Some Great Books

So, I am going to throw out some great books that I have read recently. I highly recommend all of them.

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
This is was written in the early 1940's, and it is a powerful story about South Africa. The main character is a black minister who lives in the country, but travels to the city to check up on family who have moved there. A series of events lead him to deal not only with the heartbreak and conflict, but also with the changing world around him. This is known as the classic novel on South Africa. I found myself constantly in tears through the last 50 pages of it. So, so good. Well worth a read.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

I read this one back in January, but I still thought I would comment on it. You have probably seen it all over Borders and other book stores. It is a story that revolves around modern Afghanistan, but also deals with powerful themes that cross all cultural barriers. It deals with guilt, love, and destiny. A warning is that there are some tragic events in the book that are hard to read. I still found it to be incredibly worthwhile, though. Great stuff.

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

If you have read The Great Gatsby, and if you liked it, then I highly recommend this book. Again, I read this one a while ago, I think in December, but I just couldn't put it down. It is set in the 20s and it completely character and setting driven. It follows a young man through romance, college, friendship, and career life as he wrestles with his place in the world. I think it was amazing literature. Really interesting.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I just finished my second trip through this book. Simply put, this is a post-apocalyptic story of a father and a son try to survive. The story is told in a simple way, but it is so powerful, terrifying, and compelling that I moved through it in 2 or 3 days. You may have seen that a movie based on the book will be coming out this Fall (starring Viggo Mortenson, aka, Aragorn). I thinking being a father of sons made this book that much more powerful to me. It is strange how that things that the father in the story wrestled with, in how he kept his son alive and how he kept hope alive in his son, seemed so similar to the everyday things that fathers deal with. Highly recommended.

I am looking forward to more summer reading. I am working on another Daniel Silva novel right now. I am also reading through Trinitarian Soundings again. Maybe this time I will understand it.