Introduction

When I look back at February, I marvel at the wonderful selection of books I reviewed. From Amy Peeler’s outstanding commentary on Hebrews to Haruki Murakami’s latest novel. Wonderful essays on American beginnings by Jill Lepore to an exploration of why our culture is unfriendly to families and child-bearing. I finished the Margery Allingham-written Albert Campion stories. Faithful Politics is an especially timely exploration of the ways Christians have engaged politics.

I finished the months with accounts of two “luminous” people, one an autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran and the other a biography of Congressman John Lewis. Along the way, you will find some marvelous theological writing on the virgin birth, the beatific vision, safety, and the use of ekphrastic or vivid writing in the New Testament. I include reviews on a book on Lenten practice, a compilation of writings on hope and trust, and a memoir of the “Log College” that trained many of the eighteenth century American revivalists. You’ll find all this and more in The Month in Reviews for February 2025.

The Reviews

To Gaze Upon God, Samuel G. Parkison. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514007662) 2024. An exploration of the importance of the beatific vision in scripture and church history and its contemporary significance. Review

Lieberman’s Choice (Abe Lieberman Number 2), Stuart M. Kaminsky. Open Road Media (ASIN: B00AYRI5HY) 2013 (first published 1993). A cop kills his wife and the cop who is sleeping with her, and threatens to blow up a city block unless one demand is met. Review

Family Unfriendly, Timothy P. Carney. Harper Collins (ISBN: 9780063236462) 2024. We have a culture that devalues children and makes raising them more difficult, contributing to declining birthrates. Review

Hebrews (Commentaries for Christian Formation), Amy Peeler. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802877383) 2024. A commentary for Christian formation focused on the greatness of Christ, Christian faithfulness, and Christian community. Review

The Challenge of Acts, N.T, Wright. Zondervan Academic (ISBN: 9780310167990) 2024. An overview of the book of Acts in four chapter sections, developing the major themes of the book. Review

Towards Zero, (Superintendent Battle Number 5), Agatha Christie. William Morrow (ISBN: 9780062073549) 2010 (first published in 1944). A house party at Lady Tressilian’s is decidedly awkward when her ward invites both his former and current wives. Review

Opening the Parables, M. D. Hayden. Wipf & Stock (ISBN: 9798385200306) 2024. A study of the parables asserting that the message of all the parables is that compassionate love is all that matters. Review

The City and Its Uncertain Walls, Haruki Murakami (Translated by Philip Gabriel). Alfred A. Knopf (ISBN: 9780593801970) 2024. A young couple falls in love until she disappears to a mysterious city of people without shadows. Review

Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Rhyne R. Putnam. B&H Academic (ISBN: 9781087766317) 2024. A study of the nativity narratives offering a defense of the virgin birth and considering its significance. Review

The Pursuit of Safety (Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture), Jeremy Lundgren. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514008010) 2024. A theology of safety as creational good, tempered by what living by faith means in a world never free of risk. Review

Hunger for Righteousness, Phoebe Faraq Mikhail. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609341) 2025. Drawing upon Coptic and other church tradition, explores how Lent may be personally and communally transforming. Review

The Story of America, Jill Lepore. Princeton University Press (ISBN: 9780691153995) 2012. Essays on American origins from Jamestown and the Constitution to the IOU and Webster’s dictionary. Review

The Log College, Archibald Alexander. Banner of Truth Trust. Biographical sketches of William Tennant and his students, with accounts of the revivals under their ministries. Review

Vivid Rhetoric and Visual Persuasion, Meghan Henning and Nils Neumann, editors. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883575) 2024. Fourteen scholars on vivid, ekphrastic language in early Christian literature, used to engage and persuade. Review

Anchor of My Soul, compiled by the editors at Paraclete Press. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609815) 2025. A compilation of readings, quotes, poetry and works of art on the theme of trust and hope. Review

Cargo of Eagles (Albert Campion, 19), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087292), 2023 (first published in 1968). Poison pen letters, a released smuggler, a murder, a motorcycle gang and a treasure in Allingham’s last Campion. Review

Faithful Politics, Miranda Zapor Cruz. IVP Academic/Missio Alliance (ISBN: 9781514007495) 2024. Ten ways of approaching the relationship between pursuing God’s kingdom and engaging in politics. Review

And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Jacques Lusseyran, translated by Elizabeth R. Cameron. New World Library (ISBN: 9781608682690) 2014 (first published in 1963). A memoir of a blind hero of the French resistance and Buchenwald survivor. Review

John Lewis: A Life, David Greenberg. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781982142995) 2024. A biography tracing the work of John Lewis from non-violent civil rights activism to Congress. Review

Best Book of the Month

As I said. so many good ones to choose from. But I have to give the nod to David Greenberg’s John Lewis: A Life. Specifically, Greenberg captures Lewis’s commitment to loving enemies through non-violent protest, his integrity, and resilient determination.

Quote of the Month

To Gaze Upon God by Samuel G. Parkison is a wonderful study of the beatific vision, the experience of gazing upon Christ or God in our glorified state. For instance, I appreciated the combination of precise theological writing and the glimpse of the vision of which he writes in this passage:

“Therefore, it seems best to conceptualize the beatific vision as a vision of the divine essence in the person and work of Christ, the incarnate Son, by the illuminating and gracious operating principle of the Spirit as the eternal divine subsistence of the Father and Son’s love. The beatific vision, in other words, is made possible by the inseparable operations of the Trinity, and is therefore a truly trinitarian vision. We shall behold the glory of God in his essence, and we shall behold this glory in the face of Jesus Christ by the unveiling and illumining ministry of the Holy Spirit” (p. 156)

What I’m Reading

As you know, I’ve been reading more poetry. In particular, The Collected Poems of Emily is an introduction to much of her work. Then at the other end of the spectrum, Carola Binder’s Shock Policy is a history of American monetary policy, focusing on avoiding either extremes of inflation or deflation. However, disruptions are unavoidable and Leading Through Times of Disruption is a collection of papers about leading in Christian mission through times of change. In contrast with the practical nature of these papers, Triune Relationality explore the history of the conversation between Christians and Muslims regarding the Trinity and explores the idea of the relations within the Trinity as a distinctive “perfection” of God unaccounted for in Islam. Finally, on the lighter side, listening to my daughter-in-law talk about Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club books has encouraged me to pick up the first in the series by the same name and I’m loving it!

In conclusion, this is the eleventh anniversary of my Month in Reviews feature, all of which may be accessed via The Month in Reviews, allowing you to see just about everything reviewed on this blog. Of course, the search box works well if you want to find a review of a particular book!

Introduction

We’re a month into the new year, and already, I’ve read some great books. I finished the last of The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael (I wish this one could go on!). William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor series just gets better. I delighted in Amy Tan’s Backyard Bird Chronicles. I savored the writing and story-telling art of Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake and the very different style and plotting of Gabrielle Levin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Deep Reading included reading practices that I incorporated into my Reading Challenge for this year. Nadya Williams’ Mothers Children, and the Body Politic makes the contention that as a culture we de-value motherhood and children. Ed Uszynski, a fellow Buckeye, does a great job of explanation and critique in Untangling Critical Race Theory and Michael R. Licona offers what I think a helpful and clear discussion of the discrepancies in the gospel narratives in Jesus, Contradicted. And I haven’t even mentioned all the good books in the reviews (21 of them!).

The Reviews

Unlikely General: “Mad” Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America, Mary Stockwell. Yale University Press (ISBN: 9780300251876) 2018. A biography of “Mad” Anthony Wayne centered on his successful campaign to defeat Native tribes in the Northwest Territory. Review

The Concept of Woman, Sister Prudence Allen, RSM, edited by Sister Mary Cora Uryase, RSM, foreword by John C. Cavadini. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883889) 2024. Surveys philosophers and theologians from ancient Greece to today tracing the concept of woman. Review

Plundered: The Tangled Roots of Racial and Environmental Injustice, David W. Swanson. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514007747) 2024. The tangled roots of racial and environmental injustice. Traces exploitation and oppression of people and land to a common root of greed. Review

The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan (text and illustrations). Alfred A. Knopf (ISBN: 9780593536131) 2024. Four years of journals on the birds visiting Amy Tan’s backyard, with sketches and detailed drawings. Review

Brother Cadfael’s Penance (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Number 20), Ellis Peter. Open Road Media (ASIN: B00LUZNZB0) 2014 (first published in 1994). Olivier, Cadfael’s son from his crusading days, is held hostage without ransom. Cadfael forsakes his vows to save him. Review

Deep Reading, Rachel B. Griffis, Julie Ooms, and Rachel M. De Smith Roberts. Baker Academic (ISBN: 9781540966957) 2024. Practices to grow in attentive reading that subverts distraction, hostility, and consumerism. Review

The Love Habit, Rainie Howard. Broadleaf Books (ISBN: 9781506496740) 2024. Learning to manage emotions, expectations, and relationships through daily habits enabling becoming the love one desires. Review

Tom Lake, Ann Patchett. HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780063327528) 2023. Lara, while cherry-picking with her daughters, recounts her love affair with actor Peter Duke, and how she met the girls’ father. Review

Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic, Nadya Williams. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514009123) 2024. Parallels the Western disdain for mothers and children with ancient Rome, and what early Christians can teach us. Review

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin. Vintage Books (ISBN: 9780593466490) 2022. Childhood friends, Sam and Sadie collaborate as game developers, in a different kind of love story. Review

The Gospel of Jesus Green, Neil J. Whitehouse. Wipf & Stock (ISBN: 9798385200245) 2024. Weaving scripture, theology, systems thinking, and science, concludes that Jesus is Green and preached a home for all. Review

Seeking the City, Chad Brand and Tom Pratt. Kregel Academic (ISBN: 9780825443046) 2013. A biblical, historical, and political economic argument defending responsible free-market capitalism. Review

Cheaper, Faster, Better. Tom Steyer. Spiegel & Grau (ISBN: 9781954118645) 2024. A climate activist and investor argues we can win the climate war through clean tech and free market capitalism. Review

The Mind Readers (Albert Campion Number 18), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ASIN: B08CRRYGK7), 2020 (First published in 1965). When Amanda’s nephews, playing with telepathic devices, are nearly kidnapped, Campion gets involved in a deadly quest. Review

Defiant Hope, Active Love, Jeffrey F. Keuss, editor. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883919) 2024. What young adults seek in places of work, faith, and community and how churches may respond hospitably. Review

Between Two Sounds, Joonas Sildre (text and illustrations) Adam Cullen (translation). Plough Publishing House (ISBN: 9781636081342) 2024. A graphical biography of Arvo Pärt tracing his faith, musical journey and clash with Soviet artistic censorship. Review

Untangling Critical Race Theory, Ed Uszynski. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514004814) 2024. By explaining the central assertions of critical race theory, offers constructive and critical assessment. Review

An Essay on Christian Philosophy, Jacques Maritain. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504081245) 2022 (first published in 1955). Explores what is distinctive about Christian philosophy with notes on apologetics and moral philosophy. Review

Red Knife (Cork O’Connor Number 8), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781416556749), 2008. Cork O’Connor is asked to help end a series of apparent revenge killings threatening a war between the Ojibwe and Tamarack County. Review

Jesus, Contradicted, Michael R. Licona. Zondervan Academic (ISBN: 9780310159599) 2024. Addresses the discrepancies in gospel accounts drawing upon the conventions of ancient biography. Review

A Rare Benedictine, Ellis Peters. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781497671676), 2014 (first published in 1988). Three short stories set prior to the Chronicles, explaining how Cadfael became a monk and his early adventures. Review

Best Book of the Month

There were so many good choices this month! Among these, Joonas Sildre’s Between Two Sounds stands out. This may be the first time I’ve picked a graphic work as a “Best Book.” I loved the portrayal he offers of Arvo Pärt’s artistic journey. The drawing and black and white palette capture something of Pärt’s compositional style. And the publisher’s website includes tracks of several of the most significant works mentioned in the account.

Quote of the Month

David Swanson is a pastor committed to a ministry of racial reconciliation on the south side of Chicago. In the course of his ministry, he has observed the ways racial and environmental injustices are entangled, which he explores in Plundered. Here he describes the patient work that is involved in unraveling these injustices:

“Caretaking in the ruins of industrialized extraction and exploitation is a generational commitment. Who can say how long it will take for a racialized people centered on Jesus and pursuing repair together to find that creation has re-exerted its formational power over them? How long will it take for a people who’ve been severed from the earth to learn to walk humbly and gently among their creaturely neighbors? There is no program for this, no curriculum or metrics. There is only the good and slow work of learning together how to exist as a blessing and a gift.”

What I’m Reading

I’m a bit more than half way through Haruki Murakami’s The City and It’s Uncertain Walls. It is something of a puzzle palace of a work but his narrative style, and the surprising turns he takes have kept me engaged. Conceived by the Holy Spirit is a rich study of the virgin birth of Christ and why that doctrine matters. It makes a great read for Advent and a wonderful resource for any pastor preaching the birth narratives of Jesus. The Pursuit of Safety considers the “safetyism” of our culture and how we might think biblically about safety and risk. Hunger for Righteousness is series of Lenten meditations tied to the fast of Lent, grounded in the Coptic Orthodox tradition–a different world for me. I’m grateful for these chances to learn from Christians outside my “sphere.” Lastly, I’ve just picked up Jill Lepore’s The Story of America, which explores the different ways we tell our national story, seen through the lens of particular figures and events.

It’s Black History Month and I hope to get to David Greenberg’s John Lewis. I deeply admire Lewis as a Black civil right’s leader and politician who sought to live out his faith and live with hope through all the adversity he faced. I’d love to hear if there are works of Black History that have inspired you.

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.

Introduction

Happy New Year to you all! It was a record year at Bob on Books. Over the course of the year I posted 237 reviews, including the 20 that are listed below for December. I retired in August and that has afforded some additional reading time.

This month included some wonderful reads. Taking the last first, Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures is a wonderful new entry in the world of fantasy literature by a john Donne scholar, no less. Why I Am Roman Catholic by Matthew Levering is a wonderful testimony to his faith and reminded me of an amazing conversation we had a number of years ago. I loved Plough’s graphic biography of the life of Jakob Hutter, one of my Anabaptist forebears. Quentin Schultze You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out is a delightful reflection on The Christmas Story, and his relationship with screenwriter Jean Shepherd. Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, By America is a hard-hitting critique of the economic structures that keep people in poverty in the U.S. Meet Me At the Lighthouse is a delightful poetry collection by Dana Gioia.

Finally, I read Georges Simenon’s Maigret and the Wine Merchant at the time of the murder of the CEO of a major healthcare company. Maigret’s murder victim was despicable, and yet it was his conviction that this also was a human being that drove him to seek the killer. It seems to me right to ask whether corporate algorithms that deny needed, life-giving care amount to corporate murder. But Maigret teaches me that nothing justifies murder, nor the valorizing of the murderer.

The Reviews

One, Two, Buckle my Shoe (Hercule Poirot Number 23), Agatha Christie. William Morrow Paperbacks (ISBN: 9780062073778) 2011 (originally published 1940). Poirot seeks the murderer of his dentist, found dead not two hours after Poirot visited him. Review

Orbital, Samantha Harvey. Grove Press (ISBN: 9780802163622) 2024. A day aboard the International Space Station as six people recount their work, weightlessness, and the wonder of earth below. Review

Meet Me at the Lighthouse: Poems, Dana Gioia. Graywolf Press (ISBN: 9781644452158) 2023. A collection of poems reflecting memories of people from several generations as well as the places of Gioia’s life. Review

The Church in Dark Times, Mike Cosper. Brazos Press (ISBN: 9781587435737) 2024. Understanding and resisting the evil that seduced the evangelical movement, drawing on the work of Hannah Arendt. Review

The New Anabaptists, Stuart Murray. Herald Press (ISBN: 9781513812984) 2024. An effort to describe the practices emerging Anabaptist communities embody with three case studies as examples. Review

Lieberman’s Day, Stuart M. Kaminsky. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781480400207) 2013 (first published in 1994). Abe’s nephew is killed and his wife shot in a mugging while a murderer stalks the abused ex-wife Hanrahan is sheltering. Review

Poverty, By America. Matthew Desmond. Crown (ISBN:9780593239933) 2024. An argument that poverty in America is the result of choices made knowingly or not by affluent who benefit as a result. Review

You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!, Quentin Schultze. Edenridge Press LLC (ISBN: 9781937532017) 2024. Life lessons from the movie “A Christmas Story” from a friend of storyteller and screenplay writer Jean Shepherd. Review

By Fire: The Jakob Hutter Story (Heroes of the Radical Reformation, Number 2), Jason Landsel, Richard Mommsen, Sankha Bannerjee. Plough Publishing House (ISBN: 9781636081434), 2025. A graphic biography of this early leader of the Anabaptist movement, marriage to Katharina, and martyrdom. Review

Answering the Psalmist’s Perplexity (New Studies in Biblical Theology Number 62), James Hely Hutchinson. IVP Academic/Apollos (ISBN: 9781514008867) 2024 (Apollos-IVP UK website). How would God fulfill the promise of an everlasting Davidic throne when the kingship had ended in exile? Review

The China Governess (Albert Campion Number 17), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087247) 2023 (First published in 1962). An engaged orphan adopted by the Kinnits hires Campion to find his roots, stirring up a crime spree and a family secret. Review

Thunder Bay (Cork O’Connor Number 7), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781439157824) 2009. A search for Henry Meloux’s son leads to an attempt on Meloux’s life and a love story from the 1920’s. Review

Eight Million Exiles, Christopher M. Hayes (foreword by Robert Chao Romero). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802882394) 2024. How theologians, researchers, and local church leaders teamed up to support Columbia’s internally displaced persons. Review

Good Book: How White Evangelicals Save the Bible to Save Themselves, Jill Hicks-Eaton. Fortress Press (ISBN: 9781506485850) 2023. An argument that evangelicals try to explain away the misogyny and patriarchy that the author finds inherent in the biblical text. Review

Maigret and the Wine Merchant (Inspector Maigret Number 71), Georges Simenon (Translated by Ros Scwartz). Penguin (ISBN: 9780241304280), 2020 (First published in 1970). Maigret investigates the murder of a wealthy wine merchant, a womanizer and a ruthless employer. Review

Pillars of Creation, Richard Panek. Little, Brown and Company (ISBN: 9780316570695) 2024. The development of the James Webb Telescope and what scientists have discovered about the cosmos in its first years. Review

Why I Am Catholic, Matthew Levering. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514003145) 2024. A Catholic theologian explains why he is Christian and Catholic and what it means to embrace this tradition. Review

The Way of Christ in Culture, Benjamin T. Quinn & Dennis T. Greeson. B & H Academic (ISBN: 9781087775111) 2024. How those walking in the way of Jesus might live faithfully in all aspects of our cultural life. Review

A Simply Healthy Life, Caroline Fausel. Tyndale Refresh (ISBN: 9781496486905) 2025. A guide to health focusing on our bodies, our homes, our relationships, and our spirituality. Review

Impossible Creatures, Katherine Rundell, illustrated by Ashley Mackenzie. Alfred A. Knopf (ISBN: 9780593809860), 2024. Christopher helps Mal, a young girl who can fly, as she flees a murderer and seeks the reason why the magic is fading. Review

Book of the Month

Reading Richard Panek’s Pillars of Creation was a journey of wonder in learning what we’ve already learned in the first two years of the James Webb Telescope. Our universe, even our own solar system is more wonderful than I imagined. I posted this review on Christmas Day, so if you missed it, take a look. Great science writing!

Quote of the Month

My quote of the month also comes from space. Samantha Harvey’s is a science fiction work based on the observations and thoughts of seven people during a single day on the International Space Station, during which they orbit Earth sixteen times. Many of us have been awed by the aurora borealis in this years night skies. Harvey describes what it is like from space:

“The airglow is dusty greenish yellow. Beneath it in the gap between atmosphere and earth is a fuzz of neon which starts to stir. It ripples, spills, it’s smoke that pours across the face of the planet; the ice is green, the underside of the spacecraft an alien pall. The light gains edges and limbs, folds and opens. Strains against the inside of the atmosphere, writhes and flexes. Sends up plumes. Fluoresces and brightens. Detonates then in towers of light. Erupts clean through the atmosphere and puts up towers two hundred miles high. At the top of the towers is a swathe of magenta that obscures the stars…”

What I’m Reading

Since I preview the coming week’s reviews each Saturday in The Weekly Wrap, I won’t do that here. I’ve always enjoyed the writing of Ann Patchett and she has drawn me into the plotline of Tom Lake. I’m also reading Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, the thirty year story of Sadie and Sam, their fraught friendship and collaboration as game developers. It’s not a world I inhabit, but I’m 80 pages in and drawn into what seems an unusual and exceptionally written story.

Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic by Nadya Williams explores the devaluation of motherhood and child-bearing in our culture, and looks at the countercultural way early Christians valued women and children in a Roman culture that didn’t. Intrigued by the idea. I’d love to know how she deals with the fear of Handmaid’s Tale scenarios. Seeking the City is a big book surveying scripture and western history in defense of free-market capitalism. Finally, The Love Habit is a book on self-care that seems a current version of The Power of Positive Thinking. As you may guess, I’m not that keen on the book but want to give the writer a chance.

I so appreciate you reading with me this past year. Just from the books on my TBR pile, I think I have some great books to talk about in the coming weeks of the new year.

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.

Introduction

I’ve been reviewing books for over a decade now, and I have to admit it is quite a privilege to read and write about so many amazing books, including the twenty in this “Month in Reviews.” Beside the Campion and Cadfael mysteries, in which I continue to delight, I read the newest Gamache from Louise Penny. It was worth the two year wait! From mystery to memoir, I finally read Joan Didion’s profound reflection on grief, the Year of Magical Thinking and Catherine Meeks, A Quilted Life, the marvelous account of the life journey of a sharecropper’s daughter.

I always enjoy some good history, and this month I surveyed turning points in American church history, an account of the Challenger disaster, whose lesson might be, “listen to the engineers,” and Bob Woodward’s account of the Biden years. Oh, and I also reviewed a Candice Millard book, one of my favorite writers. Equally, I love biographies, two of which I reviewed: an intellectual biography of Blaise Pascal, and one of J. Gresham Machen. Finally, I will highlight two of the theology books I reviewed this month, one on Bonhoeffer’s theology of the church, a refreshing break from the squabbles about his life, and a challenging argument from New Testament and early church sources against remarriage after divorce. Enjoy!

The Reviews

Beyond the Wager: The Christian Brilliance of Blaise Pascal, Douglas Groothuis. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514001783) 2024. Argues that Pascal’s brilliance extends beyond his famous “wager” to his scientific, philosophic, and Christian insights. Review

The Man Within, Graham Greene. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504054003), 2018 (First published in 1929). Francis Andrews flight from smugglers he betrayed endangers a girl with whom he takes refuge. Review

J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir, Ned B. Stonehouse. Banner of Truth Trust (ISBN: 9781848718746) 2019 (First published in 1954). A biographical memoir chronicling Machen’s evangelical faith and scholarship, first at Princeton and then at Westminster. Review

River of the Gods, Candice Millard. Doubleday. (ISBN: 9780385543101) 2022. The story of the explorers who sought the Nile’s source, the clash between them, and their unsung African guide. Review

Hide My Eyes (Albert Campion Number 16), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087384) 2023 (first published in 1958). Campion closes in on a serial killer unknowingly supported by a widow with an odd museum and a young niece visiting. Review

Cultural Sanctification, Stephen O. Presley. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802878540) 2024. How the early church pursued cultural engagement through holy discernment rather than fight or flight. Review

Word Made Fresh, Abram Van Engen, foreword by Shane McCrae. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802883605) 2024. An invitation to delight in poetry while discovering how form and language help make meaning that may enrich our lives. Review

The Lost World of the Prophets (Lost World Series), John H. Walton. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514004890) 2024. How understanding the ancient Near East context of the prophets can shed light on their message for us. Review

Bonhoeffer for the Church, Matthew D. Kirkpatrick. Fortress Press (ISBN: 9781506497822) 2024. A study of what Bonhoeffer wrote about the church’s identity, purpose, practices, and life together. Review

War, Bob Woodward. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781668052273) 2024. Summary: A behind-the-scenes account of three wars during the Biden administration–Ukraine, the Middle East, and for the American presidency. Review

The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Number 19), Louise Penny. Minotaur Books (ISBN: 9781250328144) 2024. Gamache, Jean-Guy, and Isabelle seek to avert a plotted catastrophe, trusting no one but each other. Review

The Way of Belonging, Sarah E. Westfall (foreword Lore Ferguson Wilbert). InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514008539) 2024. How our longing to belong is an invitation to embrace and extend the deep love of God. Review

The Holy Thief (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael number 19), Ellis Peters. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781497671614) 2014 (first published in 1992). During a flood in Shrewsbury, the relics of St. Winifrid are stolen; a dispute over their disposition and a murder follow. Review

The Good News of Church Politics, Ross Kane. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802883834) 2024. Proposes politics as a spiritual practice by which we love each other within and beyond the church walls. Review

Turning Points in American Church History, Elesha J. Coffman, foreword by Mark A. Noll. Baker Academic (ISBN: 9780801097492) 2024. Shows ways the church contributed to American history through 13 key events over four centuries. Review

The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion. Vintage (ISBN: 9781400078431) 2007. A memoir of grief and remembrance for Joan Didion’s husband, John Gregory Dunne. Review

Challenger, Adam Higginbotham. Avid Reader Press (ISBN: 9781982176617) 2024. The heroism of the seven Challenger crew members and why a critical design flaw was ignored, resulting in their deaths. Review

The Integration Journey: A Student’s Guide to Faith, Culture, and Psychology. William B. Whitney and Carissa Dwiwardani. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514000564) 2024. An approach to integrating faith and psychology focused on lived experience, one’s culture, and pursuing justice. Review

A Quilted Life, Catherine Meeks (foreword by Michelle Miller). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802882899) 2024. The story of a sharecropper’s daughter who overcame racism and health issues to teach and to lead racial healing efforts. Review

Remarriage in Early Christianity, A. Andrew Das. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883742) 2024. A study of both NT texts and early church fathers offers no basis for remarriage after divorce.

Book of the Month

According to the National Endowment for the Arts, only 12 percent of Americans listen to or read poetry. Abram Van Engen’s Word Made Fresh is a wonderful introduction to poetry. He begins by proposing that we read poetry for pleasure. He provides a number of poems with brief introductions for the reader to find ones they like. Then he offers practical helps in going deeper into how poets make meaning in poetry. This is a great book if you have wanted to read poetry but have no clue where to begin or have read something and have no clue what the poet is saying. I also can’t help but wonder if the beauty and care with words we find in poetry may be a help to us in our troubled times.

Quote of the Month

Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking is marked by her elegant and eloquent prose as she processes the grief of losing her husband. Here is one example nearly a year after he died:

“I know why we try to keep the dead alive; we try to keep them alive in order to keep them with us.

“I also know that if we are to live ourselves there comes a point at which we must relinquish the dead, let them go, keep them dead.”

What I’m Reading

If you read my most recent The Weekly Wrap, you will see I have these books ready to review this week: Agatha Christie’s One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, Dana Gioia, Meet Me At the Lighthouse, and Mike Cosper, The Church in Dark Times. Cosper’s book is a powerful exploration of the cults of authority and ideology, and the erosion of meaning, and the corrosive and dangerous effects these have on the church

As for current reads, The New Anabaptists by Stuart Murray is of interest because I worship in a church in the Anabaptist tradition and it is intriguing to explore how our community might live more fully into that tradition. I recently discovered Stuart M. Kaminsky’s Abe Lieberman stories. He’s a worldly (and maybe spiritually) wise Jewish detective in Chicago. I’m currently reading Lieberman’s Day, centering around the murder of his nephew. Poverty, By America, by Matthew Desmond is a research based study of poverty in the US. He finds its source in the power structures of society that benefit by keeping people poor. He is the author of Evicted and combines personal story telling with data-driven conclusions, as he did in that book.

Another book in the Anabaptist tradition is By Fire: The Jakob Hutter Story. It is a well-drawn, graphic biography of Hutter’s life, when “heretics” were burned at the stake. You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!: Life Lessons from the Movie A Christmas Story is written by Quentin Schultze, the mentor of Jean Shepherd, the film’s screenwriter. He proposes that there are a number of “secret” parables in this modern classic. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the film, having lived in greater Cleveland during the time the movie was filmed there.

Well, that’s the Month in Reviews for November 2024. Hopefully it suggests some gift ideas, and maybe something for your own reading wish list

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..

Introduction

This month, my reviews were dropping like autumn leaves–twenty-two in all. Among them were a new and a classic work of literary fiction, books by Colm Toibin and Willa Cather respectively. I reviewed two collections of poetry, one an anthology of Catholic poetry and the other, a chapbook of nature poetry from well-known poets. Then there are always those mystery series I’m working through–two Brother Cadfael’s, a Campion, and a Cork O’Connor–all quite engaging!

Turning to non-fiction, I reviewed biographies of Civil War general James Longstreet and the Van Sweringen brothers of Cleveland. While we are on the topic of Cleveland, I thoroughly enjoyed Luke Epplin’s account of the 1948 World Champion Indians. And I read a strange account of a talking mongoose that haunted a family on the Isle of Man.

As always, there were some books of serious theology, including a monograph on the priest-king of Psalm 110, a finer grained study of the divine imperial cult the Apostle Paul encountered, a biographical study of John the Baptist, and a history of the Churches of Christ in America. Then there were devotional works including a collection of prayers compiled by Evelyn Underhill, a wonderful introduction to prayer practices, and a delightful book of Advent and Christmastide readings and resources for families of all ages. Finally, I rounded out the month with a fine book weaving bird watching and the grieving of a grandfather’s death, and a thought-provoking book on our beliefs and practices around death and burial.

The Reviews

The Potter’s Field (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael No. 17) Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road Media (ASIN: B07B6B2CSP), 2014 (First published in 1989). The Potter’s Field, a gift to the abbey, turns out to be a mystery rather than gift when a plow turns up a woman’s body with long black hair. Review

Long Island (Eilis Lacey No. 2), Colm Tóibín. Scribner (ISBN: 9781476785110) 2024 Eilis Lacey returns to her home in Ireland when she learns the wife of a customer of her husband is carrying his child. Review

Contemporary Catholic Poetry: An Anthology, Edited by April Lindner and Ryan Wilson. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640606463), 2024. An anthology of works in diverse styles, aesthetics, and forms from 23 Catholic poets born since 1950. Review

Paul and Imperial Divine Honors, D. Clint Burnett. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802879851) 2024. Studies inscriptional evidence in three cities offering a nuanced treatment of the Roman imperial cult. Review

The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without, John Oakes. Avid Reader Press (ISBN: 9781668017418) 2024. The history, science, philosophy, and promise of doing without, set against the author’s own experience of a seven-day fast. Review

Invisible Giants, Herbert H. Harwood, Jr. Indiana University Press (ISBN: 9780253341631) 2003. The story of two brothers from Cleveland who built a rail and real estate empire centered on Cleveland’s Terminal Tower. Review

Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South, Elizabeth R. Varon. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781982148270) 2023. From Lee’s “old war horse” to the Radical Republican who defied the “Lost Cause” and fought to vindicate his war record. Review

Christmaker, James F. McGrath. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802884008) 2024. A life of John the Baptist making the case that he was a far more important figure than just the opening act for Jesus. Review

Looking Up: A Birder’s Guide to Hope Through Grief, Courtney Ellis (Foreword by Kay Warren). InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514007167) 2024. A birder’s guide to hope through grief consists of reflections on various birds as the author grieves a grandfather’s death. Review

Copper River (Cork O’Connor Number 6), William Kent Krueger. Atria Paperback (ISBN: 9781439157817) 2009. Cork hides at a cousin’s from hit men who have wounded him only to be drawn into a search for killers preying on runaways. Review

The Beckoning Lady, (Albert Campion Number 15), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ASIN: B08CRRLLC2) 2020 (First published in 1955). While friends prepare for a midsummer party, Campion tries to unravel two murders in Pontisbright. Review

Creating a Life with God (20th Anniversary Revised edition), Daniel Wolpert. Upper Room Books (ISBN: 9780835820394) 2023. Prayer practices for relationship with God, in silence and solitude, with mind and body, alone and in community. Review

The Joy of Advent, Rebecca & Stephen Grabill, Illustrated by Claire Therese Gray. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609556), 2024. Daily readings, reflections, activities guiding families to create meaningful Advent and Christmastide traditions. Review

The Royal Priest: Psalm 110 in Biblical Theology (New Studies in Biblical Theology), Matthew Emadi. Apollos/IVP Academic (9781514007396) 2022 (Apollos [UK] website). A study of the theme of the priest king of Psalm 110, tracing this idea from Genesis through the New Testament. Review

Our Team, Luke Epplin. Flatiron Books (ISBN: 9781250313799) 2021. The story of four men who propelled the 1948 Cleveland Indians to a World Series Championship and how they changed baseball. Review

The Song of the Lark (Prairie Trilogy), Willa Cather. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504035361), 2016 (First published in 1915).  A young woman from a frontier town discovers her passion for music, eventually taking her to the world’s opera stages. Review

Lay Me in God’s Good Earth, Kent Burreson and Beth Hoeltke. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514007600) 2024. A Christian approach to death, care for body of the deceased, and burial, making the case for natural burial. Review

Evelyn Underhill’s Prayer Book, Evelyn Underhill, edited by Robyn Wrigley-Carr, foreword by Eugene Peterson. SPCK (ISBN: 9780281078738) 2018. Prayers compiled in two books by Evelyn Underhill for retreats she conducted, edited into a compact edition. Review

Reviving the Ancient Faith, Third Edition, Richard T. Hughes and James L. Gorman. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802877291) 2024. A history of Churches of Christ in America, from sect, to denomination, to recent fragmentation and decline. Review

The Summer of the Danes (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, Number 18), Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road Media (ASIN: B00LUZNZ60) 2014 (First published in 1991). A peaceful embassy with Brother Mark to two bishops results in both becoming hostages to Danes at war with Wales. Review

Gef!: The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose, Christopher Josiffe. Strange Attractor Press (ISBN: 9781907222481) 2017. The strange tale of an extra-special talking mongoose that inhabited a home on the Isle of Man in the 1930’s. Review

Poems on Nature (Signature Select Classics), various authors. Sterling Publishing Co. (ISBN: 781454944768) 2022. A chapbook of several dozen poems by the world’s greatest poets on the natural world, the air, the sea, and the land. Review

Book of the Month

Courtney Ellis’s Looking Up deftly weaves reflections on various bird with the process of grieving a beloved grandfather’s death. It is not only a profound exploration of the seasons of grief but guaranteed to make you look up and “consider the birds of the air.”

Quote of the Month

Robyn Wrigley-Carr’s, Evelyn Underhill’s Prayer Book work to edit the two prayer books, compiled by hand by Evelyn Underhill for the retreats she gave, is a marvelous gift. Here is one of the prayers I loved from this book:

O blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who bid your disciples stand with their loins gird and their lamps burning, be with us at this hour. Here we dedicate ourselves to you anew. Help us to run the race that is set before us with redoubled vigour and fresh vision. Teach us how to trim our lamps that they may not burn dim. Guide us to the constant recollection that the candle of the Lord is the Spirit of humanity. And by Your risen power, make us a power for you in this place, for Your own name’s sake. (Number 131)

What I’m Reading

I’m nearly finished with Ned B. Stonehouse’s biographical memoir, J. Gresham Machen. Machen taught New Testament at Princeton until a reorganization of the board communicated doctrinal drift, leading Machen and several others to found Westminster Theological Seminary. Douglas Groothuis’s Beyond the Wager is a wonderful commendation of Pascal as a theologian and apologist, far beyond his famous “wager.”

Then, in fiction, I’m reading Graham Greene’s The Man Within, his first published work. Another writer I enjoy is Candace Millard, whose River of the Gods chronicles Richard Burton and his company’s search for the source of the Nile. Finally, in my quest to grow as a reader of poetry, I am finding Abram Van Engen’s Word Made Fresh most helpful. He gives us permission to find and read poetry we enjoy and then leads us into even greater enjoyment of those works.

I was also excited to receive today Louise Penny’s The Grey Wolf. I’ve mentioned a number of times how the Gamache stories got me through the pandemic. I read all eighteen and after a two year break, I’m looking forward to number nineteen and the chance to catch up with old friends in the village of Three Pines.

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.