It took awhile to respond, since the day he tagged me, we found out that my Father-in-Law's lung cancer has returned with a vengeance. Not good. Perhaps 6 months. He did, however, get to see the birth three grandsons in the time since his original diagnosis. We (his two daughters and both of their husbands) are taking him back to Chicago one last time in two weeks to see his beloved Cubbies play at Wrigley Field (against the Cards). The trip is (ostensibly) his chance to take his grandsons to their first baseball game, just as his grandfather took him back in the 30s. He actually saw Babe Ruth play at Wrigley (in Ruth's later years).
I will miss him terribly. I have been very blessed in the FIL department. He's a good man, who came to Christ very late in life, I am happy to say (he was baptized at age 71, and three months later got the cancer news...). Anyways, I don't mean to be a killjoy, so here goes:
1. One book that changed your life:
The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster
I remain convinced that Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure was nothing but a poor rip-off of this brilliant book. At one time in my life (at about age 9 or 10), I think I was
This book opened me up to history. I'm pretty sure it was my 5th grade teacher (Mrs. Miller) who pointed out th similarities between this book and Gulliver's Travels. Gulliver, in turn, has repeatedly blossomed as a deeper and more meanigful book to me. Swift's ideas, as it turns out, have played fairly deeply into my dissertation... All because of Milo.
2. One book that you've read more than once:
A Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
I asked (in my youthful naïveté) my junior English teacher if there were such a thing as “Science Fiction” in the Middle Ages. The obvious answer was “No”…”But,” he said, “Now that you ask, that does make me think of one book in particular…” Turns out Canticle was one of my parents’ favorite books (along with Stranger in a
3. One book you'd want on a desert island:
The Collected Poems of William Wordsworth
He is the master. (No matter what Thom at Endlessly Rocking says!)
4. One book that made you laugh:
Porterhouse Blue, by Tom Sharpe
A hilarious look at British academe…Made me laugh out loud on the plane ride home from Scotland. I felt like an idiot.
5. One book that made you cry:
Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls
Every guy out there knows what I’m talkin’ about!
6. One book that you wish had been written:
The Lutheran Doctrine of Scripture (and why the word “inerrant” is not a part of it)
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
The Story of Civilization (12 vols. ?), by Will and Ariel Durant
So many people read this collection as if it were authoritative history. It’s CRAP, people! If you have a copy, throw it away!
8. One book you're currently reading:
The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative, by Hans Frei
More on this in a post to arrive shortly…and yes, it relates to #6.
9. One book you've been meaning to read:
I own it; I pick it up every now and then…but then I remember I am writing a dissertation, and I grudgingly put it back on the shelf. Happily, my Dad is reading it right now…perhaps it will cure him of that “Christian America” nonsense.
Now, passing it on...
I am tagging the following people:
Maria at Musical Ramblings dang! Already tagged!Thom at Endlessly Rocking dang, again! Already tagged!
John Z at jzuhone
Charles at
Glen at Territorial Bloggings
Jason at TheologyGeekBlogDan at ProtoEvangel triple dang!
Now I have to figure out how to notify them....
