Over at the Constructive Curmudgeon, Dr Groothuis has a discussion running about personal libraries. Regular contributor (over there) Tim asks the commenters what they’ve purchased for reading and/or are reading currently. I thought I would weigh in here, since it’s been awhile since I’ve actually talked about books.
(1) Strunk & White, The Elements of Style. A tool and a gem. It’s also very snappily written, proving to most of us who are only familiar with Charlotte’s Web that there is more to EB White than “Some Pig.”
(2) Paul Guyer’s book-length introduction to the life, times, and work of Immanuel Kant (Kant, in the Routledge Philosophers series).
(3) Richard Fumerton’s Epistemology, in the Blackwell First Books in Philosophy series. I am a sucker for good introductions to epistemology. Robert Audi’s entry in the RCIP series is also close at hand.
(4) Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent is so far very compelling. I wrote a paper recently about Film Noir and the author of one of the books I looked at said that the “blood melodrama” of Hammett, Cain, and Greene reflects Conrad’s sensibilities. This book is really interesting. One of Andy’s friends says that it could have been written yesterday. Andy is teaching AP Literature, so I’m taking my inspiration from all of the classics in circulation right now to re-start good reading habits.
(5) Zadie Smith’s On Beauty was a good read (my “on the bus” read before Conrad), but where the first half of the book was rollicking, the second half was too predictable for my tastes. I’m also reading her first novel, White Teeth, as the latest entry in the before-bed category.
(6) NT Wright’s The Challenge of Jesus was a really important book for me in terms of re-connecting Jesus with my life in a formative fashion, moving Jesus out of the “to be studied and understood only” category. NT Wright is a fabulous writer.
(7) Richard Hays’ The Moral Vision of the New Testament is a foundational book in my faith and philosophical life. We were required to read it for Christian Ethics and Modern Culture in Spring 2003, and I appreciated his treatment of important issues in a rigorous and scriptural way. Thanks Larry.
(8) Martin Jay has written a book called Songs of Experience: Modern American and European Variations on a Universal Theme. I’m thinking of camping more directly in modern philosophy, and this book discusses the role of experience in interdisciplinary situations (philosophy, literature, etc). I’ve been sitting on it since summer, but I’ll get to it soon enough.
(9) My friend and mentor, Karen Adkins, gave me Ms. Mentor’s Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia for graduation (she also took me out for Ethiopian food…yum). I’ve read several chapters of the book, which has great advice for decorum in an academic environment. I have, on KA’s advice, tried to start reading Jane Austen after a dismal encounter with Pride and Prejudice, and so far my attempt at Persuasion has failed. I will not give up!
(10) Speaking of mentors, a couple of weeks ago I picked up Eleanor Swanson’s Trembling in the Bones. I’ve not read poetry with any seriousness since my bout with Paul Valery in college, and I’m pleased to make my return to the form with this amazing, meticulously researched book of poems about the Ludlow Massacre. It’s a good example of what it is to craft images with words.
I’m not sure what any of these books really say about me, except that I like books. What are you reading? What’s on your shelf? Andy? Susan? Nancy? Ted? nedric?
HT: Nancy
I post under duress, but here goes:
Just Finished: The Divided Kingdom by David Thomson – disappointing dystopia, with a compelling premise
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with my students – it is much more wry than I remember from last time
Currently engaged:
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy – thankfully I can talk through the requisite bouts of intense melancholy with my students, Hardy is full of beauty wracked with anguish, how sad is Hardy’s “existential meliorism”?
Orlando by Virginia Woolf – all I can say is WOW!
A Critical Cinema 5 by Scott MacDonald – a review for the upcoming Nathanial Dorsky show in Boulder, Oct 30.
“Devotional Cinema” by Nathaniel Dorsky
Recently Purchased or on its way:
Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber, on its surface it seems compelling, we’ll see when we dive into the baaaaarrrdd, I mean bard.
Collected Stories by Amy Hempel, again, WOW! I have to work up the courage to give some of these to my students, which they will devour.
Other…lotsa new movies that maybe I’ll write about.
PS BJay, if you read this, branch out a bit, there are many more than 3 authors in the western tradition.
I got a HT!!! I am an official part of blogdom now. I did post my “recent and current” ten books. Looks like I should add “The Secret Agent” and Hempel’s “Collected Stories” to the queue. And of course there is that other book I’ve heard about that will be published in the future…
I very sadly had to put Modern Times aside (I was a little over 1/2 way through, and have renewed it now twice, with no more allowed, hoping to get through it but alas) along with a few others that were in the queue in order to persue the Seminary “gotta read” list, among them:
D.A. Carson’s Becoming Conversant
McLaren’s Generous Orthodoxy
Lewis and Demarest’s Integrative Theology
Copelston’s History of Philosophy I and II
F. Gerrit Immink Faith: A Practical Theological Reconstruction (Studies in Practical Theology)
Frank D. Rees Wrestling With Doubt: Theological Reflections on the Journey of Faith
But I have been able to sneak in a couple want-to-reads, for my SF Contract:
Carol Lakey Hess Caretakers of Our Common House: Women’s Development in Communities of Faith
Jeremiah Burroughs Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
I’m glad to see people still enjoy books.
I am in the last two weeks of prep before my comp exams. So I wouldn’t want to list off the whole set of texts I’ve been buried in or “currently reading” (ha!) and bore everybody. Some of the texts I’ve particularly enjoyed (even though I enjoy them all!):
Buber “Between Man and Man”
Kierkegaard (Johannes Climacus) “Philosophical Fragments”
Gadamer “Truth and Method”
MacIntyre “After Virtue”
Feuerbach “Essence of Religion”
Nietzsche “Genealogy of Morals”
Catherine Bell “Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice”
Okay, here goes: 1) “The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology”, Kevin J. Vanhoozer. Outstanding. But I did get sidetracked and so am only 2/3rds through it. But hungry to get back in it. 2) “The Cost of Discipleship”, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Made me question whether I was a Christian at first. A good kind of challenging. 3) “Life Together”, by Bonhoeffer. Definitely a great book as well. Short but much there. As a blogger friend (Michael Kruse, I believe) said, reading Bonhoeffer is like sticking your straw in a fire hydrant! 4) “Praying With The Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today”, by Scot McKnight. I think an excellent introduction to using prayer books. And appreciating ones that are standards in our Christian tradition. 5) “The Little Book of Hours: Praying with the Community of Jesus”. This is a prayer book lite, in volume. But the prayers and readings are good. From a Protestant evangelical ecumenical order in Massacheusetts (and the only reason I changed my blog’s name from the Community of Jesus to the Jesus Community, so as not to be using their name- ha). I love it, and use it four times a day (most days). I did backslide, since reading prayers is completely foreign to me, but now it is becoming a habit. And definitely a help in God for me, I believe. 6) “Gilead”, by Marilynne Robinson. Fiction not a priority to me, so this gets buried. But it is good so far, and i need to press on and read it through. 7) “Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin”, by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. I need to get through this book. It is good, and highly acclaimed. And I was liking it. But after having read fairly recently Mark E. Biddle’s book, “Missing the Mark: Sin and Its Consequences in Biblical Theology”, I must admit, I found Biddle’s approach connecting more with me.
“Simply Christian” by N.T. Wright. “The Challenge of Jesus” likewise was one of those books in my life that impacted me greatly, a few years back, when I read it. Haven’t gotten into this one yet, though have it on my shelf. 9) “Embracing Grace: A Gospel for All of Us” by Scot McKnight. This is awhile back, since I read it. A great book written in a clear way. Yet profound and worth rereading. Same is true with a most powerful book, I believe- and #10, last but not least, “The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others, by Scot McKnight. Again, powerful. Especially as we seek to live it out daily. I am trying to get in the habit of saying it daily and more since it is likely Jesus’ replacement of Israel’s Creed, the Shema.
Whew! I made it. Thanks Becky for sharing your books, and to all the rest.
The smile is fine, though it was supposed to be (8