What to read...what to read?

Alright, here’s my confession; I’m a lazy reader. I hardly read anything prior to seminary, then I read frantically, because I had to, but I really started to enjoy it. I spent last Summer studying for ordination, and told myself that I would get back into reading more, because I can read whatever I want…So far, this has happened too slowly. I like it when I do it…I just have too much inertia to overcome in starting a book or getting into it.

This year, the best books I read were John Owen’s Mortification of Sin and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (see below); I highly recommend both!

So, this summer I want to get back into reading more consistently. The question is: “what do I need to read?”

Here’s my working list to this point:

Richard Niebuhr’s Christ & Culture

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451

Alisdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue

Mario Puzzo’s The Godfather

I’m a very slow reader, so I need to make sure that I read good books; good non-fiction, and good fiction. So, I want to hear some of your all-time favorites or recent must-reads. If you could tell me to read one or two books this summer what would they be and why?

One for The Road

So, I just read Cormac McCarthy's The Road...and yes, I'm behind the curve. I read it after strong reviews from Kara, Chad, and Rich. But in my defense, I normally hate reading fiction; I love stories; I love fiction, I just have no patience to read it. It's sad how much I love TV and movies, and how well I know some of them; for years they have been my surrogate literature.

Sadly, I think The Road is the first fictional work I've read from beginning to end since Chocolate Fever.

All that to say, I'm not qualified to offer any substantial thoughts on literature, but it was the best, most painful story I've come across in a long while. I'll admit to crying more than once. McCarthy paints an astonishingly bleak picture for any reader, but I found it an especially difficult read having my own young son to picture at every darkening turn.

So, I want to add my name to the list of hearty-recommenders. The story and desolate style are phenomenal, with lines like, "cold to crack stones," and "a blackness to hurt you ears with listening." I have no earth-shattering or provocative questions as a starting point, but I’d love to hear thoughts from anyone who has read this book or similarly enjoyable dreary reads.