Book List.
Topic: Books
[index] [bot]23:42 Tuesday, 04 March, 2003
Ithaca, NY
I decided I want to review books on this site when I finish reading them. Friends are always telling me, 'Oh you should read this,' but everyone's taste is different, and I tend not to like the types of books most other people like. So, instead, people can read my mini-reviews of the books I've read, and decide for themselves whether they sound good, and also better recommend books to me, by seeing what my interests are. And all of this thinking about books made me recall in my mind just how many books I am currently in the middle of. I read rather slowly (I'm too thorough), and apparently am also inhibited by easy distractibility. But here's the list I could come up with of books I am currently 'reading,' in order of when I started them:
Good News Bible, American Bible Society -- I decided in 7th or 8th grade to try to read the Bible straight through, and am actually about half-way there. I'm somewhere in Psalms. And I was obsessively thorough about it, even re-reading those stories that are exactly duplicated in Kings and Chronicles, and reading all of the numbers in Numbers. But I haven't tried to continue that formidable task in ages, even though I've finally gotten to some of the more interesting parts.
Death: A History of Man's Obsessions and Fears, by Robert Wilkins -- It's really funny to me what people throughout history have worried about concerning death. You'd be amazed, really. However, it is a very thorough book, and some of the detail bored me, so I haven't picked this one back up in about two years.
God and the Philosophers: The Reconciliation of Faith and Reason, edited by Thomas V. Morris -- This was a gift from Gryphen. He and I would have many, many philosophical discussions, and though he was becoming atheist or agnostic or something at the time, I always, even after frequent re-evaluations, ended up still believing in God and Christ and the promise that represents. He has been very frustrated by the Christian church, as I have, but he takes it to reflect poorly on the Christian faith, rather than on the weakness of the 'Christians' causing these problems. At any rate, to get a book like this from him meant a lot to me, because it shows that, despite his disagreement with it, he still supports my faith, and even will help me strengthen it within my philosophical reasonings. But this one has sat on the shelf untouched for at least a year, too, because it got a little too dry for me.
Of Wolves and Men, by Barry Lopez -- Ah, now we're on to books that I actually plan to finish. This is a wonderful book. I was reading it this summer while visiting a friend in Kantishna, Alaska, because it was the one book in his collection that I also owned, and I therefore could finish without having to steal his. But I haven't yet.
Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson -- I took this book to China with me because I couldn't justify carrying an already-half-finished book around on my back for two months. So I chose a light paperback that I would enjoy starting. And I did. It's a little out of date (you mean DDT is bad for people and animals? Oh my God, who would have thought?), but an important book to the beginning of the environmental movement in the United States.
Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist, by John Piper -- I got this from a wonderful friend this autumn, after a long discussion on what God really wants from us. I'm not sure I'd consider myself a Christian Hedonist, but a lot of what John Piper is saying is making a lot more sense to me than what most other theologians have said to me before.
The Two Towers: The Lord of the Rings Part Two, by J.R.R. Tolkien -- I've read this at least twice before, but, after seeing the recent
movie, I had to go through and find all of the discrepancies (and, man, are there a lot of them).
I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away, by Bill Bryson -- Bill Bryson is an exceptionally funny author. I've read and loved
A Walk in the Woods and
Mother Tongue, and while this is not quite up to par with them, it still keeps me thoroughly entertained. I borrowed this from my friend, Tasman, and want to finish it quickly so I can return it.
So, eight books I'm currently in. Wow. Guess I've got some reading to do.
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More visitors! My friend, Thundercat, came over for dinner last night, and we watched Moulin Rouge. It's one of many, many DVD's I bought in China for what amounts to about one U.S. Dollar apiece. Neither of us had ever seen it -- I bought it because US$1 to own it is cheaper than the price to rent it, so any movie I might have ever been interested in renting was worth buying. Anyway, it was interesting, but a little too eclectic and busy, and WAY too mainstream. Like, overly dramatic; too short (not enough development of anything); and containing the obligatory radio songs. But it was funny at times, and certainly worth a dollar. Though I'm not sure I'll watch it very often; I think it'll make a good gift. 