I read a lot. It's almost a vice, I love it so much. Words. Yum.
Lately I've been reading a lot of books on and about Christianity. Classic classics like St. Augustine (whose name I think I've finally learnt to pronounce properly), more modern classics like C.S. Lewis, and books more modern still, like the two I am going to discuss.
I should preface this next part by saying that this isn't a review in the sense of rating or discussing the literary merits of the books, but rather a ramble about whether or not I liked them and why.
First book: The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. This was the one I didn't like. I want to start by saying that there's nothing wrong with the book! It was well-written. Just not to my taste in the way that It's a Wonderful Life is not to my taste, and I always feel slightly guilty whenever I say that. A lot of people love the movie, and a lot of people love the book. I just can't seem to get beyond the depressing bits to get to the happy bits, emotionally; for some reason it feels as thought the happy parts are artifically tacked on; I don't know why. I know that's not the case. If you don't have my peculiar (and I do mean peculiar) psychological makeup, you may very well like the book.
Second book: Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. I loved this book. LOVED it. The subtitle is "Nonreligious thoughts on Christian Spirituality" and I think nearly anyone, Christian or non-Christian, would like it. Seriously. The author has a disarming, chatty style full of (metaphorical) curveballs that makes you feel like you're having a conversation with him instead of reading a book. I loved the part where he and some friends set up a Confession Booth at a college arts fair. When people came in, the Christians confessed to the other kids. "We're sorry for the Crusades," "We apologize for some televangelists that may have offended you." It's performance art, but it got the point across. No one is perfect and no group is perfect, and the most important thing is to talk about it.
I've put all this badly, as usual, but I just loved the book.
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4 comments:
OR-GUS-TEEN?
I was saying it AU-gus-teen but I think it's supposed to be Au-GUS-tin.
I'm trying to comment on your comment, but I don't know if Blogger allows you to thread.
People have told me that my in-progress short story "Afterlife" is like "5 People," but now I'm not sure that's a compliment ...
I thought of that comparison, too! But yours is much better-done (in my opinion) and has more of an air of mystery (there's that word again).
One of my other problems with "Five People" is that it didn't seem at all to me what the afterlife would be like. It was so mundane. I think the afterlife will be anything but mundane. I understand that he wanted to make a point, but the effect was just flat to me.
Again, my shortcomings as a reader are probably at the root of the problem.
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