Summertime...and the reading is easy!

So what do you do when there is no “assigned reading”?—obviously the opportunity is there to “veg out”! Well, vegging out might be important for you this summer, so get some relaxation in. You’ve just spent nine months exercising your brain to deal with the topics and questions your professors have posed for you. Summer can also be a great time to get in some quality reading that your professors will never assign. Here is one suggestion for recharging your mind-don’t watch mindless TV (for the whole summer)!

That will give you some quality time to spend reading—and maybe a few quality videos, too. Here are some suggestions for books and videos you might want to spend some time with this summer for developing your soul for the rest of your life.*

—Greg Vigne, IVP Campus Liaison

*We have noted the IVP titles. You may be able to order these at a discount through your IVCF staff worker. You can browse for more IVP books at www.ivpress.com.

You and God

Want some help and encouragement with life and lifestyle?

Who You Are When No One’s Looking, Bill Hybels. IVP. (Deals with who you “really” are.)

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene Peterson. IVP. (Developing your character as a disciple.)

Pursuing the Pearl, Ken Fong.

Invitation to a Journey, M. Robert Mulholland, Jr. IVP. (A look at living spiritually every day.)

If you would like some help with prayer:

Too Busy Not to Pray, Bill Hybels. IVP. (An important and practical book on prayer.)

Daring to Draw Near, John White. IVP. (A look at the prayers modeled in Scripture.)

Streams of Living Water, Richard Foster. (Explores the great traditions of Christian spirituality and their role in spiritual renewal today.)

The Joy of Listening to God, Joyce Huggett. (How we can quiet ourselves and prepare to hear God speak in his multicolored ways.)

Chillin’ on the Beach

Fiction:

The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, 1899 to 1967 and Children of the Night: The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, 1967 to the Present.

Strong Poison or Murder Must Advertise, Dorothy L. Sayers. (Mystery.)

The Horatio Hornblower series, C. S. Forester. (Historical fiction—Napoleonic War.)

Silence by Shusaku Endo.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, J. R. R. Tolkien. (An epic fantasy.)

Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtues, Mark Eddy Smith. IVP. (How themes in Lord of the Rings relates to the Christian life.)

The Book of Three (and other Prydain Chronicles), Lloyd Alexander.

Dealing with Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles), Patricia C. Wreade.

Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine.

Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis. (A relaxing read for tired college students!)

Be a kid again:

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, Gloria Houston.

Ox-Cart Man, Donald Hall and Barbara Cooney.

Cheaper by the Dozen, Frank Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.

The Saturdays (may be out of print), Gone-Away Lake, and others, Elizabeth Enright.

Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome.

Classics:

Shakespeare. (Try a comedy such as Much Ado About Nothing and maybe a history such as Henry V).

Dostoevsky. (The often-quoted The Brothers Karamazov is the best but Crime and Punishment might be a good place to start.)

St. Augustine. (Confessions is the story of his conversion from a rowdy lifestyle.)

Fun and adventure:

At Home in Mitford, Jan Karon. (Introduces readers to a small, charming North Carolina town and its equally charming denizens.)

The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger. (True story of the six-man crew of the Andrea Gail, tragically lost in a hurricane in 1991.)

Endurance, Alfred Lansing. (The story of polar explorer Shackleton’s survival for over a year on the ice-bound Antarctic seas.)

Fun and travel:

A Walk in the Woods and In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson. (Warm, witty and eccentric travel essays.)

Grow Your Mind

The Transforming Vision, Brian J. Walsh and J. Richard Middleton. IVP. (On developing a Christian world view.)

Discipleship of the Mind, James Sire. IVP. (On seeing your mind as a place of growth and service to God. Good bibliography.)

“Studying in Wartime” in The Weight of Glory, C. S. Lewis.

Minority Culture

General:

The Contemporary Christian, John R. W. Stott. IVP.

The Strength to Love, and Why We Can’t Wait by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman (A “manual of resistance” for the disenfranchised.)

More Than Equals, Chris Rice and Spencer Perkins. IVP. (Partners for more than a decade in racial reconciliation.)

Check All That Apply, Sundee Frazier. IVP. (Understanding multi-racial identity.)

Exclusion and Embrace, Miroslav Volf. (Identity, otherness and reconciliation.)

Divided by Faith, Michael Emerson and Christian Smith. (Why churches remain racially divided.)

A Different Mirror: A History of Multi-Cultural America and Stranger from a Different Shore by Ronald Takaki.

Reconciliation: Our Greatest Challenge—Our Only Hope, by Curtiss Paul DeYoung

Asian:

Losing Face & Finding Grace, Tom Lin. IVP. (Bible study guide.)

Leaving Deep Water: The Lives of Asian American Women at the Crossroads of Two Cultures, by Claire Chow.

Asian American Dreams, by Helen Zia. (Chronicles the Americanization of various Asian peoples along with her story.)

Black:

Free At Last? Carl Ellis. IVP. (The state of African-American freedom in our culture.)

To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee. (Far better than watching the movie.)

Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin. (Powerful and true story of a white reporter who takes pills to make his skin black. He hitchhikes his way around the South and encounters Whiteness from a Black man’s perspective.)

My First White Friend, by Patricia Raybon. (Autobiographical experience of identity, racism and reconciliation.)

No Easy Walk: The Dramatic Journey of African-Americans, Harry Loui Williams II. IVP.

The Children, David Halberstam. (Moving story of the young people who led the ’60s revolution.)

The Measure of Our Success, Marian Wright Edelman. (Letters to children in a family with a shared African American and Jewish heritage. Lanterns is the sequel.)

Organic Faith, Ron Mitchell. (Wholeness in our lives and in the world.)

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs. (Among the few extant slave narratives written by a woman.)

The Debt, Randall Robinson. (America must face up to the devastating effects of slavery.)

Native American:

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, Dee Brown

Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage, William Loren Katz.

Latino/Hispanic:

The Hispanic Challenge: Opportunities Confronting The Church, Manuel Ortiz.

Santa Biblia: The Bible Through Hispanic Eyes and Manana: Christian Theology from a Hispanic Perspective, Justo L. Gonzalez.

Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America, Juan Gonzalez .

A Darker Shade of Crimson: Odyssey of a Harvard Chicano, Ruben Navarrette, Jr.

Growing Up Latino: Memoirs and Stories—Reflections on Life in the United States, edited by Harold ­Augenbraum and Ilan Stavans.

Nagging Questions

If you want to think about some of the questions that you’ve had going around in the back of your brain, check out these:

Making Your Faith Your Own, Teresa Vining. IVP. (Dealing with doubt and decisions.)

An Incomplete Guide to the Rest of Your Life, Stan Gaede. IVP. (Thoughts on questions we all ask.)

If you want to get a grip on Christian theology, try these:

Decide for Yourself, Gordon Lewis. IVP. (A workbook on beginning theology—includes a lot of Bible study.)

Know the Truth, Bruce Milne. IVP. (A little further along; also summarizes different viewpoints within Christianity.)

Foundations of the Christian Faith, James Montgomery Boice. IVP. (A systematic theology. Readable but heavy duty.)

Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton. (How Chesterton became a believer and what Christianity is all about. Chesterton was a big influence on C. S. Lewis’s coming to faith.)

The Universe Next Door, James Sire. IVP. (A catalog of different world views.)

Man’s Search For Meaning, Victor Frankl. (Deep soul searching by a survivor of the Holocaust.)

The Prophet & the Messiah, Chawkat Moucarry. IVP. (Looks at Islam and Christianity.)

World affairs:

Read The Christian Science Monitor, a newspaper, at your library. (Their theology is weak but their coverage of international affairs is excellent.)

Open Your Mouth

If you want to think some more about evangelism in your own life and on campus:

Speaking of Jesus, Mack Stiles. IVP. (Very motivational.)

Evangelism Outside the Box, Rick Richardson. IVP. (Wrestles with postmodernism and effective witness.)

Out of the Salt Shaker, Becky Pippert. IVP. (Motivational and practical.)

Videos and Movies

Native American Themes:

The Broken Cord. (Made for TV.)

Lakota Woman.

The Last Of The Mohicans.

African American Themes:

Glory. (One of the few films to depict black soldiers in Civil War combat. Violent.)

The Color Purple. (Based on Alice Walker’s novel; moving and emotional.)

Roots (Mini-series) and Roots: The Next Generation.

Eyes On The Prize. (Extraordinary grassroots history of the civil rights movement.)

The Story of Sally Hemmings. (Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with his slave.)

Latin American Themes:

Zoot Suit. (Based on the 1940’s riots in L.A.)

American Me. (Brutally realistic story of a family with strong gang ties. Caution urged.)

Mi Familia. (May be sold as My Family. Excellent story of an immigrant Mexican family.)

Asian American Themes:

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Picture Bride.

Come See The Paradise.

Snow Falling On Cedars.

My America. (Or Honk if You Love Buddha. A funny, interesting, and provocative documentary.)

The Joy Luck Club. (Based on the book by Amy Tan. Both entertaining and insightful.)

A Great Wall. (A Chinese American family travels to China and stays with relatives. The contrasts between Chinese American and Chinese culture are highlighted.)

Dim Sum. (A Chinese American daughter and her widowed mother work out their life together in San Francisco.)

White Cultural Themes:

Braveheart. (Courage in medieval Scotland)

Far and Away. (Irish immigration.)

Angela’s Ashes. (Hardship and poverty.)

Mansfield Park. (Based on Jane Austen’s novel.)

Places In The Heart. (Texas widow accepts help from a black man and a blind boarder.)

The Irish In America. (Chronicles their relationship to other whites and other minorities.

One more Guide

A Book Lover’s Guide to Great Reading, Terry Glaspey. IVP. (A great book for suggestions on what else to read.)

Thanks to contributors Greg Vigne, Lisa Harper, Barry Wong, Jimmy McGee, Colin tomikawa, Brad Wong and Orlando Crespo.