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<\/a>It is officially hot enough to melt your shoes out there, so lots of time to enjoy a good book in the a\/c! Or better yet, take that good book and seek higher ground. Curling up in a cabin in Flagstaff sounds just divine right about now\u2026<\/p>\nLast summer I skipped the annual reading list because I was pregnant and re-reading my all-time favorites (crazy hormones\u00a0send you running for the familiar\u2013for me that meant lots of trips to Hogwarts, Mitford, and Maycomb.)<\/p>\n
This year, for all the chaos of moving,\u00a0mothering 2 small children, and leading a growing and busy congregation, I continue to find time to read books for pleasure. Reading is not an escape for me, but a spiritual necessity. Stories shape our culture and our being, and I always find a great deal of the sacred between the pages. There is so much that we share across culture, age, race, gender and class, and those common rhythms of humanness are found, again and again, in literature. But enough with the preaching! It is summer reading time.<\/p>\n
Stieg Larrson\u2019s \u201cGirl With the Dragon Tattoo\u201d<\/strong> series: just plain fun to read, impossible to put down, and brilliantly layered. If you are not a professional in the field of finance\u2014the second chapter of the first book is full of jargon that will make your eyes glaze over and tempt you to give up on the whole thing. Power through! It\u2019s not important to the story. Skip it and get to the good stuff. Warning: by the end, you will want Lisbeth Salander to be your new best friend. Sadly, she is not real. (even more sadly, the author died shortly after submitting these three manuscripts, so you can\u2019t look forward to the next installment. You can, however, wait for American versions of the movies).<\/p>\nIf you like SNL, 30-Rock<\/em>, appreciate strong women with a sense of humor, or just find Sarah Palin really disturbing, \u00a0you should read \u201cBossypants\u201d <\/strong>like, <\/strong>yesterday. If all of the above are true for you, then you have to read it twice. \u00a0Tina Fey offers a prophetic, spiritual, and challenging memoir that is still, somehow, full of side-splitting hilarity. In many places, being a woman comic sounds a lot like being a woman pastor\u2014and the rules of improv really sound alot (ALOT)<\/span> like the rules of transforming congregational ministry. (Another blog post to come on that\u2026)\u00a0A favorite quote: \u201cEver since I\u2019ve been director of 30-Rock<\/em>, <\/em>people are always asking me \u2018Is it hard for you, being in charge?\u2019 \u00a0You know, in the same way they say, \u2018Gee, Mr. Trump, is it awkward for you, being the boss of all these people?\u2019\u201d Like i say\u2026sounds alot like being a clergy chic. For instance, people ask me \u201cwould you be nervous if i came to hear you preach?\u201d \u00a0You know, in the same way they say, \u201cGee,\u00a0Rev.\u00a0Fallwell\/Robertson\/Osteen\u2013 It must be scary for you, having to get up in front of all those people! What if your slip is showing?!\u201d \u2014A note about preaching\u2026 I am no more nervous about you\u2013whoever you may be\u2013coming to hear me than i am about the other 100+\u00a0people who show up each week. And i\u2019d be no more nervous in front of 1000 people, because my 100+ are just as important as the other thousands. Furthermore, any preacher who does not get just a little bit nervous, each and every time he\/she proclaims the gospel, is lacking the life-giving humility that makes for a good sermon. But, I digress\u2026 All hail Tina Fey!<\/em><\/p>\nSilas House is from my hometown, and is an advocate\/activist against mountaintop removal, and other things that rob Appalachia of its natural beauty and resources. He\u2019s got a lot of clout in essay and article form, but for my money, nothing reflects \u201cMy Old Kentucky Home\u201d\u2013at least my neck of the\u00a0holler\u2013 like his fiction. Start with \u201cClay\u2019s Quilt.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nI think I\u2019ve already mentioned \u201cThe Help,\u201d <\/strong>but I will recommend it again. Even if you\u2019ve read it, you might want to peruse it again before the movie comes out\u2026The scene where Skeeter hears Dylan on the radio for the first time never fails to send a chill all through me, and i\u2019m interested to see if they can capture the power of that moment on the big screen.<\/p>\nCurrently, I am in the midst of \u201cLet the Great World Spin,\u201d <\/strong>which my brother turned me onto. I went in with high expectations, and have not been disappointed.<\/p>\nAlso in my library pile: Ann Patchett\u2019s \u201cState of Wonder.\u201d <\/strong>I will give it a thumbs up ahead of time, because she is just that awesome. If this is news to you, try her other stuff.<\/p>\nIn more church-y sorts of books; I\u2019m looking forward to Parker Palmer\u2019s \u201cA Hidden Wholeness<\/strong>.\u201d Also on my stack is Wendell Berry\u2019s \u201cBringing it to the Table.\u201d <\/strong>This Kentucky girl thinks that if WB were both Pope and President, the world would be a better place. Silas House could be the VP, and while we\u2019re at it, can we bring the great Nell Harper around to be the boss of everybody having enough and\u00a0nobody being mean to anybody else? (I guess that would make her, what, Secretary of Defense and Treasury? I\u2019m pretty sure that\u2019s 2 seperate jobs, but if anyone can do it, my money is on her. Or maybe Tina Fey.)<\/p>\nAnyway\u2026 truth in fiction, folks. What\u2019s on your list this summer? Read up, and report back! oh, and if you\u2019re enjoying your read in the Rocky Mountains, or the Redwood Forest, or some cabin in Glacier National Park, then i will need to hear about your setting in detail. I am melting here!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is officially hot enough to melt your shoes out there, so lots of time to enjoy a good book in the a\/c! Or better yet, take that good book and seek higher ground. Curling up in a cabin in Flagstaff sounds just divine right about now\u2026 Last summer I skipped the annual reading list […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":2243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,56,1],"tags":[201,202,203,204,205,206,207,208,209,210,211,212,213,214,215,216,217,218,219,220,172,221,222,223,224,225,226,227,228,229,230,231,232,233,234,235,236,237,238,239,240,241,242,243,244,245,246],"class_list":["post-218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-desert-life","category-spirituality-in-culture","category-uncategorized","tag-30-rock","tag-a-hidden-wholeness","tag-ann-patchett","tag-appalachia","tag-book-review","tag-books","tag-bossypants","tag-clays-quilt","tag-colum-mccann","tag-donald-trump","tag-father-tim","tag-fiction","tag-glacier-national-park","tag-harper-lee","tag-harry-potter","tag-j-k-rowling","tag-jan-karon","tag-jerry-falwell","tag-joel-osteen","tag-kathryn-stockett","tag-kentucky","tag-let-the-great-world-spin","tag-library","tag-lisbeth-salander","tag-literature","tag-mikal-blomkvist","tag-mitford","tag-mountaintop-removal","tag-parker-palmer","tag-pat-robertson","tag-reading","tag-reading-list","tag-redwood-national-forest","tag-rocky-mountains","tag-sarah-palin","tag-saturday-night-live","tag-silas-house","tag-state-of-wonder","tag-stieg-larsson","tag-the-girl-who-kicked-the-hornets-nest","tag-the-girl-who-played-with-fire","tag-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo","tag-the-help","tag-tina-fey","tag-to-kill-a-mockingbird","tag-vacation","tag-wendell-berry"],"yoast_head":"\n
Comfort Reading and Cooler Climes...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It is officially hot enough to melt your shoes out there, so lots of time to enjoy a good book in the a\/c! Or better yet, take that good book and seek\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2011\/06\/comfort-reading-and-cooler-climes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comfort Reading and Cooler Climes...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is officially hot enough to melt your shoes out there, so lots of time to enjoy a good book in the a\/c! 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