Wednesday, June 27, 2007

7 Books I'm Reading

In response to being tagged by Joy for a meme of 7 things about me, I decided to go with 7 of the books I'm reading now because you can tell about someone by the books they're reading, right?

7 Books I'm Reading

1. At the gym - Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott

Interesting. I've not read anything by her before. I like her way of describing situations and feelings. The uniqueness of writers' voices interests me. We can grow in writing skills, but I'm not sure if we can really change the tenor of the voice that others hear when they read our words. I sometimes wish my voice were edgy, creative, and random. I could change the name of my blog to Edgy Grace.

2. In my van - Approaching the Heart of Prophecy by Graham Cooke

My first step back into the prophetic realm. While my heart never really left, I needed to detox from the things I formerly knew about prophecy. I am ready to take a new look at the role of prophecy in our lives, and I trust Graham and his understanding of God and prophecy.

3. In my purse - Towards a Powerful Inner Life by Graham Cooke

A great little book about living from our spirit rather than our soul. A little gem..."When God breaks us, He breaks us wide open. In that shattered mirror, we see who we are supposed to be."

4. In the living room - Callanetics for Your Back and Yoga for Back Care

If my body had an expiration date on it, I'm afraid it would say Best Used by 2006. I'm hopeful that specific stretching and strengthening exercises will help to alleviate some of the problems I've been having. I have also limited sitting at the computer (which makes it harder to keep up with blogging).

5. On my desk - The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch

I stalled out on this one. I had to step back and take a bit of a break from overthinking church stuff. I need to process and let my heart catch up with the many things I have read lately. Also, it feels like a transitional time of sorting it all out in the context of our current situation of church and relationships.

6. On my nightstand - The Message

I have not read all of The Message, but lately I've been hanging around in Luke 10-15, John 15 (love this chapter), skimming through Acts, taking a closer look at I Corinthians 12-14, and pondering the first few chapters of Revelation.

7. On the couch where I fell asleep last night - Waiting for Morning by Karen Kingsbury

I usually have a novel going and Karen's are always good.

What's next...

Just picked up for 25 cents at a garage sale - The Father Heart of God by Floyd McClung - because God loves me and He knows I would like this book!

Oops! I forgot the tag thing. I would love to read some other 7 Books lists from my friends, so consider yourself tagged and leave a link to your blog in the comments.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

I gave it a go.

Anonymous said...

I'll have to try one of Karen's books. :)

Anonymous said...

Grace, here's mine.

Anonymous said...

This is fun ... you can find my booklist here.

Anonymous said...

Ok, am I the only one who has meaningful reading in the bathroom all the time?

I'll post my list here:

1. Jim & Casper Go To Church - from a publicist to be reviewed on my blog.

2. Simply Christian (N.T. Wright) - Excellent. Intentionally reading it slowly to process.

3. Gilead (Marilynne Robinson) - Pulitzer prize winning novel I first heard about from Scot McKnight. Very good.

4. My recently rediscovered novel manuscript - I wrote a cheesy fantasy novel when I was 15. Fun to reread. I am actually in the process of starting to rewrite it.

5. James & The Giant Peach (Roald Dahl) - When we travel, my wife & I enjoy reading Dahl books to each other. Simple, funny, nostalgic...

As I can end up reading a lot and robbing myself of sleep as a result of an over active brain, I am currently limiting myself to these 5.

Peace,
Jamie

Maria said...

Grace, I don't have 7 books that aren't packed away right now. I started my own meme, though.

Jamie, that's a guy thing. (Except for my two girls who do extensive reading of picture books in the bathroom!)

Alan Knox said...

Grace,

I'm with Jamie about "meaningful reading" locations... Anyway, here are the books that I'm reading:

1) The Oddysey by Homer

2) The Message (NT only for now)

3) NKJV (Proverbs)

4) The Language of the New Testament: Classic Essays ed. by Stanley Porter

5) Linguistics and Biblical Interpretation by Peter Cotterell and Max Turner

6) Linguistics for Students of New Testament Greek by David Alan Black

7) Circles of Seven by Bryan Adams (my son's book, but I'm enjoying it)

-Alan

mom23 said...

Haven't commented in a long time but I am a faithful reader. I just have to chime in on "The Father Heart of God". I read it about 10 years ago and it hugely impacted me and I consider it one of my all-time favorites. I've even taught it in classes once or twice. Hope you like it too!

Anonymous said...

LOL ... at least one of my books is for "throne" reading!! I just didn't want to break my list up the way that Grace did. So, Jamie, you are not the only one. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Here's mine!
http://lyn.lifeshapedfaith.com/?p=232

Mary said...

5-7 books going on at one time? That's amazing! How do you people do it? I can usually only concentrate on 1 or 2 at a time.

For some reason, God talks to me in the bathroom, so I don't get much reading done there. I hope that wasn't more than you wanted to know. :')

In my van, I'm listening to CD's my in-laws sent me from a conference featuring Graham Cooke.

I've started When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson. I'm not really sure what I think about it yet.

Other than that, my other reading consists of some parenting magazines, National Geographic, and books I read to my children.

Barb said...

So much fun to read what you all are reading. Here's mine on my blog. http://retrofited.blogspot.com/2007/06/books-i-am-reading.html

How do you do the link thing in a comment? I'm so behind!!

Former Leader

Anonymous said...

former leader, you create a link like this:

<a href="the actual link address">the text you want to appear</a>

For example, your link would be:

<a href="http://retrofited.blogspot.com/2007/06/books-i-am-reading.html">Former Leader's list</a>

which would appear as:

Former Leader's list

:)

Anonymous said...

(The comment box cuts off the long line, but hopefully you get the point)

Anonymous said...

jamie a-r wrote:

...meaningful reading in the bathroom...

my wife & I enjoy reading Dahl books to each other...

As I can end up reading a lot and robbing myself of sleep...


I dunno, but reading to each other in the bathroom, and sleeping in the bathroom just seems a bit odd to me ;)

Barb said...

Steve, thanks so much, I'll try it next time.

Grace, sorry for using your comment section for my tutorial. You can erase them if you want!!

Former leader

Rob said...

Grace,

You win. I can't read that many books at one time.

Have fun looking over a very eclectic version of robby's reading list.

Julie said...

Fun. My list is here

Anonymous said...

Just be reading your book list, I am sure we would be fast friends. I will post my 7 books tomorrow at www.homschooldiva.wordpress.org

Thanks for letting me play!

Linda said...

I love hearing about what others are reading. Visiting someone's house, I'm more likely to scan their bookshelves than their medicine cabinet.

It's been so fun seeing your lists. I've tried to keep up as you've posted them. Hopefully, I can leave comments today if I don't get interrupted here.

rhonda,
I think you'll like Karen's books. They are pretty emotionally intense, but also usually have a strong redemptive message.

Ron,
It's nice to meet you and I look forward to spending some time reading at your blog.

Jamie,
Your bathroom habits are none of my business. :)
I would enjoy reading the first 2 books on your list, maybe #3 also.

Alan,
Great list! Not much fluff there.

Tracy,
I think I'll like it too. I've heard others recommend the book. Floyd is a friend of some friends of ours, and they speak very highly of him also.

Mary,
Having so many books going at once may explain why my brain is so scattered. I didn't read much when the kids were little except for the books I read to them.

Steve,
Thanks for the help!

Amber,
I look forward to seeing your list.

Kim said...

Grace - love your thoughts throughout your blog. I'm our blog tipping tonight and came across Emerging Grace. Love the Message and anything by Cooke. I'll be back for a visit.

:) Kim

You've been blogtipped!
http://4fabmoms.blogspot.com/2007/07/blogtipping.html

daisymarie said...

I love seeing that someone else has that many books going at once!

The Five Things We Can't Change
When is Enough, Enough?
A novel by Deb MacComber
Nurturing Silence in a Noisy Heart
Helping Others Forgive

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I am sorry this is not relevant to your current blog. I was searching for spiritual abuse and found you. It will be a year in August since I was emotionally and spiritually ( not sexually) raped by the pastor of my former church. I am truly struggling to heal and move forward like everyone wants me to. I feel as if everything in the world was turned upside down, I trust no one anymore. Relationships that I valued were false and people I believed in said they did not want to know and remained there. I have ended all but 2 relationships from there. Mostly because there was nothing of value there and some because it is safer if they are not in any relationship with me. Although I think about it less frequently at times it is suffocating. I know it has been several years since you wrote about it. But how do I move forward to forgiveness knowing he could do this to someone else?

welch said...

Here is my list of 7 books. Thanks for getting me thinking and seeing what other people are reading.

Anonymous said...

Here's mine:
Whatcha Readin'?

Thanks,
Chris

Lyndon said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one leaving books half-read all over the house. I believe in multi-tasking. LOL

wordslessspoken.com

Linda said...

kim,
Blog-tipping sounds like an interesting idea.

daisymarie,
Your list sounds interesting.

welch, chris, and lyndon,
I'll be dropping by to check out your lists. Thanks for posting your links.

brokenhearted,
I am glad that you posted here. I am sorry that your trust has been violated. It is so difficult to accept because we don't expect to be hurt in that way by a pastor. Not only that, but the inevitable fall out and destruction in other relationships is sometimes worse than the actual abuse. It is hard to come to grips with the fact that so many seemingly true friendships were without substance and simply vanished overnight.

Suffocating is an accurate description of how I felt at times. It is helpful to understand that grieving is a process of time. You are not only grieving the abuse, but you are grieving the loss of many relationships and your place of belonging in the group. That is a significant loss in your life.

Forgiving, particularly the abuser, was a deliberate, although not easy, choice. I refused to give him the opportunity to destroy my future. I forgave in order to be free of his influence in my life. I did not want to be tied to him by my own bitterness.

For me, forgiveness meant accepting that the abusers' judgment was in God's hands. I would not seek or expect revenge. As for him doing it to someone else, he is responsible for his behavior, and he likely will hurt others if that is his way of doing things.

You might find some help in the spiritual abuse articles in my sidebar. The first year was the worst. The second year only a little better. At about the two year mark, I began to feel a sense of acceptance, healing, and that life would go on without constantly thinking about it.

I found it helpful to be able to talk openly about it at the forum at christianrecovery.com. I no longer post there, but some of my former posts can be found under the member name katie.

My thoughts and prayers are with you. You can contact me at anytime here on the blog or at katiejen2@yahoo.com (although I only check that e-mail about once a week).

Anonymous said...

"In my van"...

You mean, as a passenger, right?

;)

Linda said...

john,
I can't read as a passenger, and I only read while driving occasionally. ;)
My van book is the one I can grab when I end up stuck waiting for some reason.