Fall Semester Reading

This semester I didn't have much time for reading books other than my microbiology textbook, but I did get a few fun books read over breaks, long weekends, and those moments when I needed an escape from reality.

• Bossypants by Tina Fey: A humorous autobiography filled with Tina's unique comedy from the very beginning. Example: "[I have] straight Greek eyebrows. They start at the hairline at my temple and, left unchecked, will grow straight across my face and onto yours."  She talks candidly about the scar on her face, her relationship with her dad, how her husband hates flying, parenting struggles, and the inside of the SNL set.  While reading this book I burst our laughing many times, looking around to make sure no one was around to give me the stink eye for interrupting the silence.  There were also times where I had to read a sentence or paragraph a couple times before I got the point that she was trying to make a joke, her comedy did not always translate to the written word, but all in all it was a funny, lighthearted book.

• The Gospel According to Starbucks: Living with a Grande Passion by Leonard Sweet: This book discusses the success of Starbucks and how their philosophies can be applied to churches.  He goes through every dimension of Starbucks and translates it to how it would work in churches.  He focuses EPIC, 4 elements imperative for a good church: Experiential, Participatory, Image-Rich, and Connective.  There are many good points brought up in this book, some even inspiring, but the Starbucks analogy to the church got pretty old pretty fast.  The book was also littered with quotes and short stories about coffee in boxes on most of the pages that interrupted the flow of the book.  This book is worth a glance through, but not one I would recommend reading cover to cover.

• Bed and Board: Plain Talk About Marriage  by Robert Farrar Capon:  This book was published in 1965 by and Episcopalian Priest.  I read it because Tyler Blanski used it as one of his references in Mud and Poetry, one book I read this summer.  In this book Robert talks about the institution of marriage, the problems and joys of it and how to do better.  He uses some beautiful language especially when talking about the family, how each family is its own community and has its own liturgy.  There are some wonderful gems to be found ind this book like: "My wife is not my destiny, and she cannot stand being treated as if she were."  He talks a lot about grace and how we all need to slow down and pay attention to the beauty of life.  There are some times when he lost me, I think this mostly because I read it in 2011 and it was written in the early 1960's, so there is some cultural context I don't understand.  Other than that I really enjoyed the book and thought Robert shared a lot of wisdom.