Four more books in June. That puts me at twenty-three for the year. And I have twenty-nine to read by December 31. No problem.
I could have capitalized a little more in June; my reading was light. Oh, well.
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
- The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
- The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
I really enjoyed Life of Pi. It is the story of a young Indian boy, Pi Patel, whose father is a zoo-keeper. He is thrown into extraordinary circumstances when his dad sells the zoo and all the animals and decides to pursue a new life in Canada. Shortly into the journey, the Japanese cargo ship, which Pi's family has selected for their travel, sinks and Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a orangutan, a hyena, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Not much time passes before Pi and the tiger are the only two left. Needless to say, Pi has to struggle to survive. It is written splendidly; Martel magnificently balances the weight of life-and-death circumstances with a light-hearted style.
The Phantom Tollbooth is a children's book about a boy who thinks life is boring and meaningless. But when a tollbooth shows up in his living room he is destined to change his opinions. Through the tollbooth he goes on many adventures in places like "Dictionopolis" and "Digitopolis" and meets the likes of the "Watchdog," the "Humbug," and the "Spelling Bee." I am excited to read this book to my kids some day!
Finally, I began reading the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series. The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters are the first two installments in the set of five. The books feature a boy, Percy Jackson, who is the son of a Greek god. In the Greek hero tradition, Percy has an immortal father and a mortal mother. He attends "Camp Half-Blood," a summer-camp for kids just like him. During his time at camp he meets other campers and some mythological creatures. Together they go on quests and fight monsters and do all kinds of cool mythological stuff. Riordan does an excellent job of integrating Greek mythology into modern life. The books are a lot of fun.
Again, the count stands at twenty-three. Earlier this year I read:
- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- A Sweet and Bitter Providence by John Piper
- Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff
- The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges
- The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
- Paradise Lost by John Milton
- Biblical Interpretation by Gerald Bray
- How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
- The How and Why of Love by Michael Hill
- Evangelical Ethics by John Jefferson Davis
- Desiring God by John Piper
- Jesus and the Gospels by Craig Blomberg
- Jesus the Messiah by Bob Stein
- Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
- George Mueller: Delighted in God by Roger Steer
- A Quest for Godliness by J.I. Packer
- Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney
- Deep Exegesis by Peter Leithart
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