Blue Like Jazz:
Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
Donald Miller
ISBN: 0785263705

This book is Miller's wrestling with religion (he's not a fan) and Christianity and a chronicle of his way of loving God. Honest about his own life and struggles, his faith comes through as authentic and nonformulaic. Great writing too.

   "'So then you started reading the Bible?' I asked.
   'Yes, We would eat chocolates and smoke cigarettes and read the Bible, which is the only way to do it if you ask me. Don, The Bible is so good with chocolate. I always thought The Bible was more of a salad thing, you know, but it isn't. It is a chocolate thing.' "

Don't Get Too Comfortable:
The Indignities of Coach Class, the Torments of Low Thread Count, the Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems
David Rakoff
ISBN: 0767916034
Broadway Books, 2005

Rakoff seeks out experiences and writes about them - with humor, insight and wonder. He talks about becoming a U.S. citizen, learning how to forage for wild vegetation in New York City, cryogenics in Scottsdale, plastic surgery in Beverly Hills, and the importance of crafting - to himself and Martha Stewart worker bees.

"A woman named Kelly says, 'When you're making something, you're in a different state. You go into a deep level of concentration, to the point where you're not self-conscious anymore, it's just flowing out of you.' It's fairly amazing that she has used these words unprompted, because the actual name for the state of mind that she is describing is 'flow'....'The biggest challenge for us is that you have to have insta-flow', Kelly continues. 'You have to make things. You don't have a choice.'"

The Know-It-All:
One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
A.J. Jacobs
ISBN: 0743250621
Simon and Schuster, reprint edition, 2005, paperback

Jacobs takes us with him through the highs - and lows - of his journey through the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, as well as some meandering reflections on his own life.

religion
. . . And yet, there is wisdom in Judaisim - so I'll just pick and choose the parts I like and hope I don't go to Jewish hell (known officially as Gehenna). I'll choose to follow the Golden Rule. I'll choose Ecclesiastes. I'll choose to go to seder, but more to be with my family than because I find the ritual meaningful."

Leaving the Saints:
How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith
Martha Beck
ISBN: 0307335992
Three Rivers Press, reprint edition, April 2006, paperback

Martha Beck describes her discovery of inconsistent teachings as well as awareness of childhood sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of a leader of the church. This resulted in her exodus from her religion. A powerful and fascinating chronicle.

"Really, truly, be careful what you pray for. By the spring of 1993, my spiritual quest had led me to exactly what I'd wanted most: a deep, warm sense of love and meaning in the universe, and inner moral compass by which to direct my actions, a daily life filled with a steady stream of small miracles. The problem was that my newfound faith was driving me straight out of my religion."

The Life and times of the Thunderbold Kid: A Memoir
ISBN: 076791936X
Broadway Books, 2006

Another by Bryson, including both his memories of his childhood in the 50's in Des Moines, Iowa, as well as his perceptive and often hilarious commentary on the America that helped shape him and many of us.

"Everyone for miles came to the suppers. It didn't matter what the denomination of the church was. Everybody came. Everyone in town was practically Methodist anyway, even the Catholics. (My grandparents, for the record, were Lutherans.) It wasn't about religion; it was about sociable eating in bulk."

Marley and Me
John Grogan
ISBN: 0060817089
2005 HarperCollins

A love story about Marley and his people - for anyone who has ever loved - and been loved by - a dog.

"Was it possible for a dog...to point humans to the things that really mattered in life? I believed it was. Loyalty. Courage. Devotion. Joy...It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not."

My Faith So Far:
A Story of Conversion and Confusion
Patton Dodd
ISBN: 0787968595
Jossey-Bass, 2005, hardcover

Dodd's engaging story tells of his conversion to Christianity, his embrace of a charismatic megachurch, his year at Oral Roberts University and his move back to Colorado. He shares his thoughts and actions, including what he believes and what he later questions about what he believes, making for a compelling read.

"Still, when I'm honest with myself, I know that Christianity seems more varied than it did a year ago; the experience of differing expressions of faith even within the tight boundaries of charismatic Christianity has suggested, disturbingly, just how much personal experience has to do with faith formation."

Off Ramp:
Adventures and Heartache in the American Elsewhere
Hank Stuever
ISBN: 0312424884
Picador, reprint edition, 2005, paperback

A collection of essays, some humorous, some touching, all expressing Stuever's unique take of slices of American life. Essay titles include: The Couch That Warped Space-Time, The Josie Problem, I Don't Know How to Love Him, Recalifornia, and Sci-Fido.

"You hear it in strange places: Jesus Christ Superstar cover songs by punk-rock bands, or toned down and hymnlike in certain churches, or "I Don't Know How to Love Him" piped in on waiting-room Muzak. (And I still don't know how to love Him, after so many nights of playing the brown album or the movie soundtrack - we owned both - on a small record player in my boyhood bedroom, dying for everyone's sins with my arms stretched across the closet rod, perhaps the purest religious longing I've ever had.)"

Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs*
*A Low Culture Manifesto (Now with a New Middle)
Chuck Klosterman
ISBN: 0743236017
Scribner, 2004, paperback

Pop culture through Klosterman's eyes is at the same time deeper and fluffier than one might imagine. great stuff.

"Last night I awoke at 3:30am with a piercing pain in my abdomen, certain I had been infected by some sort of Peruvian parasite that was gnawing away at my small intestine. It felt like the Neptunes had remixed my digestive tract, severely pumping up the bass. Now the details of my illness will not be discussed here, as they are unappetizing. However, there was one upside to this tragedy: I was forced to spend several hours in my bathroom reading old issues of Entertainment Weekly, which inadvertently recalibrated my perception of existence."

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down:
A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and The Collision of Two Cultures
Anne Fadiman
ISBN: 0374525641
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997, paperback

Fadiman describes the cultural clash that occurred when Lia Lee's parents sought help in the American medical system for her severe seizure condition. The constant misunderstandings between the family and the dramatically wide differences in the family's and the medical systems approach to illness and life resulted in Lia's eventual terminal comatose state. Readable, engrossing, respectful and vitally important for anyone interested in how to live within a diverse culture. highly recommended

"I don't think it would be too much to ask them to acknowledge their patients' realities - to avoid the kind of blind spot that made a Merced health department employee once write, about a child from a family that views the entire universe as sacred:
   Name: Lia Lee
   Principal Language: Hmong
   Ethnic Group: Hmong
   Religion: None

Take the Cannoli
Sarah Vowell
ISBN: 0743205405
Simon and Schuster, 2000, paperback

So far this is my favorite of Sarah Vowell's books. I love her smart, pointed and often humorous observations of politics, religion, American culture and herself. clever.

"In my personal religion, a faith cobbled together out of pop songs and books and movies, there is nothing closer to a sign from God than Elvis Presley telling you that 'tomorrow will be too late' at precisely the moment you drop off a girl you're not sure you want to drop off."

Under the Banner of Heaven:
A Story of a Violent Faith
Jon Krakauer
ISBN: 1400032806
Anchor, reprint edition, 2004

Highlighting the religious fundamentalist beliefs that motivated the brutal murder of Brenda Lafferty and her infant daughter, Krakauer describes the development and history of the Mormon faith, including its fundamentalist factions. He also touches on fundamentalist beliefs in other religions and why they might result in such violence. incredibly powerful and insightful. highly recommended

"In the fundamentalist worldview, a sharp dividing line runs through all of creation, demarcating good from evil, and everybody falls on one side of that line or the other. After much praying, Ron and Dan decided that the four individuals God had commanded them to remove must, a priori, be wicked - they were 'children of perdition' as Dan phrased it - and therefore deserved to be murdered. Having determined that the so-called removal revelation was true and valid, the Lafferty brothers further concluded that 'it would be wise to act on the things it suggested.' "

7 Steps to Finding Your Spiritual Life
Lisa Langford Heron and Brian Langford Heron, M.Div.
ISBN: 0595342051
iUniverse, 2005, paperback

Providing a framework for spiritual life that is not dependent on any particular religious point of view, this book introduces 7 areas of spiritual life, including community and sacred space, allowing each person to include their own experiences, beliefs and values and acknowledge their own unique spiritual life.

"...a basic yearning for spiritual meaning in our lives unites us. We all seek to give meaning to our lives, feel a sense of purpose, and understand our connection to the world around us. Some of us satisfy this yearning through traditional religious means, some through more general spiritual approaches, and still others through completely secular avenues. We may satisfy our spiritual yearnings in diverse ways, but we are unified in having the same basic spiritual needs."

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