Summer Reading List 2009

Remember the days when you were forced to read, even during your summer vacation, so that you could be tested on it when you got back to school? Here's the thing: you didn't have to make me read over the summer. I did it anyway. Making me do it for school just made me resent it. Oh, well. The irony of it all now is, I get excited about reading in summer time, because I feel like I have more time to make headway in things I want to learn about. And this summer, I will probably have quite a bit of time on my hands to read up. So, here is my summer reading list for 2009:

I have recently become obsessed with the Showtime series The Tudors (which is a bit of a misnomer, since it only follows one Tudor: Henry VIII. And then only his early years as king. But I digress.) Historical inaccuracies aside (and there are some glaring ones), it is a well-put-together program, and the young cast makes for a great hour of television. If nothing else, the show has re-ignited my love for Early Modern European history, particularly British history. So, I have decided that a refresher course is in order. I will be tackling New Worlds, Lost Worlds: The Rule of the Tudors, 1485-1603, part of the Penguin History of Britain series by Susan Brigden. Nerdy, perhaps, but I am looking forward to it. Perhaps I will discover fodder for future research endeavors.


My second "heavy lifting" book of the summer is one that I have made numerous attempts to complete, and have started multiple times, but can never seem to get all the way through. I am bound and determined to finish it before the year is out! I will be reading Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross by S. Mark Heim. So far, this text has more detractors than devotees, particularly among my "inner circle" of friends and scholars. I am determined to remain open-minded, even though I will probably have very little in common with Dr. Heim's method or assertions. We shall see. Perhaps this, too, will spark some additional research interests.


The summer can't be all serious all the time, though. I took suggestions for new fiction books to read from friends that (I assume) are up on such things. The winner, with a majority of recommendations from my panel of apt advisers, is Straight Man by Richard Russo. It's a novel about an academic in a small-town, facing a budget crisis and criminal charges. Really, I can get behind any kind of story where the geese start to die (take that for pooping all over the place, geese!). Seriously, though. I effing hate those effing geese. Anyway, this should be a good way to lighten the mood a bit.


In a similar vein, I am planning to read Moo by Jane Smiley. I know nothing about this author, except that she won a Pulitzer Prize for her previous novel, A Thousand Acres. The book purports to be a satirical look at the Academy and university life in general (do you detect a pattern emerging?). I am anticipating a good read, and can always get behind using onomatopoeia in interesting ways.




My diet has changed significantly of late. I have been eating a (mostly) vegetarian diet, though I still indulge in the occasional hamburger, curry, or sampling of BBQ. For the most part, though, it's high-fiber and low-calorie for me these days. I have been considering reading some books on the subject, and I have decided on In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan. This author has received a lot of press lately, and his work has been recommended to me by several of my friends. Not judging a book by its cover, but I am enticed by the bunch of red lettuce on the cover, and the mantra of the text: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."


Since I'll be picking up and moving to Toronto in June, I feel like I should read some sort of Toronto travel guide. I contemplated buying Frommer's, but it has people in kayaks on the cover. I don't do kayaks. Or open water. Fail. But there are plenty of other travel guide options, so I will likely settle for the cheapest one I can find :) I contemplated ordering a copy of How to Move to Canada, but since we have a team of Canadian lawyers on the case, it seems superfluous. I may yet purchase a copy of So, You Want to Be Canadian: All About the Most Fascinating People in the World and the Magical Place They Call Home. That title almost makes Canada seem not boring. You and I know better :)


It would take too long to explain the entire list, which is comprised of a number of titles suggested by you, my friends. So here is an abridged version of the rest:

Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays
Who can resist a title like that?!?!

A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor
I'll be re-reading this one. I haven't picked up a book of Southern short stories in a while, so I'm looking forward to these.

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer
Mormons. 'Nuff said.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin
Seems a little crunchy for my taste, but it comes highly recommended. So I'm giving it a shot.

Take This Bread by Sara Miles
Maybe I'll like her more than Lauren Winner*. Sorry, Lauren. Nothing personal.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Because I hate reading what Oprah tells me to, but I love Cormac McCarthy. I think I've waited long enough. Although, it appears they're making a movie out of it, so I may have to wait for the hysteria to die down again. Maybe I'll re-read All the Pretty Horses instead.

There you have it. Summer Reading for 2009. Wish me luck!

*OK, so Girl Meets God wasn't so bad.

This is Where I Live...

So, Boston has a public transportation system. Notice that I started this post by stating the pure and simple fact of the mere existence of public transportation in Boston, rather than commenting on how nice it is. Because the fact of the matter is, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (or, "the T" as it's known to locals) exists, functions some of the time, and that's about the extent of it.

I live on the T's Green Line. More specifically, I live on the B-line branch of the Green Line. This may mean very little to you who are reading this post, and not living in Boston. Suffice it to say, the first time I visited Boston, someone referred to the B-line as "the slow train to hell." They weren't far off. Although, to be fair, the B-line ends at Boston College in the suburban town of Chestnut Hill. So, really, it's more like the slow train to purgatory. But, I digress.

To give you an idea of how amazing the Green Line is, I offer you the following gems, which happened within less than one week of one another:

A tranny* train driver on the Green Line crashed into another train because he was texting his girlfriend. Amazing. This, incidentally, is not the first Green Line crash in recent memory. Thankfully, this one was far less tragic.

And just this morning, a man stabbed himself on an inbound Green Line train at Copley Square. Number 1: Why are you carrying a knife on the T? and Number 2: How the crap did you sit on it??

This is where I live, folks. :^)

This person, however, seems to hate the T more than I do. More so, even, than the average Bostonian.

Update (05/15/2009): It's not just the Green Line, by the way. It happens on the Red Line, too.

*This fact is immaterial to the story. It was just some additional information I recently discovered. I also recently learned that the reason he was texting his girlfriend, is that she didn't answer when he called her. Nice.

Lift Every Voice and Sing (No, seriously...)

So I paid a visit to a church over on the other side of the river this past Sunday, because my friend had recently been named priest-in-charge, and I wanted to catch up with her and see how she was doing. So I rolled into St. Bartholemew's at 10:30am, ready for a good sermon (her sermons are always amazing) and some good company.

What I did not know about St. Bart's- and there is no reason that I should, as it does not matter, in the end- is that it is a traditionally African-American parish. Black parishes are few and far between in the Episcopal Church, and this one, much like many others is largely Afro-Caribbean in character. The Episcopal Church is, and always has been, a predominantly white denomination. Look up "WASP" in the dictionary, and it will read "see also: Episcopalian." All of this is to say that I was suddenly acutely aware of the color of my skin, a characteristic that I don't spend too much time thinking about on a day-to-day basis. I walked into the nave, and immediately realized that I was the only white person around. Suddenly, I was the minority. I was different. I stuck out like a sore thumb. As my friend later told me, I was "the strange white person in the back of the church."

It is a very unsettling feeling, to know that everyone knows you somehow don't fit in. To know that everyone can tell just by looking that you're "not from around here." It's very distracting. Particularly when you've been preparing yourself to worship. Suddenly, your motive for showing up to church that day comes into question, if only in your own mind. Would they think I was just there to see the "local color" (no racially-charged pun intended)? Would they wonder why I didn't turn around and walk out the door when I saw I didn't belong? Would they even want to engage with me at all? This is not the thought process you want to have to go through before church on Sunday.

But then, the most unexpected thing- and yet the very thing I should have expected- happened. I was welcomed. With open arms (literally; I got a couple of hugs). Everyone wanted to know my name. They made me stand up and introduce myself as a first-time visitor during the notices. "Chris, do you want to stand up and introduce yourself?" And it didn't feel awkward at all. Even when they clapped for me as I took my seat again. They filled my hands with cookies and coffee in the parish hall. I left that one church service knowing the first names of more people than I probably know at my current parish of three years (at least per capita).

And I think to myself: "That's how church should be." That's how life should be. Sometimes I think that if I ever make it to heaven, it will be mostly black people. (That's not just Liberation Theology talking, either.) Because, at the very least, I think God would rather surround Godself with people that get excited about faith and love one another without shame. People that sing at the top of their lungs, rather than wait for a cue from the choir. As much as I love my parish (and I do; they have been very good to me), I would trade in a heartbeat the classically trained, professional choir for a small group of saints belting out "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" from Lift Every Voice and Sing II (the fact that we have to have a completely separate "African-American Hymnal" is a topic for another time).

Lift every voice and sing,
'Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty