We like to recommend the following books not because they are necessarily the best book on a given topic, but because of their clarity combined with manageable size. There are more exhaustive books, and perhaps better books, but these are the best that we know of in terms of reliability and ease-of-use.
John Hendryx and the kind folks at Monergism Books have a good history of getting specific titles to us way up in Alaska. They carry all of the titles below and we recommend giving them a try.
Becoming a Christian
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
John Stott, Why I Am a Christian
What is Christianity?
Sinclair Ferguson, The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction
Michael Horton, Putting Amazing Back into Grace
Greg Gilbert, What is the Gospel?
J. I. Packer, Concise Theology
John Stott, Basic Christianity
What is the church?
Brian Habig and Les Newsom, The Enduring Community
Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love
Philip Graham Ryken, City on a Hill
Wayne A. Mack and David Swavely, Life in the Father’s House: A Member’s Guide to the Local Church
Reading the Bible
Michael Williams, How to Read the Bible Through the Jesus Lens
Michael Brown and Zach Keele, Sacred Bond: Covenant Theology Explored
Robert H. Stein, A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible: Playing by the Rules
Vaughan Roberts, God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible
Dan McCartney and Charles Clayton, Let the Reader Understand
Finding God’s will
Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will
Bruce K. Waltke, Finding the Will of God: A Pagan Notion?
Jerry Bridges, Is God Really in Control? Trusting God in a World of Hurt
Tim Challies, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment
What is does it mean to be human?
Ranald Macaulay and Jerram Barrs, Being Human: The Nature of Spiritual Experience
Kris Lundgaard, The Enemy Within: Straight Talk About the Power and Defeat of Sin
Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., Not the Way Its Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin
Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will
What is Christian growth?
J. I. Packer, Faithfulness and Holiness: The Witness of J. C. Ryle
Kevin DeYoung, The Hole in Our Holiness
Francis A. Schaeffer, True Spirituality: How to Live for Jesus Moment by Moment
Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification
Christian growth, day-by-day
Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor, Overcoming Sin and Temptation: Three Classic Works by John Owen
Richard Lovelace, Renewal As a Way of Life
Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
J. I. Packer, Growing in Christ
Sharing Christianity with others
Jerram Barrs, The Heart of Evangelism
Jerram Barrs, Learning Evangelism From Jesus
William Edgar, Reasons of the Heart: Recovering Christian Persuasion
Michael Green, Sharing Your Faith with Friends and Family
John Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God
J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
The life of prayer
Arthur Bennett, The Valley of Vision
Archie Parrish, A Simple Way to Pray
Joel R. Beeke & Brian G. Najapfour, Taking Hold of God: Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer
Bryan Chapell, Praying Backwards: Transform Your Prayer Life By Beginning In Jesus’ Name
Richard L. Pratt, Jr., Pray with Your Eyes Open: Looking at God, Ourselves, and Our Prayers
Showing mercy
Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy
Craig L. Blomberg, Neither Poverty Nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions
John Stott, Christian Mission in the Modern World
Tim Chester, A Meal With Jesus: Discovering Grace, Community, and Mission around the Table
The Christian mind
John Stott, Your Mind Matters: The Place of the Mind in the Christian Life
Esther Meek, Longing to Know
Mark Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
Ronald H. Nash, Word of God and the Mind of Man
Engaging the world
Abraham Kuyper, Lectures on Calvinism
David Wells, No Place for Truth
Gene E. Veith, Jr., Loving God with All Your Mind: Living as a Christian in the Postmodern World
Colin Brown, Philosophy and Christian Faith
Kenneth Myers, All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes
Jeffrey Overstreet, Through a Screen Darkly
William Romanowski, Eyes Wide Open
The church’s history
Mark A. Noll, Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity
S. M. Houghton, Sketches From Church History
Mark A. Noll, Old Religion in a New World: The History of North American Christianity
Justo Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Present Day
Stephen J. Nichols, The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World
Being presbyterian and Reformed
John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion
Guy Prentiss Waters, How Jesus Runs the Church
Sean Michael Lucas, On Being Presbyterian: Our Beliefs, Practices, and Stories
R. C. Sproul, What Is Reformed Theology?
William Edgar, Truth in All Its Glory: Commending the Reformed Faith
The sacraments of the gospel
Robert Letham, The Lord’s Supper: Eternal Word in Broken Bread
Keith Mathison, Given for You: Reclaiming Calvin’s Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper
Bart Garrett, The Mystery of Grace in the Baptism of our Children
Robert Booth, Children of the Promise: The Biblical Case for Infant Baptism
John P. Sartelle, What Christian Parents Should Know About Baptism
