Dear friends,
Some people asked what I’m reading now. Since I last posted a c urrent reading list on 2008 November 18, it seemed good to compare the new one with that two months’ earlier. The present (2009 February 10) books are
A. Books on the Previous List, Now Completed:
Dewey, David. User’s Guide to Bible Translations: Making the Most of Different Versions. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2004. Even-handed, scholarly treatment.
Harmon, Nolan. Ministerial Ethics and Etiquette. Nashville, Abindon, 1978. The principles still apply, but should be applied in different ways. Knowing how to vary the applications of a principle as time goes by and conditions change shows a commitment to true ethics.
Kreeft, Peter. You Can Understand the Bible. San Francisco, Ignatius, 2005.
Laxman, R.K. Laugh With Laxman. New Delhi: Penguin India, 1999.
Mortimer, John. Second Rumpole Omnibus: Rumpole for the Defence, Rumpole and the Golden Thread, Rumpole’s Last Case. London: Penguin, 1988.
One Year Bible. Wheaton: Tyndale, 1986.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. New Delhi: Rupa, 2001. A classic.
Shakespeare, William. Taming of the Shrew. Ware, England: Wordsworth Classics, 1993. Another classic.
Why Trust the Bible? Torrance, CA: Rose Publishing, 2008. A compilation of their shorter works on Bible Introduction and on Apologetics. Excellent.
Wodehouse, P.G. Heart of a Goof. London: Arrow, 2008. Golf stories. I don’t care for golf, but Wodehouse makes everything funny and interesting.
B. Books Not On the Previous List, But Read Since Then Anyway:
Bridges, John. How To Be a Gentleman: A Contemporary Guide to Common Courtesy. New Delhi: Viva, 2004. On dress, dinner, saying the right thing, attending or hosting parties, time with friends, the office, and facing ‘really big challenges’ (interpreted as meaning meeting royalty, the US president or the pope, the order of which would depend on one’s social, political and religious views).
Bristow-Bovey, Darrel. I Moved Your Cheese. Guildford: New Holland, 2001.
Burton, Richard F. Goa and the Blue Mountains. New Delhi: Penguin India, 2003. Originally published in 1851, an excellent memoir of the writer’s convalescent trip to Ootacamund (‘Ooty’), which, being adventurous, he took the long way through Goa. See India through a curious mind 150 years ago.
Carnegie, Dale. Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking. London: Cedar, 1996. Weak on the subject of delivery, but strong on confidence, preparation and also includes various different kinds of speeches in daily life the reader had perhaps not considered preparing for.
Deary, Terry. Savage Stone Age. London: Scholastic Children’s Books, 1999. Informative and amusing, part of Horrible Histories series.
Deary, Terry and Peter Hepplewhite. Awesome Egyptians. London: Scholastic Children’s Books, 1993. Informative and amusing. Part of the children’s Horrible Histories series.
Kermode, Frank. Age of Shakespeare. London: Phoenix, 2008. Outstanding.
Quilliam, Susan. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: Penguin Study Notes. Not recommended due to Susan’s intrusions: a. modern feminism perspective imposed on the 1500s (she calls Paris ‘possessive’, says the female characters are the stronger); b. nonsensical, absurd (she calls Friar Laurence ‘a constant block to Romeo and Juliet’s fulfillment’ when he’s doing more than anyone else to fulfill it); c. unsubstantiated bias (she says Paris’ love for Juliet has ‘something essentially unrealistic’ and Romeo’s love for Rosalind has ‘something lacking’—reminds me of a scene in ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’ when Leslie Howard’s character says, ‘It has a certain something…something…do I make myself clear?’ Throw Quillam’s book away and get an author who knows the subject. Me, for instance. Or Shakespeare himself. Or Kermode.
Shakespeare, William Julius Caesar. Ware: Wordsworth, 1992. Reviewing this will take time. I’ll do it in Glory magazine. (see subscription information on this website’s home page).
Shakespeare, William. King Lear. London: Penguin, 1994. Same as above.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. New Delhi: Rupa, 2003. Same as above.
Shakespeare, William. Measure for Measure. London: Dent, Everyman, 1994. Same as above.
Shakespeare, William. Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ware: Wordsworth, 1992. Same as above.
Weller, Shane, ed. Christmas Carols: Complete Verses. New York: Dover, 1992. I can’t believe I read the whole thing.
C. Books still on the list from last time:
Austen, Jane. Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sandition. London: Penguin, 2003. I’ve read her six great novels. Now I’m trying to round out my Austen.
Boehmer, Elleke, ed. Empire Writing: An Anthology of Colonial Literature, 1870-1918. Oxford: Oxford U Press, 1998. A lot of intelligence went into this collection.
Bryson, Bill. Short History of Nearly Everything. London: Black Swan, 2004. A guide to science. We’ll see how it goes.
Johnson, Samuel. Preface to Shakespeare. Classic commentary. Very tightly, eloquently written.
Kamdar, Mira. Planet India. NY: Scribners, 2007. So far, I don’t recommend it–too bombastic a tone resulting from pushing her thesis too hard.
One Year Chronological Bible. Carol Stream: Tyndale, 1986. I’m in Genesis right now.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island. A boys’ classic.
Thapar, Romila. Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. London: Allen Lane, Penguin, 2002. A re-ordering of an academic classic.
Visual History of the World. Washington: National Geographic, 2005. Excellent after they got past prehistory. Prehistory is treated with much speculation, conjecture, guessing, ‘wild surmise’.
D. Books Started Since Then:
Bahn, Paul, ed. Atlas of World Archaeology. London: Greenwich Editions, 2000.
Barry, Dave. Dave Barry’s Bad Habits. New York: Owl, Henry Holt, 1987. A collection of his newspaper columns.
Bunyan, John. Pilgrim’s Progress. London: Penguin, 1987. Probably the best book, beside the Bible, I’ve ever read. It’s close, though, between this and Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis.
Carnegie, Dale. How to Develop Self-Confidence and Influence People By Public Speaking. London: Cedar, 1995. Excerpted from his Public Speaking and Influencing Men in Business, originally published by YMCA.
Colbert, Don, MD. What Would Jesus Eat? Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2002.
Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. London: Penguin, 2003. First published 1857-1858.
Dickens, Charles. Sketches by Boz. London: Penguin, 1995. First published 1839.
Epic of Gilgamesh. London: Penguin, 1999. Taken from Assyrian clay tablets.
Fry, Plantagenet Somerset. Dorling Kindersley History of the World. London: DK, 1998.
Gross, John, ed. New Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes. Oxford: Oxford U Press, 2008.
Grove, Noel. National Geographic Atlas of World History. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 1997.
Heller, Joseph. God Knows. Reading, Berkshire: Black Swan, 1994.
Hull, Bill. Complete Book of Discipleship. Colorado Springs: Navpress, 2006.
Hurdman, Charlotte, et al. Encyclopedia of Ancient History. London: Lorenz, 2000.
Kaiser, Walter. Old Testament Documents. Secunderabad: Operation Mobilization, 2003.
Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. London: Kingfisher, 2004.
Mortimer, John. Third Rumpole Omnibus: Rumpole and the Age of Miracles, Rumpole a la Carte, Rumpole and the Angel of Death. London: Penguin, 1998.
O’Brien, Patrick, ed. Philip’s Atlas of World History. London: Philips, 2002.
Stuart, Jamie. Auld Testament Tales. Ebinburgh. Saint Andrew Press, 1995.
Tod, James. Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan or the Central and Western Rajpoot States of India. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 2001. Originally published in 1873 in Madras.
Vernede, R.V. British Life in India. New Delhi: Oxford U Press, 1999.
E. Books I’ve Removed from the List Due to Having Read the Chapters in Them I Need for the Time Being, and to Which I’ll Return:
Lamb, Charles and Mary. Tales from Shakespeare. London: Everyman, 1999.
Nesbit, E. Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare. New Delhi: Rupa, 2006.
This list does not include other works consulted for writing and/or teaching purposes.