Alright, I know, I 'strayed' from my list. How could I not when every time I went to the library something I'd read about online or heard on the radio was staring me in the face in the "New Releases" section? I am a sucker for David Sedaris, so I knew that I had to be the first person in line waiting for his book at the library. What can I say, I'm a dork for sarcasm. His newest release, Engulfed In Flames, are more tales about his absurd family and partner (and nutcase from across the hall) and a longer section of his 3 month journal to quit smoking in Asia. I don't think any book will ever be as funny as Me Talk Pretty One Day, but this was a solid 4 out of 5 stars, something Sedaris always has lived up to in each of his books. You will laugh out loud (as was the case in high school when I first read Me Talk Pretty in study hall-- I burst out laughing and muttered to the other students frightened by my roars, "He gave alcohol to his hamster!") and, in one essay in particular, you will cringe (ah-ah! No cheating!).
Book #2 in this lineup was C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, which I "read" via audio cds. Lewis has some awesome Christian theology and encouragement packed into that book, and I intend on buying it off amazon; an old crispy one that encourages highlighting and notes in the margin. This book can be read and read again, always gleaning more information out of his relatively simple metaphors that explain some of the hardest questions about Christianity. I even got Stefan hooked on it--on his drive back from Denver he listened to the entire book...then picked up another C.S. Lewis book on cd this morning at the library. This, I have to rate a 5 out of 5.
The last book I read in previous weeks as Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. Hold the phone. This is a hard book to get into because there is so much information packed into the 310 pages. Louv makes a case for getting parents and children ( schools too) back into the mind-frame of child exploration/healing/living in nature as an authentic lifestyle. Now that I've read this book, I will be talking it up with every parent I come across and tell them, "You must read this!" It took me a little over 6 weeks to read ...(love the library, you check out, you renew, you take back and there is a new shining copy, waiting to be picked up in the "recommended" section! another 6 weeks at your disposal!) but I give it 5 out of 5 shining stars.
Even if you pick it up for the "suggested reading" pages in the back, it's well worth it.
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