Random Reads

I've been reading a lot lately, and while I can't fully recommend all of them, I enjoyed them and wanted to share some of the highlights. So here goes:

1. The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoffer. Okay, I can fully recommend this one. One of my favorite parts involves people trying to ask Jesus theological questions and Him in response taking them back to obedience. Good stuff.

2. The Dante Club. A murder mystery based on Longfellow's translation of Dante's Divine Comedy, it was a mixture of grisly murder, mystery, and tons of literary factoids. For example, Dante's poem was only called a comedy because the ending is in Paradise, so it's therefore not a tragedy. As one who loses sight of the ending, this fact resonated with me.

3. Angry Conversations with God. I can recommend this entire book as well. It's funny, but it also has some great points to it. The author is dissatisfied with her marriage to God (being part of the bride of Christ) so she takes Him to marriage counseling. But whose fault are the problems in question? And is that really God she's representing? And doesn't the word "Abba" remind everyone of Dancing Queen?

4. The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Klay. This novel explores a world in which comic book writers live messed-up lives. It's funny in places, but there's a lot of sadness to a story about people who invent characters to do what they cannot. It's a reminder of the limits of heroism on human terms, and for that honesty I enjoyed it.

5. Welcome to the Monkeyhouse. Kurt Vonnegut may not be known especially for his short stories, but many of the ones in this collection are excellent. I enjoyed all of his sci-fi stories, especially "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", a story about an overcrowded world in which no one dies from old age. In this world, prison becomes a matter of perspective. Another memorable story is "All the King's Horses", in which a prisoner of war must play a real life game of chess and learn to truly sacrifice.

More is on its way I'm sure, but it may slow down as the holidays are over and I'm actually doing stuff. Time will tell.