Summary: Poems celebrating the daily moments offering glimpses of joy, growth, insight, and the quiet presence of God.
There are an abundance of ordinary moments between the “life events” we post on social media profiles, and celebrate with family colleagues, and friends. Much of the substance of our lives is found in the ordinary. Noticed and meditated upon, these become a rich tapestry that we call a life. But it is also in these moments that growth in character, and increasing “God-likeness” occurs.
Luci Shaw’s latest collection of poetry, An Incremental Life invites the reader into Shaw’s own practice of noticing and meditating upon the “moments” or “increments in her life. Reading a poem aloud with one’s eggs at breakfast is “Nutriment” for the ears, the voice, and the mind. Polishing a napkin ring with the initials of her father recalls his embrace, smell, and love for God. A return visit to the Grand Canyon reminds her of the Colorado River’s once raging torrent, now reduced to a trickle by “our consumer generation.” In “Estuary,” Shaw and her husband visit a newly formed tidal estuary. Then she reflects on the tides that have poured in and out of their shared lives. She describes “our old eyes viewing a celestial transaction as if for the first time.”
Many of her poems are filled with observations from the natural world. In “Garden Work” she considers how garden work continues when her work for the day is done. Thus, it is a blessing which may fill our lives if we recognize and receive it. “Ambush of the Heart” captures how both simply beauties and unearthed memories may ambush our hearts with wonder. In “Refresh,” a barefoot walk in the grass becomes an immersive experience of the blessing of God.
Other poems mark passages of seasons and the advance of years. “Coda or End-of-Summer Blues” reflects on hoped-for summer plans unfulfilled, regrets failure in the vegetable garden and the life of prayer, rejoices in the flourishing of love and family, and God who ever waits for our attention. She likens herself in one poem to an old cardigan, somewhat threadbare. She acknowledges her want of vigor, sapped of energy by pain and her fights against it. Finally, she fastens it to the shoulder of God. Despite her vibrant faith, in “Mortality” she asks (as have many of us), “Tell me, how may I delay my dying?”
As in other collections, some of her poetry is on the making of poetry, including “How It Happens.” She writes of her aspiration to pen “Edible Words” “rinsing away/falsehood and injury.” She describes how “The New Poem” takes shape through writing and revision as she will “smooth stuttering rhythms.” And then comes time to “blow it a fond, farewell kiss.”
Shaw captures how, as we age, we may both live in the present moment, and re-live the events of our lives, bringing those increments together into a richer synthesis. Our failings and frailties, increasing with the years, may also bring increasing awareness of the presence of the One on whom we depend. And somehow, in all of this, there is the hope of incrementally growing into God’s purposes, even in the face of our own mortality.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
May 5-11 is Children’s Book Week. Yesterday, Publisher’s Weekly posted “2025 Children’s Book Week Presents Full Roster of Event Ideas.” This caught my attention because because I’ve been thinking of children’s books of late. Our church has a playground that we have a grant to upgrade. It is quite popular with the children of our food pantry patrons. One of our upgrades is to install a Little Free Library and I’ve been asked to help with getting books for it.
And I realized I know little of what is popular, or even better what is good literature for children aside from the “classics” we read to our son over thirty years ago. While I read a number of books these days, few are children’s books, or the popular books among adult readers. So for this, I will be relying on a mom who does know something about this, and maybe whatever I can learn from our local librarian or other Little Free Library curators.
Maybe this is forcing me to put my money where my mouth is. I believe passionately in encouraging children to read and in efforts to cultivate the joy of reading among children. I was a child reader and I guess the habit stuck!
This article in The Guardian surprised me: “Most parents don’t enjoy reading to their children, survey suggests.” The surprise came in the light of how much I enjoyed family reading times. It was both great stories and family closeness that made these times special. I miss them, quite honestly. It seems many parents now view reading as a skill to acquire rather than an experience to be shared. What concerns me is that without the joy, I suspect few children will become avid readers.
So I applaud Children’s Book Week. And maybe it’s time to stop applauding and roll up my sleeves.
Five Articles Worth Reading
The name Logan Pearsall Smith probably doesn’t mean much to most of us. He was an essayist and critic, born in America and Harvard-trained before going on to Oxford, living out his life in London. In “Logan Pearsall Smith,” Aaron James observes, “To the extent that his writings are about anything at all, they are about the art of writing itself: the technique of crafting beautiful prose, the painstaking process of developing a beautiful style, ‘the indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable Perfection.’ “
Part of the challenge of “crafting beautiful prose” in English is the character of the language, which one learns if you are a conversation partner with a foreign national learning the language. Dennis Duncan reviews two books on “The Centuries-Long Struggle to Make English Words Behave.”
What do we do when a classic work, one well-written, is also racist? Such is the case with Mark Twain’s Huck Finn. Many of us were gratified by the recognition Percival Everett’s James received as a kind of “reply” to Huck Finn. But do we then discard Twain’s work? Naomi Kanakia grapples with this question in “Is Huck Finn still a classic?”
There seems to be an endless fascination with books on anything related to the sinking of the Titanic. If your appetite for these has not been sated, Atlas Obscura has a reading list of books I’ve not seen before in “Titanic’s Legacy: Our Favorite Reads.”
Finally, one of the delights of warmer weather in the northern hemisphere is the chance to take our books outside. In “Six Books You’ll Want to Read Outdoors” Bekah Waalkes defends outdoor reading and offers six recommendations. She includes Mary Oliver’s Devotions which I heartily recommend!
Quote of the Week
Having retired in the last year, I thoroughly embrace this sentiment of Annie Dillard:
“I worked so hard all my life, and all I want to do now is read.”
On April 30, Annie Dillard turned 80. I’d say she has earned some reading time.
Miscellaneous Musings
Sometimes, book titles intrigue me. How to Love a Forest by Ethan Tapper (Broadleaf) arrived in my mailbox this week. He contends we love forests, not by doing nothing, but by tending them, including cutting some trees.
I just finished reading a book on Markus Barth. He was the son of theologian Karl Barth. However the book convinced me he is deserving more of my attention as a biblical scholar. Years ago, I shelved a copy of his Justification but don’t believe I ever read it. Maybe its time.
I love the Maigret novels of Georges Simenon. It is great news to hear Picador is reissuing over 100 of them. I also love Michael Innes’ Appleby stories. Time for a reissue?
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: Luci Shaw, An Incremental Life
Tuesday: Luke Timothy Johnson, Imitating Christ
Wednesday: Mark R. Lindsay, Markus Barth
Thursday: David A. deSilva, Judea under Greek and Roman Rule
Friday: Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for April 27 – May 3, 2025!
Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page
Tucker’s Last Stand(Blackford Oakes, 9), William F. Buckley, Jr. MysteriousPress.com/Open Road (ASIN: B0116EBXKY) 2015 (first published in 1990).
Summary: Blackford Oakes teams up with mercenary Tucker Montana to block troops and arms flowing from North to South Vietnam.
The story opens early in 1964 in the jungles of Laos. Blackford Oakes has teamed up with soldier-of-fortune Tucker Montana to explore the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Ostensibly at this time, the conflict in South Vietnam is a “civil war” between government and rebel forces. But North Vietnam has been supplying men and material with plans to move 20,000 men over the Trail every month. These two men have to figure out a way to stop it, and extricate themselves before they are caught and killed, which they barely do.
Montana thinks he knows a way to stop the flow of men and material. In addition to surviving against incredible odds, he has a knack for designing devices that work. He believes he can create sensors at key chokepoints to alert when the North Vietnamese are on the Trail. Eventually, Montana and Oakes will work separately on two supply routes–Tucker on the Trail, Oakes on shipping in the Gulf of Tonkin. Both report to Rufus, their control agent.
Their authority actually comes from much higher, from directives from President Johnson, given on a naked swim in his pool. These two men are caught up in the larger events leading to the later massive escalation of the war. In 1964, blocking the North Vietnamese efforts also play into electoral politics between hawkish Barry Goldwater and Johnson, for whom Vietnam represents the derailing of his Great Society. But he doesn’t want to be the president who “lost Vietnam.”
There is a kind of ticking time bomb in Montana. He was at Los Alamos, and in this version, designed the trigger to actuate the atomic bomb. Not only that, he was on the crew of the Enola Gay. Seeing the destruction, he leaves the Army, and nearly goes crazy, taking refuge in a monastery, before returning to military pursuits, concealing his Los Alamos work. That time bomb is coupled with a healthy sex drive. And he finds a girlfriend in Saigon who turns out to be a spy. The classic honey trap.
Meanwhile, Oakes is up to his own hi-jinks. He’s equipping junks with radar and metal detection equipment. But more than that, he’s part of an effort to go inside North Vietnam;s definition of international waters. Buckley portrays it as a plot worked out at the highest levels, including Johnson friend Abe Fortas. The idea is to trigger an “incident” in the Gulf of Tonkin giving Johnson casus belli to pursue an expanded war.
Both men walk tightropes with their conscience. Do you keep your head down and obey orders? Or must one think of the larger ramifications of what one is doing? In Montana’s case, the girlfriend plays on the hovering cloud of an expanded conflict that could lead to nuclear war, raising the old phantoms for Montana. Oakes faces a situation that is more subtle. He suspects, and Rufus confirms the espionage going on with the girlfriend. But Montana is at a critical point in completing the project and going operational. They don’t want to derail him.
It all comes down to how Montana navigates the pulls of love and duty and conscience. And can Oakes protect both the operation and his friend?
Part of what makes this so interesting is the fusion of history and fictional plot. And even in the fiction, we begin to get a sense of how futile the cleverest U.S. efforts will be to stop a determined enemy. Buckley manages fiction at once instructive and diverting.
This edition of The Month in Reviews for April 2025 includes 21 reviews–about as many as I can cram into a month. There were some long books including the biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer and a book on the next Jesus Quest. There were some short books as well including a book on Easter, one on reading by C.S. Lewis and Robin Wall Kimmerer’s newest. All were candidates for my best of the month. Between the long and the short were my usual collection of mysteries, novels, and books on theology. Some standouts included Mark Noll’s classic Turning Points, a recent book on recovering from purity culture, and a history of the bookstore in America. All in all, it’s a long list, so let’s get to it!
The Reviews
Habits of Hope, Todd C. Ream, Jerry Pattengale, and Christopher J. Devers, editors, foreword by Amos Yong. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514010709) 2024. Essays by educators on six key practices and how they may cultivate hope among faculty and students. Review
Religious Freedom in a Secular Age, Michael F. Bird, afterword Bruce Riley Ashford. Zondervan Reflective (ISBN: 9780310538882) 2022. Distinguishes types of secularism, opposes dismantling religious freedom, and proposes a new apologetic. Review
The Serviceberry,Robin Wall Kimmerer, illustrations by John Burgoyne. Scribner (ISBN: 9781668072240) 2024. A day of picking serviceberries leads to an extended reflection on natural abundance, reciprocity, and gratitude. Review
Easter(Fullness of Time Series), Wesley Hill. IVP Formatio (ISBN: 9781514000366) 2025. Explores the history and significance of Easter, not only as a day but as a season of celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Review
Finding God Along the Way, Christine Marie Eberle. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609891) 2025. An account of hiking with a group whose average age was 67 on the 300 mile Ignatian Camino. Review
Vermilion Drift(Cork O’Connor, 10) William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781439153871) 2011. The discovery of six bodies in an underground iron mine leads to facing uncomfortable truths about Cork’s father. Review
John of History, Baptist of Faith, James F. McGrath. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883995) 2024. A historical-critical study of New Testament and Mandaean sources, developing a historical portrait of John. Review
Citizenship Without Illusions, David T. Koyzis. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514008621) 2024. How Christians may engage politically without giving idolatrous devotion to parties or ideologies. Review
How to Get Along with Anyone, John Eliot and Jim Guinn. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781668033074) 2025. An approach to conflict resolution based on the five ways people respond to conflict. Review
Tending Tomorrow, Leah Reesor-Keller. Herald Press (ISBN: 9781513813356) 2024. Facing an uncertain ecological future by drawing on one’s faith and learning from creation, to re-vision how we may live. Review
Bring Back Your People, Aaron Scott. Broadleaf Books (ISBN: 9781506494555) 2025. A blunt discussion of how to reach out to those who have embraced Christian nationalism. Review
American Prometheus, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. Vintage Books (ISBN: 9780375726262) 2006. A biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, focused on his leadership of the atomic bomb program and security clearance trial. Review
Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity. Mark A. Noll. Baker Academic (ISBN: 9781540964885) 2022 (the link and publication info is for the 4th edition of the book. My review and the cover image are of the 1997 first edition). Twelve decisive moments in Christian history along with twentieth century events that may be turning points. Review
Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar. Vintage Books (ISBN: 9780593685778) 2024. A young immigrant poet in recovery struggles to find meaning in a life after his mother’s plane was shot down and his father died. Review
Three Act Tragedy (Hercule Poirot, 11), Agatha Christie. William Morrow (9780063376045) 2006, (first published 1934). Two deaths after a drink, with most of the same guests present on both occasions, sets Poirot to investigating murder. Review
Recovering from Purity Culture, Camden Morgante. Baker Books (ISBN: 9781540904263) 2024. Exposes the myths and harms of purity culture and how to reclaim both healthy sexuality and faith. Review
The Reading Life, C. S. Lewis. Harper One (ISBN: 9780062849977) 2019. Essays and brief readings from his books, essay collections, and letters on the joys of reading. Review
The Bookshop, Evan Friss. Viking (ISBN: 9780593299920) 2024. A history of bookstores in America through the lens of fourteen bookstores or bookselling venues. Review
The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus, edited by James Crossley and Chris Keith. Wm. B. Eerdmans Co. (ISBN: 9780802882707) 2024. A prospectus for a new round of “historical Jesus” research: both foundations and research topics. Review
The Open House(Sir John Appleby, 26) Michael Innes. Penguin (ISBN: 0140036636) 1972 (out of print, link is to used copies available at ABE Books). When his car breaks down, Sir John Appleby walks up a drive. The mansion at the end is suddenly lit with its front door open. Review
John Henry Newman: A Life Sacrificed, Ida Friederike Görres. Ignatius Press (ISBN: 9781621646983) 2024. A study of Newman focused on the cost of his conversion to Catholicism and how it formed his character. Review
Best Book of the Month
Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry is a wonderfully concise lesson in ecology, the abundance our earth often produces, and the virtues of reciprocity and gratitude that calls forth. The illustrations and the typography makes this book a feast to both eyes and heart.
Quote of the Month
On Reading is a delightful collection of the essays, and shorter pieces C.S. Lewis wrote on reading. He makes this observation about why we read and why stories enthrall us:
“We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as with our own.”
What I’m Reading
The Lawless Roads is the first non-fiction work of Graham Greene’s that I’ve read. It his his account of traveling through Mexico to chronicle Catholic persecution under the Calles regime. I find myself wondering how he will survive at times. Markus Barth is a biography of the son of Karl Barth, a first-rate biblical scholar overshadowed by his more illustrious father. I’ve enjoyed learning of his passionate anti-semitism as well as his distinctive ideas on baptism and eucharist. I’ve finally gotten around to reading Until the Last One’s Found by Curt Parton, an argument for evangelical universal reconciliation and restoration. It is well-argued, although I have not so far been persuaded.
Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score is the sourcebook for many advocating trauma-informed therapy for those suffering from wartime and abusive PTSD. I’ve appreciated his stance as a learner from his patients and care for them. I’m also just starting out on a biography and collection of the writings of Jakob Hutter, after whom the Hutterites are named. He is one of our Anabaptist forebears and I’m eager to learn more of that history, often on the margins of most church history accounts.
I find reading more challenging to get during in this time of the year as I get my yard in shape, and tend our flower and vegetable beds. But I get to practice some of what Robin Wall Kimmerer writes of!
The Month in Reviews is my monthly review summary going back to 2014!It’s a great way to browse what I’ve reviewed. The search box on this blog also works well if you are looking for a review of a particular book.
Summary: A study of Newman focused on the cost of his conversion to Catholicism and how it formed his character.
John Henry Newman is one of those figures of interest to many of us who have worked in college ministry. Newman Centers often served as the base for Catholic ministry on campus. For those of us who tried to think Christianly about what universities are for, Newman’s TheIdea of a University was required reading.
Newman’s story is an interesting one. He came to a vibrant evangelical faith as a teenager. As a young man, he became part of a movement to reform and revitalize Anglicanism through turning toward its Catholic roots, promoting a kind of Anglo-Catholicism. But he discovered he could not go half way, and after an agonizing process, converted to Catholic belief. While this brought spiritual relief, it both cost him friends and engendered suspicion among his fellow Catholics in England. He was relegated to a parish in Birmingham, where he faced (and lost) a libel trial. Later, he had a chance to pursue his vision of a university in Ireland, but never enjoyed the support of his fellow Catholics. Only late in life did he rise to the office of Cardinal.
This work is less a biography than a study of how Newman was formed through the challenges and setbacks he faced in his life. The theme of this book is that Newman sacrificed his life in the pursuit of spiritual truth. Whether this was in the advocacy of his Tracts for the Times during his Oxford Movement period or his wrestlings at Littlemore, he sought truth. Later on, his works on The Grammar of Assent and on the development of doctrine centered on the pursuit of truth. A long chapter toward the conclusion of the work unpacks Newman’s ideas on conscience
Görres traces how adversity brought him low. She also shows how it formed a godly humility and deep personal devotion. Newman always adhered to the code of the gentleman. He even addresses himself to the formation of gentlemen in Idea. To gentlemanliness, Newman’s trials added Christlike gentleness.
But this work is not just about Newman, but about Ida Friederike Görres. Görres was a German Catholic scholar, profoundly influenced by Newman, who wrote on the lives of saints. In an introduction, Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz, who edited this work for German publication describes the author’s difficulties in completing the work. Also, the translator, Jennifer S. Bryson, offers both commentary and a detailed index of the book. Concluding appendices offer timelines of both Newman’s and Görres life. One of the most helpful resources in the book is an extensive register of persons.
Görres doesn’t offer a biography of Newman so much as a study of his character in the context of the events of his life. We see how sacrifice produces sanctity. For biography, the reader may turn to Ian Ker’s John Henry Newman. But many biographies don’t reveal the personality of a person and how God formed them through the challenges of their lives. This is what Görres does so well in this work.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
The Open House(Sir John Appleby, 26) Michael Innes. Penguin (ISBN: 0140036636) 1972 (out of print, link is to used copies available at ABE Books).
Summary: When his car breaks down, Sir John Appleby walks up a drive. The mansion at the end is suddenly lit with its front door open.
Years ago a friend recommended the mystery novels of Michael Innes. Witty and well-written, I’ve enjoyed them whenever I come across copies, especially in the green-spined Penguin editions. Sadly, the books are out of print. But I found three of them on my trip to John King’s Books recently.
Innes’ detective is Sir john Appleby, the “Sir” coming with his appointment as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Innes develops this character over 50 years from a young Detective Inspector to his eminent position, publishing Appleby novels between 1936 and 1986.
In this story, Sir John is driving down a country road at night when he suddenly discovers his gear shift lever isn’t attached to anything. All he can do is park the car and find assistance. This was before the day of cell phones. He sets foot, trying to find a local inn he thinks is up the road. He turns off a drive that he thinks leads up to it. Everything is dark. Then suddenly it isn’t. Almost like magic, a great country mansion has appeared before him. And when he looks, the front door is open.
Being a proper gentleman, he rings the bell, but no one comes. When he ventures in, he finds no one. But a place is laid for dinner in the dining room. In the main bedroom, pajamas are laid out and a hot water bottle provided to warm the bed. He wanders into the library and figures out this is the house of Adrian Snodgrass, who has made his fortune in South America. Another Snodgrass interrupts him. This is Professor Beddoes Snodgrass, a somewhat daft caretaker whose main job is to open the house up once a year for the arrival of its owner. But he hasn’t turned up for many years. But others from the neighborhood have. As a policeman, Appleby doesn’t approve. But he enjoys a glass of port with the Professor as he recounts the history of the family and the house.
Appleby hears various sounds outside the library, and on going out to search trips over Rev. Absalon, who has dropped by for the open house. There is an appearance of a lady in white, then Leonidas, the recently hired butler who announces that Adrian Snodgrass has arrived. Professor Snodgrass leaves Leonidas to attend to him. Suddenly there is a commotion, a scream, and a fired shot. Appleby finds Adrian Snodgrass has arrived — dead of a gunshot wound. A valuable painting is missing, and worse — people of South American appearance are still rummaging about the house.
Occurring during the night, the story has a fantastic, dreamlike or nightmare-like character involving ladies in white and back, a woman of questionable sanity claiming to be Adrian’s proper wife, and her son who bears a startling resemblance to the deceased. The butler disappears, but not before notifying another near kin. There are chases throughout the house and a safecracking. All the while, Sir John wants to solve the case before breakfast and leave this crazy setting.
Sir John handles himself creditably, despite his years. But we all wonder how he will make sense of all the crazy things going on around him–and will he do it before breakfast? Despite the somewhat implausible plot, this book is a delightful, fast-paced romp. Find yourself a copy if you can!
Summary: A prospectus for a new round of “historical Jesus” research: both foundations and research topics.
What was Jesus really like? Can we somehow get behind the gospel accounts and other sources to get at “the real Jesus of history”? Are we left with only a Christ of faith? Albert Schweitzer began this process. More recently, a group of scholars known as “The Jesus Seminar” took up this quest, with others like N.T. Wright as respondents. One of the critiques of all these efforts was that the attempt could be likened to peering down a very deep well only to glimpse a pale reflection of oneself.
The editors of this work, James Crossley and Chris Keith discerned that the time might be right for a new approach. An older generation of scholars was passing on and a newer generation with different concerns was rising. This volume represents a kind of prospectus of what the next quest might look like. In it, the editors and a team of scholars offer both some foundational ideas for a “next quest” and the beginnings of diverse research topics that might be aligned with the foundations.
The editors devote the first part of the book to foundations. Fundamental to their approach is the recognition that it is not possible to get behind source texts. As best as I can describe it (and I apologize if I am in error) is that this is an indirect or oblique approach. Instead of trying to get behind the text, they commend studying the reception history of the texts and how different groups construed Jesus. Likewise, they advocate a social history of quest scholarship. Brandon Massey examines how the social milieu in which it took place shaped portrayals of Jesus. Likewise, Adele Reinhartz advocates that this approach crucially needs to be applied to the Jewishness of Jesus and how that was constructed by the research. Helen K. Bond argues for the gospels being studied in light of what we know of the character of Greek biography.
Chris Keith argues more broadly for going beyond what is behind. Then Mark Goodacre spells out that our sources are like a puzzle with a substantial number of pieces missing and how research on a variety of social backgrounds may uncover some of those pieces. These include the material and visual culture, argues Joan Taylor. Studies of religion, visions and mythmaking may shed light on the gospel accounts.
The second part of the book, “The Beginnings of a Next Quest” includes chapters from a number of scholars representing a wide array of subfields. For example, these include examinations of ancient social networks, synagogue life. armies and soldiers, textiles, sustenance, and economy. In addition, other essays concern embodiment, sexuality, disability, ritual impurity, race, and ethnicity. The latter includes an examination of how whiteness has influenced Jesus scholarship. Finally, essays explore violence, death and apocalypticism. A thought provoking essay by Justin Meggit explore comparative microhistory and the resurrection accounts.
To sum up, this collection lays the groundwork for a new generation of Jesus questing. It does this, not by trying to get behind the gospel texts but by filling missing contextual pieces. Meanwhile it seeks to strip away previous constructions of Jesus and other social biases that prevent us from seeing what is really in the record. We’ll see whether this approach of deconstruction and fresh construction will escape the subjectivity of previous quests. I also wonder whether the wide variety of subfields will offer a coherent, or rather a fragmented and even conflicting picture. But I welcome the jettisoning of the unconstructive “criteria of authenticity” with the colored beads of the Jesus Seminar. Likewise, I appreciate the admission of the flaw of thinking what we see “behind the text” is more important than the text.
Ever since Schweitzer, it seems each scholarly generation has needed to pursue this quest in new forms. Crossley and Keith have framed a compelling prospectus for the next phase. I hope it helps the church “to see Jesus more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly.”
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Today is Indie Bookstore Day in the United States. This is the twelfth year for Indie booksellers who are part of the American Booksellers Association to band together to host special events at over 1600 bookstores in all fifty states. It seems to me a wonderful way to celebrate the vibrant and growing presence of Indie booksellers.
I think of the bookseller I interviewed recently at the Birch Tree Bookery in Marion, Ohio. Marion is one of the small to medium size county seats in Ohio. This husband and wife bookselling team launched the store a couple years back in a bookstore desert. The nearest store was at least 20 miles away. They are now in their third location, each larger than the last as they’ve built a reading community. No Barnes & Noble is going to move here. And this is what Indies are doing across the country.
The long and the short of it is that today is a very good day to visit your nearest Indie (the Indie Bookstore Day site will help you find one). Not only will you find fun, bookish activities. You may also find your next great read.
Can’t make it in person? Most are set up to take orders. I placed an order at my favorite Indie since I won’t be able to support them in person. If you can’t figure out how to order from the store, you can also order through Bookshop.org which has raised nearly $38 million for local bookstores.
Our Indie bookstores are a crucial ingredient to making our towns places livable, interesting, unique places. They are gathering places in a world lacking good third places. And they are far better than algorithms when it comes to matching people with books they will love.
Five Articles Worth Reading
It’s National Poetry Month. And who would have thought of Iowa City as a poetry mecca? ” ‘Poetry City: Iowa City, Iowa” tells the story of a college town, the home of a famed writing program and how they’ve kept it “weird”–a center for poetry where one might never expect it.
Did you know that Isaac Asimov wrote some of his books under the pen name Paul French? And did you know that a reviewer who hated Asimov’s writing loved that of Paul French, amusing Asimov to no end. You can read all about it in “When Isaac Asimov Decided to Secretly Write Under the Name Paul French.”
I’ve seen pictures of the J.P. Morgan Library, in New York City. It is an amazing personal library. “Ambition, Discipline, Nerve” is a fascinating article about the librarian Morgan hired to build that library.
You would think people of faith would die well. In “Fragments for the End of Life” Justin Hawkins reviews Burdened Agency: Christian Theology and End-of-Life Ethics by Travis Pickell, a book that explains why this is so.
Quote of the Week
Charlotte Brontë was born April 21, 1816. She makes an observation we desperately need in our culture of grievance:
“Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs.”
Miscellaneous Musings
As we get older, it becomes harder to find people further along than we. Luci Shaw is in her late 90’s and just published another poetry book, An Incremental Life. If I can grow older half as well as she, that will be a good thing.
He spent much of his work as a book editor, work he did well. In my last job, part of my work involved editing, work for which I had no experience. He gave me a crash course. As a fellow “retiree,” one of the things Andy LePeau does is review books. I love seeing how he does it, particularly when we’ve read the same book. I commend his blog, Andy Unedited.
This week marked the passing of Pope Francis. He died on Easter Monday and on the day before Earth Day. He lived the Easter hope and taught us to care for our common home. If you have not read it, LAUDATO SI’, an encyclical letter, is a marvelous and sweeping statement of a vision for caring for our common home, inspired by his namesake, Francis of Assisi. Requiescat in pace.
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: James Crossley and Chris Keith, eds., The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus
Tuesday: Michael Innes, The Open House
Wednesday: Ida Friederike Gorres, John Henry Newman: A Life Sacrificed
Thursday: The Month in Reviews: April 2025
Friday: William F. Buckley, Jr., Tucker’s Last Stand
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for April 20-26, 2025!
Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page
The Bookshop, Evan Friss. Viking (ISBN: 9780593299920) 2024.
Summary: A history of bookstores in America through the lens of fourteen bookstores or bookselling venues.
As a bibliophile, I love books on books, reading, and bookstores. In The Bookshop, Evan Friss offers a history of bookshops in America through the lens of fourteen bookshops or bookselling venues. Friss tells us he prefers the term “shop” at the outset. “Stores” sound too commercial. While there is a necessity to make enough to keep bookshops afloat (always a challenge throughout their history), a theme here is the unique bond booksellers build (or don’t build, in one case) with their customers.
Friss establishes that ethos in his Introduction, profiling the small Three Lives & Company shop in New York’s West Village. From Toby the owner to “the regulars” to Miriam, who listens well to customers, one has the sense that, like “Cheers,” this is a place where everyone knows, or wants to know, your name. After this, and each following chapter, there is a vignette on bookshop life–the UPS driver, the smell of books, the store buyer, and the ubiquitous bookstore cat among them.
From the Introduction, Friss takes us on a journey in time and geography from Ben Franklin’s shop in Philadelphia to Ann Patchett’s Parnassus books in Nashville. Along the way we learn Franklin didn’t call it a bookstore. He was a printer, and that led to printing and selling a number of books, including his own Almanac. His first big hit was the preacher, George Whitefield, selling his journals and sermons. Meanwhile, in another cradle of the Revolution, also a cradle of bookselling, we are introduced to the Old Corner bookshop. It was the hangout for the likes of Emerson, Holmes, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Longfellow. Behind it was the partnership of William D. Ticknor and a clerk, James D. Fields, who rose to become a partner.
Friss introduces us to some legendary stores. Having worked in a department store, I was fascinated by the sheer magnificence of the Marshall Field book department in Chicago, especially under Marcella Hahner. Another woman-run store was the Gotham Book Mart. Frances Steloff maintained an office in this rambling store with books piled everywhere until she was over one hundred. She found a way to sell the books that were banned. And then there was the Strand, once on Booksellers Row before it moved a few blocks. A Bass family member still manages it.
By contrast, there are the niche stores. One of those was the Aryan Book Store, selling, you guessed it, Nazi literature. Friss notes similar shops around the country for workers and the Communist Party. Then there is the Oscar Wilde, a pathbreaker in the sale of LGBTQ+ literature. Finally, the Drum & Spear represents Black bookseller, on the rise with Black Lives Matter.
Friss also chronicles the booksellers who don’t sell from brick and mortar shops. Parnassus on Wheels from the early 1900’s represents the booksellers who sold books from wagons and later bookmobiles. Then there are the sidewalk booksellers in New York City and other places, following the precedent of the bouquinistes selling books along the West Bank of the Seine in Paris. In New York, we learn of the hassles they face from the city, even while building their own community of clientele. Finally, there is the story of online bookselling typified by Amazon, the behemoth. Friss also covers their misbegotten venture into brick and mortar stores, and their failure to embrace a bookselling ethos.
The book concludes with the two major players in the bookshop world of today. There are the big box chains, represented by Barnes and Noble. And there are the thousands of indies, represented by Ann Patchett’s Parnassus Books. The chapters devoted to each trace their birth and growth. For Barnes and Noble, it is a longer story, from a single New York store, to Leonard Riggio’s pivotal role in building the chain, to James Daunt’s role as rescuer, teaching booksellers to think like indies. On the other hand, the story of Parnassus is one where an accomplished author and a publisher’s sales rep team up when Nashville’s beloved Davis-Kidd store closed. and we learn how Barnes and Noble and the indies, once rivals, have learned to see each other as allies in the effort to keep bookselling personal and a presence in every community.
Of course, there are thousands of stories that go untold. Places like Austin’s BookPeople and Powell’s only have cameo appearances. Not one of the many great bookshops in my home state were mentioned. But no matter. The various expressions of bookselling were there and the stores featured are kin. Friss captures both the hard work behind bookselling and the wonder of these special “third places.” Whether the street stand, a corner shop, the indies I know of that create events and comfortable spaces in small towns, or my local Barnes and Noble, all are celebrated in Friss’ account. And because of that, I appreciate even more the gift all of these are to the common good.
The Reading Life, C. S. Lewis. Harper One (ISBN: 9780062849977) 2019.
Summary: Essays and brief readings from his books, essay collections, and letters on the joys of reading.
It was a serendipitous find while looking for something else. This is not a “lost” book of C.S. Lewis but a recent compilation of writing by C, S. Lewis drawn from his various books as well as his correspondence. And all of this is on our lives as readers. What’s not to like for a C.S. Lewis fan and bibliophile, right?
Some of the material was familiar, for example his “The Case for Reading Old Books” in which he advocates we read one old book for every new one we read (or at least for every three. Or there is the biographical piece from Surprised by Joy on “Growing Up Amidst a Sea of Books.” But there are a number of pieces I either haven’t read or don’t remember (I don’t have Lewis’s eidetic memory).
The first part of the book contains his longer essays, though only one, on “The Achievements of J.R.R.Tolkien,” is longer than ten pages. “Why We Read, ” from An Experiment in Criticism, serves as a good introduction to the whole collection. Lewis makes the point that “[w]e want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as with our own.” This is followed by “How to Know if You are a True Reader.” He offers five criteria, and I qualified. I suspect many drawn to this book qualify as well, or are on their way! There are wonderful discussions about children’s literature (the best being not just for children) fairy tales (as less deceptive than “realistic’ stories), and the marvellous.
One of the most important for our day is his discussion of “How to Murder Words.” We do so through inflation, verbiage, and speaking less descriptively and more evaluatively. We are “more anxious to express approval and disapproval of things than to describe them” Yet how can we judge a thing without knowing what it is? The following essay on “Saving Words from the Eulogistic Abyss” carries on this theme. The danger in our careless and imprecise use of words is that “[m]en do not long continue to think what they have forgotten how to say.”
As rich as was the first part, the short readings in the latter part of the book were an absolute find. Excerpted mostly from letters, I’d never seen most of this. For example, Lewis offers this pithy observation in a letter to his friend Arthur Greeves: “If only one had time to read a little more: we either get shallow & broad or narrow and deep.” Like many of us, Lewis loved not only reading but also “Talking About Books.” He encourages reading for enjoyment, especially for children, denounces literary snobs, and says “all sensible people skip freely” that which is of no use to them.
Then there are the readings offering opinions of various writers. He praises Dante but excoriates Alexandre Dumas. He speaks of the utter importance of Plato and Aristotle, opines on Shakespeare and Tolstoy. And he has nothing but good to say about Jane Austen (in contrast to Henry James). He boasts: “I’ve been reading Pride and Prejudice on and off all my life and it doesn’t wear out a bit.”
I’ve only offered a sampler of the riches to be found in this slim volume. It is a gift to have so many of Lewis’s thoughts on reading in one place. I’ll leave you with his concluding comment on “Good Reading”:
A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling.
