I’ve decided to read a marathon.

Not run a marathon, though I’ve survived, just barely, a couple (I’ve heard from a marathoning mom that it’s the closest a man can come to understanding the pains of childbirth).

So here’s the scoop on my reading marathon: I plan to read 26 books in the 16 weeks remaining in this year, and to comment on them in mindonfire. I like the marathon metaphor: instead of steps, I have pages (9,394 of them) to plod through before the end of the year. Like the 26 and some odd miles of a marathon, the only way I can make it through all of these books is if I pace myself. Perhaps 26 books does not seem like much, but between fathering and full-time work, there is little time to read. And I won’t be reading Dr. Seuss.

You may ask what precipitated this dark plunge into madness–even if you don’t, I’ll tell you: prepatory for the new school year (our household generally revolves around school years and quarters instead of around the Julian calendar), Jana came up with the cool idea to turn our livingroom into a library (walls lined with bookshelves, a large study table in the middle, wireless access, etc.). I was ambivalent until she promised to play the part of the repressed and secretly wanton librarian. After some research, I downloaded Book Collector 4.0 Pro from Collectorz.com, which is a surprisingly good program, in spite of the suggestion of illiteracy in the street-spelling of the company url. You type in the ISBN, and it fetches the author, title, amazon link, cover image, Library of Congress catalog number, number of pages, publisher, publisher’s address, publisher’s mom, a cab, and a double espresso machiatto. It can even look up foreign books from the .fr, .jp, .uk, .de flavors of Amazon and the national libraries of various countries. Wicked cool use of web technologies!

So far, I’ve entered 338 books and printed little labels with the LOC numbers on them and organized our library accordingly. It’s a beastly task, and I’m only a third of the way through our collection. Over the years, we’ve downscaled and simplified many of our material possessions, but not our books. I swear, if Jana or I were to die (perhaps crushed by our collection in a SoCal quake) and come back and haunt one of you like Marley’s ghost, in place of heavy chains we’d be lugging around dusty stacks of obscure history texts and religious commentaries.

I love looking at people’s personal libraries. It tells you something about what is important to them. So, in my truly exhibitionist fashion, I’m appending the annotated list to this post; it will probably occupy a more prominent place (perhaps to the left) when I get a chance to play with the layout of this page. Click on any of the books to open up their link in Amazon. Meanwhile, I’m starting my marathon::

Front Cover	Title/Author/Comments
	Mile One: A Lively Hope: The Suffering, Death, Resurrection and Exaltation of Jesus Christ by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel (214 pages) Richard was my favorite LDS institute teacher and a powerful influence–he helped me to begin thinking about Mormon theology in broader terms. He is one of my heroes, even if he is a professor at BYU. ;^) I’m reading this in part to prep for a temple recommend interview this Sunday.
	Mile Two: The Historical Jesus by John Dominic Crossan (506 pages) Crossan is a brilliant scholar and another hero of mine. This book is the unabridged version of Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography. His version of Jesus is an illiterate, radical social-political revolutionary, and his cross-disciplinary research is controversial but as solid as one can get when studying the historical figure of Jesus. Eagerly anticipating this read.
	Mile Three: Prisoners of Shangri-La by Donald S. Lopez Jr. (294 pages) This was on a reading list for graduate seminar on Buddhism that I really wanted to take last year (the prof, another great mentor, took the students out to dinner at a different Japanese restaurant each week). This book discusses the glamorizing of Tibetan Buddhism by Western popular and academic culture.
	Mile Four: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (352 pages) Loved the movie. Now I must read the book. (I have a soft spot for coming of age romance stories. Don’t tell anyone.)
	Mile Five: The Refiner’s Fire by John L. Brooke; John L Brooke (421 pages) One of the great academic works on the origins of Mormonism–it finds connections between Joseph Smith’s doctrines of exaltation and European 16th century hermetics. Plus there’s a Nauvoo sunstone on the cover. Can’t beat that.
	Mile Six: Introducing Feminist Theology by Anne M. Clifford (287 pages) I’m becoming more of a Mormon Feminist as time progresses (Jana started me on this path). I’m hoping this book will deepen my understanding of what it means to be a Christian feminist.
	Mile Seven: Stages of Faith by James W. Fowler (332 pages) I’ve been to several Sunstone panels on this book, and I am intrigued by the model presented by Fowler–that going through a myth-making stage is good, that a feeling of betrayal by one’s own religion is not unusual, and that a universalist reconciliation is often a normal progression. I’m butchering his ideas, I’m sure, but I’ll have something better for you after I read this. I especially wonder how well his model applies to me.
	Mile Eight: Memory and Dream by Charles De Lint (400 pages) De Lint is hailed by many as the master of modern urban fantasy (with Gaiman as the king of dark fantasy). Since this is the type of fiction I am most inclined to write (with a Japanese-Mormon twist), I figure I better get to know the leaders of the pack.
	Mile Nine: Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon by Jeffrey R. Holland (433 pages) My Stake President wants me to read this. I’ve tried twice to read this beast, and, to tell you the truth, I’m not looking forward to it. I will try once again (perhaps I should have put this at mile 15, symbolic of the marathoner’s “wall”).
	Mile Ten: The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America by Louis Menand (546 pages) Jana got me this last Christmas, and I’d like to read it before this Christmas. It examines the interactions of post-transcendentalist American thinkers, including Oliver Wendall Holmes, William James, and my namesake, John Dewey. I’ve heard part of the abridged version and the author’s style is very engaging (which is good for intellectual history!).
	Mile Eleven: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn (210 pages) One of the most referenced works in the humanities today. I’d better get to know it myself.
	Mile Twelve: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (384 pages) One of my favorite books–a deeply symboloic gnostic novel written by Nobel Laureate that somehow weaves together the redemption of Pilate and the Devil’s visit (with a six foot tall top-hat wearing black cat) to atheist, communist Moscow. I think this will be my third or fourth time reading this book.
	Mile Thirteen: A Woman’s Journey to God: Finding the Feminine Path by Joan Borysenko (313 pages) This book is part of my feminist quest for the divine feminine, which is conspicuously absent in my patriarchal religion, in spite of its claims to believe in God the Mother.
	Mile Fourteen: The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship by David John Buerger (234 pages) Part of my research into comparative religious studies between Mormon and Japanese ancestral veneration rites.
	Mile Fifteen: The Gates of Power: Monks, Courtiers, and Warriors in Premodern Japan by Mikael S. Adolphson (456 pages) I’m so looking forward to reading this one–scholars have a tendency to minimize or criticize the earthly power of the temples and monasteries of medieval Japan, and I hear tell that Adolphson has put them in their proper place as political players.
	Mile Sixteen: My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok (369 pages) I loved The Chosen, but this book is considered by many to be one of Potok’s best. I have some aspirations to write like Mormon Chaim Potok.
	Mile Seventeen: Beginnings in Ritual Studies (Studies in Comparative Religion) by Ronald L. Grimes (299 pages) To help me get a firm grounding in theories and methodologies for studying ritual.
	Mile Eighteen: Kuan-yin by Chun-Fang Yu (688 pages) Kaun-yin is my favorite Chinese goddess and a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion (the Dalai Lama and the Japanese Kannon are other forms of the same). Avalokiteshvara began as a male in India but went through a sex change in China and now occupies a space not unlike the Virgin Mary. Should be a good (but long!) read.
	Mile Nineteen: A Bright Red Scream: Self-Mutilation and the Language of Pain by Marilee Strong (234 pages) My protagonist for a novel I’m working on struggles with self-mutilation (she’s inspired partly by Lee from the movie The Secretary but mostly by the main character in the Japanese folk tale, Earless Hoichi. Self-harming is a serious illness (and has nothing to do with tattooing and piercing), is more prevelant than most people realize, but doesn’t have the legitimacy of other mental illness (like depression).
	Mile Twenty: Learning the Tarot: A Tarot Book for Beginners by Joan Bunning (320 pages) This is to indulge my Tarot hobby. I use the Tarot images for their archetypes, to inspire creativity and awareness–not really into the whole divinatory bit. This book shys away from divination and focuses more on the symbolism. It’s also available online. I plan to work through it week by week.
	Mile Twenty-one: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (219 pages) A present from Jana, and another one I plan to work through one week at a time. Most of my writing will be tied to exercises from the Artist’s Way. My best friend, Chris, is also working on it–I’m hoping that we can compare notes.
	Mile Twenty-two: The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings by Bart D. Ehrman (465 pages) This is a great introduction to the serious study of the New Testament from a variety of approaches. Jana and I are going to read this and the New Testament together for our scripture study.
	Mile Twenty-three: Things Will Be Different for My Daughter: A Practical Guide to Building Her Self-Esteem and Self-Reliance by Mindy Bingham; Sandy Stryker; Susan All Stetter Neufeldt (494 pages) I’ve had this on my shelf since my daughter was born. It’s about time for me to read this!
	Mile Twenty-four: Making Journals by Hand: 20 Creative Projects for Keeping Your Thoughts by Jason Thompson (128 pages) I have a journal fetish, and I have boxes and shelves of old notebooks and filled and half-filled and empty journals. This book has some wonderful projects for getting away from the boring old writing thing.
	Mile Twenty-five: The Works of A. E. Housman (Wordsworth Poetry Library) by A. E. Housman (272 pages) One of my two favorite poets (Emily Dickinson is the other, and I plan on reading her next year).
	Mile Twenty-six: Programming PHP by Rasmus Lerdorf; Kevin Tatroe (524 pages) Since I do this web/database programming bit for a living, I’ve got to keep pushing the skills envelope. I want to branch out of my little Windows-based world, and I think that the ASP to PHP jump will be fairly smooth. This is another week by week book.