"We look around and feel as if book culture as we know it is crumbling to dust, but there's one important thing to keep in mind: as we know it." What happens if we separate the idea of "the book" from the experience it has traditionally provided? Lynn Coady challenges booklovers addicted to the physical book to confront their darkest fears about the digital world and the future of reading. Is the all-pervasive internet turning readers into web-surfing...

One of the vital challenges facing thoughtful people today is how to read the Bible faithfully without abandoning our sense of truth and history. Reading the Bible Again for the First Time provides a much-needed solution to the problem of how to have a fully authentic yet contemporary understanding of the scriptures. Many mistakenly believe there are no choices other than fundamentalism or simply rejecting the Bible as something that can bring

...

Many Christians today long to become reacquainted with their ancient ancestors in the faith. They see a deeper worship and devotion in the prayers and hymns of the early church. And they believe that the writings of the early church can shed new light on their understanding of Scripture. But where and how do we begin? Our first encounter with the writings of the church fathers may seem like visiting a far country where the language, assumptions, concerns,...

After a successful party at Bodie Island's Lighthouse Library, librarian Lucy Richardson is ready to curl up with her cat, Charles, and a good book. But her R and R is cut short when she notices some mysterious lights leading a small boat to crash into the coast. The two shipwrecked seafarers survive the ordeal--but one of them shows up dead ashore a few days later. Lucy finds herself again roped into a murder investigation and navigating a sea of...

A memoir in reading, this book reflects anew on how reading can become a transformative path to self-discovery. Jane Tompkins treats in particular works by Paul Theroux and V. S. Naipaul but also touches on the works of writers such as Henning Mankell, Ann Patchett, Alain de Botton, Elena Ferrante, and Anthony Trollope. --