VT Christian Reading Challenge discussion

Hello all! Moving quickly towards summer. We’ve had a really cold, wet May, so warmer weather would be a blessing! Do y’all keep it light and easy or try to tackle harder reads in summer?

I still have Church History in Plain Language to finish. I really like his laid back style. I feel it allows me to glimpse into the past without feeling overwhelmed. It still might take a little to finish!

I also started What You Are Looking For is in the Library because it was my library’s featured book and I liked the cover. I’m looking to finish that.

I’m also hoping to read a book of poetry and a humorous book, although my first attempt at a humorous book didn’t work out. So any suggestions are welcome!


How about you guys? What’s on your list?

I need to get that book you're reading about church history!!! That sounds like just what I need. But I have so many other books to read right now, I don't think I can fit it in. Maybe next year?

Christian books I'm reading:
On the Incarnation, by Athanasius (written a few years before the Council of Nicea)
The Lord, by Romano Guardini - just starting with a new Discord theology group.
Strange Fire, by John MacArthur (he's a cessationist)
Beautiful on the Mountain, by Jeannie Light (memoir)
The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis (devotional)
(Note: none of these represent my personal theological choices; I'm nondenominational and like to read from a variety of viewpoints.)

Also, Van Gogh was Christian.........
Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

And this seems very Christian also..
Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo

For June on the Range (a Booktube thing where we read westerns):
Flint, by Louis L'Amour
The Ox-Bow Incident, by Walter Van Tilburg Clark

I'm co-hosting the Booktube Summer of Sport event!
Here's what I'm reading for that, in June:
Swimming Pretty, by Vicki Valosik (a history of synchronized swimming)

I have a random assortment. I am not sure if I have anything overly weighty this year.

John Chrysostom by Earl M Blackburn for church history was just finished.

Abortion by R C Sproul is a weighty topic but a short book.
Inside Scientology by Janet Reitman for a belief I do not agree with.
Has Populism Won by Daniel Drache and Black Like Who? by Rinaldo Walcott from Hoopla as a bonus borrow and will figure out a place for them.
On Priesthood by John Chrysostom for on preaching.
John Adams by Janet Benge for a biography.

*=currently reading
✔=finished this month
_=plan to read/start this month

* A book your pastor recommends: 4 Chair Discipling by Dan Slade
✔ A book about theology: Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger
✔ A book targeted at the other gender: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
✔ A book about spiritual disciplines: Driving as a Spiritual Discipline by Robert Nelson
✔ A book about writing: Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark
✔ A book about evangelism: The Master Plan for Evangelism by Robert E. Coleman
_ A book with a one-word title: Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg
✔ A book by John Piper: The Wounded Christian

Happy July. We are half way through and I am sitting pretty at 68 of the 104....eventually, I will update the list.

Best: The Savior's Book Cafe Story in Another World by Kyouka Izumi. A cute Isekai romance story about a 30-something woman who is sent to a new world to save it and she askes to run a book cafe in the woods.

Worse: Sweep of Stars by Maurice Broaddus. Africans leave earth and settle in space to combat racism through racism.... it had cool governmental and relationship tension but the overwhelming racism destroyed my enjoyment.

Surprise: Pick the Plot by James Riley. Book 4 in Story Thieves where the format is a choose your own adventure. I listen to this and I was surprised at how well the audio format suited the choosing your own adventure style.

I’m halfway through Bullies and Saints. Really interesting walk through church history.

My reading in June was dominated by a Booktube event called "June on the Range" - for reading Western novels. Great fun; I read six of them.

Best: True Grit, by Charles Portis - A 14 year old girl seeks to avenge her father's murder by hiring a man with "true grit" to hunt down the murderer and bring him to justice. I followed this up by watching both movies... 1969 with John Wayne, and 2010 with Jeff Bridges. The girl in the leading role is a Christian and there were a few Christian references, but it was mainly a Western. - ★★★★★

Worst: Flint, by Louis L'Amour - I was disappointed by this one as it meandered a bit and had too much violence. - ★★★

Surprise: The Diezmo, by Rick Bass - I never had heard of Rick Bass before and decided to find an audiobook of one of his novels. This is what I got and I was surprised that it was well written and fictionalized an event in history I'd never before been aware of - the capture of about 200 Texan soldiers, mainly teenagers, in 1842. They were marched to Mexico City for forced labor, then incarcerated in Perote Prison. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed reading this and how emotionally involved I got with their plight. - ★★★★★

Other books I finished in June:
Trekking Memoir - Lost on Purpose: Adventures of a 21st Century Mountain Man, by Patrick Taylor - ★★★★★
Christian Memoir - Beautiful on the Mountain, by Jeannie Light - ★★★★★
Western Classic Fiction - O Pioneers!, by Willa Cather - ★★★★★
Western Classic Fiction - To the Last Man, by Zane Grey - ★★★★★
Western Classic Fiction - The Ox-Bow Incident, by Walter Van Tilburg Clark - ★★★★