Alright, I always thought that one of the main things I would do with a blog is write about what I was reading. I plan to mostly just include excerpts with little or no commentary from me. I figure that what the author has to say is probably more interesting to say than what I have to say about it! Actually, the main reason I will be blogging about them is to help ME remember what they said later.
So I have been collecting books at used bookstores and such and throwing them in my shelf with the intention of reading them “soon”. Well, I really only get a couple of hours of reading in each week so it’s pretty slow going. I had just finished a book and decided to sit down and write make a list of all the things I wanted to read. That way I could order and and decide what to read next. In my mind was a picture of 5 or 6 books waiting in the queue, but when I went to take a look I was shocked to find the number was closer to 25. Geesh! I’m never going to get these read!
Well, here they are in no particular order. Well, their kind of in order. Oh nevermind.
Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancy – This book was recommended to me by an older Christian man I admire. I’m about half-way though it right now. It’s kind of a hodge-podge of quotes and stores and doesn’t seem very well thought out. I think that’s kind of the point though. How else do you write about something mysterious and confusing, eh?
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A’Kempis – I see this book quoted all the time. I guess it is one of the great Christian mystic classics.
Contemplating Jesus by Robert Faricy & Robert Wicks – I found this at a yard sale. It’s a very short book on contemplative prayer and meditation. I think it’s Catholic.
The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis – Lewis is one of my favs and so I try to snatch up anything by him I can find cheap. This book is a survey or medieval literature. Looks interesting.
Getting Real by 37 Signals – This is a short online book about software development. I’ve read about half of it but need to go back and finish it. Apparently reading it will make me a slick agile programmer like the cool kids.
The Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson – This is Tennyson’s great King Arthur epic in verse. I’ve tried to read it before, but got bored. I’d like to try again though.
Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster Cline and Jim Fay – My wife read this and found it very helpful. I’ll read it too.
A Serrated Edge by Doug Wilson – This is probably Wilson’s most controversial book. It is a defense of the use of satire by Christians to ridicule, well, all kinds of things. I typically agree with Wilson, but I know from some of his other writings that I don’t buy everything he argues for on this particular topic. But don’t bash it until you’ve read it right? So I’m going to read it so I actually know what I’m talking about.
Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning by Doug Wilson – One of Wilson’s older books advocating classical education. Some of it is kind of dated, but it looks like it has some stuff in it. Coming from both a background of private school, public school, AND home school, I am often thinking about what to do for my own kid’s education. I’m interesting in finding out more about the classical model.
How to Think Straight by Antony Flew – This is an introduction to logic and rhetoric. Yet another topic that I feel deficient in since I’ve never studied it formally.
Poems (no title?) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – I pickup this very old (1850’s era) book at an auction. I remember reading “The Wooing of Hiawatha” in school and thought I should check outs some other stuff from Longfellow. Most of it rimes, so I am cool with that.
The Tempest by William Shakespeare – My first introduction to this book was seeing Patric Stewart playing Jean-Luc Picard playing Prospero in the holideck on Star Trek. when I was young. Now that doesn’t happen every day. It seems that this story in particular resonates with other people I have read. Loreena Mckennitt sang a beautiful piece to part of it’s text as well. I want to find out what all the fuss is about.
Music and Ministry: A Biblical Counterpoint by Calvin Johansson – The first thing I did when I saw this book was to use the index to see what he had to say about rock. Since he didn’t take the incredibly silly stance that electric guitars are inherently and abstractly demonic, I decided he probably had his head on straight. Actually, I’ve skimmed though a lot of this book and might just start writing about some of it right away. It is surprisingly well thought out.
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis – One of the few Lewis classics that I haven’t gotten around to yet.
Peace Like a River by Lief Enger – I bought this book for my wife after hearing an interview with the author on the Kindling’s Muse Podcast. She read the whole thing in one sitting and really loved it. I haven’t read any fiction for a while, so I thought I would give this a shot.
The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez-Reverte – I picked this up because I thought it was by the same guy who wrote “The Shadow of the Wind”, but I got the foreign names mixed up. It still looks interesting though.
And now for some books that I’ve read recently and will probably write about first…
The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton – The auto-biography of this early 20th century Trappist monk. I had never heard of him until I started reading Michael Spencer’s blog (www.internetmonk.com).
Against Christianity by Peter Leithart – The first few chapters of this were especially dynamite.
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton – The classic quirky British apologetic. It’s full of one-liners and everyone likes to quote it to sound clever. Well, actually it is pretty nifty. I’d like to read this one again too.
Fidelity by Doug Wilson – A straight forward and excellent book on morality and the typical troubles that men face.
Wild at Heart by John Eldridge – OK, OK. So there is plenty to bash in this book if you want to. Nonetheless, I think some of his observations are quite keen and he communicates them very well. I’ll have to sort them out again since it’s been a few years since I read this.
Inside Out by Larry Crabb – One of my favorite books. ‘nuf said.
That’s plenty folks.
