The Weekly Wrap: May 31-June 6
Why I Still Read
I see many stories about the eclipse of reading. I’m not sure what to believe about all that. What I am sure of is that I’m going to keep reading.
First of all I’m still able. Neither the mind nor the eyes have failed. So let’s read while we can.
Also, you could argue that it is a habit. And that would be right. Reading has enriched my life for over 65 years. Why stop?
“Because I think I am making progress.” That’s what famed cellist Pablo Casals said in his eighties when asked why he still practiced for hours a day. I think that is true for me as well. I think I’m a better reader than five years ago. I carry more from what I’ve read before into what I read now.
I’m still curious. I still long to understand more of God, the world around me, human history, and even baseball. Actually, it’s humbling, because in all of these things, the more I read, the more I grasp how little I understand.
I also read to resist everything from AI to the bombardments of our visual and social media that would turn my mind to mush. Longform writing challenges me to focus, to see the connections of one idea to the next, one event to the next. None of us sees the totality of the big picture. But I don’t want to settle for memes, slogans, and nostrums.
Finally, did I mention what a pleasure this all is? Not the quick, evanescent pleasure of a snack but the slow, savoring pleasure of a multiple course dinner at a top end restaurant, where each bite is savored.
Five Articles Worth Reading
Persepolis was a ground-breaking graphic story, depicting an Iranian girl’s life during the Iran-Iraq War. Sadly, Marjane Satrapi, once that girl, died June 4 in France. “Marjane Satrapi, creator of Persepolis and acclaimed French-Iranian artist, dies aged 56” reports that death, offering a retrospective on her life and work.
We celebrated our 48th anniversary this week. Count me in as a believer in marriage. But marriage isn’t easy, nor is it the institution it once was. Stephanie Coontz has a new book title For Better and Worse, reviewed by Honor Jones in “How to Save Marriage.” The article portrays how our cultural landscape has changed and why.
The Man Who Read Everything is a literary biography of Harold Bloom through his correspondence. Barry Schwabsky introduces us to Bloom and the book in “The Critic’s Loves.”
Reaction continues to come in to Magnifica humanitas, Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical on AI. In “Should the Lion Lie Down With the Electric Lamb?” Anton Barba Kay argues the encyclical doesn’t recognize the greatest threat of AI. He writes:
“The letdown is not that Magnifica humanitas is too moderate or that we are called on to ‘embrace’ technology ‘with gratitude and realism,’ it is that the Church and the pope have not yet discovered what technology is or how it recomposes us—have not realized what it would truly mean to articulate the disagreement they have with Big Tech.”
Finally, I’ve long been a fan of Ann Patchett, both as a writer and a bookstore owner. Her latest novel was published this week and is reviewed by Helen Schulman in the article “Ann Patchett’s Latest Will Engage Your Mind and Warm Your Heart.”
Quote of the Week
Joe Hill, the son of Stephen King and an accomplished writer as well, was born June 4, 1972. He observed:
“You think you know someone. But mostly you just know what you want to know.“
Miscellaneous Musings
Did you ever feel you were reading a book the author wasn’t ready to write? That was my feeling about a book I just finished. It had some great insights, but it just didn’t feel “ripe” to me.
I agreed to review a book from an e-galley in .pdf format. It’s from a very small publisher and I understand their financial constraints. But the experience reminded me how I prefer physical books in reviewing. They allow me to easily flip back and forth. This did not even have any hyperlinks, so it meant lots of scrolling of a 400 page book.
Today the Allies landed on the Normandy beaches 82 years ago. I’ve read several histories of that day as well as watched Saving Private Ryan. One can’t but celebrate the heroism of those who fought and those who died. It also sobers me to remember that they were resisting in Nazism a tyrannous, expansionist, nationalist, and white supremacist regime.
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: Tish Harrison Warren, What Grows in Weary Lands
Tuesday: Sharon Delgado, Love in a Time of Climate Change
Wednesday: Daniel Smith, Hard Feelings
Thursday: Mikel Del Rosario, Did Jesus Really Say He Was God?
Friday, Howard Thurman, Nothing Can Separate Us
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for May 31 – June 6.
Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.