Well since I've gone and created Who Reads What, I should get caught up bloggin the books I've been reading, so here are the last 5.

Right now I'm reading

The Man Comes Around: The Spiritual Journey of Johnny Cash by Dave Urbanski
This book traces Johnny's spiritual and artistic journeys. Doesn't attempt to white wash the man in black, instead Cash's sense that God was with him through everything comes shining through. The last quarter of the book focuses on his partnership with Rick Rubin which returned Cash to the limelight with a series of critically acclaimed albums at the end of his life.

And before that I read:

Under the Unpredictable Plant an Exploration in Vocational Holiness by Eugene H. Peterson
Peterson uses the story of Jona to map his own journey to understanding of the role of pastor and the spiritual life. Well worth a read for all Christians, Peterson spends a fair bit of time developing his understanding of the spiritual life, and the foundational role of praying the psalms.

Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog edited by Raewynne J. Whiteley & Beth Maynard.
From the Book's FAQ.

Get Up Off Your Knees is not a book seeking to explain anything about U2 themselves, but a book of examples of how religious leaders are integrating spiritually informed pop culture into their proclamation of the Gospel. Its interest is not in the people who wrote the songs, but in how the songs goad and inspire listeners to see gospel ideas through a new lens and proclaim them afresh.

I owe the Phantom Tollbooth a review of this book, so I'll link to that when it's done and up. I wanted to blog all the links from the contributor section of the book, but that will have to wait till I find my copy. It's here somewhere... By the way, Beth Maynard blogs at U2 Sermons.

The Unifying Force by James Luceno
The 19th an final book in the The New Jedi Order series. I've been reading this series since it started in 1999. The Force.net has a review.


Rumors of Another World: What on Earth Are We Missing? by Philip Yancey
Christian mysticisms 101. No a lot new here, if you've read CS Lewis' Surprised By Joy, Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and, Yancy's articles in CT, then you've read most of this book. Still he brings it together in an a well written and thoughtful package. A good book, but not at the level of What's So Amazing About Grace? or Soul survivor.