too many books to read

I’ve got more books than I have time or energy to read. Some of them arrive as review copies (read: comp’d), some as gifts, some as impulse buys. Now it is totally unfair to judge a book by its cover, and yet that’s how most people buy books, I’ve been told. I am not much for first impressions, but here are a few personal reactions in having taken a cursory glance or skim through these books.

Here’s one of my book stacks with my annotated impressions:

• Deliver Us from Me-Ville by David A. Zimmerman
  I’ve met David on several occasions, fascinatingly creative guy, and the colorful book cover shows that he can draw both comic books and tell a story
• Six Prayers God Always Answers by Mark Herringshaw and Jennifer Schuchmann

  

  Took me reading through 75% of the book before I got it; this is a book about the kind of prayers that people pray, and how God does answer those prayers. Perhaps not the way we want them answered, but God does answer them in many unexpected ways. While there are many books that talk about prayer, as in how to pray (like prayer were some kind of incantation or wish power), and what prayer has accomplished, or what God expects in a prayer that He would hear or answer, this book’s got a more people-based perspective, and I find that to connect with me as a reader in a way that other prayer books haven’t. No, I haven’t read Prayer of Jabez.

• Crossing the Ethnic Divide: The Multiethnic Church on a Mission by Kathleen Garces-Foley

  

  An insider behind-the-scenes look at Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles, an 80+ year old church that’s successfully adjusted with the times from being an intergenerational Japanese church to a pan-Asian church and now to being an intentionally multiethnic church

• Make the Impossible Possible: One Man’s Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary by Bill Strickland
  This was a gift book that I surprisingly got from an anonymous friend in the mail, with a hand-written note. Looks like another book with a powerful inspirational story. The hand-written note really touched my heart more.
• Just Courage: God’s Great Expedition for the Restless Christian by Gary A. Haugen
  Gary is more than an incredible visionary, but also a most courageous warrior. Fighting the darkness of injustice, here’s a guy that’s mobilizing our generation like no other on this front. I don’t know if this is a sequel to his first book, Good News About Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World, which also has the word “courage” in the title. I wonder if the book would do better if it were a one-word title, COURAGE, instead.
• The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time by Tom Sine and Shane Claiborne
• I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus by Don Everts and Doug Schaupp
• True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In by James Choung
  James’ Gospel presentation sure kicks it up another notch, by giving us a fuller dimension to the Gospel, and how it is so much more than just crossing the line to have eternal security. James blogs occasionally at jameschoung.net. See the YouTube video of The Story, even in a Southern Style. Here’s James drawing in the sand, kinda like Jesus maybe.
  
• Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan and Danae Yankoski
  I’ve heard that Francis is quite a gifted communicator, and that kind of delivery comes through the pages. I started to read this on the beach a couple weeks ago. Was distracted by people watching, so I didn’t get very far. Loved how this book had links to the book’s website, and referred to it for the multimedia portion as an integral part of the book.
• Holy Fools: Following Jesus with Reckless Abandon by Mathew Woodley
• Subverting Global Myths: Theology and the Public Issues Shaping Our World by Vinoth Ramachandra
  This one looks really heady and academic. In the global village and multi-national world we live in, we need more books like this to give us a real world perspective that’s not so driven by media sound bites or vide appeals.
• The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher: A Novel by Rob Stennett
  Hmmm, how a novel snuck into my stack I don’t know. I’m much more of a non-fiction guy, if you haven’t figured out by now.

I have several other stacks of books, and I’ll get around to mentioning those too; no promise on when I’ll get them online.