Review: And There Was Light

/ rtrube54 / 2 Comments
Cover image of "And There Was Light" by Jon Meacham

And There Was Light, Jon Meacham. Random House (ISBN: 9780553393965), 2022.

Summary: The convictions shaping Lincoln’s public life including his opposition to slavery, the importance of the union, and his belief in providence.

One of the things I’ve appreciated about the writing of Jon Meacham is that he focuses on the formative influences, qualities of character, and deeply held convictions of his subjects. And this what sets his biography of Lincoln apart from the many other fine biographies of the sixteenth president.

Of course he traces the life of Lincoln from his humble upbringings, his law career, early political life, his rise in Republican circles, and his war-marred presidency and its tragic end. Two formative influences stand out. One is his step-mother Sarah, who encouraged his hunger for books and brought order to a struggling household. The other was Mary Todd Lincoln, his wife, who wanted to marry the man “who had the best prospects of being president.” She was at his side in all his political endeavors, the archetypal political spouse.

What she recognized was an ambitious man with a greatness of vision. The Declaration of Independence, even more than the Constitution, shaped him. It’s ringing words, “all men are created equal” form a bedrock conviction in Lincoln. Consequently, he could not envision a good society as one where one man enslaved and lived off the work of another.

Yet he was a also a savvy politician with an acute sense of the possible. This explained his pragmatic approach of only trying to stop the spread of slavery. Preserving the Union, as far as possible, was uppermost in his priorities as President. This frustrated extreme abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass, who eventually reached a very different appraisal. An example of that sense of timing was the Emancipation Proclamation, planned for some time, but only proclaimed after victory at Antietam.

Closely tied to his intuitive sense of was his deep sense of feeling and empathy. Thus, he would struggle with the black bear of depression and would deeply grieve his lost son. Also, he was patient and gentle with a shrewish and increasingly unstable Mary. These same qualities were in evidence when he visited wounded soldiers in field hospitals.

Finally, though not a conventional Christian, Lincoln had a deep conviction of the providence of God in human affairs. He understood he could not bend or appropriate God’s will to his ends. The war would last as long as God willed, though this didn’t prevent him from looking for generals who would fight. He understood grace and forgiveness and had no intent to punish the South at war’s end. One wonders how different Reconstruction might have been were it not for Wilkes’ bullet.

One cannot, in an election year, help but think about presidential character. In the case of Lincoln, Meacham portrays a Lincoln with not only the requisite political skills, savvy, and ambition. He also had depths of character, breadth of vision and spiritual underpinnings to meet the challenges of the moment. Do we want that in those we entrust to our highest office? And if we do not, what does this say of us as a people?

Review: Coroner’s Pidgin

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "Coroner's Pidgin" by Margery Allingham

Coroner’s Pidgin (Albert Campion, 12), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN:
9781504087230), 2023 (First published in 1945).

Summary: Back from war, Campion finds a corpse in his bed, brought to his flat by an aristocratic lady protecting her son.

He’s been away on a secret mission even he didn’t fully understand. He stops off at his flat for a bath before catching a train to the country to be reunited with Amanda, now his wife. Then he hears voices and activity in his flat. One is his servant Lugg. The other is an aristocratic lady by the sound of her voice. They are in his bedroom. When he emerges, he finds a woman in his bed. Dead.

He doesn’t want to know. He just wants to catch his train. But its too late. The lady is Lady Carados, mother of his friend Johnny Carados, a war hero. The dead girl was found in Johnny’s bed, just before he is to arrive home and marry. Inconvenient. Lugg is the Air Warden in Carados Square and has access to the ambulance. Lady Carados, a force of nature, had enlisted him to get the body out of the way. They hadn’t expected Campion to turn up.

What was made to look like a suicide was murder. And as he investigates, her death emerges as part of a bigger plot. There have been other deaths. Not only that, they are part of an art theft ring with ties back to the Nazis. Although he is a war hero, Chief Inspector Oates has traced the threads back to Johnny Carados. This is despite all the efforts of Lady Carados and Johnny’s friends to shield him. Even Campion refuses to believe it.

Like many of Allingham’s mystery, this one has lots of twists and turns, including the discovery of a rare wine vintage, and the near death of a wine expert from an analgesic given him by Johnny. Then there is a bit of charm in the form of Lugg’s pet pig and good humor in the form of a country woman who has unwittingly provided her lodgings for the stolen art. Meanwhile, Campion just wants to get back to Amanda…

Review: The Five Spaces

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "The Five Spaces" by Dustin White.

The Five Spaces, Dustin White. The Brethren Church (ISBN:9781732268180), 2019.

Summary: Understanding the church’s spaces of discipleship, a study of how the church may leverage the different relational spaces we inhabit.

Dustin White, a former church planter, asks the question, how do we account for the stunted faith of so many despite the church’s efforts? Drawing upon the work of social scientist Edward T. Hall on the different relational spaces in which we operate, he proposes that we make the “right moves in the wrong spaces.” He devotes the book to understanding the church’s spaces of discipleship. Specifically, White identifies five spaces, taking a chapter to elaborate each of these.

The first of these is “one to one,” the space of intimacy. By this, White means intimacy with Jesus that arises from carving out time, listening prayer, and study. It struck me as unusual that White didn’t include one to one human relationships, including mentoring or peer to peer relationships.

Secondly, he identifies the space of close relationships with a few, modeled by Jesus relationship with Peter, James, and John. He calls this the “discipleship incubator” space. He identifies three movements of confrontation, incubation, and empowerment. Specifically, White believes this occurs through intentional groups meeting and sharing life over eighteen months or so. During this time, they bless others, eat together, listen to the Holy Spirit, learn from Jesus, and identify where they see God at work in their lives.

Thirdly, he discusses groups of up to twelve, which he describes as “faith collectives.” Home groups are an example of this relational space. But they need to be relational spaces, not dominated by a leader. By contrast, great faith collectives involve conversation over food, information from God’s Word, and mutual encouragement.

The fourth space is the worship space, corresponding to the seventy in Jesus’s ministry. In this chapter, he raises the provocative question of whether churches ought to be any larger than seventy-five people. The reason for this is that such spaces are ideal for connection, inspiration, and equipping, and this is lost in larger groups.

Finally, he explores the “crowd space” involves the “missional expression” of the church. This arises from his assertion that mission is the prime identity of the church. I wish he would have interacted with John Piper’s assertion that worship is the primary purpose of the church. Piper contends mission exists because worship doesn’t. I think holding these together important. White asserts mission involves compassion and measures impact (although he doesn’t specify how this is done). Specifically, he identifies three spaces for mission: neighborhood, work, and “third spaces.”

I discussed this in a book group that included several church leaders. Though compact, the book gave us much to discuss, not least, his fivefold schema for the church’s efforts in making disciples. This understanding of the church’s spaces for discipleship, and that they are relational spaces is a vital contribution.

At the same time, we noted that some of his analogies did not work with chapter content, notably the running analogy in the chapter on worship. In addition, greater specifics on “how do you do that?” would be helpful.

This is an interesting schema and I hope others build on this, if not White, who has pivoted, at least for the present, into a fly-fishing ministry. White offers a fresh proposal, built on the model of Jesus, one worth developing in our churches.

The Weekly Wrap: August 18-24

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Image for The Weekly Wrap: person wrapping a book
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

For the past decade, it seems, we have been getting rid of books (and they keep coming in!). One of the questions is, how do I decide what to keep? And that raises the question of what makes a book of enduring worth. Now I suspect that the answer to this varies from person to person.

But there are the books I ask, “why did I ever buy that?” Sometimes the cover blurb probably promised more than the book delivered. At other times, it was a book someone raved about that was, well, just O.K. Then there were the books that were current to a particular time but are hopelessly out of date.

Truthfully, most of the books I read I enjoy…but once is enough. Then there are those “pearls of great price” that are so well written, that truly add something, and have depths to which I want to return. Increasingly for me, this is poetry.

This week in the Weekly Wrap, I include articles on best sellers, what lasts (and doesn’t) and when to give up on a book. This is because we all want to read enjoyable and profitable books. As best as possible, we want to spend our money on “keepers.’

Five Articles Worth Reading

The Times ran an article “The 100 bestselling books of the past 50 years.” I was surprised to find only three that I’d read. It gave me some ideas of a few I’d like to read. I also found some where I said, “Oh, I remember when that was a thing….”

So, this raises the question of what makes a book that was a bestseller also of lasting worth. “What Lasts and (Mostly) Doesn’t Last” by Lincoln Michel explores this question well.

But sometimes we even find it hard to finish a book. Sophie Vershbow asks “When Is It Okay to Not Finish a Book?” She gives good reasons for not finishing a book, and at least one to keep going.

Some places definitely have more of a “literary culture” than others. But what goes into fostering that kind of culture. “‘We all read like hell!’ How Ireland became the world’s literary powerhouse” explores the factors that make Ireland one of those places.

One of the factors mentioned in that article is libraries. But libraries are under attack. Amanda Jones is one of the librarians in the U.S. who has been on the forefront of resisting book bans and other attacks. She’s written That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America. The New York Times interviewed her for its “By the Book” feature in this article: “Put Kids’ Interests First, This Librarian Insists.”

Quote of the Week

Poet John Dryden was born this week in 1631. He makes this pithy observation well worth reflection:

“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.”

Dryden says in a sentence what it takes others whole books to say!

Miscellaneous Musings

I loved visiting Birch Tree Bookery, a new indie store in my son’s home town of Marion Ohio. I wrote about it this week in this bookstore review. Kudos to booksellers like these folks for the risk-taking and labor of love to launch an indie bookstore in a book desert.

I just finished Jon Meacham’s And There Was Light on the life of Abraham Lincoln. for me, Meacham is an author who never disappoints. He goes beyond the facts of biography to the values and convictions that animate the lives of great people.

I’ve become acutely aware of passive voice as I write and edit. This is a peculiar affliction of academics. I read a lot of them and getting rid of passive voice could do a lot to improve academic writing. Just sayin’.

Well, that’s The Weekly Wrap for this week!

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

Books and Community

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Books and Community: elderly women spending time in book club
Photo by Centre for Ageing Better on Pexels.com

“Gathering a community of booklovers.” That phrase has been rattling around in my head ever since I heard it from Justin Bessler at Birch Tree Bookery. It reminded me that what I love about books is not only losing myself in them but also finding myself among others who love talking about books. This week I wrote a report summarizing reports on twenty-two book groups for a grant funder. That reinforced the idea of how powerful it can be to gather people around a good book. Books and community are a powerful mix!

Book groups help people find like-minded people. It is wonderful to know we are not alone in love for an author or in seeing the world in the way we do.

Book groups also can foster good disagreements. We may need to define “rules of engagement” about respect and curiosity. Disagreement can force me to think more deeply. It may make me stronger in conviction. Or it may change my mind.

Book groups build community. The shared experience of working through a book can transform acquaintances into friends, people we want to be with and have as part of the fabric of our lives.

Discussing books with others etches a book into our lives. Till We Have Faces is, perhaps, C.S. Lewis’s most profound book. But I just didn’t get it until a group of us struggled through it together.

Books are often a mirror by which we look at our lives. Sometimes, the comments and questions of another help hold that mirror for us.

And sometimes, a book will galvanize a community into action. It will inspire and call us into action and convince us “we can do this!” or “we need to do this!” Abraham Lincoln is reputed to have said, on meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war!” Hopefully, books won’t call us to war but to constructive action.

Summing up, books and community are a powerful combination. So that is why I love to host book groups, write about books and host social media devoted to discussing books online. And that is why I’d love to hear your stories of the power of books and community.

Bookstore Review: Birch Tree Bookery

/ rtrube54 / 3 Comments
Justin Bessler, co-owner of Birch Tree Bookery next to Robert Frost's A Singer of Birches, which partly inspired the name.
Justin Bessler, co-owner of Birch Tree Bookery next to Robert Frost’s A Singer of Birches, which partly inspired the name.

What happens when a young pastor facing a career pivot lives near a town that lost its only bookstore during the pandemic? That’s what happened for Justin and Crystal Bessler. They came to the Marion, Ohio area to start a church. But they had different ideas of what that should look like from their supporting denomination. That left Justin without a job at about the same time Marion, Ohio, about an hour north of Columbus, lost its only bookstore. The nearest store was in Delaware, about a half hour south. The only other alternatives were the bestsellers at Meijer or the impersonal online sellers.

It was the chance to act on a lifelong love of books and a dream of operating a retail store. The dream became a reality in May of 2023 when Justin and Crystal opened Birch Tree Bookery. He describes their driving passion as one of “gathering a community of booklovers in what was once a town without a bookstore.” They offer the personalized service to find that special book.

I saw that in action when we were interrupted by a customer from out of town, visiting with family. She was looking for a particular short story of John Steinbeck’s. He took me back to a store room where we looked together for a book that might include the story. No such luck. So Justin offered to search online for the book and found it and offered to order it and even ship it to her. She placed the order while other family members also purchased books.

He believes there are many people who don’t just look for a product but an experience. That means walking over to help a customer searching shelves to find out what they are looking for and either hand them the book or something similar they might like. And it involves working with publishers to host book events when an awaited title comes out. Not only that, Justin sees his store as a way to feature local authors. And they host book groups in a room in a separate room of the store.

Local author display (including two by my son, a Marion resident)
Local author display (including two by my son, a Marion resident)

So let me walk you through the store.

The entrance to Birch Tree Bookery
The entrance to Birch Tree Bookery

The store is located in a commercial strip. There is ample parking in front of the modest entrance. Walk through the doors and you enter this little alcove.

The alcove with some Birch Tree swag

Off to the right is a children’s section where you can drop off the kiddies to look at books while you browse the main rooms.

Children's room
Children’s room

Passing through the alcove, you enter the non-fiction and new titles section, including the sales counter.

New titles
New titles

Some of the used non-fiction including social science, creative non-fiction, and biography.
Some of the used non-fiction

More non-fiction including true crime, business, education, family/relationships. and religion
More non-fiction

But if it is fiction you are looking for, you can enter the fiction room through doorways on either side of the wall with new titles.

Part of the fiction room, featuring fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and suspense/thrillers and romance
Part of the fiction room

This is the only good image I have of the fiction section. There are also classic and literary fiction, poetry, and drama, as well as historical fiction and westerns.

You might be wondering about the name. “Birch Tree” comes from Robert Frost’s A Swinger of Birches, one of Justin’s favorite Frost poems. They also have three birches at their home. Birch trees are also the first to come back after a destructive event and the name represents a new start for a bookstore in Marion after the pandemic. And “Bookery.” There’s some whimsy here. A town may have a bakery. Why not a bookery?

And the future? This is their second location. Already, they are making plans to move to a larger location in Marion. While presently stocking lots of used books (and they do buy books), they would like to move from a 90/10 to 50/50 ratio of used to new books, curating their stock carefully to the interests of book buyers in Marion and neighboring communities.

Birch Tree Bookery is one of the only physical bookstores in north central Ohio and the only one in Marion. Marion is intersected by US 23, connecting Columbus and Toledo, and State Routes 309 and 95, connecting with communities east and west of Marion.

Here’s their contact information:

Address: 605 E Center St, Suite B Marion, OH 43302

Phone: (740) 262-3312

Email: birchtreebookery@gmail.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/birchtreebookery/

Website: BirchTreeBookery.com

Current Hours: Closed Sunday and Monday, Tuesday-Friday 12-6 pm. Saturday 10 am-3 pm

Review: Irreverent Prayers

/ rtrube54 / 1 Comment
Cover image of "Irreverent Prayers" by Elizabeth Felicetti and Samantha Vincent-Alexander

Irreverent Prayers: Talking to God When You’re Seriously Sick, Elizabeth Felicetti and Samantha Vincent-Alexander. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802882639), 2024.

Summary: Talking to God when you’re seriously sick is modelled in this book by honest, unvarnished prayers written during such illnesses.

Samantha noticed her leg was hurting and swollen. She was feverish. She went to the ER and was rushed into an ICU with a life-threatening case of MRSA. Samantha spent several months in and out of the hospital, wearing a wound vac to drain infection from her leg.

Elizabeth was diagnosed with breast cancer, and after treatment, with lung cancer, resulting in the removal of part of her lung and courses of chemo and radiation. And while writing, she was diagnosed with a recurrence of inoperable nodules, one on her aorta.

Both women are Episcopal priests and writing friends. And both faced the question of “how do you talk to God when you are seriously sick?” Serious sickness means tests, hospitalization, surgeries, pain, drugs, and feeling weak and lousy for extended periods of time. Friends and caregivers mean well and say unhelpful things. Meanwhile, death is sometimes a real possibility. How does one pray about all that?

For these women, the answer is blunt honesty, even if it seemed “irreverent.” They wrote these prayers down and grouped them under the following headings:

  • Pain and Anger
  • Blood and Breath
  • Waiting, Wondering and Wandering
  • Hospitals
  • Well-wishers and Caregivers
  • Aftermath
  • Relapse

Examples of the kinds of subjects for prayer include painkillers and cursing the nurses who wake one to administer Tylenol when it is not effective or needed. One prayer rejoices in hospital underwear. Another prays for help lying still during hours of scans or in dealing with the common adjunct to pain meds: constipation. There are lots of prayers about well-wishers, usually well-intentioned but unaware of how to accompany one with a long and serious illness.

Not only are the prayers bluntly honest. They are short and pithy, sometimes preceded by a verse of scripture. Here’s one example, a “Prayer When People Call Me Brave or Inspiring”

“Gracious God, help me to react graciously when well-meaning people call me brave. I’m not brave. I didn’t choose this and wouldn’t if I had a choice. All I do when I’m not in treatment is sit around or sleep, which is hardly inspiring. I should pray that you shield them from knowing that they would react as they must if they were in this situation too, but I would like them not to say stupid things in the future. So please sort it out, God. Amen.”

This book is helpful for the person of faith facing serious illness. It not only gives words to pray about all the things this entails. We may say to God what we think and feel! As well, the prayers help friends and caregivers imagine what it is like to face serious illness.

And I pray for Elizabeth, fighting inoperable cancer and wanting to live, echoing her prayer: “bring me peace, but not yet.”

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Waters of Siloe

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "The Waters of Siloe" by Thomas Merton

The Waters of Siloe, Thomas Merton. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (ISBN: 9780156949545), 1979 (First published in 1949).

Summary: A history of the Trappist monks, from Cistercian beginnings to the reforms at La Trappe, foundations in America, and the contemplative life.

Thomas Merton entered the Trappist monastery at Gethsemani in 1941. Eight year later he penned this history of the Cistercians and the Trappist reform movement within that order. The title is a reference to the words of Jesus: “He that shall drink of the water that I shall give him, shall not thirst forever. But the water I give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting.” It conveys the hope of the contemplative life, that in silence, prayer, and penance, the contemplatives shall find the thirst for God satisfied. It also is a reminder of the location of so many of the monasteries in valleys, by streams of water.

Merton begins with a prologue describing the attraction, sometimes visionary, of the monastic life. It is an ascetic life of straw mattresses structured around prayer, penance, vigils, fasting, and work. It is life in a silent community, united in the contemplation of the excellence of God’s love.

Merton then turns to the history beginning with the founding of the Cistercian order at the turn of the twelfth century. The Cistercians sought to reform the Benedictine order. But by the seventeenth century, they were in need of reform. Father Jean-Armand de Rance, abbot of La Grande Trappe (hence the name!) led this reform, a return to a rigor of contemplative discipline. Merton traces the spread of the movement through Europe, the efforts to suppress them in France, and the turning to America.

The early efforts in America were driven by abbots who seemed knights on a quest. Consequently, zeal went ahead of strategic vision. A mission to educate conflicted with the silent, contemplative vision. The first foundation at Gethsemani was an example. The extreme rigors led to the early death of many.

However, a second foundation at Gethsemani led by Father Eutropius Proust was more successful and this work has continued down to the present. Merton traces this history under the different abbots and the growth of the work, resulting in new foundations. And he traces the upsurge of those entering the monasteries after the two wars. Even as these grew, there were others wiped out by the rise of communism. Particularly moving is his account of the martyrs of Yang Kia Ping.

The second and shorter part of the work paints a picture of the contemplative life. First he considers what this looked like under the twelfth century Cistercians and then more contemporary forms. There is a constant tension between external disciplines and allowing the inner space for contemplation. In this section, he sketches the lives of a number of contemplatives.

Merton’s account offers not only history but a word painting of the attractions of the contemplative life. The disciplines, the austerity, the silence all lead to a life available to God. As a result Merton not only informs but answers the question in the minds of many: why become a monk?

Review: The Other Side of the Wall

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "The Other Side of the Wall" by Munther Isaac

The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope, Munther Isaac. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9780830831999) 2020.

Summary: A Palestinian Christian narrative of lament and hope, describing the situation from his perspective and offering hope for a shared land.

The Hamas attack upon Israel in October 7 and the subsequent invasion of Israeli forces in Gaza has occupied our national discourse in the United States since that time. It has torn apart college campuses as support for Palestinians competes for support of Israel and charges of Palestinian genocide and anti-Semitism rival each other.

Reverend Doctor Munther Isaac is a unique voice within the clamor. He is a teacher at Bethlehem Bible College and pastor of Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church. In Bethlehem, part of the West Bank Palestinian Territories. Isaac wrote this book prior to the current conflict. It is “a Palestinian Christian narrative of lament and hope.” He writes as one whose daily reality is defined by the twenty-five foot high wall around his city. To enter Israeli territories, permits and long waits at checkpoints are required. These are the same checkpoints through which Christian visitors to Bethlehem must pass. He writes:

“This book is my invitation to you to step into the other side of the wall and listen to our stories and perspective. It is my humble request to you to allow me to share how Palestinians experience God, read the Bible, and have been touched and liberated by Jesus—a fellow Bethlehemite who has challenged us to see others as neighbors and love them as ourselves. . . . This book paints a picture of our story of faith, lament, and hope. And I invite you to join and listen, on our side of the wall.”

The book is first of all a lament. He begins by describing what the 1948 creation of Israel meant to Palestinians living in this land. It was the Nakba or “catastrophe,” the seizure of 530 villages in which 750,000 Palestinians became refugees. He laments the dehumanizing of Palestinians while American Christians celebrated the Jewish occupation of the land as a supposed fulfillment of a promise of God. And he laments the continued silence as Israel continues to move boundaries and build settlements. This includes taking away the home and lands of Palestinians. Finally, he laments the marginalizing of Palestinian Christian voices by American faith leaders, not including them in deliberations. Sometimes this includes disinviting them (including the author) from Christian conferences.

Isaac characterizes Christian Zionism, which has supported Israel’s injustices and legitimized its use of power, as “imperial theology.” He addresses the “land theology” Christian Zionists use to justify unqualified support of Israel. He argues, not that Israel was “replaced” by the church but that Gentiles and Jews were incorporated into a new, transnational people in which the promise to Israel is expanded to blessing to the nations and extended to the whole earth.

At the same time, Isaac denounces antisemitism (including the antisemitism latent in Christian Zionism!). Instead, he wants Jews to be safe everywhere, not just in a homeland. Rather than eliminating one group or another, he advocates a solution of Jews and Palestinians sharing the land. He also speaks of love for the Muslim neighbor and the call of Christians to be peacemakers, which includes seeking justice. While deeply grieved by the evangelical support of Zionism, he laments in hope rooted in the reality that the Savior of the world was born in Bethlehem and also subject to terror and flight. He comes to those who face similar realities.

Munther Isaac represents voices many of us in the United States have not heard because they are on “the other side of the wall.” He challenges the complicity of American support of Zionism and the complicity of silence of the rest of the church. As a result, this is a challenging book. But will we listen to this fellow believer?

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

The Weekly Wrap: August 11-17

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Image for The Weekly Wrap: person wrapping a book

As students prepare to return to school, the L.A. Times ran an article “Many high school students can’t read. Is the solution teaching reading in every class?” One national assessment cited in the article shows 70% of eighth graders below proficient.

It puzzles me that many state legislators are trying to decide what students should not read when the real crisis is the number of students who can’t read or struggle to read. While the article goes on to discuss methodologies to address this deficit, the question seems to me to be one of helping students love reading and have role models in their lives for whom reading is important.

I suspect I’m “preaching to the choir.” Afterall, if you are reading this, you are likely a book lover. But I ask myself, what am I doing to share the love? Thursday night our church board decided to put up a Little Free Library outside our food pantry. Parents often have kids in tow, and are strapped for funds to buy them books. I also learned our local public library is now stopping by with their pop-up library every month. It’s something.

Five Articles Worth Reading

Whatever you think of his politics (and let’s not go there!) former President Obama is a prolific reader. Every summer, he posts his reading list. It came out this week. You can see it at “Check Out Obama’s Summer Reading List.” I’ve only read two of the fourteen.

Many of us grew up loving the poetry of Shel Silverstein, and for others, he’s a treasure waiting to be discovered. The New York Times ran “The Essential Shel Silverstein” which introduces his best works and brings back good memories.

Instead of a trip down memory lane, how about a literal and literary road trip? Literary Hub posted “A Literary Road Trip Across America” with cool places to visit in every state. Warning: You will spend a lot of time on this article!

Mental Floss always comes up with fascinating articles. I don’t think I’ve even seen any of the punctuation marks in “13 Little-Known Punctuation Marks We Should Be Using.” But I can think of several I might begin using, the interrobang, the acclamation point, and the snark mark. Now, could we just get a keyboard or font set that uses these?

Finally, “Emily Dickinson’s Known World” explores the parallel lives and ideas of Emily Dickinson and Charles Darwin. While they never intersected, the article explores a number of things they had in common.

Quote of the Week

Classicist Edith Hamilton was born August 12, 1867. She made this trenchant observation:

“Theories that go counter to the facts of human nature are foredoomed.”

It seems to me that the century-long failed experiment of communism supports her statement.

Miscellaneous Musings

I’m hoping to visit Birch Tree Bookery in Marion, Ohio today. It’s the only indie bookstore in Marion, otherwise a book desert. I’ve heard good things about them and the venture of faith launching this store has been. Look for my review in the days to come.

The memoir of an Ancient Near East scholar may seem like a snooze but not An Asian American Ancient Historian and Biblical Scholar, which chronicles the life and scholarship of Edwin Yamauchi, professor emeritus at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. It helps that I’ve been acquainted with “Dr. Y” for fifty years, enjoyed hospitality in his home, and known a number of those he mentions. I’m amazed by both his productive scholarship and his warm faith and I am thoroughly enjoying this memoir.

I just finished reading The Other Side of the Wall by Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Christian pastor. He advocates the possibility of Palestinians and Jews sharing the land, and laments how Palestinians have often been left out of the conversation. And he laments how Palestinian Christians have been shunned by their fellow believers in the U.S. and in other countries. Not an easy read but important.

Well, that’s The Weekly Wrap for this week!

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