Friday Five: fall books!

I haven't played the FF in a long time, but today I can't help myself. I've been daydreaming about books, using my library card more than I have in a long time, and today is the kind of sunny breezy autumn day that makes me want to curl up under a blanket next to an open window (yes, I'm that girl) with a stack of books.

This desire is not mitigated by the fact that I really need to do some other things (some work, deal with the apples I picked last weekend, etc).

So I'll play the Friday Five instead, because it's about books! And then I can pretend that I did something, while thinking about reading. ;-)

Share with us some of your favorites:

A cookbook....well, I confess to rarely using recipes, because I find them kind of restrictive. lol. But I do have a couple of favorites that I go back to for different things. Of course there's the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, full of standards. And the Teen Vegetarian Cookbook, which has a chart of nutrients and three different columns of how to get them (i.e., "don't like this? try this. Don't like that either? try this.")

A novel...Just one favorite novel? oh my. Let's go with relatively recent reads...Most of a year later, I am still gushing about The Undertaken Trilogy, which may be the best fiction I've read since The Goldfinch (which was amazing). Don't be fooled by the young adult label, this is a book(series) for all ages.

A nonfiction book...I always have a hard time when asked about nonfiction. Once I responded to someone with "I don't really read nonfiction" and they stared incredulously at my office bookshelves. I had to say "oh, I mean...besides church books." I don't really read non-theology/churchy non-fiction.   If pressed I would probably say something like the Lonely Planet guide to whatever next place I'm going....or maybe the book I co-authored, since it needs some promotional love! :-)

A well-thumbed book to which you turn often, or with affection, used in your profession...besides the bible or hymnal? I just yesterday got out Christianity for the Rest of Us again, to use the hospitality chapter in the new member class. That book gets a workout for sure.

An author you recommend frequently to others... After myself (heh), probably Jane Austen. Because I come across a SHOCKING number of people who have not read Pride and Prejudice, and I just don't think that's okay.

Bonus: what are you reading now? ...Goodreads says I have 7 books going. haha. I am most invested in Original Blessing at the moment, plus We Make The Road By Walking for our current adult-ed class, and also Emotions and the Enneagram. I have plans to stock up on novels for an upcoming vacation though!

oops...missed a day!

Yesterday I wasn't quite ready to write a sermon, so I spent the day reading novels.

Yes, novelS, plural. I read two whole books yesterday. Both historical fiction about women...one more a romance novel and the other a well researched imaginative retelling about Napoleon's American sister-in-law whom he refused to recognize.

I also took a nap.

Between these three things, I didn't go to bed until about 1am...and because I was busy reading, I forgot to blog!

So November will go down as ALMOST NaBloPoMo. Hopefully I can manage to get something up the next few days, and there will be just the one lost day.

I have to say--if I'm going to miss a day, I'm glad to have missed it for a day spent in my pajamas, petting cats and reading novels. I am grateful for the leisure to take a whole day without any productivity, for a home that holds heat well, for blankets and more clothes than I need, for cats who snuggle and purr, for plenty of food.

Today: a sermon. I swear. And also Tofurkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, garlic butter crescent rolls... (and who knows, maybe some kind of actual vegetable will happen too.)

There may also be deviled eggs. Because yum.

church book group

At my church we are doing this new thing where a team of people are in charge of the whole life of the church for a season (about 6-7 weeks): they study scripture, discern a theme, and plan events around those texts and theme.
Currently we are in the middle of the Harvest 2 season, with the theme "Unexpected." For adult education, we are having a Monday night book group that is reading and discussing a novel--seeking spiritual/faith lessons in a secular book. We chose The Goldfinch as the book, in part because it has so many unexpected things in the story, and in part because it's a popular book right now. The group meets at Panera, where we can eat and talk and generally have a good time.

And can I just say: it's basically the best thing ever. I loved the book, for one thing, so am happy to get to read it again. I love talking about the book with people, and digging into the relationships, the spaces, the interior lives of characters. Plus we get to talk about whether we've ever experienced freedom that turned out to be slavery, or if we have objects in our lives that connect us to people or experiences of our past, or if there are particular rituals that help us get more grounded when we feel unmoored. It's amazing to make these connections between a great book (which seems, on the surface, pretty dark and depressing) and our spiritual lives. So cool to practice reading through a theological lens, looking for where there's a glimpse of the Spirit or where it feels like a character is connected to a larger God-story (even though that's not explicit in the book). Super love it.

And the moral of this story is: everyone should read The Goldfinch because it's amazing, and be on the lookout for what spiritual lessons it has to teach you, because there are plenty! And then I want to talk about it with you, because the book is so amazing I can barely keep my mouth shut about it. :-)

Cover

We all know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover.

And yet...

We do. All the time. Sometimes it's literally judging a book by the cover art. Other times it's the more insidious judging a person by their weight or hairstyle or eyeglass frames.

The covers matter, obviously--offering us glimpses of what's inside, teasers. Or covering up what's inside, hiding reality from view.
But they're also the part of a book most easily lost. Can we say the same about our own covers?

I'm a total sucker for the girl-in-a-dress-red-and-gold cover

day 11 (not counting sundays!) of the Lent photo-a-day challenge.

wonder

Here's where I learn wonder...other worlds, ripe for exploring, for learning, for escaping or enriching. Wonders of language, of imagination, of history, of spirit. And to double the wonder, that little kindle has more books on it than both shelves combined. Amazing.

these are just two of six shelves at my house...and a similar number in my office. All full.

day 6 of Lent photo-a-day

Birthday Buddies: T-2 days!

I love to read. LOVE it. I would spend all my time sitting on the couch reading if I thought I could get away with it.

I also like to write. There have been many days I have dreamed of writing a book. And, of course, many days during which I actually have, in fact, written a book. A book that will be published on September 30, 2013.

But sometimes I've dreamed of writing a novel. Of course, I have zero creative writing skills and I'm fairly certain that while my imagination may be over-active it does not contain a developed story.

In 9th grade we did a poetry unit, during which we had to both read and write poetry. It was, at the time, awful. I did not yet have fully abstract thinking skills and metaphor was often just beyond me (as it is for many 9th graders). Poetry was hard. I'm still working through that trauma and trying to get into poetry. (in fact, I'm hoping to read more poetry this fall, so if you have suggestions, please put them in the comments!!)




But poetry that tells a story? I'm all over that. As is the famous author with whom I share a birthday: Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772)!

Coleridge was the son of a pastor, a voracious reader (he preferred to read over all other activities!), and he daydreamed of starting a utopian commune (me too!). Of course, he was addicted to opiates (oops) and some of his philosophy is a tiny bit out-there, but I love that I share a birthday with someone whose imagination was just active enough for poetry, and who loved to read as much as I do. I love that I share a birthday with a man who was invested in finding ways to write poetry that was accessible to real people, using normal language to tell his stories in their form--with just the perfect words that are also understandable (that's what I try to do with preaching, too!).

my idea of getting out more

Though I doubt his mom made him join a softball team so he would get out more.











Only 2 days! I was born at 5am, Pacific Time, so the last entry in birthday-buddies will go live then. I bet you can't wait to see who that is! But first...tomorrow. :-)

snuggled up

It's that time of year when snuggling up under blankets, with kitties, is a pretty attractive alternative to...just about everything. I'm not quite in full-on hibernation mode, but I do want to put squash soup in the crockpot, break out a book, and sit on the couch all day.

like this, basically.

Luckily, the craziness of September (when I had one day off all month) has given way to the routine of October, and things are less hectic. Which means that I can in fact snuggle the kitties and read a book for a whole day if I want to.

Yesterday evening I finished Make the Impossible Possible, which is a book I already can't wait to read again. While I enjoyed the first half (mostly Bill Strickland's personal story, a memoir of sorts), it's the second half that had me constantly wishing I was reading my own hard copy, rather than the library's. Lots of things I wished I could underline and flag and copy to share with others. And by the time I realized how often I was thinking that, it was too late to open up a Word document and start typing in the quotes. So I'll have to settle for reading it again, or for buying a copy to put on my shelf and loan out liberally. Yes, it's about individuals pursuing their dreams. But it's easy to read through the lens of an institution or organization as well. And no, it's not a faith-based book, but it's easy to read it through a Spirit-lens. There is so much good stuff in there that could really help churches clarify their purpose and vision and then pursue it. And it's uplifting too. I love Strickland's insistence that if we treat people in a world-class way, we'll get world-class results. And then I think about how often the church categorizes the people we serve. I already spend a lot of time thinking about how we can serve in ways that won't perpetuate the injustice or poverty, and how we can reach out without undermining other good systems...and I spend a fair amount of time reminding people that there is no "us" and "them"--only children of God. But how we actually live that out still often creates this dichotomy, and that's what Strickland has been trying to address. I love how he does it. I want to see another TED talk from him sometime soon--the last one was 10 years ago.
And I would love to see churches reading this book and thinking about what we can learn from someone who has constantly acted on a passion for making the world a better place.

Now I'm moving on to a novel. :-)

making my brain tired

I think I've exhausted my brain with all the reading I've been doing. This is what happens when all your holds at the library come in at the same time.

I've obviously been in need of nourishing my imagination and having plenty of time just to sit around with piles of books. I don't get to do this very often, and when I do, I'm apparently a glutton for it. Surprise surprise. I'm a glutton for lots of things. books, ice cream, kitty snuggles...and we all know that when I get obsessed with something, I just go until the end. It's why I can watch whole seasons of tv shows (well, ok, *good* tv shows) in a weekend, or spend a day doing nothing but watching the Lord of the Rings, or playing facebook games until I'm perfect at them, or working until a whole program or idea is completely finished and ready for a whole year. I have a serious need to learn moderation.

I began the glut of library books with Mistress of the Art of Death (a book I received free from the library summer reading program!), and then its sequel The Serpent's Tale (which I started reading first, but a few pages in realized that it must be a second book--I was so glad to find I already owned the first book, thanks to my Reader's Quest prizes!). I kind of love this series and can't wait to see how the strong independent woman main character (a doctor from Salerno who lives in Tudor England) develops. She solves mysteries, refuses to be boxed in by cultural taboos, and is in general just super interesting. I like her a lot. I think there's a third book out, or will be soon...or at least I hope so!

I read two historical novels about the same time period and the same family (basically) by two different authors, which was a really interesting experience. Leonardo's Swans and The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi are both about life in Renaissance Italy, a period and location I haven't read many novels about. Big names (Lorenzo di Medici, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, etc) are littered throughout the stories. Small names too, like Jewish families and illegitimate children and servants and priests and such. Both were engaging stories, and each portrayed their main characters (the d'Este princesses) in really different ways. In one, Isabella d'Este (who married into the house of Gonzaga) was a rabid collector of beautiful things, a woman who would do almost anything to get herself painted by Il Magistro (Leonardo). In the other, she was a cruel woman who would stop at nothing to have the power she wanted, including crushing the spirits of people around her. However, in both books she seems to be a hospitable woman, helping her friends in times of need. Interesting.

Murder of a Medici Princess, which I hoped would be in the same vein, was a disappointment--it looks like a novel, but it's actually a history. With that cover art and that kind of title, it seemed like it would be an awesome intrigue with mystery and romance and art, but..... :-( I skimmed, but it was not engaging and read like a textbook on an important family rather than a story. Which, I suppose, is what it is. But again, the cover and the title seem so misleading!

The Song of Hannah is a lovely little book about Hannah, Peninah. and Elkanah (and Samuel, of course). The cover says it's in the tradition of The Red Tent, and I suppose it kind of is. I liked this book a lot. I wouldn't call it the best written novel ever, but I still really enjoyed the way the author imagined the story of two childhood friends who become two wives of the same man. They're both literate girls, teaching local kids reading/writing/Torah. They both know about love and pain. They are such interesting characters, and their children become interesting characters, and the way their stories intersect with the story of Israel...it's all very interesting. This is one flight of imagination I wish more people would take.

I just finished The Parrot's Theorem, which was such a different kind of book I thought my head might explode. It's about math, kind of. Well, mostly. It's a LOT of math. And I do mean A LOT. Equations, history, theorems, and whatnot. But there's a story in there too, a mystery and a found-family and a trip to Paris for my imagination. So that was awesome. I did guess the answer to the mystery about halfway through, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the second half of the book. I confess that I still don't remember/understand any more high-level math than I did when I started the book, but I know more of the history of math than I ever thought about before. It's always so bizarre to think about math-related things being "discovered." I mean, wasn't there always a number 1? well, no. Weren't there always equations that could be solved by balancing? Well, no...the whole business of learning the story behind math was interesting. I enjoyed this book a great deal, even if a lot of the actual mathematical stuff was well beyond me.

In between all that reading, I've also watched a few movies that we've been considering incorporating into the confirmation class curriculum. Let me just say: Karate Kid is so much more 80s than I remember it (which is not surprising, since, well, the last time I saw it was probably the early 90's), Legend of the Guardians was wonderful, and I think How To Train Your Dragon may be one of the cutest movies (and with the best message) ever.

And now, though I have three more books from the library here and another waiting to be picked up (and let's not even talk about the new books I got with the $100 worth of gift cards I still had hanging around when Borders announced they were closing!), I'm going to have to take a little break. I need some time to process, or to just go without any more intellectual stimulus. I can't decide whether to do that via mindless tv or just sitting around, or getting a coloring book and just playing with crayons, or playing the clarinet (a thing I'm doing sometimes now, though not very often), or what. I'm sure I'll be back to let the three of you who still read my blog know what I decided. ;-)

Reading up (through?) a Storm

So, the fact that I currently have about 20 books on hold at the library, 5 of which are available the next time I go (I tried to go tonight but...no power at the library) and 1 of which is currently in my possession but is a sequel to another book I own but haven't read yet, combined with the fact that I had an actual day off this weekend combined with the fact that the crazy crazy storm of craziness, with its 75mph winds, knocked out power to basically everywhere except Panera, means I've been reading a lot.

The storm damage around town is insane. Trees are down everywhere (including in my backyard). The wind was ridiculous--it looked like a hurricane, with full trash cans (full!) being hurtled through the air, tree branch flying, recycling fluttering about...basically anything that wasn't in a garage was airborne. My power was out only 26.5 hours. There are some people still out, 36 hours later, though most people have had theirs restored by now. The ComEd people have been working like crazy, and utility workers from other states have come to help out--nearly 900,000 people were without power at the height of the outage. Driving around, you can see why. Trees have been toppled from the roots, power line poles are down, trees are on power lines, lines are just broken and hanging around...wow.

So...reading. In the past few weeks, I've read...

The Meaning of Night (A Confession)--a book I didn't want to put down because I kept being surprised by plot twists and character revelations, though the writing style was sometimes tedious.

The Lace Reader--a book recommendation I saw on someone else's facebook page. It was pretty good. Outside my normal genre. The ending was a total surprise to me! I especially enjoyed the "quotes" at the top of each chapter, and how grief played out in the main character's life. And there was a pretty funny (and scarily accurate) quote about how Presbyterians have been trying to live down the PR disaster that is the label "Calvinism" for...ever.

Searching for God Knows What--I was sad that this was not as good as Blue Like Jazz. I really enjoyed BLJ and this was...not it. disappointing, overall, actually. A few worthwhile tidbits, but not enough for me to keep thinking or writing about it. I almost put the book down halfway through, but powered on...I wouldn't say that was a *bad* decision exactly, just that I wish I could have read the second half even faster than I did, because I have a lot of books to read right now and this one didn't top the list of things to spend time on.

Oh God Oh God Oh God!--a re-read for my awesome new book group. This time around I noticed that there aren't any single-young-women essays in this book, which made it feel odd. We had a really great discussion in book group, which cannot be summed up on the blog, so...y'all need to get your own awesome book groups and talk about these things too.

What's the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian?--we are doing an online book group for church, and this is our first book. We're still in the first half (things we do not have to believe) and I find most of the things fairly obvious. I don't know if other people do, though--it's possible that some of these things are revelations for some. The second half of the book is things we apparently do need to believe. I can already tell from skimming the second half that I'm going to have some things to say about that half.

The New Interpreter's Bible--Luke volume. We're re-envisioning the confirmation class experience, and this year we'll be focusing on the gospel according to Luke. So, naturally, being a crazy overachiever, I decided that instead of *just* reading the gospel and the footnotes in the NIB Study Bible, I should read the commentary and reflection in the whole volume. um, this has turned out to be an unreasonable expectation of myself, and I had to abandon it only a couple chapters in. Now I'm only reading the reflections on each chapter, and will return to the commentary as we prepare for each individual lesson throughout the year.

summer love

I love the summer reading program at the Crystal Lake Library. First of all, it's open to grown ups. Second, the theme is always amusing. Third, you get awesome prizes just for reading.

So far this summer I have turned in two logs (15 hours each) and have scored:
a canvas tote bag
a free book
a free hot fudge sundae
a coupon for Yumz (the new frozen yogurt bar)
a free donut

When you finish a log you get to spin a giant wheel and see what your prize is...so cool. I love spinning that wheel. I especially love that I get to spin it for doing something I would do anyway! Though I confess that I am more motivated to turn off facebook and open a book when I contemplate the prizes available.... :-)

more reading

I have been feeling like my imagination is all dried up, so I've been reading a lot to try to replenish it...among the things I've read lately:

Open Leadership

My S3 group read this for our first study together...I confess that I didn't finish it in time for our conversation, though I was much closer to the end than I realized (one of the downsides of the kindle--I can't tell when the endnotes begin, so the % finished is misleading!). We all generally seemed to agree that this book had good things to say but we were kind of beyond them already, or else they didn't exactly apply to the church (for instance, churches are unlikely to be using sophisticated monitoring services that tell us whenever someone uses the word "presbyterian" in a blog, tweet, or FB post....). I felt like there were a few applicable things, but they were few and far between, and often tucked in the midst of stories about businesses. I felt pulled between obsessing over the stories and glossing over them because they weren't directly and obviously applicable, but overall I'm mostly glad I read them all. I confess I did skim a few sections.

Things in this book that I think are directly applicable to the church:

1. Decide on a purpose and strategy for engaging in social media, and make sure the institutions (and the people using SM on behalf of the institution) use it responsibly and with that vision always clearly in mind.

2. pay attention to what people are saying and where they're saying it--and respond. Don't just leave stuff hanging out there, whether on your church facebook page or a church member's blog, while you take a Presbyterian hour (aka 3 years) to come up with a committee that will look into how to respond.

3. Don't think you can get away with not engaging in the online and social media world. you can't, so figure out how and why you're going to do it, and then do it and do it well.

Interestingly, on my way home from the trip where we talked about this book, I flew into Milwaukee airport (MKE). I tweeted, with my twitter account still unlocked, about what a fantastic and easy experience MKE is and how much I loved it. Within 24 hours MKE had tweeted back at me, returning the love and thanking me for letting people know that it's a great O'Hare alternative for the savvy traveler. I immediately followed them, of course, and also liked their facebook page...and while I don't want everyone who flies out of O'Hare to start going to Milwaukee (because it would make it less relaxed for me, and I'm selfish like that!), I do want them to be a successful and awesome airport. And they clearly have a social media strategy and a monitoring service that's working wonders, and they know how to respond and keep their customers in the loop. It was like a case study straight out of the book, only more personalized!

The Last Queen

We all know I have a penchant for princess books. This one is about Juana la Loca (the mad) of Spain, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. For the record, I don't believe she was mad. And the way this historical novel is written, if she is mad then she was clearly driven there by the men in her life, who were always scheming ways to take advantage of her. The story is charming at first, and filled with the usual things you expect of a historical novel that focuses on princesses--pretty dresses, betrothals, nervousness, court life, passion. Pretty much in that order. But soon it becomes a page-turning horror-flick of intrigue, abuse, drama, loss, pain, and betrayal...all mixed in with pretty dresses and passion. It's quite the fast-paced novel. I don't want to give it away for those who enjoy the princess book genre, but let's just say: the men come off looking pretty bad in this one. and, historically speaking, that's probably fairly accurate. There are a number of choice words I used in regard to the men in the story, and even men in general, while reading this book--none of them are appropriate for this blog, but I suspect you can use your imagination. Suffice it to say, I actually felt better about my own (lack of a) romantic life when this was over. And I really liked the book too.

This Odd and Wondrous Calling

I really enjoyed these reflections on the pastoral life from two UCC pastors, one male and one female. They take turns writing the chapters, so each one is in a distinct voice, and I enjoyed that as well. They reflect on such things as family, work, boundaries, grace, hope, call...and they do it with a tone that draws the reader in. So many books about pastors, or call, or church life, or what it means to be a pastor, or whatever, are B-O-R-I-N-G. They make it seem either much more impressive or much more simple than it actually is. I enjoyed the nuance and the recognition of complexity, the undercurrent of hope, and the reminders to ground life in prayer. I did not enjoy that one of Martin's chapters flat out says the very thing I have been struggling with lately: "It also requires the kind of clarity that does not confuse people's diverse expectations with a job description, which means that it requires being willing to disappoint people."

Let's just say that I don't handle disappointment well...in particular, me disappointing other people is not really on the agenda of things that are acceptable. It turns out that this is good for exactly no one, due to the fact that it is extremely bad for me...in fact, I end up disappointing myself in the effort not to disappoint anyone else. To have this pointed out to me not just by my therapist but then by the book I am devouring is a cruel twist of the Spirit. just turn that knife a little further, please.

anyway, this was a great book of reflection on life AS a pastor, not life AFTER being a pastor or what life might be like IF you were a pastor. Highly recommended.

Good Goats

A re-read, but so worth it. Not only are the illustrations fun, but the content is pretty much exactly what I believe. Or almost, anyway. I love when books agree with me. (LOL) I also love when books accessibly and in clear language explain that God is love, period, and what that means for our theology and our life. In particular, I enjoy the image that "God loves you at least as much as the person who loves you the most, when they are loving you the most." yes. at least.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

This was free for kindle, as are zillions of other classic books, and seemed like a good classic work to spark my imagination for a bit. Somehow, I don't think I'd read this before, though there may have been a movie or a cartoon or something? Anyway, I don't remember reading it...and I think I would have remembered all the scientific mumbo-jumbo peppered throughout. LOL. The whole time I was reading it I was picturing the submarine ride at Disneyland, which I think maybe used to be 20,000 leagues themed but now is Finding Nemo themed. Either way, the ride is so overrated, I cannot believe people stand in line for 2 hours for that ride. Anyway....I kind of loved this book. I read it today, on my day off, and pretty much couldn't put it down. I didn't even want to play facebook games because I wanted to know what was going to happen to Captain Nemo and his captive guests as they travelled the world. You have to admit it's kind of exciting to imagine speeding around the world via the gulf stream or under icebergs or into dead volcanoes, walking around on the ocean floor, hiking to Atlantis and harvesting seaweed and watching pearls form. I mean, it's cool. I enjoyed the visuals my brain created while I was reading, even if I did have to skim a bunch of stuff that reads like a made up marine biology textbook. but I also, as a 21st century environmentalist whose mother loved the oceans more than pretty much anything on land (except the fam, of course!), was super uncomfortable with the ways the ocean and its life were used for sport. Whaling, "hunting," battling octopus, spearing sharks, have turtle fillet for dinner...Let's just say I didn't handle all that stuff very well. It kind of turns my stomach. The best moment in the book (at least in this area) is when Captain Nemo refuses "The Canadian" (a whaler) the opportunity to pursue and hunt whales in the Antarctic, because it would be only for sport and that kind of killing is unacceptable. Second best, the professor's rant about how whalers have killed so many manatees that the ecosystem is out of balance, so stop it already. Too bad those moments are surrounded by descriptions of sealskin shoes and eating turtle and whatnot. Not to mention, you know, the killing of people, which we never find out the reason for...but still, it's a classic for a reason, and if you haven't read it, you should!

Reading

I've been doing quite a bit of reading lately...but because I can't seem to keep track of calendar dates, only how things work within the program year of the church....this winter (the middle of the program year) I've read:

Millennials Rising

I disliked this book, because it felt like it was premature. Published as the first Millennials were graduating from high school (2000), I felt it characterized the bridge people (born between, say, 1979 and 1985) more than most Millennials. It's pre-9/11 and pre-recession, two serious markers of the growing up/coming-of-age years of most Millennials, so its understanding of the generation is, in my opinion, inaccurate. The way the world has shaped them, and the ways they have shaped the world, is lightyears different from how this book reads.

Sustainable Youth Ministry

I loved this book. We are working on getting a team together to try to make our youth ministry more sustainable (ie not so much dependent on me and 7 other amazing youth leaders who are basically irreplaceable), more integrated (we're better than many churches, but we have a long way to go), and more about vertical relationships that nurture and sustain inquiry about faith and life rather than about just playing human battleship (which is important too--don't worry, we're not jettisoning game nights!).

Almost Christian

Yes, yes yes. Everyone needs to be reading this book...and then trying to figure out how we do something about the issue of our churches being full of people who not only teach our children but also believe themselves that God is just "there when you need him." First of all: not a him. Second: not a servant. Third: shallow. We need to find ways to engage a serious biblical and reflective faith. This book is a good start.

The Hundred Foot Journey

I really liked this novel, though my colleague did not. I confess that I mainly liked it as food p0*n but it had some engaging story to it as well. The family dynamics and intersections of cultures via food were interesting. My colleague thought it betrayed a colonial mindset of assimilation, I thought it was about two cultures meeting...so there you go. It was not the best written novel ever--it was clearly written to be a movie, not a book, but then the author died or something and the movie was never made, so it reads a little sparsely--there are things that would have been better portrayed on screen that are not well written into the script. But overall, I kinda liked it.

Reframing Hope (a re-read in preparation for the BE4)

I heart Carol Howard Merritt. This book didn't bring up new things for me, exactly, but then again I'm hardly the target audience. I'm a young adult who IS in the church, and I work in a congregation that is intentionally seeking to be more intergenerational, that has a long history of mission and social justice, and that is invested in trying to BE the church, not just go to church. I love this book because it makes accessible the things that many church leaders (lay and ordained) need to be thinking about. The book is not long, nor is it hard to read (no dictionaries necessary here!), and it brings up things I wish more people were talking about. I feel like a large portion of the church is busy hand-wringing about my generation and the one(s) after me, but simultaneously ignoring what it means to be church in a world that is constantly changing. It's about time someone wrote a book that explains in plain english that each generation is different enough that while the faith remains the same, the ways we go about living it do not. Thanks Carol.

The White Queen

I love me some princess books! Philippa Gregory is always a good go-to-princess-book writer. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading The Red Queen as well. This was a pre-Tudors story, and just as engaging as most of her work is. I love that she finds women in history and plays up their roles, instead of the usual downplaying of women in "important" stories. I like that the women are both feminine/traditional and strong/independent/interesting/stereotype-defying. I like that the story has plot twists I wouldn't necessarily expect. I like that I get to escape into a story that is both so different from my own and yet so related. loved.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The Girl Who Played With Fire

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

I could not put these down. The story was so interesting, the characters so intriguing, the plot so not-predictable (at least at first) that I couldn't help myself. I read all three books in less than a week, because seriously...could.not.stop. The violence was a little out of control, and the sexism and heterosexism...oh my god. I nearly threw my kindle across the room more than once. But the story felt so real, and so important...and I wanted to know what was going to happen to these characters. They were just so...human. I haven't watched the movies yet, because I don't know if I can handle all that violence again (it's seriously graphic) but I probably will eventually. They're streaming on Netflix, after all. And I want to see how other people see these characters and places and interactions...my imagination ran a little wild as I contemplated all the possibilities while simultaneously devouring every page.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Sometimes you just need a little classic poetry in your life.

Alice in Wonderland

And sometimes you just need to read something you read as a young person...and then discover that it was completely drug induced in a way you had no idea about. I mean, seriously? SERIOUSLY? I had no clue when I was little...it was a fanciful story. Now I read this and go "Oh My God, what were you taking???" It's completely bizarre in every possible way. Still a great story, but wow. I did not remember it like that...

The Apothecary's Daughter

Kind of a princess book, sort of...it was fluff. But I liked it a lot. Again, plot twists, good character development, interesting people you get sort of invested in. I found this book a good escape, amusing, thought-provoking, and full of gentle commentary on the place of women in society. Then again, every historical novel is probably a commentary on the place of women in society.

Saving Paradise

This may be my favorite new theology book. It should clearly be required reading for, oh, everyone. I tried to finish the book before the lecture and workshop I attended, but didn't quite make it...I got halfway through though. Then I realized how long the book was (I was reading it on my kindle and could not figure out why the percentage wasn't increasing as I kept turning pages...now I know that it's because the book is 560 pages, but over 100 of those are notes and whatnot...it's just over 420 of actual text and images...but that 100+ pages at the end skews the kindle percentage significantly!) and I didn't feel so bad about not finishing before I went to the workshop. Anyway: Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Parker do amazing research, write great church history and theology, and delve into an art history mystery all in the same book. It's eye-opening and thought-provoking, and relieves a great burden for those of us who have trouble with the "traditional" theories of atonement. Of course, I have been saying for years now (along with some other people like, oh, Jesus) that the kingdom of God is here and we just lack the eyes to see it...which is basically what they say. So since they confirm my beliefs, they are of course the best scholars *ever*... ;-) No, seriously, read this book. Because I want to be able to talk about it, and about the work we did in their lectures and workshops. They were awesome.

Abundance: a novel about Marie Antoinette.

We all think we know about Marie Antoinette, the supposedly callous queen who valued herself above her people and sparked the french revolution with her extravagant indifference to the rest of the population. This novel, drawing on significant historical evidence including MA's own letters and letters of her court, suggests otherwise. First of all, as is pointed out in the introduction, "let them eat cake" was not said by MA but by the queen of Louis XIV, two generations before MA. Second, this novel portrays her as a compassionate, loving, interested and interesting woman whose life did not turn out as she planned. In this novel she is a woman who knows anxiety, disappointment, uncertainty, love, hope, dreams, friendship, fun, despair...in other words, she's a human being. Again, it's often a commentary on the place of women, on class and status, and on the political realities of 18th century Europe. It's intriguing. I read it mostly on the plane...it looks long, but it doesn't feel long. Enjoy.

I'm moving on now to Open Leadership, a book I'm reading with my S3 group....I'll let you know how it goes.

words words words

This is probably going to sound weird, but just go with it.

I think I've been word deficient.

It's sort of like being iron deficient (which most meat eaters will never be, but vegetarians know to watch out for...). Not quite anemic, but just in that stage of not ingesting or effectively processing enough iron to keep the body running top-notch. The general symptoms of iron deficiency (in my experience anyway) involve fatigue, more fatigue, and slightly paler skin than usual.

I know...I am already as pale as most people can even imagine, but trust me, I can get paler.

Word deficiency seems to be kind of the same--fatigue and unhealthy pallor. In a metaphorical sense, of course. I've noticed my imagination is less active (except in unhelpful ways). My writing is either non-existent or terrible. My sense of wonder and even general happiness is sort of lacking. And any poetic sensibilities I may have harbored at any point are completely missing. Even my listening skills seem dulled.

I think this is because I have not been reading as much as I normally do/should. My word intake is below the RDA.

I mean, yes, I read stuff. I read news stories online and I read facebook status updates and tweets and blogs and the occasional church-related magazine. And I read material that I'm planning to teach or use in preaching. But for several months now my general reading has been low.

I noticed it most when I was away on retreat and I read 4 books in 6 days.

Yeah. That's a lot of reading.

the thing is, it felt so GOOD! It was almost like replenishing my internal word count--like I had somehow depleted the sheer number and potential combinations of words inside of me, and was now coming back to healthy levels.

So now that I'm not on retreat anymore, I'm working on some kind of routine that will either allow or force (depending on your perspective...and probably mine too!) me to read something, or several different types of something, every day. Not just online, but in real books or kindle editions. Not just church related magazines but novels, sociological stuff, spiritual practices, poetry, theology, maybe even some other kind of non-fiction.

Just like I have to be intentional about iron, I think I need to be more intentional about my word intake. Healthy sources, plenty of them, and in combination with the right things that will make the words digestable, useable, things I can process. I'm taking suggestions for reading...

Reframing Hope--a book review

Well, as much as I do a "book review" anyway. I don't really follow that formal format...it's not quite how my brain works. But I will share with you where my brain went while reading this book!

It’s taken me a long time to find the time to focus and read just one book that isn’t for an immediate (like, in a few hours) adult ed class. But wow, I am glad I spent the time reading Carol Howard Merritt’s latest work, Reframing Hope.

The thing I love about Carol’s writing is that I feel like she may be the only person writing about a new generation without talking down-to/about-from-the-outside. I realize that she is part of this generational shift and so speaks from within rather than outside, but she also manages to write in that sort of inside voice. (By contrast, books such as unchristian, They Like Jesus But Not Church, etc, all feel like they are attempting to talk about “us” via the GenX/Millennial stereotypes and caricatures common among older generations, rather than from within.)

This book was, for me, a relatively quick read, and while I didn’t find it earth-shattering for my worldview or faith or church involvement, I could see in every chapter something that others in my church life would find surprising, new, or challenging. I also heard echoes of my own preaching, which is often characterized as “always being about community.” Well, yes, of course it’s about community—because I believe that is one of the defining issues of our time and one of our greatest needs as human beings…and something that has been so changed by technological advances over the past 50 years. Carol also talks repeatedly about the importance of community, and what community might look like in generations that have grown up in a postmodern era/the internet age, and during a generation-long distrust of institutions. (And, of course, even as these cultural changes play out we see how the turnings of culture and generations are relatively predictable—see Strauss and Howe’s Fourth Turning for more about how we now live in the midst of a culture shift that is likely to bring about a greater desire for, and building of, community.)

As leaders (ordained and not!) of established congregations, particularly in the mainline, we need to be reading this book (and Tribal Church, too!). These shifts are real, the culture change across the generations is real, and the needs of a new generation are real. New generations are not going to turn into the previous ones—there is no chance that GenX-ers are going to magically turn into Boomers as we age. Instead we continue to live out our experiences and our archetypes (drawing again on Strauss and Howe), only older. GenX and Millennials and the new generation of children are not going away, and we are not going to change to be copies of our parents and grandparents, so it’s time the church learned what that means for ministry, for community, for sharing and living the gospel, for caring and bringing hope and loving one another as Christ has loved us. This book is a good start as we seek to understand and minister to/with people of a new generation.

lame

It turns out I am a lame blogger.  This is almost turning into a sermon blog rather than a normal blog.  Sorry about that.  Between busy-ness, traveling, people visiting, lots of work to do, and some unbloggables, I either don't have much to say or don't have time to say it!

So, let's see....Amy came to visit.  That was awesome.  We hung out, did nothing, went bowling, ate, etc.  My dad came to visit--also good.  We went to the live taping of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me (super fun!), the Rite of Spring at the Joffrey Ballet (totally awesome), the Art Institute (the Munch exhibit is very good), and Abduction from the Seraglio at the Lyric Opera (excellent).  We also ate a lot (dad had sushi for very nearly the first time!) and we even did a little lounging around and some furniture shopping (no furniture purchased as of yet, however).  Dad also painted the trim on my new windows, so yay!

I've been reading quite a bit (not as much as I might like, but some).  I haven't removed my 2008 list yet and haven't started the 2009 list, which is very bad as I've likely forgotten what I read so far, but here's what I remember.

First Man in Rome (Masters of Rome series, book 1) (Colleen McCullough)

The Grass Crown (Masters of Rome series, book 2)

Fortune's Favorites (Masters of Rome series, book 3 (not quite finished...))

Twilight, all four books (again) (Stephenie Meyer)

A New Church for a New World (John Buchanan)

Chocolate for Lent (Hilary Brand)

something else I can't remember already....

I have also been watching Dollhouse, a new show by Joss Whedon (maker of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dr. Horrible) and friends, Friday nights on Fox.  I hardly ever watch it at the time it's on, since I don't have TV.  I visit my friend Elizabeth, who has Tivo, and we watch it at our leisure!  It's getting better and better and I'm intrigued by things that are happening, I want to know more, I want some questions answered.  I am also disturbed by the premise, which is basically a super-secret, super-expensive, super-high-tech brothel/human trafficking venture.  It's pretty good--I recommend.

Church is humming along.  We have an AWESOME new mission statement, we have a very catchy song written by a member inspired by the mission statement, we have things and things and more things happening.  My Shema Circle group is exploring Praying in Color this month, as well as assessing our spiritual gifts, vocation, etc.  

In cat land, I got a Furminator.  Furminating the cats is a very exciting activity around here these days, with whole cats worth of fur ending up in the trash.  Here's hoping for a reduction in the amount of vacuuming needed.

I think that pretty much covers my life at the moment.  I'll try to blog like a normal person in the future....

putting the past in the past, for real

Today our country steps forward, making an ex- out of a public official (at last).  We look forward with hope, with cautious optimism... (and some people with downright fear).  This week our congregation holds our annual meeting, reviewing last year's report and looking forward to next year via the budget, the mission statement, and the election of a Pastor Nominating Committee.  So, as we celebrate today with parties and parades and speeches, as we review and leave the past and step into the future, it occurs to me that it might be time to wrap up last year's loose ends on my blog.  So here goes....

On my way to Christmas Vacation in CA, I read two more books to round out the year:  The Last Wife of Henry VIII, and An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England.  The first was your standard princess book, and of course I loved it.  The second proclaimed that it was funny and witty, which I suppose it was.  What I missed while I was perusing the airport bookstore was the last review quoted on the back cover that said, "Darkly comic."  That seems more accurate--it was mildly depressing.  Although every time I try to summarize the book for someone, or tell them about it in any way, I do crack up laughing.  So maybe it was funny, but on the plane it was depressing.  Who knows.

Anyway, that brings my total of 2008 books to 62.  I have a feeling that I'm forgetting at least one, but nonetheless that's pretty good.  I think I'll be keeping track this year too, and since I've already read 2 books this year I should probably get on that.

Is there any other business I need to clean up/tie up/etc before we move forward to the new year in earnest?  I thought I had two or three things, but I seem to have forgotten them while looking up the links for those two books.  hmm....

Does anyone know how to save my link list as another page?  Does blogger have other pages?  Or should I just transfer the whole list into one post and start again for 2009?

Reading Challenge 2008

I keep forgetting to post about this book (much like I kept forgetting to return it to the library...).  But I did in fact read it a couple of weeks ago now:  Borg and Crossan's The First Christmas.  

It was pretty good--no stunning revelations, for me anyway, though.  I can't say it made me think of Christmas differently, but I can see how it would do that for some people.  Anyway, if you're looking for a slightly different way to view the story and its purpose, here's one.  I like their exposition of the birth narratives as parables or overtures--probably because it's similar to how I teach about the Christmas stories!  :-)

Now on to fluff for the holidays--lots of travel coming up, so I should be able to finish a couple more books before the end of the year!

reading Challenge 2008

I've been slightly remiss in posting my books, and also slightly remiss in reading in general.  Not a lot of free time lately...but the latest fun book I read (before today) was The Boleyn Inheritance.  It was a fun Philippa Gregory...a princess book, quite literally.  Following the women who spent their lives chasing after, trying to hold, and fearing Henry VIII.  It was an intriguiging court tale, as all her books are!

Today I spent the day in my pjs (though I did work from home for a few minutes), and I read The Virgin's Lover, another Philippa Gregory princess book--this time about Elizabeth.  I think it's the novel that immediately precedes her latest, The Other Queen, which is about what happens to Mary Queen of Scots when Elizabeth's paranoia gets the better of her.  This book is about Elizabeth's first two years as queen, and in essence is about what happens to Robert Dudley (and his wife)...in some ways, a cautionary tale about unbridled ambition, in other ways a story about the lizard brain and what happens when it takes over.  (um, to use more technical language, when the sympathetic nervous system rules and the parasympathetic nervous system gets shoved aside.)  It was a fun fluff book for today!

Just in time for the high school retreat (which was, by the way, fabulous--we had a good time and we explored lots of different types of prayer, including waking up in the middle of the night to just hang out with God in creation...at a campfire, of course.  It's November, after all...) I finished Downtime: helping teenagers pray.  It was great, of course.  With the one small problem I have with nearly all Yaconelli youth ministry books:  I'm not always convinced that the teenagers he writes about (and about whom he writes with such authority, it makes me forget that in some ways he stereotypes an entire generation--which makes me crazy when people do it about young adults!) are the same as the teenagers I work with.  He insists that teens are dying inside for lack of downtime, for space to pray and be quiet and that they will just fall all over contemplative practices.  I think the first part of that is true, but I'm not convinced about the second yet.  Having said that, on this retreat we had more silence and more real conversation about prayer than we've ever had before.  So maybe it's just an atmosphere thing...if you take them out of their comfort zones, they'll become contemplatives?  hmm...maybe not.  We'll see, I guess!  Anyway, I really liked this book--more than some of the others, actually.  Probably because it had concrete practice suggestions, many of which I already do and really like.  True scholarship because it confirms my biases! (so sayeth one of my church members...usually in jest, I promise!

Reading Challenge 2008

I think I missed something along the way, but I can't remember what it was.  So I'm trying to get back on track...

When I went to join my grandparents for a few days in the Wisconsin Dells, I forgot to take a book with me.  (I know--shocking! but I packed in a hurry on a Sunday afternoon, post CROP walk, so I cut myself some slack...)  Then it rained one day and we decided to forego the International Crane Foundation and to stay in eating fudge.  So clearly I needed a book...

I was planning to read The Other Queen soon anyway, so I picked it up at the local bookstore.  I ended up napping most of the rainy day away but I finished the book at home over the weekend.  It's very Philippa Gregory--well researched and written.  It's a different style than I think she's written before--written as first person accounts from the various people in the story, so you have to pay attention to the title of each chapter as it tells you who's speaking.  It definitely told the story of Mary Queen of Scots in a different and catchy way!  

All in all, a good fluff book.  and it wasn't all fluff--it was more timely than many historical novels are, as this novel explores what happens when a leader governs from a place of fear--what principles, what ideals, what people get sacrificed to maintain that fear?  hmmm...

Of course then I went to Philippa Gregory's website and discovered that I somehow missed TWO of her novels, which I promptly put on hold at the library.  As soon as I can get some free time, I'm escaping to the land of beautiful gowns and court intrigue!!

Reading Challenge 2008

The latest book in the challenge was actually 3-novels-in-one-volume (sort of like the Trinity...but not quite.) called The Parish Papers.  I picked it up on a whim at half price books.  George MacDonald wrote these novels as serials--you know, back in the day (in his case, the late 1800's day) magazines and newspapers published a chapter at a time?  I can't even imagine reading a novel like that, but it seems to have worked for people.  Anyway, you can sort of tell that this was a serial, as each chapter stands on its own a little and the beginning of the next chapter helps you catch up a bit.  Mildly tedious but not too bad.

What was more tedious is that the main character, Rev. Walton (often referred to just as "parson") doesn't seem to know how to listen but he does know how to talk!  At first, every conversation he has turns from a two-way into a didactic theological monologue.  He gets a little better as the story progresses, but he still really likes to talk.

19th century novels, even when they've been "cleaned up" for "the modern reader" can be kind of slow sometimes, and occasionally the speech patterns are hard to follow if you aren't paying close attention.  It wasn't a huge problem, but it was noticeable if I was reading while tired.

Anyway--there's not a ton of action (though there seems to be more disturbing action in Walton's parish than mine!) but there is some interesting character, relationship, and theological/faith development.  The third book in the volume is written from the perspective of the oldest daughter and was probably my favorite.

So anyway, if you're looking for a portrait of late 19th century church of england, here it is.  If you're looking for theology-in-a-story, here's some.  The main theological point is the same as the Shack:  trust in God, trust in God, trust in God.  Easier said than done, which is lived out by each character in the story at various points.  Some of the theology is old and more evangelical than I like, some is unhelpful (telling a dying woman, whose husband just died, that God "chasteneth those whom He loveth") but if you can get past it, the story does move along.  It's interesting to think about how people of one class befriend those of other classes, how relationships develop, what faith-friends might look like, etc.

It was a fun read, in other words, but not the kind of book you can pay only a little attention to.