Delighted to be tagged by Anne:
(1) Number of books I own - Oh, gosh. probably in the hundreds. Right now they're split between 1) Packed in the back of The Gracious Landlord's office storage area, 2) in my room on the one bookshelf I fit in there, and 3) childhood books that I left at Mom and Dads. I've never gotten rid of any books I've bought, except to sell textbooks back, and I still have most of my Communication textbooks.
(2) Last book I bought - Obviously, Valley of Vision. Before that, The Great Divorce - CS Lewis (The Madre's reading it) and Pierced by the Word - John Piper.
I also have a $30 gift cert to our local Bible Book Store, and I asked Anne what I ought to buy with it. Anne! Mom already has a lot of them! :D So, I'm still trying to figure out what to buy. I'm looking seriously at "Here I Stand (bio of Martin Luther)" and Sketches of Church History. If y'all have recommendations, POST THEM IN THE COMMENTS! I like good (cough-easy-cough) biographies and encouraging, practical books, in the vein of "Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands," "When People are Big and God is small," etc.
(3) Last book I read - I just finished "Pierced by the Word" last night for my devotions. I'm presently reading Wild at Heart, but very sporadically (it's the equivalent to a kid having to eating brussel sprouts for me, but without the benefit of veggie goodness). I was going gung-ho on a biography of Stonewall Jackson, but I put it down for some reason, which likely will necessitate my re-reading half of it.
(4) Five books that mean a lot to me: (aside from the Bible!)
1. The Peacemaker by Ken Sande- I grew up with it's principles, and I believe my mom's insistence on true biblical peacemaking has directly affected our family, helping to make us what we are - close-knit, loving friends, able to stand together through suffering.
2. Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands - by Paul Tripp. I'm still making my way through this one, but Tripp is an amazing biblical counselor and writer, whom I've had the privilege of having lunch with, cracking a joke at which he laughed. (Not to put him up on a major pedistal - I know that Christian and Molly both had him/saw him regularly in school, and he's likely much more "real" to them.)
3. Let me be a Woman - By Elizabeth Elliott. I read this a long time ago (and it needs to be revisited), but I was left with such a sense of joy and satisfaction in who God had made me, as well as encouraged to be who God wants me to become.
3.5. Heh. I guess I can't keep it only to Five! I'd definitely say that "When Life and Beliefs Collide" by Carolyn Custis James absolutely increased my knowledge of God when going through the hard times. More importantly, it encouraged me to strongly advocate for women to know their Theology - Here's an excellent quote: "Good theology coexists with broken hearts, shattered lives, and unimaginable pain. It produces a reservoir of patience toward ourselves and others who hurt and cannot understand what is happening."
4 - A Godward Life by John Piper - In college, I read this as a devotional, and love, love, LOVE it!
5/5.5 Redeeming Love/A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers - I 'randomly' picked up a Voice in the Wind off of a "Recommended by our Staff" at a St. Paul library, the summer of my sophomore year in college. I absolutely didn't expect it to be a Christian book, and I certainly didn't expect fiction to challenge my spiritual life the way that it did, in the character of Hadassah.
Redeeming Love is a great book, with a bit more secular feel to it, because it was Rivers' first book after becoming a Christian. It does a wonderful job of reminding us of our true nature - we return to our sin because it is what we know, not recognizing that the Love of our Life has saved us from our spiritual prostitution, and is always pursuing us, loving us and calling us to love Him.
I'd tag a bunch of people, but my circle of known bloggers is small!
2 comments:
Thanks for playing! I love to see what people are reading and what they have loved reading.
When Life & Beliefs Collide is an excellent book! I devoured it in one day.
I love Francine Rivers' writing, too, and the Mark of the Lion series is my favorite of hers.
I recently bought Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands, and I'm looking forward to getting to it soon, along with Age of Opportunity.
The joke I cracked to Paul Tripp was "My mom can quote three books chapter and verse: The Bible, The Peacemaker and War of Words." (The thing? She CAN. "Ains, look in -I think it's - Chapter 7 of War of Words," has actually come out of her mouth.)
What he doesn't know is that she's added a fourth - or perhaps replaced War of Words with - Instruments.
GPB is reading it now. I figure I ought to get it finished :)
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