Bitten by the Summer Reading Bug

I'm in a mood this afternoon: I want to read EVERYTHING.

By "everything," I mean novels and non-fiction and theology and even practical theology,which I often find boring. I finished reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Kim Edwards) last week and it was quite good. A bit somber and melancholy, so not the greatest before-bed reading, but a beautiful and moving book. I have read the opening pages to Gilead (Marilynne Robinson), the next novel in my queue, but am also itching to re-read Harry Potter 1-4 so that I can continue with 5, 6, and 7 (I'm a little behind, I know).

But then...there are just so many more books I want to read!

Novels: The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger), Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen), Life of Pi (Yann Martel)

Non-Fiction: Left to Tell (Immaculee Ilibagiza), Hiding in the Mirror (Lawrence Krauss), Blink (Malcolm Gladwell), My Life in France (Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme), The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls), Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith (Barbara Brown Taylor)

Theology: At this moment, I'm interested in most anything by Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright - I'm in the market for new theologians to obsess over and they are interesting conversation partners - which puts their collaborative effort The Meaning of Jesus at the top of my theology list, closely followed by Borg's Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time and Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God. Then I'm also interested in what Rowan Williams has to say as a theologian, so Grace and Necessity: Reflections on Art and Love, and Resurrection: Interpreting the Easter Gospel are also on my theology list.

Practical Theology: The Four Pages of the Sermon (Paul Scott Wilson...yes...this was required reading at PTS...I never quite got around to doing it...), Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times (Peter L. Steinke), The Pastor: A Spirituality (Gordon Lathrop...again...required LSTC reading...I started it but never finished it...)

I have updated my "books to read" list to reflect all of these new books...hopefully at the end of the summer I will be able to boast the same about my "recent reads" list!

Here's to the kickoff of my own personal read-a-thon! Feel free to give me more suggestions - I love having a long and interesting reading list!