Hello Twenty-Ten

Kristin Ritzau — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:56:03 -0800

I am a sucker for bookstores and libraries. The thought of the amount of ink that has been spilled over the course of centuries excites me. The thought of a Kindle petrifies me. I love books. Each bound page is someone's opus, thesis, or work of art. I sometimes wonder what my life would look like if I just read book after book, only stopping to eat and sleep. How many could I get through?

My family knows this about me, so every Christmas I come home with another armful of books: Cookbooks, literature, non-fiction. It's marvelous. Then a funny thing happens. I just let them sit there for weeks on end, scared to bend their crisp covers. They are pretty and untouched. Their mysteries yet to be unfolded. I don't want them to be over with so quickly or to disappoint. Someone's life work gobbled up in a matter of a month. I want to appreciate it longer.

As 2009 came to a close I felt the same apprehension about 2010 -- not "oh ten," it's now "twenty-ten." The end of decade, the dawning of the throws of the 21st century. It's shiny and new and I don't want to blink and miss it.

I love January 1st. The promises, hopes, and resolutions -- this time it will be different. There is an overwhelming amount of expectation, especially at the start of a new decade. For what? I'm not sure yet, but it's alive inside of me too. Like a new book I want savor it, not just throw it on some shelf only to toss it into the Goodwill pile come 2012. I want to appreciate it because Someone went to a lot of trouble to create it. That Someone is already at the end of 2010. They know what happens. Is it a thriller? A comedy? Tragedy? Romance maybe? It could be all of the above, but there is trepidation in finding out. It means we must live it. We must choose the story we want to write.

Of course there are always edits and typos we never saw coming, but just as I pick up a new book, I want to choose how to read it. As I write, I want to be proactive in how I use my pen. In this new year I want to live with intention in the page of each day. Some days will flip faster than others, but I want it to be a story worth telling. So here you are 2010. Bring what you will -- may the stories that come out of this year draw a tear, draw a laugh, and draw many smiles.

Pocket Guide to the Hilarious

Cara Davis — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:14:21 -0700

Jason Boyett is hilarious. If you met him in person, you'd never know it; he's quiet and unassuming, which I assume is rare for a Texan. But his pen packs a punch. I first met Jason over email as he was one of the original writers who contributed to RELEVANT magazine. When I worked there, RELEVANT launched a line of books, and we knew we needed Jason on our roster. Thankfully, he took us up on our offer and has been writing books ever since.

His newest endeavor is a trinity of titles packaged by Jossey-Bass: Pocket Guide to the Bible, Pocket Guide to the Afterlife and Pocket Guide to Sainthood. If you're a fan of religious humor at all, you'll appreciate Jason's witty insights into a variety of topics like near-death experiences, saintly fashion and old-fashioned smitings.

And you'll learn a thing or two as well. So much for my college Old and New Testament classes. These should be required reading for students of the Bible – at least those with a sense of humor.

In Pocket Guide to the Afterlife, Jason tackles historical and contemporary beliefs about what happens after we die. Like each of the pocket guides, the book is structured in bite-sized chapters that make reading fun. Instead of straight narrative, we read through glossaries, timelines, geographical tours and fun lists like "Eleven Highly Attractive Synonyms for Heaven" or "Twelve Activities That May Be Signs of an Impending Death Should They Occur in Your Dreams, According to the Tibetan Book of the Dead."

In Pocket Guide to the Bible, we meet a holy cast of characters, get a history of scripture's events at breakneck speed and learn about smitings and translations of the Bible (otherwise known as perversions). Fun facts are sprinkled throughout including random biblical phrases taken out of context: "Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces" (Mal. 2:3, KJV).

Pocket Guide to Sainthood introduces those of us who are less familiar with Catholicism to the myriad and many saints in that tradition. It includes a glossary of terms, an alphabetized list of saints and who they were and a run-down of patron saints and their causes. Learn how a saint is canonized (it's as painful as it sounds) and catalog trivial information through lists like "Six Superhero-Like Abilities Claimed by Saints but Not Related to Levitation."

With pop culture references a-plenty, Jason marries today's worldview to yesterday's tradition to create a match made in heaven.

relevant books

Hello Twenty-Ten

Pocket Guide to the Hilarious