Lit by Mary Karr — I hadn’t read any of Karr’s previous memoirs, but after reading Lit her two previous books have jumped to the top of my list (on Springpad and Amazon). Karr is a splendid writer, but it’s her life story that amazes most. The challenges she’s endured are astounded for sheltered me — abuse, alcoholism, wacko parents, destructive relationships (and that’s before college). The jacket calls it “learning to write by learning to live;” an apt description. I totally recommend Karr’s unvarnished (and at times quite funny) third memoir to anyone who’s up for a heart-wrenching story well told.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen — Yeah, ok, I was a skeptic on this one. I mean, it was just getting so much press a few months ago. Franzen was on every talk show on earth, even before he made up with Oprah.  And I’m always uneasy about a book being read by more than three people on the same airplane. But, thanks to my kind Pittsburgh friend Susan Rothenberg (thanks Susan!), I was sent a copy of Freedom so I could free my skeptical conscience from the Freedom media frenzy. And, yes, it’s a damn good book.

Character development: A. Gripping story: B+. Believable characters: A-. Epic cynicism: B+. Holds your attention for 500+ pages: A. Amazingly skilled look at contemporary America’s beautiful and contradictory freedom: A+. You should read it, even if it’s just to be like everyone else.

Feed by M.T. Anderson — My friend Kristin recommended this Young Adult novel  and I ate it up for it’s dystopian look at cyberculture (plus, it’s a stellar YA story).  Set some time in the future, the book imagines a “feed” that is implanted into wealthy people’s brains that connects them constantly to an Internet-like stream of constant contact and commerce. The feed is both exhilarating in its helpfulness and paralyzing in its ubiquity. I wasn’t drawn in the by the characters, really, but the treatment of technology, choice, freedom, free market, environmental disaster, and teen relationships is pretty amazing. This book is a must read for Internet and social media advocates as it pushes back vehemently on an overly utopian view of technology. If the “feed” is the direction in which the Internet is headed, we should be very scared.

Three good books. Now what should I (and readers of this blog) read next?  Comment away…

In a recent Presbyterian Outlook guest editorial, pastor Roy W. Howard argues that pastors should read books for two hours each day. Howard, a friend of mine and former student of Fred Craddock, received such advice in seminary. Craddock told his students, often to their amazement writes Howard, that as “pastors they must set aside a minimum of two hours every day for reading.” Not the sort of reading for sermon preparation, but reading “informing the mind and heart.” Think poetry, short stories, novels, theology, Scripture and the like. This suggestion makes me, all at the same time, jealous, incredulous, hopeful, and angry.

First, however, let me say that I understand (in theory at least) that reading two hours each day could be very beneficial to ministry. Two hours seems like a lot, but it’s pretty close to the average amount of television Americans watch each day. And Craddock would much rather one’s ministry be influenced by short stories than short television commercials. As a literature lover, there’s nothing more blissful than imagining delving into the growing stacks of unread books on my desk. I’ve thought, several times lately, of taking a week away from the parish, finding a cabin in the woods, and simply reading. I get that such dedication feeds the mind and soul. I get that we can be spiritually empty and not realize it, that literature can fill us up in ways unexpected and glorious. I get it….but.

But, I’m not sold. But, I can’t imagine this working for me. Maybe I’m being held back by hard-headedness or simple jealousy, but I can’t imagine how my schedule could allow for two hours of reading each day (or 1.5 hours, since I’m 3/4 time). Howard notes that in response to Craddock, seminarians offered the expected excuses: “Many students gasped incredulously at their revered teacher’s counsel…with hospital visits and stewardship meetings, pastoral counseling and administrative leadership, local mission, youth fellowship and community organizing, how on earth did [Craddock] expect pastors to read two hours every day?” Here’s a few additional questions and concerns of my own.

• I’m guessing the answer would be “no,” but I wonder if Craddock today might allow reading blogs, news articles, technology websites, and long-form journalism as part of the two hours? Aren’t these essential to understanding the world today?
• Craddock, a preaching professor, surely was biased towards the pastor as preacher/theologian. But many pastors today preach seldom and really do focus on administration for huge portions of their day. Is the answer to read administration and leadership books, or to cut back on the two hours depending on one’s preaching duties?
• This point is harder to explain, but essential. I feel like Craddock’s advice assumes pastors have a particular moral authority and duty in one’s community to be informed, be people of the Book and many other books, to have a certain old school “I-am-a-wise-pastor schtick” about them. I think of an older time when, in many towns, the pastor really was the most educated and respected member of a community. These days, that is simply not the case in most places. So, again, I wonder how this might sway Craddock either to decrease the two hours, or maybe even increase it to gain back that cultural cache.
• Finally, practically speaking, with emails and texting, cell phones and Twitter, it seems like Craddock’s advice today would need to include moving to a room in which little technology exists. I don’t think he’d be cool with tweeting throughout one’s daily. I wonder if pastors need to make spaces in their studies — or away from them — for such reading to be successful.

Thanks Roy–and Fred–for the advice.  I’m going to need to think on it a bit more.  But, remember, I did read it in the Outlook….but then I reflected online.

image by Jim Larranaga

I’m excited and a bit overwhelmed that:

• Another article of mine was published in The Christian Century, (sorry no link, dead tree edition only). It’s entitled “Songfest: Challenges for a hymnal committee.”
• I will be the preacher for two weeks of Montreat Youth Conferences in early June 2011
• I will begin an eight-week stint blogging as The Christian Century featured blogger next week (site relaunch to come on their end soon, I’m told)
• I’m taking Comm 507: Communication, Technology, and Media at the University of North Dakota this semester
• I’ll be preaching on Oct 24th, with Dr. Martha Moore-Keish, at the 25th Anniversary celebration of my parents’ time at First Presbyterian in Tallahassee.

I’m grateful that:

• I have been at First Press Hallock for a year and much of the first-time craziness has worn off
• I just got back from a time of vacation and rest
• the food from Red Goose Gardens, our CSA, is so delicious
• I read Everything: A Novel by Kevin Canty – dazzling writing, gripping story
• Autumn temperatures have arrived
• Megan and I celebrated our four year wedding anniversary last weekend

I’m considering especially:

• if Minnesota Public Radio really means to announce their BBC Proms programming with the adjective “infamous” as in their frequently-heard advertisement this week: “the infamous last night of the Proms”–or am I just missing something?
• my first go at teaching confirmation and looking forward to using re:form
• how on vacation, I rarely looked at Facebook, and that was ok, even nice
• why pine nuts are so darn expensive
• race and how we speak of racism in American and reading White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privilidged Son by Tim Wise and Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum.

image by Fred Fokkelman

To guide our conversation, we were to read Martha Grace Reese’s book, “Unbinding the Gospel.” I also read Brian McLaren’s, “A New Kind of Christianity,” George Hunter III’s “A Celtic Way of Evangelism” and skimmed Bill Hybel’s “Just Walk Across the Room.” I may review some of these in the future — actually, I know I’ll review McLaren.

The evangelism discussion is still very much in-process for me at the moment, but I wanted to put out a few bullet points and see if the blogosphere had some comments:

• Christendom churches just expect people will come to their church if it is attractive enough, but this model just isn’t true anymore (if it ever was).
• Though Evangelism Committees keep coming up in discussion at the seminary — usually because they’re quite problematic, actually — this makes me consider the committee structure in our congregation. There is no committee that focuses on issues not directly related to those who attend worship often.  This is a problem, but I also think we have too many committees!
• A primary question to answer for yourself is: what difference does it make if people are Christians?
• Prayer is a good way to start pretty much anything, especially evangelism or “sharing the good news.”  I know I could totally work on my personal prayer life, and I bet I’m not the only one in our congregation.
• I wonder if the life cycle of some congregations, if a focus on evangelism could actually be a bad idea. If the body isn’t comfortable in its own skin, it might not be time to invite more folks in to rock the boat. Of course, this can be a catch 22.
• Also, I have a million questions on evangelism in rural communities.  What of sheep stealing from other churches?  How things are interpreted in the community is huge and would need to be an integral part of the conversation.

More later, for certain. But there’s a few bullets for thought for now.

Specifically, I’m leading a workshop in February entitled, “Worship and Welcomes the Spiritually Hungry.” And the organizers of the event and looking for books that include good thoughts on welcoming worship, how to make your space and service hospitable, how to be open to those unchurched, that sort of thing. So, what books should we be sure to have available at the bookstore?

And, while we’re at it, what books would you recommend in general?  What was your fav book of 2009?

1) Bullets. Flipping through I now see lists and lists of bullets; several per chapter. How did I miss this before?! Bullets work for political talking points, perhaps, or for giving quick and varied support for an issue that must be argued quickly, but bullets in a professional book are a bad sign. Bullets say, “I didn’t take the time to fully think this through, but here it is anyway.” Or, “I can’t really support my argument, but here it is one measly sentence.”

2) No footnotes. Sure, footnotes can be cumbersome (though always better than endnotes). But a professional book on religion, theology, and pastoral care should have footnotes. Where are your ideas coming from? Where can I go for more information? Lack of footnotes also signals lack of an editor. I don’t understand how the author of the book I’m currently reading gets away with quoting another author or work without giving a full citation. “John Doe says in her book, ________” without a footnotes, is neither scholarly nor acceptable.

3) Quote chunks. On every few pages of the book I find huge chunks, several paragraphs, taken from somebody else’s work. It feels like the author just googled then copy and pasted into his book and called it good–and didn’t even footnote! Writing a new book means presenting a new argument, supported by others’ work certainly, but not simply a bringing-together of strong paragraphs from better books. Ridiculous.

Why am I still reading the book, if it’s so bad? I’m not quite sure. I have a rule that if I don’t like a book after 50 pages I don’t have to finish it (books for class excepted, of course). There are too many good books in the world to waste one’s time with the bad. I’ve only gotten to page 41 of my current blunder. Page 50, here I come.

photo by hisks

Woolworths, a huge retail franchise in the UK recently pulled a product: the Lolita bed for young girls. Here’s the article: Staff at Woolworths baffled by fuss over the little girl’s bed called Lolita.

For those less book-inclined, Lolita is the eponymous title of Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel describing the sexual obsession of a step-father with his 12 year-old step-daughter. “Lolita” has since become a sort of code-name for a child who is attractive to pedophiles. So, it doesn’t take a marketing genius to deduce: Lolita is perhaps the world’s worst name for a child’s bed.

How about naming sleeping pills “Kevorkian,” ballot-counting machines “Florida specials,” or supposedly good computers “PCs.”

So now that the press is on the story, there’s TV specials on the surge of age-inappropriate products (I do think the kid pole dancing kit crossed the line) and opinion columnists are weighing in. Here’s my reflections of a different sort.

1) Can we expect business and marketing majors to know literature? I majored in English at a strong liberal arts college, but didn’t read Lolita until last year (admittedly, I knew of the novel for years). I’m going to make a guess here, but aren’t major retailers employing folks with marketing, business, or finance-related degrees who would have had few if any university English courses? If ever there was a day when businesswomen and men could be expected to have read all the classics, that day is past.

2) I have no idea how big companies work, but shouldn’t there be someone in an office somewhere making sure these things don’t happen? Call the position the Cultured Commonsense Coordinator. That person would compile lists of bad product names–like Lolita–and kill offensive products before they go to market and embarrass the company. With the internet, this would not be a difficult job.

3) The Times reported the good folks at Woolworths had to look “Lolita” up on Wikipedia before they understood the firestorm of protests and boycotts. Perhaps more interesting, however, is that the biggest organized protest began on a blog. The web has empowered the modern consumer in ways unthinkable twenty years ago. Consider this post by a theology post-grad. It’s a blog post, but it’s huge free advertising for the products he’s sharing–speaking of, I’d love his camera wrap. Companies who aren’t up to speed on the Web 2.0 world will be left behind.

Yep, Woolworths made a hugely embarrassing mistake. Perhaps they should next consider a new line of products supporting reading. Call them, maybe, books.

This is not to say “The Road” is uplifting. It’s a haunting horrid tale of humanity in its primal state, but the writing is brilliant, the story-telling unmatched, the pure experience of reading is a sick joy.

2. One book you’ve read more than once
I rarely do so, but exceptions would be books read for class like Paul Tillich’s “Dynamics of Faith.” After the third time, I still didn’t understand the book, but still highly recommend it.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island
Adam says the cliche answers are the Bible and The Complete Works of Shakespeare. I agree. I’d definitely want something long. Say: “The Brother’s Karamozov” by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

4. Two books that made you laugh
I don’t generally read books to make me laugh, but some certainly do. The first is certainly “Lamb” by Christopher Moore. Second, let’s say, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction“ which makes you think as well.

5. One book that made you cry
Definitely, definitely “Bridge to Terabithia” by Katherine Paterson. I don’t want to see the movie as I have such fond and heart-wrenching memories of the book.

6. One book you wish had been written
“How to save the world, enjoy a high quality of life, and never compromise one’s morals while staying relaxed, healthy, and upbeat”

7. One book you wish had never been written
I’m a firm believe in not banning books, so wishing one hadn’t been written makes me uncomfortable. However, I’ll play the game and say Deepak Chopra’s “The Return of Merlin.” I had to read Chopra for class in college. I suppose it broadened my perspective–I hadn’t read anything that bad in years.

8. One book you’re currently reading
“Abide with Me” by Elizabeth Strout which I’m reading for a Columbia distance-learning class on reading fiction theologically and wouldn’t really recommend. I’ve got “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” by Mohsin Hamid on the shelf and am looking forward to it greatly.

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read
Woops. I jumped the gun on this one. My to-read list also includes McCarthy, Brian McLaren’s “Everything Must Change” and Jim Wallis’s “The Great Awakening.” I’ve also been recently been intrigued by several of George Wills’s books.

10a. Where’s your favorite place to buy books
There was no 10, so I made this one up. Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia is perhaps the best book shop in the world (though Kristin’s shop in MN, Wild Rumpus, is pretty cool too.) Amazon is handy, but there’s nothing like the service at Little Shop, the book groups they sponsor, and their commitment to the local community.

10b. What book do you want to shamelessly plug
Yep, I added this one too. But Megan and I wrote an essay that’s published in “My Red Couch: And Other Stories on Seeking a Feminist Faith.” I dare say it’s worth the slightly high purchase price (but cheaper than Mark’s book, “Confessing Christ in the 21st Century” which I also want to read,

Ok, so now I’m supposed to tag five people–that’s the pyramid scheme part. Here’s some lovin to Gareth, Jim, Danny, Sarah, and Claire.

(BTW: I’m never linking to that many pages again…it takes forever to set them up! Also, I know book titles should be in italics rather than quotes, but quotes save time so that’s that.)

I didn’t, which is cool since I didn’t ask for one and I don’t think it’d work over here anyways. If you somehow haven’t heard about the biggest adult-sized present this year, I say it’s probably the Amazon Kindle, a revolutionary book-like device (or the Wii, but that was so big last year so doesn’t count).

If you haven’t heard yet, a Kindle is a “digital content reader” or real fancy electronic book thingy.  It can hold hundreds of books, access magazines and websites, and weighs very little.  If one had a Kindle at the breakfast table, for instance, one could read the NY Times, see recently updated blogs, access wikipedia, and read any book sold by Amazon.

I can hear Granny now: revolutionary? That’s a big claim and it’s not really what the word means.

Perhaps, but…. Ok, I’ll liken this Kindle to the iphone for a minute. The iphone is less revolutionary because of what it is itself–a pretty sweet phone plus a whole lot more–but because of what it will do to the market. Now that consumers have phones that so easily do so much, with screens so large and no numbers taking up 50% of the interface, with accurate touch-sensitive screens, the phone design market will experience a revolution.

Now will the Kindle make a similar splash? I’m both skeptical, and really want one.

Folks have decried the death of the book for years. Palm pilots were supposed to do it, then laptops with good screens, and then mobile phones with large screens. But the old fashioned paper book is still going strong (they’ve had a record year in Britain). But the Kindle may finally crack the code.

Why? Because the kindle gets it. It has all the functionality I’d hope for in a book-like device. For instance: (1) the Kindle display reads like a book rather than a computer monitor, (2) with Kindle, you can buy anything Amazon sells instantly and usually for a discount, (3) Kindle weighs little and looks cool (ok, not really cool, but cool), (4) free wireless access to wikipedia (need I say more?)

Over the past few months, I’ve really missed my book shelves. Just thinking about the possibility of taking all those books with me in a smaller-then-laptop device gets me, well, as excited as a very non-excitable guy can get. All those books in a device the size and weight of a New Yorker–amazing!

I heard a fascinating interview a few weeks ago on the BBC (can’t find link, sorry) about a guy who’s just written a book predicting the death of books. I only heard half the interview, but he did present an interesting argument. Old fashioned paper books will always be with us, but they will improve in their look, feel, binding, etc. Paper books, to compete with e-books, will become even nicer told hold in your hand, to gift, to put on the coffee table. E-books, then, will become the quicker, easier, mainstream version.

Let’s face it: he’s probably at least partly right. Sure, the revolution may not happen as a direct result of Kindle, but it will happen. Consider what record players looked like even 30 years ago, and look at an iPod today and consider its functionality. E-books will, eventually, gain a functionality that surpass what we can even imagine. Come across a cool concept while reading–search for similar ones with the same device. Don’t know what that word means–double click and see the definition. That chapter remind you of a movie you’d like to see–order it wirelessly to the same device. That meal sound tasty–have it delivered to your door.

Only time will tell whether the Kindle is sputters like attempts before, or whether it sparks a revolution. The cost for Kindle–$400–is probably a bit high for any really fast-paced change. Just think, however, when they are affordable to all. If everyone had a Kindle, think how many book downloads Amazon would register per day. Until then, I’ll imagine my bookshelf in Decatur, continue my google.com/books searches for sermon quotes, and hope for a bookstore gift certificate.

Strangely, though, my most busy week also has me finished two books I’ve been reading.

I wasn’t overly impressed with Cloud Atlas. I could tell Mitchell almost wrote an amazing book, and that he has great writing skills and is a good story teller and all that, but I never bought it. I felt too much that Mitchell was showing off–like a good preacher who thinks, “watch me wow you with my preaching” rather than simply preaches the gospel.

For a change of genres, John Pritchard’s The Life and Work of a Priest was most enjoyable. Writing as the Bishop of Oxford (Anglican), Pritchard reflects on the duties of a priest in contemporary England. The hopeful account of the task of priests does acknowledge the contextual challenges of British church. For example:

• 20% of the UK population regularly or irregularly attend church
• 40% have had don’t attend but have had some church contact at some point in their lives
• 40% have had virtually no contact with the church

I’ll probably post more on Prichard’s description of a priest later, but overall I find his vision somehow realistic, doomed, and hopeful the same time. He’s aware of the church’s decline yet it doesn’t move him to attempt to reinvent the wheel. He’s aware of the emerging conversation, sees value in it, but views it very much from a traditional perspective in which change occurs slowly, thoughtfully, carefully. He sees churches closing, but he doesn’t freak out because he also sees faithful work continuing.

I’ll close with a spiffy quote:

“…to that extent a clergy leader is a liminal figure, living in the borderland between the Church and the world, the present and the future, inherited church and emerging church” (p. 103).