Lit, by Mary Karr

For July, we will be reading a memoir that was on the New York Times bestseller list last year - Lit, by Mary Karr. Follows is a review of this book by Susan Olasky, originally published in World Magazine (12/5/09 issue):

Lit | Mary Karr

Lit is often painful to read. Mary Karr tells how she began drinking and eventually stopped, and how her hard won sobriety came about as she came kicking and screaming to faith in God. As Karr achieved worldly success—winning poetry awards, getting published, teaching at Harvard, marrying a New England blue blood and having a child—she began falling apart. She writes with a combination of searing honesty about her own faults and restraint in describing the faults of others, including her husband from whom she divorced. The book's raw language will offend some readers, but never have I read a more moving account of someone seeing her need for God's mercy.


We will discuss this book on Friday, July 29 at 7:30 pm.

November 2010: Washington Square

For November, we are back to a classic - Washington Square by Henry James. This is a short novel written in 1880 by Henry James, who was American born but lived in England most of his life. It focuses on the relationship of a widowed father and his daughter.

So as not to conflict with the Thanksgiving holiday, we will be meeting the first Friday of December to discuss this book.

How to Read a Book

This month we will be reading How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading.


Now, this selection may seem redundant to those of you who already know your phonics, but I would highly recommend you pick it up with us! The point of this book is not to get you from first page to last, but rather to help you understand the contents of the book. It will suggest what sorts of questions you should ask when you approach a book and teach you to look for the clues that provide you to those answers. Even if you have been reading for years, you will learn something from this book! I am looking forward to reading it again after first reading it 11 years ago.

We will meet for our discussion on Friday, October 29 at 7:30 pm. See you there!

September Selection

I'm late getting the title out this month ... and our discussion comes early! So, we're reading something short - The Death of Ivan Ilych, by Leo Tolstoy. This short story begins with the death of an upstanding member of society, and then remembers his life - with Tolstoy asking, "What did it gain him?" The reflections on death and life by Ivan Ilych's still living peers are also recorded, challenging us, the living, to refect on our own mortality.

The discussion of this short work will be this coming Friday, September 24, at 7:30 pm. For more information, including the location of the discussion, please leave a comment and I will contact you.

August: The Good News We Almost Forgot

The reading for August will be The Good News We Almost Forgot, by Kevin DeYoung. If you're reading this blog, you have access to Amazon's product description; but I have nothing else to say, so I figured I'd copy it here:

If there is "nothing new under the sun" then perhaps the main task now facing the Western church is not to reinvent or be relevant, but to remember. The truth of the gospel is still contained within vintage faith statements. Within creeds and catechisms we can have our faith strengthened, our knowledge broadened, and our love for Jesus deepened.

In The Good News We Almost Forgot, Kevin DeYoung explores the Heidelberg Catechism and writes 52 brief chapters on what it has shown him. The Heidelberg is largely a commentary on the Apostle's Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer and the book deals with man's guilt, God's grace, and believers' gratitude. The result is a clear-headed, warm-hearted exploration of the faith, simple enough for young believers and deep enough for mature believers. As DeYoung writes, "The gospel summarized in the Heidelberg Catechism is glorious, it's Christ gracious, it's comfort rich, it's Spirit strong, it's God Sovereign, and it's truth timeless." Come and see how your soul can be warmed by the elegantly and logically laid out doctrine that matters most: we are great sinners and Christ is a greater Savior!

We will meet to discuss this book the evening of Friday, August 27.

June is Fiction!

And for this month, we're reading The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

This book centers on an old house where a fictional family has lived for over two centuries. The story Hawthorne weaves about this family examines how one generation passes guilt on to its progeny and the progeny responds to this burden with retribution or forgiveness.

We will discuss this novel on the last Friday of the month, June 25th at 7:30 pm. Please see Sunday's bulletin for more details on how to join us!

For May: The Practice of the Presence of God

Although May's selection was written by a monk in medieval France, I suspect that we would all benefit from reading it. Using the mundane, Brother Lawrence calls us to a realization that God is a part of all of life, and we have a choice of acknowledging Him or not.

Take your time reading through this slender collection of musings, letters, and notes, but finish by May 28th to join us for a discussion of The Practice of the Presence of God!

April Fiction Choice

In case you haven't seen the bulletin yet, the choice for April has been made; and we are reading Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Alan Paton was a South African who grew up in the areas where the book is set, but he wrote the book while on a trip to study the correctional facilities of Europe and the United States. Cry, the Beloved Country is Alan Paton's first novel.

If you will not be able to make it to our discussion, or you'd just like to begin mulling on the book before our meeting, you might think about the answers to this list of questions.

March 2010 Book

In anticipation of the coming church retreat, we have decided to read D.A. Carson's most recent release - Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus. In this book, Dr. Carson examines five passages of scripture to help us undersand why God would save us by sending His son to die on a cross.

The book is about 170 pages long and is available for purchase at the book table before or after services. Whether or not you're planning to hear Dr. Carson speak next month, please join us for the reading of Scandalous!

February Reading

This month's discussion will be on the novel Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor. Flannery O'Connor is best known for her short stories, but she also wrote two novels, of which this is the first. It was published in 1952.

Wise Blood is on the short side (about 120 pages), so we hope you will find time to read it before our discussion! The discussion will be held on February 26 at 7:30 pm.

Spring 2009 - C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy

For February, March, and April 2009 we will be reading C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy beginning with "Out of the Silent Planet" followed by "Perelandra" and "That Hideous Strength".

In OSP, take a look at these elements:

* How does Lewis handle the comparison of the moral natures of the races, both terrestrial and alien? Make a list of the traits of each and see if they fall into patterns. Do you see any relationships between the alien natures? How do the humans look?

* How does Lewis' science fiction compare with the various eras of sci-fi? Does he compare well to Jules Verne? H.G. Wells? Isaac Asimov? Arthur C. Clarke? Robert Heinlein? Are you distracted by some of his scientfic "errors" or were you impressed by his insights for the his era of history?

* How does Lewis compare with the Roddenberry and George Lucas worlds?

* Go over some of Ransom's initial reactions to the aliens of Malacandra and compare them to his latter views of the aliens. Can we learn anything about human sociology from this? try to think of an example of when you were wrong about a person from an initial impression.

* What is Lewis' view of the spiritual vs. physical realms? How do they interact?

* What/who was the most interesting alien character? Why?

* Do you think a 21st century remake could be possible without doing irreparable harm to the storyline, given some of the advances in science?

------ Perelandra ------- Vol. 2

Looking back at Ransom’s time on Malacandra in the previous novel, how do you now see his role unfolding? Was he a part of history unfolding? How about Weston?

Compare Perelandra to Malacandra and Thulcandra. How do these worlds compare? What about their relative ages? How do these worlds compare to what we know about Mars, and Venus and our own Earth?

What are your impressions of the Green Lady? How well does Lewis capture the pre-fallen or unfallen state of grace & nature?

The Green Lady refers to the gaining of knowledge as growing older. Does she fear this? How does the pace of growth affect her view?

What is her relationship with Maledil? How does she accept His will? Describe this.
How does Ransom change over his time on Perelandra?

Looking at the big picture of the siege of Thulcandra and how it has affected or not affected the other worlds we have seen so far, how can you see from Scripture the natural and supernatural battles unfolding?

Is Lewis too enamored with nature? Is he really looking at creation correctly? How well does he capture the unbroken line between the natural and the supernatural on Perelandra as it contrasts with the broken line on Thulcandra?

Go back to the battle with Weston. Compare and contrast with other fights or battles in other novels or in the movies/television.

Is there a relationship between royalty and holiness?

Why did Lewis focus so much on the Green Lady in most of the book? When the King arrives, her role is altered (as a character) a bit. Do you agree? Is she diminished? What does their relationship look like?

January 2009 non-fiction title - Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian, finished this work in 2005. With our new president being a great fan of Abraham Lincoln, I thought that we could learn a lot from this look back at an aspect of his administration that was not as well known by most students of history. It is as much a study of personalities and of the interaction of individuals as it is of the concept of leadership itself. Choose one chapter on part I, and then proceed to part II, since this is such a long book for a book club. Upon request, we can re-visit this in the summer.

Citylife Bookclub December 2008 - "Bring Your Own Fiction"

For December 2008 we will be reading on our own. Choose a work of fiction, something with a redemptive theme, and read that for this month. If you want to share your choice or comment on one, go right ahead. {January 2009 will be a non-fiction month}

"The Prodigal God" by Tim Keller

In reading “The Prodigal God” by Dr. Timothy Keller, I was repeatedly struck with the notion of how important this work is for the life of the church right now. The passage in Luke 15 that it is based on has been misunderstood and misapplied by preachers and readers in the West for several centuries. While there is a great deal of comfort available to us from the notion that the outwardly reckless younger brother, often known as the Prodigal son, there is much, much to be learned from the other two main characters in the parable.

It is the father that lavishes an extravagant love and a forgiveness upon BOTH brothers, who BOTH need his love. It is the elder brother who also needs to repent of his own set of sins which are just as heinous. The elder brother is just as lost as the younger, though in a very different way. The sins of the elder brother are harder to see and in some ways are not all that different from the younger brother’s sins. Both suffer from a deep selfishness, and both show great disrespect to their father. In terms of “outward sins” the younger brother comes across as more fallen, but both come across as needing the father’s love and forgiveness.

The lesson we learn from the father’s love for the elder brother, as well as the direct implication of Christ’s love for His church as the TRUE elder brother, the one we all need, is a large part of the message of this work.
We need to learn to repent of our righteousness as well as our sinfulness, and in opening up this parable to the reader and sharing a lifetime of work and insight, Dr. Keller has given us all an excellent tool to use in our own lives and one that we can give to others, without reservation.

Dr. Keller uses culturally relevant illustrations, and information gleaned from scholars such as Clowney, Luther, Edwards, Lewis, and Lovelace to bolster his work. This is book that all of us can benefit from no matter where we are in our walk with the Lord. This may become a classic work along the lines of “Mere Christianity”, “Knowing God”, and “The Practice of the Presence of God”. [from my review on Amazon.com]

October 2008 Title - non-fiction

October 2008: "The Dust of Death: A Critique of the Establishment and the Counter Culture and the Proposal for a Third Way" by Os Guinness

The decade of the sixties brought about the biggest cultural/historical change since the era of the American industrial revolution in the 19th century. As a nation, our values and foci changed as never before or since. Some change was very bad, as with the Sexual revolution, and some was very good, as with the end of American political blindness to racism and racist laws on the books.
So, how did the generational shift(s) take place from the Pre-1960's Eisenhower generation to the Vietnam War era into the post-Nixon years? To understand the transitional decade of the sixties, this is a key work. It's not as well-known, or as "seminal" yet Os Guinness has a gift (from his L'Abri years and his missions work for understanding cultural and philosophical thought patterns and how they flow through history. Some of you won't be able to put this one down. Some of you will wade through this one like a Nor'Easter. We have hit a second month in a row with a non-fiction work, so we'll probably have 1-2 fiction works to close out 2008.

September 2008 - "Spiritual Depression: It's Causes and Cure" by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

This month we will look at an older work by the late British pastor/theologian Dr. David Martin Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression. This work takes a close look at the non-physical causes of depression in Believers and relies heavily on the Scriptures. As Gospel-driven people, we are "expected" and gifted to be joyful in all circumstances, yet we fall into sin and into the consequences of sins of omission and commission and can become downcast at times. Sin has been defeated by Christ. It's effects remain, though. Even in healthy people's lives, sad times come and we must mourn for periods of our walk. It's getting trapped in those times that is the problem. We must also be patient with those around us who are struggling with depression, mourning alongside them, and allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work of healing in them. If we were never sad, then our hearts would show themselves to be disconnected from the reality around us. If we are never rejoicing, then we have also strayed into the pit and we need to be helped. This book is an aid and a comfort in that struggle.

J.R.R. Tolkien's: The Children of Húrin

"The Pilgrim's Regress" by C.S. Lewis

A conversion story written in the form of an allegory. It's based on his own life and it is an interesting "blend" of fiction and non-fiction in that the story is a fiction that comes from a testimony. In my old JP CG, we spent an hour with each person's whole life story before and after they came to know the Lord. It would have been fascinating to have told those stories in a fictional form.

Amy Carmichael's "Gold Cord"

The story of Amy Carmichael's mission to India in her own words. Taking place in the early half of the twentieth century this book was recommended to missions students at Covenant Seminary by Jerram Barrs of the Francis Schaeffer Institute. Amy is an example to us from Church History of one of the most "unblemished" and simplest examples of a life wholly dedicated to Christ. She gave of herself to a people that could never possibly repay her and the whole mission was one in which all glory went to God. Her life shows us what the spirit of Mary's "fiat" must have been like in the life of an individual Believer.

Citylife Boston BookClub Blog: April 2008: Life Together

Citylife Boston BookClub Blog: April 2008: Life Together