Personally I have picked up way too many books over the past few days. Here are some of the books I have purchase or intend to purchase today.
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard by Rick Riordan – $2.00
491 pages, 94% of 560 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled
Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.
One day, he’s tracked down by an uncle he barely knows””a man his mother claimed was dangerous. Uncle Randolph tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.
The pre-order of the second book in the series is $5 – Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard
Armageddon: A Novel of Berlin by Leon Uris – $0.52
810 pages, 92% of 577 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled
In Berlin at the end of World War II, an American Army officer bears witness to the aftermath of one historic tragedy and the rise of another
Captain Sean O’Sullivan distinguishes himself as a courageous soldier in the closing days of World War II, but what comes next tests his deepest reserves of strength and conviction. Sent to oversee the rebuilding of Berlin, O’Sullivan is exposed to the horrific truths of the Holocaust, a shattered and defeated society, and the new threat of Soviet power as the Iron Curtain begins to shadow the city. When Soviet forces blockade Berlin and the airlift begins, O’Sullivan is faced with profound moral dilemmas in an increasingly complicated world.
Armageddon is one of the great fictional portrayals of Europe in the earliest days of the Cold War.
The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church From Western Cultural Captivity by Soong-Chan Rah – $4.09
228 pages, 70% of 31 reviews are 4 or 5-star
In this book professor and pastor Soong-Chan Rah calls the North American church to escape its captivity to Western cultural trappings and to embrace a new evangelicalism that is diverse and multiethnic. Rah brings keen analysis to the limitations of American Christianity and shows how captivity to Western individualism and materialism has played itself out in megachurches and emergent churches alike. Many white churches are in crisis and ill-equipped to minister to new cultural realities, but immigrant, ethnic and multiethnic churches are succeeding and flourishing.
This prophetic report casts a vision for a dynamic evangelicalism that fully embodies the cultural realities of the twenty-first century. Spiritual renewal is happening within the North American church, from corners and margins not always noticed by those in the center. Come, discover the vitality of the next evangelicalism.
Jack of Spies by David Downing – $0.52
352 pages, 53% of 169 reviews are 4 or 5-star
It is 1913, and those who follow the news closely can see the world is teetering on the brink of war. Jack McColl, a Scottish car salesman with an uncanny ear for languages, has always hoped to make a job for himself as a spy. As his sales calls take him from city to great city””Hong Kong to Shanghai to San Francisco to New York””he moonlights collecting intelligence for His Majesty’s Secret Service, but British espionage is in its infancy and Jack has nothing but a shoestring budget and the very tenuous protection of a boss in far-away London. He knows, though, that a geopolitical catastrophe is brewing, and now is both the moment to prove himself and the moment his country needs him most.
The New Testament: A Very Short Introduction by Luke Timothy Johnson – $2.60
160 pages, 94% of 15 reviews are 4 or 5-star
As ancient literature and a cornerstone of the Christian faith, the New Testament has exerted a powerful religious and cultural impact. But how much do we really know about its origins? Who were the people who actually wrote the sacred texts that became part of the Christian Bible? The New Testament: A Very Short Introduction authoritatively addresses these questions, offering a fresh perspective on the underpinnings of this profoundly influential collection of writings.
Also considering A Very Short Introduction to Christian Ethics by D Stephen Long – $2.60
The Locust Effect: Why The End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence by Gary Haugen – $4.22
385 pages, 96% of 140 reviews are 4 or 5-star
A Washington Post bestseller While the world has made encouraging strides in the fight against global poverty, the hidden plague of everyday violence silently undermines our best efforts to help the poor. Common violence like rape, forced labor, illegal detention, land theft, and police abuse has become routine and relentless. And like a horde of locusts devouring everything in its path, the unchecked plague of violence ruins lives, blocks the road out of poverty, and undercuts development. How has this plague of violence grown so ferocious? In one of the most remarkable social disasters of the last half century, basic public justice systems in the developing world have descended into a state of utter collapse, and theres nothing shielding the poor from violent people. Gary A. Haugen and Victor Boutros offer a searing account of how we got here and what it will take to end the plague.
Drinking With The Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Holy Happy Hour by Michael Foley – $2.99
487 pages, 92% of 63 reviews are 5-star
Pub crawl your way through the sacred seasons with this entertaining and useful collection of cocktail recipes, distilled spirits, beer, and wine for virtually every occasion on the Catholic liturgical calendar. One part bartender’s guide, one part spiritual manual, a dash of irreverence, and mixed with love: Drinking with the Saints is a work that both sinner and saint will savor.
Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict) – $5.97
300 pages, 95% of 80 reviews are 4 or 5-star
One of Cardinal Ratzinger’s most important and widely read books, this volume is a revised second edition with an improved translation and an in-depth 20 page preface by the Cardinal. As he states in the preface, since this book was first published over 30 years ago, many changes and significant events have occurred in the world, and in the Church. But even so, he says he is firmly convinced that his fundamental approach in this book is still very timely and crucial for the spiritual needs of modern man. That approach puts the question of God and the question about Christ in the very center, which leads to a “narrative Christology” and demonstrates that the place for faith is in the Church.
Thus, this remarkable elucidation of the Apostle’s Creed gives an excellent, modern interpretation of the foundations of Christianity. Ratzinger’s profound treatment of Christianity’s basic truths combines a spiritual outlook with a deep knowledge of Scripture and the history of theology.