Here is my order of preference to win the Super Bowl for the remaining teams in the NFL Playoffs:
1. Saints
2. Vikings
3. Chargers
4. Cardinals
5. Jets
6. Cowboys
7. Colts
8. Ravens
So, obviously, there is no scenario where I root for the Colts or the Ravens since they are both AFC teams. The only way I would root for the Cowboys would be if they played the aforementioned teams.
Not sure why I posted this.
I picked up this short book because if falls within my favorite genre, Dystopian Literature. I love the genre so much that I even created a short guide (still in process) to provide resources for people at the Stillwater Public Library to find resources.
Apparently, this work by Alexander Kabakov created quite a stir at it initial publication in his native Soviet Union. The novella looks at a post-Perestroika Soviet Union in which those attempts at restructuring failed.
It was a decent read and has some insight for us about the dangers that lie in overcompensating for world events (take draconian measures fueled by fear and paranoia in the post 9/11 Bush regime). Outside of that there is not much to recommend it.
My favorite part of the work was in the introduction by Konstantin Sheherbakov which really captures the importance of dystopian literature:
Yet what comes to mind is this: If such dystopias had been read earlier, if the warnings in them had been heeded, then maybe things in our recent past might have been different–more humane, more intelligent. The capacity for experiencing terror and the apocalypse in the imagination gives the strength to withstand it and diminishes the likelihood that it will actually come to pass.
I picked this book up thinking I would simply skim through it for the highlights. I had read great reviews and felt that it was worthy of a once-over. At 700 pages and having never been a Bill Simmons fan I was skeptical to how much I would enjoy it.
I was pleasantly surprised.
Simmons is the ultimate basketball fan and he writes, not as a sports reporter, but as someone who loves the game and has invested all of his life following it. Therefore, what emerges is not a sterile take on the game but a passionate take on the state of the game and the characters and events that have shaped it over the past 60 years. Simmons weaves in pop culture references and a deft sense of humor that keeps the book moving along.
Two things that stood out for me:
1)Simmons had the insight and acumen to include Sidney Moncrief among his top 75 players of all time. The fact that Moncrief, one of the best defenders and all around players of the 80s, is not in the Hall of Fame is an outright travesty. Anybody who disagrees with that obviously was not an NBA fan during that time.
2) Simmons places Scottie Pippen within the right context and in the top 25 of all time. Most notably, he makes the informed argument that Pippen’s lone prima donna moment (refusing to play when a final play was designed for Kukoc instead of him against the hated Knicks) should not negate all that he did right throughout the years. But don’t get me started on Kukoc.
The best part of this book is that Simmons made me want to be an NBA fan again.
I read this book in conjunction with a bookclub that I have begun at the Stillwater Public Library. Ian McEwan’s classic has been called by some to be one of the greatest ever written and it certainly lives up to that hype. Rich characters, a complex yet never convoluted storyline and a “twist” that leaves the reader emotionally conflicted combine to offer up a great read.
My only complaint is that I had seen the movie first. As a result, I was unable to truly and completely immerse myself in McEwan’s narrative. The movie stayed so faithful to the book that there were not any points of departure for me to follow the authors original vision. That was my loss and my mistake and no slight on the excellence of the work.
At the heart of this is a tremendous reflection on the need for atonement and redemption. Briony Tallis, as a precocious and imaginative 13 year old, witnesses a sexually charged exchange between her sister and her childhood friend. She is unable to fully understand what she has seen and incapable of placing it in the proper context. As a result, a string of events takes place that changes everyone’s lives forever.
What transpires is a beautiful work of fiction that deserves to be read.
Fiction
6. Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell
Bazell, a doctor, has churned out a deliciously evil debut novel. A young medical resident who just happens to be a former hit-man finds his witness protection status in jeopardy during a very bad day. Leonardo Dicaprio is slated to play the lead in the movie.
5. Under the Dome by Stephen King
This is a love it or hate it novel. Count me squarely in the love it camp. Despite the fact that this book clocks in at just under 1100 pages the story never lets up. I find this to be King’s best work since The Stand.
4. Far North by Marcel Theroux
Not the singular event that The Road was, this dystopian thriller is full of post-apocalyptic goodness.
3. The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan
Forget overwrought teen romances. This is the vampire story of the year.
2. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
The National Book Award Winner for 2009 is a poignant tale of heartbreak and redemption. I was torn between this and Tropper’s novel as my top choice for the year. Set against the backdrop of Philippe Petit’s tightrope walk between the Twin Towers in 1974 McCann deftly weaves a tapestry of lives touched by circumstance and disappointment.
1. This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
It is very rare that a book will have me laughing out loud on multiple occasions. Tropper’s hilarious tale of a dysfunctional Jewish family sitting Shiva for the nonreligious patriarch had me continually in stitches.
Nonfiction
5. In Praise of Doubt: How to Have Convictions Without Becoming a Fanatic by Peter Berger
As one who eschews certainty from both religious fundamentalists and militant atheists, I found Berger’s short piece to be a breath of fresh air.
4. Jesus Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don’t Know About Them) by Bart Ehrman
Doubt and I are well acquainted. As a result, I love Ehrman’s work even when they make me uncomfortable. Some view him as a enemy to Christianity. However, I see him as a former Christian who painfully longs for those days of faith to return. However, there are issues that confront him and must confront us as well.
3. Columbine by Dave Cullen
A detailed and eye-opening account of one of the defining moments in recent American history.
2. Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi
This just might be one of the best written and honest sports memoirs ever written. I was always an Agassi fan even when I was frustrated by his seeming unwillingness to live up to his vast potential. This book does not shy away from answering the questions that swirled around him during his career.
1. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
What is told as a straight narrative of one man’s experience in post-Katrina NOLA is a stunning story with tremendous social and political weight.
Christian
5. Jesus Was a Liberal: Reclaiming Christianity for All by Scotty McLennan
4. The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church’s Conservative Icon by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan
3. A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story by Donna Butler Bass
2. An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor
1. Adventures in the Spirit: God, World, Divine Action by Phillip Clayton
There are several books that have been foundational to my theological understanding: Mere Discipleship, Politics of Jesus, Inescapable Love of God and The Ragamuffin Gospel to name a few.
This book holds an equal place with each of those titles. Clayton’s work is very complex, very dense and meaty. Especially when he delves into the concept of emergence. This is an attempt to dialogue with science and create a theological structure that makes sense.
I appreciate Clayton’s willingness to put all theological beliefs on the table for discussion in his claim that the possibility of the impossibility of faith claims must be considered. For there to be the dialogue that needs to take place amongst scientist, theologians, philosophers, etc. there must be the willingness to admit that we are in a midst of hypothesis and emergent knowledge. What lies beyond is yet to be fully determined.
What results out of this foundational work is an emergent dipolar open panentheism that employs portions of process theology that treats science with respect and seriousness. This work does a great job dealing with the issue of god’s agency in this world and avoids the faulty assumptions of christian apologetics.
This is a must read. I know that I will return to it over and over as I continue to refine my theological underpinnings.
Tomorrow night I will post my top 5 books of 2009 in Fiction, Nonfiction and Christian releases. First I want to share books I read this year that were published in previous years that I heartily recommend (Bolded titles are essential reads):
Fiction
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
Nonfiction
Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America by Dudley Clendinen
God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question–Why We Suffer by Bart Ehrman
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Maus by Art Spiegelman
Christian
The Church and the Homosexual by John J. McNeill
The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg
Here I Stand by John Shelby Spong
Horror
Creepers by John Morrell
Phantoms by Dean Koontz
Lost Boy Lost Girl by Peter Straub
Night in the Lonesome October by Richard Laymon
The Descent by Jeff Long
The Beast House Series by Richard Laymon
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons
