Christian Goodreaders discussion
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Common reads
message 301:
by
Werner
(new)
Sep 03, 2020 09:35AM
The BC library has remained open all through the pandemic (though we were on our summer hours from late March up until Aug. 19, when face-to-face classes resumed), and we're also sending and accepting interlibrary loan requests. But interlibrary loan services at most of the other college libraries in Virginia are still closed, according to the spreadsheet provided to libraries by the VIVA consortium for tracking this. I'm guessing that's also true of many public libraries in the state, and of many libraries, both public and academic, in other states as well.
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I like the idea of the Chesterton book. He was a great writer. I've always enjoyed the Father Brown short stories, although the TV series, filmed not far from my home, is awful. It would be good to read something serious by him.
Heretics sounds like a read that I'd enjoy, and yes, it would be easy to acquire. Also, I've never read a book by Tony Evans but have enjoyed his preaching many times on radio; I would be interested in what he has to say.
So far, seven books have been suggested. Personally, I prefer to have no more than six choices in a poll; with more than that, IMO, the votes tend to be so scattered that no one book has much of a mandate.Three of the suggested books all have a similar subject/theme: The Color of Compromise, Insider Outsider, and Oneness Embraced. Would it be practical to narrow these down to one? Swantje, what do you think?
Swantje's view is probably more to the point, but I read a few reviews of the three books mentioned, and I would have thought that Insder Outsider has immediacy and personal experience, while still including some depth of analysis. The other two seem to be respectively a) polemical and b) perhaps too academic.I speak, of course, from ignorance.
Peter, if you've read multiple reviews of all three of these books, you're significantly less ignorant about them than I am! Thanks for your feedback.
Well, the poll went up this morning (actually last night, but it wasn't open for voting until this morning) at this link: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1... . But I didn't have a chance to send out the mass invitation to vote to all group members until just now, and am only posting about it here now; sorry! (It's been a very busy day.) But the poll will run through Sunday, Oct. 11, so there's plenty of time to vote!I went with four choices: Becoming Mrs. Lewis; Heretics; Insider Outsider; and Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. As I'd suggested in message 305, I narrowed three similarly-themed suggestions down to one, based on Peter's feedback. There should have been five choices; but whoever had suggested the fifth one (which was the seventh one, at that time), misunderstood my post above and deleted their own suggestion. I'd have put it in the poll anyway, but I couldn't remember what it was. :-( But hopefully it'll be suggested next year as well!
I already had “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus” on my “want to read” shelf. I also had a new $10 gift certificate from Amazon. So, on a whim (or led by the Spirit?) I bought the Kindle version of it. Even if y’all don’t ultimately choose it (though at the moment it’s got a good lead!), I will be enjoying this new read inspired by this cool group!
Glad we could steer you to a rewarding read, Sarah!
With 47 votes cast, our poll is now closed, and we have a solid --and (to me at least) a surprising, though it took the lead early and held it steadily-- winner in Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, with 20 votes. Heretics edged Becoming Mrs. Lewis for the second place, with 13 votes to 11; and Insider Outsider wound up in a distant last place with three votes.Glad to see we had our highest participation ever on this poll! I'll try to get the discussion thread up on Nov. 1.
BTW, my local public library has this book available on Hoopla. Other libraries at least in the US may have it as well.
Swantje wrote: "BTW, my local public library has this book available on Hoopla. Other libraries at least in the US may have it as well."That should help with the availability of the book. To my knowledge, the local public libraries around here don't offer Hoopla (and the Bluefield College doesn't either), but I'm hoping to get a copy by interlibrary loan, despite the pandemic. (Also, at least a couple of people in the group have already purchased copies.) I'm hoping for a good level of participation, despite the possible challenges!
Our library consortium has a third edition, with "bonus content, new reflections." So It's on hold and Ill easily have it by Nov 1. Yay!
That’s the edition I plan on reading as well (hoopla has more than one edition)
It's once again time to start thinking seriously about what we might like to read as a group in the month of November (as always, of course, participation will be strictly voluntary!). I'll try to post the poll around the beginning of October, so suggestions are welcome until then.As I sometimes do, I'll offer a suggestion (though it's only that!) of my own. Our last several reads have been nonfiction, so a fiction read might be a good change of pace. I'd like to read Sharon Ewell Foster's historical novel,
Passing by Samaria. It's been on my to-read shelf for some time; but more importantly, it won the Christian fiction genre's prestigious Christie Award in 2001 (as well as the RITA Award from the Romance Writers of America in the same year).
I have a non-fiction book in mind that I just bought. I want to start reading it first, though, before recommending it.
I recently read I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist and it was eye opening and informative. I would love to give it a second read and discuss it with others.
Jessica wrote: "I recently read I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist and it was eye opening and informative. I would love to give it a second read and discuss it with others."We'll put that one in the poll, Jessica!
I 'd like to suggest
Candle in the Darkness by Lynn Austin. About slavery, abolitionists, and faith during the Civil War. This #1 in a three book series, The Refiner's Fire series and a bit long at over 400 pages, but with good reviews. I am able to get it through library with hoopla.Another that looks interesting is
The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate. A more contemporary story and slightly shorter in length than the above book. Also available on hoopla through my library.
Elizabeth, could we narrow your suggestions down to one? I've checked out the descriptions of both books, and some reviews; while both would have possibilities, I have to say that personally, the Austin book appeals to me more.
Werner wrote: "Elizabeth, could we narrow your suggestions down to one? I've checked out the descriptions of both books, and some reviews; while both would have possibilities, I have to say that personally, the A..."I agree, Werner - Please enter Candle in the Darkness by Lynn Austin for the poll. Thanks.
I read Passing by Samaria back when it was new, and I STILL remember it. So powerful! I'd recommend it.
The poll is now up, at this link: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2... , and a general invitation to vote was just sent to all group members. It will be open for voting through Sunday, Oct. 10 (as a rule, I like to run polls through two weekends, to give everyone who wants to ample chance to vote!), and I'll try to announce the winner on this thread early on Monday, Oct. 11.
I have never heard of "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist." So I was reading the reviews, and I admit, I only read the first page of them, But the atheists who read it all gave it only 1 star and each review had different reasons why, while the Christians all gave it 4 or 5 stars. Perhaps the book is written to the wrong audience? It will be interesting to ready what you all think, if t is the one chosen.
So far, the poll stands at a three-way tie, with four votes for each book. There are four days left to vote, and your vote does make a difference!
Georgann wrote: "I have never heard of "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist." So I was reading the reviews, and I admit, I only read the first page of them, But the atheists who read it all gave it only 1 st..." Sadly many books purporting to evangelize agnostics and atheists sing to the choir.
"I don't have enough faith to be an atheist" is not really intended to convert atheists. It is an in-depth overview apologetics book intended to help Christians understand the strong evidence for their faith and be prepared to engage in reasoned discussion about it in our day to day culture. The author, Frank Turek, heads an organization called Cross Examined. The organization's main goal, although they do some more direct Bible study as well, is to provide logical reasoning for the Christian faith and counter popular arguments and messages against the Christian faith for teenagers in the hopes of changing the statistic "that 3-out-of-4 Christian youth leave the church while in college, many because they are intellectually skeptical."
Jessica wrote: ""I don't have enough faith to be an atheist" is not really intended to convert atheists. It is an in-depth overview apologetics book intended to help Christians understand the strong evidence for t..." oh, I see. Thanks
Voting has now ended on the poll, as of midnight, with 12 votes cast. Last night, we were still headed for an unprecedented three-way tie. To prevent that, I resorted to the only expedient I could: I switched my vote from Passing by Samaria to Candle in the Darkness. So the latter book has won the poll with five votes, while the former slipped down to three. (I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist remained steady at four.) I still think that Passing by Samaria would have made an excellent choice, and hope to renominate it next year.I'll have the discussion thread for our read up by Nov. 1! Those who want to take part will have about 20 days to secure a copy, which hopefully will be sufficient time.
Not sure where to post this, but I hope it's ok here.I like our group read of CITD so much, I'd like to ask again, if you all would consider having another group read, maybe in a month or so? A Christian historical fiction book, maybe? And we could have a poll and vote?
Nancy wrote: "Not sure where to post this, but I hope it's ok here.I like our group read of CITD so much, I'd like to ask again, if you all would consider having another group read, maybe in a month or so? A Ch..."
I might be up for it. I don't actually read modern historical fiction that much. but, if it catches my eye I would likely join in.
Hmmm! I like to take part in the common reads in groups where I'm one of the moderators, since I think moderator participation helps to encourage discussion. However, I have moderator duties in 11 groups (though, fortunately, some of those don't do common reads!); and there's a limit to how many group reads I can take part in and still find time for books I personally want to read. (That's why I like the idea of annual group reads; it keeps several of them manageable in a reading schedule, while leaving some space free!) And in January, I'm already committed to two reads in other groups; one of those is of a VERY thick book, and will probably extend into March.But that said, Nancy, I love to see your infectious enthusiasm, and hate to dampen it! So, I've posted a counter-suggestion on the "Buddy reads?" thread, here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... , which you (and others) might feel is a workable solution. Of course, it's only an idea; and there's no reason why the group can't do a group read without me, if y'all (yes, I've lived in the South for nearly 30 years! :-) ) want to. (In fact, that's been done at least once already.)
Katherine wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Not sure where to post this, but I hope it's ok here.I like our group read of CITD so much, I'd like to ask again, if you all would consider having another group read, maybe in a mon..."
I, too, don't read modern historical fiction, I like the settling of the Old West, or WW2, or Civil War, or the 1800's England or America.
That would be fun if we could get another group read together. And some chatter.
The coming of autumn brings us closer to November; so it's time to start thinking seriously about what book we might pick for our annual common read. As usual, I hope to get the poll up on Oct. 1.Most of our members, I think, are from English-speaking countries, and tend primarily to read books originally written in English. But Christianity is a worldwide faith, and our group was enriched by our read in 2019 of a couple of the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Another important 20th-century Christian leader and theologian from outside the English-speaking milieu was Watchman Nee. Would there be any interest in reading his The Normal Christian Life?
I'm reading it (for the third time) right now. Heartily recommend it.
Werner wrote: "The coming of autumn brings us closer to November; so it's time to start thinking seriously about what book we might pick for our annual common read. As usual, I hope to get the poll up on Oct. 1...."
Yes! I am very interested. I was going to suggest it myself.
Ron wrote: "I'm reading it (for the third time) right now. Heartily recommend it."Katherine wrote: "Yes! I am very interested. I was going to suggest it myself."
Cool! We'll definitely put that one in the poll, then.
I list The Normal Christian Life on my "read" shelf; but now I'm not sure if I actually read that book or another one by Nee, The Normal Christian Church Life. (The read was back in the early 70s.) If the former book wins the poll, I'll definitely read it with the group; and since I can remember enough of what I read to recognize parts of the text, that will answer the question of which of the two books I read already. :-)
So far, The Normal Christian Life is the only book that's been suggested for this year's read. If it's still the only one by the time I would normally put up the poll, on Oct. 1, I guess we would consider it chosen by acclamation. :-) Since it was my suggestion, obviously I'd be glad to see it chosen. But we do want the group to be run democratically; so if you have a different book you'd really like to see the group read, don't hesitate to say so! Who knows, that might prove to be something the majority would prefer to read.
I have been reading Andrew Murray's With With Christ in the School of Prayer. It's really helpful for my prayer life.
Becky wrote: "I have been reading Andrew Murray's With Christ in the School of Prayer. It's really helpful for my prayer life."Are you suggesting that one for the group read, Becky?
Yes, I highly recommend it. It definitely changed the way i prayed. The way Andrew Has explained about Prayer from the Bible it's just amazing.
Thanks, Becky! We'll put that one in the poll too, then.
The poll is now up and voting, at this link: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2... --or, see the Polls link on any of our group pages. (I've also just sent a Goodreads message about this to all group members.) It will run through Sunday, Oct. 9, and I'll plan to announce the winner early on Oct. 10.
This is the time of year when we normally start thinking about what book to read for our annual group read in November. (That may still seem a long ways away; but I try to set up the poll by Oct. 1!) A few years ago, I had broached the idea of alternating a fiction and a nonfiction book. We don't have to keep to that scheme --the majority of the group can choose freely!-- but if we do, since last year's read was nonfiction, it would be the turn for a fiction book this time.Earlier this summer, I read, and was very impressed with, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, which was my first introduction to her work (it got five stars from me). That novel won't be everybody's cup of tea, and I'm not nominating it. However, my Goodreads friend (and our fellow group member) Heather Day Gilbert recently recommended another Rivers historical to me,
The Last Sin Eater. So I'll nominate that one at this time.
Just because I happen to be a moderator in this group doesn't mean that everybody has to defer to my suggestion! I only tossed it out as a way of breaking the ice; so if others have suggestions, please feel free to share them.
Well, since last year's read, there have been two comments (both mine) on this thread. Granted, we don't normally have many until September. But we're already more than halfway through September.In my experience, as groups grow (and ours has over 2,000 members now), and become more diverse in their reading interests, they sometimes lose enthusiasm for doing group reads. Or, there may be other factors that contribute to waning interest in the idea. I'm not sure if something like this is going on here. What do others think?
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