It's Monday, What are you Reading?

CURRENTLY READING

Finding God in the Margins: the Book of Ruth by Carolyn Custis James takes the Book of Ruth and shows how it speaks to the world we are living in today "In four short episodes we encounter refugees, undocumented immigrants, poverty, hunger, women's rights, male power and privilege, discrimination, and injustice.

In Finding God in the Margins, Carolyn Custis James reveals how the book of Ruth is about God, the questions that surface when life falls apart, and how he reaches into the margins and chooses two totally marginalized women who in the eyes of the patriarchal culture are zeros.

Against the backdrop of disturbing issues we are facing today, this bracing narrative puts on display a radical gospel way of living together as human beings that shouts the Kingdom of God, foreshadows Jesus' gospel, and raises the bar for women and for men then and now." (from Goodreads.com cause they just put it better than I could. I tried, but yeah....)

__________

With all the mess going on in the world these last couple of weeks, I found myself needing a comfort read. Pride and Prejudice, read by Rosamund Pike, fit the bill perfectly. Ms. Pike's voice is so lovely and low-pitched which makes it so soothing, except when she voices Mrs. Bennet who is just as annoying as EVER*, that I can't help but relax and let my cares recede for a bit. I'll be sad when I get to the end, and I'm getting close, because I hate to leave Jane Austen's world and Ms. Pike's interpretation of it.

I think I'll watch the movie again when I'm done.

*actually I'm finding a lot more of the story irritating than I did the first time I read the book, but perhaps that is another post for another time?

JUST FINISHED

Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again by Rachel Held Evans which was SO GOOD. I feel like I'm starting on a quest to know the Bible and my Lord better and this was a fantastic place to start. I love how down-to-earth and questioning Evans is. The book was refreshing and challenging in such great ways. My ONLY criticism, is there were a couple places where I wish she had gone a little further into her interpretations of the Scripture.

I read Inspired after reading a prior book by Rachel Held Evans; Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church which was also fantastic. I haven't had a crisis of faith, but I have had a crisis of church (we had to leave our church because of the pastor, which was heartbreaking as it is the church I've attended my whole life) and this book was such a comfort.

UP NEXT

I'm not sure. I'm leaning toward another comfort read. I'm leaning toward starting a reread of the entire Harry Potter series, but then it's been awhile since I read any Neil Gaiman. On that front, I'm leaning toward Neverwhere (my favorite Gaiman [at least at the moment]) or perhaps one of his short story collections. Or hey, I have another Rachel Held Evans book waiting on my iPad!