100 Books - 90-86

My friend Nate celebrated the third anniversary of his ordination this week. Congrats! And it reminded me that today is the third anniversary of beginning this call in Barrett. My, how time flies. But I'll echo Nate's sentiments: I love this community. I love being a pastor. I love preaching and teaching and doing the things I'm called to do. It's a good day to think back on three years of ministry and give thanks to God for the many blessings that have come my way.

And now, on with the list:

90. Mr. X by Peter Straub. I listened to Mr. X while driving home from Newburg, ND for Kathryn's ordination this week. Not an especially good book, but it certainly helped the miles of North Dakota highway pass quickly. Beautiful country in parts, but sometimes a guy just wants a bit more variety.

89. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower by Stephen King. I can't remember when I finished this series, but I know it was soon after all volumes were published last fall/winter. The Dark Tower was King's magnum opus, if you will, and for the most part I enjoyed it. But I don't think the Tower books rivaled his best work, more self-contained stories like It and The Stand. But hey, who's the multi-millionaire author here: me or Mr. King? The Dark Tower is the final volume in the series, in which Roland and his faithful companions finally reach the center of all existence and do battle to save all the worlds that have been or yet may be.

88. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah by Stephen King. Song of Susannah was published earlier in 2005. One definitely gets to loving well-crafted characters, and Roland, Eddie, Susannah and Jake, not to mention Oy the bumbler, are some of my favorites. I've always said that King's strong point is character development - this book would be a primary example.

87. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King. For all the majestic scope of the Dark Tower series, two of the volumes focus largely on short periods of time: DT IV: Wizard and Glass and DT V: Wolves of the Calla. But they remain enjoyable nonetheless. Wizard & Glass was my favorite of the entire series, but I haven't read that particular book in a few years. Wolves of the Calla was published last year and I devoured it as I devour most Stephen King stuff - now I need to read it again to find the good stuff I missed before.

86. Harry Potter VI: The Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. I can't believe I forgot to mention this one, as it was my favorite thus far in the Harry Potter series. I really enjoy these books, and I'm glad Rowling has jump-started the desire to read among children. What I can't believe is that it's almost over; just one more volume to go. I do wish the press could avoid working so hard for the shocking spoilers: the news earlier in June that a major character, perhaps Harry, would die was a bit too, how shall I say it, Inside Edition-ish? Anyway, H-B Prince was dark, scary and definitely more mature, as it should have been, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Yes, I'm aware that I'm now listing series books independently - but I realized after I started this that the series books I tend to read are full novels and worthy of consideration on their own. Besides, it's my blog, right? :-)