What are you reading?

[Sif]

The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. (the books are Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance). The books are sort of a horror/sci fi story. The books are about events after something crashes (or lands) on the US Gulf Coast of extraterrestrial origin. The 2018 film Annihilation starring Natalie Portman is based on the first book.

 

[Miles]

The Difference Between Speaking and Thinking

How Aristotle Created the Computer

 

[.Mikha'el.]

By One Vote: The Disputed Election of 1876

 

[TheLastGeek]

I've been re-reading Angela's Ashes. One of my favorite books of all time.

 

[DragonFox91]

My friend gave me some Batman, Harley Quinn, Venom, Punisher, Superman, & Fantastic 4 comics so I’ve been reading those.

I also read the Flashpoint comic. It was great! I liked the twist of seeing characters you’re familiar with changed.

 

[RileyG]

Holy Souls Book and about 20+ other books at the moment. I'm a book goblin.

 

[RileyG]

I've been re-reading Angela's Ashes. One of my favorite books of all time.

Never read that! I need to put it on my endless list!

 

[TheLastGeek]

Never read that! I need to put it on my endless list!

It's so good! I come back to it repeatedly and never get tired of it.

 

[RileyG]

It's so good! I come back to it repeatedly and never get tired of it.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Sif]

J.R.R. Tolkien's prose translation and notes of The Battle of Maldon and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth. Poems of a battle at its aftermath in AD 991 between Saxons and Vikings.

 

[RileyG]

Now reading "Understanding Divine Mercy"

 

[DragonFox91]

Trusting God by Jerry Bridges
I highly recommend this. Really gets into how involved God is, over a wide range of topics. Very powerful witness. Very broad (relationships, weather, sickness, etc.) but that makes it make all the more sense.
I would like to work thru the Discussion Questions now, but have more books to read! I’ll save the Discussion Questions!

 

[Sif]

The Wars of Alexander's Successors 323 - 281 BC: Volume 1 - Commanders and Campaigns. With the death of Alexander the Great his generals begin to divide his empire and fight beside and against each other. The wars would be fought from the Balkans to what today is central Pakistan. Volume 2 goes into the specifics of some of the tactics in battles such as Ipsus and Siege of Rhodes (305 - 304 BC).

 

[DragonFox91]

I am reading a book on disability in the church. The author is very negative & views everyone & everything as ‘ableist' despite being a self-professed Christian, but I’m reading it anyways to try to better understand someone who's completely frustrated by her disability. One of the discussion questions (which I am working thru) offered to listen to this podcast, & so I am. I'll edit in my thoughts after.

EDIT: it's turning into a 'white male Christian are bad & everything is only meant to serve them'.........Only took 26 minutes, I was expecting it much quicker.
33 minutes in, it's all about race.
35 minutes in: abortion due to disabilities is absolutely wrong but quickly devolves into talk about sex
So 1/2 way in, a podcast about disablitity justice in the church is mostly about race, the evils of capitalism set up by white men,, & sex ._________.
I finished it. It improved in the 2nd half.

Disability and its Intersections with Everything • FreedomRoad.us

In this raw, honest, beautiful episode host, Lisa Sharon Harper, is joined by three guests, all of whom have intersections with the issue of disability. Shannon Dingle, Lisa Anderson, Amy Kenny and Lisa engage a rare kind of conversation–the kind that changes them in rare time, as we listen in...

freedomroad.us

 

[Sif]

The Cold War: A World History by Odd Arne Westad. The book not only give a good breakdown of the Cold War but puts it into historical context. The US/USSR rivalry did not merely spring up in the wake of the Second World War, but potentially, had origins going back to the 19th Century, and possibly further.

 

[DragonFox91]

I read a Flash comic, & some Red Hulk & Hulk comics my buddy gave me. Not sure the dates they came out. Flash was older but a reprint, the Hulk ones looked newer, 2000s based on art style

 

[DragonFox91]

I finished My Body Is Not A Prayer Request by Amy Kenney

The book is a call to treat those w/ physical & mental disabilities w/ dignity, to be accommodating to their needs & not just brush them off, & to not dwell on eschatology or the reason for it.

I thought the book was largely ‘woe is me’. She spends most of the book whining. If you try to be welcoming to her, she whines you’re pitying her, but if you don’t, you’re not being welcome. She spends lots of the book saying how evil churches are, & maybe they are, but a church-going Christian woman in her 40s or so can only give a couple examples in 200 pages of people who have shown genuine kindness to her?????

Her sections on theology are very good. She finds good lessons in the examples of Jacob, Paul, Jesus himself, plus some more obscure Biblical examples. I really enjoyed her theology sections. She sees the goodness of God in the Bible & it’s beautiful, but she doesn’t seem to see it in her life & doesn’t see it in others, & it hurts.

I learned in this book to be more accommodating to those in the community myself & to work on not whining myself & to stick up with them. I also learned examples of disability in the Bible I didn’t know.

I recommend this book to those struggling accepting the disabled as human beings or want a lesson in grattitude.

 

[RileyG]

I'm currently reading about 17 different books. My favorite are the theological ones.

 

[DragonFox91]

For the past couple years, I’ve been reading books on theology & spirituality. Rather than posting a review when I finish a book, I’m going to start posting what the book is discussing. The books are very helpful, with good & applicable messages that need to be shared.

I am reading Hard to Believe by John McArthur.
It’s about how many churches & people preach a pop Gospel to be more appealing but you need to preach the hard message.
Chapter 1 discussed how Jesus preached a hard message. It’s not all comfort.
Chapter 2 discussed how we get ashamed preaching it. But not once did the NT writers cave to make it more appealing. A big roadblock at the time of the NT would’ve been a crucifixion victim. The shame of crucifixion victims is lost on us today. The Greeks thought it was ridiculous & the Jews saw it as a sign of oppression & thought it contradicted the OT. The chapter ended with a section saying how the kingdom of God advances even tho a hard message is preached because of his sovereignty.
Chapter 3 is so far about how God usually picks the weak / forgotten / bottom / insignificant

Before this I read The Love of God by John McArthur
It discussed how God can be both loving & wrathful. Also he loves both the righteous & the unrighteous. He’s good to the unrighteous (I forget why right now) but the goodness to those who reject him isn’t eternal. He has a saving love for those he’s picked.

I was reading Waiting on God by Charles Stanley but it got too hard.

 

[RileyG]

I got a bunch of "For Dummies" books and need to start pooring over them. This ought to be fun.