GoodReads

Bob on Books in 2014

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IMG_1933We changed the calendar on our refrigerator last night before turning in. For many it seems January 1 is the day for New Year’s Resolutions (and from the viewer response, it appears a number of you are including “read more” among those resolutions!). Personally, I’m not one for resolutions but I thought I might share some thoughts I’ve had about the blog in the coming year.

1. I hope my son and I can do another conversation on our blogs. No guarantees here but we’ll see what comes out of our Tuesday nights at Chubby’s!

2. The question of how new technologies will impact reading, discourse, learning and the world of higher ed is one I hope to continue exploring. I think we are in a new Gutenberg revolution and I’m alternately intrigued and disturbed as I think about how this might affect literacy and thoughtful engagement with the books we read (or even the prevalence of reading).

3. I’m also intrigued by the intersection of reading, which is often a solitary activity, and social media and its potential to create new forms of learning communities, ranging from virtual book groups to online engagement among those sharing a professional interest.

4. I will be reading more books in the area of higher education because of a project I am working on related to my work in campus ministry.  Look for topical posts in this area as well as reviews of individual books, and a cumulative review post at some time in the first part of the year.

5. GoodReads and my shelving choices also make it possible to identify other categories where I’ve read a number of books on the same general theme. I’ll probably figure out a few other cumulative review posts–perhaps on biographies, American history, sports, books on Christianity and culture, mysteries or sci-fi. And I’ll probably save some for future years!

6. The posts “on life” are the least planned part of this whole thing. They arise out of something I’ve read, some personal life experience, or something that is happening in the world that I feel I have something I want to say about it. This is totally unpredictable.

7. I will continue to post writing on reading in general. I assume that many of those who consistently view or follow this blog love reading and are as interested as I am on how books may not only enrich our interior lives but how we might be enabled to live well through the books we read.

8. There will be those reviews! Generally those aren’t the most popular posts and not all the reviews will be of interest to all who follow me. I review a number of books that represent “a thoughtful approach to Christian faith” that reflects the university world I work in and my own passion for a seamless connection between our love for God, for his world, and our closer and more distant “neighbors”. Even if you don’t share my beliefs, I hope you will find some books that touch on interests that are common to us. I’ll be reading other things as well–history, biography, and fiction (some literary, sci-fi, and mystery especially), and a good baseball book here and there and an occasional science work.

9. At some point in the year look for a Teddy Roosevelt marathon! I have a couple volumes of Edmund Morris’s biography of Roosevelt on the stack and received The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin for Christmas. I’ve always loved reading about Roosevelt and love anything I’ve read by Doris Kearns Goodwin so this will be a marathon I look forward to!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on reading this year, and on anything you’d like to see me explore in the blog. I’m still learning about this stuff and those who view and comment are my best teachers!

Best Reads of 2013

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Here it is at last! My “best reads” of 2013. These are not necessarily, or even in most cases, books published in 2013 but rather the books I read in 2013 that I gave a 5 star rating to on GoodReads. These only reflect my own reading tastes of course, which might seem eclectic or eccentric to some. But what can I say? Each title is linked to my review of the book. Enjoy, and I hope you find something good here.

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1. A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sargent Shriver, by Mark Shriver . This is a moving memoir of the life, character, and faith of Sargent Shriver, adviser to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and first director of the Peace Corps, written by his son.

2. Summer of ’49 by David Halberstam. Always love a good baseball book, and this chronicles the pennant race between the ’49 Yankees and Red Sox that came down to the last game of the season between these two teams.

3. Desiring the Kingdom by James K. A. Smith. Smith explores the important role liturgical practices have in shaping our desires toward kingdom ends. A clarifying book for me.

4. The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer. Tozer writes in plain language about our relationship with God in this little gem.

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5. 4:50 From Paddington by Agatha Christie. Christie at her best, complete with Mrs. McGillicuddy!

6. The Bible Study Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to an Essential Practice by Lindsay Olesberg. The title says it all and this is a very helpful resource for anyone who wants to learn how to study the Bible on their own or with others.

7. The World is Not Ours to Save by Tyler Wigg-Stevenson. A “save the world” complex is why most activists burn out. This author writes well about the change in his own perspective that sustains his activism.

8. Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves. This is a clearly, and if I may say, delightfully written book about the doctrine of the Trinity, a stumbling block to belief for some, a conundrum for many believers, but indeed a source of delight for Christians.

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9. The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis. Nine messages by Lewis that are absolute gems, including “Learning in War-time”.

10. The First Thanksgiving by Robert Tracy McKenzie. A wonderful new book about what we can know historically about the first Thanksgiving and how this challenges us in our contemporary setting.

11. John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger. This one just made this list. Unger brings John Quincy out from under the shadow of his father as statesman, president, and an early abolition leader.

I’d love to hear about your “best reads” for the year.

3 Steps to Reading Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

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3 Steps to Reading Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (from BookRiot.com) has some great ideas if one of your New Year’s resolutions is to read more.

I often get asked how I read so many books (although I was humbled by the person in this article who reads 2-300 books a year). I would agree with everything written here. Here are a few other thoughts.

1. I would amplify the idea of avoiding distractions. Read where and when you are free from TV, social media or smartphones.

2. Carry a book or e-reader with you for unexpected free moments–waiting for a flight, eating alone, while you are waiting to meet someone or on public transportation. I’ve probably read a book or two just in airports this year!

3. If you are working to cultivate a reading habit, don’t start with the most demanding, dense stuff you can think of that seems “profound”. Start with authors you like, or books in a genre you like.

4. Find book reviews or blogs on the kinds of books you like and see what others like. Goodreads is a great tool to find out what your friends are reading and what they think about their books.

5. After you read a book, try to capture in a few sentences what you liked about the book, a favorite quote, or something you want to remember from the book. Again, the Goodreads site is a great tool for this–you don’t need to be lengthy–think of this as just putting down what you want to remember about the book.

6. If you are a person who likes goals, track your progress through the year. Probably one of the few things I remember from my behavioral psych class from many years ago was that when you track a behavior, you increase that behavior if it is desirable, and often decrease it when it is undesirable. Hopefully reading is the former for you!

7. Read something “off the beaten path” for you — a different genre, an international author, a perspective you don’t think you agree with. Pick up a book at your bookseller’s that they are recommending that sounds interesting that you wouldn’t otherwise read.

Happy reading!

Am I Reading the ‘Wrong’ Books?

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Goodreads opened up its annual reader poll for Best Books of 2013. I discovered in going through the poll that I had not read a single title on the list! Kind of makes me wonder if I am reading the ‘wrong’ books. At very least, I am not reading the books that are currently popular.

I can think of several reasons for this:

1. I read a number of books that would fall under the category of “religious” which was not included in the poll. That is pretty central to my identity and work, so I will probably go on reading a number of those books, and I find there are those in this “niche” who seem to appreciate what I have to say about these books.

2. I tend to pick up lots of my books at second hand stores and so am reading things that have been out for a while, usually longer than a year.

3. It also tends to take me a while to work through the stack of books unless something is of such current interest and importance to me that I make it a priority to read.

4. I do read some books in the categories that are polled, but usually those that have stood the test of a few years and have been recognized as significant books–“so many books, so little time” is a mantra for me.

Still, it was valuable to go through the lists and in some categories I cast votes for the books I would like to read, for example I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai. I also voted for a book by John Scalzi in science fiction since my son has recommended him. I do want to pick up some of his stuff.

What is your experience when it comes to reader polls like this or other best-seller lists? Do you find yourself reading what lots of others read, or do you tend to choose “the road not taken” by others?

Good Readers

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I’ve used GoodReads for approximately two years.  What sites like these focus on are what are the “good reads” and why? What I want to focus on is what makes for a “good reader”? Is it something more than simply the number of books a person reads? What are the virtues of a good reader?

Here are a few of my thoughts and I’d love to hear what other readers think:

1.  Good readers are charitable. They have some perception on how hard writing is. George Orwell said, “Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” They realize authors are trying to give them a gift and are willing to take the time to receive the book on the author’s terms.

2.  Good readers are attentive. Sometimes I try to read when I’m tired or distracted. Sleeping, or praying, or even watching TV might be better. Or perhaps reading something light–a Thurber story or an Agatha Christie mystery. Whether I am reading good history, fiction, or theology I think I do both the work and myself justice if I bring my best to the best of the author.

3.  Related to this, I think good reading is undistracted reading. We try to multi-task far more often than is good. I like to listen to music as I read yet I am concluding more and more that I do neither justice when I do this. Great music is worthy of the same kind of attention–it isn’t simply a background soundtrack for my life.  I can read in silence or in a buzz of conversations.  I can’t read when there is one conversation that I can follow–whether I want to or not!

4.  While good readers are charitable, they are also discerning.  Just as a wine-lover can tell the difference between great and mediocre wines or even the subtleties of different vintages of the same wine, so good readers recognize the difference between writing of quality and mediocrity–whether it is elegance of style, subtlety of character development, clarity of thought, or believe-ability of plot development.  Good readers, like good customers, reward good writing with their “custom”. They re-read works and acquire other books by the same author.

5.  Good readers reflect upon what they read.  They don’t read simply to be amused, as much as they find joy in the act of reading. They read with an openness to learn, to gain a new perspective, to see the world differently or even to change.

My son is a writer.  He has given me some of his ‘drafts’ to read. Reading the work of a family member or a friend calls out these virtues because it reminds you that you hold in your hands the work of someone who matters greatly. In truth, that is the case with every work we read. Reviewing someone’s work calls even more for these virtues, I think.

One of the rewards of “good reading” is to discuss great works with other “good readers” either online or in book groups. Again, sharing a good book is like sharing good food–a doubly rich experience. What are the practices of good reading that help you enter deeply into a book and enable to share that richness with others?

Making GoodReads Better

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I have been using GoodReads for about two years as a way to post reviews of books as well as learn of good books others are reading.  It serves as a kind of Facebook for book lovers.  It provides recommendations of books you might enjoy based on books you have read.  And it connects your posts easily to Facebook and other social media sites.  There are some things I wish this site would improve, now that it is funded by the behemoth of Amazon (perhaps another post on this sometime!).

1.  It would be great if the text entry box for reviews would provide the same features WordPress offers its bloggers, including easy integration of links and the ability to tag posts.

2.  I wish there were a limit on the “wants to read” posts from one person at one time–perhaps three to five–so that one’s whole newsfeed isn’t filled with one person’s posts.

3.  The search function to add titles to you “reading” list often seems not to turn up the book you want even if you’ve entered the title exactly, in my experience.  Sometimes, the only way to get this is via entering ISBNs.

4.  Currently only GoodReads authors have their blogs automatically posted to GoodReads.  It would be nice if those of us who blog on books might also have this ability without pasting in links.

5.  It would be helpful if GoodReads suggested categories for books based on publisher and cataloguing data.  I might still like to add my own categories but this might make for more systematic sorting and searching of reviews.

Finally, I don’t want my reviews posted to Amazon without my permission.  While I do want to see people read, I don’t want to be an Amazon sales person. For those of you who use GoodReads, what would make it better for you?