My reading journal - June 2008

The Cloister Walk - Kathleen Norris (audiobook) - A series of reflections on living in a monastic community. Illuminating of showing how monks and nuns really live in community, humanizing them without romanticizing their lifestyles.

The Shadow and Night - Chris Walley - A rarity, theologically based science fiction that is really well done. A worthy successor to the legacy of Lewis and Tolkien. For a change, a novel (first of a trilogy) based on a Postmillenial eschatology rather than Premillenial, in a world get ten thousand years in the future whose peace is interrupted by the reemergence of evil. Strong characters and a unique take on the good vs. evil genre, done with imagination and foreshadowing an ultimate Armegeddon.

The God Factor - Cathleen Falsani - A series of interviews with famous people from all over the faith (and no faith) spectrum on their views of God, religion, and how spirituality affects their lives. Some interviews were touching (with the genuine Christians), some interviews with seekers were interesting, some interviews with obvious deluded self-satisifed people (like Hugh Hefner) were kind of amusing. Still, Ms. Falsani proves her self a skilled and sensitive interviewer throughout.