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The Weekly Wrap: September 28-October 4

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The Weekly Wrap: September 28-October 4

Series Love

Thursday dashed my hopes for my beloved Cleveland Guardians making it to the World Series. But the World Championship of baseball isn’t my only series love. I am a book series lover. Why? It’s simple, when you find an author whose writing and ensemble of characters and plots you like, it is a bonus, when there are twenty or more books beside the one you are reading. It makes the choice of what to read next easier.

I’m fond of saying that Louise Penny got me through the pandemic. And her latest hits the stores soon! I want to be Gamache when I grow up. I dream of visiting Myrna Landers bookstore. I’d like to order a sampler of all the good dishes the Bistro serves. And what can I say about Ruth Zardo…

Thanks to a friend’s recommendation, I’ve been reading William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor stories. I just finished number fourteen. But I won’t buy the new one, Apostles Cove, and read out of order. It will likely have spoilers for books I haven’t read yet.

Some series, like this are best read in order, But others can be picked up just about anywhere. I’ve found that true of Agatha Christies Poirots. Although they are numbered, I just read them as I find them. Likewise for the Lord Peter Wimsey books, although the development of his relationship with Harriet Vane occurs over several books.

Alas, there are also the series I haven’t finished. Some, like the Patrick O’Brien Aubrey-Maturin series I can’t really say why. I even have all the books. In the case of another series, I am a couple short, but I just felt the writer was losing her touch and they weren’t as good.

My latest series project, at the behest of my son, is Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series which runs to 41 books. Not sure whether I’ll finish that one (or live long enough to do so!) but I finished #1 and will go on to #2. At least I don’t have to wonder what I read next. Thanks to my son, all 41 are loaded on my Kindle.

Five Articles Worth Reading

Since college, I’ve been hearing about Thomas Pynchon. He’s one I’ve never gotten around to reading. After a hiatus, Pynchon has a new novel out, Shadow Ticket. If you are thinking of taking him up, A.O. Scott offers a reading guide in “The Essential Thomas Pynchon.”

My mom was a Leon Uris fan. And so, I read some of his books that she had laying around the house. And if you are of my generation, you can’t forget the music theme, and perhaps the film version of Exodus. Alexander Nazaryan remembers his novels about Israel in “An Exodus from History.”

One of the more popular prints I’ve seen adorning many walls is The Great Wave off Kanagawa. If Japanese wave and ripple patterns fascinate you, Public Domain has posted three volumes of these from a 1903 work by artist Mori Yūzan. The article is: “Hamonshu: A Japanese Book of Wave and Ripple Designs (1903).”

Although my Guardians season is over my love for baseball is not. But a new development, allowing appeals to “robotic umpires” might take some of the magic away. Each umpire has his or her own strike zone. Managers, batters, and pitchers all make it their business to know and part of ‘inside baseball” are all the adjustments. Take that away for an “objective” strike zone and I think the game will lose something. So does Nick Burns, who writes about “The Disenchantment of Baseball.”

Many of us who were around in 1972 were captivated by Cat Stevens’ rendering of an old Christian hymn “Morning Has Broken.” It was number one in the US that year. Over the years, from rough beginnings, he has explored a number of faiths before landing in Islam and taking the name Yusuf Islam. Now, he has published an autobiography. The Guardian ran a review this week: “Cat on the Road to Findout by Yusuf/Cat Stevens review – fame, faith and charity.”

Quote of the Week

Miguel Cervantes was born on September 29, 1547. He wrote:

“In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd.“

I wondered if this was the inspiration of the song “The Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha. It captured the imagination of so many of us in the 1960’s, when many of us dared dream the impossible.

Miscellaneous Musings

Amidst our immigration debates, I’ve wondered why people would leave home, family, community, take perilous journeys, and seek refuge in a country not particularly eager to have them. In The Asylum Seekers, which I’m reading at present, that question is answered. It usually amounts to a life threatened or a family member murdered. It strikes me that the qualities of character such people exhibit suggest the kind of people we’d want to welcome.

I’ve been hearing a lot about Paul Kingsnorth’s Against the Machine. He wrestles with the wave of technology overwhelming us (did any of us ask for all this AI?). He’s concerned that this threatens something essential to our humanity. Despite the flood of money flowing into this tech boom, it seems to me essential to ask these questions.

The backdrop of William Kent Krueger’s Windigo Island is the trafficking of young girls to satisfy the sexual appetites of men on lake freighters and in oil boom towns. The book underscored the moral unacceptability of this practice, even among billionaire playboys. Whatever comes of the Epstein fiasco, I hope we will determine to be a society with zero tolerance for such crime, which is what it is, and no leniency for traffickers, procurers, and perpetrators.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Kristin M. Colberg and Jos Moons, SJ, The Future of Synodality

Tuesday: Ross Douthat, Believe

Wednesday: David McCullough, History Matters

Thursday: Randy S. Woodley, Shalom and the Community of Creation

Friday: Stanley Hauerwas, The Peaceable Kingdom

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for September 28-October 4.

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

The Weekly Wrap: December 8-14

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One Hundred Pages a Day

I found myself chuckling while reading Matthew Walther’s “The Hundred Page Strategy.” Partly to keep up with my review schedule on the blog, I read more than that. Every day. I say that not as a point of pride. There was a time when I would not have thought Walther’s goal possible. Now I can say that it is and he offers good suggestions for those of us who want to read more.

Some are simple, like put the smartphone in a drawer. Some are sensible–don’t try to read nothing but heavy, dense books. He reads at times when other people are either sleeping or otherwise engaged. And he carries a book wherever he goes.

There’s nothing special about one hundred pages. His adherence to this goal felt a bit slavish to me. But his recognition of the ways to make space for reading, for doing something one wants to do more of, is laudable. And a stretch goal does help one become ruthless in eliminating what I would call “voluntary distractions” –the ones we choose that fritter away time.

For some, a goal of reading 30-40 pages a day might be more reasonable. You can finish most average size books in about a week. If you’ve wondered how some people read a book a week, this is how.

But the real deal is not how many pages or books we get through but what gets through to us from them. Maybe it is engaging a diverting plot. Or it could be a piece of social analysis of an issue that matters to you. And Walther’s tips can be helpful, no matter how many pages you read and no matter how consistent you are. Read on, friends!

Five Articles Worth Reading

Since I’ve piqued your interest, here’s Matt Walther’s “The Hundred Page Strategy.”

Nikki Giovanni died this week, at age 81. Veronica writes an appraisal of her work for The New York Times, exploring in “When Nikki Giovanni Was Young, Brilliant and Unafraid” how she maintained her vitality and focus over sixty years.

Rhian Sasseen reviews a new series by Solvej Balle that explores the concept of time through a character caught in a time loop in which she wakes up to November 18 every morning after going to bed on November 18 every night. Sassen’s review, “A Novel That Disrupts a Fundamental Law of the Universe,” appears online at The Atlantic.

“Sci-Fi Writer Arthur C. Clarke Predicted the Rise of Artificial Intelligence & the Existential Questions We Would Need to Answer (1978)” reprises a 1978 NOVA special including interviews with Clark and other luminaries in the history of AI. And yes, the questions we are asking now were being asked over 45 years ago.

in “American Literature and the Liberal Way of Life,” Scott M. Reznick proposes that American literature, particularly from the nineteenth century, is an important resource as we engage our politically fraught landscape.

Quote of the Week

Gustave Flaubert, born December 12, 1821, made this succinct statement for all who pursue success to consider:

“Success is a consequence and must not be a goal.”

Miscellaneous Musings

I’m totally going science geek on William Panek’s Pillars of Creation on the Webb telescope. It’s changing our understanding of the universe (and even our own solar system) as it allows us to see further back in time.

I spent one of the most wonderful hours of my life interviewing Matthew Levering a few years ago. He is a Catholic theologian at Mundelein Seminary, and my one overpowering impression was of sitting with a man who deeply loves the Triune God. It was a conversation where I felt I was beholding wonder and beauty. I just began reading his new, Why I Am Roman Catholic and felt like I was back in that interview. I posted an edited transcript of the interview in two parts: One and Two.

I’ve been reading Maigret and the Wine Merchant by Georges Simenon. The wine merchant, who is the murder victim, is a despicable man, a misogynistic womanizer who used his sexual prowess and business power to humiliate men as well as use women. Yet for Maigret, a human life has been taken, a fundamental rent in the fabric of society. I’m deeply disturbed at the valorization of the alleged killer of United Health Care’s CEO. I’m troubled by UHC’s business practices and believe them unjust. But they do not warrant this vigilante justice. And if we valorize it, there will be more such incidents, and over far more petty grievances. And where will it stop?

Next Week’s Reviews

Here’s the lineup for next week:

Monday: My “Best Books” post, the books I read that I thought best in various categories.

Tuesday: James Hely Hutchinson, Answering the Psalmist’s Perplexity.

Wednesday: Margery Allingham, The China Governess.

Thursday: William Kent Krueger, Thunder Bay

Friday: Christopher M. Hays, Eight Million Exiles.

Well, that’s The Weekly Wrap for December 8-14, 2024!

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

The Weekly Wrap: July 28-August 3

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I’ve been raving about James S. Hirsch’s Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend ever since I began reading it. It’s my practice to read a baseball book every summer. When Mays died earlier this summer, a friend recommended the book. And I am in his debt. Not only does it recount the great playing moments in his career. It describes the greatness of his character (as well as his flaws).

Two brawls. One involved rookie Orlando Cepeda and a Pittsburgh pitcher. Needless to say, they got into it and Cepeda went after him with a bat. Mays saw what was unfolding and tackled Cepeda, a bigger man and held him down until the team helped him get back to their dugout. It saved Cepeda’s career. Another time, they were playing the Dodgers in a pennant contest. There was bad blood between Giants pitcher Juan Marichal and John Roseboro, the Dodgers’ catcher. When Marichal came to bat, Roseboro returned a pitch with a hard throw that grazed Marichal’s head. A fight broke out between the two that turned into a melee. That is until Mays broke through and pulled a battered Roseboro back to the Dodgers’ dugout and sat with him while the trainer tended to his injuries.

He stopped what could have been a riot. Pictures showed him in tears. Roseboro and others on the Dodgers team were friends and he was deeply concerned to see this happen among friends in a game situation. Of course, he hit a home run off of a rattled Sandy Koufax in his next at bat! He was known as “the Peacemaker.” Not all sports biography inspire me to be a better person. But this one does.

Five Articles Worth Reading

Yesterday (August 2) would have been James Baldwin’s 100th birthday. The New York Times ran “From Harlem to Selma to Paris, James Baldwin’s Life in Pictures.” In this photo essay, they capture the span of his life in images and accompanying text, including a clip of Baldwin debating William F. Buckley! A great way to celebrate this great American writer!

In The Atlantic, Vann R. Newkirk II introduces us to a side of James Baldwin those of us who only read his books have not seen: his letters. In “The Brilliance in James Baldwin’s Letters” Newkirk contends this is where Baldwin truly shone.

Did you know that between 1912 and 1948 poetry was an Olympic event? And that the first openly gay Olympian won a silver medal in poetry? Lit Hub covers this story in “Did You Know That Poetry Used to Be an Actual Olympic Sport?“

Matt Dinan asks the question of whether it is ever right for a writer to be mean in his Hedgehog Review article “Be Mean.” He writes “Being mean is not seething, cynical, or ironic resentment. It is not hatred or cruelty. It is honesty for imperfect people in an imperfect world. If we cannot say what we think, we may start to hate speaking altogether.”

Do you feel like you keep reading the same authors, the same types of books? If so, Molly Templeton’s “When It’s Time To Change Your Reading Habits” might be helpful. She invites us to read those things we’ve anticipated but put off for a rainy day.

Quote of the Week

While we are celebrating James Baldwin’s centennial birthday, I thought I’d share this thought-provoking quote from him:

“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”

So often, we conceal our true selves. The question here is, whose love is he speaking of? I think it is both the love shown us by others that gives us the courage to unmask, and the occasions of our great love of another, that compels us to show our true selves.

Miscellaneous Musings

It seems everywhere I go, AI is turning up, to assist me with searches, to summarize search findings, and even help me write. For example, in the last sentence, WordPress’s new AI feature told me “assist” in the last sentence was too complex and that I should substitute “help,” which I planned to use later in the sentence to avoid repetitiveness. Sometimes I find these features helpful, especially one that helps me cut out passive voice.. But I still think I’m a better writer!

I just had a Facebook follower send me a video of Ann Patchett recommending the works of fellow bookstore owner, Louise Erdrich. I’ve not read her work, but Patchett was pretty compelling. What do you think of her work, if you’ve read her?

I discovered, both to my chagrin and delight this week that I had not, as I supposed, read all of the Roderick Alleyn novels by Ngaio Marsh. The chagrin was that I was compiling my reviews for a blog post. I planned to list all the titles in order with links to my reviews. To my chagrin, I discovered that there was no review for Scales of Justice, number 18 in the series. I had bought it and thought I’d downloaded it to my Kindle. This was an instance where not reading in order caught me up. I had read all the books on my Kindle. But I’d missed downloading that one! The delight was discovering there was one more Ngaio Marsh to read which I am now doing!

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

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

The Weekly Wrap: July 21-27

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I’m thinking right now about a pull quote by a publisher from one of the articles I’ve suggested worth reading: ‘Readers don’t want the same platitudes; they want books that are addressing taboos.” It makes me reflect on the books I read and review–and those kind don’t tend to be high on my list. While I don’t think all taboos are good, I tend to believe there is accumulated cultural wisdom behind many of them. From what I can tell, it seems that in many stories where the transgressive is an element, such acts seem empowering yet the stories often end as tragedies. Maybe people like these stories as mirrors of their own lives (or at least their fantasies). I’m not one of them.

That is not meant on a judgement of what others read. I posted a meme today that says “Read what you like. Let others read what they like.” I am not in the camp of those who would ban books. While I support the right of parents to help curate the book choices of their younger children, I do not think they should impose these decisions on other parents. And I cannot say I won’t read some books that challenge taboos, particularly if it seems an important book to review. But I’m probably out of sync with contemporary literary culture in its desire for such books. I’m just interested in different things.

Five Articles Worth Reading

“The Reading Revolution: How The Literary Sphere Took Over” is the article I referenced above. What is fascinating is that it offers good evidence that Gen Z is reading and driving book sales. For those who read the article, I’d be interested in your thoughts!

The Olympics in Paris began yesterday. Appropriately, The Atlantic posted “Seven Books That Will Change How You Watch the Olympics” Included in this list is a biography of Jesse Owens. As a big fan of Ohio State, I want to read this sometime!

In my younger years, I loved science fiction and have tried to read more in recent years–old and new. Esquire posted “The 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time.” I found some authors to check out.

I read a lot of trade paperbacks. But I never knew the story of Jason Epstein and his role in creating the trade paperback. That is, I didn’t until reading “The Man Who Created the Trade Paperback.”

Finally, I’ve long been a fan of Ngaio Marsh, having read all her full-length Roderick Alleyn mysteries. She was one of the four Queens of Crime along with Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Dorothy L. Sayers. “Inside the home of New Zealand’s greatest crime writer” takes us on a tour of her home.

Quote of the Week

July 22 was the birthday of Stephen Vincent Benet, a once popular poet who was born in 1898. He made this pithy observation that I wish all with any sort of power understood:

“We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom.”

Miscellaneous Musings

I’m concluding 48 years of paid employment at the end of next month. People have asked if I will be ending Bob on Books. Very simply, no. I plan to keep reading, reviewing and talking about books. We all need a hobby!

I’m reading Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, my baseball book for the summer. James S. Hirsch is the author. It’s an example of great sports writing, combining the story of Mays’ life with great game accounts of historically memorable games.

Earlier, I mentioned science fiction. I’m reading The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy by Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem. If you like weird and witty, Lem is your man. Yesterday, I read an account of admitting a representative from earth into a galactic version of the United Nations. In other words, a hilarious account of bloviating bureaucratic blundering!

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

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