Just finished N.T. Wright’s [i]The Resurrection of the Son of God[/i], [url=http://www.vulcanhammer.org/2009/06/07/book-review-nt-wrights-the-resurrection-of-the-son-of-god/]review of same is here[/url].
Just finished an amazing series by C. J. Sansom: Dissolution; Dark Fire; Sovereign; and Revelation. All 4 books are set in the period of the English Reformation, EXCELLENT historical fiction and murder mystery to boot! I nearly read them straight through.
I just finished Jeremy Begbie’s “Resounding Truth”, on rethinking the Christian understanding of the role of music. It was insightful and was cited favorably by Rowan Williams and NT Wright. I would recommend for people working through issues with music in the church and the public arts.
“A Beautiful Mind” by Sylvia Nassar. Biography of mathematician John Nash (afflicted with schizophrenia), and made into a sugar-coated Ron Howard movie.
Just finished the Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy L. Sayers – my New Years Resolution is now complete! Reading Confessions by St. Augustine, The Shack, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch, and Black Rednecks & White Liberals by Thomas Sowell.
Christopher Seitz [i]Word Without End[/i]
Ramsay MacMullen [i]Voting about God in Early Church Councils[/i]
Ernest Lee Tuveson [i]Millennium and Utopia: A Study in the Background of the Idea of Progress[/i]
Nicholas of Cusa [i]Writings on Church and Reform[/i]
Ephraim Radner [i]Spirit and Nature[/i]
Balthasar [i]The Glory of the Lord: The Realm of Metaphysics in the Modern Age[/i]
I am reading bits a pieces of all of these right now (not all of them at once).
Before bed: [i]Born to Run[/i] A book about the Tarahumara Indians who live in the Copper Canyons in Mexico. They’re basically the polar opposite of Americans: healthy, fit, happy, peaceful, self giving for the common good, non violent. They run anywhere from a few hours to several days without breaking for a game they play and in order to hunt herds of animals like deer (they just run until the animals tire and then they can walk up to them and kill them). They eat healthfully, they don’t die of cardiovascular diseases, dementia, cancer, or most other diseases we do. They don’t have poverty, crime, depression or abuse in their communities and finally their economy is based on making sure everyone in the community has what they need to survive. Apparently Jesuits attempted to convert them to Christianity but it would appear the Tarahumara just took Christian teachings and adapted them to their local cultural and spiritual background (not unlike westerners I suppose – except for the fact that they’re cultural background is not rationalistic and narcissistic). Fascinating book … and inspiring if you’re an endurance athlete and/or a runner.
Just finishing THE PHYSICS OF CHRISTIANITY, by Dr. Frank J. Tipler, of Tulane University. A good read, although some it is over my head (the math). Getting ready to re-read THE SOURCE by James A. Michener.
#7. Optimus Prime,
The Tarahumara Indians had two men who were sponsored and ran the Western States 100 mile endurance run in about 1994. The better runner of the two finished in 3rd place behind Ann Trayson (2nd) and Tim Twietmeyer (1st).
I am currently reading “High Odyssey” by Eugene Rose. It is the story of Orland Bartholomew who was the first to solo winter ski the John Muir Trail including climbing Mt. Witney. The closest thing to this on a solo scale was Mike Horn’s circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle with some logistical support.
Things are still very busy on the farm, so my reading is quite limited these days:
[url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471732834/ref=s9_sims_gw_s0_p14_t1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0720KC90T0PY9WPMKTZ5&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846]’A History of Interest Rates'[/url] Homer & Sylla (1996) — it goes back to 2000 BC.
[url=http://www.amazon.com/History-Money-Banking-United-States/dp/0945466331/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244410026&sr=1-1]’A History of Money and Banking in the United States'[/url] Rothbard (2002) — a posthumous compendium of five earlier works, yet highly relevant to our times.
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Soil-Nutrient-Bioavailability-Mechanistic-Approach/dp/0471587478/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244410432&sr=1-3]’Soil Nutrient Bioavailability'[/url] Barber (1984) — hey, it’s my professional field, so cut me some slack, eh?
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Island-Center-World-Manhattan-Forgotten/dp/B0027VSZRA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244411104&sr=1-1]’Island at the Center of the the World'[/url] Shorto (2004) — a remarkable reconstruction of New York’s early history under the Dutch, from documents only recently translated.
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Christianity-Thousand-Year-Asia/dp/0061472808/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244411390&sr=1-4]’The Lost History of Christianity'[/url] Jenkins (2008) — imagine hundreds of dioceses from Iraq through India and Tibet out to China; it was thus for many generations.
#10 Dcn Dale
I heard they placed 1, 2 and 4 in another 100 miler but I can’t remember which it was. Have you read ‘Born to Run’? I’ve just started it and it is quite interesting. I think I’m going to like it better than ‘Running with the Buffaloes’ (also a great book).
Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership by Ruth Haley Barton
great book on spiritual health for those of us in full time ministry
The Passionate Church by Mike Breen
an Anglican who lead and combination Anglican/Baptist church in Sheffield with a dynamic way of developing disciples
In Constant Prayer by Robert Benson
Part of the Ancient Practices series this deals with the spiritual disciple of the Daily Office and our need as Christians to rediscover its beauty and efficacy.
#14. O.P.,
I don’t read so much about running since I just do it.
The best line about running is by Joe Henderson author of “Running 101”. “Runners are the fittest group of injured people I know.”
#15. Rand Reasoner,
The Passionate Church by Mike Breen . We are using that book and “Clusters” by Bob Hopkins and Mike Breen to develop our discipleship program. We had Mike Breen talk at our Clergy Retreat in January.
Tried to read “Acedia and Me” by Kathleen Norris. Ironically, I found it boring and academic, and couldn’t get through it!
Bought several copies of the old “The Shadow” series by Maxwell Grant and “Doc Savage” by Kenneth Robeson at Border’s $1.00 Clearance sale. So I’m savoring reading through those.
Also picked up again “The Girl from the Limberlost” by Gene Stratton-Porter, since I was in a discussion on ‘eco-books’ for teens and suggested it for it’s stance on conservation of swamp land, even back in the early 1900’s — when it was written. I’m finding it a bit ‘above’ the modern teen reader though. I’m about 1/2 way through.
Just finished Biography of Jonathon Edwards by Mardsen. Reading The Cruelty of Heresy by Fitz and The Prodigal God by Tim Keller. In the fiction category, reading Absolute Truths by Howatch.
I finished CS Lewis’ “Perelandra” trilogy a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t picked anything else up because of my workload. I’ll probably re-read “The Road to Serfdom” given its relevancy these days.
Dcn Dale,
Slow. I had three interviews last week, but so far no call backs on those. However, they were both towards the end of the week, so there is still hope.
One I know I have no chance At a bookstore. The interviewer kept me waiting 25 minutes while she puttering around straightening shelves, then finally came over and the interview consisted of several questions, coming down to “well, you want a library job not a retail job, so I think if you were to be hired then offered a library job you would leave us for that. so thank you for coming in.” The end.
The other two are for a director position in the library at which I used to work (not the one that let me go) and one in a college in Western Georgia.
I have to discern not which I would like to take, but which God has for me. Lately, too, I’ve been fighting off depression (hence trying to read “Acedia and me”) due to the situation which is causing stress at home.
So, Keep praying.
Just finished [i] Winter in Madrid [/i] by C.J. Sansom. Another techincally proficient but basically soulless Brit novel. They’ve really lost any kind of hope or joy – last several Brit fiction works I’ve read have been the same kind of cynical stuff.
[i] The Life and Labors of Bishop Hare, Apostle to the Sioux [/i] by M.A. DeWolfe Howe. It is hard to imagine that some of the events described took place less than 150 years ago. Some very inspiring thoughts on mission and ministry to be found in the Bishop’s quoted letters.
[i] Through the Year with Oscar Romero: Daily Meditations [/i] Quotes from his sermons. Very challenging and inspiring.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. This was one of my wife’s book club selections a couple of months ago and I read it after they had finished –a fictional account of the occupation of the Channel Island of Guernsey by the Germans in World War II, presented in the form of letters between the characters.
For short trips and vacation reading I enjoy the Lee Child novels featuring Jack Reacher and also an author named C. J. Box, whose central character is a Fish and Game Warden in Wyoming.
Just finishing “Liberal Fascism” by Jonah Goldberg. It was first published in 2007 but I feel like I am reading this morning’s newspaper about the latest antics of the powerbrokers in Obamaland. As an RC deacon I found two sections of the book particularly interesting:: “The Birth of the Liberal God-state.” and “Liberal Fascism: The Eugenic Ghost in the Fascist Machine” (The last mentioned section had a very revealing -and censored by the media– history of Planned Parenthood and its role in promoting the Nazi Master Race Theory).
I also just finished an excellent book of short stories by Flannery O’Connor.
I’m working in New Mexico this week – specifically, traveling through Roswell, Clovis, Ft. Sumner, Capitan, Socorro, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Vegas – so I’m reading a newly published novel about Billy the Kid while I travel through these areas where he lived and died. The book is titled Lucky Billy by John Vernon. So far I’m about a quarter into in and I give it a thumbs up.
Oh, and on the plane I was reading [url=http://www.matthewpearl.com/dante/dante.html]The Dante Club[/url] by Matthew Pearl – will try to finish that on the return trip.
[i]The Fellowship[/i], which is about the Taliesen Fellowship founded by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1932 – a school of architecture via apprenticeship, in the Wisconsin countryside where Wright had grown up. My wife bought it for me from the Barnes & Noble remainders bin, thinking (from the “Wright”) that it was about flying, as I am an avid fan of vintage aircraft. I am also interested in architecture (my best man is a practicing architect), so I have been reading it anyway. Wright was a great visionary, but in some ways only a moderately good architect – if it had not been for associates correcting the engineering flaws in his designs, many of his buildings would have collapsed. He was also vain, egocentric, and something of a con man. The most astonishing thing I learned was that Wright thought that architects should govern society! His third, and final, wife, was a devotee of Georgi Gjurdiev, the mystic who was behind much of the “new age” teachings that swept over Europe and American in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Architecture was religion to Wright. An interesting book. Also sad – many people were hurt because of their devotion to Wright.
I’m recovering from shoulder surgery and needed some light reading for the hospital and beyond. Was DELIGHTED to find that Dean Koonz had written another in the Odd Thomas series. It’s called Odd Hours.
Anyone else a fan of the Odd Thomas books? What a refreshing protagonist he is!!! Kudos to Koonz!
Columbine by Dave Cullen
The Twilight books (I work with a lot of middle school girls, and need the common experience – wish they weren’t so dreadfully written, but see why the girls would like them.)
Just got my new Christianity Today magazine – yayy!
Re-reading Robert Spencer, “The Truth About Muhammad.” This time I have the advantage of being able to check Spencer’s quotations from translations of the Koran and hadiths against a book we were recently given by a Muslim friend. He’d been on a pilgrimage and gave us a parallel English/Arabic Koran, with additional notes from the hadiths, approved by the religious authorities in Mecca. So far, Spencer’s book checks out as accurate against this approved Islamic text in every instance. American Muslims often accuse Spencer and others like him of inaccuracy. I find this to be false.
I picked up a few older volumes at a church rummage sale last weekend, most put out by Good Will Publishing. I am planning to tuck into them one at a time beginning today. I have a long list that I want to read, but money is tight.
Just completed From Darkness to Light by Beverly Roberts Gaventa, He Who Gives Life by Graham Cole, New Testament Apocalypse by Paul Minear, God of Promise by Michael Horton, and G.K. Beale’s Commentary on the Greek Text of Revelation.
Currently reading The Community of the King by Howard Snyder, Called To Be Church by Robinson & Wall, Acts [Baker Exegetical] by Darrell Bock, and Journeying Through Acts by Scott Spenser.
Have just finished A Long, Long Way by Sebastian Barry which our parish book club will discuss tomorrow night. Rivetting novel about Irish soldiers in First World War. But I wish someone had warned me about the frequent ‘F’ word – not out of place in a war novel, but I would have liked to have warned parishioners! Am about to read Eamon Duffy, Prof at Cambridge UK, Fires of Faith: Catholic England under Mary Tudor (Yale). I have have at least 20 (bought) books unread all shrieking Read me! Read me! Even so I have to go to LA at the end of June for a wedding and I don’t know what to read on the plane: it has to be light enough to carry and absorbing enough to distract me during a 12+ hour flight.
Christopher Johnson, I keep Edersheim’s The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, The Temple, and Bible History: Old Testament readily at hand for reference while preparing to teach my two Bible Study groups.
Library Jim: As a teenager I read every Gene Stratton Porter book I could get my hands on. I think the vocabulary, style of writing and concepts are beyond the educational level of most of our high school youth.
The two books I am reading at present: Flowerbeds & Borders in Deer Country by Vincent Drzewucki Jr., and How to Get Started in Rocky Mountain Gardening by Rob Proctor. Both very informative and Proctor’s very entertaining.
I’m into my “summer comfort reading” series – some people have comfort food, I have comfort books! So along those lines I’m re-reading Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series. For not-so-light reading I’m going through C. S. Lewis’s [i]Discarded Image[/i].
Teatime:
I introduced my wife to the Odd Thomas series with “Brother Odd”, she just recently read “Odd Thomas” for the first time, and now wants to re-read “Brother”, which I’d already donated to the library, since they didn’t have a copy (!) and I didn’t think Genie liked it that much.
So, here are two votes. I’m going to have to track down the entire series, eventually, I guess.
LOL, LibraryJim. Well, at least there are only four so you won’t have to hunt too long! I lent the original Odd Thomas to someone and I can’t remember who has it, grrrr. I love to reread my favorite books.
I’m only about 70 pages into “Odd Hours” and I can’t wait for the mystery around Annemarie to be revealed!
Byzantium: The Early Centuries (274-800 AD) by J.J. Norwich
&
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
I don’t read a lot of fiction but the book came highly recommended and I have been sucked (no pun intended) into it.
Someone lent me “A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spritual Leaders” by Reggie McNeal, so I’m finishing that.
Next, I think I’m going to take the opportunity to catch up on books given to me last Christmas, but for which I just haven’t had the time. Not sure which one I’ll start with, “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” or Gary Wills’ “Head and Heart: A History of Christianity in America”.
Oh, and libraryjim, I for one have enjoyed our recent political sparring. I’ll remember you in my intercessions. Sadly my prayer list for employment concerns has grown lengthy of late. Keep us posted.
Library Jim and Frances Scott — you’d likely enjoy this web site: http://www.gspoutdoors.blogspot.com/ It’s one of her homes, now an Indiana Historic Site.
Just finished N.T. Wright’s [i]The Resurrection of the Son of God[/i], [url=http://www.vulcanhammer.org/2009/06/07/book-review-nt-wrights-the-resurrection-of-the-son-of-god/]review of same is here[/url].
Just finished an amazing series by C. J. Sansom: Dissolution; Dark Fire; Sovereign; and Revelation. All 4 books are set in the period of the English Reformation, EXCELLENT historical fiction and murder mystery to boot! I nearly read them straight through.
I just finished Jeremy Begbie’s “Resounding Truth”, on rethinking the Christian understanding of the role of music. It was insightful and was cited favorably by Rowan Williams and NT Wright. I would recommend for people working through issues with music in the church and the public arts.
“A Beautiful Mind” by Sylvia Nassar. Biography of mathematician John Nash (afflicted with schizophrenia), and made into a sugar-coated Ron Howard movie.
Just finished the Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy L. Sayers – my New Years Resolution is now complete! Reading Confessions by St. Augustine, The Shack, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch, and Black Rednecks & White Liberals by Thomas Sowell.
Peace like a river by Leif Enger
Christopher Seitz [i]Word Without End[/i]
Ramsay MacMullen [i]Voting about God in Early Church Councils[/i]
Ernest Lee Tuveson [i]Millennium and Utopia: A Study in the Background of the Idea of Progress[/i]
Nicholas of Cusa [i]Writings on Church and Reform[/i]
Ephraim Radner [i]Spirit and Nature[/i]
Balthasar [i]The Glory of the Lord: The Realm of Metaphysics in the Modern Age[/i]
I am reading bits a pieces of all of these right now (not all of them at once).
Before bed: [i]Born to Run[/i] A book about the Tarahumara Indians who live in the Copper Canyons in Mexico. They’re basically the polar opposite of Americans: healthy, fit, happy, peaceful, self giving for the common good, non violent. They run anywhere from a few hours to several days without breaking for a game they play and in order to hunt herds of animals like deer (they just run until the animals tire and then they can walk up to them and kill them). They eat healthfully, they don’t die of cardiovascular diseases, dementia, cancer, or most other diseases we do. They don’t have poverty, crime, depression or abuse in their communities and finally their economy is based on making sure everyone in the community has what they need to survive. Apparently Jesuits attempted to convert them to Christianity but it would appear the Tarahumara just took Christian teachings and adapted them to their local cultural and spiritual background (not unlike westerners I suppose – except for the fact that they’re cultural background is not rationalistic and narcissistic). Fascinating book … and inspiring if you’re an endurance athlete and/or a runner.
Just finishing THE PHYSICS OF CHRISTIANITY, by Dr. Frank J. Tipler, of Tulane University. A good read, although some it is over my head (the math). Getting ready to re-read THE SOURCE by James A. Michener.
Mystical Christianity
A Psychological Commentary on the Gospel of John
John A. Sanford
Healing and Wholeness
Same author.
#7. Optimus Prime,
The Tarahumara Indians had two men who were sponsored and ran the Western States 100 mile endurance run in about 1994. The better runner of the two finished in 3rd place behind Ann Trayson (2nd) and Tim Twietmeyer (1st).
I am currently reading “High Odyssey” by Eugene Rose. It is the story of Orland Bartholomew who was the first to solo winter ski the John Muir Trail including climbing Mt. Witney. The closest thing to this on a solo scale was Mike Horn’s circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle with some logistical support.
Selling Out by Justina Robson
Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind
Empowered 4 by Adam Warren
Just finished: Death of a Pope by Piers Paul Read
Things are still very busy on the farm, so my reading is quite limited these days:
[url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471732834/ref=s9_sims_gw_s0_p14_t1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0720KC90T0PY9WPMKTZ5&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846]’A History of Interest Rates'[/url] Homer & Sylla (1996) — it goes back to 2000 BC.
[url=http://www.amazon.com/History-Money-Banking-United-States/dp/0945466331/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244410026&sr=1-1]’A History of Money and Banking in the United States'[/url] Rothbard (2002) — a posthumous compendium of five earlier works, yet highly relevant to our times.
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Soil-Nutrient-Bioavailability-Mechanistic-Approach/dp/0471587478/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244410432&sr=1-3]’Soil Nutrient Bioavailability'[/url] Barber (1984) — hey, it’s my professional field, so cut me some slack, eh?
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Island-Center-World-Manhattan-Forgotten/dp/B0027VSZRA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244411104&sr=1-1]’Island at the Center of the the World'[/url] Shorto (2004) — a remarkable reconstruction of New York’s early history under the Dutch, from documents only recently translated.
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Christianity-Thousand-Year-Asia/dp/0061472808/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244411390&sr=1-4]’The Lost History of Christianity'[/url] Jenkins (2008) — imagine hundreds of dioceses from Iraq through India and Tibet out to China; it was thus for many generations.
CommonCausePriest (#6) I loved Peace Like a River. A beautifully written novel with a superbly-portrayed Christ figure.
I recently read Robert Pinsky’s translation of The Inferno. Stunning.
The Disappearing Act of Esme Lennox is a haunting novel.
#10 Dcn Dale
I heard they placed 1, 2 and 4 in another 100 miler but I can’t remember which it was. Have you read ‘Born to Run’? I’ve just started it and it is quite interesting. I think I’m going to like it better than ‘Running with the Buffaloes’ (also a great book).
Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership by Ruth Haley Barton
great book on spiritual health for those of us in full time ministry
The Passionate Church by Mike Breen
an Anglican who lead and combination Anglican/Baptist church in Sheffield with a dynamic way of developing disciples
In Constant Prayer by Robert Benson
Part of the Ancient Practices series this deals with the spiritual disciple of the Daily Office and our need as Christians to rediscover its beauty and efficacy.
#14. O.P.,
I don’t read so much about running since I just do it.
The best line about running is by Joe Henderson author of “Running 101”. “Runners are the fittest group of injured people I know.”
[i]The Reformation: A History.[/i] Diarmaid MacCulloch. 2003.
[i]Priestblock 25487: A Memoir of Dachau.[/i] Jean Bernard. English translation, 2007.
[i]The Cruelty of Heresy: An Affirmation of Christian Orthodoxy.[/i] C. FitzSimons Allison. 1994.
#15. Rand Reasoner,
The Passionate Church by Mike Breen . We are using that book and “Clusters” by Bob Hopkins and Mike Breen to develop our discipleship program. We had Mike Breen talk at our Clergy Retreat in January.
Tried to read “Acedia and Me” by Kathleen Norris. Ironically, I found it boring and academic, and couldn’t get through it!
Bought several copies of the old “The Shadow” series by Maxwell Grant and “Doc Savage” by Kenneth Robeson at Border’s $1.00 Clearance sale. So I’m savoring reading through those.
Also picked up again “The Girl from the Limberlost” by Gene Stratton-Porter, since I was in a discussion on ‘eco-books’ for teens and suggested it for it’s stance on conservation of swamp land, even back in the early 1900’s — when it was written. I’m finding it a bit ‘above’ the modern teen reader though. I’m about 1/2 way through.
Just finished Biography of Jonathon Edwards by Mardsen. Reading The Cruelty of Heresy by Fitz and The Prodigal God by Tim Keller. In the fiction category, reading Absolute Truths by Howatch.
#19. libraryjim,
How goes the job search?
Pax
I finished CS Lewis’ “Perelandra” trilogy a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t picked anything else up because of my workload. I’ll probably re-read “The Road to Serfdom” given its relevancy these days.
Dcn Dale,
Slow. I had three interviews last week, but so far no call backs on those. However, they were both towards the end of the week, so there is still hope.
One I know I have no chance At a bookstore. The interviewer kept me waiting 25 minutes while she puttering around straightening shelves, then finally came over and the interview consisted of several questions, coming down to “well, you want a library job not a retail job, so I think if you were to be hired then offered a library job you would leave us for that. so thank you for coming in.” The end.
The other two are for a director position in the library at which I used to work (not the one that let me go) and one in a college in Western Georgia.
I have to discern not which I would like to take, but which God has for me. Lately, too, I’ve been fighting off depression (hence trying to read “Acedia and me”) due to the situation which is causing stress at home.
So, Keep praying.
In His Peace
Jim Elliott <><
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim for the third or fourth time. I never get tired of that story.
Just finished [i] Winter in Madrid [/i] by C.J. Sansom. Another techincally proficient but basically soulless Brit novel. They’ve really lost any kind of hope or joy – last several Brit fiction works I’ve read have been the same kind of cynical stuff.
[i] The Life and Labors of Bishop Hare, Apostle to the Sioux [/i] by M.A. DeWolfe Howe. It is hard to imagine that some of the events described took place less than 150 years ago. Some very inspiring thoughts on mission and ministry to be found in the Bishop’s quoted letters.
[i] Through the Year with Oscar Romero: Daily Meditations [/i] Quotes from his sermons. Very challenging and inspiring.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. This was one of my wife’s book club selections a couple of months ago and I read it after they had finished –a fictional account of the occupation of the Channel Island of Guernsey by the Germans in World War II, presented in the form of letters between the characters.
For short trips and vacation reading I enjoy the Lee Child novels featuring Jack Reacher and also an author named C. J. Box, whose central character is a Fish and Game Warden in Wyoming.
Just finishing “Liberal Fascism” by Jonah Goldberg. It was first published in 2007 but I feel like I am reading this morning’s newspaper about the latest antics of the powerbrokers in Obamaland. As an RC deacon I found two sections of the book particularly interesting:: “The Birth of the Liberal God-state.” and “Liberal Fascism: The Eugenic Ghost in the Fascist Machine” (The last mentioned section had a very revealing -and censored by the media– history of Planned Parenthood and its role in promoting the Nazi Master Race Theory).
I also just finished an excellent book of short stories by Flannery O’Connor.
Justification by NT Wright
The Lost City of Z by David Grann
I’m working in New Mexico this week – specifically, traveling through Roswell, Clovis, Ft. Sumner, Capitan, Socorro, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Vegas – so I’m reading a newly published novel about Billy the Kid while I travel through these areas where he lived and died. The book is titled Lucky Billy by John Vernon. So far I’m about a quarter into in and I give it a thumbs up.
Link to the NY Times Book Review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/books/review/Macintyre-t.html
Oh, and on the plane I was reading [url=http://www.matthewpearl.com/dante/dante.html]The Dante Club[/url] by Matthew Pearl – will try to finish that on the return trip.
Jack Spong: Jesus for the Non-Religious (2007). A contemporary glimpse into Dante’s Inferno. Just gotta wonder what he’s working on next.
[i]Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan[/i] by Doug Stanton.
[i]Credo: Historical and Theological Guide to Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition[/i], by Jaroslav Pelikan
[i]The Fellowship[/i], which is about the Taliesen Fellowship founded by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1932 – a school of architecture via apprenticeship, in the Wisconsin countryside where Wright had grown up. My wife bought it for me from the Barnes & Noble remainders bin, thinking (from the “Wright”) that it was about flying, as I am an avid fan of vintage aircraft. I am also interested in architecture (my best man is a practicing architect), so I have been reading it anyway. Wright was a great visionary, but in some ways only a moderately good architect – if it had not been for associates correcting the engineering flaws in his designs, many of his buildings would have collapsed. He was also vain, egocentric, and something of a con man. The most astonishing thing I learned was that Wright thought that architects should govern society! His third, and final, wife, was a devotee of Georgi Gjurdiev, the mystic who was behind much of the “new age” teachings that swept over Europe and American in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Architecture was religion to Wright. An interesting book. Also sad – many people were hurt because of their devotion to Wright.
I’m recovering from shoulder surgery and needed some light reading for the hospital and beyond. Was DELIGHTED to find that Dean Koonz had written another in the Odd Thomas series. It’s called Odd Hours.
Anyone else a fan of the Odd Thomas books? What a refreshing protagonist he is!!! Kudos to Koonz!
33. Chazaq
How far into it are you? I read this this semester for a class. What do you think?
Columbine by Dave Cullen
The Twilight books (I work with a lot of middle school girls, and need the common experience – wish they weren’t so dreadfully written, but see why the girls would like them.)
Just got my new Christianity Today magazine – yayy!
Reading the Man, a new biography of Robert E. Lee
Re-reading Robert Spencer, “The Truth About Muhammad.” This time I have the advantage of being able to check Spencer’s quotations from translations of the Koran and hadiths against a book we were recently given by a Muslim friend. He’d been on a pilgrimage and gave us a parallel English/Arabic Koran, with additional notes from the hadiths, approved by the religious authorities in Mecca. So far, Spencer’s book checks out as accurate against this approved Islamic text in every instance. American Muslims often accuse Spencer and others like him of inaccuracy. I find this to be false.
I picked up a few older volumes at a church rummage sale last weekend, most put out by Good Will Publishing. I am planning to tuck into them one at a time beginning today. I have a long list that I want to read, but money is tight.
Just completed From Darkness to Light by Beverly Roberts Gaventa, He Who Gives Life by Graham Cole, New Testament Apocalypse by Paul Minear, God of Promise by Michael Horton, and G.K. Beale’s Commentary on the Greek Text of Revelation.
Currently reading The Community of the King by Howard Snyder, Called To Be Church by Robinson & Wall, Acts [Baker Exegetical] by Darrell Bock, and Journeying Through Acts by Scott Spenser.
Have just finished A Long, Long Way by Sebastian Barry which our parish book club will discuss tomorrow night. Rivetting novel about Irish soldiers in First World War. But I wish someone had warned me about the frequent ‘F’ word – not out of place in a war novel, but I would have liked to have warned parishioners! Am about to read Eamon Duffy, Prof at Cambridge UK, Fires of Faith: Catholic England under Mary Tudor (Yale). I have have at least 20 (bought) books unread all shrieking Read me! Read me! Even so I have to go to LA at the end of June for a wedding and I don’t know what to read on the plane: it has to be light enough to carry and absorbing enough to distract me during a 12+ hour flight.
Christopher Johnson, I keep Edersheim’s The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, The Temple, and Bible History: Old Testament readily at hand for reference while preparing to teach my two Bible Study groups.
Library Jim: As a teenager I read every Gene Stratton Porter book I could get my hands on. I think the vocabulary, style of writing and concepts are beyond the educational level of most of our high school youth.
The two books I am reading at present: Flowerbeds & Borders in Deer Country by Vincent Drzewucki Jr., and How to Get Started in Rocky Mountain Gardening by Rob Proctor. Both very informative and Proctor’s very entertaining.
“Vicksburg, 1863”, by Winston Groom, “Liberty and Tyranny” by Mark Levin, and “Complete Banjo Repair” by Larry Sandberg.
#35 My daughter is reading that, too.
I’m into The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel. Any of his “case” books are wonderful. This one is about evolution vs creation.
I’m into my “summer comfort reading” series – some people have comfort food, I have comfort books! So along those lines I’m re-reading Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series. For not-so-light reading I’m going through C. S. Lewis’s [i]Discarded Image[/i].
“The First Salute,” by Barbara W. Tuchman, published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1988
Teatime:
I introduced my wife to the Odd Thomas series with “Brother Odd”, she just recently read “Odd Thomas” for the first time, and now wants to re-read “Brother”, which I’d already donated to the library, since they didn’t have a copy (!) and I didn’t think Genie liked it that much.
So, here are two votes. I’m going to have to track down the entire series, eventually, I guess.
LOL, LibraryJim. Well, at least there are only four so you won’t have to hunt too long! I lent the original Odd Thomas to someone and I can’t remember who has it, grrrr. I love to reread my favorite books.
I’m only about 70 pages into “Odd Hours” and I can’t wait for the mystery around Annemarie to be revealed!
Byzantium: The Early Centuries (274-800 AD) by J.J. Norwich
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The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
I don’t read a lot of fiction but the book came highly recommended and I have been sucked (no pun intended) into it.
Someone lent me “A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spritual Leaders” by Reggie McNeal, so I’m finishing that.
Next, I think I’m going to take the opportunity to catch up on books given to me last Christmas, but for which I just haven’t had the time. Not sure which one I’ll start with, “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” or Gary Wills’ “Head and Heart: A History of Christianity in America”.
Oh, and libraryjim, I for one have enjoyed our recent political sparring. I’ll remember you in my intercessions. Sadly my prayer list for employment concerns has grown lengthy of late. Keep us posted.
“Words in Air” by Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell
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“That Hideous Strength” by CS Lewis
Library Jim and Frances Scott — you’d likely enjoy this web site: http://www.gspoutdoors.blogspot.com/ It’s one of her homes, now an Indiana Historic Site.