A Long Hot Summer...of Reading

Haven't written in a while...must confess, time has a way of getting
away from me far too often. It seems like I turn my head or close
my eyes for a moment and a week has passed...or two...or a month.
That's kind of been the story of my summer. Seems like it was just
June 1st and now it is the 15th of August. But because the hot
weather and I just don't see eye-to-eye, and because it has been
a very hot summer in this part of Carolina, I have done a lot of
reading...a LOT of reading. I finished all the books in the Tom
Thorne series by Mark Bellingham (loved them... he's a British
writer and Thorne is a detective. Need I say more?). And I read
several great children's books including "My Teacher is A Monster",
"Coraline", "The Pout-Pout Fish", and "Little Owl's Night". I also
completed the second  book in Greg Iles' Penn Cage trilogy and am
eagerly awaiting the third one. Then there was Falling in Love by
Donna Leon, part of the Commissario Guido Brunetti series... and in
a totally different vein, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park.
I also completed the great third book in the Century trilogy by Ken
Follett, Edge of Eternity. Oh, and how could I forget Atul Gawande's
wonderful Being Mortal and Almost Famous Women by Megan
Mayhew Bergman? Right now, as is my usual habit, I am in the midst
of three books: Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist (spirituality and
cooking- fantastic combination), My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell
You She's Sorry by Fredrik Beckman (fiction), and The New Jim
Crow by Michelle Alexander (politics, justice). As you can see, my
reading tastes are decidedly eclectic.

But my favorite book of the summer has been the one written by
my friend and colleague in ministry, Nancy Kraft, pastor of Holy
Trinity Lutheran Church in Charlotte, NC. Entitled Threads;
Pulling Meaning from the Tangled Mess, it is a delightfully honest
spiritual memoir told in an incredible variety of vignettes from
her life as pastor and seeker. Of course, knowing Nancy made
reading the book an added plus but I am sure anyone reading
this lovely, earthy, truthful, courageous little book will be fed...
with both tears and laughter, as I was. It's available on Amazon
and I encourage you to add it to your must-read list. By the time
you reach the end, you will have "met" Nancy in a very real and
personal way and I suspect will admire her as much as I do.


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