Lest some of you be confused by the title of this post, let me explain. These are baseball terms, and I have a rule in life: If baseball terminology can be applied to any situation it absolutely must be. “At bat” is pretty self-explanatory; it’s the batter at the plate. “On deck” is the batter next up, waiting in the on-deck circle warming up. “In the hole” refers to the batter waiting in the dugout who follows the gentleman on deck. So these are the books I am reading and will be reading next.
AT BAT
Surprised By Hope
by N.T. Wright
N.T. Wright’s book, Simply Christian, was incredibly helpful to me when I read it several years ago. He is simply one of the best thinkers and writers about theology and connecting it to life. He is especially helpful in helping me reframe some of the subtle, tacit assumptions I’ve made about the Christian life growing up in the church.
Michael Jordan: The Life
by Roland Lazenby
Jordan was the best ever. He was an icon of my youth (and remains an icon today, quite literally). There are lots of biographies out there about all sorts of people, but how many of them are about the greatest, the single best, at any one thing? I want to know what created the most pathologically, habitually, insanely competitive and successful athlete of my lifetime. Oh, and that book cover is just awesome.
The Boo
by Pat Conroy
I have read every one of Pat Conroy’s novels besides this one. His book, Lords of Discipline is my favorite, and it features “The Boo”, an officer at the Carolina Military Academy where the main character is enrolled. The Boo was Conroy’s first novel, written in his early twenties. He describes it is raw and not very good but with the seeds of what he would become as a writer. I love his books and can’t wait to see where it started.
