Books

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jenny23
  • Start date Start date
  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
J

Jenny23

Guest
What are you currently reading? Christian or secular books welcome. 😊

I am currently reading The House of the Dead and Poor Folk by Dostoevsky, the Bible in a year, and Keep Your Love On by Silk.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Desdichado and morefaithrequired
Jenny23 said:
What are you currently reading? Christian or secular books welcome. 😊

I am currently reading The House of the Dead and Poor Folk by Dostoevsky, the Bible in a year, and Keep Your Love On by Silk.
Click to expand...
The snob in me will congratulate you for choosing Dostoyevsky. In my opinion the greatest writer and the greatest Christian writer there ever was. Brothers Karamazov contains a very important debate between atheism and Christianity. About free will. Maybe you know this anyway.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Desdichado and Jenny23
morefaithrequired said:
The snob in me will congratulate you for choosing Dostoyevsky. In my opinion the greatest writer and the greatest Christian writer there ever was. Brothers Karamazov contains a very important debate between atheism and Christianity. About free will. Maybe you know this anyway.
Click to expand...
I absolutely love Dostoyevsky, and I’m growing more and more fond of Russian literature.

You didn’t mention which books you are currently reading or maybe a book you would recommend?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Desdichado
Jenny23 said:
I absolutely love Dostoyevsky, and I’m growing more and more fond of Russian literature.

You didn’t mention which books you are currently reading or maybe a book you would recommend?
Click to expand...
i was reading theology books and Augustines Confessions.
Oh and Christmas Carol again by Dickens.
I recommend Crime and Punishment by D
To Kill a Mockingbird
All Quiet in the Western Front

last one i read recently. its top 10 for sure
 
  • Like
Reactions: Desdichado
Tolstoys Confessions too. He talks about his doubts of the Church in Russia at the time. To my knowledge his ideas of non violence influenced Gandhi.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jenny23 and Desdichado
I'm so happy to see all this Dostoevsky love in here. He is one of my top 10 favorite writers. Never read The House of the Dead and Poor Folk though. You'll have to tell us how it is.

Right now I'm reading Stalin: Paradoxes of Power by Stephen Kotkin. It's the first of a three volume biography on him. Really good.

I'm also reading the Hobbit again on those nights where I need a break from political intrigue and mass murder.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jenny23 and morefaithrequired
Confessions is brilliant. A real turning point in Western lit. I'll have to pick it up again.

After I commit to City of God.

morefaithrequired said:
i was reading theology books and Augustines Confessions.
Oh and Christmas Carol again by Dickens.
I recommend Crime and Punishment by D
To Kill a Mockingbird
All Quiet in the Western Front

last one i read recently. its top 10 for sure[/QUOTE
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: morefaithrequired
Desdichado said:
I'm so happy to see all this Dostoevsky love in here. He is one of my top 10 favorite writers. Never read The House of the Dead and Poor Folk though. You'll have to tell us how it is. Right now I'm reading Stalin: Paradoxes of Power by Stephen Kotkin. It's the first of a three volume biography on him. Really good. I'm also reading the Hobbit again on those nights where I need a break from political intrigue and mass murder.
Click to expand...

I read The Hobbit not long ago before I moved. What a funny, wee, delightful book.
I love history, and have just finished a book on he Tudor dynasty by Leanda de Lisle. She puts many years of research into her novels, and they are written in a non-lecturing, more chatty style, though they are always factually accurate.
I studied both English Literature & Psychology when I was very young, and loved all of it. Our lecturer was truly inspirational. I decided not to pursue it as a career, as I didn't think at the time I'd make a living out of it - a choice I regret to some extent now.
I picked up Stephen King's new novel 'The Institute' from the libary, and am going to start on that later.
His novels are like looking forward to a chocolate mousse, or your favourite dessert - can't wait to read it!!
Novels and reading are such a treat for me, and something we should be encouraging not just the younger generation to do more of, but everyone.
Thank the Lord for libraries and library services!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jenny23 and Desdichado
Desdichado said:
Right now I'm reading Stalin: Paradoxes of Power by Stephen Kotkin. It's the first of a three volume biography on him. Really good.
Click to expand...
That sounds interesting. Stalin's evil was part genius I imagine, from the perspective of control and fear he had over Russians. But when you read real life stories in gulags (example Solzenhytzen), you discover the depths of Hell he created. Was he more evil than Hitler for instance?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Desdichado
That all sounds wonderful!

King is so underrated. Sure, he swings and misses at times and some of his books are primarily written to be sold.
But when he hits? Man does he ever knock it out of the park.

tasha66 said:
I read The Hobbit not long ago before I moved. What a funny, wee, delightful book.
I love history, and have just finished a book on he Tudor dynasty by Leanda de Lisle. She puts many years of research into her novels, and they are written in a non-lecturing, more chatty style, though they are always factually accurate.
I studied both English Literature & Psychology when I was very young, and loved all of it. Our lecturer was truly inspirational. I decided not to pursue it as a career, as I didn't think at the time I'd make a living out of it - a choice I regret to some extent now.
I picked up Stephen King's new novel 'The Institute' from the libary, and am going to start on that later.
His novels are like looking forward to a chocolate mousse, or your favourite dessert - can't wait to read it!!
Novels and reading are such a treat for me, and something we should be encouraging not just the younger generation to do more of, but everyone.
Thank the Lord for libraries and library services!
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: tasha66
Drifting off-topic here, but I think they were about equally evil. They were just different kinds of evil due to circumstance and temperament.

Stalin accomplished more evil because he was a more successful dictator with a more durable and appealing ideology. If Hitler got what he wanted, he may well have killed and enslaved just as many if not more.

A good counter question would be which ideology is worse- Nazism or Marxist-Leninism?

morefaithrequired said:
That sounds interesting. Stalin's evil was part genius I imagine, from the perspective of control and fear he had over Russians. But when you read real life stories in gulags (example Solzenhytzen), you discover the depths of Hell he created. Was he more evil than Hitler for instance?
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sackcloth-N-Ashes, Jenny23 and morefaithrequired
Yes Stephen King is not a very Christian thing to read, but I've read him from ever since I was young. He has great insights into the human character methinks, and he discusses our flaws and weaknesses in a very frank style. His literary descriptions seem to always hit the mark, and his subject matters are always different and curious.
I like the fact that he isn't afraid to explore our darker side, which of course, we all have inside of us.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jenny23 and Desdichado
That's the cool part about King- he may not be a Christian, but the Lord has given him such a keen insight that a Christian can benefit greatly from reading him.

I'll add too that while he's great with the darker aspects of humanity, he also has a great handle on heroism. I loved that Pop Star in The Stand (forget his name).

tasha66 said:
Yes Stephen King is not a very Christian thing to read, but I've read him from ever since I was young. He has great insights into the human character methinks, and he discusses our flaws and weaknesses in a very frank style. His literary descriptions seem to always hit the mark, and his subject matters are always different and curious.
I like the fact that he isn't afraid to explore our darker side, which of course, we all have inside of us.
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: tasha66
tasha66 said:
Yes Stephen King is not a very Christian thing to read, but I've read him from ever since I was young. He has great insights into the human character methinks, and he discusses our flaws and weaknesses in a very frank style. His literary descriptions seem to always hit the mark, and his subject matters are always different and curious.
I like the fact that he isn't afraid to explore our darker side, which of course, we all have inside of us.
Click to expand...
I don’t read King, but I use a few quotes of his work to show my students how he is a master at writer’s craft especially description as you said.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tasha66
Desdichado said:
Drifting off-topic here, but I think they were about equally evil. They were just different kinds of evil due to circumstance and temperament.

Stalin accomplished more evil because he was a more successful dictator with a more durable and appealing ideology. If Hitler got what he wanted, he may well have killed and enslaved just as many if not more.

A good counter question would be which ideology is worse- Nazism or Marxist-Leninism?
Click to expand...

I believer one reason Stalin killed more people was due to his ideology being under the guise of practicality and economic equality for all citizens while Hitler’s, over time, targeted one specific people group.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Desdichado and Sackcloth-N-Ashes
Jenny23 said:
I believer one reason Stalin killed more people was due to his ideology being under the guise of civility, practicality, and equality for all citizens while Hitler’s, over time, targeted one specific people group.
Click to expand...
Both leaders were dictators and totalitarian in nature.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sackcloth-N-Ashes
Jenny23 said:
I don’t read King, but I use a few quotes of his work to show my students how he is a master at writer’s craft especially description as you said.
Click to expand...
What do you teach Jen and what age groups?
 
morefaithrequired said:
i was reading theology books and Augustines Confessions.
Oh and Christmas Carol again by Dickens.
I recommend Crime and Punishment by D
To Kill a Mockingbird
All Quiet in the Western Front

last one i read recently. its top 10 for sure
Click to expand...
Awesome. I’ll add it to my list. I teach TKAMB, and I really enjoy it. Great Expectations is another one of my favorites.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back