The Weekly Wrap: May 4-10

Thanks, Mom!

My mother passed away nearly fifteen years ago. But I can never forget her or all the ways she shaped my life. She was intelligent and loved learning. If I remember rightly, she won a statewide chemistry contest in high school. But she also had so much practical sense, managing our house when dad was away, and coaching me how to handle bullies at school. And I spent a lot of time sick in my first years of school and she nursed me through repeated bouts of the croup and other childhood illnesses.

I mentioned my mom was intelligent. She was a reader and because of that, we had a house full of books, mostly hers. Some were stored in the back of my bedroom closet and it was an adventure to crawl in there and explore! I don’t recall any books being off limit.

My mom liked to read over lunch. And so did I. Then we would talk about what we were reading. It didn’t matter that hers was historical fiction and mine was a baseball biography. Maybe that is where this love of talking about books came from.

I don’t recall my mom either reading to me or teaching me to read. She just loved reading and left her books all over the house. And I think that is why I became a reader, which has immeasurably enriched my life. And so, on this Mother’s Day weekend, I say once again, “Thanks, Mom!”

Five Articles Worth Reading

So many of us who read love words. We look up unfamiliar ones. We relish the sound and rhythms of well-crafted poetry or sentences. Bennett Kleinman compiled “The Most Beautiful Words in the English Language, According to Linguists.” Fittingly “mother” was one of these. But my favorite, “evanescent,” was not included.

While we are thinking of mothers, no two mother-child relationships are the same. To understand our mothers is one aspect of understanding ourselves. In “What to Read to Understand Your Mom,” Sophia Stewart recommends seven books on different kinds of moms.

But for some of us, the need is more immediate, and our thought is what to buy mom for Mother’s Day. And of course, as readers, our thoughts turn to books. Well, I’ve got you covered! “Our Favorite Books for Every Type of Mom” is a great list of book recommendations. Whether she loves thrillers, historical fiction, is a foodie, or even a baseball fan, you’ll find something on this list!

If it weren’t for Johannes Gutenberg, books would hardly be so commonplace. I wonder if we would even have bookstores. But what do we know of the man? In “Start the Presses!,” Joseph Hone reviews a new biography by Eric Marshall White, Johannes Gutenberg: A Biography in Books.

Finally, in the latest salvo of our current U.S. president’s culture war, we learned yesterday of the firing of Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress since 2016, the first woman and first Black to hold this post. No reason for the firing was given. The Library of Congress not only serves as a library and research service for Congress. It is also our national library, the People’s Library. It administers copyright in the U.S. and provides services to other libraries and to researchers. I have used its digital resources. Publishers Weekly discusses Dr. Hayden, and the reactions to and implications of her firing in “Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden Fired by White House.”

Quote of the Week

Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard was born May 5, 1813. He observed:

“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”

I am a staunch defender of free speech but would also be the first to admit that it is often exercised without forethought, in ways that exacerbate conflict rather than contributing to more harmonious relations and the pursuit of the common good.

Miscellaneous Musings

Reading Jakob Hutter: His Life and Letters, I was sobered by how this Anabaptist forebear, and many who were with him, suffered with courage for their faith. In this country, we tend to wear crosses rather than bear them. The latter is actually truer to the faith, that either suffers or deeply identifies with the suffering.

Incidentally, that’s a theme of A Prophet in the Darkness on the art of Georges Rouault. Rouault often juxtaposed, especially in his Miserere series, images of the poor, the marginalized, and the suffering Christ.

It is common to complain about the postal service. But I think I owe our mail carrier big time! On one day this week, we received five different book packages, including one from overseas. Even our oversize mailbox couldn’t contain everything and so she placed them neatly on our stoop. Note to self: I need to figure out how to let our local postmaster know how much we appreciate her service.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Graham Greene, The Lawless Roads

Tuesday: James W. Barker, Writing and Rewriting the Gospels

Wednesday: Curt Parton, Until the Last One’s Found

Thursday: William Kent Krueger, Northwest Angle

Friday: Emmy Barth Maendel and Jonathan Seiling, Jakob Hutter: His Life and Letters

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for May 4-10, 2025!

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page