Summer Reading Short Reviews

One of the joys of reading is being able to bounce around and read lots of different things as the fancy takes me. Here, in no particular order, are a few thoughts on a few of the books I’ve read so far this summer.

The Lost Virtue of Happiness: J.P. Moreland and Klaus Issler. I think this is an important, even an essential book. In combination with a lecture by Dr Moreland that I heard this summer (and wrote about here), this book helped me put some pieces together in my own heart about trusting God and taking risks along the road toward true happiness: eudaimonia, a life well lived.

Searching for and Maintaining Peace: Father Jacques Philippe. I’m a very intense person, so Fr Philippe’s writing has helped me fully realize what “peace” really is. It is not being unemotional, or unreactive, or detached in a negative sense, but rather is something deeper, a real sense of trust in God, not tied to particular outward circumstances. For instance, I sometimes recognize that I am not at peace even when I am outwardly calm, solitary, and silent, because I am clinging to some fear or anxiety in my heart. In contrast, I just spent almost two weeks in residency at Biola, a spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually challenging time with a lot of outward activity and stimulating discussion… and in reflecting on the residency, I realize that I was completely at peace during that time.

At this rate, my comments on Fr Philippe’s book will be longer than the book itself, so let me just pull one quote from it to show how to-the-point and sensible he is: “If we wait until we are saints to have a regular life of prayer, we could wait a long time. On the contrary, it is in accepting to appear before the Lord in our state of sin that we will receive healing and will be transformed, little by little, into saints.”

Authentic Communication: Tim Muehlhoff and Todd V. Lewis. A must-read for anyone who wants to share their faith in a loving, respectful, and also effective way. It’s also excellent just in terms of explaining effective interpersonal communication. Our words can hurt or help others, strengthen friendships or weaken them; we should learn to use them well.

Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge: Dallas Willard. I’ll confess that I found this book slow going at first and I almost put it down a number of times… but I kept picking it up again. In the end I think that was best, because it meant that I read it slowly, and this is a book that’s sufficiently dense that it merits slow reading. The closing chapter in particular had an impact on me, with its call for pastors to live up to their responsibility to teach that we can have real knowledge of God. Though I am not a pastor, as a teacher (both in the secular world, and now within my church as well) I feel that this challenge applies to me as well. Also, although I know you can’t judge a book by its cover, I have to admit that I find the cover art to be simply lovely.

Mercy Among the Children: David Adams Richards. Richards is a new author for me, and I am delighted to have been introduced to his books (thanks, Fr. Kraft!). I won’t spoil this book by attempting to describe it, but I will say that it is exceedingly well written, and haunting.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Oh! Absolutely delightful. It’s a “light reading” book, but one that is both very well written and very thoughtful. It’s funny, but with a serious side as well that comes out bit by bit as the book unfolds. It’s a love story and a paean to the fellowship of all who love books, and flat-out really fun to read.

Related posts:

1. Summer Reading Discussion!
2. Reading Versus Television: Which Is Better?
3. Developing a Taste for Good Books
4. What Is a Good Book?
5. Thank You, Lord Jesus