Books I read in 1392
This list began overseas, and ended in America. I can remember rushing to finish Good and Angry as we packed, and starting Songs of Innocence while jetlagging in America.
- The Indian in the Cupboard
- A Bear Called Paddington
- Dostoyevsky: A writer in his time—I had wanted to read the original five-volume work for years. Then I saw this 1,000-page condensation for $10 on Kindle. Wonderful book. I’d like to read the entire five-volume series at some point. He uses the word “velleity” half a dozen times, and I’ve never seen that word anywhere else, despite its obvious utility (“a wish or inclination not strong enough to lead to action”).
- Hearts for Sale
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Good and Angry
- Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience
- The Waste Land
- Outliers
- Linguistic Field Work: A Practical Guide—I read this because I was teaching from it. Good book, as I recall.
- The Magician’s Nephew
- The Aeneid—I enjoyed this better than The Iliad and The Odyssey, which made me wonder, is it objectively better or am I just learning to appreciate epic poetry?
- How God Became King—This was good, but I stopped reading Wright’s popular works (aside from his book on the Psalms below, I guess), because it’s all there in his scholarly stuff.
- Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament—A friend recommended that I read this; it took a good chunk of my Summer. Then I took a course from the guy Fall semester and this was assigned. So I’d read ahead, but I’d also spent my Summer doing homework.
- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
- David Elginbrod—Classic character study with no plot. 🙂
- George MacDonald: A short life
- The Tipping Point
- The Narnian
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- James and the Giant Peach
- The Descent of the Dove—Lot of hype for this book. I was disappointed, but (as one has to say with Charles Williams) maybe I just didn’t get it.
- The Meaning of Marriage—Nothing makes you want to work at your marriage like your contemporaries’ getting a divorce. 🙂
- Unbroken
- Reading the OED
- The Professor and the Madman
- New Testament Exegesis—Here begin many books I had to read for my exegesis program.
- Interpreting Galatians
- The Faith of Israel
- The Four Loves
- Textual Criticism: Recovering the Text of the Hebrew Bible
- With the Old Breed—I’m so glad I read this. It’s basically the heart and soul of Ken Burns’ The War. What an articulate man.
- Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament—This is really an excellent book. It’s probably the best book I read in that year of my exegesis program, and it’s (I think) the only book I’ve actually gone on to recommend to people.
- Invitation to the Septuagint—One of two exegesis books I read this year that I didn’t have to read.
- Readings from the Ancient Near East
- Ancient Texts for Studying the Hebrew Bible
- Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach
- Intangible
- The Prince—Again, lots of hype and then ultimately disappointing.
- Meaning and Relevance
- The Forgotten Ways
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- All the Pretty Horses—True story: I wanted to read Blood Meridian, but I thought it was the final book of The Border Trilogy. So of course I start at the beginning. Eventually I figure out that Blood Meridian isn’t even part of The Border Trilogy, but then of course I have to finish the trilogy anyway. Let me tell you, reading four Cormac McCarthy novels in succession, when the last one is Blood Meridian, is quite a trip.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- The Case for the Psalms—This book had a great impact on me. It was one of several books that nudged me—about a year later—to bring the psalms into my life in a serious way.
- Silence—Call me hard-hearted, but I couldn’t see the appeal of this book. It was as if the priest hadn’t known about suffering before and was caught completely off-guard. (Proud to have read it before the movie came out, though, so that’s something!)
- Translation and Relevance: Cognition and Context—Really excellent book.