March is a month that I always look forward too. It is also a month where I tend to believe that I will read 900 books (Ok, no, not literally, don't be that guy). But I normally finish my finals pretty early and end up getting close to two weeks off. I plan on reading a lot. But something always comes up, and also, I always forget how much I LOVE COLLEGE BASKETBALL. I cannot give that game half of my attention, it must take it all. Beyond that, Ali always comes home and we spend a lot of time together. This year, wedding planning decided to be the Godzilla of my peaceful Japanese city that is Spring Break.
But you know what? Contrary to much of my belief as a human, books are not everything. That took a lot of effort to write, so tell me you're proud. Also, over break I started two great books that I'll certainly write about in April. For now, here's what March looked like:
1) Finally Alive by John Piper (Christian Focus, 160 pages). This took no time at all to read and I'm happy for it. This is certainly not Piper's best work. Ok, duh, it absolutely is theologically sound and is able to articulate Biblical exegesis well, but it just wasn't my favorite thing to read ever. It wasn't literature. I'm sorry. The book is Piper's explanation of what Christians call "the new birth," which is a trasformational process done by God and for God's glory to the benefit of his creation. It's a radical process and no other faith system or worldview has anything like it. The new birth, or "regeneration" to theologians, is a doctrine that must be defended and marked because of its uniqueness to the Christian worldview.
2) Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis (Harvest Books, 168 pages). OH WOW CHRIS READ ANOTHER C.S. LEWIS BOOK BLAH BLAH BLAH. You know what, I did. Hadn't read this one yet and I needed to because it's been a great resource as I look into the biblical idea of worship, which is what I'm teaching to high school students over the next number of weeks. C'mon now. Lewis + the Psalms = BOMB.
3) Unceasing Worship by Howard Best (IVP, 226 pages). This was a resource for me as I launched the worship teaching series at Willamette Students High School Group. Best is a scholar on biblical worship and has been a long time Wheaton dude. He's an incredible mind and finally sitting and reading through the first half of this book served me well theologically and philosophically. The second half is more focused on the arts. I didn't have time to delve into it.
4) Portland Noir edited by Kevin Sampsell (Akashic Books, 300 pages) Ahhhhh what a treat Akashic has been to the great cities of the world and they finally put Portland on their little map. Akashic books has been running a series of short story fiction set in the great cities of the world. Portland Noir is another notch in their belt of great, localized fiction work. It's taken me a while to knock out each story, but I conquered. Each book is filled with short noir stories set in the particular city written by authors of that city and edited by a writer from the same city. They've done Seattle, Boston, Dehli, and numerous others and they've been a treat to each city. I heard about these books because one of my academic mentors Dan DeWeese was published in this book. He has an awesome story in there. He also looks like Kevin Spacey. Kevin Sampsell of Powell's Books and author of the memoir A Common Pornography got the editing job and he wrote a very solid introduction to a wonderful compilation of writing that certainly gives great insight into our city.
March turned out OK.
Keep reading, friends.
1 comment:
Just read Finally Alive and Unceasing Worship myself. Great books....
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