I Am Breaking Up with Blogger

Hey People,

I know this "blogdom" of blogspots was overly ambitious. I had to give up much to my own personal disappointment. It was me, not you (blogger).

Recently I've been inspired and encouraged to try and blog again. With fear I have accepted the challenge. But I'm breaking up with blogger. It's not you blogger, it's me.

So hit me up on my new blog, "If I Blogged..." at:

http://ifiblogged.tumblr.com/

Chris

2006: What I've Read

Well, I'm off to a slow start already this year...

6) The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation, by Father Thomas Keating. I seriously can't stop reaiding this book...

5) Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality, by Donald Millar. Not a huge fan. Miller's insecurities and inconsistencies made this one tough to swallow.

4) The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B. DuBois. A classic...

3) Beloved Commuinty: How Faith Shapes Social Justice from the Civil Rights Movements to Today, by Charles Marsh. I'm a huge fan of Marsh and reall appreciate his contemporary historical reading of how/why the Civil Rights movement needs to be reborn today.

2) The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical, by Shane Claiborne. Dang, this one is HILARIOUS and POWERFUL. A quick and important contribution.

1) Silencing Political Dissent: How Post-September 11 Anti-Terrorism Measures Threaten our Civil Liberties, by Nancy Chang. A long title for a little book :) Clint sent me this one and I thought it an appropriate start to the year's reading.

Welcome to the Library

Can't Remeber... Losing My Mind...

2005: What I've Read

Here is the running list of what I've Read this year.

42) The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck. Always good... every time.

41) Authentically Black: Essays for the Silent Black Majority, by John McWhorter. I'm still trying to make sense of this stuff...

40) We Want Freedom: Life in the Black Panther Party, by Mumia Abu-Jumal. Dang...

39) Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, by Barack Obama. I love Barack, but after reading Malcolm's book and then reading Mumia's, Barack comes across fairly mild.

38) The Autobiography of Malcol X As Told to Alex Haley, Malcolm X. There aren't words to express how much this book has shaped me.

37) In the Name of Jesus, by Henri Nouwen. Another re-read and another one that I can't get enough of.

36) The Human Condition, by Thomas Keating. Another re-read and certainly not the last time I'll re-read it.

35) Reconciliation As the Mission of God, by Chris Rice. This was the Lausanne paper that came of out Chris' group. A good start for the theological framework for the reconciliation discussion.

34) 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, by Charles C. Mann. This was REALLY interesting but too long... I always get sad when reading about our country's history...

33) Korea, by Simon Winchester. Well, I was real hopeful that this was gonna be interesting and insightful, but travel-reports aren't my favorite and this was disappointing.

32) Miss Black America, by Veronica Chambers. This little novel is sad and hopeful, a great and quick read.

31) Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson. I read this for a conference I'm in and we discussed it in San Francisco with a group of Pastors. Really well written and reflective, made me think that I'd get so much more out of it in 20-30 years.

30) From Brokenness to Community, by Jean Vanier. I can't read this enough!

29) Things Fall Apart by Chinau Achebe. Another one that I've read plenty of times but read it with Jara for a book-club. I LOVE this one!

28) A Spirituality of Fund-Raising, by Henri Nouwen. This little booklet really helped me re-consider how I view money and fund-raising. Really insightful.

27) The Terminal Man, by Sir Alfred Mehan. This is the sort-of-autobiography of the real-life refugee living in the airport in Paris (we saw him earlier this year). Sad, sad story and very readable.

26) In A Free State, by V. S. Naipaul. This helped me take a Booker Prize winner along with a Nobel Literature prize winner off both lists with one read. Not the best fiction I've read this year...

25) An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire, by Arundhati Roy. DANG! This is an Indian version of her last few political essay books published in the US. There were a few essays I hadn't seen before but even re-reading the others was INCREDIBLE!

24) Poverty by Raniero Cantalamessa. I've read this plenty of time and will keep reading it. Read it again this summer in India for a book discussion that was really provacative.

23) Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony-A Provacative Christian Assessment of Culture and Ministry for People who Know that Something is Wrong, by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon. I read this in India and AFTER I had met Hauerwas at Duke... wondering how much better it would have been reading this in the States AFTER having met Hauerwas. Good pick, thanks Strayer for the recommendation.

22) The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Friedman... well, I'd really like to actually read a good commentary on globalization and this isn't it... in fact, Friedman agenda is incredibly slanted and short-sighted. I was mostly mad reading through this.

21) Whose Religion is Christianity: The Gospel Beyond the West, by Lamin Sanneh. After reading The Next Christendom I thought this was a good follow-up, not as compelling, but good.

20) The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, by Philip Jenkins. I think after reading Divided by Faith, I had to pick this one up. It takes on a similar issue but on a global perspective, suggeting that in 40 years only 1 in 5 Christians will be white. The church has to look beyond the perception that Christianity is a white, Western, male-dominated religion for the affluent and poweful-in fact, statistically it loolks more like a young Nigerian woman in a village or a young Brazial woman in a favela. How we address this reality will lend itself to how relevant the church is and remains.

19) Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America, by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith. Okay... I'm bad b/c a couple dear friends (Dionne and Sarah) gave this to me in the fall of last year and I FINALLY got to it... can't say that I've read anything that's made this much of an impact on me for quite a while. The authors take on the issue of the "racialized" nature of the American Evangelicalism and build a strong case that this is a structural issue that we must make a priority. Highly recommend this one, chapters 1, 6, and 8 would be enough if that's all you can get to.

18) Jesus and Mary: Finding Our Sacred Center, by Henri J.M. Nouwen. As I've been meeting with my spiritual director, the contemplative nature of our relationships has become much more meaningful to me and Nouwen does a great job of pulling that out of Christ's life in this little book.

17) The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and Experiences, by Wangari Maathai. The only African woman to win the Nobel Prize for Peace was Maathai and this is the story of her movement that not only contributed to the environment, but also to women's empowerment. Easy to read and informative.

16) Women Writing Resistance: Essays on Latin America and the Caribbean, edited by Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez. I had wanted to read this for a long, long time and finally found it on the top of the pile of what's next. The collection of authors (I think 18 different voices) gathered for this compilation is impressive and so I think my expectations might have been set too high. I felt like there were a lot of great essays, but it wasn't until Rigoberta Menchu's, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, essay that I really felt connected to this one. Then the piece by Jamaica Kincaid just blew me away... it's something I will revisit and share as much as I can. Not the best, but it's always hard to judge the quality of a compiled work.

15) The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy. I have a strong bias FOR the Indian novel, especially the South Indian novel (which is hard to come by). I also can't get enough of Arundhati Roy, everything I've read of hers has been fabulous. The God of Small Things is her Booker Prize winning novel, and though I felt like I was "running downhill" (that's when I feel like I'm turning pages faster than I can keep up with), I think I like her political writings more. Don't be mad Arundhati...

14) Lament for a Son, by Nicholas Wolterstorff. The "Oracle" in my world, Bob, says that God saves suffering for those He loves the most. I often think of that when I reflect on my friends in India-especially my friends at Samanthana Illam (a home for profoundly physically and mentally disabled children) and those of my friends that I've buried b/c of AIDS and disease related to malnutrition. That's probably the closest to grieving and suffering that I've personally experienced. I mean, it was very hard for me when my grandfather passed away, but when we buried Prema (3 months old) or E. Noel, the one I named... it was almost too much for me. Anyway, in Lament for a Son, Wolterstorff reflects on the loss of hi 25-year-old boy and fills page after page of thoughtful and painful considerations on life, death, regret, remorse, and hope. In particular 2 statements help bring some understanding to the hurt and pain I grapple with no matter how many times I visit my 11 friends in their resting place at the Madras cemetery in India: Page 22, "I lament all that might have been, and now will never be." Pages 100-101, "If the resting place of the remains of God's icons deserve respect, then surely the dwelling places of his living icons do." This book is powerful and painful. A friend who's wife has cancer (2nd time around) passed this along. Though I've not experienced the loss of a son or the fight for life for Phileena, I feel like reading and reflecting on things like this are necessary to experience the fullness of life WHILE and WHEN we have it.

13) Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood. Okay... after I read The Handmaiden's Tale I wasn't sure I cared much for Atwood. Then, about a hundred pages or so into this one, I thought I probably cared for her less. But once I did get into Oryx and Crake it was really difficult to put it down-in fact, I finished this one in a day. It was a great read but not sure I'd recommend it. Since I would like to read all the Booker Prize winning novels I'm afraid that Atwood and I will interact at least one more time...

12) Anil's Ghost, by Michael Ondaatje. I usually enjoy reading the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize winners (I think Anil's Ghost won it in 2000 or 2001), and Anil's Ghost was no different. Easy to read, fast-moving, and well-written. Set in Sri Lanka and so it put me somewhere else every time I opened the cover.

11) Shame, by Salman Rushdie. Three moms? Rushdie might be one of the best story tellers of our time. Rich and enthralling, but still can't compare to his genius in Midnight's Children. Rushdie is on my short-list for probable future Nobel Literature prize winners.

10) Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. I always say you can't judge a book buy its cover, but you can SELL one by its cover. That's why I bought this one. Never heard of Hurston (that's a tragedy) and never heard of this book, but it's now easily on my favorite novels of all time. Powerful, brilliant, and one of the most important novels by an American woman that I've ever read. I can’t recommend this strongly enough-not only one of the best novels I’ve ever read but maybe among the most important.

9) No One Writes the Colonel and Other Short Stories, by Gabriel Garcias Marquez. I usually don't care for short stories, but most all of these ones were great. Marquez is like an old man sitting around the table spinning tales for his grandchildren-great story teller.

8) Three Junes, by Julia Glass. Why did I bother to finish this one? Pithy and predictable. Too many loose ends never tied up. I'm disappointed in the Nation Book Award judges for taking this one so seriously.

7) Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. Bradbury was WAY ahead of his time with this one, and I'm afraid we've still yet to appreciate this. I think the Patriot Act when it "matures" will help us understand the brilliance of Fahrenheit 451.

6) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. Back in Middle-School lots of my friends read and loved this one, I probably should have read it then (and probably would have loved it). Fun enough to escape for a few hours.

5) Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition, by Christine Pohl. This was my second reading of this one and it really meant a lot more to me this time around. Christine’s reflections on health of a community to be able to extend hospitality are profound.

4) We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda, by Philip Gourevitch. Well, Steph, Daphne, Peewee and I went to see the film, Hotel Rwanda. Moving. Powerful. Afterwards, I went home, pulled this one off the shelves, and re-read (had read it a few years ago) all the way through. A LATE night...

3) A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. Last year I heard about this one but couldn't get my hands on it because it wasn't available from any US book publishers. While in Singapore, by buddy Jeelan got me a copy and while travelling in South America I couldn't hardly put it down. It's kinda a history of the natural sciences which probably doesn't sound interesting, but this guy makes science VERY readable. Learned A FREAK'N TON!

2) Lifesigns: Intimacy, Fecundity, and Ecstasy in Christian Perspective, by Henri J.M. Nouwen. It's been a long time since I read something by Nouwen-especially something "new." This little book reminded me why he's had such a tremendous impact on my spiritual formation.

1) Where is God: Earthquake, Terrorism, Barbarity, and Hope, by Jon Sobrino. Okay, Sobrino is probably my favorite Christian writer of all time and this book just confirms that. I read this while in India and Sri Lanka on my tsunami relief trip and it was the perfect guide. His stuff in here on globalization and his reflections on "empire" are some of the best I've read anywhere.

Will It Ever End????

MORE BOOOOOOOKS!????? NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005: What I'm Going to Read

I'm shameless... This is the same list from what I wanted to read in 2004.

Anyway, here's what's on the shelf, and usually in my backpack. My intentions are that these are the next books I'll read, unless I'm seduced and distracted by something else... (alphabetical by author's last name so none of these books feelings get hurt):

1) Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit, by Thomas Keating. I think I bought too many Thomas Keating books and now feel guilty. This one is pretty thin and looks easy enough to get through-which would help me feel less guilty.

2) Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians, by Noam Chomsky. This one has been sitting on the t0-read pile way too long...

3) Mission Between the Times: Essays on the Kingdom, by C. Rene Padilla. I'm embarrassed to say I still haven't read this. Padilla is probably the most important Evangelical Protestant Latin American missiologist of the last 100 years and for some sick reason this book is out of print. What in the world?

4) Vaclav Havel, The Intellectual Conscience of International Politics: An Introduction, Appreciation, and Critique, by James W. Sire. Okay, the title is already WAY TOO LONG, which hopefully isn't an indication that this book would have been a better essay (less is more...). I'm really interested in Havel, but not sure I'm ever gonna actually get to this one.

5) Gravity and Grace, by Simone Weil. Highly recommended by Joel. I've probably packed this one on at least 6-7 trips but never seem to get to it... maybe the devil's keeping me from reading it.

6) What Would You Do: A Serious Answer to a Standard Question, by John Howard Yoder. I have given this away 3 times even though I haven't read it yet. I think I'd like to consider myself peace-loving and I certainly prefer non-violence, so I'm curious to interface with the issues in this one.

Okay, I'm gonna try to keep this list at or under 10 :)

Imagine This: Chris Hard At Work

2004: What I Read

Here's the list of what I read in 2004.

Sadly, I try to read as much as I can-in fact, my hopes are to read 120 books or 20,000 pages a year (whichever comes first). I started keeping track 8 years ago (1997) and the closest I've come was 105 books in 1999 or 19,704 pages in 1998. Why do I do this to myself?

2004 Reads:

58) Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott. A good recommendation from some great friends.

57) Complete Bolivian Diaries of Che Guevara and Other Captured Documents, edited by Daniel James. I'm a sucker for anything written by Che.

56) Public Power in the Age of Empire, by Arundhati Roy. This is starting to get sick... Roy RULES!

55) Active Meditations for Contemplative Prayer, by Thomas Keating. I try to pick this up to give my soul fuel for silence and reflection. Hard to rush through this one, in fact, rushing through it would mean missing the substance.

54) Vintage Hughes, a Langston Hughes complication. Some of the greatest Hughes poems such as, The Negro Mother, Good Morning Revolution, Advice, Bible Belt, Birmingham Sunday, and War keep this one readable and moving.

53) War Talk, by Arundhati Roy. I can't stand it... Arundhati R.U.L.E.S. I devoured her other 2 compilations of political essays and this was no different. Arundhati is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Her courage and boldness is shocking... Articulate. Brilliant. Relevant. I can't believe it took me so long to get to this one.

52) Global Justice: Liberation and Socialism, by Che Guevara. This seems to be a newer Che title on the English market. Had ordered it before and then given my first copy to a Romanian friend. This is 3 pretty good essays, including the one where there famous quote, "At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by feelings of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality." (from "Socialism and Man in Cuba).

51) The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. My first Margaret Atwood book, wasn't sure where to start and I liked this cover the best. It's a little too much like 1984-meets-The Giver-meets-20 Ways to Confuse Sexuality.

50) How Far to Follow: The Martyrs of Atlas, by Bernardo Olivera. I was literally scared to touch this one. My spiritual Director Bob scored it for me. He had recommended it several months ago, but when I searched for it on-line and found copies from $135-210 I didn't really consider it. It's one of those books that I wonder if I'm even worthy to pick up... the martyrs really lead us in more ways that we'll ever know.

*49) A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas an American Slave. Brent Anderson inspired me to buy this after he read me the first page of the appendix. Seriously one of the most important books I've ever read. Hard to get started, I'd suggest reading the appendix first, but once I found my rhythm I couldn't put it down.

48) A Sorrowful Joy, by Albert Raboteau. I was a little disappointed. This is another title in the Wit Lecture Series from Harvard. Previous Wit Lecture booklets (From Brokenness to Community by Jean Vanier and The Human Condition by Thomas Keating) where incredible, so my hopes were high for this little read. The content contains important exposure to an African-American man's spiritual journey, but I've found other similar works to leave more of a lasting impression.

*47) An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire, by Arundhati Roy. It's hard to know where to start... this one lays it down in no uncertain terms. This concept is a pretty good glimpse into the heart of this quick read, "when victims refuse to be victims, they become terrorists and are dealt with as such" (pg. 12). Steph scored this for me from South End (gotta love South End Press)-thanks Stephanizzle McGizzle.

46) The Five Love Languages, by Gary Chapman. I've read this at least twice, this time in preparation for our Omaha staff retreat. The hokey-ness makes parts of it hard to swallow, but the idea behind it is good.

*45) Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie. Why oh why did I wait this long to read Midnight's Children??!! It's obvious why this won the Booker of Booker prizes (the best Booker Prize winner in the first 25 years of the Book Prize award's history). I'd suggest brushing up on your modern history of India before reading this one. When I finished, it I felt a part of me went missing... hated for it to end. By the way, I met Salman Rushdie last year at a bookstore in India and had him sign a copy of this for me-he has my business card and I'm still waiting to hear from him :)

44) Peter and the Wolf, illustrated by Bono. Only because I love Bono so much (and it was free-thanks Kinley for the hook-up).

43) Terrorism and the War in Iraq: A Christian Word from Latin America, by C. Rene Padilla and Lindy Scott. I'm not sure how anyone could find this book but it's worth it just to read chapter 3 (United States Foreign Policy and Terrorism).

42) Eleanor Rigsby, by Douglas Coupland. I will read whatever he writes and this is his newest novel (bought it in Singapore b/c it's not available yet in the US). It's a good, quick read-typical Coupland (which I love). Hard to rank this among his other titles, in fact, I don't know if I could pick a favorite Coupland book.

41) The Magician's Assistant, by Ann Patchett. Bel Canto was one of my top reads from 2003 and Taft (read that earlier this year) was great, but this is the low point in my attempt to read all of Ann Patchett's stuff. Hopefully I can keep my chin up and get to her other titles.

40) The Mirror of Lidasal, by Miguel Angel Asturias. I only read this because I'm trying to read at least one title from every Nobel Prize winner for literature (35 down, 66 to go). Unless you're trying to do the same, there are better books out there.

39) Amsterdam, by Ian McEwan. I wish I would have read another McEwan title to cut my teeth on his writings. This was quick enough getting through, but not something I'll re-read.

38) The Giver, by Lois Lowry. I'll definitely re-read this. Stephanizzle set me up here. I'm still wondering why I never read this when I was younger. Simple, yet profound.

*37) Blindness, by Jose Saragmago. This was my second reading and I imagine as long as I have sight I'll re-read this one many more times. We read this for our "Friend of the Man" book-club and I think we all got a lot out of it. Though it's dark, the messages that emerge on identity, faith, community, and the core of humanity paint an interesting portrait of the meaning and substance of life.

*36) Poverty, by Raniero Cantalamessa. Last year on my way to Romania when Steph and Phileena were sleeping in the Frankfurt airport I cruised through this. I've read it 4-5 times since and can't get enough of it. Cantalamessa breaks down poverty and looks at its expression from 4 angles. This one gets the Chris-Vicious-Super-Duper-Stamp-of-Approval.

35) Spiritual Direction and Meditation, by Thomas Merton. Merton's always good, even in the controversy. I read this b/c I'm meeting with a Spiritual Director this year and wanted some exposure to the practice.

34) Poverty of Spirit, by Johann Baptist Metz. Can't remember how many times I've read this and can't guess how many more times I'll read it.

*33) The Human Condition, by Thomas Keating. Might be the book that changes my thinking more than any other 2004 read.

*32) The Outsider (a.k.a. The Stranger), by Albert Camus. "Friend of the Man" inaugural 2004 selection. Camus is messed up and does a great job of passing the funk along. Probably in my top 10 novels-got to love this, even in the darkness of it.

*31) Can You Drink This Cup?, by Henri Nouwen. Read it again.

30) Can You Drink This Cup?, by Henri Nouwen. Less is more. Moving. Powerful. Seems to get to the heart of God's intentions for living.

29) The Known World, by Edward P Jones. This one was hard to get into. I'm not always a big fan of the stream-of-consciousness styles.

28) Open Heart, Open Mind: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel, by Thomas Keating. A good introduction to contemplative prayer, but not my favorite Keating book.

*27) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. Comforting in all the right ways. Good to know that someone out there things like this and reassuring to know that I'm not alone. Sad this didn't win the Booker Prize this year-maybe it's a sign that the Booker is losing its relevance.

26) Taft, by Ann Patchett. Makes me like Ann Patchett even more.

25) Beowulf, by Seamus Heany. I know it's a classic, but I'm glad that literature has come so far-likely thanks to Beowulf.

24) The Wisdom and Witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A reader on his life and writings. The cover weirded me out a little…

23) Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power, by Alexandra Robbins. I’m always up for a little conspiracy theory.

22) Serving As Senders: How to Care for your Missionaries, by Neal Pirolo. The title pretty much explains it.

21) The Basque History of the World, by Mark Kurlansky. Too much history and culture for the Basques to still be oppressed.

*20) Grace Matters: A Memoir of Faith, Friendship, and Hope in the Heart of the South, by Chris Rice. Chris is a good friend and his life is exemplary. The story of his struggle in community is inspiring and freeing.

19) When You Are a Godparent, by Elizabeth Bookser Barkley. Read this one for Adina and Kirby-trying to do the right thing.

18) Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith, by Eric O. Jacobsen. I read this one with Mr. Mike-an philosopher architect. Loved the spiritual implications of New Urbanism.

17) Show Me the Way, by Henri Nouwen. What can I say, Nouwen rules.

16) Nina Simone, by Kerry Acker. Nina was ALL WOMAN!

15) The Biblical Role of Elders For Today’s Church, by Larry Kreider, Ron Myer, and Steve Prokopchak. I’m not an elder, but found a lot of the material in this book great as I try to better serve the community I’m a part of.

*14) I Put A Spell on You, by Nina Simone. ALL WOMAN NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. Gotta get your hands on this one (the book).

13) Things We Couldn’t Say, by Diet Eman. She survived the Nazi holocaust and her letters and journal entries tell her story of love, loss, survival and hope. A few of us had dinner with her shortly after I read this-she’s amazing.

12) Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh. His letters to his brother… the fuel of his genius seemed to be pain, rejection, and disappointment.

11) Invisible Monsters, by Chuck Palahniuk. Pretty rough in parts and full of surprises.

10) Paradise Reclaimed, by Halldor Laxness. Only because of the Nobel prize bondage I’m under.

9) Hunger, by Knut Hamsun. Need I mention the Nobel prize again…

8) One Man’s Bible, by Gao Zingjain. Nobel prize…

7) Bells in Winter, by Czeslaw Milosz. Want to guess???

6) When the Emperor Was Divine, by Julie Otsuka. When will we redeem our history?

*5) Community and Growth, by Jean Vanier. Excellent! Embarrassed to say I hadn’t read it until this year…

4) The Actual, by Saul Bellow. I’ve read 3-4 of Bellow’s books and still haven’t really connected with any of them.

3) Vernon God Little, by D.B.C. Pierre. Seriously… I’m sad to I finished this one. In fact, this might be why the Booker Prize is so hard to take seriously anymore. I shouldn’t have finished it… T.E.R.R.I.B.L.E.

2) Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee. There are better books out there. Really.

1) Way of the Cross, by Virgil Elizondo. Can hardly think of a better way to start the year off than reading theological reflections on the stages of the cross-even more, written by Liberation theologians.

* = you better read these ones if you can, really.

Why? Why....

Reading Is Fun. Can We Start The Story Now?

Links To Our Other Blogs

From this blog there are a number of other random Chris and Phileena blogs you can poke around on to keep up with: our primary blog that is a gateway to all the others (Chris and Phileena); what the Lord is teaching us (Learning to See); where we are in the world and what's going down during our travels (In The Suitcase); what we're reading and what we recommend as good books (Dusting Off the Shelves); the friends we love and have recently been with (The Table is Central); and some slightly scandalous political, economic, cultural, and religious musings (The Underside of Controversy).