summer reading 08

Can you tell I have a lot of time on my hands? I added a sidebar element to my blog, and decided to go ahead and turn it into a post - the second of today. Unprecedented.

I was going to wait a few more weeks until the actual end of the summer to do this, but am choosing to do it now. It is a list of the books I have read this summer. Though it is not a huge list, it is pretty impressive for me. I have not done as much recreational reading in the past couple years as I would have liked, but I have done exceptionally well this summer, I would say. And it's been great. So, here's what I've been reading:

• Catcher in the Rye (Salinger) - disappointing for such a classic. No good characters, plot or writing. I finished it on principle.
• Putting Amazing Back into Grace (Horton) - after starting it a year ago and restarting several more times, I finished. A classic step-by-step of Reformed theology. I wished I owned it for reference, but it was on a yearlong loan.
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway) - well, it was weird. It was Hemingway. It was not what I thought it was going to be about. But I feel cultured for having read it. He writes beautifully.
• The Holiness of God (Sproul) - another classic. I wish I had underlined so I could go back to it more easily. Very good.
• Chechnya: To the Heart of a Conflict (Meier) - great reading. A war correspondent in Chechnya in 2000 or so. Very short, very thrilling. Made me move on to:
• Chechnya Diary (Goltz) - another great one, and longer. He was in Chechnya during the first war. Really interesting, and he raises some good questions about the place of wartime journalism and capitalizing on others' pain. Very cool to read these while in the area.
  
• Mansfield Park (Austen) - hadn't read this one in probably 8-10 years. It was better than I remembered. Austen is never not brilliant.
• Bridge to Terabithia (Paterson) - a kids' book, I know. I found it on the parents' shelf and thought I hadn't read it. I had.
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Dahl) - I have read this close to a dozen times. Watched the movie with the sisters and found out Carrie hasn't read it. So I read it out loud to them. So so good. Dahl is the best.
• At Home in Mitford (Karon) - random book on mom's shelf. If I had known what it was, I probably wouldn't have started, but I finished on principle. So random.
• Mere Christianity (Lewis) - I will say that it was not all I was expecting it to be. C.S. Lewis is always brilliant as well, but it has been set at second-to-the-Bible position, and it might not deserve that. I think I like his fiction best.
• The Screwtape Letters (Lewis) - probably like this better than Mere Christianity. I wish he were alive so he could write a new edition; this one is becoming dated.
• The Mayor of Casterbridge (Hardy) - I have never read any Hardy, and I had two copies of this one. It was good. I like 19th century lit.
• The Glass Castle (Walls) - whoa. Non-fiction, but pretty unbelievable. A one-day read. Rags-to-riches, American Dream story with a twist.
• Russian Constitution and Religious Laws - yeah, I read them. In English. If you need legal advice, I guess now I can help.
• River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (Hessler) - interesting to read about China from ten years ago, while watching the Olympics. Confirmed my wish to live overseas; confirmed my wish not to live in China. We'll see.
• Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life (Cloud and Townsend) - I don't think anyone could find this unhelpful. Highly recommended. More than just how-did-your-childhood-screw-you-up.

Currently reading Steinbeck's East of Eden, which promises to be good, and The Ragamuffin Gospel, another previously started book.