Summer Reading.

You're starting to see the annual "summer reading" articles, a kind of ritual post for bookish types: Christianity Today tells us what their editorial staff is reading this summer, and Al Mohler does the same here.

Presumably "summer reading" is different than Spring, Fall, or Winter reading. Mohler's list is all military history, for example. For me, reading is a continuous adventure, with ever-changing landscapes and seasons, but my choices in summer or not much different than the rest of the year. I try always to be reading a novel, always at least one book of Christian spirituality by an author I trust, and a third book which might have as its subject some episode or period of history, some facet of natural science, or anything else that catches my fancy.

Anyway, I like these "summer reading" articles because they give me ideas for my own future reading. I keep feeding my brain titles and authors, and my brain has its own arcane way of filing this information so that as I wander the library aisles, search a catalog, or (less often) browse the shelves of a bookstore, titles jump out of me: yes, I remember reading something about this somewhere.

This past week I made two visits to the local public library, carrying home a small stack of novels, but probably only one that I'll actually read (that's how my system works). That one: Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind. Oh my, this one looks really good. I've just started, but it's got me in its grip.

As for the "Christian spirituality" book, I'm slowly reading and enjoying Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. I talked about this in our small group last night. I actually have a lot of ease in my life right now, a lot of satisfaction, and very little suffering (well, none actually). But I know that suffering will come again someday, and although I do realize that we are never really "ready" for it, I want to understand what God has to say about it. I want not to have to work through illusions and misconceptions as I face my season of suffering. That's why I'm reading this book. I'm about half-finished, and I high recommend the chapters by Steve Saint, Carl Ellis, and David Powlinson. Much wisdom here.

And then there's the third reading stream, which is usually some form of history (including sports history, a topic I find fascinating). Right now I'm reading something that will help in my work. It's a text book on the subject of cartographic history (the history of map-making), called Maps: Finding our Place in the World. Of this book someone said:

From religious pilgrimages and vacation road trips to depictions of the ocean floor and the magical landscapes of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, maps chart both physical and imaginary worlds. As geographer Denis Cosgrove explains "World" is a social concept . . . a flexible term, stretching from physical environment to the world of ideas, microbes, and sin. Arguably, all these worlds can be mapped.

Cool. Plus, one chapter was written by an associate of mine.

That ought to do it for my summer reading plan! What's yours?