13th
Dusting Off the Shelves
Oddly, I didn’t do any blog book reviews last year.
Not because I didn’t read a lot of books. But maybe because I feel like I didn’t read a lot of good books.
Each year I set reading goals. For 2008 I had hoped to read 120 books and 20,000 pages. Sort of ambitious. Sadly I came up short—way short. I did end up reading 56 books (I only count the books I finished) and 12,522 pages (I only count the pages of the books I actually finished).
Better luck this year right?
Anyway, as I was looking back over what I read in 2008 there were some exceptional titles that I’m happy to recommend to you.
So here ya go, order these, read them and let me know what you think (alphabetical by author):
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Angela Davis: An Autobiography by Angela Y. Davis (duh). I have a crush on the young Angela (Phileena knows—I don’t think she’s mad). Wow. What a great story, a civil rights voice that needs to be amplified. I read this while sitting in little tapas bars in Santander, Spain.
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You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers. I actually scored a SIGNED FIRST EDITION of this at a local used book shop in the Old Market. It’s well written, fun, surprising and gets you out of the smallness of whatever little world you find yourself trapped in.
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Living Gently in a Violent World: The Prophetic Witness of Weakness (Resources for Reconciliation) by Stanley Hauerwas and Jean Vanier. I started reading this with a sense of fear and intimidation because I’m actually co-writing one of the next titles for this very series (Resources for Reconciliation for the Center For Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School). It was a little hard to find traction until I showed up at Duke and heard Vanier and Hauerwas talk about the content. After that I found the book profound, moving and freeing.
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Moving in the Spirit: Becoming a Contemplative in Action by Richard J. Hauser. Phileena read this one first and couldn’t stop provoking my curiosity about it. I picked it up while in Nepal this past summer and crushed it in an afternoon. Came back to Omaha and a few of us in the community here read it together and did book club. Just about a month ago, Richard Hauser (teaches at Creighton) came down to talk to us about it. It’s a great little book that can assist people in their vocational exploration process.
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The Shape of the Beast: Conversations with Arundhati Roy. It just doesn’t matter what she says or what she writes, I’ll read it and I’ll love it. Arundhati Roy is brilliant. Confrontational. Passionate. Calculated. Prophetic. I have a crush on her too (Phileena also knows—she might be a little mad about this one).
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No Salvation Outside The Poor: Prophetic-Utopian Essays by Father Jon Sobrino. This was the first book I read in 2008 and it rocked my world!~ I love Sobrino, would have to say he’s been the theologian who’s most shaped my theology. This one is brutal. Approach with caution and courage.
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Listening At Golgotha: Jesus’ Words From The Cross by Peter Story. Long time ago Dr. Kamaleson introduced me to Peter Storey—we were at the Lexington, Kentucky airport and Bishop Storey was on his way to South Africa where he was to sit on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This little book captures the best of his soul and is simple. A great read, especially during Lent.
There were others that would make the “Honorable Mention” list and then there is a pretty tall stack that would make the “Seriously? This Got Published?” list. But I’m gonna be nice and only post the ones I liked.
I want to ask you to hit me up with what you think I should read in 2009. I need to find some good books to get my reading momentum back.
Happy reading.
