Tim Challies, blogger, book reviewer, pastor, has issued his annual Christian Book Reading challenge. The levels at which one can participate are
Light, Avid, Committed, Obsessed
Light readers choose to read 13 books in 2019. Avid readers choose 26, Committed Readers choose 52 books to read, and Obsessed readers choose 104.
The books you choose are based on the outline provided by Challies.
Though the "directions" suggest starting at Light and moving up to Avid then up again to Committed, etc, I decided to jump start right to Avid and probably stick there as I have other books I want to read as seen below.I decided on the Avid level this year. I found it helps me to have a plan, and even to schedule my reading. Otherwise, the time slips by and I don't read anything at all! Then the year is over and I wind up scratching my head, looking around at the piles of unread books, going, "Huh? It's December already?"
My choices are as follows:
Commentary: Lamentations, by Dan G. Kent
Book written by a Puritan: The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs
Book by or about a missionary: W. Eugene Sallee, Christ’s Ambassador
A book about theology: Concise Theology by JI Packer
A book in a weekend: Mrs Pollifax
Book recommended by a family member: TBD
Book about aging: In a Different Key: The Story of Autism, by John Donvan and Caren Zucker
Book published in 2019: TBD
Book on Bestseller list: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Book about church history: Polycarp of Smyrna, the Man whose Faith Lasted by Sinclair Ferguson
Book of 100 pages or less: Einstein’s Dreams, Alan Lightman
Book of my choice: Sense & Sensibility, Jane Austen (subject to change)
Book about music or Musician: Nobody Knows: The Forgotten Story of One of the Most Influential Figures in American Music, by Craig von Buseck
Also in the mix:
Dystopian-
It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
The Running Man Stephen King
The Last Man, Mary Shelley, 1826
The Machine Stops, E.M. Forster
Classic:
The Decameron, Boccaccio
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler
New
Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic's First-Class Passengers and Their World by Hugh Brewster
I had not known that EM Forster wrote a dystopian book. I like dystopian. I enjoyed Alas, Babylon, Carol Balizet’s The Last Seven Years, and William Forschten's One Second After.
We'll see how I do! I can get a head start by reading a few during the two weeks off I have at Christmas-New Year's. I own most of the books I've listed for Challies' plan, except for Crawdads, Polycarp, Contentment by Burroughs, and Differrent Key/Autism.
Do you have an idea of what you want to read this year? Do you have any "must read" recommendations for me?
3 comments:
I wish I could recommend something spiritually edifying to you but I've spent the majority of my reading time this year with Gladys Hasty Carroll and Robin Hobb. Gladys Hasty Carroll was from Maine and wrote a best seller in 1933, As the Earth Turns, about a year in the life of a rural Maine family. I was hooked, and read almost everything she wrote the first half of this year, most of which were about life in Maine. Last week I finished a set of three trilogies (nine books in all) that were a genre I've never read before - fantasy. My husband has an unsaved friend who sent him the first book and we read it together so he could tell his friend he read it and didn't like it. Except we did. :) There's no cursing, and though there is some immorality, it is written briefly and matter-of-factly with no titillating details and there are consequences, both practical and in conscience. The most interesting thing about the stories is the main character, who is the narrator...he is a real man's man who suffers from intense guilt. I couldn't help thinking he might have rejoiced at hearing the gospel.
your trilogy sounds interesting, I might check it out! What was it? Isnt' ti fun to find a book you didn't think you'd like, but do? Awesome!
The Farseer Trilogy
Assassin's Apprentice (1995) Royal Assassin (1996) Assassin's Quest (1997)
The Tawny Man Trilogy
Fool's Errand (2001) The Golden Fool (2002) Fool's Fate (2003)
The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy
Fool's Assassin (2014) Fool's Quest (2015) Assassin's Fate (2017)
If you can make it through the first trilogy, it gets much better. I'm tempted to tel you to start with the second trilogy, but you'd be missing a lot of information.
By the way, the Fool is not a derogatory term...the character was a court jester.
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