It's a new year! Like last year, my starting goal for this year is 70. (My 2007 thread is http://www.librarything.com/topic/13443, while my 2008 thread is http://www.librarything.com/topic/26777) Last year I reached exactly 100, so I considered increasing my goal... but this year will present new challenges, less reading availability, and moreover I may be spending a significant portion of it overseas with only a couple very thick books from my collection, and an uncertain access to a sufficient range of other English-language literature. So with those restrictions in play, I'm probably justified in not overstating my goal from the start.

Last night, I completed four of the books I'd been reading.

1) "America's Alternative Religions", edited by Timothy Miller
2) "What Are the Gospels? A Comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography" by Richard Burridge
3) "Jehovah's Witnesses: Proclaimers of God's Kingdom", a Watchtower publication
4) "Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Essays on the New Testament's Christology of Divine Identity" by Richard Bauckham

It'll be a little while yet before I have any more to add, but I guess four by the ninth or tenth day isn't so terrible.

Message edited by its author, Apr 13, 2009, 4:07pm.

That's quite a list for just 9-10 days! I'm interested in 1). May I ask if you found it showed a sophisticated understanding of alternatives? Did it, for example, avoid including such practices as hatha yoga or insight meditation among the alternative religions? Did you find the argument in 2) convincing and was it a congenial read?

(1) did a very good job of surveying a wide range of alternatives, which included a number of originally Eastern movements and practices (certain yogic and meditative practices were mentioned from time to time in connection with those) as well as Catholic Traditionalism, Adventist groups, and certain strains of Pentecostal/charismatic tradition. (2) was an excellent and convincing read. Easy to follow--at least, I found it so--and detailed. And, since it was the second edition, it included a chapter dealing with the progress of the debate since the original publication, including remarks on assorted critical reviews. I think the best of the four, though, was (4). I'm very eager to see Bauckham's fuller extended treatment of the topic.

Okay, well, progress has not quite been as I'd initially hoped. I practically took a week off from reading when I started some intense genealogical research, and now that the semester is in session I have to fit in my reading around various useless inanities. Still, I've completed two books that I can add here: Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation, edited by Stephen Trzaskoma, et al., and From the Maccabees to the Mishnah by Shaye J. D. Cohen. Brings my total to a meagre six.

So, not as impressive as I'd like... though if I'm really lucky, maybe I'll manage another book before the end of January. Can't believe it's almost February already......

I think you are making great progress! What are you reading now?
--BJ

Well, I just finished reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. The quality was about where I had initially estimated it: rather low, with a couple very good spots and even more startlingly bad points. That raises my total to seven, and I may be able to get another done by the end of January.

Currently, I'm working on Articles of Faith by James E. Talmage, a classic of Mormon thought; Philosophy in Christian Antiquity by Christopher Stead; How Things Might Have Been: Individuals, Kinds, and Essential Properties by Penelope Mackie; and Notes on the Early Stalcop Family in Delaware by Harry G. Staulcup.

Finished Notes on the Early Stalcop Family in Delaware, bringing my total to eight. Bah...

Alright, now I've finished James Talmage's Articles of Faith, so that ups my total to nine. Still not quite where I want to be... but it'll have to do, I suppose. I mean, in truth, I'm exactly where I was last year: finishing the ninth book on 4 February. It's... kinda eerie, frankly. Still, the first nine books from last year included N. T. Wright's colossal Historical Jesus tome (Jesus and the Victory of God); on the other hand, I suppose some of this year's books have been at least somewhat bulky as well. I guess I'm roughly even. But I was disappointed last year, too.

Eh, enough whining. Onward!

Okay, okay, so now I'm moving ahead. This morning I completed Philosophy in Christian Antiquity by Christopher Stead, which raises my total to 10 books so far. Considering I'm, what, 36 days into the year, that's probably actually pretty decent, I suppose. Still, I'm eternally the pessimist.

Now, back to reading...

You look on track to read 100 books! :) That's super.
--BJ

Thanks!

I've now also finished How Things Might Have Been: Individuals, Kinds, and Essential Properties by Penelope Mackie. I'm rather glad to have finished it. It raises my total to 11 books completed so far. I'm currently reading seven other books, I believe, but it'll be a long time before I finish all of 'em.

Win.

I just finished both Escape the Coming Night by David Jeremiah and The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation by Barbara Rossing. That raises my total to a pleasant 13, and considering that this is, what, the 42nd day of the year, that comes out to an average rate of something like one book every 3.23 days. And I can totally live with that.

Well, now it'll DEFINITELY be a while before I complete any other books, I think. So, I'll be back to this thread after a while.

Ugh, can't believe it really did take this long, but last night I finished reading A Historico-Critical Study on the Iglesia ni Kristo by Manuel P. Alonzo. My total increases to 14, which I guess isn't sooooo bad... but I hope I get a few more done soon.

Just finished two more. The first was Augsburg and Constantinople by George Mastrantonis, and the second was The Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit by Saint Photios, translated with an introduction by Joseph P. Farrell. (I think the more I read St. Photius' fulminations, the more persuaded I became of the dual procession of the Spirit...)

Alright, so that brings me to a total of 16 thus far, with perhaps enough time remaining in the month for one or two more. As it stands, even if I don't get any more read this month, that still makes for an average of 8 books/month, which would theoretically put me quite near 100 for the yearly total if I were to assume, quite wrongly, that my rate would be roughly constant. However, I plan to study in Athens for a few months in the fall, and I anticipate that I'll be bringing just a few exceptionally thick books, so it'll be kinda slow right around there, I figure.

Finished one more book, Pay Attention to Daniel's Prophecy from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. I won't be finishing another before the end of the month, so I can now fix my progress at 17 books for the first two months of the year. Not bad, not bad. Not great, perhaps, but also not bad.

Bit of an error, it seems. I'd forgotten just how close I was to finishing The Book of Names: A Novel by Jill Gregory Karen Tintori. I completed it last night before bed. I forgot just how fast fiction is to read. Heh, if I stuck to fiction, I could probably top 150 books/year without much difficulty. But where'd be the education in that?

So that raises my total to 18 for the first two months of the year, an average of 9 books/month. If that rate were to be sustained, I guess I'd finish the year with about 108 books finished. That ain't gonna happen, I'm pretty sure, I'm just sayin'.

You really are doing great, JB. I agree about fiction. It reads a lot faster for me, too. Have a great weekend! :)
--BJ

Thanks, BJ! Hope you had a good weekend too.

The latest book I've finished is The Trinity by St. Augustine. I've never found myself an exceptionally great fan of Augustine, and I can't say that his tedious tangents won me over in this text, either.

I wish that my reading pace were a bit faster right about now, but I've got so much work to do over spring break that I can't devote nearly the time to reading as I used to.

Total now stands at 19, and not much chance of finishing anything else too soon. But then again, none of the books I've been working on have been shorter than 500 pages, either.

Last year, I read St. Augustine's Confessions. I found that I really had to push myself at the beginning of it. On toward the middle I found it easier to read and then I enjoyed it even more toward the end. I loved how his mother never gave up on him and always prayed for him. My daughter has another of his books, I think it is called City of God. But I think that I will wait awhile for that one. I had no idea that he had written so many books. Happy Reading!
--BJ

I had sort of the opposite experience with Confessions--the beginning and middle were great, but near the end where Augustine was discussing at length his interpretation of Genesis--I think that was in Confessions--I could scarcely stand it.

Last night I finished reading Edwin Yamauchi's Persia and the Bible. Very informative, enjoyable read, but long enough to get me worried about all the other things I needed to be reading instead. Total: 20.

That book looks interesting! I had never heard of it before. You are doing great already at 20!

I am in the midst of several long books right now, so I know what you mean about all the other books out there to be read. I am planning to read a book recommended at church about praying the family rosary. I am going to try to start that one tomorrow. It is not too long.

By the way, I gave up complaining for Lent. I am not doing that great at it, except that now when I complain, I am aware of it. I hope that by Easter I will have at least improved in that area. (Everyone else hopes so, too!)

Have a super day!
--BJ

Since I last posted, I've finished four books--one a couple days ago, and then three more today. That'll be it for a couple days, although it shouldn't be too long before there's another.

So first I finished Is This Life All There Is?, a Jehovah's Witness publication. Gave some pretty good insight into how they handle some of the passages in the Bible that, at least under a more mainstream interpretation, don't cohere well with their teachings on death and the soul.

Very shortly after I woke up this morning, I completed Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ: Ecumenical Reflections on the Filioque Controversy, edited by Lukas Vischer. Decent collection of essays, for what it's worth, but all focused on finding some 'super-formula' to encompass Eastern and Western insights without really addressing the deeper issues or being fully faithful to either tradition. Somewhat disappointing in that regard.

Sometime early this afternoon I finished reading Mary Ann Fatula's 1981 doctoral dissertation, The Eternal Relation Between the Son and Spirit in Eastern and Western Trinitarian Theology. Good read, but I've been so inundated with the topic lately that it's difficult to enjoy much more of it.

Finally, after returning from classes I had a chance to at last finish George J. Walters' Wir Wollen Deutsche Bleiben: The Story of the Volga Germans. I found it very interesting, particularly because of my descent from some of the colonists who left the Volga region for Kansas in the 1870s. (The book even contains, to my delight, a picture of my great-great-great-grandfather Justus Bissing Sr.--who, I must confess, looks rather creepy and perhaps a tad deranged, as I should have expected from a consideration of his great-great-great-grandson.)

So my total now comes to 24 books, with an estimated one or two more to come by the end of the month. That'd put me slightly over an average of 8 books/month, which is only slightly very slightly less than my rate as of the end of last month, and better than how I was doing at the end of January. That's quite a surprise, really, because lately I'd been rather irritated by how little progress I seemed to be making.

Onward!

Message edited by its author, Mar 24, 2009, 7:33pm.

Time to raise the total to 25 books. While my computer was busy spazzing out this morning, I finished reading The Taking by Dean Koontz. I didn't like it much for the first two or three chapters. Loathed Koontz's style, had to suffer through every page with what seemed like agony. But it wasn't long before it almost physically hurt to have to put it down. Excellent novel, in my opinion. Gripped me with engaged suspense 'til the very end, which was still frankly quite enigmatic in a lot of ways. Somehow I feel personally enriched for having read it, and if that isn't the mark of a good novel, I don't know what is.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep this thread reasonably updated. Alas, my computer has been physically falling to pieces for some time now--I think I have one chunk of it in my pocket--and the rate seems to be accelerating rapidly, so I'm not sure just how much longer this piece of junk (or, as I 'affectionately' call it, my Malfunction-in-a-Box) will continue to, in any meaningful sense, exist. One of the hinges may be obliterated by the end of the week, if not the day.

Good luck keeping your computer together!
--BJ

Thanks! It's mostly holding together so far, and I'm hoping to get a new laptop around Easter to take its place.

Today I finished reading another small Jehovah's Witness book, True Peace and Security: How Can You Find It?. That raises my total to 26, and I guarantee that'll be the last 'til sometime next month.

Alright, I can finally add another completion here. Today I finished reading Popular Christianity in India: Riting Between the Lines, edited by Selva Raj and Corinne Dempsey. Expect to see several other books about Indian Christianity on here in the future; I'm working on a paper dealing with the subject.

My laptop is still holding together, however tenuously and sadly, and now my book total is at 27 for the year so far.

Easter is almost here! Good luck with your paper. :) And great job with your reading. I am at 21 books right now and I am pretty happy about that. Have a great day!
--BJ

Thanks! I hope that paper goes well, it's a fairly large part of the grade in that class. At least I've mostly finished my other main paper of the semester: 36 pages and holding strong.

Today I finished reading three more books--the time was bound to come--and so that raises my total to 30. The first of those books was Revelation: Four Views: A Parallel Commentary by Steve Gregg. It was a Valentine's Day/birthday gift from my girlfriend, and it was excellent. I learned a lot from it, although unfortunately I had to set it aside for quite a while. But, over 500 pages later, it's done. Then I finished reading Christians of India by Rowena Robinson. Also quite a good book. And finally I finished reading The Iglesia ni Kristo: Its Christology and Ecclesiology by Fernando G. Elesterio. Useful study.

I should have at least one, if not two, more books to add in the next week or so.

Wow, a 36 page paper! I am so glad that I am not in school anymore! :D
--BJ

Ha, well it only had to be ten pages as a minimum, but I ended up taking that much just to set forth my prologue, let alone get to the meat of the paper. My professor is talking me into submitting a revised version, sans prologue, to some journal in an attempt to get it published after the semester ends.

Also, I've finished another book: Survival into a New Earth, another Jehovah's Witness book. Interesting read. I'll probably grab another of their little books from my collection when I head home for Easter break tomorrow. I enjoy having those books around because they're immensely portable. I can fit one pretty easily in my pocket, which is quite convenient.

Total: 31. Not bad for just over three months and one week into the year. Last year, it took almost a month more for me to reach this point.

That sounds great! I hope that you do get published.
--BJ

Thanks!

Last night, on my way to the local Kingdom Hall (I'm not a Jehovah's Witness, but I was invited by a friend who is, and thought it would be interesting to sit in on a Lord's Evening Meal Memorial Service, which it was), I finished another book: Crisis in Byzantium by Aristeides Papadakis. That raises my total to 32 books thus far this year, which ain't too shabby at all. According to my records, I only reached that point last year by the morning of May 4th.

Message edited by its author, Apr 10, 2009, 2:29pm.

Alright, just finished another good book today! That was Robin Boyd's An Introduction to Indian Christian Theology. Very good, very informative. I think my favorite writer listed is Nehemiah Goreh, but I'm also fascinated by Brahmabandhab Upadhyaya--which is good, because an InterLibrary Loan came in for me today with a book devoted solely to Upadhyaya's work!

Anyway, it shouldn't be too long before I finish another of the books I'm reading, hopefully sometime this week. And on Saturday I started to read a very thick book--one with four-digit page numbers near the end--and I've made it to page 338 so far. Maybe it won't take as long as I figured! We'll have to see. At least my total is up to 33 now.

Alright, well I've finished another indulgence in fiction (though since I have to write a paper on it for my eschatology class, it's not really that indulgent). I'm done reading The Age of the Antichrist by Jonathan R. Cash, and that raises my total to 34. Not bad for mid-April.

Well, I've at last finished yet another book: Timothy C. Tennent's Building Christianity on Indian Foundations. It's the book about Upadhyaya that I mentioned in post 34. It was a very enjoyable read.

I've been having a lot of issues with my new computer (I hate "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL", and I never want to see the Startup Repair screen again...), but I think I have it more or less under control... kinda.

I should be able to get a number of other books finished by mid-May. I've got two essays left in one anthology, I'm making good progress in the book I started reading most recently, and I'm over halfway through the thousand-page behemoth. Best of all, I have virtually all of finals week free, to read as I please.

That is a nice take on finals week! That's what happens when you write papers, right? My daughter is writing a number of papers and only has two finals.

I have started reading some books of comic strips from when I was in college. They are still funny after all these years. :) I have been in the mood for more humor this year.

Have a wonderful day, JB!
--BJ

It sure is! I've only got one final exam this semester, and many of my papers and projects are due before finals week.

I've finished two additional books lately. First was The Philosophy of Law, an Oxford Readings in Philosophy anthology edited by Ronald M. Dworkin. And then the second is the first volume of Isaiah's Prophecy: Light for All Mankind, the Jehovah's Witness commentary on the book of Isaiah.

Still working on three books right now, and I should finish at least two of them before finals week is over. That brings my total to, if I'm not mistaken, 37 books so far this year. I made it to that benchmark by July 19 in 2007 and by sometime in very late May during my travels in China in 2008. Thus, even compared to last year, I'm a month ahead of my record.

So, how was the trip to China? Where did you go? Our school has an exchange program with China, but my girls did not participate. They did enjoy meeting the kids from China when they came here, though. Have a great day!
--BJ

China was great! I spent most of my time in Beijing and Xi'an, but also a bit in Gaochen and Gengcun. Saw a lot of amazing things, ate some... interesting... 'food', and had a wonderful experience, especially in retrospect.

Today I managed to finish one more book: Anti-Christian Polemic in Early Islam by David Thomas. A lot of the stuff felt very philosophically foreign to me. I guess I need to get a better feel for medieval thought; I'm much more at home in contemporary analytic philosophy and philosophical theology.

So by my count, this means that I've finished 12 books in the month of April alone. Good month--I think I had 11 in February, and that was a darn good month for reading too. My total now comes to 38, which is great for a third of the way through the year. If I could keep up this pace, I'd finish the year with approx. 114 books, which is plenty excessive. And the summer should be a very accelerated reading period for me. However, I don't plan to take many books with me to Greece in the fall--I may have already mentioned that I'll be studying there--and those I do will be exceptionally thick. I may get some lighter reading done for classes, and maybe there'll be a good library in the area. But I'm sure I'll have a slower progress rate for that last third or so of the year.

I have always wanted to go to Greece. I know you will have an amazing time. My older daughter is studying in Spain for the last 1/2 of the summer. My husband, my younger daughter and I are going to fly over for a week. I am pretty excited. It will be my first trip to Europe. :)

I just finished book #28, but I will probably really slow down for the next two weeks. My daughter is about to graduate from high school, so there is a lot going on these days. I am reading a book called The Forsyte Saga, which is apparently pretty famous, but I had never heard of it before the reading group picked it. I am also about to start The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, which I understand is sort of Hamlet with dogs. I really like dogs, so I hope that I like this book. My dad gave it to me for Christmas, so now is time to read it. I let my daughter read it first. She reads much faster than I do.

When do you get out of school? My older daughter's school goes until May 19th, but she will finish her finals by the 16th and will be able to come home for her sister's graduation. I am so glad about that!

By the way, have you read a book by C. S. Lewis called Till We Have Faces? There is a group read of that coming up in the 75 book challenge group. I thought that my daughter had a copy of it, but I can't find it. I will be really busy with the graduation, but I was thinking of reading along. So I was just wondering if you had an opinion of it.

Thanks and have a wonderful day!
--BJ

A lot of the people I know from high school seem to be doing their final exams early this year--some are already finished--but I only get out on the 14th. And I don't have Till We Have Faces; I do have a collection of C. S. Lewis works, but I haven't read it yet. That may be a project for either summer or fall.

Today I've finished two books that I'd been working on. The first was absolutely massive: Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature, edited by Benjamin R. Foster. I think it ended up being 1027 pages, but I am finally finished with it. And, since I recently ordered an anthology of Mesoamerican literature--including a few pre-Columbian texts!--that's probably for the best. Gotta get one of those kinds of books out of the way before I can begin another.

The second was one I'd been working on for my psychology class, and I just finished the last couple chapters: Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. Not bad, Gilbert certainly has a good sense of humor that shows through.

Total now is an even 40, which sure isn't bad for Cinco de Mayo. By this point, I'd reached 32 in 2008 and less than 23 in 2007.

Ah, today I finished yet another book, one that I started yesterday: The Three Persons in One God by Gerard S. Sloyan. It started off weak but got better, and thankfully it was rather brief. But I figure, with Before the Muses under my belt, I've earned a few shorter books.

So my new total is 41.

Great news! I finished two more books. First was The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South by Philip Jenkins, which focuses on Christianity, and particularly biblical interpretation and reading, in Africa and Asia. And, just like The Next Christendom, it was great. And then the second book was Colin Brown's 1968 Philosophy and the Christian Faith. The author definitely lets certain of his opinions shine through, particularly his disdain for natural theology, and that could get kind of annoying here and there. But overall, it was decent. Not great, not terrible, but decent.

So that raises my total to 43. By this point, I was still at less than 23 books in 2007, but in 2008 I'd gotten to... well, I hadn't actually gotten past 32, which was the same as for my last comparison. So if I can get one or two more books done by the 15th, which is perfectly plausible, I'll be even further ahead. I mean, I'm already 20 books ahead of where I was in 2007 and 11 books ahead of last year. And considering that I did make it to 100 last year, that's not shabby. Not too shabby at all.

I have now also finished Isaiah's Prophecy: Light for All Mankind (Volume 2) by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, which raises my total to 44.

'Nudda book finished. That's Paul Griffiths' An Apology for Apologetics: A Study in the Logic of Interreligious Dialogue. It was pretty good, I enjoyed it. Very tightly argued in a short length.

Total now stands at 45 books.

That sounds like a good one. I am adding it to my wishlist!
--BJ

Cool!

I've now finished yet another book, as of this morning: Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach, edited by Irving Hexham, Stephen Rost, and John W. Morehead II. Brings my total up to 46 books so far in 2009.

I finished another book today: Jacob Albright: The Evangelical Pioneer by Robert Sherer Wilson. Jacob Albright was the founder of what came to be known as the Evangelical Association, out of which my denomination (Evangelical Congregational Church) emerged. So it was nice to read a sort of biographical sketch that also covered the origins of the movement.

Total: 47. By this point in 2007, I still was under the 23-book mark; in 2008, I had reached 35, which puts me 12 books ahead.

I finished two books last night and one this morning. The two from last night were In the Shadow of the Temple: Jewish Influences on Early Christianity by Oskar Skarsaune and The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. The first book was incredible. It has my highest recommendations, and it's meant for the general reader, so it should be easily understandable to the non-specialist. The second book was... amusing.

This morning I finished reading In the Language of Kings: An Anthology of Mesoamerican Literature, edited by Miguel Leon-Portilla and Earl Shorris. Very thick, had a lot of great selections. I personally enjoyed everything that described human sacrifice, but that says more about my personality than anything else, really. I wish I could speak Nahuatl, but that is one language I will never manage.

This brings me to the coveted 50-book mark. At this point in 2007, I was still under 23 books (less than half where I am now!), while in 2008 I was somewhere between 35 and 37 (it's hard to tell because I was in China at the time). In 2007, I reached 50 books on September 26th, while in 2008 I reached it sometime between July 12th and July 18th. I'm definitely making great progress, and so I'm quite pleased.

Congratulations! And some very interesting titles in your 50 :)

Congrats on hitting the 50 mark already. :) I am adding In the Shadow of the Temple to my wishlist. By the way, I just finished Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis today and it was terrific. This was my first book by Lewis other than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and I was quite impressed. I will be reading more by him. Have a great day!
--BJ

Thanks, you two!

Last night I finished reading Ludwig Feuerbach's The Essence of Religion. It was delightfully horrendous. I would perhaps recommend it to my worst enemies, but not to anyone else. But at least it was short.

That brings me up to 51 books! :)

I finished two more books last night. The first was Richard Wormser's American Islam: Growing Up Muslim in America. I'd say it was so-so at best. Not really worth reading after all, but it was fairly short so I finished it. The other one was significantly thicker: Hank Hanegraaff's Christianity in Crisis. It's a very good expose of the Word-of-Faith movement--teachers like Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Benny Hinn, Oral Roberts, and Paul and Jan Crouch (the founders of the Trinity Broadcasting Network). Most of the quotes were simply flat-out stunning. I hadn't quite realized just how far off the theological deep-end some of these folks were.

Anyway, my total now stands at 53 books. If I'm not mistaken, I've read at least eight books in just the past two weeks, the time since the semester ended. Not too shabby. That's better than a book every two days. If I can keep anything like that up, I'm good to go!

Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation by Eboo Patel is an early reviewer book I got a while back. It's an interesting read, and gives a good look to the small differences that can lead a person of any religion to be either fundamentalist to the point of violence or else entirely accepting of other cultures and religions. It is written as a memoir, but there's quite a bit of discussion along these lines throughout, leading up to Patel's work in inter-faith and awareness movements in America in the last decade or so. If you're looking for another book that might be more worth your while, I'd definately recommend it.

Thanks! I'll have to check that out.

It's been a while since I've had a chance to post here, but in the past couple days I've managed to finish three more books. It's been rather slow-going, in my opinion, but at least it's picking up now. So at any rate, the first book was Re-entry: Striking Parallel's Between Today's News Events and Christ's Second Coming by John Wesley White. I think I'd consider it mediocre even if I were a futurist. It basically just consists of chapters on different topics (technology, society, philosophy, the church, politics, etc.), filled with unsourced quotes and anecdotes, about how terrible the world is and about how doomed we all are if Christ doesn't come back very, very, very, very soon. ...The book was written almost four decades ago. The second book was St. Augustine's On the Free Choice of the Will, which was actually quite a bit better than I expected, although Augustine does show the same tendency to find exceptionally boring and scarcely relevant tangents and then ramble on and on and on and on and on and on and on... and on and on about them. Augustine's treatment in the included section of his Retractiones, where he attempted to counter Pelagian use of his work, didn't really seem all that persuasive. Finally, the third book was Perspectives on an Evolving Creation, edited by Keith B. Miller. Very good on the whole, although some essays (e.g., the last one) were abysmally terrible, and a few of the others had some glaring flaws. But, still, mostly quite high quality stuff.

That raises my total to 56 books, and we're just beginning the sixth month of the year.

Hi, JB!
I just got another C. S. Lewis book in the mail -- The Screwtape Letters. Have you ever read that one? It looks pretty short, so I hope that I can read it soon. It looks pretty interesting.

Are you going to Greece soon? Or am I confused? I will be taking a short visit to Spain at the very end of this month and into July. I am pretty excited!

You are really doing great with your reading. Hope your next book is a good one. Have a great day!
--BJ

I started The Screwtape Letters once, but got somewhat bored and put it down. I think that someday I'll try again--most of the books I read these days would've put me in a coma a few years ago.

I'll be going to Greece in the fall, from early September to early December. Have fun in Spain!

Yesterday and today I managed to finish another three books. First on the list was Old Testament Exegesis: A Primer for Students and Pastors by Douglas K. Stuart. Decent treatment, but not quite what I expected. I'll have to keep that book for later once I can take a few years of Hebrew study. Next book was Approaching Hoofbeats: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Billy Graham. Not bad, especially because it was less eschatological in focus than I expected. And the third book was The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities by Darrell L. Bock, a good treatment of known Gnostic texts and beliefs, and an excellent expose of the "new school" that would accord them precedence or at least equality with orthodoxy.

So that elevates my total to 59 books thus far this year.

That's pretty funny! Maybe I will wait a little while for The Screwtape Letters as I am trying to catch up on my group reads. The trip to Spain is almost here. We will only be there about a week, except for my older daughter who will be there for 6 weeks. I hope that you will still have computer access when you are in Greece to let me know what it is like. :) I have always wanted to go there. I am interested in the book on the Gnostic Gospels. Thanks for the review of it. Have a great day!
--BJ

I think I should still have pretty regular Internet access in Greece. At least, the facility where I'll be studying has free WiFi, which should work out well. I'm sure I'll be able to keep this pretty up to date.

Today I finished two books. The first one was a real doozy: the first volume of Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James H. Charlesworth. It fell just barely short of 1000 pages. I've been working on it for a while, and now I'm embarking on the second volume. The second book I finished reading was Exploring the Worship Spectrum: Six Views, edited by Paul Basden, which gave a good overview of basic styles/formats and made me doubly convinced that the emerging church is crazy.

So that brings my total up to 61 books, and hopefully I'll have more sometime soon!

I love your book reviews! I wish that I could read as fast as you do. :) Still, I guess I am doing ok at 38 books. Have a great weekend.
--BJ

Thanks! Hope you have a great weekend too.

I finished two more books, and I'm actually quite surprised by that because I didn't think I'd be finished this quickly. One of those books was On the Reliability of the Old Testament by K. A. Kitchen. Absolutely excellent. There were a few things I wish it would've touched on that it didn't, but it is a sweeping tour de force in defense of the Old Testament as an overall reliable historical record, in keeping with other Near Eastern historical records. Very good. And the other book was Belief by Gianni Vattimo, and it was terrible. I thank God that he didn't let it exceed 100 pages (which was averaged out by the 500+ pages of Kitchen's book), because I think I might've set it on fire. This is not the "epoch of the end of metaphysics"; metaphysics is alive and well as a discipline, which is very much so a good thing; and "natural law" is not an inherently "violent" concept by any stretch of the rational imagination--though I'm quite well aware that rationality is hardly a recognized guideline in most postmodern thought. This man does not present a good argument for _anything_ throughout the entire text, and I have learned nothing of use from his book.

That juxtaposition raises my total to 63 books so far, and so even if I don't get anything else finished before July, that puts me at a rate of 10.5 books/month, which would give me 126 at the end of the year. So, I'm happy. :)

Two more books finished. The first was Father, Son, and Spirit: The Trinity and John's Gospel by Andreas Kostenberger and Scott Swain. Very good treatment of the subject, with more meat than I expected. I was pleasantly surprised. The second book was more for entertainment than anything else: Israel's 48 Signs of Christ's Return by Gordon Lindsay. In it he intimated quite strongly that the Second Coming would transpire before 2003 (oops), and I got the strong impression from the last section that the author was declaring himself to be a prophet...

My total now stands at 65.

I've finished yet another two books, and it should be a few days before I have any more. The first is another 'end times' book: Understanding the Last Days: The Keys to Unlocking Bible Prophecy by Tim LaHaye. It was rather sub-par, though compared to some of the really sad end-times books I've been reading lately, it was actually quite good. However, I didn't realize that the book was so substantially taken up by small study-guides, and there were a few places at which I simply had to scoff. The second book was Evangelical Reunion: Denominations and the Body of Christ by John M. Frame. This one was very good, and I'm extremely glad I had a chance to read it. In it he sounds forth the call for true Christian reunion, finally getting beyond the denominational divides, and does so quite forcefully and cogently. I can only hope that his call will come to fruition, but I can certainly say that it's given me a lot of food for thought.

My total is now 67.

One more book down, and that's no doubt the end of them for a while. This one was a slim volume called A Common Calling: The Witness of Our Reformation Churches in North America Today, edited by Keith F. Nickle, and it was a report by a committee for Lutheran-Reformed relations. Not terribly interesting, but short.

My total now stands at 68.

You really are zooming along, JB! I just finished the book I was reading Beggars in Spain. It is a science fiction book about genetic engineering. I thought it had some interesting ethical implications in it. Happy Reading!
--BJ

Cool! That sounds interesting, maybe sometime I'll have to check it out. I like fiction that deals with issues like that.

And I just realized that somewhere along the way, around June 4, I finished two books and forgot to list them here! The first was John F. Walvoord's Armageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis, and the second was An Inconvenient Book by Glenn Beck. So my total now actually stands at... 70!!!! That's exciting because it was my original goal for the year (and I did it in under six months!), which I will now promote to 100.

This morning I managed to finish two books that I'd been working through. The first was Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?, edited by Wayne Grudem. Good book representing the range of opinion. The second book, which was even better and which I recommend, was The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God by Robert Louis Wilken. Very good.

Also, after church I stopped by the church library to pick up a couple books, and after church we drove to a Chinese buffet. After we left there, we went to Goodwill, where I sat in the car with my girlfriend to await the remainder of my party. They were in there a while, evidently, because I finished one of those books before we left the parking lot! It was John F. Walvoord's The Church in Prophecy.

This raises my total to a nice 73. NOW it should be a while before I have any more to add...

Last night--I think it was last night--I finished another book: The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord. That puts me at 74, and the next few days should see a couple more.

I managed it sooner than I thought! Finished two more books last night. The first was Mormon Doctrine by Bruce McConkie, and the second was The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine, edited by Colin Gunton. I'm glad I'm done with both of them. The former was more interesting, but longer than I'd hoped.

The total now stands at 76.

Okay, finished two more books today. The first was The Evangelical Essential: What Must I Do to Be Saved by Philip Janowsky. The second was Reasoning from the Scriptures, which is essentially the topically arranged manual used by Jehovah's Witnesses to defend their beliefs. Interesting read.

The total now stands at 78.

I've slowed down a bit lately, thanks to being on the Internet way too much. Still, I finished two more books last night. The first was Evangelical from the Beginning: The Story of the Evangelical Congregational Church, edited by Terry M. Heisey. Very interesting history of my denomination, and I look forward to hanging out with the editor's nephew today (which works out well, since he's my best friend). The second book was Christian Education: Its History and Practice, by Kenneth Gangel and Warren Benson.

This raises my total to a nice, round 80, and it's just barely over the year's halfway point.

Well, I've finally finished another book--took long enough!--to add to the list. This one is The Arrogance of Nations: Reading Romans in the Shadow of Empire by Neil Elliott. It wasn't as good as I expected. Waaay too saturated with the author's political ideology and rhetoric, and maybe about 30% scholarship. And even that scholarship mostly didn't strike me as very good scholarship. It was sort of a let-down.

Anyway, that brings the total to 81, and hopefully more will be coming soon.

Well this is just ridiculous, how slow I am now. I've spent the past few days almost purely on the Internet, from just about the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep. So, relatively little reading has gotten done. Last night I broke the cycle enough to finish one more book: Principalities and Powers: Reflections in the Asian Context, a collection of papers from Asian Theological Seminary's third Theological Forum. Pretty good, I look forward to diving further into the other two collections.

Total stands at 82.

Okay, well, I'm not in a very good mood right now. My computer went totally haywire (started out with warnings of "imminent hard disk failure" and went downhill from there...), and to make a long story short, I've managed to turn my dead old laptop into a zombie laptop sufficient to operate the Internet and various other necessary programs--none of which are working on my other laptop at the moment.

I just finished another book: Live with Jehovah's Day in Mind by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Decent read, mostly unobjectionable save for some of the last chapter.

Total climbs to 83.

Last night I finished three of the books I was working on. Why? Because I could, that's why. So first came the second volume of Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James H. Charlesworth; second was Doing Theology in the Philippines; and third was The Moon is Not the Son by James Bjornstad.

My total is now 86.

Two more books finished since then. The first is Naming the Unknown God, another of the Asian Theological Forum books, and the second is The New Atheist Crusaders and Their Unholy Grail: The Misguided Quest to Destroy Your Faith by Becky Garrison, which wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped.

Total rises to 88.

Hi, JB!
You are really doing great with your reading! I hit the 50 mark, so I am pretty excited by that. :) I hope that your computer problems work out ok. Computers to me just don't work like real machines.

Right before our trip, the AC guy came by to change our HEPA filter and broke the fan motor! So we spent a hot night before our trip and came home to a hot house and put up with it for the weekend. Then, at last, the guy fixed it. Boy do I love ac!! Plus, the heat has abated and the hundreds are gone and replaced by 80s and 90s. I love this early summer weather.

My daughter in Spain found a bookstore and bought a Missal and The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, both in Spanish. She is trying to visit a new Church each week. I find it difficult to follow the sermons and Bible readings in Spanish, but can catch on to the rest of it. Then she can fill me in on the rest. I really need to work on my Spanish some more, I think.

Anyway, I had a great time on my trip, but I am so happy to be back home. Hope that all is well with you. Have a great day!
--BJ

Message edited by its author, Jul 22, 2009, 1:56am.

Welcome back, BJ! I'm glad to hear you had a great time in Spain.

Anyway, I replaced my computer's hard drive but as it turns out, I still need to ship it back to the company for a bit to get the network interface card replaced. It's been a real nightmare!

But last night I managed to finish two more books. The first was Luis de Molina's On Divine Foreknowledge, translated by Alfred Freddoso. Very informative, and the introduction was one of the best things I've ever read. The second book was The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success by Rodney Stark. That book was amazing. Simply amazing.

That gets my total up to an even 90, which is probably as high as it'll get this week.

I am adding The Victory of Reason to my wishlist. It looks quite interesting!
--BJ

Cool!

Last night I finished another book: The One Mediator, the Saints, and Mary, edited by H. George Anderson and others. It's the eighth volume in the Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue series. It was pretty good.

Total now stands at 91.

I finished another book earlier today: Jewish Christianity Reconsidered: Rethinking Ancient Groups and Texts, edited by Matt Jackson-McCabe. It actually wasn't as good as I'd hoped it'd be; Arnal's chapter was by far the worst. Some of the sections were worth reading, but on the whole I doubt I'd recommend it.

Total up to 92 now.

Finished three more books since the 29th. One of them was the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. That was a decent read. Some of the sections were full of great wisdom, while others were... bleh. The second book was Four Views on Salvation in a Pluralistic World, another of the Counterpoints book series. Pretty interesting. John Hick got whomped, I think, though the others could've maybe critiqued him even more effectively. And the third book was Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life, a Jehovah's Witness book that I finished while at their local district convention today.

That raises my total to 95.

Just finished another book: Divine Grace and Human Agency: A Study of the Semi-Pelagian Controversy by Rebecca Harden Weaver. Excellent study! I think Faustus of Riez clearly had the most reasonable position out of the figures covered. Certainly moreso than Augustine, Prosper, or Fulgentius. Caesarius was at least getting pretty warm, for an Augustinian.

Total now at 96.

You are almost at 100! Good for you!
--BJ

Thanks! I'm confident I can top it before I leave the country. Especially since in the past couple days I've finished two more books. The first was The Trinity: The Classic Study of Biblical Trinitarianism by Edward Henry Bickersteth, a reprint of a noteworthy 19th-century defense of the Trinity. And the second book was The Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Gerald O'Collins, which was somewhat a mixed bag but mostly good.

That raises my total to a robust 98, and it shouldn't be exceptionally long before I snatch that coveted third digit.

How did I forget to mention that I also read "Bearing Thorough Witness" About God's Kingdom by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society? I finished that a week ago today, having also started it a week ago this morning. It's one of their newest releases, and so I'm probably one of the first people to finish it. That's kind of a cool feeling, actually.

So anyway, that means my total is actually 99. One. More. To. Go!

And at last, I reach the goal! Here, then, is my list of books completed thus far in 2009, from January 1 to August 10:

1) “America's Alternative Religions”, edited by Timothy Miller
2) “What are the Gospels? A Comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography”, by Richard Burridge
3) “Jehovah's Witnesses: Proclaimers of God's Kingdom”, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
4) “Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Essays on the New Testament's Christology of Divine Identity”, by Richard Bauckham
5) “Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation”, edited by Stephen Trzaskoma, et al.
6) “From the Maccabees to the Mishnah”, by Shaye J. D. Cohen
7) “The God Delusion”, by Richard Dawkins
8) “Notes on the Early Stalcop Family in Delaware”, by Harry G. Staulcup
9) “Articles of Faith”, by James E. Talmage
10) “Philosophy in Christian Antiquity”, by Christopher Stead
11) “How Things Might Have Been: Individuals, Kinds, and Essential Properties”, by Penelope Mackie
12) “Escape the Coming Night”, by David Jeremiah
13) “The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation”, by Barbara Rossing
14) “A Historico-Critical Study on the Iglesia ni Kristo”, by Manuel P. Alonzo
15) “Augsburg and Constantinople”, by George Mastrantonis
16) “The Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit”, by Photios of Constantinople
17) “Pay Attention to Daniel's Prophecy!”, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
18) “The Book of Names: A Novel”, by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori
19) “The Trinity”, by St. Augustine
20) “Persia and the Bible”, by Edwin Yamauchi
21) “Is This Life All There Is?”, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
22) “Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ: Ecumenical Reflections on the Filioque Controversy”, edited by Lukas Vischer
23) “The Eternal Relation Between the Son and the Spirit in Eastern and Western Trinitarian Theology”, by Mary Ann Fatula
24) “Wir Wollen Deutsche Bleiben: The Story of the Volga Germans”, by George J. Walters
25) “The Taking”, by Dean Koontz
26) “True Peace and Security: How Can You Find It?”, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
27) “Popular Christianity in India: Riting Between the Lines”, edited by Selva Raj and Corinne Dempsey
28) “Revelation: Four Views: A Parallel Commentary”, by Steve Gregg
29) “Christians of India”, by Rowena Robinson
30) “The Iglesia ni Kristo: Its Christology and Ecclesiology”, by Fernando G. Elesterio
31) “Survival into a New Earth”, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
32) “Crisis in Byzantium: The Filioque Controversy in the Patriarchate of Gregory II of Cyprus (1283-1289)”, by Aristeides Papadakis
33) “An Introduction to Indian Christian Theology”, by Robin Boyd
34) “The Age of the Antichrist”, by Jonathan R. Cash
35) “Building Christianity on Indian Foundations”, by Timothy C. Tennent
36) “The Philosophy of Law”, edited by R. M. Dworkin
37) “Isaiah's Prophecy: Light for All Mankind (Vol. 1)”, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
38) “Anti-Christian Polemic in Early Islam”, by David Thomas
39) “Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature”, edited by Benjamin R. Foster
40) “Stumbling on Happiness”, by Daniel Gilbert
41) “The Three Persons in One God”, by Gerard S. Sloyan
42) “The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South”, by Philip Jenkins
43) “Philosophy and the Christian Faith”, by Colin Brown
44) “Isaiah's Prophecy: Light for All Mankind (Vol. 2)”, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
45) “An Apology for Apologetics: A Study in the Logic of Interreligious Dialogue”, by Paul J. Griffiths
46) “Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach”, edited by Irving Hexham, Stephen Rost, and John W. Morehead II
47) “Jacob Albright: The Evangelical Pioneer”, by Robert Sherer Wilson
48) “In the Shadow of the Temple: Jewish Influences on Early Christianity”, by Oskar Skarsaune
49) “The Late Great Planet Earth”, by Hal Lindsey
50) “In the Language of Kings: An Anthology of Mesoamerican Literature”, edited by Miguel Leon-Portilla and Earl Shorris
51) “The Essence of Religion”, by Ludwig Feuerbach
52) “American Islam: Growing Up Muslim in America”, by Richard Wormser
53) “Christianity in Crisis”, by Hank Hanegraaff
54) “Re-entry: Striking Parallels Between Today's News Events and Christ's Second Coming”, by John Wesley White
55) “On the Free Choice of the Will”, by St. Augustine
56) “Perspectives on an Evolving Creation”, edited by Keith Miller
57) “Armageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis”, by John F. Walvoord
58) “An Inconvenient Book”, by Glenn Beck
59) “Old Testament Exegesis: A Primer for Students and Pastors”, by Douglas K. Stuart
60) “Approaching Hoofbeats: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”, by Billy Graham
61) “The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities”, by Darrell L. Bock
62) “Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Vol. 1)”, edited by James H. Charlesworth
63) “Exploring the Worship Spectrum: Six Views”, edited by Paul Basden
64) “On the Reliability of the Old Testament”, by Kenneth Kitchen
65) “Belief”, by Gianni Vattimo
66) “Father, Son, and Spirit: The Trinity and John's Gospel”, by Andreas Kostenberger and Scott Swain
67) “Israel's 48 Signs of Christ's Return”, by Gordon Lindsay
68) “Understanding the Last Days: The Keys to Unlocking Bible Prophecy”, by Tim LaHaye
69) “Evangelical Reunion: Denominations and the Body of Christ”, by John M. Frame
70) “A Common Calling: The Witness of Our Reformation Churches in North America Today”, edited by Keith F. Nickle
71) “Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?”, edited by Wayne Grudem
72) “The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God”, by Robert Louis Wilken
73) “The Church in Prophecy”, by John F. Walvoord
74) “The Rapture Question”, by John F. Walvoord
75) “Mormon Doctrine”, by Bruce R. McConkie
76) “The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine”, edited by Colin Gunton
77) “The Evangelical Essential: What Must I Do to Be Saved?”, by Philip Janowsky
78) “Reasoning from the Scriptures”, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
79) “Evangelical from the Beginning: The Story of the Evangelical Congregational Church”, edited by Terry M. Heisey
80) “Christian Education: Its History and Practice”, by Kenneth O. Gangel and Warren Benson
81) “The Arrogance of Nations: Reading Romans in the Shadow of Empire”, by Neil Elliott
82) “Principalities and Powers: Reflections in the Asian Context”
83) “Live with Jehovah's Day in Mind”, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
84) “Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Vol. 2)”, edited by James H. Charlesworth
85) “Doing Theology in the Philippines”, edited by John Suk
86) “The Moon is Not the Son”, by James Bjornstad
87) “Naming the Unknown God”
88) “The New Atheist Crusaders and Their Unholy Grail: The Misguided Quest to Destroy Your Faith”, by Becky Garrison
89) “On Divine Foreknowledge”, by Luis de Molina
90) “The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success”, by Rodney Stark
91) “The One Mediator, the Saints, and Mary”, edited by H. George Anderson, et al.
92) “Jewish Christianity Reconsidered: Rethinking Ancient Groups and Texts”, edited by Matt Jackson-McCabe
93) “Meditations”, by Marcus Aurelius
94) “Four Views on Salvation in a Pluralistic World”, edited by Dennis L. Okholm and Timothy R. Phillips
95) “Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life”, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
96) “Bearing Thorough Witness About God's Kingdom”, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
97) “Divine Grace and Human Agency: A Study of the Semi-Pelagian Controversy”, by Rebecca Harden Weaver
98) “The Trinity: The Classic Study of Biblical Trinitarianism”, by Edward Henry Bickersteth
99) “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ”, by Gerald O'Collins
100) “Paul, in Other Words: A Cultural Reading of His Letters”, by Jerome H. Neyrey

Congratulations on reaching 100!
--BJ

Wow, that is an impressive list! Congratulations, JB!

Thanks to both of you! I'm so happy I actually managed to reach 100 within just the first eight months. Now I don't have to worry about my precise pace while overseas without access to the bulk of my library, because I've already hit the mark.

Last night I finished two more books. The first was Philosophy and the Christian Faith, edited by Thomas V. Morris, and that was quite good. Still struggled to get through it, though. The second book was another JW publication, Mankind's Search for God. Much easier to get through.

Then this morning I finished another book: Philip Jenkins's The Lost History of Christianity, which deals with Christian communities beyond Europe. When people think of Christianity in the Middle Ages, most think of feudal Europe, Scholasticism, etc. It occurs to few people to think about China, for example. And Jenkins does a great job of correcting that.

So my total is now 103.

Finished one more book this afternoon: Christian Philosophy (Notre Dame Studies in the Philosophy of Religion, 6), edited by Thomas Flint. Quite good, save for the last essay by Merold Westphal.

Total stands at 104.

The most recent book I've finished is Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity by John W. Loftus. It's decent, perhaps, when you consider the range and the relative depth, but everything he does, somebody else has done better, and even that doesn't succeed. Loftus also bungles opposing positions here and there; fails to interact with some of the key works on the other side; makes poor arguments; and frequently makes ridiculous demands--i.e., if God could do it, then he should do it. All in all, I think I could generously rate it a 3.5/10.

I should soon be finishing another book, but for now the total is 105.

I have now also completed Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis by Philip Jenkins. As I've come to expect from Jenkins, it was a thorough, objective, sober analysis of the issue. He exploded a number of myths, dealt fairly with the data, and just did an all-around great job. The book was dense and dry at times, but I'd heartily recommend it to anyone looking to really understand that issue in its context.

Total up to 106 now.

Greetings! A great year of reading for you! I know it was back a while now, but how did you like From the Maccabees to the Mishnah?

Thanks! From the Maccabees to the Mishnah was alright; there were some parts that could've been done better and some places where what Cohen said had been effectively countered by other authors--at least, I remember it being that way, though it's been quite a while--but on the whole it was a decent read. I don't think I learned very much new from it.

Since then, I think I've finished two other books. The first would be The Rise of Western Christendom by Peter Brown, which was excellent. And the second is, at last, The Qur'an: Text, Translation, and Commentary, translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. I've been working on that for ages! So I'm very glad to have finally completed it.

So now my total is 108.

Hey, JB!
I ordered a book called Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, which has been mentioned in several other books that I have read lately. I haven't received it yet and don't recall the translator. I was wondering if you had ever read it and, if so, what you thought of it?
Have a great day!
--BJ

Hi, BJ! I have a PDF of the Consolation on my computer somewhere, and I remember reading it the other year while waiting outside a professor's office for something. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The other day I finished reading Galileo Goes to Jail, and Other Myths about Science and Religion, edited by Ronald L. Numbers. There were a lot of great essays in there, though a few were poorly conceived or failed to really address the issue. With those excepted, though, it was very good.

Total: 109.

Another interesting title. I will add it to my list!
--BJ

Cool!

I just finished Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller. That makes my total 110 now.

Ahh, last night I finished two others: Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns, translated by Kathleen E. McVey, and Revelation--Its Grand Climax at Hand! by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

Total climbs to 112.

Finished one more today: The Evolution of the Soul by Richard Swinburne. Mostly quite good, though very weighty. There were some sections where he could've done better, and a few others where I just plain disagreed with his methods, but on the whole it was a thing of beauty. I'd say 8.5/10.

Total: 113.

Completed yet another book today: William J. Schnell's Thirty Years a Watch Tower Slave: The Confessions of a Converted Jehovah's Witness.

Total: 114.

Okay, I believe I've finished four books since the last one. Let's see... Well, I got through Pay Attention to Yourselves and to All the Flock by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society... I finished Unpacking Forgiveness by Chris Brauns, and it was fantastic... I read The Greek Orthodox Church: Faith, History, and Practice by Demetrios Constantelos... and just today I finished The Ethiopian Orthodox Church by Aymro Wondmagegnehu.

So that raises the total to 118, where I can guarantee it'll stay for quite some time. On Wednesday I'll be leaving America--and consequently the vast majority of my books--behind to spend the fall semester in beautiful Athens, Greece. Woohoo!

Hey, JB!
I hope that you have a wonderful time in Greece! I can't wait to hear about your trip when you get back if you don't have internet or while you are there if you do. God bless.
--BJ

Thanks! Athens is pretty spectacular so far; I'm blogging about my stay here when I can at http://jb-fidei-defensor.xanga.com

Just yesterday I finished a book for the first time in quite a while: The Complete Greek Tragedies: Sophocles I, featuring translations by David Greene of Oedipos Tyrannos, Oedipos at Colonos, and Antigone. So my total can finally take another step to 119. I haven't gotten as much reading done lately as I had imagined; this place certainly manages to keep me busy!

what is your secret to reading over 100 books? you must not watch much television.

I actually usually watch 4-5 hours of television per night back home when I get a chance; the secret is in multitasking. If I can read while watching, say, Law and Order: SVU (awesome show), or at least during commercial breaks, then I can keep reading while enjoying myself in other ways, too. And being a very fast reader doesn't hurt.

Here in Greece, though, I haven't gotten as much reading accomplished lately because I keep spending my time doing things like, e.g., climbing Mt. Lycabettos and the Areopagus. Still, last night I completed Five Great Greek Tragedies to put my total up to 120. It contained Aeschylus' "Prometheus Bound", Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" and "Electra", and Euripides' "Medea" and "The Bacchae". Very archaic translations, though.

During the course of my weekend vacation on the beautiful island of Mykonos (plus the ferry ride back to Piraeus), I finished two further books: The Complete Greek Tragedies: Euripides I, which contained "Alcestis", "Medea" (again), "The Heracleidae", and "Hippolytus"; and The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism, edited by Bernard McGinn. I'm just happy to have finally finished one of the books that I brought with me from home; maybe soon I'll be able to start working on the books that came with my apartment.

Total now stands at 122.

So sometime yesterday, while still perhaps a smidgen under the influence from the night before, I finally finished reading The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, which places my total at 123.

I have that one on my tbr as well. Did you read The Voyage of the HMS Beagle? I was going to read that one first. Hope you are having a wonderful time. My dad is going to visit Greece for a few days -- mainly Athens, I think. Take care.
--BJ

Haven't read The Voyage of the HMS Beagle yet, no. I did, however, finish The Palaces of Crete by James Walter Graham last night, which brings my total to 124, with a number of others probably to come soon, if I've any luck.

I hope your dad has a good time here! Athens is a beautiful city, I think. I still can't believe I'm living here.

I can't wait till my dad comes back to tell me about the trip. Are you learning Greek? Are you reading any books in Greek? How is the tv there?
--BJ

I've started to learn Greek, though I haven't yet tried reading any books in it. I don't have a TV in my apartment, but I've seen some snippets in other places, and what I've seen has been fairly bizarre. Where's your dad now?

This morning I finished three books. First was New Evidences of Christ in Ancient America by Blaine M. Yorgason, et al. Some Mormon missionaries let me borrow it. It attempts to make a case for the historical reliability of the Book of Mormon's accounts of Israelite civilization in America from about 600 BC to AD 400. And if a case could be made for that, this book sure didn't contain it. Entertaining, though. I also finished, at last, The C. S. Lewis Signature Collection, and I can now see why he's so beloved. I'm starting to rather love him, too. And lastly, I finished Borges: Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges, who is definitely now my favorite fiction writer of all time. (I know you have his Labyrinths, BJ; what did you think of it?)

Total now stands at 127. Not too shabby for early October, I suppose.

I don't know exactly where my dad is now because he did not give me an itenerary. He gave it to his sister. He and my stepmom flew to Athens and then boarded a ship. I think that at first they went to Bulgaria? or a couple of Eastern European ports and then to Russia. I am not sure about this because I just heard about that part right before he left. Towards the end of the trip, they will go to Turkey, Egypt, and Israel and end back at Athens. His return is sometime between the 19th and 21st depending on how much time they will get to spend in Greece before flying home.

I haven't read the Borges book yet, although I hear great things about it. My daughter is a Spanish major and has read some of his books in Spanish and English and really likes his writing. So I bought the copy for myself but I haven't gotten to it yet. I have heard wonderful things about that Ficciones book that you read and your recommendation makes me want to read the one I have sooner. Right now I am trying to finish up all of the books that I have been in the middle of. I just finished War and Peace (which I have been reading since January) and am now reading The Forsyte Saga (which I started around March or April and put down until this week!!). War and Peace was book number 74 so whatever I finish next will be 75 to reach my 75 book challenge. I am trying to read 81 books this year.

I remember that the tv in Spain included some shows from the US dubbed in or with subtitles. They were not the shows that I preferred as purveyors of US life. In fact, they were things that I never watch here. I think that I am out of touch sometimes. But not many people that I know here drive big, very expensive cars, with plasma tvs in both the front and back seats. I found that the easiest tv for me was the commercials because they were short, some included words on the screen, and they were simple.

Will you be there until the end of the year or next year, too? I am glad that you have this wonderful opportunity and congrats on reaching 127 books!!
--BJ

Message edited by its author, Oct 13, 2009, 6:23am.

I'm back from a vacation in Turkey now and will be here in Greece for a little over a month now.

I've finished a few books since my last post:
The Aegean Bronze Age by Oliver Dickinson
The Histories by Herodotus
The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts, edited by G. S. Kirk, et al.
Jesus the Christ: A Study of the Messiah and His Mission by James E. Talmage
The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, translated by Steven Lattimore
Euripides III by Euripides (includes "Hecuba", "Andromache", "The Trojan Women", and "Ion")

So that puts my total now at 133, I believe, which is a nice start to November, I think. I need to read 17 books over the next two months, which - if my previous pace is any indication - should be no difficult task.

Two more finished this morning during a blasted power outage, since the omnipresent construction crews somehow managed to knock down some lines or something. (Power's back, thankfully, though I still have to flee to Plateia Varnava to get a few crumbs of Internets...)

First one was The Complete Greek Tragedies: Euripides IV, and the second was LeGrand Richards's A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, another Mormon classic.

Total: 135.

Feels like it's going kind of slowly, but let's add Heracles and Other Plays by Euripides to the stack of completed books.

Total: 136.

Finished four books, I think. First was Exploring the Greek Mosaic: A Guide to Intercultural Communication in Greece by Benjamin Broome. The second book was Five Classics by Truman G. Madsen by Truman G. Madsen. The third book was Modern Greece: A Short History by C. M. Woodhouse. And, finally, the fourth book was Lectures on Faith by Joseph Smith.

Total now stands at 140.