Bookish for life

Anthropology graduate, anglophile, social justice activist, chocoholic, traveler and book lover from the German-speaking part of Switzerland, currently working in the renewable energy sector. Books have been my passion since before I could read.

 

Considering using this as a replacement for my Goodreads account, where I've been keeping track of what I read (audiobooks included). You can find a record of the dead-tree books I own on LibraryThing. As of now I haven't imported those yet.

The Book of God: The Bible as a Novel

The Book of God: The Bible as a Novel - Walter Wangerin Jr. I had this on my to-read shelf for a couple of years at least, and I finally got around to reading it, chapter by chapter before going to sleep.

And I must say, I was pleasantly surprised! Obviously the book only covers some of the "highlights" of the Bible, but this allows the author (and us) to explore some of the people (the "big" ones, but also some nice perspectives of "little folk" and often women) in depth. The New Testament takes up a disproportionately big part of the overall book, but then I guess most readers of this book are Christian, so it makes sense. And I really loved the way the author imagined the life of Jesus through the eyes of the people around him. He even managed to pull of Jesus' POV. Truth be told, I got a bit teary-eyed during the crucifixion, because it felt so personal.

Altogether I think this book works best if one has a basic Bible knowledge. It's definitely not for fervent atheists or nit-picky historians, though, because it remains faithful to "history" as told in the Bible, not archeological fact. However, the author enriches the stories with many historical details about the lives and experiences of the Jewish people back then, which makes them come to life in a way that the Bible's language and style seldom allow.