Signing Off

Well, there you have it. 100+ of my favorite books from the last two decades. As I bring this series to a close, I realize how many great books I haven’t talked about, especially on the fiction side. Some of my favorite writers, like the late Denis Johnson, I never even got to. But by the time you read this, I will be happily retired and pursuing other matters. I am working on a systematic theology that every theologian secretly wants to write at the end of their career, and that will occupy me for the next few years.

In the meantime, I assure you that I have not quit reading. I continue to set the goal for myself to read 20,000 pages every year and to read as widely as I can. It continues to be a great joy. So I can’t resist … here are a few more must-reads I have read since I wrote my last review:

On the nonfiction side, Hollywood Park, a memoir by Mikel Jollet, the lead singer for The Airborne Toxic Event. I cried all the way through it, and I promise you will not regret the read – and then you will run out to get the album by the same name. And by all means, Shakespeare in a Divided America by James Shapiro. This compulsively readable book offers first-rate scholarship.

And on the fiction side, True Grit (yes, the one that inspired the John Wayne movie) that I had never gotten around to reading, yet it’s truly one of the greatest American novels ever. And on and on and on.

So let me encourage ministers everywhere to read. Do not neglect your Bible. I recently completed reading Robert Alter’s recent translation of the Hebrew Bible with his critical notes, and it has been a revelation. Don’t neglect those theology books. But read some fiction and nonfiction that aren’t directly related to your work. Expand your mind and your heart. You will be a better minister and person for it. Besides, it’s fun.