I'm Reading Some More

I can't really pinpoint what it is that has inspired me plow through nine books in the past seven weeks.  There have been full years when I didn't complete half as many.  It's been a lot of quiet nights at home, but definitely a good time.

I recently finished I Want to Be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth by Brenda Peterson. I had to read it. She, too, was raised as a Southern Baptist with a Forest Service employed father and for a time lived in the Bay Area.  It was like picking the brain of a cousin.  And it made me think.  Though I haven't landed in the same place spiritually, I resonated with her frustration with the fundamentalists that discard this present world just because there's something better on the other side.  It was a good read.  If you're a recovering Southern Baptist with a heart for creation as it currently operates, you might pick it up.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

Here's more for the list to get through by Christmas:


I actually just finished the Lucado book last night.  Someone in the blogosphere said it was the best book they'd read this year, so I requested it from the library.  Turns out, it reads just like a Lucado book. ;-)  Lots of stories, great metaphors and fleshing the scripture out into "what if it happened a little like this?" scenarios.  A good chunk of the back of the book, however, is what I'm most excited about. It has a host of reflection questions and suggested action points that I'm going to peruse with seriousness during my day of silence and solitude on Saturday.

The Kenison book is one that I'm curious about and was also another gift from the library. It just came in so I'm pushing that to the front of my list to read before it's due back.  I'm making some slower headway  through Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith by Richard Foster so this might be a good one to read at the same time that I'm chewing on Foster.

The Slezak book was a .50 purchase last week.  A friend and I are considering starting a sort of a book group and getting some insight for .50 seemed like a good idea.

And finally, when Barnes and Noble gave me 25% off anything, I broke down and bought Anne Jackson's newest book.  So many conversations lately have touched on this topic of "Why doesn't the church talk about x & y?" that it seemed I could justify the expense.  And if my intution serves me well, it may be the best topic for the aforementioned book group.  Want to come?