Books Finished: March 2023
Yes, I did finish some
I surprised myself with how many books I actually did finish this month. Here's some things I’ve been reading, or listening to.
A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik (Audio)
My friend Alyssa has yet to suggest a book that hasn't been a winner. This is a recent fantasy novel that involves wizards in a school (yes), except the school exists outside space, there are no teachers, students are magically portaled in at the start of their schooling, the school is magically sentient, and things are constantly trying to kill them. It's a better premise than HP, and both the characters and the storyline are... more engaging.
Jesus and the Disinherited, Howard Thurman
Hiort, Iain F. MacLeòid
So, this is one reason I haven't read as many books this month. I've had some other reading that I've needed to get done. Hiort is the first full-length novel that I've read (to the end) in (Scottish) Gaelic. I had to read it in the space of a week, and I was really pleased that I could understand almost all of it, apart from a few words each page. It's a crime-mystery novel, set in and around St. Kilda, and it's a great story! It got me in and kept me going.
Exclusion and Embrace, Miroslav Volf (Audio)
This took a long time to get through! It's a dense, complex, philosophical book. Put it this way, if Volf's "Free of Charge" is kind of the theological heavy-weight behind the scenes to something like Keller's Forgiveness, then Exclusion and Embrace is the super-giant-heavyweight lurking in the shadows behind "Free of Charge". The premise of E&E is deceptively simple, "But can you embrace a cetnik?" asks Moltmann of Volf; the cetnik were Serbian fighters responsible for atrocities in Volf's native Croatia. What does it mean for Christians to embrace the other, and how does this relate to a God who embraces his enemies?
Why Forgive? Johann Christoph Arnold
I started reading this book last year, as a free give-away from the Bruderhof, who inter alia run an amazing journal, Plough. I had to stop reading it because it was emotionally overwhelming. It is a very anecdote driven book, story upon story of profound, heroic, forgiveness, especially after devastating wrongdoing; Holocaust survivors, a mother who lost 9 children to bombing raids, families torn apart, violence, the list is long, and every story is deeply moving. I like to finish books, if I can, and so I came back to this and read it in pieces; I think my mind has come to a place of rest about the biblical teachings and theology and ideal practices of forgiveness; but this book still tugs at the heart (as it should, mind you, as it should!) and saw me shedding a tear every few pages.
The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing, Jonathan T. Pennington
This book was refreshing. Besides the posts that have come out of reading it, it was a delight to my soul. Firstly, to read a theological commentary that wasn't a technical one, not "here's everything everyone ever said or thought about this verse, and this one, and this one", but a book with vision. Secondly, Pennington's take on human flourishing, and Jesus as both Sage and King, and not only the Sermon as being about human flourishing, but in a way the whole Bible is about human flourishing (this comes out in the final chapter). I felt refreshed and read parts of Scripture with new eyes.
An Taigh-Samhraidh, Aonghas Pàdraig Caimbeul
I didn't just read my first Gaelic novel this month, but in fact I read two. This one was more sophisticated, both in language and in content. At its centre is "the summer house" (which is the title), a small little house on a tiny island. The story moves between the current owners (Tom and Rebecca) who arrive to find it ransacked, and they on the verge of splitting up, and the 18th century, with the builders of the house, and then back and forth between history, memory, generations, rights and wrongs, language and politics, love and freedom. It was a good read, and a very 'modern' novel.
The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik (Audio)
The sequel to "A Deadly Education", which I listened to at the start of the month. I enjoyed book 1 so much that I listened to book 2 in the last third of the month. This was fun, enjoyable, and not as heavy as some of the books I have been reading!
So, yes, even though I ostensibly read "less" this month, I still knocked out 8 books, on top of all the unfinished ones. I am, as you may have gathered, a chronic parallel reader. I do have more than 10 books on the go at once, though I try to actually keep it under that number (in theory!). None of this is to make you feel bad, by the way, it's just that I like to read and I like to share my reading with you!
Some other things I've been reading here and there:
Robert P Jones on Lent, Confession, and White Supremacy
Katelyn Beaty : Why (most) pastors shouldn't be book authors:
A brilliant series by Richard Beck on "Practicing Jesus", which I'll talk about in a post in a week or two. Here's the first post though:
