Reading List Update

Last year I didn’t complete my Reading List and so to encourage me to finish it this year I’m going to post an update on the 1st of every month with my progress.

Finished

In January, I finished the following books:

The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis
The Great Divorce – C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity– C.S. Lewis
Problem of Pain – C.S. Lewis
The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks – Penguin Classics

As you can see, it was a lot of C.S. Lewis this last month. I had read The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce before but it was really nice to go through them again and rediscovering their deep spiritual insights. I found the Problem of Pain quite hard going, but Mere Christianity was a sheer delight to read, full of wit and wisdom.

The Desert Fathers was a really interesting read and something of a mixed bag. Some of the sayings were pure gold and others were just rather “meh”. I’ve decided that for Lent this year I am going to post a different “Saying” for each of the forty days.

Work In Progress

This month I also began several books which I’m still in the process of reading:

Every Man’s Journey – James P. Campbell
Hold Me Tight – Dr. Sue Johnson
Confessions – St. Augustine

It took me a little while to get into St. Augustine’s Confessions but I think I’m in a nice rhythm now and I’m getting used to the way he writes. Every Man’s Journey is proving to be a rather light devotional book, but it’s a nice way to begin each day at work. I’m still fairly early on in Hold Me Tight, but the content is interesting and I’m pretty certain that it’ll inspire a blog post or two in the future.

In addition to these books, I still have two books which I’m still working on from last year:

After Jesus – Readers Digest
Jesus of Nazareth – Pope Benedict XVI

I tend to read a few pages of After Jesus each night before I go to sleep, so I imagine it’ll be a month or two before it’s finished. I’ve rather stalled on Jesus of Nazareth – I need a good clear weekend and a good pot of tea to finish it.

Staring at me from my bookshelf

That leaves the following books still unread:

Rediscover Catholicism – Matthew Kelly
Jesus Among Other Gods – Ravi Zacharias
Philosophy For Dummies – Thomas Morris
The Path of Life – Cyprian Smith OSB
Introduction to the Devout Life – St. Francis de Sales
Immitation of Christ – Thomas à Kempis
Everlasting Man – G.K. Chesterton

I accidentally gave the incorrect address to Amazon and so Introduction to the Devout Life and Immitation of Christ ended up on the wrong side of the country, but they should be here in a week or two 🙂