These are few of my favorite things

I have a confession to make.  I love the movie The Sound of  Music.  Not only is it a good movie, but it was one of the few things my mom and dad would let me watch on Sunday afternoons when t.v. was verboten.  

This has nothing to do with what follows except that reading is one of my favorite things.  I have what could be described as a lifelong love of reading.  It began when I was in the fourth grade when Mrs. Stone read the Magician's Nephew and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to our class.  I loved those books so much I went to read Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Last Battle.  Why I have not read the other books in the Chronicles of Narnia still remains a mystery.

From fourth grade onwards, I read fiction, mostly fantasy and science fiction.  Once I got into high school, my reading dropped off.  It was not until my senior year I read a book all the way through for pleasure and liked it.  In fact, I read two books.  They were The Gunslinger by Stephen King and The Rainmaker by John Grisham.  I respectively read both of them over the course of a couple of days, totally engrossed in the tapestry both these master storytellers wove in their books.

The summer between my junior and senior years of college I discovered my love for non-fiction.  I discovered that the books Ghost Wars and Plan of Attack were just as good, if not better than, the science fiction and fantasy books I had read since coming home from my mission.

Here is a list of some books I have read recently, and think you might enjoy too:

N.T. Wright

• Romans For Everyone (Volumes one and two)
• Surprised by Hope
• Simply Christian

Leonard Arrington

• Adventures of a Church Historian

Daniel C. Peterson

• Muhammad Prophet of God

I started reading Jaroslav Pelikan's first book in his series on the history of Christian Doctrine but gave up.  It was interesting and informative, but altogether dry and technical.  Pelikan was a great author and scholar, however this book was just too dry for me.  

I put his book aside and began Desmond Tutu's No Future Without Forgiveness and am loving it so far.  The book is about his experience working with South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Committee following the end of Apartheid in the 1990's.  I am going through it at breakneck speed and will probably finish it sometime this weekend.

After this one, I will probably read a large book by N.T. Wright I checked out from the BYU library and then some other things I have checked out since then.

Reading is something I deeply love.  I am better person because of the books I read.  When I pick out a book I try to figure out if this book is going to be uplifting and edifying.  Or, will this book make me a better person having read it, or will it be merely entertaining.

So after finish reading this, step away from the computer and pick up a book and read.