Thursday, January 8

2008 books

"For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." -T.S. Eliot
(Experimented with close-up shots when the sun came out after a rain this week.)

I've put up lists the past two years of the books I've read. This year, I'm only posting the ones I think are the best of what I read.

First-Person Accounts:

Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs

An interesting perspective from a guy who tries to follow every command in the Bible.

Animal Vegetable Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver

Made me think seriously about America's and my relationship with food.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, Barbara Ehrenreich

Insight into the perspective of the working poor.

Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin

Apparently this is a classic and I didn't know about it – a white guy colored his skin to look black in 1959 and wrote about it.

The Cloister Walk, Kathleen Norris


Faith, Culture, Church:

Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

My first Bonhoeffer book – more to follow!

Jesus For President, Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw

Jesus Wants to Save Christians, Rob Bell, Don Golden

Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture, Lesslie Newbigin

Thought-provoking, action-inducing looks at American/Western culture and the gospel.

A Tree Full of Angels: Seeing the Holy in the Ordinary, Macrina Wiederkehr

Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer, Richard Rohr

How come the Catholics seem to have the corner on contemplative wisdom?

Free To Be Bound: Church Beyond the Color Line, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

New Monasticism: What It Has to Say to Today's Church, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

Both of these are about crossing our society's boundaries to live in community.

Life With God, Richard Foster

A balance to his earlier work, Celebration of Discipline.

Speaking My Mind, Tony Campolo

Made me think hard and re-examine what I believe.


Fiction:

Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson

Home, Marilynne Robinson

In the Beginning, Chaim Potok

Davita's Harp, Chaim Potok

Potok and M. Robinson are two of my favorite authors.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson


Biographies:

Hudson Taylor, Howard Taylor

Mountain rain: A biography of James O. Fraser, Eileen Crossman

Missionary biographies keep the fire lit under me.


Etc.:

Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History, Bruce Cumings

China's Christian Millions, Tony Lambert

Still trying to understand East Asia! These books were helpful.

What Are People For?, Wendell Berry

My first Wendell Berry book. He was (and still is) way before his time. We desperately need his perspective.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard

I think I've said this before, but Annie Dillard is a genius.


Friday, January 2

Wesley






I'm back in Austin, enjoying friends, cleaning up a few piles of clutter, getting back into a sort-of routine. For you non Facebook friends, I thought you might need a few pics of Wesley and his dog (puppy is his favorite word) to tide you over. I have posted all of my pictures here if you want to see (a lot) more.