This morning I received an email notice from ereaderiq that a book I was interested in was just released in kindle format. (ereaderiq is a great service. I use it to track book prices of the books I am interested in or have reviewed and to notify me when books are released in kindle format.)
But I have so many really good books that I am interested in reading that I have already bought, it is sometimes hard to convince myself to buy more. So I was inspired to put together a list of books that I want to read, are really good prices, but I haven’t talked myself into reading yet. If enough of you buy some of these books (or just click through and buy something else on Amazon) maybe I will earn enough Amazon affiliate income that I won’t feel as bad buying these 
A Little Book for New Theologians: Why and How to Study Theology by Kelly Kapic – $5.12
126 pages, 3 of 3 reviews are 5-star
Whenever we read, think, hear or say anything about God, we are doing theology. Yet theology isn’t just a matter of what we think. It affects who we are.
In the tradition of Helmut Thielicke’s A Little Exercise for Young Theologians, Kelly Kapic offers a concise introduction to the study of theology for newcomers to the field. He highlights the value and importance of theological study and explains its unique nature as a serious discipline.
Not only concerned with content and method, Kapic explores the skills, attitudes and spiritual practices needed by those who take up the discipline. This brief, clear and lively primer draws out the relevance of theology for Christian life, worship, mission, witness and more.
“Theology is about life,” writes Kapic. “It is not a conversation our souls can afford to avoid.”
Dawn by Octavia Butler – $1.99
256 pages, 57 of 65 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled
Embracing Obscurity by Anonymous – $2.99
195 pages, 18 of 19 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled
Bookwi.se Note: I just heard about this book this week. Tim Challies reviewed it. And while I frequently disagree with him on many issues, this seems like a book I would like. And then it dropped from $9.99 to $2.99, but I still have not bought it yet. (Update: Gospel ebooks just sent me a copy of it. So now I don’t have to buy it. Small perks to blogging!)
No matter how famous someone might be, the fact remains; most of the other seven billion people on Earth wouldn’t know him or her from the next person. Add this reality to one’s shrinking recognizability among the multiple billions down through history, and the worldly emphasis on standing out really falls flat; we’re all in this obscurity thing together.
Ironically, the trouble with me and you and the rest of humanity is not a lack of self-confidence but that we have far too much self-importance. To live and die unnoticed would seem a grave injustice to many. It’s all too easy to think we’re somebody if our portfolio is strong, there are a few letters after our name, or we’re well-known at work, church, or school.
As pride creeps in, we are tempted to want more: more recognition, more admiration, more influence, more, more, more. Few have ever given thought to wanting less. That’s why we need Embracing Obscurity.
Putting the premise into immediate action, an established Christian author electing to remain anonymous writes about living and dying in simplicity, contending that true success, as modeled by Jesus, starts with humility, service, sacrifice, and surrender. Such a life involves mystery and banks on the hope that today is just a dress rehearsal for eternity.
When we stop imitating the world and instead choose to embrace obscurity, real life — chock full of significance, purpose, and renewed passion — begins.
Empire of Lies by Andrew Klavan – $1.53
401 pages, 42 of 54 reviews are 4 or 5-star
Bookwi.se Note: I have read six Andrew Klavan books this year. Both Adult and Teen thrillers. This has been bouncing around under $2 for a while but I just have never pulled the trigger and bought it.
Half the Church by Carolyn Custis James – $1.99
209 pages, 22 of 29 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled
Bookwi.se Note: Women in leadership is one of the issues in the church that I think is really important. I support women as pastors, it is the only significant theological issues I have with my current church. I have read and reviewed a ton of books along a similar theme. And I am looking forward to reading A Year of Biblical Womanhood, eventually once it comes out. So I guess my ambivalence is that many of these books are preaching to the choir. The people who buy and read them are already convinced. In many ways it is the exact same reason I don’t watch the presidential debates. I know who I am going to vote for. Listening to people argue just makes me mad. This explanation also goes for What Women Fear
Women comprise at least half the world and usually more than half the church. But so often Christian teaching for women either fails to move beyond a discussion of roles or assumes a particular economic situation or stage of life. This shuts a lot of women out from contributing to God’s kingdom as they were designed to do. Furthermore, the plight of women in the Majority World demands a Christian response, a holistic embrace of all that God calls women and men to be in his world. The strongest voices speaking into women’s lives in the twenty-first century are Islam and Feminism–systems that reside at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Does the church’s message for women stake out the middle ground or lead the way to something much better? Is that message strong enough to withstand the worst realities women suffer in this broken world? Carolyn Custis James unpacks three transformative themes the Bible presents that invest the lives of every woman and girl with cosmic significance that nothing can destroy. These new images of what can be in Christ come with a blazing call for them to join their brothers in advancing God’s gracious kingdom on earth. Carolyn offers readers a positive, kingdom approach to the changes, challenges, and opportunities facing women throughout the world today.
Kindred by Octavia Butler – $4.95
288 pages, 241 of 271 reviews are 4 or 5-star
Bookwi.se Note: Again I want to read more Octavia Butler. And this is a stand alone book for a really good price. My issue here is that my library has this on audiobook that I can download. (I actually just check again and it is no longer carried. hmmm)
Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana’s life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.
Untitled: thoughts on the creative process by Blaine Hogan – $4.74
80 pages, 64 of 65 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled
Bookwi.se Note: I am fascinated by the creative process. I do not consider myself that creative. Creativity in my mind is the ability to not only make something but envision the end result. I am a follower. I can cook if I have a recipe or build something if I am given a very explicit design. Reviews are a response to the creativity of others, not creativity itself. Anyway, this is a short, I have seen it much cheaper and I can borrow it on Lendle.me
The blank page.
It has so much power.
Some days it’s terrifying, sometimes thrilling, but mostly it’s just plain old scary.
It is the reason many people never finish that novel, or complete that project, or follow through with that one thing they used to dream about.
Sadly, it is the reason many people never even begin.
Blaine Hogan’s manifesto, UNTITLED: Thoughts on the Creative Process is here to change all that.
Basic Christianity by John Stott – $3.60
192 pages, 3 of 3 reviews are 5-star
Bookwi.se Note: How can you not be interested in ‘the book of the century’. I really do want to read more old books. I just find that there are so many interesting new books. Old books always feel like something I should read more than something I want to read. But when I actually read them most of the time I really do get why they are classics. The problem comes in those classics that are classics because they were the first to do something. So I watched Citizen Kane and thought ‘That’s it?’. Then I watched the documentary about Citizen Kane right afterward and thought ‘Wow, that is the greatest movie ever.’ I never know what kind of classic it is going to be.
Named a “Book of the Century” by Christianity Today”If Jesus was not God in human flesh, Christianity is exploded,” writes John Stott. “We are left with just another religion with some beautiful ideas and noble ethics; its unique distinction has gone.”Who is Jesus Christ? If he is not who he said he was, and if he did not do what he said he had come to do, the whole superstructure of Christianity crumbles in ruin. Is it plausible that Jesus was truly divine? And what would that mean for us?John Stott’s clear, classic book examines the historical facts on which Christianity stands. Here is a sound, sensible guide for all who seek an intellectually satisfying explanation of the Christian faith.
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I have not read any of these books, so they may not be any good. As always please check to make sure the books are still free or on sale before you “buy” them. Prices can change quickly. This may be a one day offer. Pick it up quick. If you do buy a book and realize later you have been charged the wrong price for it, here is a guide on how to return a kindle book.
Your problem sounds similar to mine–one that has made me decide I need to implement a moratorium on buying “bargain” books. I’ve bought a lot of them, a fair number of them through Bookwi.se posts. And, generally, I got them because I thought they looked interesting. But, the rate of my book acquisition has far outpaced that of my reading, and I have years’ worth of stuff in my library that I really would like to read sometime. Given my limited time to read, I think for the time being I’m actually likely to save money by buying books at full price, at or very close to such time as I intend to read them. I’m finding that my purchase of bargain books assumes unbounded future time to read–an assumption that seems quite unlikely to hold, at least in the foreseeable future. And yet…it still hurts to stop buying the bargains!
I completely understand. I now pick up a very small fraction of the free books that I post about. And most of the ones I do pick up are for people that are on my kindle account, and not for myself.
I probably am approaching the point where I could literally never buy another book and still not finish the ones I have already purchased.