In Which Diane Keeps Reading, at least for a little while longer...

My reading this summer has taken a few twists and turns.

28. The Daily Coyote. Shreve's Stockton's memoir of raising an abandoned coyote pup out in rural Wyoming is part dog-training manuel (ratcheted up to the nth degree), part love story, and partly theological (although she might deny it). Besides the obvious lessons in a story about a love that will not give up on the other (and a coyote is sure "other"), I was intrigued by her frequent citing of the messages on the reader-board at the local Methodist church. She treated them a little like zen koans from God. Makes me realize that people are always paying attention to the church and what we say and do, even in this post-modern era.

29. Julie and Julia (the hardcover edition) (and no, I haven't seen the movie yet). A friend from my church loaned me her copy at the beginning of the summer. It took until August (and I was finally finished with that large large book Pillars of the Earth), but I finally got to read the book, and found it delightful. Actually, at the beginning, I just "liked" it, but at one point I started laughing hysterically (probably it was the story about the marinating lamb), and now I find myself reading cookbooks. It was really a fun book, even if you aren't ever going to cook anything from Julia Child's cookbook.

30. In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan. I haven't read the longer (and more highly praised) The Omnivore's Dilemma yet), but I picked up this book for a number of reasons: 1) since Julie and Julia, I'm suddenly into food, 2) stepson #2, Young Man of Value, is becoming Vegan, and 3) I am interested in more intentional eating, even if I'm not really interested in becoming vegan. I did really resonate with his idea that we should eat more real food and less processed "stuff". Michael Pollan asserts that that the highly processed diet that most of us are eating now is about the only diet that our bodies are not becoming adapted to.

31. People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks. This was our August book club book, and I loved it. But I'm a sucker for illuminated books, historical novels, international intrigue: what's not to like? I'm also becoming a Geraldine Brooks fan. A woman who visits our church on occasion came to our book club for the first time and brought along some information about the St. John's Bible (this is one of the links at the side of my blog). She's an art teacher, and we all hope she will return again.

32 and 33. Messenger of Truth and An Incomplete Revenge, by Jacqueline Winspear. I'm almost at the end of the available Maisie Dobbs mysteries. I really enjoyed An Incomplete Revenge, but was not as excited about Messenger of Truth, which I thought moved kind of slowly. Both novels have the same excellent attention to detail and thoughtful insights regarding the human toll of war. I am considering a break before the last Maisie Dobbs novel because 1) it's still only available in hardcover, 2) I'm getting a little frustrated by Maisie's inability to find love (I was disappointed that she spurned Dr. Andrew Dene). I'm really hoping that Ms. Winspear finds it in her heart to give Maisie a companion; I know it's difficult, but she seems awfully lonely to me.

There you have it! I'm afraid that reading may fall off slightly this fall: I hope not, but I'm looking at the schedule and seeing the handwriting on the wall. We'll see.

I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, which of these books have you read? What did you think? Any recommendations? (Please, books shorter than 973 pages, only).

Book #14: The Shack

I keep miscounting books; the last one, The Last Week, was really #14, and this one is #15. I can't keep blaming Lent for my confusion!

I read The Shack for our monthly church Book Club meeting, which will take place later this week. I look forward to the conversation we'll have, as the story and the concepts about God are intriguing. Radical trust and forgiveness; unconventional images of God; a terribly horrific experience that needs to be healed.

That being said, for some reason I didn't find The Shack as compelling as I thought I would. The central metaphor of The Shack -- the place where God meets us as the place of our deepest pain -- is exactly right, I think. But something seemed a little too facile about it, for me. And, in the midst of deep pain, as many people experience God's absence as God's presence, I believe.

As we discuss this book, there will be more conversation, discoveries and deeper insights. I look forward to sharing them.

2008 Book Challenge Update -- And a Recommendation

I'm pressing onward on the Book Challenge, even though I am behind. I have a few more books to report on today:

11. The Dwelling of the Light, Praying with Icons, by Rowan Williams. I really liked this little book, because a) it's little, b) it's full of pictures, c) it's a simple introduction for those who have so little background in Orthodox spirituality. Archbishop Williams uses four famous icons to teach: of the transfiguration, the resurrection, the hospitality of Abraham and Pantocrator. He's very attentive to the detail in the icons, like an art critic, and also to the theology behind the icons. A quote from the Pantocrator section:

Where do his eyes lead us, then? To our own deepest reality, to the living self-communication of God which is at the heart of our existence and which by sin and laziness and forgetfulness we deny; to the wellspring of divine life in the centre of what we are, the Word that calls us into being. Remember the wonderful ending of Charles Wesley's hymn, 'Jesu, love of my soul': 'Spring though up within my heart, Rise to all eternity". That is what the eyes of Christ the Panto-crator direct us to.

12. Tallgrass, by Sandra Dallas. I had never heard of Sandra Dallas, but one of our book group members chose it for this month, and I found it a great discussion book. The setting is 1940's Colorado; an internment camp for Japanese has been set up near the small town Rennie and her family live in; and most of the residents of the town are fearful of the Japanese. There's also a mystery at the heart of the novel that I won't divulge.

13. The Competent Pastor, by Ronald Sisk. I began reading this a while ago, and while I found it useful, I didn't keep going. I thought the first chapter on self-knowledge was quite insightful, as well "Competent Time Management." This would be a great book to read with an intern.

14. ....If Your Name was Changed at Ellis Island, Ellen Levine (Scholastic). I bought this children's book last week at a used bookstore and read straight through it. It is done in a question and answer format (for example, 'how did people travel to the ships that brought them to America?' 'Were you examined before you left?') I can't believe there was so much information I didn't know about Ellis Island.

Book Recommendation: God Seekers: Twenty Centuries of Christian Spiritualities, by Richard H. Schmidt. Kathleen at St. Martin's Table made me buy this when I came in for lunch on Thursday (well, made me is maybe a little too strong). I've been skimming through the many short chapters all weekend. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but just to give you an example, there are chapters on Benedict and Julian of Norwich, Martin Luther and George Herbert, Donald Gee (Pentecostal) and Dorothy Day, Madelaine L'Engle and Thomas Merton.... among others.

gilead

I just finished reading Marilynne Robinson's book Gilead. I've been meaning to for a long time, and finally I assigned it for my book group and we read it last month. It was a difficult book in many ways. It's not that any of the sentences were hard to read or to understand. But there was a lot of meandering back and forth in time at first, and it was confusing.

But it was all worth the effort in the end. Marilynne Robinson has written a book that deserves to be read again and again, so rich in themes is it: slavery and freedom, pain and forgiveness, the possibility of redemption.

John Ames has led, in many ways, a small life; he has lived in the same small town almost his whole life. Yet his life touches so many of the large themes that we live with as Americans, as Christians, as human beings. So much of life has passed him by: but he has received so much happiness in the end.

It's sad that I wouldn't have read it if I hadn't forced myself. That's true of so much of life: we quit when it gets hard. I have a half a sock, a partially cross-stitched sampler, a couple of half-done stories to prove it.

So even though it is only a book, it seems like an accomplishment to have completed it.

Next we'll read something less demanding.