My reading thing
Since Hefe called me out for being slow on this, I guess I should finish it and post it! Thanks for the nudge, Hefe!1) How many books have I owned?
Probably a couple hundred. I went to college and my wife loves shopping at Value Village, where I often pick something up. Plus I usually put books on my Christmas lists and my loved ones often oblige.
2) What is the last book I bought?
For myself, I suppose. The technical answer is any number of the little books we've been buying for our friend's little kids. Jerry Sittser's book "The Will of God as a Way of Life".
Haven't started it yet, but he is a professor from my alma mater Whitworth College and I read his book "A Grace Disguised " and it's terrific.
3) What is the last book I read?
I'm currently reading "God's Politics" by Jim Wallis, but I've barely gotten into it, so the last book that I've FINISHED is "Bravehearts" by Bud Withers. It's about the basketball program at Gonzaga University and it's terrific and very fun for me as a big college basketball fan and someone who lived many years in Spokane (where Gonzaga is).
4) Name 5 books that have meant a lot to me:
I don't care if it is cheating, it would feel dishonest and wrong not to start with the Bible. My first Bible was the Good News Version (which has the coolest translation of Proverbs 26:11 - which was my favorite verse growing up). Since college I've had a New International Version Study Bible, which I enjoy quite a lot. I guess I won't count it as one of my five either, but I will say if you only read one of the books I mention - it better be this one!
1."A Christian Manifesto" by Francis Schaeffer - challenging and poignant. It was actually given to me by someone who was apalled to hear that I was a fan of communism.
2. Everything by John Feinstein, but if you're looking for the most meaningful to me, it's "A Season Inside ". But I would also greatly recommend "The Last Amateurs" and "The Punch" and even though it's somewhat over-hyped "A Season on the Brink" is very good, too. (I would also like to recommend his "A March to Madness" because it sounds like a terrific book and would very possibly be my favorite of his based on the subject material - but I've never read it yet)
3. Al Franken's "Lies and the lying liars who tell them". It may not be the most helpful course of action if one is looking for finding common ground between liberals and conservatives, but Franken is funny and honest and taps right into much of what infuriates and empassions my political spirit.
4. Since the question doesn't specifically say "recently", my last two are going to be choices from back in my high school days. "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier. I also enjoyed "Beyond the Chocolate War" and "I am the Cheese", by Cormier, too.
5. "Stotan" by Chris Crutcher. I also like his "The Crazy Horse Electric Game" and "Chinese Handcuffs".
(I'm going to really cheat now - I'm adding a sixth one (or I guess it's like my fourteenth one, whatever). It goes along with these last couple choices as being a young adult fiction book - very similar to Crutcher's type books, but with this time with more basketball and racial tension to it. "The Moves Makes the Man" by Bruce Brooks.)
5) Tag 5 people who haven't played yet.
I don't read enough other blogs to know who has or hasn't played. And I'd probably take the easy route and pick regular comment givers here, but ExPat already grabbed them up. I'll take a couple that I am curious about (though I don't know that they have a venue for this other than posting it in Halocscan): The Old Man and Lasvegastan. And beyond that, let's get a little crazy and pretend some famous people might Google themselves and find their name here and feel the need to participate. My last three picks are George W. Bush , John G. Roberts., and Hugh Laurie .
posted by gurufrisbee @ 12:03 PM
