Alex posed a challenge...after reading an extremely depressing article about how Americans read very little (a staggering 27% of us didn't read a single book last year!), she's posting every book she reads in 2008 and asking us to do the same.
I love reading, so perhaps this will be a good discipline for me this year. I only hope I can keep up with the posting--I'm often a fast reader. Also, I'm not good with author names, so I'm just going to link to the books instead of giving all the info.
So far this year (in the past 3 days), I have finished....
Grace at the Table, from Bread for the World. Outdated now (1997) but still relevant in that we have not reduced hunger in any significant way. Depressing thought that in 10 years there are still billions of people living in extreme poverty.
Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. More statistics, more suggestion that we increase foreign aid and giving. I wish it had more suggestions for generosity as spiritual discipline and for local action.
The Gospel According to America. I had to do research while reading this book. It made me feel decidedly NOT well-read, which is not something I usually feel. However, I really liked this book. It felt balanced (which probably means it's left-leaning) and I loved the way the author used history, politics, literature, drama, television, cinema, and music to construct the American Idea in a more holistic way than we are used to doing.
A Thousand Splendid Suns. (well, technically I read this in 2007, but overnight...) This was an amazing book. I dreamed about it for days. I can't explain the impact, but it is gripping.
Genesis. You know, "in the beginning" and all that.
Books I've been reading for a while now and really need to finish, even if only for my own self-esteem:
A Room of One's Own
Practicing Passion
Up next in the stack:
Untamed Hospitality
Dispatches from the Global Village
Listening for God
the Phillip Gulley Harmony series (from the library)
Also, I saw about 15 books I want to read at Borders last week, so I'm sure I'll be busy...
Check out "Death By Black Hole" by Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Amazing, amazing, AMAZING book if you have any interest in astronomy and how the universe "works." It's broken up into 42 short essays and is totally accessible, even if you have never read anything else on the subject. This book is blowing my mind with every chapter I read. It's science written in narrative. Here's a link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Death-Black-Hole-Cosmic-Quandaries/dp/0393330168/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199421048&sr=8-1
I know it sounds nerdy, but I really can't recommend this book enough.
Do you ever read anything for fun? You know, just candy fluff books like mysteries, romances, or fairy tales?
ReplyDelete:)
On a totally separate note, have you been to CTS's relatively new "green" site, '@thispoint?'
www.atthispoint.net
of course I do! What do you think I saw at Borders? Princess book upon princess book. Love those. :-) One of my church members even gave me a special tapestry bookmark just for those medieval-princess-court-intrigue books that are often romance novels in historical fiction dresses.
ReplyDeleteWow, Teri. Impressive!
ReplyDeletethis is a neat idea, at the end of the year, you can look back at all the things you've read and the evolution of how it has influenced your life and choices...or hasn't! lol.
ReplyDeletei might end up doing this too just for fun.
Sigh...I read a lot too but not that much that fast - and keeping up with Christian Century (which I really enjoy) takes time...that said I've read Thousand Splendid Suns, Run with the Horses (ferroll sams), Grace (Eventually), Eat Love Pray, four chapters in Curriculum Study Guide, and reread 1.3 Maria Harris books about religious education since the middle of December...I'm missing some but that's a pretty good list...striving for more balance this year but will be hard with practicum reading (but that is fun about music and liturgy and worship and theology and stuff)
ReplyDelete