Friday, July 4, 2014

More Summer Reading Plans

I usually don't have time for magazines, but whenever the summer "Books Issue" of WORLD arrives, I drop everything and read it from cover to cover. It's luxurious to read about so many wonderful books in one spot. To be frank, most of the recommendations are for non-fiction, and I come away with only half a dozen "must reads," but I enjoy just knowing what books are available since I live in Brazil and can't keep up with the gazillions of books that keep coming out in the U.S.

I had heard some buzz about the book Mission at Nuremberg, which WORLD voted as "2014 Book of the Year," so now it's definitely on my list. It's the story of the U.S. chaplain assigned to the spiritual care of the Nazi officials who were condemned to death after the war trials. Sounds amazing.

Some of the 140 book recommendations were brand new, but many were of books written in the last few years. Here are the ones that grabbed my interest:

The Great War by Peter Hart - "a 522 page blow-by-blow history of World War One"
The Reason for God by Tim Keller (World's 2008 Book of the Year)
The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Butterfield
Booked by Karen Prior (She wrote this to show "how reading Great Books drew her back to God.")
Faith and Reason by Swinburne (a solid, thorough introduction to philosophy)
The Great Books Reader by Reynolds
(These last two were surprisingly pricey, even for Kindle.)

Finally, author Larry Woiwode highly recommends Peavear & Volokhonsky's translation of War and Peace as the best version of "the best fiction novel."

Oh yes, and one more perk. My brother's book, Coming to Grips with Genesis, was mentioned on page 50!

Have you read any of these books? Any thoughts?

4 comments:

Barbara H. said...

I've heard a couple of people mention Mission at Nuremburg - this prompts me to chick my TBR list to make sure it's added.

I highly, highly recommend The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. I read and reviewed it last year, and it was one of my top ten books of the year.

I'll have to make note of that War and Peace translation - that a book I've wanted to read "someday."

That's neat that your brother's book was mentioned!

Sheila said...

I have read Rosaria Butterfield's book and it was very interesting. I also can recommend Tim Keller's Reason for God. Thanks for mentioning that Nuremberg book. It has gone on my to read list!

Sherry said...

I, too, read and appreciated Secret Thoughts. It was quite relevant and insightful. I also read Booked, and it was good. Be warned that the author's autobiographical details are somewhat graphic in their descriptions of sin.

Anonymous said...

So many books, so little time! Truly "of the making of many books there is no end"!
I have nominated you for a Very Inspiring Blogger Award - no obligation to accept, but the details are in my latest post if you're interested.