Kurt Vonnegut

The Weekly Wrap: August 9-15

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The Weekly Wrap: August 9-15

Reading Projects

Have you ever thought of reading through an encyclopedia, from A to Z? In 2004, A. J. Jacobs published The Know-It-All, chronicling his big project of reading through the 32 volumes of the print edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. I am reading the book, and while I haven’t gotten to the end of the book, it is apparent that he discovered that lots of factual knowledge is not the equivalent of wisdom. I liked browsing our family’s encyclopedia as a child, but reading through one? No way!

A reading project usually involves either a number of books or one very large and challenging book. For many, the ultimate challenge seems to be the reading of James Joyce’s Ulysses or Tolstoy’s War and Peace or Hugo’s Les Miserables. Frankly, I have no interest in Joyce, but Les Miserables is on my TBR. I’ve known some to take on a topic, like the biographies of the presidents or the English monarchs. Others like to read all the works of an author. One of my reading goals for this year is to read the major novels of Jane Austen.

It seems to me that one of the reasons to pursue a reading project is that you’ve found an author or topic you love and simply want to read as much on it as you can. However, there is a certain allure for some to read through a set, whether an encyclopedia, a multi-volume theology like that of Karl Barth, or The Great Books.

I have two reading projects that I hope to get to. One is to read the set of Balzac novels my grandfather collected and handed down to my mom, who loved reading them when she was young. The other is to read the three-volume Systematic Theology of Charles Hodge. I bought it from a retiring pastor forty odd years ago. So, maybe in my retirement I’ll get around to reading it.

In the end, what it comes down to is that there are so many good books to read. But we only have one life to read them. So the project is choosing those books that will mean the most to us, to read and re-read.

Five Articles Worth Reading

Do you like thrillers and mysteries? I certainly do. The New York Times just published “Readers Pick Their 100 Best Thrillers of the Century.” You’ve probably read some and might find some others that pique your interest.

Richard Russo grew up in a hardscrabble town and his books revolve around characters from these places. In “Hard-Luck Men in Hardscrabble Towns,” Mark Oppenheimer looks at the corpus of his novels as well as reviewing the latest.

Many of us from the Vietnam era read Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Now Susan Farrell has written Vonnegut’s War: The Making of Slaughterhouse-Five looking back at Vonnegut’s World War II experiences as a P.O.W. and how they influenced the book. Here is the Publishers Weekly starred review.

Melanie Challenger has written what looks to be a fascinating book on human agency, Alive: The Hidden Intelligence of the Living World. She previews the book in “Where Does the Will To Live Come From… in Humans and Nonhumans Alike?“

“Wielding the Blue Pencil” reveals that British publishers only added editors to their staff after World War II. The article explores the reasons why publishers added editors and the relationships formed between authors and editors.

Quote of the Week

John Galsworthy explains why politicians in power don’t always advocate the same things they did when in opposition:


“There is one rule for politicians all over the world: Don’t say in Power what you say in opposition; if you do, you only have to carry out what the other fellows have found impossible.”

Miscellaneous Musings

“Jason Arday, Cambridge Scholar Who Resigned Under Scrutiny, Is Found Dead.” This story turned up in my email late yesterday. Police do not believe his death was suspicious. He was the youngest professor appointed at Cambridge but recently faced charges of plagiarism and of embellishing his resume. He resigned from Cambridge last week. Out of respect, I will not speculate, particularly because cause of death hasn’t been established and the investigations of the charges against him were ongoing at the time of his death. Very tragic.

This case also brings to mind authors rightly and wrongly accused of using AI generated text and not disclosing it. Recently, a novelist lost a $2 million dollar deal over such accusations. My son passed along this very helpful article: “You Will Be Accused of Using AI. Here Is How to Prove You Wrote It.”

Earlier this year, Daniel Kraus’ Angel Down won this year’s Pulitzer Prize. Three hundred pages. One sentence. Andrew Krivak’s Mule Boy is not that extreme but I’ve counted a single sentence covering a least four pages. Can’t say that I’m a fan of this kind of writing. Probably too much training about run-on sentences! But probably no one challenged him for using AI to write it!

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: David Nasaw, The Wounded Generation

Tuesday: Christine Jeske, Racial Justice for the Long Haul

Wednesday: T.A. Gibson, A Wayfarer’s Poems: The Invitation

Thursday: Andrea Ferrari, The Fall and Redemption of Conscience

Friday: Andrew Krivak, Mule Boy

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for August 9-15.

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

The Weekly Wrap: December 29-January 4

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woman in white crew neck t shirt in a bookstore wrapping books
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Reading Goals

I’ve observed there are two kinds of bibliophiles. Obviously, both types love to read. And usually, both read lots of books. But one type enjoys setting goals for themselves from pages and books read, to reading particular types of books. Meanwhile, the other type just likes to read, going where their whims take them. Personally, I don’t think there is anything wrong with being either type. After all, we’re reading when much of the world isn’t!

I tend toward the goal setters, not only in books but in other things. Goals stretch me and help me grow and I’ve lived long enough to be realistic. And they are my goals–not someone else’s.

I sign up for the Goodreads Reading Challenge every year. I set it below what I read the past year, but a little more than last year’s goal. Over time, my goals exceed what I once read, but are well within reach for me–so I don’t stress.

But the goals that matter are what make me a better reader. Probably a big one for me this year is to read with greater attention–probably to compensate for my diminishing brain cells. Probably the two things I want to work on is to not mix reading and phones. The other is to get enough sleep so that I am not reading tired.

I’d like to take at least minimal notes on more challenging books–perhaps outlining an argument for example. I might start with one or a few books. I usually don’t take written notes, just mentally reviewing as I go along.

Another thing I want to do is re-read at one book that has been significant to me in the past. The occupational hazard of reviewing is having so many new books to read. Perhaps I’ll even try for a fiction work and a non-fiction work.

Finally, I’ve been reading more poetry. I have collections of poetry of Donne, Dickinson, Sandburg, Eliot, and Langston Hughes among others. I want to read slowly through at least one of these.

Every year, I post a “reading challenge.” This year’s will go up on Monday. No doubt, some of this will be there and some others. And I’d love to hear about your reading goals!

Five Articles Worth Reading

We lost Jimmy Carter this past week, our longest-lived president, at 100. Numerous tributes have appeared about his humanitarian efforts. He was also a prolific author, publishing 32 books. “Jimmy Carter: Poet, Novelist, Memoirist, Philosopher” celebrates his literary legacy.

In 1988, Kurt Vonnegut, wrote a letter for people in 2088. Benedict Cumberbatch gives us an early preview in “Benedict Cumberbatch Reads Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter of Advice to People Living in the Year 2088.” It’s a profound letter and well-read.

Speaking of letters, Cynthia Ozick, in “Voices from the Dead Letter Office” reflects on what we’ve lost with the end of letter-writing.

Ever since my freshman year, when I read one of the coillections of Flannery O’;Connor’s short stories, I’ve been both perplexed and fascinated by her writing. I totally missed Wildcat, a film exploring her life through the lens of the period when she learned that she, like her father, was suffering from lupus, a disease that would claim both of their lives. In “The Peacock’s Tail,” Jeff Reimer reflects on the movie and the connection between O’Connor’s suffering and creativity.

Several years ago, it seemed everywhere I looked, I encountered articles about the New Atheists. Now, increasingly, I’m reading of intellectuals who are coming to faith, like historian Niall Ferguson, who recently converted from atheism to Anglican Christianity. In “How Intellectuals Found God” Peter Savodnik chronicles this trend. The professions of some may surprise you and I think for any of us, the test is “by their fruit you will know them.” But it’s a fascinating account.

Quote of the Week

J.R.R. Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892. We would do well, I think, to follow this advice from him:

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

Miscellaneous Musings

Jimmy Carter was not only a prolific author, but like many of our presidents, a prodigious reader. I enjoyed “In His Reading Life, Jimmy Carter Favored ‘Anything but Politics’” in this week’s New York Times. It’s hard to make excuses about finding time to read when we read of people like him!

I’m reading Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. I’ve admired her writing but not always the endings of her books. I thought The Dutch House got it right. Hoping for two in a row. Watch for my review!

Goodreads has tweaked its Reading Challenge this year to include integration with Kindles and monthly reading challenges, cumulative challenges, and community challenges. The monthly challenge is a pretty low bar–finish one book each month–but 12 books is more than many Americans read.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Bob on Books 2025 Reading Challenge

Tuesday: David W. Swanson, Plundered: The Tangled Roots of Racial and Environmental Injustice

Wednesday: Amy Tan, The Backyard Bird Chronicles

Thursday: Ellis Peters, Brother Cadfael’s Penance

Friday: Rachel B. Griffis, Julie Ooms, and Rachel M. De Smith Roberts, Deep Reading

Well, that’s The Weekly Wrap for December 29, 2024-January 4, 2025!

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