I’m reading a literature book. Well, now close to 2/3rds of the way through it, I’m not sure if it’s about literature or politics or sociology or philosophy. It’s proving to be a tedious read, made more so by the typographical style built around 10 point font and smaller on the lengthy quotes.  I’m not going to be finished with it and ready for writing a review (or perhaps two) for a couple of weeks at least.

But I found myself wanting to read something simultaneously that wasn’t so tedious. I settled on Night Hunt in Kisumu: and Other Unforgettable Stories from Africa by Dr. Richard Zanner. He’s originally from Germany, but spent twenty years in Africa in an administrative position over our denomination’s missions work there. It wasn’t strictly administrative, however, as wherever he went he was called upon to preach and do other assorted ministerial things such as baptisms, church dedications, etc.

The book consists of 136 pages of stories about the situations Zanner went through. Frequently he piloted a small prop plane that the church owned. Frequently he was in a barely operating hired car. He tracked across unmarked territory from Djibouti to Somalia, through the bush in Mozambique, confronted the legacy of the slave trade in Senegal, and more.

I set a goal of reading ten pages a day, mostly in the late evening or a few times when I couldn’t sleep at night, and was able to read that much or more. Zanner’s writing style is easy reading. I won’t say light, because his stories include tense moments as he went through territory where revolutions and wars were either in progress or had just ended as he sought to strengthen and encourage existing churches and  seek out places to start new ones.

This was definitely a 5-star read for me. But it’s not a keeper, as I don’t think I’ll read it again given the number of books in my reading piles. We will place it on a shelf in our adult Sunday school classroom at church and let others know it’s there.