Year-End List: Books I Read in '07

I'm not much of a reader, but this year I was forced to be, for a time. In the absence of internet (for about 4-5 months), I rediscovered books. I was actually using my library card for something besides movies & music! Here is what I read this year (the links are to posts I wrote earlier this year about the books.) There are probably spoilers in these posts, so beware. (Note: I know some of you are avid readers and your reading lists are probably much, much longer than mine. So go easy; this was a big accomplishment for me.)

• Finding Your Purpose as a Mom - Donna Otto
• To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
• The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (which contained this excellent sentence: "No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.")
• Ya Yas in Bloom - Rebecca Wells
• Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier (great sentence: "No crisis can break through the crust of habit.")
• The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
• Joy in the Morning - Betty Smith
• Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Fannie Flagg
• Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
• Through Painted Deserts - Donald Miller
• Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling (I wrote a lengthy comment about this to Jenny's post here.)
• A Woman After God's Own Heart - Elizabeth George (in progress)
• Sacred Marriage - Gary Thomas (in progress)
• And these books of the Bible in completion: Luke, Acts, & Proverbs

So here are the 3 that stuck with me the most (not including those books of the Bible):

* Finding Your Purpose as a Mom - a wonderfully practical guide to making the most of stay-at-home motherhood, from a Christian perspective. Donna Otto gave me much to think about and apply in my relationships with Lucy, Eli, & Dave. I have to re-read it and think more on the ideas she presented to me. I recommend this to all moms!!

* Rebecca - such a suspenseful book! I'm talking stay-up-all-night till your eyes can't take it anymore suspense. The fact that it was so long and the print was so tiny and I finished it in 3 days makes me very proud. Better than most of the movies I saw this year, hands down.

* Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows - a fitting ending to a phenomenal series. I look forward to rereading these gems many times in future years.

What about you? What books really stuck with you this year? (ps: That's a photo of Dave with Lucy, November 2006).

Beliefs

I read books occasionally. I like to make it seem like I'm more of a reader than I actually am. My bookshelves are filled with literature and books on theology and the like. My bookshelves look good, too. Sometimes I take one off of the shelf, open it, start to read it, and say to myself, "This is a good discipline. I should do this more often." Then I close the book, find the remote, and turn on the tv, usually settling on something useless. Definitely something brainless. It's easier to pretend I've got life figured out so I don't have to think much rather than to face the fact that I am a frail human being with innumerable shortcomings. My twisted logic often tells me I'd be a better person if I read more.

Anyway, sometimes out of the blue clear sky God drops a book in my life that I should consume in order to better myself. These books usually get my heart racing because I finally feel like I'm "on to something" in my walk with Jesus. I get both excited with the possibility for change in my soul and a little overwhelmed by wondering how change is going to look in the nitty gritty day-to-day life.

During college, those books were What's So Amazing About Grace? (Yancey), Speaking of Jesus (Stiles), and The Ragamuffin Gospel (Manning). Each of them were packed with truths that I needed to wrap my soul around. In '04, the book was Boundaries (Cloud). These are all titles that I still recommend to people.

Now, it's Blue Like Jazz, by Don Miller. Truthfully, this is my favorite. It reads easiest, and it's a wonderfully poignant memoir. I aspire to write like this guy. Someday I think I'll have my own memoir that not only touches people with its (sometimes biting) honesty, it'll inspire and encourage change in their souls.

I'm sure many of you have read this book already, but if you haven't, you seriously need to. I'm not going to summarize why. Just trust me on this. But a chapter that has pierced me in the last day or so is on Beliefs. I'm going to quote him now:

"If [my friend] is right, if I live what I believe, then I don't believe very many noble things. My life testifies that the first thing I believe is that I am the most important person in the world. My life testifies to this because I care more about my food and shelter and happiness than about anybody else.

I am learning to believe better things. I am learning to believe that other people exist, that fashion is not truth; rather, Jesus is the most important figure in history, and the gospel is the most powerful force in the universe. I am learning not to be passionate about empty things, but to cultivate passion for justice, grace, truth, and communicate the idea that Jesus likes people and even loves them."

There is more I want to do with this information than just quote it. I want to live it. Lately, Dave and I have been struck with the truths of the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Our eyes have been opened to the horrors people face there and the staggering statistics that we have long turned away from. We have signed the ONE campaign's petition and we have begun sharing these ideas with our friends. But how do we love Jesus by loving others in real, tangible ways?

Much more can be said about these things, but I am curious how you follow Jesus. How do you put your passion for justice, grace, truth, and Jesus into practice? If you are so inclined, talk to me about it.

I'm living a safe life and I make safe decisions because safety best suits my selfishness.