Playing Catch Up

It seems like I'm always behind on my reading. Instead of picking up the latest books upon release, I'm always a couple of years behind. It's been like this since 1979-ish. So, doing book reviews on what I've just finished reading seems to be as outdated as Shep Smith doing a report on the Invasion of Grenada.

Despite the fact you've read these and have moved on with your life, here is my take on the last 5 books.

1. Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription; William F. Buckley
Selections from Buckley's column in National Review entitled 'Notes and Asides'. The column was for unorthodox correspondents to NR, and Buckley's unique responses to them. Sort of a 'Best of" format, divided into decades, it offers a glimpse into Buckley's sense of humor and amazing command of the English language.

2. Love is the Killer App; Tim Sanders
Sanders started at Mark Cuban's Broadcast.com, which later was bought by Yahoo!. He's now the Chief Solutions Officer for Yahoo. The premise here is that in the new business world, your methodology of doing business has to move beyond the command and control mentality. Sanders suggest that you become a 'lovecat'. Lovecats share their knowledge, their network and their intangibles freely in order to influence friends and develop relationships. So, OK. I'm all about sharing knowledge that I gain (just ask me!). And I spread my intangibles like swine flu. I'm not so good at networking. So, yeah there were things that I found useful. But all in all it seemed better fit for a series of blog posts, a keynote speech, or magazine article, not an entire book.

3. The Shack; William Young
I dunno. I'm not a huge fan of 'Christian' Fiction. The story is rather predictable. At best, the teaching is a giant waste of time. At worst, it's heresy. Want a good book about the nature of God that isn't say, the Bible? Read The Divine Romance by Gene Edwards. I find it hard to believe the number of believers that say this book changed their life. The explanation of the Trinity had the depth of Wednesday Night Bible Study from the Associate Youth Pastor. "The Spirit is like, this beautiful Asian woman, who is mysterious, and like Jesus, he's a bud you just want to hang out with you know? and God? Dude, He's like Naman's mom on 'The Jerk'....." . Include me out.

4. Blue Like Jazz; Donald Miller
How is it I'm just now reading this? While Miller and I would disagree on finer points of faith, I believe, I'm right there with him on the day to day implications of faith. Don't be scared because he's a social liberal or doesn't talk like he's straight out of the Evangelical Ghetto. Read it if you haven't.

5. Team of Rivals; Dorris Kearns Goodwin
Lincoln was a man of character. He also was a shrewd politician. He named his rivals for the Republican nomination to his cabinet. Good book, about a great man. It's hard to read about Lincoln (or Adams, Jefferson, et al) for an hour and then turn on the TV and listen to the crap-for-brains opportunist that pass for Statesmen today.

Current List? Gospel of Matthew again, The God Who is There, and some novel V read.
On-Deck? Tolstoy's Death of Ivan Illich