By GOH MUI PONG

PREVIOUSLY we looked at how we choose a book at the bookstore. However, arguably that is more like helpful pointers on how to browse. In this article, we look at a more general way of finding recommendations of books to read.

Authors
Again, one cannot stress the importance of knowing various authors and looking at their bibliographies and then expanding one's pool of authors. Once you get to know a certain author, it will then become easier to follow up on what he or she has written recently.
However, in line with the general theme to expand one's pool of resources (see previous article in Methodist Message August 2005), I have suggested some places where one can expand one's awareness of what other materials are worth reading.

Periodicals
There is a sense sometimes that periodicals are not comparable to books as they might be more "fashion-driven". However, this is not true. We will look at other non-book media that are helpful in the subsequent issues.


ChristianityToday gives one an excellent sense of what is happening in the Christian scene in the United States. Books & Culture gives a good sense of what the books are available. It has a section called "Book of the Week" which introduces some of the newer books published. Although it is written for the American market, it provides an excellent guide.


Evangelical Now is possibly the UK equivalent of ChristianityToday, though it probably has significantly smaller readership in Britain and beyond. It has a small book review section but the books reviewed, especially on American authors, tend not to be as up to date. It does, however, provide a different recommendation from those in the US.

Awards
Winning an award does not necessarily mean that a book is good (in the sense that one takes the effort to plough through them, winning an award is a good indication that a particular book has received some endorsements from its peers or the public in general).
Here, the major Christian book awards are stated. The first two are especially noteworthy.

Award	Awarding Body	Remarks
Gold Medallion	Evangelical Christian Publisher Association (USA)	Possibly the most well-known award in the Christian publishing scene. It is awarded by the Evangelical Christian Publisher Associations in the United States. It has several categories e.g. Bibles, Reference Works/ Commentaries, Fiction, Biography/ Autobiography, Theology/ Doctrine, Devotional, Inspirational, Christian Living, Christianity and Society, Mission/ Evangelism, Christian ministry, Christian Education, Pre-school Children, Elementary Children, Youth, Marriage, Family and Parenting, Gift Book/ Poetry, Bible Study, Spanish.
ChristianityToday Book Awards	ChristianityToday	It has several categories e.g.-- Apologetics/ Evangelism-- Christian Living-- Biblical Studies-- The Church/ Pastoral Leadership-- Christianity and Culture-- Fiction-- History/ Biography-- Mission/ Global Affairs-- Spirituality-- Theology/ Ethics
UK Christian Book Award	Christian Book Promotion Trust	The results are voted by the public. It is still quite young, started only in 2000. It is a biennial, national event.

I am not aware of any other Christian book award in Asia. There is, however, an award in Australia, sponsored by SPCK Australia known as the "Australian Christian Book of the Year Awards", which is similar to the awards above.

Christian ministries
Another source to obtain recommendations is to look up Christian ministries. It is too difficult to list all the websites. It depends very much on the subjects, topics as well as the different perspectives you are looking for. If there is sufficient interest, perhaps, I could write on some of the main apologetics debates and which resources one could refer to but that is another issue altogether.


However, Mars Hill seems to be an excellent source to see what recommendations (not necessarily books) there are.

Ministries	Contact Details	Comments
Mars Hill Review	http://www.marshillreview.com/	I have never been able to obtain a copy of Mars Hill for myself. It is very much a resource that has been recommended to me by other Christians I trust.

Christian ministries include recommendations by members of your church in the regular church bulletin. It could also be the Inter-varsity Christian Fellowships of other universities e.g. in Harvard, MIT.

Publishers often have excellent up-to-date websites where they allow surfers to browse selected chapters as well as to read the endorsements of their books.
In terms of publisher websites, I have made comments on some of the publishers earlier. To reiterate, some of the publishers that one should look up are: Zondervan, Baker, IVP (USA/ UK), Paternoster, Crossway, Eerdmans and Thomas Nelson.

Online bookstores
Even if you prefer to shop at your local Christian bookstore or church to support their work, some online bookstores are worth going to see what recommendations they make based on the books you have done searches on. Furthermore, some online bookstores, in particular Amazon, allow people to make lists of what they think others should read and these lists can be helpful at times.


Although websites do not necessarily make good recommendations, they provide a sense of what kind of books are out there and what kind of books have been recommended.

Websites	Remarks
Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk	Amazon has done such an excellent job in terms of its website design e.g. ability to track what you are looking at and recommend similar books that it deserves to be the first stop whenever you are looking for a book. It is important to note that Amazons at different localities will be slightly different in terms of the recommendations as well as the availability of books.
Christianbook.com	Another excellent website especially with its frequent offers.

Again, it is important to note that the resources above are neither exhaustive nor always foolproof. In seeking to be a discerning reader, one needs to practise discernment as well (A bit of a paradox)!

Goh Mui Pong, a member of Paya Lebar Chinese Methodist Church, is pursuing his PhD in Politics at the University of Cambridge.

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