Read 30 books in 2005

I think actually more than that, but I may have forgotten a few. Ah well. I’m still ahead of schedule, so we’ll let it slide.

Since my last update I’ve read:

Our Band Could Be Your Life – by Michael Azerrad

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith – by Matthew Stover

Finding Faith – by Brian McLaren

Discovering the Character of God – by George MacDonald

Ghost World – by Daniel Clowes

David Boring – by Daniel Clowes

I’m currently about two thirds of the way through Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, something I’ve always meant to get around to reading, and it has been well worth the wait. Following the completion of that I’ll dive back to light reading and run through the Harry Potter series again. After that, I’ll be taking on selected writings of Thomas Aquinas, finally finishing that Carter memoir, and then tackle the Zinn book again.

It occurs to me that I should probably comment on the books I’m reading.

The Brian McClaren/Tony Campolo book was interesting. I’ve been reading a bit about McClaren online, and I agree with one of the big complaints about him, which is that he doesn’t seem to be preaching post-modernism so much as a return to pre-modernism. I actually find myself mostly in agreement with him, I just think he seems a little hung up on the terminology. Campolo came off as a bitter old grandpa in his responses to McClaren’s chapters, constantly chastising him for pushing too far, which is interesting since I think Campolo is among the more progressive evangelicals. He is of course famous for noting in speeches that 10,000 people die in the world everyday and most Christians don’t give a shit, and the saddest part is that most of them are more concerned that he just said “shit” than they were about all the deaths. Still, I liked both their writing, and have another book of Campolo’s checked out now. McClaren’s selection at the library is thin, and most of the books are checked out right now. I will probably read another of his later.

Philip Yancey is incredible. He deserves all the praise he gets. It constantly amazes me that someone who writes books from a generally negative tone, who clearly points out the flaws in evangelical churches, has found such success with them. Maybe there’s hope yet.

The SNL book was quite a quick read for 600+ pages. It’s pretty much fluff, but interesting historically. Probably half of it is devoted to the genesis of the show and the first five years, which is as it should be. The last 10 or so years is nearly entirely glossed over, but no big deal since the stories just aren’t as interesting. If you’re interested in the show you should check it out.

Fever Pitch is spot on in its account of sports fanatics. It’s basically a memoir of a diehard football (soccer to us Americans) fan in England. It seems to me like it would probably have a fairly limited audience. Non-sports fans are simply not going to understand the filter sports has on the rest of a fans life. On the flip side, Hornby is a very smart and literate and…well, BRITISH writer. And I don’t think that’s the kind of thing most American sports fans can appreciate. I am reminded of a friend from high school who was heavily into sports and managed to graduate both high school and college having read only one book, Goodbye Mr. Chips, “because it was short”. Still, I love it so far.

I’m done with everything mentioned in my previous entry, with the exception of the Carter memoir, which I’m still only about 1/3 of the way through. It’s fairly readable, but my eyes start to glaze over after 50 pages or so and I always end up setting it aside and reading something else for a while, then picking it up again fresh later. So to date I’ve finished 6 this year. I’m currently reading:

Fever Pitch – by Nick Hornby

in the perpetual stack by the bed I’ve got:
About a Girl – Nick Hornby
Speaking my Mind – Tony Campolo
The Problem of Pain – CS Lewis
and of course the Carter book.

I’m kicking the year off with some lighter reading, because one of my sub-goals this year is to finish Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. I started it last year but it is a behemoth to get through in one library checkout period.

So far I have finished:
Mainlines, Blood Feasts, And Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader – edited by John Morthland
The Sound and the Fury: A Rock’s Backpages reader: 40 years of classic rock journalism – edited by Barney Hoskyns

Currently I’m partway through:
Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President – by Jimmy Carter (the first step of a new goal to read the memoirs of each President from my lifetime)
The Late Shift – by Bill Carter (particularly apt, given Johnny Carson’s death this week)

Currently stacked by my bed, waiting their turn:
Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel – by Brian McLaren & Tony Campolo
What’s So Amazing About Grace? – by Philip Yancey
Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live – by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller
plus a stack of several CS Lewis books I got for Christmas, some of which I have not read before and am quite looking forward to.

2/30 done!