In the month of October, I made it through exactly five books. Since it was October (spooky season), I was compelled to read more fiction, and some “scarier” ones at that. Here’s the list in the order I read them.
1. Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners - Dane Ortlund
After reading Ortlund’s excellent book Gentle and Lowly earlier this year, I knew I had to get my hands on this one. Again, Ortlund writes with a depth, and a clarity, that quite often don’t go together. On the whole, if one wanted to grow in their Christian faith, this is a book I would highly recommend. This gets 5 out of 5 stars.
2. Hallowe’en Party - Agatha Christie
Over the last few years, I’ve been on a quest to read more from the Queen of Mystery. This was the 41st book that makes use of Poirot as her inspector and was written in the later part of her life. It was also the inspiration for the recent movie A Murder in Venice, which I haven’t seen. On the whole, it was good, but not great. I would give it 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.
3. Revelation for the Rest of Us - Scot McKnight
In preparation for our November teaching series on the book of Revelation, I came across this book and proceeded to devour it very quickly. McKnight has always been good at making complex topics simple and he does it again here. The book of Revelation is not something to discard, and/or ignore altogether. Nor is it a book to be deciphered in order to speculate about the future. Rather, it’s meant to be read and understood in the here and now, as present day disciples of Jesus. I loved this book and gave it 5 out of 5 stars.
4. My Best Friend’s Exorcism - Grady Hendrix
Admittedly, I don’t read a lot of horror books these days, but this one looked fun. The cover, (whoever made it did a fantastic job) sold me on the book. It takes place in the 80’s and delves into the very real and serious subject matter of demonic possession. While I would not necessarily recommend this book, I did find it a fun read, but one that might be too much for many to stomach. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
5. Edgar Allan Poe: The Fever Called Living - Paul Collins
As a writer of many tales of horror and the mysterious, I’ve always been fascinated by the life of writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe. However, I’d never read anything about him, much less so, a whole biography. So, when I stumbled across this one, I knew I needed to give it a go. Here, Collins gives a short, and yet telling, survey of Poe’s incredibly difficult life. I found it fascinating, and yet also very sad at times. Undoubtedly, Poe had a difficult life that clearly provided the fuel and the impetus for many of the stories and poems that he would write. I enjoyed this a lot. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
