A Cry for Help

Here are some of the books I am interested in now:

1. A Soldier's Heart, by Elizabeth Mamet. Sounds like a really interesting memoir from the pespective of an English teacher who works as West Point.

2. Bliss, Eric Weiner. A foreign correspondent and grump goes out in search of the happiest places on earth. Can you believe: Iceland? (gotta let local author Bill Holm know about this!)

3. The God of Animals, Aryn Kyle. Just looked intriguing. Such a young novelist.

4. Mudbound, Hillary Jordan. Won Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether award for social justice. Also heard word of mouth review: "I haven't read a book in years, but this one converted me."

5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. I heard him on the radio talking about his book, and his life. He was charming, humorous, poignant. The book won the National Book Award.

6. I Don't Believe in Atheists, by Chris Hedges. Part of this book has been floating around the internet, as a speech, I believe. After all the evangelical atheists, it seems like a good idea.

*7. Sundays in America, by Suzanne Strempek Shea. It got incredibly good reviews. She was interviewed on NPR. I read the first chapter at the local Large Chain Bookstore, and was hooked.

This is RIDICULOUS, partly because I don't just want to read these books, I want to OWN them. Please, tell me, remind me about the rewards of library cards Help me before I buy too many books!

Also, I do have a large backlog of partially read books, all of them similarly worthwhile. Some of these titles: Breathing Space, by Pastor Heidi Neumark, The Tipping Point (we all recognize that one, don't we?), Reading the Bible with the Damned (I read the last chapter first, called "Jesus as the Good Coyote"; it was brilliant, but I never worked all the way backward).

*I bought this one.