What to read?

 Anyone who has followed this blog for some time knows that I love to read. My goal is to read 50 books a year, and I am on track to do that again this year. The vast majority of books I read are non-fiction although during the Covid shut-down I started reading non-fiction books as well. Now that I have returned to pastoral ministry my reading is more focused on ministry and theological books. Unfortunately, this presents me with a problem.

I really miss the Lifeway bookstores. The reason I miss them is that I could go in and check out the books before I bought them. Today, I was in Louisville and stopped at a shopping center that has a Barnes and Noble bookstore. At first, I thought they were gone as well as a Whole Foods store was in the building they had previously used. As I drove through the center I realized they had moved into a smaller building on the other side of the center. When I entered I found that their religion section contained mostly popular books and offered nothing related to ministry or theology.

Most of the books I buy now come from Amazon. As I'm reading, I may find a reference to a book that seems like it would be a good one to read. When I order it I am sometimes disappointed. The book may not be what I expected it would be. Sometimes the font is so small or light that I find it difficult to read. Some books are written at such an elementary level that they offer little worthwhile, and others are written for an academic audience that makes me think the author was more interested in impressing people with his or her knowledge of big words than in offering something that would be worthwhile to the average reader. Occasionally, I find that the book is so poorly written or edited that it is almost unreadable. Several books have gone into the trash can after reading just a chapter or two. Having published books myself, I remember my editors insisting that the books were edited properly, clear in what they were saying and readable. I wonder what has changed. Of course, these problems could largely be avoided if it was possible to review the book before purchasing it, but that has become very difficult to do.

This year I have focused on re-reading some of the favorite books in my library. Fortunately, there are many! As I read them I find there are many things written in them I've forgotten or overlooked in my earlier reading. I just finished one published in 1993. It now has much more highlighting and notes written in the margin that it had after my earlier reading. Yes, some of it is outdated, but a lot of it still makes sense in 2024. I found some things I hope to introduce into the church in the coming year.

I know the brick-and-mortar bookstores are unlikely to return, especially the Christian-oriented ones, but I miss them. They provided a service to those of us in ministry that online shopping never will. Their demise is just one more thing that has disappeared from our world that this old man misses.