The Squishiness of Things (Marc Kompaneyets)

I had seen this book several months ago and was immediately drawn to cover. The colors just set off my mind. Also, the word squishiness! Without this book, I'm not sure I would have had the pleasure of saying that wonderful word so many times here lately.

The story is of Hieronymus, the great knower of things. He has studied and measured all that there is to study and measure. One day he finds an object that sends him on a chase to learn the last thing he cannot explain.

A wild search through many lands leads him back to his home and to the realization that although he knows everything else, he has no idea who he is.

It's a journey of self-discovery and shows the importance of a little introspection.

As the Temple of Apollo at Delphi had inscribed..."Know Thyself."

The Gospel According to Starbucks (Leonard Sweet)

As I sit writing this I am (of course) sipping a cup of Starbucks iced coffee that I've heated up, and the playlist inspired by this book is painting my atmosphere with the theme song from Central Perk. Hang on I gotta take a sip...Ahh! Sweet bitterness.

I love coffee. I am also one of those people who get really into an experience. It's not enough to just watch a basketball game, I want to go play. Same with baseball, but let's not kid ourselves. So in reading this book I have become officially addicted to caffeine. Tea and coffee mostly. And here's the deal. I dont even feel bad. I dont even care. So you can keep the diatribe to yourself, because I fully intend to keep the drip in this IV going.

This book is really good. Leonard Sweet can sometimes lose you in his rhetoric, but not here. He makes a plain and simple point that most of us can connect with since most of us have been to Starbucks, love it or hate it. His argument is that what this coffee company has achieved is less about product and more about Experience, Participation, Iconic Images, and Connectivity. All things the church should offer on a silver platter.

A few ramblings about the sensory experience and a few thoughts on historical Christianity, Sweet draws on some of the rather unorthodox business ideas of successful companies and shows how they have robbed the language of faith and have become what religious ideologies have left behind. The human need for this type of existence is still alive and well, and we're going to achieve it one way or another. I agree with Sweet that the church has traded emotional rationale for rationality itself almost completely devoid of any experience or view of, participation with, or connectivity to God.

I smell every book I read. This book has an aroma.

Lion in the Valley (Elizabeth Peters)

Though not my favorite of the Amelia Peabody series, this ending is not to be missed.

I became interested in this series when, to my embarassmet, I read the back flap of the second installment in the series, The Curse of the Pharaohs. It read, "if Indiana Jones were female, a wife, and a mother who lived in Victorian times, he would be Amelia Peabody." I had to read it.

I have always had an interest in Egyptian stories. Not so much the ones that take place in ancient Egypt, rather the ones like The Mummy, where the late 1800's-early 1900's collide with antiquity. And I must say this author is incredible. The plot and characters are not as strong as other mystery writers, but the way she writes is so fluid and fun.

The main character of these 18 books is Amelia Peabody Emerson, the wife of a boisterous Enlgish archaeologist named Radcliffe Emerson. Their son, Ramses, is a very intelligent child who serves the comic relief alongside his proud father. Peabody, of course, being the rational mind here.

To Peters' credit, she does not simply create a strong female character who totally overshadows the men of her text. She does give great attributes to her heroine, but also leaves some of the more obstinate qualities of men in tact. Her men are manly and quite capable, although constantly derided in the Mrs. Emerson's inner monolugue.

In this tale the family is on another dig riddled with murders and suspsicious individuals. The climax is in the last 20 pages when Peabody comes face to face with her arch rival, the Master Criminal. A psychological dialogue ensues that sets the stage for more of this personality in future books. 4 down, 14 to go.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (JK Rowling)

Several years ago when I read the first Harry Potter book, The Sorcerer’s Stone, I was entertained. It was cute. It was good. It was a sermon topic for every pastor in America to rant against. But over the course of this summer I have been tearing through the series (and a good many other books) and I expect to finish the entire seven books sometime this winter. I have thought about pumping the brakes a little however, because it saddens me to think that when I close the cover on number seven, it is all over.

Well, I just finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and I am simply blown away. Part two in the series got a little more involved “storywise” than did the first book. Part three had an ending I thought could not be topped. But the fourth book took me to a place only the “special” books have ever done. This is one of those books where you slip right through the pages and out of time. You actually slow down to read it. You focus all of your attention upon it and insist that the words come more slowly so as not to miss a thing.

The storyline in this is pure artistry. The characters are amazing. The situations are heavy and the suspense is almost unbearable. All the things you could want in a phenomenal novel. I am simply amazed at Rowling’s talent. I cannot even describe the superiority of her ability to manipulate and bend the English language to her will as an author. This book affected me!

A Grief Observed (CS Lewis)

My mind works less like a plane circling a city in pattern waiting to land, and more like a compact car trapped in a round-about trying to exit. "Hey kids, Big Ben." Right when I think I'm getting somewhere someone blows a horn, speeds past, and I am forced back into another turn around the circle. Some people might say I'm slow to learn. I say I'm just having trouble merging into to traffic. Nonetheless, because of it I sometimes find myself chasing a thought to a maddening end. A friend once called it the "paralysis of analysis." I think that is why I so appreciated this book by CS Lewis.

A Grief Observed is really not a book. It's a collection of writings from Lewis' journal penned about a month after his wife died. It is extremely raw and deals with his journey though the process of mourning. But he comes to conclusions near the end that are less like answers and more like resignations. Not the desperate sort of resigning oneself to facts that cannot be changed, but the kind of freeing resignation like quitting a job of 30 years, I imagine, would be. It's bittersweet, but no less bitter, no less sweet.

I honestly did not expect to connect well with this volume. I ended reading the whole darn thing in one evening. Lewis' musings do not just deal with his greif alone, but serve as a vehicle into the human mind and soul and our issues with attachment and loss. I personally loved the book because here, we see one our great apologists of Christianity honestly doubting the faith and the goodness of God. He yells at Him. He cries. He blames Him. He adresses His distance. He is honest with Him.

This text is a good therapy session for anyone and, as is natural to Lewis intellect and ability, the author has brought the psycology down from the mountain to us all. I've always thought a true stroke of genius was measured by how well a person could make me understand some rather complex thing. Lewis always had that gift.

Inferno (Dante Alighieri)

Wow! This is an amazing, extremely imgainative poem.

I wondered as I read whether this could be considered the predecessor of today's tales of person's descending to Hell and writing their stories to make a few bucks. I suppose the difference there is the tremendous literary value and the historical look into the religious mindset of Dante's time.

This text was written over 700 years ago, I must commend Mark Musa for rendering a translation very accesible to modern readers while still possessing the spirit of the piece.

The book is a little scary at times, but then it can tend to be somewhat boring as he trudges through each layer of Hell. The characters Dante meets throughout also demonstrate the writer's command of history up to his time. Sorry Homer, Plato, Socrates, Achilles, Cassius. It makes you think. Word of warning...do not build your understanding of Hell as portrayed in the Inferno. It is important to remember that it is an imaginative work. Dont miss this one.

Beowulf (Dave Campbell ?)

Seeing as how this is hailed as one of the greatest achievements of the English language, I purposed to read it. I confess I did not read the poem, rather a prose rendering. I expected this would enhance comprehension, and I was miserably correct.

There is no clue as to the original author of this work, so I took upon myself to claim authorship. Thank you. Thank you. Dont look for the book tour however, because I now regret that I have imposed such loathsome reading upon this planet. Here's the rundown...

Monster terrorizes Danish people.
Man from next province over (Boewulf) comes with many words and kills monster.
Much backslapping and lofty speech as to how great everything is.
Man kills monster's mother.
More backslapping and lofty speech.
Man leaves to his own country and reigns nobly for fifty years.
Man killed by dragon.
Whole world of middle-school students forced to read text.

No wonder kids dont like to read. Hark! Perhaps if we handeth unto thine children texts to engageth their realities they mayest grow more fond toward said practice.

I did not finish the book. Read about half. Thank goodness it only cost me $1.50.