I suppose keeping a blog already hints that one has to have a pretty inflated ego to think that others may be interested in what I am writing. It seems I am only adding to that suspicion by offering a list of books that I read last year by further assuming you may be interested. Nonetheless it is part of my job as a pastor to read and any reader likes to share with others good books as well as not so good books.

I have finally finished my list from last year and post it for you to mull over. I confess up front, not every book I read was, in my limited opinion, a good book. Some books listed, like “Walden” I have re-read (and in that particular case, I have re-read “Walden” many times. Some books are new releases, like “South of Broad” (which I did not particularly care for. I am not sure what is going on with Pat Conroy) and others are old classics, such as “The Wilderness World of John Muir.”

I will be happy to dialogue with anyone interested concerning any of the books listed.

Non-Fiction

Unpacking Boxes, by Donald Hall

Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflection on Mortality, by Pauline W. Chen

The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality, by Tenzin Gyatso

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig

The Book of Dead Philosophers, by Simon Critchley

Brother to a Dragonfly, by Will Campbell

Walden, Henry David Thoreau

The Wilderness World of John Muir, by John Muir and Edwin Way Teale

1776, David McCullough

Essays

Eagle Pond, by Donald Hall

Poetry

Leavings, Wendell Berry

Spirituality

The Asian Journals of Thomas Merton, by Thomas Merton

Thoughts in Solitude, by Thomas Merton

Theology

Questions to all Your Answers: The Journey from Folk Religion to Examined Faith, by Roger E. Olson

Biblical Studies

Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts, by John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed

Fiction

Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse

Ahab’s Wife: Or the Stargazer, by Sena Jeter Naslund

Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpi Lahiri

Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger

Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe

Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson

Everything that Rises Must Converge, by Flannery O’Connor

South of Broad, by Pat Conroy

Pastoral Care

The Couple Checkup, by David H. Olson. I actually read this book in 2008 but forgot to put it on the list.