Recently Read

The pile of books on my night table (and scattered in other parts of my house) waiting to be read is enormous and growing day by day.  There is often little rhyme or reason as to which book gets put on the top of the pile….and the top of the pile changes often.  But listed below are some books I’ve recently read (although they weren’t necessarily recently written) and recommend.  The list is not in any order of imporance; rather as I add new entries to this page, the new entires will appear at the top of the list.

Say You’re One of Them, Uwem Akpan, 2008

As soon as I saw a New York Times article discussing this book last week, I knew I wanted to read it.  My husband came home with it from the bookstore the other day and I opened it and couldn’t put it down.  The book contains a set of stories (three short stories and two novellas) written by an African Jesuit that convey something of the life of many children in Africa.  Two children watch their Hutu father kill their Tutsi mother.  Another child narrowly escapes being sold into slavery by his uncle, but is unable to bring his sister with him to safety.  A Muslim teenager is killed by Christians seeking to flee to the south in Nigeria.   Another child’s Christmas treat is glue for sniffing, which kills hunger pangs.  The stories are powerfully told and one wishes this book of fiction did not have such a strong basis in reality.  Added 7/6

 Looking for Mary, Beverly Donofrio, 2000 

The full title of this book is Looking for Mary or, The Blessed Mother and Me.  My friend Lisa gave it to me to read after she read in on her vacation.  It is a memoir of the author’s search for faith through Mary.   The book records her visit to various sites where Mary appeared, including her pilgrimage to  Medjugorje, Bosnia.  Her life changes as she opens her heart to Mary and, through Mary, finds redemption.  It is by no means a great book, but it is a nice and quick read.  Added 7/4

A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle, 2005

I know there are many who have been critical of this book, calling it heretical or blasphemous.  But while the totality of Tolle’s worldview may not be completely consistent with the Christian worldview, I found much in the book to be worthwhile and helpful to a committed Christian.  In particular,  there is tremendous wisdom in much of what the book says about how the ego operates and the consequences of our failure to live in the present moment.  It is true that much of what is in the book has been said before in different ways, but the ideas are presented here in a way that is clearly accessible to many people.   Added 6/30

Exiles, Ron Hansen, 2008

Readers may remember Hansen from his earlier novel, Mariette in Ecstasy.  In Exiles, Hansen weaves two parallel stories.  The first is the story of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins and his struggle in writing his poem The Wreck of the Deutschland.  The second is the story of the shipwreck that prompted the writing of the poem and of five nuns who were among those who lost their lives in the wreck.  (Hopkins’ dedicated the poem, which broke the literary silence he imposed on himself when he entered the Jesuits, ”to the happy memory of five Franciscan Nuns, exiles by the Falk Laws, drowned between midnight and morning of Dec. 7th, 1875.”)  Very little is known about the lives of the five nuns, but Hansen creates a captivating picture of five very different women bound for America as a result of the anti-Catholicism of the German government.  More is known of Hopkins, so there is more weaving of fact with fiction here and I found the portrait of Hopkins and his struggles compelling.  The weaving of the two stories is wonderfully done, as is the weaving of different parts of the poem itself.  I’m guessing even those who don’t love Hopkins poetry as much as I do will enjoy the book.    Added 6/15

The Friendship of Women, Joan Chittister, 2006

This is a gem of a little book about friendship.  Chittister, in an interview about the book, called friendship a ”social sacrament, a sacred act far above and beyond ‘connections,’ acquaintanceship, or the neighborliness of social contacts.”  The book explores the sacred dimension of friendship through the lens of various Old and New Testament women.  For each of the women, she explores a particular dimension of friendship - wisdom, support, presence, acceptance, and so on.  As my post of this morning suggests, reading the book led me to reflect on the friends who have graced my life.  Added 6/1

 Children of God, Mary Doria Russell, 1998

In place of some work I should have been doing this past week, I read this sequel to The Sparrow, mentioned immediately below.  I gather opinion is mixed on how this book compares with the first, but I enjoyed it.  Russell describes the book as being about “the aftermath of irreversible tragedy, about the many ways we struggle to make sense of tragedy.”  The moral of the story in her words: “Be suspicious of your own certainty….Don’t be so damned quick to judge!”  Added 5/18

 The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell, 1996

I colloquially call this book, Jesuits in Space, and I enjoyed reading it a lot.  Makes sense that when life is discovered elsewhere, the Jesuits, with their long history of contact with other cultures, would be the first to explore.  What happens when they get there is more than unpredictable and shocking and the only member of the exploration party to remain alive is forced to confront the question whether his belief in God can withstand what happened to him and those he loved.  The author calls the book “an exploration of the risks and beauties of religious faith.”  It also a serious treatment of the celibacy of the priesthood.  There is a sequel, Children of God, which I hope to get to soon.  Added 5/13   
[I thought it interesting that the day after I posted this note, BBC News reported that the director of the Vatican Observatory, Father Gabriel Funes, has said that intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space.]

The Irresistible Revolution, Shane Claiborne, 2006

The subtitle of this book is Living As an Ordinary Radical.  It is both a description of how a growing group of people are attempting to live an authentic Christian life and a challenge to the rest of us to (re)discover a new (or perhaps old is more accurate) way of living as Christians.  It is an invitation to radically change the world with the love of Christ; an effort to spread “a way of life that exists organically and relationally and is marked by such a brilliant love and grace that no one could resist it.”  The book excites…and it challenges.   Added 5/2

The Art of Possibility, Rosamund Stone Zander & Benjamin Zander, 2000

“You have to read this book,” my friend Tim announced during one of my recent trips to NY.  And I’m grateful for the recommendation.  The authors combine the perspectives of a musician/conductor and a therapist to “offer strategies to surmount the hurdles of a competitive world…and sail into a vast universe of possibilities,” to replace limits with possibilities.  The book is divided into a number of practices, each of which offers much to reflect on.  My favorite chapter title is “Rule Number 6,” which rule has to do with not taking ourselves too seriously, with allowing the “calculating self” to lighten up so that our “central self” can shine through.  Added 4/12

Gift of the Red Bird, Paula D’Arcy (2002)

Several people have recommended this book to me over the last couple of years and I was looking for something to read on my flight to Boston earlier today and picked it up from the shelf in my study.  (My flight was sufficiently delayed that I finished the book before we landed in Boston.)  Joyce Rupp calls the book a “powerful testimony of how the Divine woos the soul into a sacred embrace.”  It describes the author’s encounter with the God who wants us to want him more than we want anything else and her effort to learn that all is gift (not possession) and that all life is of God.  “There is only God.  There is your own name being called and your own response.  There is the awareness that human beings are stewards, not owners.”  (Added 4/6)
 

 Come Be My Light, Mother Teresa  (2007)

Everyone has heard or read something about this book, which received a lot of press coverage.  I’ve already shared some reflections prompted by my reading of the book here and here.  (Added 4/2)

Virgin Time: In Search of the Contemplative Life, Patricia Hampl (1992). 

My husband gave me this book as an Easter present this year.  It is an account of the author’s pilgrimage (although she rejects the use of that term) to Assisi and to Lourdes and ultimately to a retreat house in California in search of the meaning of her faith.  Those who, like me, were raised Catholic, will relate to her inability to let go of aspects of her Catholic upbringing.  Loving Francis as I do, I particularly enjoyed her account of her time in Assissi and surrounding areas.    

The Pilgrimage, Paolo Coelho (1995)

My friend Maria lent me this book when I visited her and her husband in Oklahoma in February.  This is the second or third book I’ve read recounting a pilgrimate to Santiago de Compostela and every one I read whets my appetite to make the pilgrimage myself.  And it contains some good reminders: “When you are moving towards an objective, it is very important to pay attention to the road. It is the road that teaches us the best way to get there, and the road enriches us as we walk its length.”

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, Sue Monk Kidd (2002)

I’m not sure where I discovered this book (on my bookshelf? in a box of books sent by my friend John?), but I noticed it as I was preparing for a Women’s retreat I gave in NY last month.  Those who have not read any of Kidd’s books have a lot to look forward to and this is a wonderful book for women trying to work through questions about the role of women and the search for a feminine spirituality.