Author: andy.rowell

I finished Teaching a Stone to Talk (1982) by Annie Dillard. She observes odd ways humans act when they travel to solitary places. She alternates between her observations and careful historical or scientific research. I read this to let her good writing wash over me. Yes, a number of these essays include brief reflections on church. What most helped me is her modeling that one can mix genres.

Finished the novel Saint Maybe (1991) by Anne Tyler. Recommended by Eugene Peterson in Take & Read. Born in Minneapolis, went to Duke. Like Godric and The Diary of a Country Priest, another book about saints, or those trying to navigate life with only the weapon of meekness.

I finished Godric (1980) by Frederick Buechner. From the first sentences, the writing is extraordinary. It was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. It is Buechner’s imaginative retelling of the life of a holy man (1065-1170) of whom there are historical accounts. A theme is bodily lusts.