Bedside Books—The Stuff I Don’t Have to Read

The books listed here are arranged in reverse chronological order for the dates when I began reading them. I include author and title, with a link to Amazon.com for those who care to have more information. In parentheses I’ve added a phrase or two to indicate category of literature or topic, and the date of completion, if relevant. Posting a date of completion is difficult and not so relevant for books of reference, poetry, short fiction, and so forth. Some books I read on a given day, or for a period of days, without reading through to the end, because my reading goals don’t require it. This is often the case with nonfiction. With fiction, my interest sometimes peters out before the book does. But I try to be very selective about the fiction I start into, to minimize the chance of that happening. I don’t review items here. I often post individual reviews, comments, and study guides elsewhere on this blog. The place to find these is under the post categories Reading Jags and Discussion Guides.

24 November 2009

• Jeffrey B. Russell and Brooks Alexander, A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans, 2nd ed. (religious; popular culture; history; anthropology—finished 24 November 2009)
  

21 November 2009

• Joe Carter and John Coleman, How to Argue Like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History’s Greatest Communicator (communication; persuasion; rhetoric; Jesus) 4 stars

19 November 2009

• Chris Brauns, Unpacking Forgiveness (forgiveness; human relationships) 5 stars
• Christopher J. H. Wright, The God I Don’t Understand: Reflections on Tough Questions of Faith (Christianity; problem of evil and suffering; Canaanite conquest; crucifixion; eschatology; heaven) 5 stars

12 November 2009

• William Backus, The Paranoid Prophet, As Narrated by Jonah’s Psychologist (psychology; forgiveness; anger; relationship with God)

17 October 2009

• Roger Scruton, An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Philosophy (philosophical treatment of such topics as truth, time, God, freedom, morality, sex, music, history) 4 stars

13 November 2009

• Denis Dutton, The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution (human evolution; aesthetics; naturalism) 4 stars

26 July 2009

• Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness (architecture; human condition; happiness) 5 stars

14 February 2009

• Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz, You—The Owner’s Manual (medical knowledge for the lay person)

13 February 2009

• Louis De Berniéres, Corelli’s Mandolin (historical fiction)

7 February 2009

• Joyce Porter, Dover One (mystery fiction—finished 13 February 2009) 4 stars

27 January 2009

• Robert Harris, Fatherland (counterfactual historical fiction—finished 7 February 2009) 5 stars

24 January 2009

• John Dewey, How We Think (1910; critical thinking, education) 4 stars

23 January 2009

• Robert Harris, The Ghost (mystery/thriller—finished 25 January 2009) 5 stars

7 January 2009

• Mary Pipher, Writing to Change the World (nonfiction; writing)

27 December 2008

• WilliamBaer, Rhyming Poems: A Contemporary Anthology (poetry) 4 stars

14 September 2008

• Michael Dirda, Bound to Please—An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education Essays on Great Writers and Their Books (essays) 5 stars

7 September 2008

• Kay Redfield Jamison, Exuberance: The Passion for Life (psychology)
• L. Sprague de Camp, Lest Darkness Fall (1941; speculative fiction)
• Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751), The Sacrament of the Moment (inspirational) 5 stars

6 September 2008

• Jack Cashill, What’s the Matter with California? Cultural Rumbles from the Golden State and Why the Rest of Us Should Be Shaking (social commentary; geography; humor—finished 7 September 2008) 4 stars
• Jean M. Twenge, Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before (social commentary)
• Lex Williford and Michael Martone, eds., The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction—50 American Stories Since 1970, 2nd ed. (short stories)
• Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book—The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading (nonfiction; a repeat read) 5 stars
• Felix Markham, Napolean (biography)
• John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany (novel)
• Anne Fadiman, Ex Libris—Confessions of a Common Reader (personal essays) 4 stars
• Stendahl, Love (personal essays)
• Doug Phillips, ed., The Letters and Lessons of Theodore Roosevelt for His Sons (letters)
• David Bailey Harned, Patience—How We Wait Upon the World (devotional) 5 stars

13 April 2007

• Caleb Carr, The Alienist (historical suspense fiction—finished 4 June 2007) 5 stars