Featured Review | What I'm Reading Now | My Favorites | Why Read the Intro? | Archives
When I meet someone for the first time (or even the twentieth) and I find out
she is a reader, the most important question I can think to ask is, "So what
are you reading now . . .?"; Followed by, "Who are some of your favorite
authors?" In this section on reading, I thought I could do nothing better for
you than to answer those two questions. In a nutshell, these are the words of
others that have helped me find my wide open spaces.
By the way, a word about how I read (consider this your warning). I don't limit myself to reading just within my own belief structure. In fact, if you read all of my favorite authors, you could never determine what I personally believe -- unless of course you were able to figure out all the ways I disagree with them. So as you read, please do so actively and carefully. Maybe you need to read with a pencil in hand so you can interact with the text in your own words. But know that words do matter, and words do mean something.
Featured Review
Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez
I heard about this book on NPR several months ago -- a Michigan hairdresser who becomes part of the NGO movement in Afghanistan following the war. Rodriguez is funny and impervious and makes sitting around the beauty shop with other women seem like a sacred rite. This book gives a lot of insight into the continued oppression of women in Afghanistan, but offers a lot of hope for the women who are making a difference through their strength and passion. I also just learned that Kristin Ohlson, a writer I featured here earlier for her book Stalking the Divine, is a friend of Rodriguez and co-wrote the book. Her straight-forward, no-nonsense writing style is evident.
Sacred Sorrow: Reaching out to God in the Lost Language of Lament by Michael Card
I
received this book from a good friend just after my recent diagnosis with
cancer. I am in love with the honesty of this book: a part of God can only be
experienced through sorrow. And while I have bad days and good days, this book
is a constant reminder that God is carefully redeeming them all. Michael Card
is a musician and artist, and his creativity and passion come through clearly
in his writing. He's also a master theologian and careful presenter; some of
his ideas feel scandalous -- that God can identify with rejection -- and yet
never unorthodox or anathema.
Andy Catle
tt:
Early Travels by Wendell Berry
This Port William classic by Wendell Berry tells the tale of a young Andy Catlett, one of the anchor families in the area, when he takes his first trip alone on the bus to visit both sets of grandparents during a Christmas break from school. The book offers lots of glimpses into Port William history and culture, but is a quick read, especially around this time of year. The snow has fallen, the animals and fields are resting, and the pace in Port William is slow. As always, Wendell Berry weaves stories into gold and this little book will not disappoint.
Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon
The
Mitford Series is over, but Jan Karon is back, taking us into the past
with Father Tim. I haven't even started this book -- hopefully tonight is
the night. But I am so excited for a reunion with old characters and
hopefully a cast of new characters with as much sass and pizazz as those
in Mitford.
My Favorites (Loosely categorized)
Memoir, spiritual non-fiction
Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
Searching for God Knows What
Through Painted Deserts: Light, God and Beauty on the Open Road
To Own a Dragon: Reflections on Growing up Without a Father
Anne Lamott -- fiction, memoir
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
All New People: A Novel
Blue Shoe
Rosie
Crooked Little Heart: A Novel
Lauren Winner -- memoir, nonfiction
Girl Meets God: A Memoir
Mudhouse Sabbath
Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity
Madeleine L'Engle -- fiction, children's fiction, essays, spiritual non-fiction
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art
The Rock that Is Higher: Story as Truth
A Severed Wasp: A Novel
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
A Circle of Quiet (Crosswicks Journals, Part 1)
The Summer of Great-Grandmother (Crosswicks Journals, Part 2)
The Irrational Season (Crosswicks Journals, Part 3)
Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage (Crosswicks Journals Part 4)
Annie Dillard -- narrative nonfiction, essay, memoir
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Teaching a Stone to Talk
The Writing Life
An American Childhood
Living by Fiction
Holy the Firm
Christian Non-Fiction
Your God is Too Safe
Things Unseen: Living in Light of Forever
Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming
Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life
The Way of the Heart: Desert Spirituality and Contemporary Ministry
The Road to Daybreak: A Spiritual Journey
The Ragamuffin Gospel
Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin's Path to God
The Book of the Dun Cow
The Book of Sorrows
Paul: A Novel
"Ragman"
John Piper
Desiring God
Phillip Yancey
What's So Amazing About Grace
Reaching for the Invisible God
Rumors of Another World
Soul Survivor
Frederick Beuchner
The ABCs of Grace
Godric
Larry Crabb
The PAPA Prayer
Connecting
The Safest Place on Earth
The Pressure's Off
Christian Fiction
At Home in Mitford
A Light in the Window
These High, Green Hills
Out to Canaan
A New Song
A Common Life
In This Mountain
Shepherds Abiding
Light from Heaven
Francine Rivers
Ted Dekker
Classic Literature
Jane Austen
Emma
Sense and Sensibility
Pride and Prejudice
Mansfield Park
Thomas Hardy
Return of the Native
Jude the Obscure
Virginia Wolfe
To the Lighthouse
A Room of One's Own
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven by Mark Cahill
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a haunting book about living a lie. From the beginning, when we meet a doctor and his new wife preparing to have a baby in the early 60s, I felt the tension that results from one bad choice and a lifetime of cover-ups. While the event itself (the doctor being forced to deliver his own twins in a snow storm, then telling his wife that the daughter who was born with Down's Syndrome is dead when she was actually being raised by the nurse from his office) was certainly significant, the more interesting part of the book was watching the disintegration of the relationships involved. Each person in the book coped with the distance created by deception in a different way, but all suffered. I don't want to give away too much more of the plot, so pick up the book and give it a shot.
Mirel's Daughter by Kay Gill
Mirel's Daughter is a beautiful written story about the dark years of a young Ukrainian girl's life during the pogroms prior to World War 2. This is the story of Kay Gill's mother, who came to the United States when she was 10. My friend Verray met Gill at Border's just a few months after Verray returned from Kiev on a missions trip. After making the geographic connection, Verray bought the book and is sharing it with us for book club. The pogroms were periods of deep persecution and "cleansing" of the Jewish people in Ukraine. The story is hard to read at times, but Gill is a wonderful writer who works through the difficulties with sensitivity. She also does a fabulous job of describing the details of the traditions of the Jewish people, even providing a brief glossary in the back so that the Yiddish words do not interfere with the telling of the story. I really enjoyed this book.
Sarah by Marek Halter
This fictionalized account of the life of Sarah, wife of Abraham from the Bible, was a quick read for most of our
book club. Loaded with speculations about personality and culture, the story has enough of the Biblical narrative
to make it familiar, yet it's different enough that I was always aware that I was reading fiction. Halter's creative
license did bring a lot of flavor to the lives of people we know relatively little about, and I felt like I understood
some of the spiritual conflicts Abraham and Sarah struggled through in choosing to follow the one, true God out
of a culture of polytheism. The book does have some sexual content, as Halter tries to adequately convey the
cultural angst over Sarah's infertility. It's a good read if you're willing to accept it as fiction, and contemporary
fiction, at that.
Gilead by Marilynn Robinson
Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Christmas Stories for the Heart compiled by Alice Gray
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason
The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Pact by Jodi Picoult
A few years ago, after reading John Bunyan's A Pilgrim's Progress, I stumbled onto C.S. Lewis's A Pilgrim's Regress and was intrigued by a possible "untelling" of the classic. Having just finished Bunyan's book, I also thought reading the Lewis book might provide an exercise in comparative literature.
I jumped right into chapter one, expecting to land in paradise. Instead, I met up with the struggling "John" and began a journey that resembled "Christian's" not only in it's struggle, but also in its forward momentum. Even though I'm quite certain that Lewis' book is a classic in its own right, I never quite got over the disappointment of unmet expectations. How could a regress go forward?
Shortly after, I was complaining about the injustice to my friend and then pastor, Rich Vincent, who had recommended the Bunyan book and had also read Lewis's. After politely listening to my anti-Lewis screed, he casually replied, "Well, he did warn you in the introduction."
"I didn't read the intro," I said, shocked that he would think I needed to.
"You didn't read the intro," he said, equally shocked. I think at this point he also was determining whether my whole identity as "a reader" might have been a ruse.
"I never read the introduction; it's a waste of time." In fact, in college, I always considered the first assignments of the semester -- you know, the ones called "Read all introductory material" -- kind of like the FREE spot on a Bingo card. Put a mark on the spot or not. You get credit either way. (Besides, there weren't any test questions on the introduction!)
While I was considering all the hours I had saved by NOT reading the introduction, Rich was adding up all the books I actually had NOT read (at least by his estimation) because I skipped the intro. Then, all of sudden, he looked at me with contempt. "You probably don't even read the footnotes, do you?" he hissed.
"Sometimes. If they're short," I said, by now, realizing I would never win this argument.
Seeing that I was softening, Rich changed his tactic from chastisement to conversion. He would make an "introduction reader" out of me one way or another. He told me how authors expect readers to read the intros and write books with that in mind. He said that themes, background information, and important definitions often are tucked into the intro. And then the real kicker: he said that "real" readers always read the intro.
I felt my identity melting.
"Ok, ok," I said. "I'll start reading the introductions. But I'm still not drinking my coffee black." (Rich also said that "real" coffee drinkers don't add sugar and cream).
Now I realize that introductions set up the reader to succeed through the book. Just as my experience with A Pilgrim's Regress had been enormously disappointing because I hadn't known what to expect, how many other books have I short-changed because I didn't read them as they were intended?
I still don't always read the footnotes, although they have an important function in providing supplemental material. But the introduction is not supplemental. It's fundamental. I guess you could say that the introduction is the "front door" of the book. All welcome guests enter through the front door. Only thieves or delinquent children bypass the door and climb through a side window.
And I certainly don't want to be the delinquent child of the literary world.
© 2006, 2007 Charity Singleton
All Rights Reserved