Books
- Stumbling Toward Faith by Renee Altson. I devoted a whole post to this one. I have purchased it for friends, one of whom is planning to read a quote from it when sharing her own story to a group of people. This book was/is the most powerful thing I have read in an extraordinarily long time. Everyone should buy it and read it, and then you should all buy a copy and give it to a friend, so even more people can read it!
- Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. I know, I know, the rest of the "Christian" world read this one a year and a half ago. So, I just finished it about a month ago. It was still a fascinating and worthwhile read, and worthy of mention here.
- The Mitford Years series, by Jan Karon. Fun novels, set in a small town, about an Episcopal priest. Clean, funny, poignant, enjoyable. They somehow manage to be somewhat profound instead of trite.
- The Ashley Stockingdale novels, by Kristin Billerbeck. There are three, and I read them all on my five day mini vacation last week. Light brain candy reading. Funny and enjoyable chick lit!
- The Word on the Street by Rob Lacey. This British actor/writer/singer/dancer/artist has done a fabulous job of rewriting portions of the Bible in fun, modern language. I have been reading this one because it's been so hard to pick up the "actual" scriptures lately. The Bible with a British twist, written while Lacey was in the throes of a battle with terminal cancer is a refreshing way to read scripture.
Music
- Sons and Daughters Steve Bell. I love Steve Bell. I love the depth of his lyrics. I love that they are not the trite worship songs that seem to appear so regularly right now. I've had this album for a while, but have been listening to it again recently, and loving it all over again.
- The Mystery Vineyard Music. I don't know why, I just like this one. It's different, not your typical worship songs (although we do sing a number of them at my church). I especially like track 11 - Rescue Me. The words are quite powerful.
Books on CD
- For Matrimonial Purposes by Kavita Daswani, read by Anne Flosnik. A funny story about a young Indian woman who is looking to fulfill the cultural and parental goal of finding a husband. Quite well read, amusing, and ultimately a fun, fairly clean (some of the language is a bit rought) story about finding oneself and finding love along the way. (If you live in Calgary, you can get this one at the Public Library - that's where I happened to pick it up.)
Movies
- The Motorcycle Diaries Another one that everyone but me saw months ago. Still, the story was beautiful, fascinating and profound. It presents an interesting picture of Che Guevera who, despite being one semester away from a degree in history, I only vaguely knew of as a marxist revolutionary in Cuba, who appears on t-shirts and posters to this day. The story is so intriguing that I intend to do a bit more reading on his life in the next few weeks before school starts again.
So, there you have it! My current list of all things making me think, laugh, meditate etc. Pick some of them up, and then leave me your thoughts on them. I sometimes think my picks are entirely random, and that I'm the only person in the whole world who would enjoy them!
