Book Meme!
I've been memed by Evangelical Catholicism; I am so proud of myself.
How many books do you own?
Probably just around 300 - and this includes travel books, cook books, and my awesome coffee table books. Even though I'm supposed to be reading 24-7, a self-help author named Donn Aslett formed my opinions on bookkeeping when I was about seven, while going through my mother's regimen of homemaking bootcamp before becoming a Graduate Student. Aslett forbids keeping books because they take up space and are ultimately expensive to maintain; and after years of moving and helping my family to keep their personal library in order, I have to agree with him. When I was an undergrad, a history professor told his class "now is the time to start building a personal library." - sure, but that was eight years of school ago for me. In the past several years of grad school, I have probably only purchased about three books. I use libraries! They are free, and they have tremendous resources! And when you are done with a book you can document the title and excerpts and then return the thing to the library. I'm also a huge fan of the many (free) online databases of journal articles, early Church classics, etc. This blog needs to be a place where we make these kinds of resources well known.
Last book I read:
- I like the use of "read" here rather than "digested." :) Graduate students rarely "read-" rather, we "consume." The last book that I really read was Randall Sullivan's The Miracle Detective: An Investigation of Holy Visions while on vacation with my family last month. I had to give two lectures on the content, and I really enjoyed it. Sullivan gives a very personal and narrative account of his investigation of the Marian apparitions in Medgugorje, of the Vatican's protocol for confirming such events, and of his own personal conversion that followed his investigation. Loved it.
Five Books That Mean a Lot to Me:
Quo Vadis (Henry Sienkiewicz; my most favorite novel ever, a Nobel-Prize winning story of the early Church)The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoevsky; essential reading for all real Christians)
The Cost of Discipleship (Bonhoffer; I thought this was terrifying when I was in college -the professor still quotes my saying so in class- but I'm still in the game; read it if you dare)
The Politics of Jesus (John H. Yoder; if you read this, you dont need to read a lot of the other hot modern theology going these days. It changed my life.)
A Chance to Die (Amy Carmichael; this of course is de riguer for womankind.)
Now tag five others:
(this is for the girls- non bloggers, please respond in the comments)
Mrs. J at More Water.
Fr. Nelson's Wife, Mrs. Nelson.
Fr. Matthew's Wife, Mrs. Matthew.
Crystal at Biblical Womanhood.
LDMiller's wife, Mrs. Miller.
posted by MM at 6:14 AM
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