Here’s a post with an interesting speech on these three important authors. Interesting on their own, and for their Christian faith, and for their influence (which would be worth sorting out a bit more) on a contemporary author.
It reminds me of why I love books, too.
Read the first two in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde last weekend: The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book. Fun and fantastical for the most part, especially if you have a bit of a literary bent. But you need a bit of a sense of humor, too.
Worked through The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? by Richard Stearns of World Vision. On the one hand, I was generally familiar with many of the issues and challenges of addressing them he describes (and I appreciated that he wasn’t overly simplistic!). Still, there are times when books like this can be a bit numbing…
The best part of the book was the biographical stuff. The story of how he got to World Vision is just wonderful – and a reminder to all of us that we need to be willing to step outside our comfort zone. I’d encourage reading the book just for that.
Finished Endgame (biography of Bobby Fischer) this last week. A fascinating character and lots of compelling narrative. Also very sad in many ways. I remember the joy of the Fischer defeat of Spassky while I was in college. Made me want to pull out a chessboard!
The top 5 technologies that will shape the church in 2012. Some surprises on the list (until you think about it just a bit).
Another Terry Pratchett finished off (Wyrd Sisters). I especially enjoyed the discussion of how words create reality (or at least seem to be able to). The setting is a play:
They were staring at the performance, their faces rapt. The words washed over them in breathless air. This was real. This was more real than even reality. This was history. It might not be true, but that had nothing to do with it.
Could be said about much of the modern world, I think.
Finished the latest in David Weber’s Safehold series lately: How Firm a Foundation. It’s obvious Weber really likes writing about sailing and ships, among other things. At times it seemed to be off the main story line a bit, but I just went along for the ride and enjoyed it.
Several bits of reading advice popped up recently:
5 Kinds of Books to Read After Christmas from Discerning Reader
Why and How to Read Calvin’s Institutes from Justin Taylor
A couple of 2011 book lists:
From the Gospel Coalition
From Tim Challies
And I’m sure there are many more. Looking forward to a wonderful 2012 of reading!
Megan McArdel notes a discussion about changing parenting styles. I think it is obvious this is true, even among those who claim “traditional” discipline models. But I think McArdel may be onto something with this observation about the claim that modern approaches are better:
I wonder, however, if “better” is quite the right word. It seems to me that what parents have discovered is a much, much more intensive form of parenting than their grandparents employed. The elaborate charts and systems of incentives are enabled by the fact that modern children are effectively monitored by adults every waking hour until they become quite old
The increased amount of time parents have to invest in their children (and to regulate their entire life) makes this style possible. What this means I’m not entirely sure.
It’s the end of the year, so it’s time for lists like this. I’m always amazed at how few of these I get to in a year.
