I realize it may seem a bit late to
be talking about my New Year’s resolutions as we are now well into the new
year. However, I invested entirely too much time in one of last year’s two resolutions
not to talk about it. I set the sizeable and semi-terrifying goal of reading
fifty-two books over the course of the year. That’s roughly one book per week.
As a graduate student, I do a lot of
reading regardless of resolution, and so I decided to further torture myself by
adding in a slew of extra books. However, if I may confess: I didn’t actually
read 52 books in 2015: I ended the year two books shy. I had probably five
half-read books with me as I travelled at year’s end, but I didn’t quite hit
the mark. That said, I can guarantee that I did several hundred (if not a
couple thousand) extra pages out of books that I didn’t finish either because a)
the library wanted them back or b) I only had to read portions for school.
While there is some sadness in coming so close without hitting the mark, that’s
not where my true disappointment lies.
Unfortunately, I did not consider
until late in the year that I ought to read a mix of men and women. At the
outset of the year I did commit to having no more than 50% of my reading list
be theological nonfiction, but I did not consider gender or race as factors to
diversify my reading until much too late. I should state here outright: this is
white male privilege at work. This is the primary thing I would change if I
were to do it all again. Ironically, it was, at least in part, my readings that
led me to the conclusion that this should even be a consideration. And this is
the beauty of reading a book.
Books have the capacity to stimulate
ideas in ways that an article or a podcast or a TV episode cannot. Ideally, the
reader is in for about a hundred pages dedicated to a single worthwhile idea.
Even in fiction, one is still entering a world, or a mind, or a situation that
is meant to stir the imagination up to new possibilities. At the end of a book
you can probably have a meaningful conversation about its contents with
someone. These other media formats, eh.
And I think that’s just about enough
of my ramblings, let’s get to the good stuff. First I have my top five
recommendations from last year’s reading, in no particular order, followed by
some data about my reading, and finally the list itself.
My Top Five:
Between the
World and Me by Ta-Nehisi
Coates.
-
If
you do not understand why every person in this country should be saying “Black
lives matter,” this is absolutely the book for you to read. Written as a memoir
to his son, Coates talks about growing up black in America, a narrative that each
of us will benefit to hear. He states: “Difference in hue and hair is old.
But the belief in the preeminence of hue and hair, the notion that these
factors can correctly organize a society and that they signify deeper attributes,
which are indelible—this is the new idea at the heart of these new people who
have been brought up hopelessly, tragically, deceitfully, to believe that they
are white.” Beautifully written and one of the most stimulating reads I have
had in some time, I absolutely recommend this to everyone.
A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit.
-
If you’re a Washingtonian worried about
the big earthquake, this little gem may put you at ease. Solnit is my new favorite
author from my readings this past year and I hope to read several more of her
books this coming year. A Paradise Built in Hell chronicles the beautiful,
remarkable communities that form in the wake of disaster. Equally importantly it
reveals the myth of the “looter.” Turns out, humans generally do a great job
rallying together when bad things happen and it is often our governing
structures that assume the worst will
happen rather than responding to any real
raping, pillaging, or looting.
Salvation on Sand Mountain by Dennis
Covington
-
This one sounds like a
gut-wrenchingly cliché Christian novel, but is perhaps the furthest thing from
it. Covington began by investigating the case of snake-handling pastor Glen
Sumerford’s attempted murder of his wife using rattlesnakes, only to find himself
strangely attracted to the snake-handling Christian churches. I should probably
state at this point that this is a work of nonfiction. Investigative journalism
is my new favorite genre and this book is a major part of why that is. Perhaps
the most remarkable thing about this book, as student of theology, is that the theological rationale for snake-handling
is not that crazy. No crazier than, say, trying to tell women they can’t
preach.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K.
LeGuin
-
I initially thought this book was
relatively new. Turns out, it was written in the mid-70’s and I just had a
newer printing. Few other books I can think of offer both a beautiful challenge
to modern ideas about gender and a legitimate critique of international
relations. Take a look at this little snippet: “Hate Orgoreyn? No, how should I? How does one hate a
country, or love one?… I know people, I know towns, farms, hills and rivers and
rocks, I know how the sun at sunset in autumn falls on the side of a certain
plowland in the hills; but what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that,
of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is
love of one's country; is it hate of one's uncountry? Then it's not a good
thing. Is it simply self-love? That's a good thing, but one mustn't make a
virtue of it or a profession… Insofar as I love life, I love the hills of the
Domain of Estre, but that sort of love does not have a boundary-line of hate.
And beyond that, I am enduring I hope... A man who doesn't detest a bad government
is a fool. And if there were such a thing as a good government on earth, it
would be a great joy to serve it.” I recommend dwelling on that one next fourth
of July.
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
-
I literally read this one twice this
year. It is one of my all time favorite fiction novels, my favorite of Lewis’
writings, and one of the most theologically rich novels of all time. It is
beautiful and I cannot recommend it enough. While many people get hung up on
those supposed “universalistic” elements of the text, it should be said that
Lewis was not trying to propose any sort of theology of heaven or hell. I have
seriously considered writing a book study companion to this text for the sake
of helping people draw out the remarkable and beautiful themes sprinkled
throughout.
Honorable Mention: Waist-High in the World by Nancy
Mairs
-
This one gets an honorable mention
and not an inclusion in my top five because I finished it in 2016. If you want
a very funny, poignant, challenging, honest look at disability, this is as good
as I have yet found. A Catholic, feminist, with MS, Mairs is my favorite author
of 2016 so far. So much of what she writes rings true for my own disability
experience as well. Rarely does such sincerity permeate autobiographical
writing.
Some
Numbers:
Total Pages Read: 9,744
Average book length: 194.88 pages
Shortest book: The Variable Man. 59 pages
Longest Book: The Christian Imagination 384 pages
Women Authors Read: 14
Male Authors Read: 29
Most read genre: Theological Nonfiction, 36%, 18 books (maybe
more, depending on how you count it)
Sci-Fi: 28% (14 books)
Most Read Author: C.S. Lewis (four books)
Books Read for Class or Master’s Thesis: 36% (18 books)[1]
The
Big List: (with a few italicized
that I strongly recommend, and my above top five in bold)
1. The Handmaids tale by Margaret Atwood
~250pg
2. The Variable Man by Phillip K Dick 59pg
3.
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis 146pg
4. Out of the Silent Planet Lewis 160pg
5. Silence by Shusaku Endo 190
6. Perelandra by C.S. Lewis 222
7. Celtic way of Evangelism by George Hunter
120
8.
Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
154
9. Becoming a Healthier Pastor by Ronald
Richardson 148
10. Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer 122
11. Charis by Preston Sprinkle 172
12. Business as a Holy Calling 1st edition by
Tim Dearborn 114
13. Business as a Holy Calling 2nd edition by
Tim Dearborn 115[2]
14. Telling
the Truth by Frederick Buechner 98
15. A
Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor 252
16. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells 103
17. Caring for Gods people by Phillip
Culbertson 340
18. Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
~300
19. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling 97
20. Rediscovering
an Evangelical Heritage by Donald Dayton & Douglas Strong. 180
21. Disability and Christian theology by
Deborah Creamer 120
22. Theology, Disability and the New Genetics:
Why Science Needs the Church. Edited by John Swinton and Brian Brock. 244
23. The
Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin 330
24. Salvation
on Sand Mountain by Dennis Covington 240
25. The
Disabled God by Nancy Eiesland 119
26. The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer 92
27. A
Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit. 368
28. The War of the worlds by H.G. wells 204
29. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly 126
30. The Scarlet Plague by Jack London. 128
31. A Healing Homiletic by Kathy Black. 186
32. Relearning Jesus by Matthew Paul Turner.
186
33. The
Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. 95
34. The Gifts of imperfection by Brenee
Brown. 126
35. Under
the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer. 350
36. The House Behind the Cedars by Charles
Chesnutt. 208
37. The Bible, Disability, and the Church by
Amos Yong 142
38. Living Gently in a Violent World by
Stanley Hauerwas and Jean Vanier 117
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. 206
40. The Christian imagination by Willie James
Jennings 384
41. The
Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. 291
42. Jesus
Land by Julia Scheeres. 356
43. Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection
of Christian America by Matthew Avery Sutton. 280
44. Between
the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. 152
45. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. 311
46. That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis 381
47. Baby by J.K. Accinni 194
48. Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M.
Valente. 127
49. The
Spirituals and the Blues by James Cone. 130
50. Resurrecting the Person by John Swinton.
209
[1]
I feel that I should note that probably only two-thirds of my theological
nonfiction was read for class. It is a genre that I greatly enjoy for its own
sake, thus my pursuit of a Masters in Theology.
[2]
While it may seem a bit lazy to include two editions of the same book, I was a
part of the editing process for this book and as such read both editions very
closely multiple times over, so it seems a shame not to count them both.
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