Captain’s Blog

Reading for 2010

Here is the list of stuff I read in 2010:

  1. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde  by Robert Louis Stevenson. I had never read this before. Since references to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are all over the place, I thought I’d better read it. It’s a short, easy, and entertaining read, even if the story is a little odd.
  2. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun  by J. R. R. Tolkien. This is Tolkien’s retelling of a handful of Norse legends, but in an attempt to make them into a coherent story. In addition to harmonizing the legends, Tolkien set the story in what would be the equivalent of Norse poetry, only in English. This means that the word order is unfamiliar, and the major poetic form is a complicated form of alliteration. The result is a remarkable story that is nevertheless quite difficult to read. Not for the faint of heart.
  3. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism  by Tim Keller. The best example I have seen of the presuppositional apologetic method in action. Easy to read, and seems to scratch where our culture is itching.
  4. The Book of Three  by Lloyd Alexander. This and the next five are The Chronicles of Prydain, a series of children’s fantasy. Although they contain a little too much moralizing for my taste, they are still all fun and imaginative stories that adults can enjoy as well as children.
  5. The Black Cauldron  by Lloyd Alexander.
  6. The Castle of Llyr  by Lloyd Alexander.
  7. Taran Wanderer  by Lloyd Alexander.
  8. The High King  by Lloyd Alexander.
  9. The Foundling: And Other Tales of Prydain  by Lloyd Alexander.
  10. Heroes And Heretics: Pivotal Moments in 20 Centuries of the Church  by Iain D. Campbell. With a name like that, I was expecting this book to rail against supposed heretics from every generation in church history, even when there were no ecumenical councils to pronounce heresy. Instead, Campbell covers the highlights of 2000 years of church history in a gracious and readable style. My only complaint is that in the last several chapters, he focuses disproportionately on the Scottish church, but that’s a minor quibble.
  11. Pride and Prejudice  by Jane Austen. I think every guy should give this book a read, even though there were parts that I thought went a little slow. It is amazing to me how much character development Austen can accomplish solely with dialog.
  12. The Tales of Beedle the Bard  by J. K. Rowling. Fun short stories from the world of Harry Potter.
  13. Guatemala: Never Again!  by Archdiocese of Guatemala. United Nations report on the human rights violations during the Guatemalan civil war (1960-1996). This is not an easy read at all, but was required as part of the class I took at SETECA.
  14. Guatemalan Journey  by Stephen Connely Benz. Another book about Guatemala from the perspective of a mostly sheltered foreigner working in the country during the last decade of the civil war. For him, the war was mostly just “the violence” that was occurring away from Guatemala City, where he lived with his family. His basic premise: Guatemala is a land of contradictions. This book was much easier reading than the last one.
  15. They Call Me Coach  by John Wooden. Coaching advice and memoirs from a basketball legend.
  16. Patrick: Son of Ireland  by Stephen R. Lawhead. A historical novel about the life of Saint Patrick. Lawhead does a superb job of fitting a novel in and around the few historical facts we have about Patrick in a very enjoyable style.

I also read a lot from a number of blogs:

January 1st, 2011 Posted by | reading | no comments