Book Reviews

I am even more convinced of the importance of this book nearly a year after I first read the book.  I am planning on re-reading this in 2013.

Takeaway: A perfect example of why we need historians to help us work through modern problems.

This is a whim book.  I borrowed it on Lendle because it was by Mark Noll, not because I knew anything about it.  What a wonderful surprise!  I have been working through a project over the last year to understand what scripture is and how we should be using it as Christians.  Had I known about this book I would have read it earlier.

Noll does a masterful job walking the reader through the theological issues of the Civil War.  I grew up hearing about the brave Christians that called for an end of slavery.  In recent years there was a decent movie and book about William Wilberforce and his explicitly Christian work to abolish slavery in England.  I went to Wheaton College, which was a stop on the underground railroad and started by Jonathan Blanchard an outspoken Abolitionist. (Noll taught at Wheaton for 15 years, including while I was there.)

But the story is not so simple. Many people are aware that people on both sides of the Civil War thought that God was on their side.  Abraham Lincoln has a famous quote, “The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong.”

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Similar to my pick of Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi, my pick of An Abundance of Katherines is based both on how much I enjoyed that book and John Green as a whole.  I read three John Green books this year.  All of them were very good, but I liked this one best.  John Green’s newest book A Fault in Our Stars, in on my best of 2012 book lists.  I am looking forward to reading it early next year.

Summary: A child prodigy wants to find purpose and meaning in having dated, and been dumped by, 19 Katherines.

Coming of age novels hold a special place in my heart.  Maybe I have not really grown up yet.

An Abundance of Katherines was a unique, funny take on the coming of age novel.  Colin Singleton is a former child prodigy who is concerned that he is going to grow up and be average.  His best friend Hassan, who is also smart, but unmotivated, decides to take Colin on a road trip so that Colin can get over his most recent breakup.

Colin’s girlfriend Katherine, after high school graduation broke up with Colin.  That makes 19 Katherine’s that have broken up with Colin.

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Takeaway: Bonhoeffer is a complicated and fascinating figure in Christianity.

There were two biographies of Bonhoeffer published in 2010.  It was not a coincidence.  This was also when the final editions of Bonhoeffer’s complete works a 15 volume set were being completed. There is a trove of documents and letters that have been discovered since the classic biography from Bonhoeffer’s best friend Eberhard Bethge’s was first published in 1970. (A new translation was released in 2000.)

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Marriage is a deeply important topic for Christians. Many think about it primarily in public policy terms (gay marriage and/or divorce). But I think it is more important for discipleship and church health reasons. I absolutely do not believe that everyone should get married. But I do think, that for those that do get married, the church has a significant responsibility to them and their marriage. And married people have a significant responsibility back to their church for mentoring younger marriages.

One of the best things that happened to our marriage was the last two years that my wife and I lead a newly married small group.  If you ever want to feel good about your wisdom in marriage go hang out with a bunch of newly married couples.  Some of the couples in the groups had been married a matter of weeks when they joined.  They didn’t even know how to tell ‘their story’ yet.

I have read a lot of books on marriage.  This is one of the ones that I would most recommend to people regardless of the length of time they have been married (or even if they are single).  It is not perfect, I disagree with several points.  But I respect the Keller’s ability to speak even when I disagree with them.  The tone of this book is just right.

Takeaway: This is now my most recommended book on marriage.

My wife and I have led two newly married small groups in the last two years.  And given my proclivity to over reading, and reading as one of my primary ways of processing, I have read a number of marriage books in our 15 years of marriage, especially in the last two years.  Given that introduction, I think this is the most balanced, most thorough explanation of the purpose and meaning of marriage I have read.

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This is the oldest of the books that I am listing among my favorites of 2012.  My requirement is that I read them in 2012, not that they were written in 2012.  One of my goals this year was to read more old books.  And I certainly did that.  But I was disappointed in many of the older books I read.  Some of the disappointment is because I did not work hard enough to understand the background (one of the comments on my review of Alice in Wonderland essentially said that I just didn’t get all of the jokes.)

It is certainly true that not all literature that is great travels well through time.  But The End of the Affair did travel well (albeit only about 60 years.)  Tragedy, love and romance may be particularly easy subjects to travel through time.  A good audiobook often helps.

Takeaway: Hate is a way to know that you love.

The problem with reading is that no matter how much you do, there is so much you will never get to.  There are more than 1 million new books published each year, just in English.  And then there are the thousands of a classics that even a serious reader will never get around to reading.

So I am glad when I run across one of the beautiful books accidentally.  I would have never picked up The End of the Affair on my own.  I thought I had watched the movie, but I had not (although I will now.)

Audible.com has been commissioning “A List Actors” to read classic books.  The Wizard of Oz read by Anne Hathaway, that I read a couple week ago, was from this collection.  And luckily for me, Audible.com has been giving away a couple of the books to promote the series.

In The End of the Affair, Colin Firth reads the melancholy and beautifully haunting story of a couple having an affair at the end of World War II in London.  This is a tragedy, and like all tragedies, nothing turns out the way you want it to.

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