The Christian Century

"So little time, so much to do,” Winston Churchill once commented. I think about that observation as I assemble my summer reading list. I organize my reading in four categories: 1) devotional: to be read and pondered in the early morning—if possible, while sitting in a rocking chair at the ocean or on a cabin porch; 2) scholarly: the substantial books I never found it possible to read during the work year, requiring a daily hour or two at a desk, facing a blank wall, with no distractions—the position Annie Dillard recommends for serious writing; 3) fiction; and 4) personal interest: books on topics I find fascinating and enjoyable, which for me include biography, baseball and World War II.