Book Tag

I was tagged by my friend Matt. It took me much longer than I had anticipated. But it takes me forever to do anything. Enjoy! And note: I’m not big on following the rules.

1) One book that changed your life:
One? Ha! I laugh in the face of such restrictions! I can think of five books that have shaped my identity. Other books have impacted me in other ways, but these have to take the cake. In chronological order:
a. In 1998, The Ragamuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning. Got me really thinking about God’s grace and my identity as one loved by Christ for the first time.
b. In 2001, Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis. Confronted me with the fact that I was intensely arrogant and that the disease of pride had taken ahold of my life in a way that I was blind to before.
c. In 2003, Ruthless Trust, by Brennan Manning. Yet again, Manning was right on, refocusing my life not on trying to predict God’s will all the time, but simply trusting in it. It was quite a release.
d. In 2005, Posers, Fakers and Wannabes, by Brennan Manning. I know, way too much Manning. But this one has exposed more lies that I believe. I’ve begun to see that many of Manning’s weaknesses are very similar to my own, and this time I was challenged to take captive each of my selfish, God-denying thoughts.
e. All the time, the Bible. Sometimes even Sunday School answers are true.
2) One book that you've read more than once:
I’ve read portions of books more than once, a chapter here or there, but I don’t think I have ever read an entire book more than once.
3) One book you'd want on a desert island:
Wow. The Bible for sure. If I had to pick something else, though, it would probably be something humorous, like a Kurt Vonnegut book (Cat’s Cradle, maybe?).
4) One book that made you laugh:
Cat’s Cradle and Breakfast of Champions by Vonnegut, The Metamorphosis by Kafka, Franny and Zooey and The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger and Wise Blood by Flannery O’ Connor.
5) One book that made you cry:
Night by Elie Wiesel (way back in high school sophomore English), Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, and definitely Mere Christianity by Lewis. Night was just sad, C & P had such a touching ending, and I was crying during Mere because I didn’t think I was a Christian anymore, and it scared me to death.
6) One book you wish had been written:
In many ways, What To Do Next by God, but I know that if that book was written, I would be missing out on a lot of intimacy and wrestling with him. So maybe I don’t really wish that was written, but at times I would wish for nothing else.
7) One book you wish had never been written:
I don’t know. I feel bad about trashing peoples’ work, so without being specific, I’ll put out any book that has willfully perpetuated an ideology which has led to hatred towards any portion of humanity.
8) One book your currently reading:
Preaching Re-Imagined by Doug Pagitt, The Drama of Doctrine by Kevin Vanhoozer and Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’ Connor.
9) One book you've been meaning to read:
The Resurrection of the Son of God by N. T. Wright, The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, Free of Charge by Miroslav Volf, Rumors of Another World by Philip Yancey, Ragman by Walter Wangerin, and the list goes on and on and on and on.
10) Tag 5 others:
1) Marcie, 2) The Vis, 3) RyJo, 4) Matteo, 5) Steph, AND Ushwin, Kristin, Nibbles, Ice-Man, PezKat, Randy, and anyone else. That’s only five, right? I only numbered 5 of them, anyway. And if you don’t have a blog, or if you don’t like to write in it, just post your answers as a comment to this post, or post it on whatever place on the worldwide web you see fit. I’m not picky. Well, sometimes I am, but that’s a different story altogether.