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.)