A brief summary of what I’m currently reading or have recently finished, why I read it, and whether I’d recommend it. Although really, it’d have to be truly terrible for me to bother writing about a book I wouldn’t recommend……
Confession: I’m really awful with small talk. I don’t know what questions to ask a casual – or “worse”, new – acquaintance, and my answers to similar questions tend to be succinct enough to suppress further conversation with all but the most dedicated individual. There is an exception to this, I’ve found, and so in recent months it’s become my favorite question to ask of anyone regardless of how long we’ve been acquainted: What have you been reading recently? This is sufficiently dispersonal to not feel like I’m prying, but engaging enough to still foster good conversation. When I turned 29, I set a goal for myself to read 30 good and worthwhile books before I turned 30, so it was also a question for which I always had a ready answer. (The final count for that year was 110 books overall, with a solid 50% of them rated worth the time; the count since then has been far lower.) And then there’s the side benefit of being able to walk away with a good recommendation for what to read next. So here are a few of the books I’m currently reading or have recently finished:
Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church (Ruth Tucker) – I’m currently reading this for the Church History class one of the pastors at church is teaching. It’s a pretty light, easy read. In true biographical fashion, it’s heavy on the personal and sometimes more scandalous details, but not as specific regarding what each person believed theologically as I might wish. Tucker does a good job of presenting each of these individuals as truly human – no whitewashing of character here. It was interesting to compare the entries on the early church figures (pre-Reformation) with how the same are treated by Justo Gonazalez in his The Story of Christianity, Volume I. Overall, I consider it to be worth the time once, but probably not a second time. (If anyone local is interested, my copy will be available for loan at the end of July, upon the conclusion of this class.)
Sleeping Giants (Sylvain Neuvel) – this is not a typical selection for me….which is one of the reasons I read it. Sometimes it’s good to break out of ruts, and Anne Vogel of One Great Book recommended it for those who don’t usually read science fiction. It’s hard to summarize without spoiling the plot, so I’ll simply say that I am one of those who prefers to stay away (far, far away) from science fiction, but I enjoyed this enough to put on hold through my library app the other two parts of the trilogy. Either that, or I just have a tremendously difficult time stopping in the middle of a story. Take your pick. (They’re both accurate, actually.) And if you really want the summary, it’s book 7 on One Great Book.
Rules of Civility (Amor Towles) – another Anne Vogel/One Great Book recommendation. Similar setting as The Great Gatsby, but infinitely more enjoyable and readable. Another one outside of my normal genre, but worth the time once anyway.
II Corinthians (Paul) – another current read. Probably not what you expected here, but if small talk is a struggle for you too, here’s a gimme topic that you know is worth talking about.
So there you have it: 4 books I’m reading right now or have recently finished. If you’ve read any of these (or decide to after reading this post), drop me a note and let me know what you thought of them!