Look At Your Books, X-ray Your Soul
October 21, 2006 11:19 am
You know I love books. I’m crazy about them. I buy books I know I can’t read right away, and I start books I know I won’t be able to finish. At any given time, I in the middle of several books. I love the feel of a book, the gentle firm weight in the hands. I even love the smell of books. Strange but true.
Dr. Al Mohler blogged recently about the window that books provide into our souls. He quoted one Jay Parini, from The Chronicle of Higher Education:
What interests me about other people’s books is the nature of their collection. A personal library is an X-ray of the owner’s soul. It offers keys to a particular temperament, an intellectual disposition, a way of being in the world. Even how the books are arranged on the shelves deserves notice, even reflection.
What do your books say about you? More than a year ago, I asked: what books are on your bedside table? I’m still interested to learn what my peeps are reading. What’s current for you? Here’s what is on (or in) my bedside table:
- The Bible, English Standard Version. Currently in Daniel, Psalms, and 2 Thessalonians.
- A Guide To Prayer, by Isaac Watts. Because praying is a gift I want to grow in.
- Temptation and Sin, by John Owen. My men’s group is going through this.
- Spurgeon vs. Hyper-Calvinism, by Iain Murray. For a little historical perspective.
- The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership, by Steve Sample. Another take on leadership.
- Slave of Christ, by Murray Harris. I haven’t actually started this, but it is in my bedside table. I want to learn more about how we are “moveable property in the hands of God.”
- Persuasion, by Jane Austen. Nicole and I read to each other for fun. We finished Ivanhoe, so we’re trying a little Austen.
- Golf My Way, by Jack Nicklaus. Let’s be clear: I’ll never golf Nicklaus’s way, but it’s fun to learn from the master.
- Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan. To learn more about this Christian life.
So: what’s on your bedside table and why?
8 Responses to “Look At Your Books, X-ray Your Soul”
I can definitely agree with liking books!
Right now, I’m reading:
the Bible, For the Love of God pt. 1, Bible Doctrine, Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Systematic Theology, Church History (though I haven’t picked it up to read it in about a year!), and (does this count?) assorted school books (science, How to Think Like a Computer Scientist, plus whatever literature book I happen to be reading), and then for pleasure, I’m reading Honor Untarnished, a WWII book.
I think that’s more than Mr. Whitacre!!!
I’m currenty reading…
Bible - 2 Kings and Psalms and various Pauline letters
Twelve Extraordinary Women - going through it with my mom and sister
Don’t Waste Your Life - my current “good book”
The Hunt for Red October - just for fun
Bible Doctrine - for Bible Doctrine class
just before i sat down at the computer i finished A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Thirteenth, The End - just for fun
that’s not all i read, though, i pick up various other short story anthologies, novels, books of poetry, magazines and cereal boxes in between times.
Great question Steve! I love to hear about what other people are reading! This is what I’m reading:
The Bible
Tell the Truth by Will Metzger
Bible Doctrine by Wayne Grudem
What Jesus Demands of the World by John Piper
Grow in Grace by Sinclair Ferguson
Holiness of God by RC Sproul
Valley of Vision
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
I\’m reading:
The Bible
The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges
Chosen by God by RC Sproul
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Trusting God by Jerry Bridges
Advice for Seekers by Charles Spurgeon
Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley
1776 by David McCullough
I’m reading:
The Bible (Jeremiah and 1 Timothy)
Bible Doctrine
The Valley of Vision
Various text books
How to Think Like a Computer Scientist
The Penultimate Peril (book 12 in the Unfortunate Events series)
Religions of Mesoamerica ( for a research paper)
Don’t Waste Your Life
I also read WORLD magazine issues each week, and, like Mo said, pick up any random cereal box that happens to be in front of me at breakfast! Ingredients lists can be fascinating! (JK)
I am reading:
Bible
Desiring God
Girl Talk
Valley of Vision (don’t really read through it, just pick a prayer)
New Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (just pick it up whenever)
Eats, Shoots and Leaves
For school:
Manual of Christian Doctrine
God and Government
American History
American Literature
Martin Luther (book report)
Captain Blood (the man’s name is Peter Blood, and it’s for a book report)
I also read WORLD, various Christian blogs (like this one!), magazine lying around (like Bon Apetite and Cooking Light), and cereal boxes (sometimes the back stays on for months or years and gets really boring).
Does anyone know of a good book refuting the apocraphy (sp?)? I want to do a research paper on it, but do not know any books on it.
You mean the Apocrypha? (as in the additional books in the Catholic Bible?) We have a version of the Apocrypha that has refuting footnotes all throughout it, but I can’t remember what it’s called! It’s very interesting, though.
I realized that it was apocrypha and not apocryphy. Yes, I mean the additional books in the Catholic Bible.
Care to comment?