Book recommendations

The Month in the Reviews: September 2024

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Cover image of "Christianity and Constitutionalism" edited by Nicholas Aroney and Ian Leigh

Introduction

I did something this month I’ve never done before. I reviewed a book every weekday (except for last month’s Month in Reviews). All told, that is twenty reviews. I guess retirement is agreeing with me! Since this is a long list, I will let you get to them. Just a few I will highlight. Disarming Leviathan explores Christian nationalism and may be of value in this political season. Lovers of the Little House Books will find A Prairie Faith of interest. A few months ago, I reviewed Richard Goodwin’s memoir of the Sixties. Here, I review Doris Kearns Goodwin’s An Unfinished Love Story narrating going through 300 boxes of archives with Dick in the last years of his life, discussing the Sixties once more. Finally, I would call your attention to a modern classic, Discipleship by J. Heinrich Arnold. It will challenge you wherever you are in your spiritual journey.

The Reviews

Woke: An Evangelical Guide, John G. Stackhouse, Jr. THINKBETTER Media (ISBN: 9781738098316) 2024. A brief and balanced introduction and response to the terminology associated with being “woke.” Review

Waiting for Al Gore, Bob Katz. Flexible Press (ISBN: 9798988721321) 2024. A story that pairs a struggling writer and a struggling environmental group hoping a conference becomes a big story when Gore shows up. Review

Disarming Leviathan Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor, Caleb E. Campbell. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514008515) 2024. Focuses on how we discerningly engage people who embrace Christian nationalism with grace and truth. Review

The Heretic’s Apprentice (Brother Cadfael, 16), Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road (ASIN: B00LUZNZ42), 2014 (First published in 1989). The Heretic’s Apprentice is charged with heresy for defending his deceased master’s theological views and held for murder of his accuser. Review

Living with Purpose in a Polarizing World, Albert M. Erisman and Randy Pope. Hendrickson Publishers (ISBN: 9781496487155) 2024. How twelve people in the Bible seek the world’s good and cooperate with God’s redemptive purposes. Review

Chasing Sacred, Mikella Van Dyke Tyndale Momentum (ISBN: 9781496480712) 2024. Using inductive Bible study methods to encounter God and find hope in Him. Review

Cultures of Growth, Mary C. Murphy. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781982172749) 2024. Cultures of Growth applies the science of mindset, distinguishing fixed and growth mindsets, to the culture of organizations. Review

Metaphysics of Exo-Life, Andrew M. Davis. SacraSage (ISBN: 9781958670040) 2023. Metaphysics of Exo-Life constructively engages the naturalistic cosmotheology of Steven J. Dick using A.N. Whitehead’s process metaphysics. Review

The Printer and the Preacher, Randy Petersen. Thomas Nelson (ISBN: 9780718022211) 2015. Recounts the story of the unlikely friendship of George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin. Review

The Return of the Kingdom (Essential Studies in Biblical Theology) , Stephen G. Dempster. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9780830842919) 2024. Traces the themes of kingship and kingdom throughout Scripture from creation to new creation. Review

Mercy Falls (Cork O’Connor Number 5), William Kent Krueger. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781439157800) 2009 (First published in 2005). Mercy Falls, number five in the Cork O’Connor series finds Cork in a hitman’s sights and danger to his wife in the form of her old flame. Review

The Tiger in the Smoke (Albert Campion Number 14), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087483) 2023 (First published in 1952). In a soupy fog, a war widow about to re-marry receives photos of her husband while an escaped killer is on the loose. Review

Christianity and Constitutionalism, edited by Nicholas Aroney and Ian Leigh. Oxford University Press (ISBN: 9780197587256) 2022. Christianity and Constitutionalism explores the contribution of Christianity to constitutionalism in light of history, law, and theology. Review

The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien (Maigret Number 4), Georges Simenon, translated by Linda Coverdale. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9780141393452) 2014 (First published in 1931). The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien, in which Maigret’s swap of a suitcase as he follows a suspicious character results in the man’s suicide. Review

Othered: Finding Belonging with the God Who Pursues The Hurt, Harmed & Marginalized, Jenai Auman. Baker Books (ISBN: 9781540903914), 2024. How God sees, loves, and pursues those hurt, harmed and marginalized by the church and offers them rest, healing, and hope. Review

Dream Work, Mary Oliver. Atlantic Monthly Press (ISBN: 9780871130693) 1986. Poetry of Mary Oliver running the gamut from dogfish to Dachau, from starfish to Orion, and Robert Schumann to Stanley Kunitz. Review

A Prairie: The Religious Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Library of Religious Biography), John J. Fry (Foreword by Mark A. Noll. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802876287) 2024. The religious life of Laura Ingalls Wilder drawn from her books and manuscripts, other writings and the places she lived. Review

An Unfinished Love Story, Doris Kearns Goodwin. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781982108663) 2024 An Unfinished Love Story: Doris and Richard Goodwin remember the 1960’s as they review Dick’s archives of work with Johnson and the Kennedys. Review

Discipleship: Living for Christ in the Daily Grind, J. Heinrich Arnold (Foreword by Henri J.M. Nouwen. Plough (ISBN: 9780874868760) 1994. A collection of forthright counsel on various aspects of following Christ. Review

The Divine Christology of the Apostle Paul, Chris Bruno, John J. R. Lee, and Thomas R. Schreiner. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514001141) 2024. On recent scholarship considering how Paul reconciled monotheism and the divinity of Jesus. Review

Book of the Month

It’s a deep read and it’s not cheap. But I thought Christianity and Constitutionality an exceptional piece of scholarship from a Christian perspective. In addition, it considers the vitally important matter of how governments may be constituted in ways that promote human flourishing and the common good. Another plus was the international makeup of the contributors. Finally, although a first rate piece of scholarship, it was written with a clarity making it accessible to reader willing to give it their attention.

Quote of the Month

I mentioned J. Heinrich Arnold’s Discipleship, which is coming out in a new edition in November, from Plough Publishing. Arnold writes with a refreshing candor and forthrightness. Specifically, he can be downright blunt. Yet this always is shaped by a shepherd’s tough and tender love. But he isn’t “nice.” I loved his self-awareness of his character and explanation of it:

“It is important to be straightforward and honest about your true feelings. Rather be too rude than too smooth, to blunt than too kind. Rather say an unkind word that is true than one that is ‘nice’ but untrue. You can always be sorry for an unkind word, but hypocrisy causes permanent harm unless special grace is given.”

What I’m Reading

I have another Brother Cadfael ready to review as well as Colm Tóibín’s Long Island, an exploration of the choices a wife faces when confronted with evidence of marital unfaithfulness and a renewed connection with an old flame. Anyone who has lived in Cleveland has fixed in mind an image of Terminal Tower. But I did not know the story of the brothers behind it as well as the development of Shaker Heights. Invisible Giants is the biography of the Van Sweringen brothers. I’m nearly finished with an anthology of Catholic Poetry since 1950, a great way to find poets you like.

I love an occasional Civil War book and Elizabeth Varon’s Longstreet is a fascinating study of this Confederate General who after the war supported Republican reconstruction efforts and thus was branded a traitor to the South and blamed for the Lost Cause. Paul and Imperial Divine Honors studies the practice of declaring Roman rulers to be gods, usually after death and how this affected Paul and the Christians of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth. Lastly, The Fast considers the spirituality, philosophy, history, and physiology of fasting against the backdrop of the author’s own seven-day fast.

I won’t always be able to keep up the daily review pace. Longer books throw a wrench in that but I like to read them. And I hope to throw in some bookstore reviews and other articles from time to time. I always appreciate book recommendations and ideas from my readers!

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.

The Month in Reviews: August 2024

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Cover image for "On the Resurrection: Evidences" by Gary R. Habermas

Introduction

Despite this being my last month of work, I reviewed nineteen books. Of these, four were in mystery series I’ve been working through by Marsh, Allingham, Peters, and Kreuger. I returned to Stanislaw Lem after a hiatus of several years. I finished the mammoth On The Resurrection: Evidences. And I read the authorized biography of Willie Mays for my baseball book of the summer. Jon Meacham’s And There Was Light on Lincoln underscored the importance of presidential character.

I reviewed a succinct commentary on Galatians, a devotional on gratitude, and a book of prayers for those going through serious illness–very different books. Munther Isaac’s The Other Side of the Wall is a heart-wrenching lament for the plight of the Palestinian people by a Palestinian Christian pastor from Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. I had the privilege to interview him. Among the other books I reviewed was memoir of Edwin Yamauchi, that tells the story of a professor who wedded devotion to Christ and his mission, excellence of scholarship, and love for students in a public university setting.

The Reviews

Galatians: A Life in Letters, Johannes W. H. van der Bijl. Langham Global Library (ISBN: 9781839739200), 2024. A narrative commentary on the Letter to the Galatians, reconstructing the circumstances leading to, and the actual composition of the letter. Review

On the Resurrection, Volume 1: Evidences, Gary R. Habermas. B & H Academic (ISBN: 9781087778600), 2024. Evidence for the resurrection of Jesus based upon a minimal historical facts approach comprehensively researched and documented. Review

The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy, Stanislaw Lem. Harper Voyager (ISBN: 9780544079939), 2012 (First published in 1971). Ijon Tichy’s voyages across the galaxy, satirical short pieces of science fiction by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem. Review

Story, Ritual, Prophecy, Wisdom, Mark W. Hamilton and Samjung Kang-Hamilton. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883186), 2024. Four modes of scripture for religious education and their use in teaching the Bible: story, ritual, prophecy, and wisdom. Review

Scales of Justice (Roderick Alleyn, 18), Ngaio Marsh. Felony & Mayhem (ASIN: B00Q3JQMJ0), 2014 (First published in 1955). A giant trout beside a murdered aristocrat from one of four families, all having motives or opportunity for murder, in a small rural village. Review

Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, James S. Hirsch. Scribners (ISBN: 9781416547914), 2011. Willie Mays’ authorized biography, his passion for every aspect of the game, and his greatness on and off the field. Review

Towards an Incarnational Spiritual Culture, Gordon E. Carkner (Foreword by Iain Provan). Wipf & Stock (ISBN: 9798385203772), 2024. The Incarnation and our quest for identity, addressing the rootless identities of modern gnosticism and expressive individualism. Review

The Confession of Brother Haluin (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, 15), Ellis Peters. Open Road Integrated Media (ASIN: B00LUZNWTU), 2014 (First published in 1988). From deathbed confession to arduous journey, Brother Haluin’s miraculous recovery results in a journey of penance accompanied by Cadfael. Review

My Heart Overflows: A Treasury of Readings, Poems, and Prayers on Gratitude, Compiled by the editors at Paraclete Press. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609617), 2024. A treasury of reflections on gratitude, a compilation of poetry, quotations, readings and art on thanksgiving for blessings, others, and God. Review

Blood Hollow (Cork O’Connor Number Four), William Kent Krueger. Atria Paperback (ISBN: 9781439157794), 2009. A murder is pinned on Solemn Winter Moon, but Cork thinks otherwise, confronting resistance and wounds from the past. Review

Faith Embodied, Stephen Ko. Zondervan Reflective (ISBN: 9780310151692), 2024. Bringing physical and spiritual health together, a physician/pastor connects senses and bodily functions with our worship of God. Review

The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope, Munther Isaac. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9780830831999) 2020. A Palestinian Christian narrative of lament and hope, describing the situation from his perspective and offering hope for a shared land. Review

The Waters of Siloe, Thomas Merton. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (ISBN: 9780156949545), 1979 (First published in 1949). A history of the Trappist monks, from Cistercian beginnings to the reforms at La Trappe, foundations in America, and the contemplative life. Review

Irreverent Prayers: Talking to God When You’re Seriously Sick, Elizabeth Felicetti and Samantha Vincent-Alexander. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802882639), 2024. Talking to God when you’re seriously sick is modelled in this book by honest, unvarnished prayers written during such illnesses. Review

The Five Spaces, Dustin White. The Brethren Church (ISBN:9781732268180), 2019. Understanding the church’s spaces of discipleship, a study of how the church may leverage the different relational spaces we inhabit. Review

Coroner’s Pidgin (Albert Campion, 12), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN:
9781504087230), 2023 (First published in 1945). Back from war, Campion finds a corpse in his bed, brought to his flat by an aristocratic lady protecting her son. Review

And There Was Light, Jon Meacham. Random House (ISBN: 9780553393965), 2022. The convictions shaping Lincoln’s public life including his opposition to slavery, the importance of the union, and his belief in providence. Review

Jingjiao: The Earliest Christian Church in China, Glen L. Thompson (foreword by Samuel N. C. Lieu). Wm. B., Eerdmans (ISBN: 9780802883520), 2024. The earliest Christian Church in China came via the Silk Road in the seventh century, substantiated by the Chang’an stele and other documents. Review

An Asian American Ancient Historian and Biblical Scholar, Edwin M. Yamauchi (Foreword by Stephen B. Kellough). Resource Publications (ISBN: 9798385211609), 2024. An Asian American Ancient Historian and Biblical Scholar is the memoir of Edwin M. Yamauchi, professor of history at Miami University, chronicling his family, faith, scholarly work, travels, and church leadership. Review

Book of the Month

Gary R. Habermas On the Resurrection: Evidences runs to over a thousand pages. Yet it is highly readable, thorough, amply documented, and well-argued. Consequently, it is simply the best presentation of the arguments based on evidence for the resurrection that I have read.

Quote of the Month

Irreverent Prayers is a book written by two Episcopal priests facing life threatening afflictions. Specifically, one fought of a MRSA infection of her leg involving months of treatment. The other went through successive surgeries for two different cancers, and was diagnosed with a serious recurrence during the writing of the book. In contrast to the pious language of so many written prayers, those in this book are raw and honest, giving words for what soi many in similar circumstances face. For example, here is 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.”

What I’m Reading

Because I currently have five books awaiting review and five others I am reading, I’m just going to list them, with at most a few words when the title alone doesn’t make clear what the book is about.

Books awaiting review;

  • Woke, John G. Stackhouse, Jr. Explores this and other epithets in our current political discourse
  • Waiting for Al Gore, Bob Katz. A gentle satire on environmental activism by an author I like.
  • Disarming Leviathan, Caleb Campbell. On loving our Christian nationalist neighbors.
  • The Heretic’s Apprentice, Ellis Peters. Another in the Brother Cadfael series.
  • Living with Purpose in a Polarizing World, Albert M. Erisman and Randy Pope. Twelve biblical figures, how they engaged their culture, with contemporary illustrations from business and professional settings.

Books I’m Reading

  • Chasing Sacred, Mikella Van Dyke. On inductive Bible study and how it impacted the author’s life.
  • Cultures of Growth, Mary C. Murphy. How organizations can foster cultures of growth by the kind of mindset they foster.
  • Christianity and Constitutionalism, Nicholas Aroney and Ian Leigh, eds. Explores the Christian sources that have and may inform constitutional forms of government.
  • The Preacher and the Printer, Randy Petersen. On the unlikely friendship between George Whitefield and Ben Franklin.
  • Metaphysics of Exo-Life, Andrew M. Davis. Draws upon the metaphysics of A.N. Whitehead to formulate a cosmotheology addressing possibilities of extra-terrestrial life.

As you can see, there are lots of interesting reviews coming in the weeks ahead. I’d encourage you to sign up to follow Bob on Books to see them when they are posted! Happy reading friends!

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.

The Month in Reviews: July 2024

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Cover image of "Diary of an Old Soul by George MacDonald, Introduction and notes by Timothy Larsen.

Summer is a good time for mysteries and thrillers. In this list are two Albert Campions, a Brother Cadfael, my first read of an Abe Lieberman mystery, and the third in the Cork O’Connor series by William Kent Krueger. On the theology front, I reviewed an interesting work on Pauline theology, a study on righteousness, Marilynne Robinson’s reading of Genesis, and a critique of neurotheology. I finally read Maus I and II and can’t understand the kerfuffle about these books unless one wants to suppress truth about the holocaust. There’s a thought-provoking proposal for “reclaiming the courageous middle” and a wonderful set of reflections on aging gracefully, written by a friend. And there are books on Dante, Flannery O’Connor, George MacDonald and Marvin Olasky and even a fascinating account of the social life of books in the 18th century! And I cant forget Percival Everett’s magnificent James!

The Fashion in Shrouds (Albert Campion, 10), Margery Allingham. Open Road Integrated Media (ISBN: 9781504088367), 2023 (originally published in 1938). Albert Campion investigates three deaths connected to a fashionable actress, Georgia Wells, whose fashion designer is Campion’s sister Val. Review

Paul and Time, L Ann Jervis. Baker Academic (iSBN: 9781540960788), 2023. A proposal that believers live, not at the intersection and the age to come, but that we have been delivered from the present evil age to live in Christ, including living in his time. Review

Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History, Art Spiegelman. Pantheon Books (ISBN: 9780394747231), 1986. Volume one of a graphic novel rendering the tightening control over Polish Jews, portrayed as mice, which ends at the gates of Auschwitz. Review

Diary of an Old Soul, George MacDonald, with introduction and notes by Timothy Larsen. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514007686), 2024 (originally published in 1880). A new edition of MacDonald’s extended devotional poem, with seven line stanzas for each day of the year. Review

Purgatory Ridge (Cork O’Connor, 3), William Kent Krueger. Pocket Books (ISBN: 9780671047542), 2002. A murder investigation becomes far more when a kidnapping plot involves Cork’s own family as well as that of a prominent mill owner. Review

Righteousness: Volume 1: History of Interpretation, Jeffrey J. Niehaus. Pickwick Publications (ISBN: 9781666738018), 2023. The first of three volumes, beginning with a history of defining biblical righteousness, considering the leading interpreters in the light of the author’s own definition. Review

The Social Life of Books: Reading Together in the Eighteenth-Century Home, Abigail Williams. Yale University Press (ISBN: 9780300240252), 2018. A study of reading together in the eighteenth-century home, looking at how books were used and contributed to social life. Review

Dear Dante, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell. Iron Pen | Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609372), 2024. Summary: An imagined conversation with Dante responding to the three sections of the Divine Comedy in sonnets and terza rima. Review

Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do The Heathen Rage, Jessica Hooten Wilson with illustrations by Steve Prince. Brazos Press (ISBN: 9781587436185), 2024. The text of O’Connor’s unfinished work with commentary on her literary process and the tensions she wrestled with in writing. Review

The Hermit of Eyton Forest (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, 14), Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road (ASIN: ‎B00LUZNWNG), 2014 (originally published in 1987). A hermit’s arrival brings death and mayhem in a quarrel over a boy’s fate, damage to Eyton Forest, and a search for a fugitive villein. Review

Reading Genesis, Marilynne Robinson. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (ISBN: 9780374613440), 2024. Marilynne Robinson’s interpretation of Genesis, exploring the problem of evil in the world and the goodness of God. Review

Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began, Art Spiegelman. Pantheon Books (ISBN: 9780679729778), 1992. Volume 2 of a graphic novel on surviving Auschwitz, the story of Art Spiegelman’s parents and his struggle to care for his father. Review

Claiming the Courageous Middle, Shirley A. Mullen. Baker Academic (ISBN: 9781540967046), 2024. Claiming the courageous middle in a polarized time as a risky and redemptive adventure of pursuing a hopeful future. Review

The Last Dark Place (Abe Lieberman, 8), Stuart M. Kaminsky. Mysterious Press/Open Road Media (ASIN: B00AYRI5DI), 2013 (originally published in 2004). Who ordered the hit on the hitman? That’s what Lieberman, who was transporting him back to Chicago tries to figure out as he tries to head off a gang war and pay for his grandson’s bar mitzvah. Review

Have We Lost Our Minds?, Stan W. Wallace. Foreword by J. P. Moreland. Wipf & Stock (ISBN: 9781666789133) Have we lost our minds to neuroscience? A challenge to neurotheology’s eclipse of the soul and reduction of mental events to brain events. Review

James, Percival Everett. Doubleday (ISBN: 9780385550369), 2024. A retelling of a Mark Twain classic in which the slave, James, rather than Huckleberry Finn, is narrator. Review

Traitor’s Purse (Albert Campion, 11), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087254), 2023 (Originally published in 1941). Amnesiac Campion thinks “fifteen” of vital importance. It holds a key to a vital mission he tries to fulfill, though he knows not what it is. Review

Growing Old Gracefully, David J. Claassen. Elk Lake Publishing (ISBN: 9798891341890), 2024. Navigating the transitions of our senior years with grace and joy. Review

Pivot Points, Marvin Olasky. P & R Publishing (ISBN: 9781629959535), 2024. Pivot points of a compassionate conservative, a memoir tracing the journalistic and writing career of Marvin Olasky, former editor in chief of World magazine. Review

Book of the Month

There were so many good ones in this collection, it was a hard choice. I’m going to go with George MacDonald’s Diary of an Old Soul. It is a new edition of a classic, in which MacDonald offers a seven line devotional poem for each day of the year. The facing pages are left blank for the reader to add personal reflections. A wonderful Christmas gift.

Quote of the Month

Marilynne Robinson captures in these words, from Reading Genesis one of the major themes, for me, of the Bible:

“The Bible is a theodicy, a meditation on the problem of evil. This being true, it must take account of things as they are. It must acknowledge in a meaningful way the darkest aspects of the reality we experience, and it must reconcile them with the goodness of God and of Being itself against which this darkness stands out so sharply.”

What I’m Reading

I’ve spent the month of July working my way through Gary Habermas’ On the Resurrection Volume 1: Evidences. This is the first of a four volume work, volume 1 running to over 1000 pages. Habermas writes well, and carefully lays the groundwork for evidence supporting the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Another, not quite so long book, is Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, recommended by a friend on Mays’ passing this summer. It takes the measure on the greatness of his performance and character without overlooking his flaws.

Galatians: A Life in Letters by Johannes W H Van Der Bijl is a recreation of what it was like for Paul to write Galatians, the thought process behind the letter. Story, Ritual, Prophecy, Wisdom: Reading and Teaching the Bible Today considers these four aspects of the Bible and how they influence Christian education. After a hiatus of several years, I’ve picked up another Stanislaw Lem book, The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy. Lem has a way of pursuing serious philosophical questions with a mixture of wit, tomfoolery, and incredulity.

Well, that’s the Month in Review for July. Hope you get some good reading time in during what remains of summer.

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.

The Month in Reviews: June 2024

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Cover image of "The Women" by Kristin Hannah

I love writing about books. This month, I read and reviewed eighteen of them. Great reads, important topics, informative presentations, and beautiful writing. On this last, I loved a collection of poetry by 95 year-old Luci Shaw and a delightful short-story collection by Peter Kostoglou. Significant non-fiction reads: Jonathan Haidt on the devastating effects of smartphones on teens, Austin Knuppe on how ordinary Iraqis survived the Islamic State, and Charles Taylor’s magisterial analysis of secularity. John Fea makes a great case for why we should read history.

Then there were so many riveting fiction reads. Kristen Hannah’s The Women, like so many of her books was one I kept thinking about when I wasn’t reading it. I’m amazed at William Kent Krueger’s ability to write so well and make you turn the page in his Cork O’Connor stories. I continue to enjoy the Brother Cadfael stories, reading number 13 in the series this month.

I always read a selection of Christian books, both popular and serious. Nancy French and Curtis Chang have written a must read for anyone looking for a better approach to our politics in The After Party. I read a fascinating biography of William Carey and a tale of a recently discovered diary revealing the story of a group of Christian abolitionists centered around Oberlin College. Robert Cochran’s The Servant Lawyer is a great treatment of the calling of lawyers and the great good they may accomplish.

Here’s the whole list, with links to the publisher’s website in the title and a link to the full review at the end of each summary.

Boundary Waters (Cork O’Connor #2), William Kent Krueger. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9780671016999), 2000 (link is to a different edition in print). A young country-western singer hiding in seclusion in a Boundary Waters cabin is pursued by a man claiming to be her father, FBI agents, a father and son from an organized crime family–and a couple of cold-blooded killers for hire. Review

The Rose Rent (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #13), Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road Integrated Media (ISBN: 9780446405331), 2014 (originally published in 1986). Two deaths and the abduction of a widow seem tied to a white rose bush from which the annual rent of a Foregate property is paid in the form of one white rose. Review

Humility: Rediscovering the Way of Love and Life in Christ, Michael W. Austin. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802882103), 2024. A study of the Christian virtue of humility understood as following Jesus, being formed in his character of humility and love through his people and through spiritually transformative practices. Review

The Father of Modern India: William Carey, Vishal & Ruth Mangalwadi. Sought After Media (ISBN: 9798988783107), 2023. Proposes that missionary William Carey, and not Mahatma Gandhi, is rightly to be considered the father of modern India. Review

The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt. Penguin Press (ISBN: 9780593655030), 2024. Explores the connections between the decline in independent play in childhood, the advent of smartphones, and the sharp rise in anxiety and depression, among adolescents and young adults. Review

Matthew Through Old Testament Eyes, David B. Capes. Kregel Academic (ISBN: 9780825444784), 2024. A commentary on the Gospel of Matthew showing both obvious and subtle references to the Old Testament of how the life and ministry of Jesus fulfilled the plan of God articulated in these passages. Review

Awakening to Justice, The Dialogue on Race and Faith Project, Jemar Tisby, Christopher P. Momany, Sègbégnon Mathieu Gnonhossou, David D. Daniels III, R. Matthew Sigler, Douglas M. Strong, Diane Leclerc, Esther Chung-Kim, Albert G. Miller, and Estrelda Y. Alexander. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514009185), 2024. How a long-forgotten journal led a team to recover the stories of three abolitionists and their times. Review

Sillies, Fancies, & Trifles, Peter Kostoglou. Resource Publications (ISBN: 9798385207695), 2024. Summary: A collection of seven short stories, all with an element of the fantastic, inviting us into the mystery of beauty, the deep joy in the world, and the power of love. Review

Why Study History? (Second Edition), John Fea. Baker Academic (ISBN: 9781540966605), 2024. A Christian historian explains why the study of history is important to us, what historians do, and helpful and unhelpful ways to relate our faith to the study of history. Review

The After Party: Toward Better Christian Politics, Curtis Chang and Nancy French. Zondervan Books (ISBN: 9780310368700), 2024. How we might shift toward a better Christian politics through humility and hope. Review

Gospel Media: Reading, Writing, and Circulating Jesus Traditions, Nicholas A. Elder. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802879219), 2024. Addresses myths and generalizations about reading, writing, and publication in the Greco-Roman world shaping ideas of how the gospels were composed, used, and circulated. Review

The Women, Kristin Hannah. St Martin’s Press (ISBN: 9781250178633), 2024. A historical fiction account of the experiences of women nurses who served in Vietnam war combat areas and what it was like to come home. Review

Reversing Entropy, Luci Shaw. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640608702), 2024. Poems that address the decay in the physical world and how human creativity and transcendent hope reverses entropy. Review

Unfinished Tales Of Numenor And Middle-Earth, J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien. William Morrow (ASIN: B00796E7CA), 2012 (originally published by Houghton Mifflin, 1980). A collection of stories, many in unfinished state, by J.R.R. Tolkien providing background information on the three ages of Numenor and Middle Earth, edited by his son. Review

The Servant Lawyer: Facing the Challenges of Christian Faith in Everyday Law Practice, Robert F. Cochran Jr. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514007228), 2024. An exploration of the real work lawyers do and the challenges and opportunities for Christians who practice law. Review

Say Good, Ashlee Eiland. NavPress (ISBN: 9781641587006), 2024. Offers a four-part process for finding one’s voice to navigate the tightrope of challenging public discussions, using one’s voice to “say good.” Review

Surviving the Islamic State, Austin J. Knuppe. Columbia University Press (ISBN: 9780231213875), 2024. A comprehensive study of how civilians survived Islamic State occupation in various communities throughout Iraq. Review

A Secular Age, Charles Taylor. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (ISBN: 9780674026766), 2007. How Western society moved from a shared belief in God to a secular age in which belief was one option of many. Review

Book of the Month. As I mentioned above Kristin Hannah’s The Women is a powerful book on the women nurses who served in combat areas of Vietnam. Through the experiences of Frankie McGrath, we learn of the traumatizing experiences nurses faced on the battlefield and the hostility and lack of recognition and PTSD they experienced at home. Like all her women characters, McGrath is a character who discovers her strength, but also her vulnerability.

Quote of the Month. Humility is a quality not often aspired to. Michael Austin’s wonderful little book on humility as following Jesus had this quote that caught my attention:

“What is the person like who follows Christ in his humility? The humble person fights to descend the social ladder, rather than climb it. The humble person makes the interests of others their priority, rather than their own. Instead of always grasping for what they want, the humble person serves others, for their good, often in sacrificial ways. The humble person focuses on God and others, rather than themselves. The humble person is steeped in the love of God, and that love flows from God through them to others” (p. 35).

What I’m Reading. I just finished Margery Allingham’s The Fashion in Shrouds, the tenth in her Campion series. It was not my favorite–I didn’t like any of the characters, even Campion’s sister. I picked up Maus after it was banned for use in eighth grade classes in a Tennessee school district. Why don’t we want eighth graders to read this account of the Holocaust? I haven’t found anything inappropriate for adolescent readers. Paul and Time by Ann Jervis is a fascinating proposal challenging the ” this age/the age to come” paradigm. She proposes instead that we live either in the present evil age or we live in Christ, and to be in Christ is to be in his time, the time of the resurrection. She calls this “life time.”

Righteousness by Jeffrey J. Niehaus is the first of a three-part study on this biblical idea in which he lays out his proposal and does a survey of other theologians. He proposes that righteousness is conformity to God’s being and doing. I’m on to the third Cork O’Connor, Purgatory Ridge, just as riveting as the first two. Finally, I always enjoy books on books and reading. The Social Life of Reading is a study of how people read together in the home in the eighteenth century. It makes me wonder what we lose when we no longer read aloud to each other.

Well, I hope I’ve offered you a few ideas of some good things to read on those hot summer days.

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.

The Month in Reviews: April 2024

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Cover image of James McBride's "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store."

I set a new record for books reviewed in a month in April–twenty-one. So I’ll just highlight a few that stood out. I like anything that Richard Mouw writes and his Divine Generosity breaks the Reformed stereotype that only a few will be elect in exploring within the doctrines of the Reformed the idea that God will save widely. As is always the case, N.T. Wright brought new insights to one of my favorite passages, Romans 8, along with new questions. Edith Humphrey’s Down the Valley is a delightful children’s story introducing us to the lives of the saints and a wonderful family, that I suspect mirrors her own. David Brooks strikes me as the consummate learner and in How to Know a Person, he takes us along his own learning journey of what it means to know and be known deeply. Finally, I cannot say enough good about Moms at the Well, a new Bible study addressing with great sympathy and constructive hope, the struggles of every mom I know. The guide offers creative exercises for personal reflection and for rich group experiences and is an exquisite piece of work typographically as well.

I’ve made a change in the publication data I include. Following the move of The Chicago Manual of Style that has made place of publication optional, I am no longer including this. Instead, I am including ISBN numbers, which seem more useful in searches for a book. Of course, I continue to link in the title to the publisher’s website. I do this to avoid preferring a particular bookseller as well as offering you the resources the publisher offers for the book (sometimes excerpts or book trailers, or even supplemental free material). Let me know if you have an opinion about these changes.

Raising Mentally Strong Kids, Daniel G. Amen, MD and Charles Fay, PhD. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Refresh, 2024. Two clinicians, one a neuroscientist and the other a mental heath practitioner, explore how the findings in their two fields may combine to raise mentally healthy, loving, responsible, and resilient children. Review

An Excellent Mystery, (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #11), Ellis Peters. New York: Mysterious Press/Open Road Media, 2014 (first published in 1985). A dying monk, a refugee from Maud’s wars, arrives at Shrewsbury Abbey with a mute brother as helper and a former aide of the monk discovers that the monk’s former betrothed is missing. Review

Blessed Are the Rest of Us, Micha Boyett. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2023. A mother with a Down’s Syndrome child discovers in the Beatitudes a relationship with God based on God’s love rather than our accomplishments. Review

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, Katherine May. New York: Riverhead Books, 2020. A memoir exploring the importance of winters in our lives and the importance of the inward turn and care for ourselves in such seasons. Review

Divine Generosity, Richard J. Mouw. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883902), 2024. A discussion from a Calvinist perspective of how widely God’s saving mercy extends. Review

Passenger to Frankfurt, Agatha Christie. William Morrow Paperbacks (ISBN: 9780062094452), 2012 (Originally published in 1970). Sir Stafford Nye helps a woman in the Frankfurt airport by giving her his cloak, passport, and boarding ticket to England and finds himself caught up in a global plot. Review

Creator: A Theological Interpretation of Genesis 1, Peter J. Leithart. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514002162), 2023. Considering philosophical discussions of the being of God, turns to Genesis 1 which reveals the Triune Creator who speaks and sees, who loves and is good. Review

The Case of the Late Pig (Albert Campion #8), Margery Allingham. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504087308), 2023 (Originally published in 1937). When Campion is invited to the second funeral in six months for an old school acquaintance, he finds him drawn into a murder investigation where the murders keep coming. Review

The Spirituality of Dreaming, Kelly Bulkeley. Broadleaf Books (ISBN: 9781506483146), 2023. A dream researcher explores both the science and spirituality of dreaming. Review

Into the Heart of Romans, N.T. Wright. Zondervan Academic (ISBN: 9780310157748), 2023. A close reading of Romans 8, focusing on the purpose, presence, and profound love in Christ for all who believe meant to assure them of not only their ultimate destiny but of God’s favor even as they share in the sufferings of Christ amid a groaning creation. Review

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride. Riverhead Books (ISBN: 9780593422946), 2023. A story centered around a grocery store in the midst of Pottstown’s Chicken Hill district, inhabited by immigrant Jews and the local Black community. Review

Beyond Ethnic Loneliness, Prasanta Verma. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514007419), 2024. An Indian American immigrant describes the distinctive experience of ethnic loneliness and steps those experiencing that loneliness and those who care for them can take toward healing. Review

Down the Valley, Edith M. Humphrey. Cascade Books (ISBN: 9781666772067), 2024. Further adventures beyond the gate of the white fence where the children at “Gramgon’s” house and an older friend meet the saints after whom they are named. Review

Fundamentalists in the Public Square (Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology), Madison Trammel. Lexham Academic. (ISBN: 9781683597186) 2023. A counter-argument to the contention that fundamentalists retreated from activism in the public square after the Scopes trial, based on a study of newspaper reports. Review

Hope Ain’t a Hustle, Irwyn Ince (Foreword by Christina Edmonson). InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514005743), 2024. A series of messages from the book of Hebrews making the case for the confidence we may have in Christ, our great high priest who endured the storm, who sustains our hope, and calls us to enduring faithfulness. Review

Ethics@Work, Kris Østergaard, ed. Re:humanize Publishing (ISBN: 9788797284100), 2022. An anthology of essays on workplace ethics in the context of near future challenges, focusing on the systemic context, the inner life of an organization, and the humans at the core of every enterprise. Review

How to Know a Person, David Brooks. Random House (ISBN: 9780593230060), 2023. An exploration of how we might see people deeply and help them know that they are seen. Review

God’s Revolution: Justice, Community, and the Coming Kingdom, Eberhard Arnold. Plough Publishing (ISBN: 9781636080000), 2021. A collection of the writings of Eberhard Arnold, describing the life of discipleship embodied in the Bruderhof, as a radical alternative to the institutional church. Review

Character in the Garden, Doris Erika Brocke. Brocke House Enterprises (ISBN: 9780991835515), 2021. A compilation of photographs from the author’s surroundings combined with quotations focusing on the qualities of character. Review

The Raven in the Foregate (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #12), Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road Integrated Media (ISBN: 9781497671386), 2014 (Originally published in 1986. A graceless priest comes to Holy Cross church in Foregate and alienates his parish and is found dead, while a young man who came with him, assigned to Cadfael, is not what he seems. Review

Moms at the Well, Tara Edelschick and Kathy Tuan-Maclean. IVP Bible Studies (ISBN: 781514006788), 2024. A seven week Bible study experience addressing the struggles moms face in parenting, looking at women in scripture and how God encountered them. Review

Book of the Month. James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is an exquisitely told story of how two minority communities, connected by the generosity of the Jewish proprietor of the title grocery store, come together to right an injustice (or two). This book won all kind of awards, which doesn’t surprise me a bit.

Quote of the Month. I had the chance to read Prasanta Verma’s Beyond Ethnic Loneliness, which talks about the distinct forms of loneliness Blacks and other persons of color experience as they struggle with the question “What Am I?” Verma wrote poems at the end of each chapter on this theme and here’s one:

So, What Are You?

You are beloved
You are not invisible
You are whole
You are wanted
You are seen
You are loved
Just the way you are
You belong to yourself
You belong to others
You belong to God
So, what are you?
You are a gift of joy
You eat at the table
Of belonging
You are a Home
Of belonging
To others
And yourself

And if the topic is of interest to you, I also had the chance to interview the author and here is the interview:

What I’m Reading. I’m wading through Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age which may take a couple more months. His learning is so vast and he brings all of it to bear to trace the intellectual and cultural shift from a cosmos filled with the grandeur of God to a universe with either a distant deity or none, and without relevance to daily life. I’m most of the way through Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, an early work set in an underworld beneath modern London into which a young man from the upperworld falls and becomes part of an epic conflict. I always enjoy a good Poirot, and Taken at the Flood is one I haven’t read. I most of the way through J. Gresham Machen’s What is Faith? and just beginning My Life is a Prayer, a memoir by Elizabeth Cunningham and C. Ryan Fields’ Local and Universal, a book on the doctrine of the church.

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.

The Month in Reviews — March 2024

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Such a diverse selection here! A classic Ellis Peters mystery started the month and a new science fiction novel that has received early critical recognition. A narrative of the 2016 Fort McMurray fire, asking if this heralds more intense “fire weather” and the internal weathering resulting from racial injustice. Modern classics from Joan Didion and Howard Thurman. Fresh approaches to scripture on women, evil, and, peace. Mysteries from Margery Allingham and yet another brilliant Giles Blunt. A history of Haiti and an exploration of God’s providential history at the very beginnings of creation. An Irish collection of essays and prayers and a Lenten devotional centered on the women who traveled with Jesus. A fine refection on servanthood. A few other treasures as well–nineteen in all.

The Pilgrim of Hate (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #10), Ellis Peter. New York: Mysterious Press/Open Road Media, 2014 (Originally published in 1984). The Feast of the translation of St. Winifred is the occasion of new found love, a fugitive fleeing from murder, thievery, and a miracle, all of which engage Cadfael’s attention. Review

Leadership or Servanthood?, Hwa Yung. Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2021. Contends that, contrary to our focus on developing or training leaders, Jesus was concerned with the formation of servants. Review

Fire Weather, John Vaillant. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2023. An account of the Fort McMurray fire of 2016, when a forest fire consumed a town and became a harbinger of things to come in a hotter, drier world. Review

On the (Divine) Origin of Our Species. Darrel R. Falk. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2023. Accepting the evidence for our evolutionary origins, considers God’s providential activity through his hovering Spirit and how that shaped our evolution. Review

Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays, Joan Didion. New York: Open Road Media, 2017 (Originally published in 1968). A collection of essays, most originally published as Saturday Evening Post articles describing Didion’s first years back in California, during the height of the hippie movement. Review

The Minor Prophets: A Theological Introduction, Craig G. Bartholomew & Heath A. Thomas. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. Combines introductory discussions of the last twelve books of the Old Testament with an exploration of the theological themes of each book as well as the theological significance of the whole corpus. Review

Being Here: Prayers for Curiosity, Justice, and Love, Pádraig Ó Tuama. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2024. A book of essays and prayers, including 31 days of readings and prayers, focused on being in communion with God as we seek to live lovingly and justly in our own places. Review

The Delicate Storm (John Cardinal and Lise DeLorme #2), Giles Blunt. London: HarperCollins, 2004. A gruesome murder in the woods is soon followed by another, leading to an international investigation, a terrorist plot from the ’70’s, and a shrewd murderer on the loose, climaxed by an epic ice storm. Review

Strange Religion, Nijay K. Gupta. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2024. Roman society thought Christians weird for both their beliefs and practices, and yet oddly compelling. Review

Flowers for the Judge, Margery Allingham. Avarang Books, 2023 (Originally published in 1936). Campion is called in when a member of a publishing family disappears, only for him to be found dead in the firm’s vault, with all the evidence pointing toward younger cousin Mike as the murderer. Review

Eve Isn’t Evil, Julie Faith Parker. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023. Feminist readings of biblical texts involving women, mostly from the Hebrew Bible. with one chapter on the New Testament. Review

The Bible is not Enough, Scot McKnight. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2023. In reaction to the embrace by American Christians of “humane” approaches to war and Christian nationalism, calls for an imaginative and improvisational approach to living out the Bible’s vision of a peaceful world. Review

C. S. Lewis in America, Mark A. Noll with Karen J. Johnson, Kirk D. Farney, and Amy E. Black. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. An analysis of how C. S. Lewis’s works were received in the United States, considering Catholic, secular, and Protestant/evangelical critics evaluating his work between 1935 and 1947. Review

Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society, Arline T. Geronimus. New York: Little, Brown Spark, 2023. A study of the chronic stress marginalized persons experience and the health impacts resulting in the earlier onset of debilitating diseases and shortened life expectancy. Review

Jesus and the Disinherited, Howard Thurman (Foreword by Vincent Harding. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996 (Originally published 1949, link is to 2022 edition). Explores the significance of Jesus for the disenfranchised, the discriminated against, and those marginalized by various forms of injustice and equity. Review

Haiti: The Aftershocks of History, Laurent Dubois. New York: Picador, 2013. A history of Haiti, from colonial rule under France up to the earthquake of 2010. Review

Women Who Followed Jesus, Dandi Daley Mackall. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2024. 40 reflections through the eyes of women who followed Jesus to the cross and witnessed the resurrection. Review

Demystifying Evil, Ingrid Faro (Foreword by Heather Davediuk Gingrich). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023. A biblical study of the evil and God’s work in the world illustrated by the author’s own wrestling with evil. Review.

The Limits of My World, Gregory Coles. Loveland, CO: Walking Carnival Books, 2023. A small group of people from two races encounter, and in the process, discover the challenge of communicating across two languages and a larger reality beyond their known universe. Review

Book of the Month. I found Nijay Gupta’s study of what set Christians apart in Roman society to be fascinating. They weren’t trying to be different but their beliefs and practices not only were weird but also compelling.

Quote of the Month: I loved this expression of God moving toward us as we move toward God in Pádraig Ó Tuama’s Being There.

     Turning to the light
     the light turns to us.
     Moving toward the source
     the source moves toward us.
     Holding on to hope
     hope holds on to us.

What I’m Reading. I just finished a couple books I’ll be reviewing soon, An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters and Raising Mentally Strong Kids–chock full of helpful ideas. My appreciation of Richard Mouw is only growing in reading Divine Generosity, a Calvinist study of the scope of God’s saving work–far greater than you might think. Micha Boyett’s Blessed Are the Rest of Us is a very personal exploration of the Beatitudes by the mother of a child with Down’s Syndrome diagnosed later with autism. Wintering is an exploration of rest and retreat from a non-religious but spiritual writer. Peter Leithart’s Creator explores our theology of God through the lens of the first chapters of Genesis with an engagement with Greek philosophy. In Agatha Christie’s Passenger to Frankfurt Sir Stafford Nye has an unusual encounter with a mysterious woman in the Frankfurt airport that won’t be the last. Finally, Tomorrow a friend and I begin working our way through Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age–a huge and important book. So many good things to read.

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.

The Month in Reviews: December 2023

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This month’s collection of reviews, seventeen in all, includes a review of a wonderful set of theological reflections on Christmas that explores ways our practices of lights, decorations, and gifts may reflect our theology of the incarnation. I also reviewed a forthcoming book on the cross, thought-provoking and well-written though I could not agree with some of the conclusions of the writer. I also had the somewhat puzzling experience of reading a book on reading Barth that didn’t so much give me pointers in reading Barth as it did the author’s reading of the great theologian. Likewise, I reviewed a book that seemed to be offering a dialogue on two approaches to Paul, It turned out it was two older essays set beside each other with one of the authors being deceased! This left the reader to provide the dialogue!

On a more positive note, I began the month reading a thoughtful book on how certain kinds of constraints facilitate our spiritual growth. I delighted in seeing the first book by a blogger who helped me through the pandemic, which expanded on her ideas as a Christian epidemiologist of we might expand our vision for loving neighbors through understanding some of the global public health challenges we face today. I worked through a great commentary on John in the “Through Old Testament Eyes” series and a thoughtful book on suffering. Along the way, I read a couple Campions, a Cadfael, and the first in the Cork O’Connor series by William Kent Krueger. Rounding out the month, I read a history of Istanbul spanning over two millenia, an account of Lincoln’s sixteen days at Grant’s headquarters at the end of the Civil War and how it changed him, and a Nobel Prize-winning novel by Kenzaburo Oe, a Japanese novelist.

Finding Freedom in Constraint, Jared Patrick Boyd. Downers Grove: IVP Formatio, 2023. Proposes that constraints in terms of spiritual practices in the context of community, expose our inner desires, allowing them to be healed and formed by Christ. Review

Look to the Lady (Albert Campion #3), Margery Allingham. New York: Open Road Media, 2023 (Originally published in 1931). Albert Campion assists the Gyrth family in protecting a priceless chalice in the family for hundreds of years against an international theft ring focused on creating private collections of priceless treasures. Review

Reading Karl Barth: Theology That Cuts Both Ways, Chris Boesel. Eugene. OR: Cascade Books, 2023. A synopsis of the major themes of Barth’s theology and theological ethics, showing how his theology “cuts both ways” against the theological left and right while it centers on God’s “Yes” to us in Christ. Review

Christmas, The Season of Life and Light (Fullness of Time series), Emily Hunter McGowin. Downers Grove: IVP Formatio, 2023. Spiritual and theological reflections to aid readers in their celebration and spiritual formation around the season of Christmas. Review

Istanbul, Thomas F. Madden. New York: Viking, 2016. A history of this great city at the meeting place of Europe and Asia from the Byantine Empire beginning in 667 BC through the modern Istanbul up to 2016. Review

The Wood Between the Worlds, Brian Zahnd. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, (Forthcoming) 2024. An approach to the kaleidoscopic theological meaning of the cross. the center of the biblical story through the lens of poetry. Review

Lincoln’s Greatest Journey, Noah Andre Trudeau. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2016. A day by day account of the final trip Abraham Lincoln took for sixteen days at City Point, Virginia, the headquarters of Ulysses S. Grant, and how this transformed Lincoln. Review

The Sanctuary Sparrow, Ellis Peters. New York: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, 2014 (Originally published in 1983). A young traveling entertainer at a wedding seeks sanctuary in the abbey, pursued by a mob accusing him of murdering and robbing the groom’s father while Cadfael and Hugh explore the possibility of other suspects closer to home. Review

Iron Lake (Cork O’Connor #1), William Kent Krueger. New York: Atria Paperbacks, 2019 (20th Anniversary edition, originally published in 1998). A murdered judge and a missing paperboy sets former sheriff Cork O’Connor onto the trail of a conspiracy, a trail on which this won’t be the last death. Review

John Through Old Testament Eyes, Karen H. Jobes, series editor Andrew T. LePeau. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2023. A commentary focused on the Old Testament backgrounds of “history, images, metaphors, and symbols” found in John’s gospel, along with applicatory reflections. Review

Paul, Narrative or Apocalyptic, Christiaan Beker and N.T. Wright. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2023. Essays by two leading N.T. scholars representing the main distinctive views of Paul, either focusing on the age to come and the return of Christ to inaugurate new creation or the narrative continuity with the covenant fulfilled in Christ opening into the inclusion of the Gentiles. Review

Even If He Doesn’t, Kristen LaValley. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, (Forthcoming February) 2024. Summary: A memoir of facing suffering and all the questions of why and where is God and does God hear. Review

Police at the Funeral (Albert Campion #4), Margery Allingham. New York: Open Road Media, 2023 (Originally published in 1931). A request to find a missing uncle turns into a multiple murder investigation in an unhappy Cambridge manor. Review

Every Book Its Reader, Nicholas A. Basbanes. New York: Harper Perennial, 2006. A celebration of those who compiled book lists and made recommendations, the impact of books on various individuals, and the reading lives of famous individuals. Review

Now I Lay Me Down to Fight, Katy Bowser Hutson (Foreword by Tish Harrison Warren). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023. Poems and essays tracing one woman’s cancer journey and how she encountered God amid the brokenness of her body. Review

The Science of the Good Samaritan, Dr. Emily Smith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Books, 2023. A book that looks at what it means to love our neighbor through the lens of global public health. Review

A Quiet Life, Kenzaburo Oe (Translators: Kunioki Yanagishita, William Wetherall). New York: Grove Press, 1998. Ma-chan, a quiet, college age woman is left to care for her older brother who has a neurological disorder and younger, college-bound brother while her father, a famous writer, sorts out his life and faith in California on a writer’s residency. Review

Book of the Month: Now I Lay Me Down To Fight. As the husband of a breast cancer survivor, Katy Bowser Hutson’s little book of poems and essays resonated in so many ways with our experience, although no two cancers or cancer journeys are alike. Her writing captures well the distinct challenges of chemo, surgery, and radiation, the fears, the exhaustion, the bodily indignities, and the spiritual journey with all its ups and downs. You are, know, or will know someone who faces this. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t find this book helpful.

Quote of the Month: Kristen LeValley has written a thoughtful book on her own experience of facing suffering and what it meant to cry out to God with her questions amid that experience. She made this valuable observation to encourage both those who suffer and those who walk with them:

“We don’t have to tie things up with a pretty bow to make sure we’re presenting God in the best light. We don’t have to justify our heartbreak to prove that God is still good. We don’t have to find a target so it will make sense. We don’t have to defend God’s goodness by dismissing the pain of our experiences” (p. 187).

What I’m Reading. Over the Christmas holidays I began Abraham Verghese’s The Covenant of Water, a gorgeously written novel set in South India spanning much of the twentieth century. I’m about 400 pages into this 700+ page novel and can’t say enough good about it. I just finished a book on a Wesleyan theology on holiness arguing for the idea of entire sanctification–something I’ve not heard much about in recent years. I’m also reading The Prophets and the Apostolic Witness: Reading Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel as Christian Scripture. The authors explore to what extent we may read these books not only in terms of their context but in light of the work of Christ. Abraham’s Silence explores the significance of Abraham’s silence when commanded by God to sacrifice his son. This is an incident I’ve thought long on and am eager to see what J. Richard Middleton will say. Hal Green’s book Pray This Way To Connect With God is a rich book on page organized into short, two page reflections on the natire of prayer and how we may do so. Finally, I’m in the middle of my eighth Cadfael, loving this series more with each book.

In case you missed them I posted several end of the year posts you might enjoy

Bob on Books Best of 2023. My choices of the best books I’ve reviewed in a number of categories in 2023.

Bob on Books Readers Choice Books of 2023. These are the ten most viewed reviews of 2023.

Bob on Books 2024 Reading Challenge. A different kind of book challenge.

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.

The Month in Reviews: November 2023

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If you skim over this list, you will recognize that I’m in a season of working through vintage series–Brian Jacques’ “Redwall,” Ngaio Marsh’s “Roderick Alleyn,” Margery Allingham’s “Albert Campion,” and Ellis Peter’s “Brother Cadfael” are all represented here. I read several books on evangelicalism including Edith Blumhofer’s history of the music of the Billy Graham Crusades and its impact on evangelical worship, a forthcoming work on the movement of deconstructing faith, resulting in many departures from evangelical churches, and finally, Karen Swallow Prior’s fine study of the evangelical imagination. There are two complementary devotionals here–a verse by verse set of reflective prayers from the book of Hebrews, six days a week for the year, and a wonderful little 90 second devotional based on the lectionary for Year B.

In the history department there is a study of the life of Ramesses II, perhaps Egypt’s greatest Pharoah, and a new biography of David Tod, perhaps the most illustrious citizen to hail from my hometown of Youngstown, serving a pivotal role as state governor of Ohio for two key years during the Civil War. I read a thoughtful proposal for police reform from a former police officer and a book on discipleship through the lens of justice. Rounding out the list is a Ronald Rohlheiser classic on spirituality, one of the best I’ve read in this genre, a thoughtful book on lament, a very helpful book on reading the Psalms, and a novel set in Paris that was a delightful surprise. As always, the link under the title will take you to the publisher’s page and the link saying “Review” will take you to the full review.

The Holy Longing (Fifteenth Anniversary Edition), Ronald Rolheiser. New York: Image, 2014. A discussion of Christian spirituality rooted in an understanding of desire and the incarnation. Review

Just Discipleship, Michael J. Rhodes (foreword by Brent A. Strawn). Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. A study both of what the Bible means by justice and how we become people who practice justice. Review

Ramesses II, Egypt’s Ultimate Pharoah, Peter J. Brand. Columbus, GA: Lockwood Press, 2023. Drawing heavily on archaeology, this lavishly illustrated work describes the life, historical and cultural context, and physical record of this arguably greatest of Egypt’s Pharaohs. Review

Mystery Mile, (Albert Campion #2), Margery Allingham. New York: Bloomsbury Reader, 2018 (originally published in 1930). Campion is hired to protect a retired American judge investigating the Simister crime syndicate, yet even a remote coastal community is not safe from their sinister efforts. Review

Salamandastron (Redwall #5), Brian Jacques. New York: Ace Books, 1994. The Badger Lord of the mountain fortress Salamandastron faces the overwheming forces of the Corpsemakers led by Ferahgo the Assassin and his son Klitch while Redwall Abbey is laid low by a deadly fever. Review

Sundays on the Go Year B, Albert Haase, OFM. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2023. Taking the lectionary readings for each Sunday in liturgical year B, offers a brief reflection, prayer, and question to ponder, also including readings for solemnities and special feasts. Review

Rethinking the Police, Daniel Reinhardt. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023. A study of the history of policing in the United States and how a culture of dehumanization has developed, offering recommendations for reform rooted in servant leadership, community-based policing, and procedural justice. Review

The Leper of Saint Giles (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #5), Ellis Peters. New York: Mysterious Press/Open Road Media, 2014 (Originally published in 1981). A wedding arranged between two landed families between a powerful old baron and an orphaned girl in charge of her avaricious uncle and aunt fails to happen when the groom doesn’t show because he lies murdered along a trail. Review

The Deconstruction of Christianity, Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Elevate, (Forthcoming, January 30,) 2024. A study of what the authors term the “deconstruction movement.” why this needs to be taken seriously, and how to respond to loved ones who are “deconstructing.” Review

The Political Transformation of David Tod, Joseph Lambert, Jr. Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press, 2023. A biography of Governor David Tod from Youngstown, focusing on his political career and his transformation as a “War Democrat” from support of popular sovereignty to supporting the Union war effort and ultimately Emancipation. Review

Hopeful Lament, Terra McDaniel. Downers Grove: IVP/Formatio, 2023. Out of a string of experiences of loss, the writer, a spiritual director writes about grief, lament, and the hope inherent in biblical lament. Review

The Evangelical Imagination. Karen Swallow Prior. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2023. A consideration of the images, stories, metaphors that constitute the “social imaginary” of what it has meant to be an evangelical. Review

Overture to Murder (Roderick Alleyn #8), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2012, (Originally published in 1939). A comedic play in a small village to raise funds for the church to buy a new piano turns into a murder mystery when the pianist is shot when playing the opening notes of the prelude by a gun concealed within. Review

Songs I Love to Sing, Edith L. Blumhofer (foreword by Fernando Ortega). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.: 2023. A history of the ministry of Billy Graham, focused on the music, the key roles of Cliff Barrows and George Beverly Shea, and the wider influence of the musical practices of the Crusades. Review

Bastille Day, Greg Garrett. Brewster, MA: Raven/Paraclete Press, 2023. A brief love affair with a beautiful Muslim woman who he rescues from a suicide leads Cal Jones to come to terms with losses and traumatic memories and to discover that he is not alone. Review

Treasuring the Psalms, Ian J. Vaillancourt. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. An orientation to both lay readers and churches to how to read and appropriate the Psalms, approaching them canonically, Christologically, and personally. Review

The Most Holy Place, Jeremy D. Vogan. Staunton, VA: LightPath Publishing, 2023. Day-by-day prayers based on a verse by verse reflection on the Book of Hebrews. Review

Book of the Month. I was so impressed with Ian Villaincourt’s Treasuring the Psalms, one of the most helpful books I’ve come across for making sense of the Psalms as a whole and how we read and apply individual Psalms in our lives and as worshipping congregations.

Quote of the Month. I found Ronald Rohlheiser’s The Holy Longing to be one of the most profound books on Christian spirituality I’ve read. This quote explains what he means by “holy longing” and reflects profound insight into our nature as human beings:

“Spirituality is about what we do with the fire inside us, about how we channel our eros. And how we do channel it, the disciplines and habits we choose to live by, will either lead to a greater integration or disintegration within our bodies, minds, and souls, and to a greater integration or disintegration in the way we are related to God, others, and the cosmic world.”

What I’m Reading. I’ve just added to my reading stack Reading Karl Barth by Chris Boesal. I’m ashamed to say how little of this formidable theologian I’ve read! Maybe this will inspire me. Jared Patrick Boyd has an interesting book title Finding Freedom in Constraint which addresses how spiritual practices function as constraints revealing our inner desires. Sounds like shades of Rohlheiser! I’ve had Thomas F. Madden’s Istanbul on my “to read” pile for several years. Digging into it, I’m realizing what a pivotal role the city has played through history. On a lighter note, I’m midway through Margery Allingham’s Look to the Lady, the third in her Albert Campion series and am fascinated in the brilliant, eccentric character she has created in Campion. Finally, I’m reading Emily Hunter McGowin’s Christmas: The Swason of Life and Light, which looks to be a refreshing theological reflection on this day on which we celebrate the incarnate son, Jesus amid all the commercialization and hustle and bustle of the season.

An Extra:

For those of you who are intrigued to know more about Daniel Reinhardt’s ideas in Rethinking the Police, I interviewed him for our Emerging Scholars Network Conversations series. Watch the interview on YouTube!

Happy reading, friends! Hope this list offers reading ideas for you as well as those on your shopping 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.

The Month in Reviews: October 2023

/ rtrube54 / 2 Comments

Reviewing the list of books I read this month, what stands out is a lot of mysteries–two Cadfael’s, the first in Margery Allingham’s Campion series, and a previously unknown (to me) author Giles Blunt with detectives Cardinal and DeLorme in northern Canada. Some other standouts include a study of the history of dispensationalism in the U.S., John Irving’s latest, and supposedly last long novel (it is), a book on difficult conversations on race that was followed by one modelling a fictional dialogue on homosexuality and the Bible, what can also be a difficult conversation, and finally, a wonderful memoir by a bass player who spent his life in jazz ensembles and the theatre scene around Chicago, playing with a number of jazz greats. I’d also highlight Can You Just Sit with Me?, a sensitive book on walking with the grieving, Benjamin Laird’s book on the New Testament canon, and a forthcoming book by Jeff Haanan on Working From the Inside Out, a marketplace-focused book on spiritual transformation–concise yet rich!

Saint Peter’s Fair (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #4), Ellis Peters. New York: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, 2014, (originally published 1981). The murder of a merchant from Bristol during Saint Peter’s Fair is the first of a string of break-ins culminating in another murder; even while two young men vie for the attentions of the merchant’s bereaved niece. Review

The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism, Daniel G. Hummel (Foreword by Mark A. Noll). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2023. A history of the origins, rise, and eventual decline of dispensationalism within American evangelicalism, and its impact on the wider American culture. Review

Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul, Dorcas Cheng-Tozun. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023. How highly sensitive persons can also contribute to social justice efforts in ways consonant with their personalities. Review

Can You Just Sit With Me?, Natasha Smith. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023. An extended reflection for Christians permitting ourselves and others to grieve well and how we may accompany those who are grieving. Review

Witness In The Academy, Rick Mattson. Madison, WI: InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries, 2023. Offers both a framework for thinking about Christian witness among graduate students and faculty and a host of practical resources aiding in that witness. Review

The Last Chairlift, John Irving. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2022. The son of a former slalom skier tries to make sense of the ghosts he sees, the father he never knew, and the different ways people love, and fail to love. Review

How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race, Kwame Christian. Dallas: BenBella Books, 2022. Makes the case for the importance and unavoidability of workplace conversations about race, how we may overcome our fears, and offers a framework of practical skills in engaging these conversations. Review

Four (and a half) Dialogues on Homosexuality and the Bible, Donald J Zeyl. Cascasde Books: Eugene, OR: 2022. A fictional dialogue between four students representing four different interpretive approaches to the Bible regarding homosexuality and same sex marriage. Review

The Crime at Black Dudley (Albert Campion #1), Margery Allingham. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018 (originally published in 1929). A house party at a remote mansion results in the death of its one reclusive resident after a “lights out” game with a 15th century dagger, followed by the party being held captive by the head of an international crime syndicate. Review

Beguiled By Beauty, Wendy Farley. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020. A book on the contemplative life encompassing all of life as well as specific practices, written on the “borderlands” of Christian faith. Review

Working from the Inside Out, Jeff Haanen. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, (Forthcoming December 12) 2023. In a disintegrating world, outlines how five dimensions of inner transfornation can, in turn, transform our outer world of work and our life in society. Review

What Jesus Intended, Todd D. Hunter. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2023. Written for those who have been disillusioned by the church and bad religion, offering hope that the rediscovery of Jesus and his aims can sustain and restore us. Review

King: A Life, Jonathan Eig. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023. A new biography of King that focuses not only on his civil rights leadership but his personal life and struggles. Review

Colour Scheme (Roderick Alleyn #12), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2013 (first published in 1943). A struggling New Zealand spa by some sulphur springs becomes the scene of espionage, the visit of a famous stage actor, and murder. Review

Creating the Canon, Benjamin P. Laird. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023. A survey of the scholarly discussions about the production, formation, and authority of the New Testament Canon, including the composition and circulation of the books, the role of theological controversies and councils, and the importance of apostolicity. Review

Pauline Theology as a Way of Life, Joshua W. Jipp. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023. A study of Paul’s theology as an invitation to a flourishing life through participation in Christ, observing parallels and contrasts with both ancient philosophy and modern positive psychology. Review

The Virgin in the Ice (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #6), Ellis Peters. New York: Myterious Press/Open Road, 2014 (originally published 1982). Three missing refugees, an amnesiac monk left for dead, and a dead young girl encased in ice amid civil war and marauding bands challenge the skills of Cadfael and Hugh Beringar. Review

Forty Words for Sorrow (John Cardinal and Lise DeLorme Mystery #1), Giles Blunt. New York: Berkley Books, 2000. When a missing teenager’s body is found in a mineshaft, John Cardinal is re-assigned to a case he’d been pulled off of and is joined by Lise DeLorme, who is also investigating him for corruption. Meanwhile, facts point to a serial killer when another body turns up and another missing youth is traced to their community. Review

We Survived the End of the World, Steven Charleston. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023. For a culture facing apocalyptic times, Charleston proposes we might learn from the prophets of the Native peoples of North America, who brought messages to help their own people face the apocalypse of the colonists and their successors. Review

Making the Low Notes: A Life in Music, Bill Harrison. Saint Louis: Open Books Press, 2023. A memoir of an accomplished former bass player, from his beginnings of learning to play an upright bass, learning from and studying with other players, playing with jazz greats, and the physical and financial challenges of making it. Review

Book of the Month. This month, the honor goes to Jonathan Eig for his new biography on Martin Luther King, Jr., King: A Life. Drawing on recently available materials, he goes deeper into the inner life of King, the FBI’s surveillance of King and the dynamics among civil rights leaders, including Abernathy’s steadying role in King’s life.

Quote of the Month. This quote from which Giles Blunt’s title Forty Words for Sorrow is drawn, expressing how often there are really no words for the inconsolable sorrows we confront:

“Eskimos, it is said, have forty different words for snow. Never mind about snow, Cardinal mused, what people really need is forty words for sorrow. Grief. Heartbreak. Desolation. There were not enough for this childless mother in her empty house” (p. 37).

What I’m Reading. I just finished Ronald Rolheiser’s The Holy Longing, exploring the relationship between our desires and our spiritual life. I think he is as insightful as any on the relationship between our sexuality and our spirituality. I’ve been working through a long, but lavishly illustrated volume on the life of Ramesses II by Peter J. Brand. Michael J. Rhodes thinks about how the Bible’s teaching on justice may be integrated into the church’s efforts to form disciples in Just Discipleship, a book that combines good biblical study with practical applications drawn from his experience in a multi-ethnic church on the south side of Memphis. Sundays on the Go takes the liturgical readings for Sundays in year B of the lectionary cycle (there is one for year A as well) and offers 90 second devotionals–a short reflection, prayer and question for each Sunday. For fun, I’ve just begun Salamandastron, the fifth in the Redwall series by Brian Jacques after a couple months away from the series, and the second in the Albert Campion series, Mystery Mile.

Like the squirrels in my yard collecting food for the winter and building nests in our trees, I’ve been collecting up new books to read and review in the colder months. I feature some in my “Book of the Day” posts on social media (Facebook, Threads, Instagram, and X). Just look for @bobonbooks on any of these sites. Is it a hibernation instinct to store up books for those cold winter nights, or just an excuse to buy books? At any rate, I hope I’ve offered you some ideas for your next trip to the bookstore or library!

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.

Book Surprises

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Two recent reads that were pleasant surprises.

I like to choose the books I read. Most of the time I make good choices. By this time in life, I should know…I think.

Recently, I was reminded of the delight when a book comes your way that you didn’t choose–and you really like it.

Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt was a birthday gift from my son. I do like crime fiction, some more than others. I’d never heard of Blunt. I discovered that all the things of great crime fiction were there–interesting lead characters with their own sorrows and demons, an investigation that is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, a truly evil antagonist with heightening tension. All of this was combined with deft writing that evoked mental images of place, and individual scenes. I was pleased to learn that there were five more in this series featuring detectives Cardinal and DeLorme.

The other was a book chosen for me in LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer giveaways. One of the books that came my way was Bill Harrison’s Making the Low Notes. I’m reading it right now. Harrison is a bass player, the big string bass instruments that are the foundation of a jazz ensemble. Harrison makes the process of learning to play the bass, discovering jazz, playing gigs with quartets, and becoming increasing sought after in the Chicago music scene, a fascinating story. I loved reading about the first time he listened to Miles Davis’ Kinda Blue, one of the greatest of all jazz albums, and listened to bassist Paul Chambers. Last night, I listened to Kinda Blue with a whole new level of attention to the bass part.

Like most readers, I can fall into ruts–reading my favorite writers, favorite genres. Ruts can get dull. I wonder at times if we can become dull as well. I think my son’s mission in life is to get me out of ruts. He has exposed me to graphic literature, more non-fiction than fiction, to writers like Blunt, and even some great baseball books by writers I was not acquainted with. Having someone in your life who does that is a gift. As I blog and review, I’ve been blessed by others who have done this as well. I discovered the Redwall fantasies of Brian Jacques this year through such a recommendation, and it has been like a second childhood! I think of a publicist who always throws in an extra book or two beyond what I’ve requested–no clinkers in the bunch! If you don’t have someone like that, find a good bookseller or librarian who gets to know you and can connect you with books out there you might like but didn’t know about.

Good surprises that lead to finding new books to love and authors to follow is like finding a new restaurant with great food–one that keeps you coming back to try the whole menu. Actually, just thinking about surprises has me wanting to call my favorite bookseller to ask if he will surprise me with a recommendation based on what he’s seen and what he knows about me. Does that sound like fun?