Aaron’s Reading List, 2015
Novels (23)
·
The
General in His Labyrinth, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I am a huge fan of
Garcia Marquez, and fantastical history writing in general. This novel is an
engrossing (and mostly fictional) tale about the last days of Simon Bolivar,
the military general who liberated and united a huge portion of South America,
before seeing it all fall apart again by the end of his life. It is a story of
hubris, romanticism, superstition, and the beauty of huge dreams, even when
they fail.
· Chronicle
of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Another masterpiece by
Garcia Marquez, this story as small and local as the previous story was large
and trans-national. A man is killed, and everyone knows it is going to happen,
though no one quite believes that it will. Whether or not the man earned his
murder is never entirely resolved. This novel gives some beautiful detailed
insight into the workings of small, provincial South American villages, and is
rife with characters and moments that seem lifted directly from real life
memories.
·
The Snows
of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories, by Ernest Hemingway. I read everything I
can get my hands on by Ernest Hemingway. The writer of the 20th
century, Hemingway brought immediacy, sadness, and hopefulness to all of his
characters and stories. Most of his stories end up as tragedies, but at least
you can say his protagonists tried.
·
The Two
Towers and The Return of the King by
J.R.R. Tolkien. I read these alongside Noah (he read Fellowship last year) and then watched the movie marathon with him.
Noah would read a portion, then I would read a portion (with the voices). It
was wonderful reading these books, which I have read dozens of times on my own,
with my 11 year old son. Getting to experience them with him for the first time
makes me remember what it was like for me when I first discovered this
treasure. Now I am reading them again with Ciara.
·
The
Cellist of Sarajevo, by Steven Galloway. A powerful novel about hope and
defiance in the midst of death and destruction. Set during the siege of
Sarajevo, most notable for the snipers in the surrounding mountains picking off
civilians who had no choice but to remain in the city. Galloway does an
excellent job portraying the mindset of people who become accustomed to this
life of random violence and murder, as they try to go about their daily routine
and provide for their families.
·
Patterns
of Recognition, by William Gibson. Gibson is best known for “Neuromancer”,
but this book likewise breaks new ground in science fiction writing. It is
focused on the present day or near future, and spins a tale around the ability
to discern and follow patterns established through various forms of media and
marketing. A thoroughly enjoyable book.
·
The
Skystone, by Jack Whyte. More fantastical history writing, this one
matching real events at the end of the Roman Empire with mythologised aspects
of the Arthurian legend. Great writing, exceptional characterisation, and some
quite disturbing/inspired ideas about what the end of an empire looks like, and
what it might take to carry on afterwards.
·
The Last
Light of the Sun, by Guy Gavriel Kay. More fantastical history. Huh, didn’t
realise I read so much of this genre. This is Kay’s bread and butter, stemming
from his great original work, “The Fionavar Tapestry”. This novel looks at the
historical invasions of the Norsemen into England, and the English push back
under the leadership of King Alfred. Except this history is not happening
within our reality, but another reality that has more obvious, though waning,
supernatural elements at play. As with all of Kay’s work, it’s actually a
really fun way to learn about history, and Kay is great at creating characters,
as well as writing truly scary or horror-filled scenes.
·
The
Serpent of Venice, by Christopher Moore. I guess this book could also be
characterised as fantastical history as well! It is a re-telling of the
Merchant of Venice, but in Moore’s characteristic chaotic and absurdist style.
It is very funny, though not as good as some of Moore’s other novels, (such as
“Lamb”), and readers should be warned that the story gets far bawdier than even
Shakespeare dared. (This novel is a sort of sequel to “Fool”.)
·
The Ball
and the Cross, by G.K. Chesterton. This is a really fun book, though likely
not everyone would agree. It tells the story of two men – one a materialistic
atheist, the other an ultra-traditional Catholic – who attempt to engage in a
duel to the death with one another in late-Victorian England. They are unable
to do so, because society conspires against their passions. It is Chesterton’s
critique of a world that sees nothing worth fighting or dying for, because
truth doesn’t really matter. This, he believes, is Satan’s strategy in the
world.
·
Zombies:
More Recent Dead, by Paula Guran. A series of zombie-related short-stories
by some excellent authors. It’s a little hit and miss, as you’d expect, but
some of the stories are really thought-provoking. One of my favourite stories
imagines a bunch of children, born zombies but protected under pro-life
legislation, who are carefully restrained but still educated and cared for by
the State. Another story examines our collective blood-lust for killing things
that are human-shaped, one of the long-standing tropes of zombie stories.
·
Nathan
Coulter, by Wendell Berry. If you haven’t read any of Wendell Berry’s
novels, you really, really should. They are all set in a fictional Kentucky
farming community, and tell stories of farms, farmers and farming. I know, that
doesn’t sound terribly interesting to anyone who grew up in the city, but
believe me, Berry makes you care deeply about the people inhabiting his
stories. Part of his genius is presenting this world as real, important, and
fading away. “Nathan Coulter” is actually the first of these novels, and tells
the story of Nathan Coulter as a child living an innocent and enviable life,
until his grandfather dies. This signals not just the end of Nathan’s
childhood, but also the end of an era.
·
A World
Lost, by Wendell Berry. More stories from Port William, this one focusing
on the murder of Uncle Andrew, and again the way the children in the community
had to come to terms with this and grow up in the midst of it. Berry creates
such real and dignified characters.
·
Watch
With Me, by Wendell Berry. A series of shorter stories from Port William,
spanning many generations. The best of them centre around the giant Tol
Proudfoot and his diminuitive wife, Miss Winnie. I know all this agrarian stuff
sounds boring to many, but it is truly fascinating and beautiful.
·
The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. I read this to the boys
over a few weeks at bed time, and they loved it. “My name…is Slartibartfast”
elicited the same belly laughter that it did for me when I first read this
story as a child. Wonderful, absurd stuff.
·
The
Beasts of New York, by Jonathan Evans (no relation). This book is a
thrilling squirrel-eye view of New York, particularly Central Park. There are
various kingdoms, terrible dangers, a heroic quest, a supernatural danger – but
all of it written with deadly seriousness and dignity. It is a really, really
fun book, a fairy tale for adults.
·
Pyramids,
by Terry Pratchett. One I read to the boys at night, this story parodies the
ancient culture of Egypt, as Pteppic the god-king tries to escape his destiny,
and bring his country kicking and screaming into the Century of the Fruitbat.
·
Blink of
the Screen, by Terry Pratchett. Some of Pratchett’s earlier and unpublished
short stories. Very good, but read more for the sake of completion than anything
else. It was very sad to learn of his death this year.
·
The
Unadulterated Cat, by Terry Pratchett. My friends Pete and Andrea Ward
brought me this book when they came to stay with us, because I had mentioned it
is one of the only Pratchett books I had not yet read. It is a tribute to the
wonders and frustrations of “real cats”, so defined because they bring home the
severed heads of their prey and refuse to be domesticated. We think Darth Meow
may be a “real cat.”
·
Small
Gods, by Terry Pratchett. One of Pratchett’s best, again read to the kids.
On the dangers of fundamentalism, the power of faith, and what it might
actually be like if God spoke to you.
·
Raising
Steam, by Terry Pratchett. The last few Pratchett books have been a little
uneven and scattered, which makes sense given his debilitating disease. This
book has moments of pure Pratchett, but takes an awfully long time getting to
where it wants to go. It also seems like Pratchett is began creating less
difficulties and perils for his favourite characters, to ensure that they
accomplished certain things before he, the author, passed away. That is
conjecture, of course, but it’s how I read it. Still a thoroughly enjoyable
tale about what a steam train system on the Discworld would be like.
·
Mrs.
Bradshaw’s Handbook, by Terry Pratchett. An accompanying book to “Raising
Steam”, this book is the fictional creation of Mrs. Bradshaw, an educated and
enthusiastic woman of a certain age who enjoys riding the rails and writing
about what she finds in each destination.
Theology (43):
·
Letters
to a Priest, by Simone Weil. A very direct and difficult series of
questions addressed by Simone Weil – a brilliant French-Jewish philosopher and
follower of Jesus – to a priest. The questions focused on aspects of the Bible
and the Catholic faith in particular that Weil could not find herself in
agreement with, or at least that troubled her mightily. One presumes she never
received satisfactory answers to all of these questions (she did die quite
young) as she never formally entered the Church. A great book to read if you
want to have your assumptions challenged, and at least are comfortable seeing
why some people hesitate to accept every Christian doctrine if they were not
immersed in the faith growing up.
·
The
Rivers North of the Future, by Ivan Illich. This is one of the best books I
read this year, or maybe any year. It is an interview of Illich near the end of
his life, and he covers most of the topics that he lived out and wrote about
over his remarkable career as a priest, a cross-cultural educator, an author,
and a radical. His basic premise is that the corruption of the best thing
actually has the tendency to become the worst thing. Thus, the corruption of
Christian love becomes terribly evil, and he demonstrates a number of areas in
which this is evidenced.
·
The
Ragman and Other Stories of Faith, by Walter Wangerin Jr. Wangerin Jr. is a
master wordsmith, incredibly gifted at making the mundane poetic. His stories
and illustrations are drawn from his own life or the life of his neighbourhood
and congregation, or else from the depths of his very vivid imagination. If you
have not read anything by him, I highly suggest that you do.
·
Mark,
by Larry Hurtado. A very good, and relatively straightforward, commentary on
the Gospel of Mark.
·
The
Gospel of Mark, by Ben Witherington III. A more complex and involved
commentary on Mark, with an attempt to provide bridges for modern application.
·
The
Subversion of Christianity, by Jacques Ellul. I don’t have enough space to
adequately talk about this book. Ellul looks at the grand story of
Christianity, and asks how it has become so far removed from the life and
teachings of Jesus. He then proceeds to show, historically, how and why it did
so. And he is very convincing. And he ends with hope. This is an essential book
to read.
·
From
Jesus to the Gospels, by Jeff Reed.
·
First
Century Church, by Jeff Reed.
·
Church-Based
Theological Education, by Jeff Reed. These three encyclicals from Jeff Reed
look at the need for Jesus-centered, Church-based theological and practical
education. It’s what we’ve been doing at The War College for 12 years or so.
·
Basics of
Biblical Greek, by William D. Mounce.
·
What’s in
a Name? by Michael Chung. Chung argues that the term “spiritual formation”
is inadequate, because biblical formation must include body, soul and spirit. A
better term, he suggests, would be “holistic formation.”
·
Christian
Formation in an Age of Whatever, by Susanne Johnson. This is about how to
balance orthopraxy, orthodoxy, and orthokardia in an age when hardly anyone
seems to care. I do like how she notes that spirituality and justice must be
utterly intertwined, and how she asserts that “the primary means for spiritual
formation is living closely and intimately in a community of believers who
themselves know well the Christian Story and who are deeply and actively
engaged in its practices.”
·
Spiritual
Formation as a Natural Part of Salvation, by Dallas Willard. Willard here
asks why spiritual formation is not understood today as a natural consequence
of salvation. It seems, he says, that we have emphasised the moment of
conversion to the exclusion of the process of discipleship into
Christ-likeness. We should not be looking for numbers in Church membership
terms, but for actual disciples who experience regeneration by the empowering
presence of the Spirit of God.
·
Spiritual
Formation in Christ, by Dallas Willard. Willard asks the question: “Why are
we not busy teaching people to obey everything that Jesus said?” This was the
command Jesus left to his disciples, and yet we hardly ever seem to do it. As a
response, here at 614 we are spending the next two years going through every
word and action of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, to make sure we hear everything
that Jesus commanded in that book at least.
·
On
Getting the Spirit Back into Spiritual Formation, by Gordon Fee. Fee looks
at the word “spirituality” as a corruption of actual Pauline thought on the
Spirit. There is no spirituality, no Christian life, without the new life of
the Spirit empowering. That IS salvation, having the Spirit.
·
Paul and
Spiritual Formation, by James Thompson. Thompson explores Paul’s vision of
spiritual formation, seeing it as a corporate journey whose end is placing
oneself, and one’s entire community, entirely at the disposal of God. Success
in this endeavour can only be determined “at the end”, with the Christ-likeness
of Churches. These communities of faith are meant to be cohesive moral
community that shine "like lights in the world" (Phil 2:15) because
of their distinct practices.
·
Spirit,
Community and Mission, by Richard Averbeck. Averbeck argues that three
things are necessary for a biblical view of spiritual formation: Holy Spirit works in the lives of those who
know Christ to conform them into the image of Christ, which is the will of the
Father; the Holy Spirit inhabits individuals and communities in order to
manifest his presence amongst us – we are his temple; Holy Spirit works through
those who are saved to prophetically reach into a dying and lost world.
·
The
Fruits of the Spirit, by Robert C. Roberts. Roberts identifies the Fruit of
the Spirit as the product of sustained interaction with God. Fruits are virtues,
things developed by action and intention combined with interaction with God. So
we do work, believe and worship, but this comes out of the relationship we have
with God, rather than the other way around.
·
Spiritual
Formation and the Gospel according to Mark, by Loren Stuckenbruck. Just
knowing that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God is not in and of itself
transformative. The gospel of Mark was meant to change the people who
encountered it into Christ-likeness. In particular, the image of the mighty
Jesus, the miracle-worker Jesus, is contrasted with the vulnerable Jesus, the
crucified Jesus. This contrast is meant to show later disciples what it looks
like to live cruciform lives. We participate imaginatively in the suffering and
death of Jesus, and can also see how the twelve disciples failed so
magnificently, giving us hope that we – though failures – might also learn to
follow Jesus.
·
Six
Themes to Guide Spiritual Formation According to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount,
by Klaus Issler. The six themes he identifies for Christian transformation are:
Inner heart Formation; Missional Participation; Scriptural Saturation;
Seeking/Loving/Depending on God above all else; Relational Attachment as Jesus’
Church; and Two Kingdom’s Discernment.
·
Scala
Claustralium by Guigo II. A twelfth century monastic book about a ladder to
heaven. Th four rungs of reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation will
lead us to the place of being able to give God the whole of our love.
·
Living
with God: A Trinitarian Understanding of Spiritual Formation, by Helen
Cepero. Cepero outlines how a Trinitarian understanding is necessary to
transformation. Knowing our Creator and Father, and how we are made in His
image, comes first. Knowing God as Saviour, and following Jesus’ pattern of
death, burial and resurrection comes next. And finally, knowing God as present
for our empowerment and discernment by the Holy Spirit completes the picture.
·
Maturing
in Christ, by Tom Schwanda. Schwanda asks how we can measure our progress
in spiritual maturity. Even the question
seems impertinent, but Schwanda maintains that this is not only
something we can do, but must do. Otherwise, how will we know that we are
growing in Christ-likeness? This process is fraught with peril, of course, but
to the degree that we are advancing in our ability to oppose the “bad thoughts”
that lead to sin, such as those enumerated by Evagrius, we know that we are
becoming more and more mature.
·
Reading
Living Water, by David Keller. Keller argues in this persuasive work that the
world is a problem we cannot fix because it is a world we created. We need
community and a renewed identity, a renewed consciousness. But how can we get
there using the tools that got us to this place? We need authentic human life,
but our surroundings are the very thing preventing this. Bonhoeffer said that
the vocation of every human being to discover how they already are. Therefore
our calling is to manifest the image of God in the way that we live, which can
only come about through discovering the manifest presence of God through
contemplation.
·
Re:Connect,
by Duncan Sherbino. This is a very basic workbook on spiritual formation, and
honestly it is not very good. There are numerous typos and mistakes, the points
made seem entirely obvious, and I don’t think it takes the human condition
anywhere near seriously enough.
·
Pornography
and Acedia, by Reinhard Hutter. Hutter’s excellent (and brief) work
illustrates how acedia, the temptation which causes us to despair of God’s
goodness, eventually may lead us to despising God’s creation, in particular
other humans. This contempt for humans, Hutter argues, can well be seen in the
proliferation of pornography, which substitutes the good (loving sexual
interaction – a gift from God) with compulsive pornographic voyeurism. We have
come, as a culture, to even treat this as normal. Really important reading.
·
Do This:
The Eucharist and Ecclesial Selfhood, by Mark Medley. This essay argues
that sacramental and liturgical practices are the central means by which the
ecclesial self is shaped. In worship, Christians "practice who they are
becoming." This essay engages and extends David Ford's thesis that
salvation comes by participating in worship and living worshipfully before God
with others. Ford argues that Christians are called to live eucharistically:
remembering, hoping, and loving in Jesus Christ. Through worship, habits and
character, the whole of life is formed.
·
Practicing
Theology on a Sunday Morning: Corporate Worship as Spiritual Formation, by H.
Wayne Johnson. The basic premise of this work is that as the Church prays,
worships, and publically reads Scripture, so it believes. If we wish to develop
an alternate Christian polis in the world, and a virtuous social ethic which
witnesses to the world, then we have to understand that our “corporate worship
is a social practice which embodies and shapes theology.” “Worship is
ritualized theology; theology is reflective worship.”
·
Signature
Sins, by Michael Mangis. This is a fantastic book that helps guide readers
to explore and combat their deeply-rooted “signature sins”. Combining
spirituality, psychology, monastic wisdom, and biblical exegesis, this book is
one of the most helpful descriptions of sin, its consequences, and its
treatment that I have read. Highly recommended.
·
Rereading
the Body Politic: Women and Violence in Judges 21, by Alice Bach. Judges 19-21 is one of the most horrific passages
of gendered violence in the Hebrew Bible, and we often skip by it, or
spiritualise it. What the male characters decide to do in this passage shows
clear evidence that they had lost or forsaken their capacity to discern good
from evil. And women, as per the norm in history, paid the penalty for this
evil in their own bodies. The sins of Israel lead to the death and dismemberment
of one woman, the slaughter of other women, and the agreed-upon kidnap and
rape/forced marriage of a whole host of other women. Let us remember that the
Lord himself identifies with the poor, the forsaken, the abused.
·
Death and
Dissymmetry: The Politics of Coherence in the Book of Judges, by Mieke Bal.
Bal’s goal in this book is to bring women’s stories and voices out of the
margins and the places of oppression in the narrative of Judges, and she does
this brilliantly. She argues that patriarchy, far from being an eternal
reality, is a cultural construct, one that is present in Judges but which is
also in tension in the book, as there are other voices to be heard.
·
On
Gendering Texts: Female & Male Voices in the Hebrew Bible, by A. Brenner and F. van Dijk-Hemmes. Are
we generally aware when we are hearing female voices in the Hebrew Bible? Not
just a character speaking, but maybe a whole passage that is coming from a
female perspective? Brenner and Dijk-Hemmes help us to navigate that
discussion, and open up new venues of interpretation by doing so.
·
The Role
of Women in the Book of Judges, by Robert Chisholm. Women are absolutely
central to the story of Judges. They are some of the only faithful characters
in Israel, and how they are treated, honoured or dishonoured is a mirror to the
nation’s moral standing.
·
Rape as a
Weapon of War, by the Global Justice Centre: Human Rights Through the Rule
of Law.
·
Achsah:
What Price this Prize? by Lillian Klein. Examines the story of Achash,
daughter of Caleb, being given as a prize of war at the beginning of Judges.
Paints her as not simply a prize, but an active agent in her own well-being.
·
From
Deborah to Esther: Sexual Politics in the Hebrew Bible, by Lillian Klein. An
extremely helpful look at the gendered role of sexual politics in the Hebrew
Bible.
·
Whispering
the Word: Hearing Women’s Stories in the Old Testament, by Jacqueline E Lapsley.
The story of women in the Bible is sometimes overt, but more often you have to
read between lines, to hear and understand what is not being said. This book
does a good job of highlighting the story of women in the Bible that we might
not be so attuned to hear.
·
Reading
Women’s Stories: Female Characters in the Hebrew Bible, by John Petersen.
Another look at the presence – almost the shocking presence at times – of women
as vital characters in the Hebrew narratives.
·
Feminist
Interpretation: The Bible in Women’s Perspective, by Luise Schottroff,
Sylvia Schroer, Marie-Theres Wacker. Most of the theology we read comes through
the lens of male interpreters. This book attempts to help redress the balance,
and offers a different perspective on the Hebrew Bible in particular. It is not
an easy read, and it does challenge some assumptions that we make about the way
Scripture is to be read, but it is certainly worth the effort.
·
Texts of
Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives, by Phylis Trible. Essential reading. This book takes on some passages of
Scripture that we tend to gloss over, or spiritualise, without realising how
horrific the events portrayed actually are. And in some of our explanations of
these passages we do even more damage. Trible deconstructs some of these
examples of exegesis, and suggests alternative readings that help square the
stories with a God who isn’t a monster.
·
Global
Report on Trafficking in Persons: Executive Summary, by the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime.
·
The Book
of Judges, by Barry Webb. A very detailed, chapter by chapter, and theme by
theme commentary and exegesis on the book of Judges, with special emphasis on
the Jephthah narrative.
·
The Book
of Judges, by Keith Bodner. Another Judges commentary by my professor,
Keith Bodner, which as far as I am aware is not yet in print. Again going
chapter by chapter, this commentary really helps to draw the lines and connect
the dots throughout the whole book, displaying the book as a narrative whole
that tells the entire story of Israel.
Graphic Novels (42)
·
Sledgehammer
44, by Mike Mignola. In the Hellboy universe, an armoured super-hero drops
into a World War 2 battlefield to fight the Nazis’ super-human villain, the
Black Flame. Sounds ridiculous, and of course it kind of is, but it’s still
facsinating to imagine this little side war going on alongside the other
struggles in the Second World War. Mignola always does a good job of
ingratiating his characters into actual world events, and then subtly changing
the history of the Universe.
·
The Book
of Revelation, by Dorff and Koelle. The perfect source material for a
graphic novel! This is really well done, captures the majesty, the
perseverance, the terror, and the joy of the book. And there are no
helicopters, so that’s a plus.
·
Powers:
Who Killed Retro Girl? By Bendis and Oeming. The first issue of this very
graphic Graphic Novel series. It imagines a police force dedicated to solving
crimes related to individuals with Powers. These crimes are either perpetrated
by the Powers, or against the Powers. An interesting look at a world dominated
by superhumans, often from the perspective of those who do not possess such
abilities.
·
Powers:
Sellouts, by Bendis and Oeming.
·
Powers:
Exposed, by Bendis and Oeming.
·
Black
Orchid, by Gaiman and McKean. An example of Gaiman taking an already
existing character and breathing new life into the series.
·
Neverwhere,
by Gaiman and Carey. A graphic re-telling of the “Neverwhere” novel. Everything
Gaiman writes is superb, but this might be one of my favourites. It is a story
born out of the names of the Underground stations, and it imagines a world just
beneath London that runs by an entirely different set of rules. Creepy,
touching, and incredibly fun.
·
The
Graveyard Book, Gaiman. I absolutely love this story about a boy – Bod –
whose parents are murdered for reasons unknown, and through an unlikely set of
circumstances ends up being adopted and raised in a graveyard, by ghosts and
ghouls and other creatures. Filled with short adventures set against the larger
narrative, this story allows Gaiman to really stretch his imaginative and
macabre wings. The Graphic version, which I read this year, does great justice
to the book.
·
Death:
The Time of Your Life, by Neil Gaiman. An addition to the Sandman world,
this story focuses on the character of Death, one of the more intriguing of
Gaiman’s creations. Death is the only one of the “Endless” who seems to
understand and care for humanity. She does her job with efficiency, but she
also displays compassion. It is an interesting take on what I would describe as
death transformed by love, though not quite as fully as has happened in the
Christian world-view.
·
Sandman:
World’s End, by Gaiman.
·
Sandman:
The Kindly Ones, by Gaiman.
·
Sandman:
The Wake, by Gaiman.
·
Sandman:
The Dream Hunters, by Gaiman.
·
Sandman:
Prelude and Nocturne, by Gaiman
·
Sandman:
Dream Country, by Gaiman. The Sandman series is, I believe, the greatest
Graphic Novel series ever. As one of the forewords says, if this is not art,
then I don’t know what art is. The story is powerfully moving, frightening,
funny, and sad. The depth of insight into humanity and how we deal with change,
with love, with fear, with desire, and with death is profound. These books
should all be read, in order if possible.
·
The Last
Temptation, by Gaiman. Really bizarre tale of a macabre circus that shows
up in a town every few years to lure children away, starring a fictionalised
version of Alice Cooper (who wrote an album to accompany the story.)
·
The
Sleeper and the Spindle, by Gaiman. A re-imagining of the Sleeping Beauty
fairytale, with the Queen of a neighbouring nation as the heroine. Beautifully
told and illustrated.
·
1602,
by Gaiman. Someone thought: What if all the Marvel heroes and villains first
came on the scene at the start of the 17th century, in Europe? And
what if Neil Gaiman wrote that story? The result is very, very good.
·
The Light
Fantastic and the Colour of Magic, by Pratchett. A Graphic Novel re-telling
of Pratchett’s first two books in the Discworld series. Very well done.
·
Shazam:
Origins – a re-boot of the classic Shazam comic book character from DC.
Shazam has generally been a pretty good foil for looking at the use and abuse
of power, and this version picks up the same issues.
·
X-Men:
Tomorrow Never Learns. After the death of Professor X, Wolverine sets up
the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning, in order to carry on his work. Many of
the old X-Men are recruited as teachers, and Wolverine is the headmaster. Of
course the school isn’t left alone by all of their enemies, and the faculty
have to figure out how to educate the students while also keeping them alive.
·
Jerusalem:
A Family Portrait, by Yakin and Bertozzi. A Graphic telling of one family’s
involvement in the decades-long fighting over Jerusalem. Gritty, realistic, and
terribly depressing, but beautifully wrought.
·
The
Authority: Human on the Inside. This Graphic series acknowledges that if
there were a group of super-powered meta-humans who could basically do whatever
they wanted, it is likely that they would, in fact, do whatever they wanted. At
various times in this series the UN or other world groups denounce the actions
of The Authority, but they really don’t care. They are above worldly
authorities, and act as they see fit. All for the greater good, right?
·
The
Authority: Relentless
·
Before
Watchmen: Ozymandias and The Crimson Corsair. I understand that a new tv
series is being made out of these “Before Watchmen” titles. It could be good,
but the source material is nowhere near to being as good as “Watchmen”. Still,
it is always fun to dig into the back stories of these characters.
·
Echo,
by Terry Moore. Really well done, which is no surprise as Moore is a first-rate
story teller. This Graphic novel is about a young woman who witnesses a
military test of another woman flying in a battlesuit. The test pilot is
destroyed, but the suit, made of a liquid metal, rains down in pellets on her
and attaches to her body, only covering it partially. The suit begins to change
the woman and give her extraordinary powers, which seem linked to her emotional
state and to those for whom she has empathy. The military, obviously, want the
suit back. A good read.
·
30 Days
of Night, by Niks and Templesmith. A new take on the old vampire genre. Why
haven’t vampires thought of this before? There are places in the world that
don’t see the sun for up to 30 days in the winter. So a whole troupe of
vampires head up to Alaska to wreak havoc. This leads to the uncovering of the
existence of vampires in the world, which of course leads to all sorts of other
problems.
·
500 Years
of Resistance, by Gord Hill. A Graphic novel detailing 500 years of
Aboriginal resistance to Colonial Imperialism. A very helpful re-framing of
history.
·
The
Anti-Capitalist Resistance Book, by Gord Hill. A similar work, looking at
the anti-capitalistic resistance movements all around the world, and what they
are up against.
·
Army of
God: Joseph Kony’s War in Central Africa, by David Axe and Tim Hamilton. I
know everyone got all Kony’d out a few years back, but this is a
well-researched and carefully illustrated look into the atrocities he
committed. Hard to read, for sure.
·
A Chinese
Life, by Li Kunwu. The story of Li Kunwu as he lived it in China before,
during, and after the Revolution. A fascinating glimpse into a life lived under
conditions and within culture that we find difficult to imagine in the West,
but really need to come to understand. It is essential that we grasp how this
culture has been formed not with the same assumptions as we generally have in
the West. Li does not claim to speak on behalf of China, just on behalf of
himself, but he does open a door for understanding. His story is brave,
heart-breaking, confusing, adventurous, and hopeful.
·
Danger
Club, by Image. A whole bunch of great superheroes face off against what
they believe to be an alien attack. They never come back, and presumably all
die. Now only their teenaged sidekicks are left to fight for the world. What is
a teenager to do? Save the world? Fight his/her parents? Sulk and listen to bad
music?
·
Ash and
the Army of Darkness, by Steve Niles. I have loved The Evil Dead and Army
of Darkness movies, musicals, books, and whatever else they come out with since
high school. This Graphic novel throws Ash back into the world of the Army of
Darkness, where once again his inability to properly remember words dooms the
world to enslavement. Unless he can somehow, someway, use the chainsaw attached
to his arm to defeat the forces of evil.
·
Saga 1-4,
by Brian Vaughn and Fiona Staples. A new Graphic novel series which, again, is
quite graphic – not for kids in other words – but excellently told and
illustrated. It is the epic story of two people from warring races who find one
another, have a child, and are on the run from the rest of the galaxy. Very
interested to see where this story goes in the future.
·
Prophet
1-3, by Brandon Graham. A very bizarre series, one that drops you right
into the middle of a story that you don’t know any of the background for. It
demands a lot of you, and often you really don’t know what’s going on. But if
you persist, you start to grasp the main story, and see that it is about
empire, genocide, and survival.
·
Mother
Teresa, by Lewis Helfland. A Graphic novel about Mother Teresa’s life. This
medium is capable of telling beautiful stories that do not rely on chase
scenes, superpowers, and stuff blowing up. Sadly, this particular Graphic novel
is a very poor example of this. It seems like this is an attempt to help with
Mother Teresa’s sainthood (something that Pope Francis has just greenlit), but
it results in a very poor telling of her story.
·
La Lucha,
by Jon Sack. The true story of Lucha Castro, “a front-line human rights
defender fighting murderous impunity in the Mexican borderlands.” Set in the Mexican border state of Chihuahua,
a place of drug cartels, horrific violence, disappearances, and government
corruption. La Lucha, her family, and others fight a desperate war to shed
light on this evil, and secure justice for those who have bene brutalised. This
is a story of impossibly brave resistance in the face of the most egregious
injustices.
Poetry (2)
·
Tears of
Silence, by Jean Vanier. A beautiful, long poem about pain and hope,
accompanied by photographs of people. It is from early on in Vanier’s life and
work. Here is a sample: “In each of us there is a need to live / but also /
there are those seeds of death / no will to live / no desire to get up in the
morning / never able to sleep…always wanting to sleep…. / but never sleeping /
always down / and criticizing / no zest or energy /
just-every-day-doing-what-i-must / with no zing / or laughter.” It isn’t all
depressing, of course, but it does capture the silent pain of modern life with
deft accuracy.
·
Time
Without Number, by Daniel Berrigan. Daniel Berrigan, along with his brother
Philip, is a Jesuit priest, a war resister, and a poet. “Time Without Number”
was Berrigan’s first collection of poetry. There is a great deal of nature
imagery, along with liturgical and paschal imagery, in the poems. It is more
reflective, more philosophical and perhaps mystical than his later writings and
actions. These poems almost feel like the calm before the storm in Berrigan’s
life.
Non-Fiction (10)
·
Bringing
it to the Table, by Wendell Berry. This is a remarkable and yet simple book
about mindful eating. Where does our food come from? What does it take to get
it to our table? Why is that important to know? Are there good ways and bad
ways for this to happen? Berry addresses all of this with his inimitable style,
and tells wonderful stories about fascinating people we otherwise would never
hear about.
·
Mohawk
Saint, by Allan Greer. A helpful biography of the life of Kateri
Takakwitha, a young 17th century Mohawk woman who was the first First Nations
person proposed for sainthood in the Catholic Church. The book tells her story,
but from the perspective of the two Jesuit missionaries who most actively
campaigned for her sainthood. Greer is very aware that this is not a full
representation of Takakwitha, as her voice is never truly heard. Thus, it is in
some senses more a story about the interaction between the Mohawk people and
the Jesuit newcomers.
·
Vancouver
is Ashes, by Lisa Anne Smith. A recounting of the people and areas affected
by the Great Fire of 1886 in Vancouver which essentially destroyed the
fledgling town. I love Vancouver history, and this was very well done.
·
Photographs,
by Fred Herzog. Old photographs of Vancouver are some of my favourite things in
the world. Herzog’s books are not exclusively set in Vancouver, but many of
them are, and they hail from the 1960’s and 70’s, mostly. Beautiful capturing
of the city.
·
Vancouver:
Stories of a City, by Lisa Smedman. This book is essentially the stories of
how Vancouver streets and neighbourhoods were developed and got their current
names. Vancouver has a pretty sad history, particularly when it comes to
land-grabbing and speculating. Most of the street names in the downtown come from
individuals who cared almost nothing for the place, except for how much they
could earn by owning and flipping lots. Not much has changed.
·
Would You
Baptize an Extraterrestrial? by Guy Consalmagno and Paul Mueller. This is a
great book, written as a dialogue between two Vatican Astronomers, who take on
questions of faith and science such as: what really happened with Galileo; why
Pluto is no longer a planet; what was the star of Bethlehem; can the Creation
account square with the Big Bang; and how the universe will end. They approach
both faith and science with deep honesty, wit, and intelligence.
·
Lament
for a Nation, by George Grant. Grant is my favourite philosopher, and this
is his best known work. In this lament, Grant argues that Canada is – or was –
something different than both the UK and the USA, and was worth preserving.
Sadly, Canadian politics and culture became entirely co-opted by the America
Empire in the 1960’s (most notably when Canada agreed to have American nuclear
weapons on Canadian soil). The slow descent into Americanism has been
inevitable ever since, as perhaps it always was. Grant says this is something
that we should lament.
·
Rumours
of Glory, by Bruce Cockburn. A long auto-biography of Cockburn’s unique
life and music. This is in part the story of Canada since the 1960’s, at least
the leftist scene in Canada. Cockburn wrestles throughout his life and
throughout this book with relationships, faith, political, military and
economic oppression, environmental degradation, and an inability to know or
express his own emotions and needs. Interestingly, I personally know two of the
people he talks about in his auto-biography, and have met and spoken with a
third. I think the book is pretty flaky in parts, and I don’t agree with
everything Cockburn writes, especially about faith, but I believe he is being
very honest and vulnerable, and his music is an important part of Canadian
culture.
· Acedia
and Me, by Kathleen Norris. An excellent book by author and poet Kathleen
Norris, about a tragically misunderstood or completely ignored issue: acedia.
Acedia was at one time considered a particular temptation or “bad thought” for
monks. It was a combination of melancholy, boredom, sloth and the need to find
diversion instead of pursuing the spiritual work that would bring true
satisfaction. Later theologians came to see that acedia affected more than just
monks, but it did not make the “Seven deadly sins” cut, being whittled down to
simply sloth. Norris displays great research in tracing the thinking on acedia
through the ages, and also shows how acedia has affected her own life and
marriage. Acedia is related to depression, but is not the same thing, and
likely will not be opposed only with prescribed medication. Norris talks about
the importance of the Psalms in her journey, and gives other very helpful
suggestions.
· Uncle
John’s Bathroom Reader. Something to read in the bathroom. Random facts and
interesting stories.
Scripture (11) (books studied and/or read
repetitively this year)
·
Judges
·
Psalms
·
Matthew
·
Mark
·
Acts
·
Colossians
·
1, 2, 3 John
·
Jude
·
Revelation
