Woodbine Heights Baptist Church, Toronto, Ontario CANADA

BOOKS WE'VE READ

Many of the folks at Woodbine Heights are avid readers of a variety of genres and styles of literature. On this page you will find a collection of titles that we've read and we'd love to recommend for your interest/library. Drop by regularly to check out some of the latest offerings from the folks at the church.

What a find this was, a quarter at a thrift store in Gravenhurst. A lovely story, with evocative, detailed art, of a bear who doesn't quite fit in... or does he?

The Tangerine Bear by Betty Paraskevas and Michael Paraskevas
Published by Michael di Capua Books/HarperCollinsPublishers, 1997
ISBN: 0-06-205146-6

Set in fictional Gilead, Iowa, youngest daughter Glory is looking after her retired minister father in the family home. Long lost son Jack returns, setting up the possibility of reconcilliation. Great dialogue and character development, a wonderful sense of place, and a profound sense of attachment/connection to one of the characters drew me deeply into the narrative. It is worth the read just for the line about the chicken dumplings.

Home by Marilynne Robinson
Published by Picador, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-312-42854-9
ISBN: 0-312-42854-5

I recently listened to the Talking Books version of the Pulitzer Prize winning The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. It is the Depression-era story of displaced tenant farmers from the mid- and south-west of the United States moving towards the promised land of California. This book, published first in 1939, is relevant to our economic conditions today, because it is about the human condition and human community in desperate times. Beautifully written, eloquently narrated, The Grapes of Wrath is a story well worth a listen, if only to meet Casey.

The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
Narrated by Dylan Baker
Published 1998 by Recorded Books, copyright 1939
ISBN -978-1-4025-3087-6

In the fall of 2008, a group of Woodbine Heightsers met weekly to discuss the book In God’s Presence: Theological Reflections on Prayer. It was a great experience, not only because of the variety of views that were expressed but because of the book’s content. If you want to explore the concept that your prayers can affect God (is that really possible??), then this is a book for you. Another chapter that also resulted in a lot of terrific discussion was the one about the Lord’s Prayer. Since then, each time I say this prayer, I find myself thinking about every word and why Jesus chose just that way to express himself.
Prayer is a vital part of any spiritual journey, and this book is a fascinating and helpful compass!

In God’s Presence: Theological Reflections on Prayer
By Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki
Chalice Press, 1996
ISBN 978-0-827216-15-7

Half a Crown is the latest book in the Small Change trilogy. The other books, in order are Farthing (2006) and Ha’Penny (2007) and I recommend them all. These are “alternate history” books that explore what could have happened if the United Kingdom had made peace with Adolf Hitler in World War II. But the books are very relevant for today because they also show the consequences of not speaking out against injustices, and of not being aware or caring about what’s going on around you. Each time I’ve finished one of these three books, I’ve immediately read it all over again.
- Elizabeth MacLeod
http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/profiles/macleod.html

Half a Crown
by Jo Walton
Tor Books (2008)
ISBN-13: 978-0765316219

Three Cups of Tea is the remarkable story behind the creation of the Central Asia Institute, an organization devoted, in the main, to the education of children (mostly girls) in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Greg Mortenson's desire to honour the memory of his younger sister by climbing K2 led him to a small mountain village called Korphe. The people there took him in, and before he left for his return to the US, he made them a promise. The rest, as they say, is history. The story is masterfully written by David Oliver Relin as he travelled with Mortenson for two years, seeing the fruit of Mortenson's passionate labour, meeting and interviewing many of those involved in the tale. Truly, this is a story of single-minded tenacity, integrity, courage and hope.

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Penguin Paperback, 2007
ISBN - 978-0-14-303825-2

The Ancient Tea Horse Road is both an ancient and modern travelogue. Jeff Fuchs spent time in the countries connected to the Himalayas, and heard tales of 'lados,' those men of the mountains who both led and bore the burdens of caravans making the hazardous trek across more than 2000 miles of the most beautiful and terrifying terrain on the planet. He walked that road, met some of the surviving lados, and tells their tale. So vivid is the picture he paints, I found myself desperate both for a glimpse into the rugged beauty of the place, and a cup of hot Puer tea. I will read this book again.

The Ancient Tea Horse Road: Travels with the Last of the Himalayan Muleteers
by Jeff Fuchs
Viking Canada (may 6, 2008)
ISBN -10: 0670066117

So if you are thinking about moving towards vegetarian diet/practice and need just a little help deciding, this is not the book for you. Because this read does not give you just a little help deciding, but rather paints a picture of an industry (factory farming, mostly in the U.S.) with no heart or conscience, when it comes to animal welfare (or really, human welfare either). Being vegetarian already, this book confirms this choice as wise and healthy on a number of levels: care of the planet, of other creatures, of the eco-systems (particularly the ocean) which sustain our lives, human health in the long term. Take a chance, pick up the book and give it a read. And I'll see you in the legume ailse at the grocery store...

Eating Animals
by Jonathan Safran Foer
Published by Little Brown and Company, 2009
ISBN: 0316069884