Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles. Pressfield writes, “Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.” The War of Art makes you feel like you must overcome this resistance, and Pressfield gives 100 examples of how to spot and overcome it in his inspiring, easy to read, well-written book.
You can read an excerpt on Steven Pressfield’s website here.
Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games Trilogy. I read all three books in about 30 hours because I could not put them down. Collins’s writing style is adequate, but the story she weaves is fantastic. The Hunger Games has been marketed as Young Adult fiction, but the story’s ethical and political themes are aimed at mature audiences. I’ve been surprisd at how this book has stuck with me and prodded me to reflect on these deeper issues, which leads us to…
Julie Clawson, The Hunger Games and the Gospel: Bread, Circuses, and the Kingdom of God. As the author of Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices and a self-described sci-fi/fantasy geek, Clawson has the background to tackle The Hunger Games from a theological perspctive. Clawson claims that “the imbalances and injustices described in Panem don’t just exist in speculative fiction” and unpacks the similarities she perceives between privileged Americans and The Capitol. You can read my full review over at Anne with an E.
Richard Florida, Who’s Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life. There are 3 crucial decisions we all have to make: what we’re going to do with our lives, who we’re going to do it with, and where we’re going to do it. Florida says we don’t devote nearly enough energy to this third question of “where,” and lays out why we should be intentional about choosing where to live, and how to choose. I thought the topic sounded fascinating, but found the book dry and a little disjointed.
What’s a good book you’ve read lately?
One comment
I actually host a monthly link-up with book recommendations the first Thursday of every month; today I posted Three Great Books about Marriage as an Institution. You can find the archive here with my recommendations by category. They’re mostly nonfiction, so you might find some you like since you seem to read a lot of nonfiction also. And of course you’re welcome to link up if you’d like!