It's been so long
Feb. 6th, 2009 05:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coffeesnob318Book entry!
I recently moved all the books that I have borrowed from friends or the library to their own bookshelf. Granted, it's a small shelf, but...they have their own shelf! It only has four shelves on it, but....there are four shelves of books that need to go to someone who is not me. This is not good. So my reading list for the foreseeable future is whatever my book club is reading and whatever is on that shelf. That might explain the seemingly random nature of the selections, as people tend to offer loans of books that they think I will enjoy (Jeff, Adam, Mel, Maggie - I have one of your Sue Monk Kidd books, by the by), books that they think it would be good for me to read (Jim, Mom), and books that I have shamelessly pilfered from their shelves on my own (as if I'm going to name names on this one).
So, without further ado, I give you my first book post of the year. I'm hoping to make my reviews pretty short this year. Less typing; more reading. Here's to clearing off that shelf.
1. The Gospel Blimp, and Other Modern Parables by Joseph Bayly
This book was a quick read and pretty much what it sounds like it was. Some of them were cheesy, but a couple were really sweet. My favorite was the story of a girl named Mary meeting an Israeli man one night and their budding friendship. There was a moment in one story - I can't even remember which story it was - where a child explained the "Word" in the first few verses of John as "It means 'I love you.' It means 'Come here. Don't be scared.'" I'm not sure why that struck such a chord with me, but I love it.
2. Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness: Equipping the Church to be Truly Christian in a Non-Christian World by Jerry Cook with Stanley C. Baldwin
So the title threw me off, because I'm all for love, acceptance and forgiveness, but skeptical about the Christian church's capacity for such. I probably shouldn't be, since I am part of a church that practices those things fairly well, but I've also listened to so many others that have not had that experience. But I loved this book. It sounds like Jim. I know that means nothing to people who don't know him, but it's inspiring and humbling and invigorating, which are things I could stand to experience more these days. So Jim was right - this book was good for me.
3. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
It had been a while since I had read this one. It made me realize that I read too few books that are written as if writing is actually art and not just a means of conveying thought. I love the way it's written. I wasn't as sad at the end as I remember being the first time I read it. I'm not sure this is a good thing, because I'm fairly certain that it should make me sad.
4. Sex God by Rob Bell
I loved and hated and agreed with and argued with this book. I also added about 25 other books that he referenced to my "to read" list. Freakin' Rob Bell. I still haven't finished the list I gleaned from reading his last book. I will say this - it demands introspection.
5. Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History is Restoring Grace, Justice and Beauty to the World by Paul Hawken
The title sounds optimistic, doesn't it? Yeah. It did to me, too. So did the reviews and the synopsis on the back. But that is not how I would describe the majority of the book. It was a lot of dry, snoozily written history - which I know is necessary to an extent for such a book - that painted a really bleak picture - again, necessary because true - followed by a couple of chapters of hope, which is what I expected the bulk of the book to be. So I was disappointed. Another concern I have is that he is so angry at certain groups of people who have, both historically and currently, contributed to problems of social injustice and bad ecology, that I'm not sure he's really ready for the change he champions. I'm not sure he's ready to let go of that anger yet. I'm not sure a lot of us are ready to let go of that anger, but I'm pretty sure that doing so is an essential part of this movement. It goes back to Gandhi's "being the change you wish to see in the world." Peace is a choice, both on the collective and individual level. We can work for change all we want, but until we are willing to wake up in the morning and say, "I am going to choose to be at peace today with the people around me, even those who disagree with me and even those who spark my anger, however justified," I'm not certain how successful a collective movement for peace and justice, no matter how beautiful, can be.
So those are the first five of the year. Five down, 25,000 to go.
I recently moved all the books that I have borrowed from friends or the library to their own bookshelf. Granted, it's a small shelf, but...they have their own shelf! It only has four shelves on it, but....there are four shelves of books that need to go to someone who is not me. This is not good. So my reading list for the foreseeable future is whatever my book club is reading and whatever is on that shelf. That might explain the seemingly random nature of the selections, as people tend to offer loans of books that they think I will enjoy (Jeff, Adam, Mel, Maggie - I have one of your Sue Monk Kidd books, by the by), books that they think it would be good for me to read (Jim, Mom), and books that I have shamelessly pilfered from their shelves on my own (as if I'm going to name names on this one).
So, without further ado, I give you my first book post of the year. I'm hoping to make my reviews pretty short this year. Less typing; more reading. Here's to clearing off that shelf.
1. The Gospel Blimp, and Other Modern Parables by Joseph Bayly
This book was a quick read and pretty much what it sounds like it was. Some of them were cheesy, but a couple were really sweet. My favorite was the story of a girl named Mary meeting an Israeli man one night and their budding friendship. There was a moment in one story - I can't even remember which story it was - where a child explained the "Word" in the first few verses of John as "It means 'I love you.' It means 'Come here. Don't be scared.'" I'm not sure why that struck such a chord with me, but I love it.
2. Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness: Equipping the Church to be Truly Christian in a Non-Christian World by Jerry Cook with Stanley C. Baldwin
So the title threw me off, because I'm all for love, acceptance and forgiveness, but skeptical about the Christian church's capacity for such. I probably shouldn't be, since I am part of a church that practices those things fairly well, but I've also listened to so many others that have not had that experience. But I loved this book. It sounds like Jim. I know that means nothing to people who don't know him, but it's inspiring and humbling and invigorating, which are things I could stand to experience more these days. So Jim was right - this book was good for me.
3. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
It had been a while since I had read this one. It made me realize that I read too few books that are written as if writing is actually art and not just a means of conveying thought. I love the way it's written. I wasn't as sad at the end as I remember being the first time I read it. I'm not sure this is a good thing, because I'm fairly certain that it should make me sad.
4. Sex God by Rob Bell
I loved and hated and agreed with and argued with this book. I also added about 25 other books that he referenced to my "to read" list. Freakin' Rob Bell. I still haven't finished the list I gleaned from reading his last book. I will say this - it demands introspection.
5. Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History is Restoring Grace, Justice and Beauty to the World by Paul Hawken
The title sounds optimistic, doesn't it? Yeah. It did to me, too. So did the reviews and the synopsis on the back. But that is not how I would describe the majority of the book. It was a lot of dry, snoozily written history - which I know is necessary to an extent for such a book - that painted a really bleak picture - again, necessary because true - followed by a couple of chapters of hope, which is what I expected the bulk of the book to be. So I was disappointed. Another concern I have is that he is so angry at certain groups of people who have, both historically and currently, contributed to problems of social injustice and bad ecology, that I'm not sure he's really ready for the change he champions. I'm not sure he's ready to let go of that anger yet. I'm not sure a lot of us are ready to let go of that anger, but I'm pretty sure that doing so is an essential part of this movement. It goes back to Gandhi's "being the change you wish to see in the world." Peace is a choice, both on the collective and individual level. We can work for change all we want, but until we are willing to wake up in the morning and say, "I am going to choose to be at peace today with the people around me, even those who disagree with me and even those who spark my anger, however justified," I'm not certain how successful a collective movement for peace and justice, no matter how beautiful, can be.
So those are the first five of the year. Five down, 25,000 to go.
