Let me encourage ministers everywhere to read. Expand your mind and your heart. You will be a better minister and person for it. And it is fun.
All in Reading with Randy
“The Last Novel” by David Markson
Markson defines the limits of the postmodern novel, which I know is not going to send many of you rushing out to buy it. (Fiction)
“A Secular Age” by Charles Taylor
This book is about religion, to be sure, but it is more an act of history, sociology, philosophy, and cultural criticism. (Nonfiction)
“Believing Is Seeing” by Errol Morris
Seeing is believing, right? If you can’t trust a photograph, what can you trust? By the end of this book you’ll be rethinking that. (Nonfiction)
“GraceLand” by Chris Abani
The literary voices coming from all over Africa are incredibly diverse, and as more and more men and women share their stories, they turn out to be very compelling indeed. (Fiction)
“These Truths” by Jill Lepore
In the media age where politics tend to be formed in the last 15 minutes, this book goes a long way toward giving us the context we need. (Nonfiction)
“The Noise of Time” by Julian Barnes
The book makes you wonder how you would do in those moments when life itself might be at stake. How far would you be willing to compromise on your convictions to protect yourself and your family? (Fiction)
“How Pleasure Works” by Paul Bloom
Why is it that I find freshly baked chocolate chip cookies almost irresistible and the much better for me Brussels sprouts almost intolerable? (Nonfiction)
“The March” by E. L. Doctorow
Unless you’re just dead set against historical fiction, I’m quite confident you’ll find this book utterly engrossing. (Fiction)
“The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion
I have often recommended this book to those who are grieving, and all of them have affirmed how true it is. When it comes to honestly dealing with grief, Didion’s book goes to the top of the stack.
“The Ten-Cent Plague” by David Hajdu
Imagine. A threat to the moral, psychological, emotional, and spiritual well-being of young people all over America. (Nonfiction)
“Mister Monkey” by Francine Prose
Mister Monkey is an absolutely awful children’s musical about a pet chimpanzee who has a penchant for theft. This terrible play is performed by a cast of very broken people. There you have it.
“The Eichmann Trial” by Deborah Lipstadt
Lipstadt argues that Eichmann was not just a little man following orders but a convinced Nazi and anti-Semite committed to the program of genocide. (Nonfiction)
“The Storytelling Animal” by Jonathan Gottschall
This is one of those must-read books for preachers. One of the primary tasks we face is to give our congregants a story to live by. (Nonfiction)
“Terrorist” by John Updike
Although there is a fable-like quality to the story, I found the characters to be more or less believable and the plot to be quite suspenseful. (Fiction)
“Expert Political Judgment” by Philip E. Tetlock
Let me raise a question: is it possible that expertise simply does not exist in some areas? Are there fields in which even 10,000 hours would not constitute any real expertise? (Nonfiction)
“Booked” by Kwame Alexander and “Gabriel” by Edward Hirsch
I am intentionally juxtaposing these two long poems. One tells a story of a boy growing up. One mourns a son who will not grow old. (Fiction)
“The Parade” by David Eggers
You might call it parable-like or allegorical, but in the short time it took me to read it, I found my unease rising with every page. (Fiction)
“Malcom X” by Manning Marable
I highly recommend this book as an education on the part of the civil rights movement that many of us know little about. (Nonfiction)
“The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt
The novel’s protagonist is 13-year-old Theo Decker whose mother, having taken him on an outing to the museum, is killed. (Fiction)