New Reading Opportunities

Earlier this evening I decided to go book shopping, particularly for a novel that's been advertised in several forms to me, both as a personal recommendation and on favorites lists. It's by Miranda July and is called No One Belongs Here More Than You. From what I can gather from reading its back and what's been described to me, it's a gathering of stories that give a unique and refreshingly new take on the insignificant and the unexplored. Do I know what it's about? I haven't a clue - but I'm certain I'll enjoy it.

While I was at the bookstore, I figured I'd check on the book I had the store order some six weeks ago, and to my surprise they had received it and it was on the shelf for purchase. Hooray! This book is a collection of e-mails correspondences between an atheistic naturalist and a devout Christian historian. It's titled Is Believe in God Good, Bad, or Irrelevant? and features Preston Jones - the latter; a professor at John Brown University, a Christian school - and Greg Graffin - the former; lead singer of Bad Religion, holder of a PhD in evolutionary biology and committed scientist. I've gotten about a third of the way through it and the interactions between the two are as phenomenal as the topic at hand. Though occasionally they will be harsh about the others' beliefs, they never outright attack each other and are very cordial. In the first sixty pages both Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins are mentioned, though. In fact, during his PhD studies, Graffin managed to interview Mister Dawkins, a holder of a very similar evolutionary biology degree.

Anyhow, I'll be fantastically entertained in the next few days through my long evenings at work. It's really difficult to resist swapping between the books - perhaps I'll have to go through each concurrently.