patlo's Reviews (1.32k)

The first of the sports tell-all books, Bouton wrote this diary of a baseball season and blew the lid off the culture of baseball in the late '60s, when sportswriters gave athletes their privacy. Bouton doesn't, so you hear about the prevalence of amphetamines, who's an alcoholic, the dimwittedness of management, etc. Very funny, and I read it every year before baseball season starts :-) Warning, potty language :)

This is a six-star book. Heck, call it eleven stars. Absolutely classic.

Life Together was young Dietrich Bonhoeffer's manifesto about the Christian community, written as he was leading an underground seminary for the confessing church under Nazi German rule. The members of the seminary knew that they would be executed if they were found; Bonhoeffer was martyred in the process.

Still, the book deals with the everyday nature of conflict and falling short between one person and another; it drives us into deeper relationship and forgiveness and community.

I'll teach from this book in academic and lay coursework around spiritual formation in communities and networks. It's a bit Lutheran and liturgical in some spots for some readers, but it's overwhelmingly powerful throughout.

Kathleen Norris is a poet who, with her husband, move from Hawaii to rural South Dakota to take over her family farm. In the process of rooting herself in this new place, she discovers a local Benedictine monastery, and she's attracted to the rhythms and depth of life she sees there. It's a gorgeous book about being pilgrims and learning from where you are. Norris is one of a few authors who I'll read everything she produces. Some of her work is less spiritually focused, but none is better.

I think this is the best of the current breed of books on new monasticism. it's as good as Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove's "The New Monasticism: What it Has To Say To Today's Church", and much fuller than Rutba House's "12 Marks". I've made it required reading in a course I teach on spiritual formation in communities and networks.

The author brings a deep wisdom to the topic. As a Franciscan, he has seen traditional monasticism and mendicant ministry; as the founder of an integrated, Celtic-style monastic community, he has led a new wave of intentional community. It is this combination which serves the book and its readers very well. JMT doesn't just talk about history; he lives it and finds a way that fits contemporary culture.

My main complaint is that it could be better edited. Lots of "and such"s and other colloquialisms clutter up the page, and it doesn't feel tightly organized. However, the meat is good. It's very approachable and provides food for thought for anybody interested in Christian community, whether from a Catholic perspective or another viewpoint.

This is a page-turner. About the history, sociology, treatment and impact of cancer. If that sounds impossible to do, read the book. If it sounds interesting, read the book. I haven't read a more profound, well-researched or engaging non-fiction work in ages.

I'll leave it to other reviewers to give you more details, but I cannot recommend this one strongly enough. You'll be more empathetic and far better informed on the ongoing war on cancer.