Books, books, books

This is not a travel related post. This is more of a wrapping up the past 6 months.

I'm a reader. I have always been a reader (correction: I became a reader at a young age, after I got my first pair of glasses, prior to that I hated reading). This fall, I've read more books than usual, and I thought I'd pass some recommendations on to you (whoever you are).

In the interesting, social science/adolescent section:
- A Return to Modesty, Wendy Shalit: interesting argument for modesty given from a secular perspective. I had not contemplated modesty from a non-spiritual perspective.
- The Price of Privilege, Madeline Levine: a book written for parents about how affluence can negatively affect the development of adolescents and what we should do about it.
- Soul Searching, Christian Smith: a sociological study on adolescents and religion. Packed with research and data and with some very helpful conclusions.

In the spiritual formation section:
- The Radical Disciple, John Stott: it's his last written work, and outlines 8 often neglected aspects of discipleship. I recommend it because it is very simple yet packed with scriptural support and real-life examples.
- Crazy Love, Francis Chan: I had read it before, so it's kind of cheating to put it here, but his direct writing was an excellent resource for my curriculum.
Wide Awake, Erwin McMannus: a great book about god-given dreams (like, the purpose/calling type) from the pastor of Mosaic in LA.
- Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places and Eat This Book, Eugene Peterson: Peterson unpacks scripture and its relation to our everyday lives in a deep yet very practical way. Christ Plays... is the most life-changing book I have read in a long time.
- Ragamuffin Gospel and Abba's Child, Brennan Manning: I had never really gotten into Brennan Manning much, but in the past 2 years I have returned to him several times. He and I differ in how we see the world (I think) and so it has been great for me to learn from his perspective.

In the random section:
- The Unlikely Disciple, Kevin Roose: I just finished this book by a Brown student who spent a "semester abroad" at Liberty University. I really liked it. He gave a very fair portrayal of conservative Christianity. It wasn't what I was expecting when I picked it up.

I'm sure I'm missing some here, but this is a good start, I think.