More, more, more.

     It was just a few years ago that I first encountered her writing.  At the time the name Oates meant nothing to me,  but now, now it holds the promise of delicious depravity, mesmerizing malice, heart-wrenching honesty.  She reveals the true nature of men, the hidden thoughts that are told to no one. 

     I knew none of this that day, browsing my favorite bookstore with a hunger that had nothing to do with my stomach.  I was searching for something.  Undefined, but I would know it when I found it.  I needed something beyond the common drivel I sometimes cowered behind.

     I combed through Fiction, looking for something to fill my shriveling intellect.

     The title drew my attention:  BEASTS roared at me in fierce red script.  I took it gingerly from the shelf, held the small black book in my hands as if it would bite.  I opened to a random page somewhere in the middle, read a few paragraphs.  Became entranced.  I wanted this book, I felt a need for this book, I craved it.  But I was jobless and had little money.  Jobless, with books as my only solace.  Yes, I thought, I need this book. 

     I checked the back of the book-- less than ten dollars! There was no question now, this book would be leaving with me.  

     I devoured BEASTS and have since gone back for more, more, more.  I added others to my bookshelf:  Black Girl White Girl; Faithless; The Falls; The Female of the Species; Foxfire; i am no one you know; Middle Age; Missing Mom; Sexy; We Were the Mulvaneys.  Lying next me to me, read and used, is Little Bird of Heaven.  These have not satisfied me. On my long "to read" list are more titles:  The Gravedigger's Daughter; Blonde; Rape: A Love Story.  More, more, more.




Have a favorite Oates novel?  Drop me a line at crackingspines@hotmail.com

Awesome Author: Rob Bell

     Rob Bell:  Pastor.  Founder.  Author.  Free thinker.  He is the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, which he founded.  He has written a number of books (a couple of which I have read), and he has inspired a countless number of individuals. 

     And did I mention that he created and features in the spiritual DVD series NOOMA?  He is, to put it simply, a man after my own heart. 

     I first encountered his writing while browsing my local bookstore's theology section.  What, I asked myself, is a book called Velvet Elvis doing here?  Taking it for a case of mistaken placement, I removed it from the shelf and inspected it.  This is a religious book?  I was surprised, but intrigued.

     When I left the store the book came with me.  I was excited, but wary.  I had read (well, tried to read) religious books before, but I hardly ever finished them.  All those religious writers spewed the same mindless pseudo-Christian dried up drivel I'd heard/ read/ rejected before.  I didn't want to hear the uninspiring, judgmental cliches that are so often recycled in church.

     But this... this was refreshing.  I was so tired of just hearing the surface of Scripture.  I was hungry for more, and Rob Bell fed me.  He goes far beyond just the words; he digs for the hidden meaning, the background, the context, the connections.  He concedes that there is more than one interpretation, more than one point of view.  He doesn't write merely about spirituality, but Truth.  I would even go so far as to call him the C.S. Lewis of this generation. 

     I just finished another of his books (Jesus Wants to Save Christians, for anyone who is interested) and it was more provoking, more honest and reflective than the first.  He took a simple story-- the Exodus-- and showed how it is a story about us, about today.  Moses parted the Red Sea thousands of years ago.  One man suffered for the sake of all over two millennia ago.  Both overturned a government, a corrupt system.  Both destroyed the oppression of their people.  And the story goes on.  People still suffer.  Our government is still corrupt.  We have the choice to continue the the story, to break the bonds that oppress the needy.  That is what Rob Bell's message is all about.

     From the last page of Jesus Wants to Save Christians:  Rob Bell lives with his family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he's the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church.  Rob teaches in a short-film format called NOOMA, and has written two books:  Velvet Elvis:  Repainting the Christian Faith and Sex God:  Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality and Spirituality.  His tours Everything is Spiritual and The Gods Aren't Angry are available in DVD format.