Filed under: Books
It’s cold right now, 19 degrees with light snow (or says my Mac weather indicator). Either way, I’m on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, coffee in hand, watching the Inauguration festivities. The last few days, however, have been spent reading. Mostly for an upcoming paper, but also just for fun. Last night I was thinking about who I would choose if I could only read five authors for the rest of my life. Possibilities include: Chesterton, Calvin, C.S. Lewis, Wendell Berry, James Joyce, Flannery O’Connor, Annie Dillard, Seamus Heaney, William Faulkner, and Eugene Peterson. This would be my deserted island reading. For now I’m glad I don’t have to make such a narrow list.
Here’s what’s been preoccupying me for the last few days:
- Wendell Berry, Art of the Common Place, and Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community. I’ve commented on why I like Berry in the past, so I won’t do so here. But I will say, if haven’t read any Berry, whether his fiction, poetry, or essays, you’re really missing out. What are People For? is a good place to start.
- Michael Pollan, A Place of My Own. Pollen is familiar for his Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, but he wrote several others including A Place of My Own, which is focused on architecture and the concepts of “place” and “space.”
- Steve Wilkins, Face to Face: Meditations on Friendship and Hospitality
- Br. Peter Reinhart, Brother Juniper’s Bread Book: Slow Rise as Method and Metaphor. Interesting take on bread baking and owning a bakery. Reinhart mixes baking, theology, and personal anecdote to highlight the similarities between the kitchen and life. Fun reading, thanks Katie.
- Sam Torode, Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body in Simple Language
With a week or so left of Winter Break, I have plenty of reading to keep me busy. What’s on your winter reading list, or any deserted island picks?
