Friday Five: Read Any Good Books Lately?

The website promoting this piece of art says, "For the first time, the worlds most influential religious texts are brought together and presented on the same level, their coexistence acknowledged and celebrated”. The shelf is made of reclaimed wood that contains seven religious books. The designers have put them – literally – on the same level.

Well, pish posh! I think that some books ARE better than others! How about you?

1. What book have you read in the last six months that has really stayed with you? Why?


2. What is one of your favorite childhood books?


3. Do you have a favorite book of the Bible? Do tell!


4. What is one book you could read again and again?


5. Is there a book you would suggest for Lenten reading? What is it and why?

And because we all love bonus questions, if you were going to publish a book what would it be? Who would you want to write the jacket cover blurb expounding on your talent?

Ooooh, this will be fun!

1. The book that has had the most impact on me in the last six months was The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I think one of the reasons it hit me hardest is because I listened to it on my iPod, downloaded from audible, and the author read his own text. The book packs an impressive emotional wallop on its own: add in the authentic Afghan accent and true pronunciation of names and places that would have tripped up a midwestern boy like me and you've got yourself a wondrous epic. I'm hoping to see the movie very soon.

2. One children's book I loved was a version of stories from the Arabian Nights. Now, I don't remember the whole "king who kills each new wife" backstory, and I certainly didn't get the erotic aspect that Sir Richard Burton and others have included in their adult translations. What I do remember was the thrill of the stories of Sindbad, Ali Baba, Aladdin and the many other adventures of all the characters. I'm fairly certain the book my parents gave me was a children's collection of the stories, sans eroticism/homicidal kings, etc.

3. I've been astonished at how much the book of Ecclesiastes has to say about my life and the lives of those around me at present. So much of what we do is often "chasing after the wind" - it is helpful to realize this has always been a problem (though I don't think it's ever been as endemic as it is today).

4. The Lord of the Rings. Have done. Will do again. Greatest book of the 20th century, hands down. Tolkien created something incredible - calling the saga a "book" barely does it justice.

5. The Hammer of God by Bo Giertz. This would be a tough read for the RevGals crowd, as it is ridiculously male-dominated and gender-biased. That having been said, it is a book about failure, repentance and forgiveness, that helped me when I was first starting out in the parish. I may just pick it up again for Lent this year.

Bonus: I've had an idea about a series of essays on the beneficent intent God has when restraining creation through the Law. At one point I even developed a title: Creative Morality. For a gnesio-Lutheran like myself, of course, this is treading dangerously close to heresy, but it's still something that intrigues me, and I'm hoping to make time to develop it further once the kids are a bit older and a bit less labor-intensive.

As to the book jacket, well, if I can't have Martin Marty or ELCA Presiding Bishop Hanson, I suppose my good friend Matt over at LutheranHusker will do. Perhaps LutherPunk or Tripp might add a review blurb on the back? :-)