in George MacDonald's life and a verse for each selection. Some of the selections come from his letters or other sources that were new to me.
George MacDonald, a nineteenth century Scottish preacher, firmly believed in that God is our loving Father. His writings simply drip with the perspective of that amazing love. I've long found that regularly reading George MacDonald's writing lifts my perspective, builds my faith, and fills me with hope and joy. This book was a perfect way to fill that dose, and I'm planning to go through it again for 2026.