My Weekly Reader

A month of so ago I mentioned in one of these weekly posts that perhaps I've reached the "end of the books", thinking that the demands of my law school studies would cut into the reading of books for pleasure. Immediately, and I do mean immediately, a dear friend who is also by profession a book lover (burdened with being the head of a nearby county library system) shot back an email telling me to take another ten years for law school, but keep reading books.

Good advice. So instead of just reading about estoppels and intentional torts (which aren't as sexy as they sound) I'm going to try to read at least one new book a week. Since "Book Reports" have never been my strong suit, I'll refer you to my friend Ted Lehmann's blog http://www.tedlehmann.blogspot.com/ for more thorough reviews of books he's been reading. He talks about books (and not just new ones) that he's enjoyed, and I've found his endorsement is a pretty good one for my own reading.

In addition to Ted's suggestions, there are two books I've just finished which are views of two different worlds, and both were great reads. One of them is "Crashing Through", the true story of a classic overachiever whose can-do approach to life has led him, among other things, to work for the CIA, become an electrical engineer, work in a remote Ghanaian village, develop and market sophisticated electronic equipment, set world-class ski records, and earn a graduate degree in international relations. He "crashed through" all obstacles. Nothing fazed him or slowed him down. The kicker is, he's been blind since a childhood accident.

Now, in mid-life, he's wracked with uncharacteristic indecision as to whether to submit to a unique and potentially risky surgical procedure that might or might not restore his sight. To complicate things, one of the necessary medications in this procedure is carcinogenic. There weren't many options in this decision: continuing the comfortable knowns of a sightless life vs. jumping into the scary unknowns of a sighted life. Perhaps the moral of the story, if a moral it is, is that there just aren't many "no-brainers" this side of the Pearly Gates, and it is in the choosing that the fullest life is known.

Which leads into the second book, Sara Miles' "Take This Bread". Don't let the boring subtitle ("The spiritual memoir of a twenty-first-century Christian") mislead you. It's actually the very non-boring memoirs of a lesbian left-wing atheist journalist and restaurant cook who wound up running one of President Bush's "faith-based charities" (probably to his great surprise). They started distributing free food to anyone who showed up, no questions asked, no ID needed. You won't be surprised to know this good intention gets complicated, but hang in there. This is not the familiar sappy ending, darkness-to-light, pagan-to-piety conversion story, but one that will challenge the religiosity of so many of us churchers. If you're familiar with Anne Lamott, this is Anne Lamott on steroids.

Over the years I've had a fair amount of personal experience with doing "good works", both via a local soup kitchen that a group of us got started and is now a multi-faceted program for the homeless, as well as through my involvement with Habitat For Humanity programs around the country. There's always an inherent problem with efforts like these, and that is the confusion between pity and piety. These good intentions also tend to deal with the symptoms rather than the disease; charity, unfortunately, doesn't effect social change.

I'm happy to report that in her own way, Sara Miles doesn't duck these issues, and it's exciting to see how she and her friends manage to cope with the institutional resistance of the organized Church as well as the societal fears of change. The ending of "Take This Bread" is dynamite, and will stay with me for a long time.

I must also tell you (almost parenthetically) that in reading this book it helps to have a general knowledge of the Episcopal Church, but it isn't essential to appreciate her story, and perhaps it might even get in the way. Sometimes Miles' self-righteousness is as off-putting as that of those she faults, but I happily cut her some slack, and find this very readable book fascinating, and recommend it heartily.

There are other books, but these will do for a start. I tried to read "The Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy", but gave it up. I don't mind the word "fuck", but in every third sentence it gets boring. The author also has an annoying style of alternating the story-teller by chapters, and I didn't have the energy to figure out just who was doing what to whom (if you get my drift).

Oh, and unless things are really slow around your way, skip "Deathly Hallows". Take a walk with the Muggles or something.