Tuesday, May 20, 2008

FIVE BOOKS I'M READING RIGHT NOW

My list is really closer to ten books, but here's the top 5.

I read like I watch T.V. - I call it "Book Surfing". It's where I read five or so chapters in one book and then lay it down for a while as I read two or three chapters in another one. The book I'm reading at any given moment depends on what mood I'm in.

Here are five books I'm reading right now:

"Jesus For President" by Shane Claiborne & Chris Haw - Great book so far but I wanted to kill them both when I read their section entitled "The Power of Weakness" which proceeded to look at various Biblical characters and how they embodied this principle...which is the book (including the title) I've been working on for three years now. CRAP!!

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley - Can you believe I never read this one before? For an English Major who loves sci-fi this is inexcusable. So, in advance of the forthcoming film version by Ridley Scott I decided to read it. Wow. This was written in 1932 and as I read it in 2008 it is still full of great, and frighteningly accurate, science regarding test tube babies, genetic engineering, behavioral conditioning and human manipulation techniques. Amazing work.

"Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis - This guy was a genius. The first three chapters are masterful as he explores the idea universal truth and the foolishness of moral relativity.

"The Immortal Iron Fist" by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja - (Yes. I read comics.) This graphic novel is the first of a two-part storyline that reinvents the mythos of Danny Rand who is the most recent incarnation of the Iron Fist- the martial arts champion of the mystical city of K'un-Lun. The story, the art, the twists and turns are all fascinating and great, great fun.

"Letter To A Christian Nation" by Sam Harris - Simplistic in some ways, but honest and truthful in others, this attack on the Christian faith is worth reading if you're willing to be offended and provoked. I agree when Harris identifies the glaring inconsistencies within Americanized/Western Christianity, but I disagree with his narrow-minded attack on faith in general. There's a great book out now called "Letter From A Christian Citizen" by Doug Wilson which dismantles Harris point by point, but there's value in knowing what others think of us, and why.

-kg

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm reading Jesus for President and four other books as well.

The others are Jesus has Left the Building, The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture, There Were Two Trees In the Garden, and I have unshelved Prince Caspian to page through...

Anonymous said...

Working through Jesus for President and The Imitation of Christ slowly - both pretty easy books to pick up here and there and read short bits.