I always think that I'll write a review and let you know how great the latest book was/is, but then I start reading the next one and I forget to tell you all about it.
So, I think I'm going to give you a quick list and summary of books I've been reading, and those that I'm getting ready to read, and ask you if there are any that I should be adding to my list :).
Ready for some fun? Let's go!
In the historical fiction arena, I read several books over Christmas. The one that really stuck out to me was "While We're Far Apart" by Lynn Austin. I subscribe to an email service that tells me about FREE Christian downloads on Amazon and this one popped up months ago. I downloaded it and finally got around to starting it while we were driving down from Nairobi. It takes place during WWII and intertwines many different, separate lives to tell a story of heartbreak and reconciliation, of loss and redemption, of fear and peace. The letters that are interspersed throughout the book, written from a Jewish son that has left the US and gone back to study in the family's native Hungary, and follows all of the torment and actions of the Nazis, the loss of family members, had me in tears several times on our drive. I like how she tied in the real life Raoul Wallenberg and the things he did to save so very many Jews from the Nazis in Hungary, he was shown as a kind of "Schindler's List" type character. The reality of what these people went through, and how so many struggled to get action and financial support to those hurting moved my heart immensely.
In the short inspirational arena, I read Dietrich Boehnhoffer's "Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible." It was recommended by one of our speakers at the conference that we attended up in Kenya. He spoke 3 mornings on the Psalms and how they are the communal prayer. How as children we learn to speak to our parents by parroting and copying their speech...how then do we not see the need to teach our children and ourselves how to pray by using God's own words when we pray to Him? The Psalms allow us to come together in a common and understood hurt, complaint, grief, and then to see the praise part at the end. No other book besides Isaiah is more quoted in the New Testament than the Psalms. In the Jewish faith, many of them read dozens of Psalms a day, and over the course of their life, they are memorized. All it takes is for someone to say the first line and the whole Psalm is recalled to their memory. I can't say I'm reading dozens a day, but I am adding them into my quiet time each day, and making notes on how these verses have been turned into Praise and Worship music in our churches. I love singing my prayers, how beautiful is that?
In the education arena, I've been reading "Muslim Ministry in the African Context." It is a book put out in a series called Africa's Hope by the Assemblies of God. I'm about half way done, but it has really opened my eyes to praying for and about my understanding and feelings toward those of the Muslim faith. I believe I always had just a very cursory overview and understanding of what Muslims believe. As we've been meeting more of them here in Africa, as Indy has been teaching them and they've been asking him questions about Jesus, it has become so obvious to me that I need to know more about what they believe, about how to talk to them, about how to explain to them what we believe and how to show them God's love.
In the past month I've also read "The Bait of Satan: Living Free of the Deadly Trap of Offense, "Always the Baker, Never the Bride" (yes, a cute Christian romance), "A Marriage Carol," A Simple Amish Christmas," "Divine," "Total Truth" (I'm still working on this one) and probably a few others I'm not remembering.
I want to read "Dietrich Boehnhoffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy," also Mitch Stokes' "A Shot of Faith to the Head" which came as a recommendation from a Pastor friend of ours back in Colorado. Krypto wants me to read "The Mysterious Benedict Society" and there are probably a couple of hundred other books that I've downloaded to my Kindle that need to make it on the list at some point.
Did any of these look interesting to you? Are there any you think I should add to my list?
