BOOK 14: Shopgirl by Steve Martin (audio)

How timely, with Steve Martin guesting on 30 Rock last night, that I should post his book in my 40 books in a year project today. I enjoy Martin's comedy maybe 30% of the time, mostly because he's so over the top and obvious. I know that's the joke and yet I still don't find it funny. He was good on 30 Rock, a role in which he's half funny and half serious actually makes him funnier.

I was intrigued despite my ambivalence about his comedy to see what kind of chops he had as a writer. Not bad, it turns out. I don't know that a lot of the great authors I've read this year have to look over their shoulder for Martin's shock of white hair, but he does a very good job with character development. He captures or caricatures (I really can't say for lack of knowledge) Los Angeles. And although I didn't write down quotes from this book as I was listening to it, I do remember going back to re-listen to some passages as the phrasing was that good. That's high praise for someone the world thinks of as a boisterous slapstick guy.

Overall, it's thoughtful and layered. They have turned it into a movie in which Steve Martin plays a role alongside Claire Danes. I'll be interested to see it.

WWJD about Obama?

I received the following in my inbox this morning, forwarded by someone named Donald.

It's long so I'll comment here and then you can read it. Grassfire is not expressly a Christian organization, but it's pretty clear to see that it was founded by Christians. I guess this email took me aback so much, because I don't see the point or what's helpful about mounting a resistance to our democratically elected President. Even John McCain said, "He's MY President" in his concession speech.

This kind of radical (perhaps paranoid) reaction is exactly the kind of thing that freaks out non-believers and makes them think we're all hypocrites and weirdos. I think a biblical approach is to support all of our government leaders in prayer and for us to live lives of integrity. I'm not sure signing up a million resisters is what Jesus would do.

Bomb away.

>+ + Obama Resistance Update
> Grassfire.org
>
>
> Donald,
>
> Thank you so much for taking part in Grassfire's "Join The Resistance" campaign. I'm thrilled to report that in just one week, more than 100,000 citizens have
> joined the Resistance!
>
> This is great news, especially with more and more reports about the very aggressive agenda President-elect Obama has set for the first days of his administration.
>
> Obama's promised executive orders alone will shut down oil and gas exploration, push radical global warming policies and force taxpayer funded abortions. And now Obama is promising more
> massive bailouts that will further expand government power.
>
> + + Our Goal: 200,000 Resisters This Week!
>
> In order to reach our goal of 1 million Resisters by Inauguration Day, we must cross 200,000 this week.
>
> We have already begun aggressive efforts to get the word out through conservative radio, Drudge Report and other means. But I need your help to spread the word TODAY:
>
> Please forward this message to your conservative friends right now and ask them to Join The Resistance. Your friends can go here to sign:
>
> http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?u=13283&PID=18686067
>
> + + Update on the Obama Booklet
>
> Also, my staff is finalizing Grassfire's booklet "Living In An Obama Nation" which outlines the 21 greatest threats the Obama Administration poses to your family and our nation. I expect to have this 48-page booklet to the printer tomorrow and shipping on time before the end of the month.
>
> To request your copies or for a sneak peek inside the
> booklet, go here:
>
> http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=13279&CID=111&RID=18686067
>
> Thank you so much for taking a stand with Grassfire! Together, we can mount a patriotic, resilient, conservative Resistance to Barack Obama and the socialist Left.
>
>
> Steve Elliott, President
> Grassfire.org
>
> P.S. I have received many requests from Resisters who want more information on Grassfire's overall Resistance strategy. If you would like a more detailed breakdown of our strategy, or to give us your suggestions and feedback, go here:
>
> http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=13280&CID=111&RID=18686067

BOOK 13: Streets of Hope by Peter Medoff and Holly Sklar

I had tried to read Streets of Hope previously, but this project was good motivation to pick it back up. This is the story of the rebirth of the Dudley Triangle in Roxbury. I had struggled to get through the book previously because, though the story is dramatic, the presentation here is more sociological study than emotional re-telling. Residents and community agencies came together to stop illegal dumping, arsen for profit and decades of neglect by city services. They came together at the table realizing that shared strength was the only viable route to putting a stop to everything that was tearing their community apart. They got the attention of some funders and put together an organizaion--the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative that would go on to rebuild the community one vacant lot at a time.

This book is a good read for anyone who is interested in an urban neighborhood making a comeback. but it was especially cool for me to know a good percentage of the people mentioned in the book. I have walked these streets and seen some of the 1300 units of housing they've added over time. I've been to DSNI community meetings as we've planned the Kroc Center and seen the richness of a diverse group of people working toward a common goal.

I encourage you to push through some of the dry early portions to read this story of triumph.

BOOK 12: Sixty Six by Barry Levinson (audio)

I listened to this book by Barry Levinson, more well known for his TV and film work than as a novelist. Set in Baltimore in the late 1960's, the story feels like it happens a lot earlier than that in many respects. So much of day to day life for these 20-somethings still resembled 1950 and yet huge shifts are occuring in a layer just on top of finding their first job, settling down toward marriage or dodging the draft.

With some books I've listened to, I know right away whether to contiue listening or quit and take it back to the library. This book was a tough choice because there is a lot of cliche and some strange non-sequitirs and rabbit trails, but Levinson provides just enough hook and mystery that he convinced me to stick with it for a while longer. Then I was past the halfway point and decided to ride it out.

Since listening to Sixty Six, I've hardly thought about the book once, which says to me that though this one is a check in the completed column, it was more or less a non-entity in this experience. Unless you're a Sixties-o-phile or you're from Baltimore, don't bother with this one.

BOOK 11: The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer

Reading this book was 13 or 14 years in the making. My brother, Jeff, gave me this book while we were in college and I was pursuing a lot of things other than God. Because I was in full flight mode, I couldn't read the book then. At this point in my life, it was a much more meaningful exercise.

I love Tozer's writing because he's never trite and rarely simple, but he has a great talent for being clear even when he's going deep theologically. It is evident even in his title here. A writer could not be more ambitious about his topic choice than the pursuit of God and yet, as Tozer points out, pursuing God simplifies everything. The first quote illustrates it beautifully.

"A satisfying prayer life elevates and purifies every act of body and mind and integrates the entire personality into a single spiritual unit. In the long pull we pray only as well as we live."

How I could have used a passage like this when I was busy pursuing the world back in college:

"It will be a new day for us when we put away false notions and foolish fears and allow the Holy Spirit to fellowship with us as intimately as He wants to do, to talk to us as Christ talked to His disciples by the sea of Galilee. After that there can be no more loneliness, only the glory of the never-failing Presence." p. 141

If you haven't read it yet, regardless of where you are in your walk with God, get a copy of Pursuit of God and get to work.