Why Believe, by Neil Shenvi
This is an incredibly well-written "general apologetics" book, covering why belief in God is reasonable, and especially belief in Jesus Christ and Christianity. It is solidly logical, but filled with anecdotes, humor, sincerity, and a warm, personal feel. This is right up at the top of such books, alongside "Mere Christianity" by CS Lewis and "The Reason For God" by Tim Keller. Shenvi's book has some unique contributions. Since he is a scientist, he handles the issues related to science and faith (and naturalism) very well. He also deals well (briefly) with comparisons between Christianity and Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism. He presents the Trilemma (Jesus must be either Liar, Lunatic, or Lord), as well as a good solid section on the reliability of the New Testament (dealing with the "Legend" option). He writes quite a bit about the Gospel and sin. He has a better succinct set of answers to the problem of Evil than any other apologetics book I've read. Basically, he says that no one argument answers the problem of Evil, but together (he presents several answers which work together) they answer the objection well. He also presents a unique argument from the idea that we ought to seek the truth... Shenvi shows that this sense of obligation we feel (that we ought to seek the truth / true answers, not just answers that make us feel good) points to the existence of the God of the Bible, and argues against atheism. One or two sections were more philosophical and harder to read (such as about why the fact that the universe is so predictable and explainable by mathematics points to the God of the Bible), but those sections might be enjoyable for science-/philosophy-minded people. This is a top-quality book, and I will likely be ordering more copies to give away, and re-reading it again in the future.

Scribes and Scripture, by John Meade and Peter Gurry
This is an interesting book about the process of how the Bible came to us today, from the early days when it was being written, to the early manuscript copies, to the process of canonization, to the modern translations. It has a lot of interesting details. It talked about how (for example) some of the Old Testament scribes seem to have updated the word usage of their copies, whereas other scribes kept the older word usage even after the language had changed. It had a nice balance of popular-level non-academic writing but with some academic details. I'd say it's recommended for those who have interest in this topic.

Where God Came Down, by Joel Kramer
This is a fascinating book about the archaeology of certain key places in Israel. It is full of photos and maps, and shows the archaeological evidence at many of the spots that have been visited over the centuries by Jews and Christians, such as Mamre, Bethel, the city/palace of David (and the tombs of the Kings), Mount Moriah (Temple Mount) and nearby digs, the crucifixion and burial area of Jesus, and many more. It shows two synagogues built by early Jewish Christians (Messianic followers of Jesus). It ties all of these places and their archaeological evidence in repeatedly to the Bible's main point, about our need for a Savior because of our sins, and how God has repeatedly predicted the coming of Jesus. Highly recommended book.

The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History, Colin Hemer
This is an extremely thorough and scholarly book about the historicity of the book of Acts in the Bible. It presents many points in favor of historicity. However, it is too dense and scholarly to be an enjoyable read for most people. I liked the way he pointed out that the main reason most scholars had dismissed the historicity of Acts is for very weak reasons, and mostly because of scholarly (seminary) group-think... i.e. 'because all the other scholars thought that way', and that the actual evidence supporting Acts is quite strong compared to other historical documents. Since Acts and Luke were written by the same author, this supports Luke too, and thus all the gospels (because Matthew and Mark are considered to be earlier than Luke).

Lament for a Father, Marvin Olasky
Thought-provoking book... Olasky wrote this out of remorse because he had had a bad relationship with his father and had not asked him much about his life. Olasky researched more about the times his father lived through, after his father's death. This book is very historically informative, but very sad. There's a good little postscript. Most people probably would not enjoy this one.

Can We Trust The Gospels? by Peter J. Williams
This is an excellent book. It is surprisingly short and succinct. He has condensed some of the best evidence for the historical accuracy of the New Testament Gospels into a very well-written book. He compares them with information from Tacitus, Pliny, and Josephus (not relying on the Testimonium), and compares the amount of historical biography we have about Jesus to the amount we have about Jesus' contemporary Emperor Tiberius (we have the same or more about Jesus). He discusses evidences such as the matching name frequencies and undesigned coincidences. He has good brief discussions of the Synoptic Puzzle and various apparent contradictions between the Gospels. He compares the NT gospels with the apocryphal gospels of Phillip, Thomas, Mary, etc. He discusses whether the text has changed or been lost over the centuries, and the manuscript evidence we have. He has a really excellent response to the "bias" objection, on his first page of chapter 1. Overall this is a GREAT resource, highly recommended for anyone, Christian or nonChristian. It clears away objections to learning from the Bible about the life and teachings of Jesus, the greatest person who ever lived.