So, here’s what I’ve been reading and listening to lately

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller
I loved this book so much. I got it from the library and now I have to go buy it so that I can own a copy and force other people to read it. Donald Miller writes just like he is having a conversation with the reader, and when he talks about his views on Christianity, he doesn’t use big words or theological language, he just talks about his experiences. He was looking for truth and he found it in the Bible. He has difficulty separating what he sees in the Bible with what he sees Christians do sometimes, and that makes him sad. I completely identified with it. I think a lot of people in my generation would.

Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings – Counting Crows
First of all, I love Adam Duritz and I own everything Counting Crows has ever done. They are right up there with Ben Folds to me. Because I do own (and have memorized) all the other Counting Crows albums, I can tell when he recycles his lyrics. He has always written beautiful and poetic lyrics and I love the way he merged them in the concert I attended in 2006. However, with this album it seems like he has gotten depressed (OK, I realize he is always depressed) and decided not to write anything new but just string together lyrics from previous albums into a narrative about how he goes out at night and then he feels crappy in the morning. At least the album is cohesive and he keeps that theme. But still, I was expecting more lyrics like those in Hard Candy and Recovering The Satellite. He didn’t really write any new and brilliant lines that I could ponder over and put in my Facebook Quotes. I am so sad that I don’t like this album that I am going to keep listening to it hoping that maybe it will grow on me.