To give
Sue Monk Kidd’s writing is as wonderful in The Invention of Wings as it was in the highly regarded The Secret Life of Bees, but this time she is using her literary skills to tell a story of freedom from slavery—freedom for both blacks and whites.
Donna Tartt’s novel The Goldfinch depicts the desperate need for art among those who’ve lost their way in life. But the book is a brick. I slogged through it, so one of my friends should have to.
To give
The most intriguing book I’ve read this year is The Deepest Human Life: An Introduction to Philosophy for Everyone. Scott Samuelson, who teaches philosophy, has the gift of treating difficult subjects in an accessible manner. From the existence of God to good and evil, he not only connects with his students but also weaves some of their stories into his expositions.
To give
In The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton entwines rich characters into the stunning landscape of historic New Zealand. Catton constructed a fascinating view of vocations, economy, and culture, while employing a unique structure that waxes and wanes with the moon.
To give
I will be giving Brian Doyle’s A Shimmer of Something: Lean Stories of Spiritual Substance to several friends. Doyle, editor of Portland Magazine and author of many books, is also a poet popular with Century readers. His “box poems” are rectangular prose poems on subjects as varied as “Mrs. Job,” “What a Father Thinks While Driving His Daughter, Age Seventeen, to Rehab,” and “Choosing a Baseball Bat.” Doyle is a storyteller who points out the mystery of what appears to be the ordinary.
To give
René Steinke’s third novel, Friendswood, explores the effects of an environmental disaster on several families in a small Texas town and the ways religion shapes their fears, hopes, and responses. This is a novel about what we owe one another as neighbors and as human beings, and it reveals the sacredness of human attempts to repair what has been broken.
To give
Matthew Avery Sutton read just about everything that fundamentalists and evangelicals had to offer in preparation for his pointed argument in American Apocalypse: premillennial dispensationalism pushed conservative Protestants into public, political, national, and international action. If you want to wrestle with evangelicals, read this book.
To give
Whether read as a companion to formal studies of early Christianity or for pleasure, Peter Brown’s Through the Eye of the Needle is a valuable and rewarding investment (530 pages plus notes). I read it last year, then took a class on early Christianity. Now I look forward to rereading Brown because he adds context, covering economy, politics, religion, and more—all in one riveting narrative.
To give
How did Father Martin hock this book to Harper? “I want to write a commentary with my personal take on the gospels after you send me to Israel. It’ll be nearly 600 pages.” I bought Jesus: A Pilgrimage in order to prepare for my own upcoming pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I intended to skip most of those pages but became engrossed. Martin reads scripture with joy, surprise, humility, and deep insight. The printing of the biblical passage after each meditation made me wonder if we preachers should read the scripture after talking about it.
To give
Boyhood, Richard Linklater’s epic of everyday life, lingers long after one has seen it. Filmed on a few days every year for 12 years, the story follows a young boy as he grows from age six to 18. In part a coming-of-age story, in part a meditation on time and the shaping of human character and memory, Boyhood is a masterpiece.