Paul's Letter to the Romans: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary by Ben Witherington

Well, I didn't hate this one as much as the other two, but I still couldn't finish it. I don't think the problem was Witherington; I think it was Paul. I don't like the epistles.

Mormonism in Transition by Thomas Alexander

This book alternated between fascinating and dry as dust. A worthwhile if not page-turning read.

Romans by Thomas Schreiner

I made it through Romans five of Schreiner's and Moos' commentaries on Romans (that's about 600 pages!) and then I had to quit. I had looked forward to working through these books so much and for so long, but it was awful. I hated both of these. They barely engaged the text but rather theologized on the implications of what Paul was saying. ugh.

The Epistle to the Romans by Douglas Moo

See above. ugh

Leviticus as Literature by Mary Douglas

I got this largely because Douglas' Purity and Danger caused a not-so-quiet revolution in the understanding of the purity laws. But despite a few interesting insights, I found this hard to wade through, maybe because she is an anthropologist and I wanted her to write like a biblical studies person. Uneven, but interesting.

Leviticus by Jacob Milgrom

I seriously considered buying his three-volume Anchor Bible Commentary since it is the definitive work on Leviticus, but wasn't sure I could stomach the 2500 pages--or the price. I was thrilled when I found this title at Amazon billed as a distillation of the key insights from the Anchor series. But it was a disappointment. He wastes time on all sorts of borderline-irrelevant topics (Alchoholics Anonymous, an entire page of statistics on modern slavery, etc.) and generally didn't provide much bang for the buck. The NICOT was much better.

Leviticus (NICOT) by Gordon Wenham

This was the best of the lot and if I could only have read one title on Leviticus, it would have been this one. I discovered the NICOT/NICNT series with the Ezekiel title which I thought was fabulous (although I read part of the Acts title online and thought it was too fluffy). The main strength of this title was that it presented solid exegesis (taking both Milgrom and Douglas into account) and then, separately, covered the relationship between Leviticus and the New Testament. If you wanted to read one volume on Leviticus, it would be this one.

Holiness to the Lord: A Guide to the Exposition of the Book of Leviticus by Allen Ross

I normally shy away from commentaries for expositors but I felt that it might be worthwhile to bend that rule a little for Leviticus. This was pretty good but not essential.

What to Eat by Marion Nestle

I found this mildly entertaining; there isn't much new here if you are familiar with basic nutrition principles and issues. (However, this would be an excellent book for someone who wasn't familiar with those things.)

The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary by Ben Witherington

It was fun to work through Acts with this book and Fitzmyer's. They were a good balance: Fitzmyer solid and predictable, Witherington with an eye toward feminist and literary concerns. If you think you can stomach 1600 pages of commentary on Acts, working through the text passage by passage as you read these two books is a great exercise.

The Acts of the Apostles by Joseph Fitzmyer

This was a solid commentary on Acts. There were several annoying formatting issues (I think that 'notes' belong before 'comments' and that an entire paragraph of citations--plunked in the middle of the commentary--is irritating.)

Summer Sisters by Judy Blume

I read this on the beach. It was completely vapid.

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand

This was a wonderful book--it is a real mark of a good author to make an uninteresting (to me, anyway) topic fascinating. Recommended.

Material World by Peter Menzel

This was fabulous--I enjoyed it as much as Hungry Planet, its sister book. The premise is simple if bizarre: families were found who represented the average income in their country. All their posessions were lugged into the yard and photographed. Wow. Highly recommended.

Blue Blood by Edward Conlon

A flawless cover (don't tell me you don't judge a book by its . . .), a rocking first chapter, and then . . . pffffft. I couldn't get through it. Reject.

The Art of Biblical Poetry by Robert Alter

To be fair, I only skimmed this after my disappointment with Alter's other book. But my reaction was, as I had feared, the same: for whatever reason, this book was a disappointment.

The Art of Biblical Narrative by Robert Alter

It may be that a book this hyped could never live up to that hype; it may be that a book revolutionary when it was written a generation ago succeeded in making itself appear commonplace today; it may be that I was already familiar with the basic material; it may be that I am too uptight to handle jumping from passage to passage. In any case, I found this rather disappointing.

Curry: A Tale of Cooks & Conquerors by Lizzie Collingham

Fascinating topic; poorly executed book. I could barely make it through the first chapter. Reject.

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

I thoroughly enjoyed this--it is a fine specimen of the mystery/thriller/beachread genre. Needless to say, I thought the historical reconstruction of early Christianity left a little to be desired (what's the point of humanizing Jesus if you are going to marry him off to a goddess?), but it made for a fun book. I find it ironic that there are at least a half dozen 'The Truth about the DaVinci Code' type books, but no one who thinks that The DaVinci Code is truth. While the characterization left a little to be desired, there wasn't that much of it to wade through. This book has a great plot and it was a fun read.

Safe Journey: An African Adventure by Glenn L. Pace

If you read the blogs, you hear about the condition of the Church in South America, Asia, etc. all the time. Why? Because there are so many American RMs who served in those countries. But it seems that almost all missionaries in Africa are Africans, so we don't hear much about the tortured history of the Church in Ghana or the fact that African men are substantially more likely to join the Church than African women. Which means that this portrait of Africa written by a GA fills an important niche, and can be easily forgiven for its sometimes pedestrian writing.