Mark's #19 - The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)

There is no God and we are his prophets.

Father and son journey through a dystopian, colorless, cold, and brutal world, along a road fraught with danger at every turn and little hope for things to get better.  It is a world that has collapsed in on itself.  We're not told how things have digressed to this point, we're only carried along by the constricted prose and staccato conversations about survival between a father and his young son.

In many ways, The Road is the story of life without God, without hope, without joy, without a future, and fading memories of a day when life was as we know it now.  Think of the movie, The Book of Eli and replace Denzel washington with a father and son (minus the redeeming ending and the reciting of the Bible... ok, so it's not really like the movie at all).

On the one hand this is a dark and depressing book. On the other hand, the story is engaging, and it reminds us of the downward spiral of humanity trapped by sin and the hopelessness of this world apart from Christ.  While this is first book I've read by Cormac McCarthy, it's obvious that he is an excellent author (this book won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for fiction).  I look forward to reading more from him... sort of... when I want to enter into the angst.

Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it

Mark's #18 - Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss

From the back of the book:

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.

'Why?' asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

'Well, I'm a panda,' he says, at the door. 'Look it up.'

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. 'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.'

Who knew there could be a witty, engaging, and entertaining book about punctuation?  This is that book.

Author Lynne Truss, a self designated grammar 'stickler ', helps readers learn the proper use of all those different points of punctuation in the english language.  Along the way, she points out some of the most common errors and their grammatically tragic consequences (see Panda illustration above).

This book is a rallying call for a return to proper punctuation usage in an internet and texting age that seems to be racing to destroy thoughtful and grammatically consistent use of the english language. There is even a Punctuation Repair Kit included, which is full of stickers of commas, colons, semicolons, and question marks for sticklers to correct public punctuation errors.

*I realize I probably misused some punctuation in this post... Sticklers, feel free to point these out.

Mark's #17 - Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

This relatively short Crichton book is unique and engaging.  Chrichton sets up the book to be an ancient travelogue manuscript in the year 922 A.D. from an arab courier of the caliph of Baghdad.  As inspiration, Chrichton used both the story of Beowulf and  Ahmad Ibn Fadlans personal account of his actual journey north and his experiences with and observations of Vikings.

As a muslim, Ibn is appalled by filthy and barbaric vikings who conscript him into their journey northward to battle the 'eaters of the dead' - a terror that plagues the men of the north, a near-human (Neanderthal men by Chrichtons account)  army of creatures that invade each evening when under the cover of darkness and mist.  For several weeks, and several battles and adventures, Ibn is transformed into a warrior like his viking counterparts.

While not Crichton's best work, the books unique perspective and short length make this a worthwhile summer read by the pool or beach.

 

Mark's #16 - Time and Again by Jack Finney

Simon Morely was an illustrator for a local ad agency in New York City when he was approached by a government agent with "the opportunity of a lifetime".  The top-secret government program which enables Simon to step into New York City 1882.  While there, Simon gets caught up in uncovering a historical mystery as well as a romantic interest.

I'm a fan of time travel movies and books. As such, I discovered that many people consider Jack Finney to be the preeminent author in the genre (he's written several books and short stories about time travel).  Naturally, I was excited to read this 'classic' time travel book...

I was disappointed at first.  The story seemed to move slowly and the time-travel details seemed vague, if not nonexistent (I like the theories and details).  However, I persevered and continued to read... I'm glad I did.  The strength of this book is found in the story of Simon's life in 1882.  The author does an excellent job of transporting the reader to what New York City must have been like in 1882.  Along the way,  there are several illustrations and photographs provided by Simon to help the reader 'see' NYC.

While the time-travel details, conundrums, and paradoxes are a bit scarce, the plot, characters, and surprises make this book an enjoyable and rich experience.

Mark's #15 - Evangellyfish by Doug Wilson

Best known as a reformed theologian, professor, and Christian apologist (he went on tour debating Christopher Hitchens), in Evangellyfish, Doug Wilson turns his cunning insight toward contemporary American mega-church evangelicalism with witty prose and comical satire.

Evangellyfish is a story of the dysfunctional life of pastor Chad Lester in particular, and much that is wrong with evangelicalism in general - especially large, mega-church evangelicalism's emphasis on church as a production, and faith as a personal journey of discovery (without all that emphasis on sin, repentance, blood, atonement, justification, etc.).

The strengths of this novel are twofold.  First, Wilson writing is very engaging and funny.  Anyone who has spent time among us evangelical Christians will find much to laugh about.

For example:

Many Americans have complained of too many hellfire and damnation sermons in their past, but Bradford was one of the 112 individuals in our generation who had actually heard one.

Second, sadly, this book would be pure comedy if it wasn't so true to real life situations.  For each of the great dysfunctions either with Camel Creek mega-church and the scandal and sins of its pastor and staff, I could think of specific churches or pastors that fit the satire perfectly.  Don't get me wrong, I have some background in a mega-church.  I don't think it is inherently wrong to have a large flock.  I think there are some real strengths that many mega-churches contribute to the kingdom.   Nevertheless, the more the church becomes an institution that mirrors the world and it's marketing, there is a tendency for the church to become institutionalized and worldly (yes, this can happen in the smallest churches as well, it's just that the mega-churches have the budget and resources to magnify their worldliness to a much greater degree).

In conclusion, I enjoyed this book and Wilson's indirect critiques of the current state of Evangelicalism.  There were times when it was a bit hard to follow the plot, but Wilson's witticisms made for an engaging read.  Rather than focusing almost exclusively on the American mega-church, Wilson could have probably done a better job casting a broader satirical net on Evangelicalism.