Rev. Dr. Jeff Garrison
Richard Lischer, Open Secrets: A Memoir of Faith and Discovery (NY: Random House, 2001), 242 pages, no illustrations. A delightful collection of essays that describes Lischer’s first three years as a pastor in Southern Illinois, just east of St. Louis, Missouri. He arrives driving a Ford Pinto. Fresh out of school, he finds his church in … Read more Two Books: Poetry and Ministry
Michelle Layer Rahal, Straining Forward: Minh Phuong Towner’s Story (Maitland, FL: Xulon Press, 2018), 355 pages, 10 pages of photos. I was introduced to Minh in 2011. I was preparing a sabbatical after leading First Presbyterian Church of Hastings (Michigan) through a building and relocation program. As I was going to be traveling overland from … Read more Straining Forward: Minh Phuong Towner’s Story
Chet Raymo, The Soul of the Night: An Astronomical Pilgrimage (1985, Cambridge, MA: Cowley, 1992), 209 pages, each chapter illustrated with a woodblock print. This may go down as the best book I’ve read all year. Raymo describes himself as a “pilgrim of darkness.” The journey and the night sky seem to provide him with joy. … Read more At Home in the Dark: two book reviews about night
In the past two months, I’ve read a dozen books, but haven’t published any reviews. While I don’t review every book, I am way behind. Part of my reason for such much reading comes from my two weeks in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, when I had lots of time to immerse myself into books. Here’s … Read more Three Books: Baseball, Africa, and a Theologian
I am away, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, for two weeks. One of the weeks is vacation and the other I set aside for study. During this time, I have been reading a lot! The Bible and commentaries on the book of Daniel, the new biography of Karl Barth by Christiane Tietz, Howard Thurman’s Jesus … Read more An update and two book reviews about walking
Aaron McAlexander, Greasy Bend: Ode to a Mountain Road (Stonebridge Press, 2016), 224 pages, a few black and white photographs. Highway 58 cuts across Southern Virginia, from Cumberland Gap (Along the Tennessee/Kentucky border) to the Tidewater. The highway crosses swamps, fields of peanuts and tobacco, old industrial towns like Danville and Martinsville, then climbs the Blue Ridge … Read more Highway 58 and some recent photos
Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North. (2013, Audible, 2014), 14 hours 59 minutes What a complex book. At times I loved it and other times I wondered what I was doing immersing myself within these words. The Narrow Road to the Deep North, a title taken from Basho, a famous Japanese haiku poet … Read more Recent readings
I’m catching up on some recent reading… Tilar J. Mazzero, The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It. (Harpers Business, 2009), 264 pages. Late last year, I listened to the author’s “Great Courses” lectures on “Creative Nonfiction.” She often used examples of her own writing including this book. I … Read more Four Books: Champagne, Skid-row, Generosity, & Mountain Midwifery
Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer (2014) This is the story narrated by an unnamed man who doesn’t fit in, anywhere. A bastard. His father was a French Catholic priest and his mother a Vietnamese maid. In many ways, the narrator is of two minds. Given the opportunity to study in the United States, he learns the ways … Read more Two Books: A spy thriller and a self-congratulatory humorous look at gumption
Lisa Deam, 3000 Miles to Jesus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life for Spiritual Seekers (Minneapolis Broadleaf Books, 2021), 211 pages including notes and a few drawings and maps Early pilgrims In the centuries between the crusades and the Reformation, there were many devout Christians who made pilgrimages. While Rome and Santiago de Compostela (the Way … Read more Two books on Pilgrimage