On my Kindle (something I first tried by borrowing one from the H-L Library), I\u2019ve just finished American Grace<\/i> by Robert Putnam (a Harvard prof) and David Campbell (a Notre Dame prof). It\u2019s a fascinating book that examines religion in America with all our diversity, tolerance, or lack thereof. Based on extensive surveys and research, the book avoids jargon and presents interesting stories of individual churches and people as well as broader analysis. It\u2019s a well-written and balanced exploration of religious heterogeneity. Ultimately, the authors draw some hopeful conclusions about how we coexist with such differing beliefs and levels of faith in America.<\/p>\n
Ironically, the other book I\u2019ve been reading \u2013 not on the Kindle but in paperback form \u2013 celebrates the book itself, especially well-loved, beautifully-bound literary and non-fiction classics. 84, Charing Cross Road<\/a><\/i> is a collection of letters primarily from the 1950s between the American writer Helene Hanff and the staff of a bookshop in London. As a former British history major at Bowdoin, I\u2019m an Anglophile and I find this little book delightful. And despite my enthusiasm for the Kindle, I share Hanff\u2019s appreciation for well-worn volumes. Helene writes: \u201cI love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages some one long ago has called my attention to.\u201d The book is more than just a charming testament to love of the written word, though \u2013 it is a celebration of the power of human connection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On my Kindle (something I first tried by borrowing one from the H-L Library), I\u2019ve just finished American Grace by Robert Putnam (a Harvard prof) and David Campbell (a Notre Dame prof). It\u2019s a fascinating book that examines religion in America with all our diversity, tolerance, or lack thereof. Based on extensive surveys and research, … <\/p>\n