They say that what we read shapes who we become, and the older I get, the more I believe it! It’s sobering to realize we cannot afford to be careless with what we consume.
In a culture that fragments our attention into endless scrolling and shallow thinking, reading requires resistance. It demands that we slow down, go deep, and allow words to settle into our souls like rain into thirsty ground. The books we read become part of us. They shape our imagination, refine our understanding, and gradually form us into people who see the world, ourselves, and God more clearly.
This is why reading more is always one of my New Year's resolutions. I’ve selected 12 books that you should consider reading in 2026, ranging from fiction to biography to theology. But first, I wanted to provide some practical advice for how to succeed.
The secret is not finding time to read but making time to read. There's a big difference. Finding time suggests it's hiding somewhere in your schedule, waiting to be discovered. Making time acknowledges that you must create it—carve it out deliberately from other activities that are easier but less nourishing.
Start with fifteen minutes. Just fifteen. That's all. Not an hour. Not even thirty minutes. Fifteen minutes is achievable even on your hardest days. It's short enough that you can't talk yourself out of it, but long enough to get somewhere meaningful. Over a year, those daily fifteen minutes will carry you through approximately twenty books! Twenty books that could change the trajectory of your thinking, your faith, your life.
Another idea is to attach reading to something you already do. Morning coffee. Lunch break. The quiet evenings after kids are in bed. Waiting rooms and train rides. Make it non-negotiable, like brushing your teeth. Put it on your to-do list every single day. Check it off with the satisfaction of knowing you invested in something that will outlast the urgency of emails and errands.
Keep a book with you always. In your bag. On your nightstand. Downloaded on your phone. The fewer barriers between you and reading, the more likely it is to happen! And when the words feel slow, or your comprehension seems fuzzy, keep going. Your brain is adjusting and learning to focus again. It is good for you.
Now, if you’re not sure what to read next year, here is a list of 12 books. I’ve paired them with each month of the year, but feel free to read them in order or skip around as you desire.
What matters is that you read.
January
by Reagan Rose
This book offers a biblical theology of productivity that frees us from both laziness and unhealthy hustle. It shows how work is part of God's good design, how rest is essential rather than optional, and how our worth is not measured by our output. This book will help you steward our time and energy in ways that honor God and sustain your soul.
It’s a short book to help start off your year with a reading win!
February
by Charlotte Brontë
I mean, come on, have you not read Jane Eyre yet? I admit that this book will likely stretch you, but you’re still going to be enjoying that new year high! What better time to read a story of romance, conviction, and courage! This is a novel about enduring mistreatment and maintaining innocence in the face of evil, about the value of passionate love being guided by inner conviction, and about following your conscience even when it means letting go of what you want. It's a love story for the ages, and you should definitely read it again or for the first time in February.
March
by Dane Ortlund
This book is a balm for the soul, and you absolutely must read it in 2026. It’s March, which means you may need some encouragement as you wait for Spring to arrive in full. This book will take you deep into the Puritan understanding of Jesus's affections, revealing a Savior whose deepest inclination toward sinners is not disappointment or irritation but tender mercy. This is a book about who Jesus is at his very core, and it will make you weep and worship.
April
by Nancy Pearcey
If you want to understand what is happening in our culture at large, then you need to read this book. It examines contemporary issues around gender, sexuality, and the body with Gospel clarity and compassion. Pearcey traces how secular worldviews divide the person from the body, treating the body as raw material to be used rather than integral to identity. Against this, she presents the Christian vision of embodied personhood where body and soul are united, where physical form matters, where we are not merely spirits trapped in flesh but whole persons created in God's image! This is cultural analysis that helps us think clearly about the most contentious issues of our time. A heftier read, but it will absolutely blow you away! You just won’t be the same.
May
by C.S. Lewis
An odd choice for May, you might say, but I’m feeling it! This book is Lewis’s retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. It’s positively haunting. Told from the perspective of Orual, Psyche's older sister, it explores jealousy, love, and the ways we deceive ourselves about our own motives. This is a story about the faces we show to the world and the faces we hide, about accusation and answer, about how we must die to truly live. The prose is stunning, the insights piercing, the ending devastating and glorious. One of my personal favorites.
June
by Paul David Tripp
I want you to take some time in June to just sit in awe of God. So here’s a book all about Awe. Tripp explores how awe of God is the antidote to the spiritual lethargy and functional atheism that plague us. We were made for wonder, designed to be undone by the majesty and glory of God. But we've settled for small gods, tame gods, manageable gods. This book calls us back to seeing God as He truly is—transcendent, holy, beautiful, terrifying in His glory. A perfect book to read during thunderstorm season (if you’re in Florida like me).
July
Delighting in the Trinity
by Michael Reeves
A wonderful read right here. It will stir your soul in all the best ways. Reeves makes the doctrine of the Trinity come alive, showing how Father, Son, and Spirit relate to each other in eternal love and how that shapes everything about Christian faith and life. This is not a dry doctrine book but theology that sings! That makes you want to worship! This book demonstrates that the Trinity is not a mathematical puzzle to solve but the beating heart of reality, the foundation of all Christian belief and practice. Without the Trinity, Christianity collapses into something unrecognizable. It’s SO good and I think it will fit into your summer reading quite nicely.
August
Liturgy of the Ordinary
by Tish Harrison Warren
Start of school season! And I picked this book for August on purpose. It will open your eyes to how the presence of God fills even the most mundane corners of daily life. From brushing teeth to losing keys to sitting in traffic, the author helps us see how ordinary rhythms can become sacred spaces for worship and formation. It is the perfect time of year to recover the holiness of the daily and remember that spiritual transformation happens not only in mountaintop moments but in quiet, unseen habits of the school year.
September
by Russ Ramsey
Oh what a beautiful book. Through the lives of artists like Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and van Gogh, Ramsey explores what it means to create, to struggle, to pour your soul into work that may never be recognized. These are stories of suffering and beauty, failure and perseverance, the cost of making art in a world that often doesn't understand. Ramsey writes with the eye of an artist and the heart of a pastor, finding gospel truth in paint and stone, showing how these artists' struggles mirror our own quest to make something meaningful in a broken world. It’s a great book to read right when the whisper of fall is in the air.
October
When Culture Hates You
by Natasha Crain
It’s October, which probably means the country will be all abuzz with talk of the midterm elections, which makes this book a wonderfully timely read. This book speaks into the growing tension many Christians feel as biblical conviction collides with secular hostility. It will help you discern cultural messages, respond with wisdom, and remain faithful even when following Jesus is costly. Let this book bring some clarity to all those political conversations!
November
by Corrie ten Boom
This is Corrie ten Boom's account of hiding Jews in Nazi-occupied Holland, and her subsequent imprisonment in a concentration camp. Heavy stuff, but absolutely beautiful. Her story is extraordinary and worth attending to. Corrie’s life is a wonderful testimony to the grace of God and the power he provides us even in the darkest of situations. Trust me, it will move you and encourage you deeply.
December
The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness
by Timothy Keller
The holidays are perfect for a book this short and convicting and freeing. There can be a lot of self-focus around Christmas, so let this little read lighten your load and guide your decision-making during one of the busiest months of the year. Also, there is no better way to wrap up the year than by reminding yourself that you’re just not that big of a deal. Trust me, this book may just change your life!
There you go! 12 books to read in 2026. You don't have to follow this plan exactly. Life happens. Months get busy. Books take longer than expected. What matters is not rigid adherence to a schedule but the consistent effort to maintain reading as a worthwhile habit in your life.
What you read this year will shape who you become. The voices you listen to, the ideas you entertain, the stories you absorb—all of it forms you, slowly and surely, into someone. Choose wisely. Read deeply. Read widely. Read prayerfully.
May you grow in wisdom, deepen in faith, and emerge from 2026 more fully the person God created you to be!
Happy reading, dear friend.