Good Books

Oh, yeah, I’m still here. I took the week off without warning, not because anything happened to distract me from blogging, only that, well, I didn’t feel like it. I read recently in Christianity Today that "good bloggers work like dogs," but I have to confess it’s not true of me these days.

Anyway, here I am. And life is good, because the books are good just now. That’s it you see. I’m pretty satisfied with life when I’m reading a good book, and on the other hand full of psychic unrest when I’m between books (a horrid state, that). Lately I’ve been reading two books that are essentially highly entertaining natural histories. One is A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America along the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Bryson, which is essentially a natural history of the AT merged with elements of humorous autobiography. At once very funny and very interesting.

And the other is a savory book called, Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City‘s Most Unwanted Inhabitants. This book is continuously fascinating. Rats, it turns out, are very interesting varmints. The author, btw, is Robert Sullivan, whose other books I'm going to have to search out. This is a really good read!

These two books fulfill one of the requirements of my annual reading plan. You know, everybody has an annual reading plan, right? You kind of know you're talking to a pretty dull guy if he has an annual reading plan! Anyway, as for me, I try to read a little history every year, a little fantasy fiction, at least one literary classic, a little contemporary poetry, and a little natural history (such as the aforesaid two books). Along with all this is of course the continuous reading of thoughtful Christian literature such as (at present), J. P. Moreland's Kingdom Triangle. The book's subtitle says it all: "Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power." Perhaps I will have more to say about this thoughtful book in the near future. But if you're really interested, read a nice review over at Mere Orthodoxy.

And that's it. My reading report. As I said, life is good: the Red Sox are up, the Yankees are down, it's Autumn in New England, and I've got good books close at hand. Sheer heaven!