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Grindboy wrote:

Frozen Fire wrote:The Plausibility Problem by Ed Shaw
Parenting by Paul David Tripp

I don’t know that parenting book, but Tripp “Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands” is, IMO, shockingly good.  I think I’ve read it three times.

I've listened to PDT in many different venues and we used a curriculum from him in leading a marriage retreat. I love how he speaks through things. Insightful, funny, humble with such a unique bend. A super intelligent gospel centered man. This is the first book I'm reading from him and my wife and I are reading it together. It's wonderful so far. I have his book on Suffering but have yet to read it. I'll keep that book in mind for the future.

Took a break from The Three Investigators and delved into The Hardy Boys.  Finally read their debut, The Tower Treasure.  Now, it's The House on the Cliff.

Finally something I’ve at least heard of, and my above comment still holds up.


Just finished Matt Chandler “To Live Is Christ, to Die Is to Gain.”  It was ok, it was “good,” basically a trip through Philippians, but didn’t strike me as unusually good or a lot that will be super memorable.

Just finished Malcom Gladwell “Talking to Strangers.”  I’m kind of a fanboy, I feel like he could write about paint drying and it would be fascinating.

I didn’t really know what he book was about, and like most of his books it wasn’t exactly about one thing exactly, but it began and ended by examining the Sandra Bland traffic stop/incident from Texas a few years back, and touched on issues that are even more front and center today than when the book came out (2019).  A huge part of his genius and helpfulness is that in a world overstuffed with information, he seeks out understanding.  While so much of our world reacts with either anger or defensiveness (both understandable but generally neither one helpful), he’s happy to call out error but without vilifying individuals and always seeking to understand background, perspective, and actual root causes.  Always recommended.

Well that was long!  Just finished “Walking the Bible” by Bruce Feiler.  Basically an American non-religious Jew teams up with a famous Israeli scholar/archeologist and they go around to all of the places mentioned in Genesis-Deuteronomy.  Most of it was interesting and I learned a lot.  Many times there was much discussion about how the details in the Bible didn’t/couldn’t have happened based on archeology/history/etc.  One of the interesting things is how basically everybody they come across acknowledges such, but still believes, and the author comes away very much of this mind.  It’s confusing to me, honestly, but I did learn a lot about the OT, history and current dynamics of Middle Eastern relations, geography and politics, as well as the mindset that finds “truth” without real regard for historicity.  Most here wouldn’t probably like it, though a couple may.  I’m not completely sure how I feel about it all myself, to be honest.

“Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes” by Randolph Richards and Brandon O’Brien (I hadn’t heard of them either).  This was really, really good and very helpful.  I would absolutely recommend to anybody who wishes to be a serious and thoughtful student of Scripture, of which I know there are several here.

Franklin W. Dixon, Hunting For Hidden Gold.

Re-reading The Mortification of Sin by John Owen, a Dragonlance book and a Gary North book

Welcome brutalwarfarex, I think you’ll find a couple others here who read a lot of the Puritans, even myself on occasion.


Just finished “The Meaning of Marriage” by Tim Keller.  Very good, as I’m coming to expect from him.  It won’t necessarily be my favorite book ever on the topic, but it might be the most complete, and excellently managed to be both deeply theological and still very practical.

I'm a puritan junkie myself. I've been pretty much reading puritans and theonomy/reconstructionist books exclusively, in the non-fic department.

Holy cow.  “The Cross and the Switchblade” by David Wilkerson.  Dude randomly goes into NYC to try to help street/gang kids and ends up founding Teen Challenge, which is  a fantastic recovery ministry all over the country (world, I don’t know) even today.  Which of course all things start small, but this story is absolutely stunning.  Under 200 pages, quick and engrossing.  Really incredible.

I just talked to a buddy today who works for teen challenge. Small world.

I have a brother in-law who worked for TC in Minneapolis for a couple years, and a couple years ago a local NH group came and presented at the church which I was a part of at the time.  I believe it’s really a good program.  All a little bit coincidental as well, I had no idea what exactly the book was about (though I’ve heard it mentioned in the past), and I didn’t even pick it out.  It came with a small stack from my mother in-law a month or so ago and was the first one I actually started to read (the next several will be from the same stack, along with a couple that won’t be read).  And it was randomly mentioned in the previous book I read while it was already set to be next in line.  None of which matters or means anything, but it was a fantastic story, I loved it, and it helped feed my faith.


Anyway, I just finished “Know Why You Believe” by Paul Little.  It’s 140 pages and originally from 1960’s, so it’s a little dated and tries to cover what ought to be 200-400 pages in each 10 page chapter, so it’s pretty surface and in some ways simplistic.  Not bad, and could be of value for youth group age or something, but well read adults won’t find a lot new.

It seems crazy to me that the guy who wrote the Cross and the Switchblade and started a famous church in New York also made some of the darkest prophecies regarding America ever - doomsday city.  His death is also odd since he died in a car crash because he didn't have his seat belt on, but his wife survived and she had hers on.

Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey

This is book six in the series of novels that Amazon's show The Expanse was based on.

Just finished Faulkner “As I Lay Dying,” not really because of the band but kind of, I guess.

So much of the time I just don’t “get” “literature.”

Grindboy wrote:Just finished Faulkner “As I Lay Dying,” not really because of the band but kind of, I guess.

So much of the time I just don’t “get” “literature.”

I like some of the classic authors like Steinbeck, Orwell, Dickens etc.  But I only read one Faulkner book ever (same one you did) and never read another.  His style (at least on that novel) was just too dry for me.

Sproul’s “The Holiness of God.”  Toward the end I feel like he lost focus and kind of went hobby-horse a little bit, but the majority was quite good.  Inevitably it was a little heavy, but as a whole not as heavy as I would have expected, and more readable.  Recommended!

Grindboy wrote:Sproul’s “The Holiness of God.”  Toward the end I feel like he lost focus and kind of went hobby-horse a little bit, but the majority was quite good.  Inevitably it was a little heavy, but as a whole not as heavy as I would have expected, and more readable.  Recommended!

Nice, I should read more Sproul at some point. I really liked Chosen by God but I haven't read anything else from him yet.

Unseen Realm by Dr. Michael S. Heiser
Reading it slowly but surely...hard to find time.

CrimsonWarrior wrote:

Grindboy wrote:Sproul’s “The Holiness of God.”  Toward the end I feel like he lost focus and kind of went hobby-horse a little bit, but the majority was quite good.  Inevitably it was a little heavy, but as a whole not as heavy as I would have expected, and more readable.  Recommended!

Nice, I should read more Sproul at some point. I really liked Chosen by God but I haven't read anything else from him yet.

Somehow that was the first I’ve read of him.  But for sure as a reformed guy, I have no doubt you two would get along very well!

Persepolis Rising - James S.A. Corey

This is book seven of The Expanse series.

I just finished Me & Lee by Judyth Vary Baker.  Judyth was a young scientist and Lee Oswald's mistress 6 months before the event on Nov. 22, 1963.

You think you know about the Kennedy assassination, but you have no idea.  4.6 out of 5 on Amazon and I concur.  If you liked the movie JFK and want to know more, jump on in to the fun and find out how Jacob "Sparky" Rubenstein (Jack Ruby) was friends with Lee Oswald long before he shot him.

Persepolis Rising - James S.A. Corey