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.

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.

I'm in Kentucky with my family, visiting my sister's family. So many interesting things to photograph here! Pictures of the nephew to come later. :)

listening, reflecting

Thanks to reading (and discussing with a great group of people) Jesus Wants to Save Christians, I've been thinking more about hearing the voice and the cry of those around me. That's what my bus trip in July did for me. The people I met broke through my walls and got to my heart. That's what talking to the homeless (on a day when my defenses aren't too high) will do for me, too.

I went to Church Under the Bridge yesterday and spent most of the time talking to a homeless guy who I usually see at the ARCH. He loves to talk, to joke, to relate to people. He talked about how the people are so grabby with the free stuff (they were giving away mittens, hats, etc.), so we talked a little about how change in people's lives only really comes through relationship. He said, "You're right. You've got to listen a lot." He's a hurricane Ike evacuee who's only been in Austin a little while. I wanted to take him to coffee, but everybody else I knew had left at that point and I was so cold all I really wanted to do was go home. I leave encounters like that knowing I've got to respond, but I'm still unsure of (or perhaps unwilling to recognize?) the next step.

Some other things that I've been reflecting on the past few days:

• My friend wrote about being in the defrosting (what I'm calling listening) stage she's in on her blog.

• Sojourners has a list of ideas for a peace and justice Christmas.

• Another friend linked to this photo Advent calendar from the Hubble telescope that will leave you in awe.

• And this Mankind Is No Island video I saw on another blog is a must see.

a random list of things

• There is a car wreath (a car that has a wreath on the front) that I see frequently on my way home. As a rule, I think car wreaths are tacky, but they still make me smile.
• On Thanksgiving day, I took a morning walk and saw a couple getting ready to go somewhere on their motorcycle. They had their chihuahua ready to ride in a little jacket and pink goggles. Not kidding.
  
• I laughed til I cried a few times over Thanksgiving and it was great.
  
• My grandmother can't remember how to say "latte." I made my sister one while she was visiting and Mimi asked her how she liked the "lotta." Laura had no idea what she was talking about and I had to translate.
  
• I asked Mimi for WD40 the other day to fix the squeaky door and she said she didn't have any, but she did have some 409. I explained what I needed it for and that 409 wasn't going to work. She then remembered what WD40 was and found me some.
• Even though I write down funny things about Mimi, I do think it's amazing that she still does everything she does at 87.
  
• I called Pep Boys last week to get a rebate situation worked out and got a guy that had some sort of British accent! He was super kind and called me "madam." I loved it.
• Rachael is probably the reason I make lists like these on my blog.

photos from the road

I already posted these pictures to facebook, but I thought I'd post them here too. They're from my trip to Abilene and the Whitharral farm over Thanksgiving. I always tell myself I'm going to stop and take some pictures along the road, so this time I stopped at a few places. The top two are from the family cotton farm.

This weekend was full of fun holiday gatherings - a pancake lunch at "my" house, watching Love, Actually with good friends and holiday drinks last night, and the church Christmas potluck/ornament making party tonight. I am enjoying the season!

letter to North Korea

Heavenly Lake, at the top of Chang Bai Mountain, on the border between North Korea and China.

North Korea, you are in my thoughts today. While I celebrate my second Thanksgiving feast of the week with plenty of food to spare, you hurt with children that are much shorter than your brothers in the South because you don't have enough food for your people. The scraps my relatives took home to their dogs would be a welcome meal for you.

North Korea, I knew nothing about you just 6 years ago, but I have come to love you without even setting feet on your soil. My eyes have seen you across the river; my hands have touched the leaves of your branches as a tourist on a bamboo raft; my heart has been broken in hearing your stories. I've wept at the injustice that is life within your borders. I pray for you and long to learn from your people, you diamonds that are being formed out of the pressure in the dark and hidden places.

North Korea, I don't know how life will lead me next. I don't know if I'll ever cross the river to experience the chill of your winter, the relief of your spring, the green of your summer, or make kimchi with your fall harvest of cabbage, but the lump in my throat and the tears welling up in my eyes tell me that my heart is with you. You are my sisters and my brothers, my aunts and my uncles, my grandparents, my teachers, my friends.

North Korea, you have my permission to reclaim the parts of my heart that I've closed off out of fear that my hopes may never be realized. I've tried controlling our future together, but I know that release is the best way to open the future up. My life has been shaped by knowing Koreans - your brothers and sisters - south, north, east, and west of your borders. The world has been taught to fear you or to pity you, but rarely to love you. I love you and am telling you tonight that whatever is in store for us, I can't forget you.

Inspired by this letter to Africa that I saw back in August.