One hundred is, indeed, the number of books—all of them having to do with religion and such; and all of them in the SSUC Library, there to be borrowed and pored over—that have been previewed and reviewed for you: a hundred have been pointed up as Featured Books in The Messenger and on the book room’s webpage [ssucedmonton.com/library]. Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto, spotlighted just now, is #100. It’s taken four years of research and reading to reach this modest milestone, at one new book every fortnight. With more to come.

Now, maybe you haven’t read all of them. Maybe you haven’t read any of ’em. But they’re all there on the shelves in the Library & Lounge waiting to be laid hold of…plus close to 700 more such volumes. Even the hundred Featured Book assays [each of which is, incidentally, a readable 200 words in length] are preserved on the webpage, so you can get an inkling of what you’ll find between the covers of these works before you visit, browse, and borrow. And what a potpourri of writings you’ll discover! Consider just this sampling—each was featured:

What’s called “melancholic joy” was explored, as was doubt, the soul, new atheism, the Gnostic gospels, Living the Quaker Way; there’s even “a Toltec wisdom book”. Authors range from Desmond Tutu to Gretta Vosper, and from Simone Weil to David Hayward [aka, “the naked pastor”]. A handful of novels are underscored, from the irreverent Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, to Elie Wiesel’s dark Night. John Robinson’s seminal Honest to God is commended, as is Viktor Frankl’s classic Man’s Search for Meaning, our own Nancy Steeves’ doctor of divinity thesis, and Dave Tomlinson’s impudent How to be a Bad Christian…and a Better Human Being, the very first Featured Book.

Of late in this research and reading, this was come upon: a July 8 posting from Religious News Service which enthused about a new documentary film, “Hello Bookstore”: “It is not about shopping, or even about reading,” the story’s subhead announced. “It is about having your soul touched.” This particular shop, not part of any chain, is in a small town in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. In one scene, the long-time owner, Matt Tannenbaum, notices a customer: “Look at the smile on that guy’s face,” he cheers. “He found a book.”

Come, find yours among the SSUC Library’s 100 Featured Books…or among the hundreds more in the collection worthy of feature. Choose rightly—your soul could be touched.