Musings

The Weekly Wrap: June 15-21

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The Weekly Wrap: June 15-21

Long and Short Reads

One of the joys of summer is losing oneself in a big, fat, long book. Of course, the one condition is that it must be well-written.

I’ll be candid with you that one of my challenges as a reviewer is taking on long books to review. One of my goals (compulsions?) is to post reviews daily, Monday through Friday. In order to do that, most of the books I read need to be under 300 pages.

In addition to enjoying them, one of the reasons I mix in shorter mysteries like those of Georges Simenon is that they afford me the space to read longer works. I can finish these in a few days and most books in a week. Then there are some books that I just devour. Anything by William Kent Krueger is like that for me.

Then there are the longer ones. Right now I am working my way through a theological book, Kingdom Through Covenant that comes in at over 800 pages. It will take me three weeks to finish.

I usually have five books going at a time. Only one can be long. For the rest of summer, I will read two more long books. One is Ron Chernow’s Mark Twain and the other is Abraham Verghese Cutting for Stone. I enjoyed The Covenant of Water immensely, and some friends tell me this one is even better. I have a sense that if I read nothing else this summer, these two would make for immensely rich reading.

Five Articles Worth Reading

If you have not read anything by ecologist and Indigenous writer Robin Wall Kimmerer, “Blue Line Medicine” is a great place to sample her writing. This pull quote from the article caught my attention: “If we value the medicine the land offers us so generously, we must become medicine for the land.”

Claire McCardell is probably not a household name for many of us. But she believed women’s fashions could be “practical, comfortable, stylish and affordable. And have pockets.” Kate Bollick reviews CLAIRE MCCARDELL: The Designer Who Set Women Free by Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson in “The Design Genius Who Gave American Women Pockets.”

James Joyces Ulysses and Marcel Proust’s in Search of Lost Time are two long works I will probably not read in the remainder of my lifetime. But what about a review of a new book on the first biographer of James Joyce? I think I can handle that. The article is “Yes I Will Read Ulysses Yes” appearing in The Atlantic.

Did you know that semicolon usage was once more common than it is today? Sara Hashemi explains why in “Could the Semicolon Die Out? Recent Analysis Finds a Decline in Its Usage in British Literature and Confusion Among U.K. Students.”

Finally, most of us already know that reading can be therapeutic. Now, bibliotherapy has been approved in Canada to treat depression and anxiety. “A book prescription for mental health?” confirms what we’ve known all along.

Quote of the Week

Philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal was born on June 19, 1623. This quote by him received quite a bit of comment:

“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”

Perhaps coming on the heels of the news of the religious views of the alleged murderer of a Minnesota state politician and her husband and the non-fatal shooting of two others, this quote struck home. My only observation, echoing a follower, was that Pascal wrote before atheist communism (and fascism). I believe these may also be defined as religious, and sadly have accounted for far more deaths than the traditional religions. But it points to our capacity for self-deception, that we are capable of using the noblest justifications for the most unspeakable evils.

Miscellaneous Musings

Jeff Deutsch, in In Praise of Good Bookstores speaks of the importance of bookstores as places to browse. That’s certainly one of the things I love as well. But some online friends observed the opportunities to electronically browse books, including the chance to read free excerpts before buying. I’m still not sure the two experiences are alike, but I recognize for some in “book deserts” or otherwise not able to get to bookstores, this is a viable alternative.

I celebrated Juneteenth, our national celebration of Black Emancipation, by starting in on Walter Strickland II’s Swing Low: A History of Black Christianity in the United States. I was surprised to learn that some of those brought to America were already Christians, presenting a question of whether Christians should be enslaved. Sadly, the justification was to define Blacks as an inferior race of humans, the origin both of race theories and racism.

I do believe that a key motivation of why we acquire more books than we can read is our hunger to know. Our bookshelves reflect our aspirations. It is dangerous to ask if this can get out of hand. “Hoarding” is a dirty word among bibliophiles. But I wonder if there is a healthy acceptance of our limits (and the limits of our shelf space!) that is the mark of a healthy mind and emotional life.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday. William Kent Krueger, Trickster’s Point

Tuesday. John D. Roth, Footsteps of Faith: A Global Anabaptist Devotional

Wednesday. Jeff Deutsch, In Praise of Good Bookstores

Thursday. Agatha Christie, Curtain

Friday. Steven Felix-Jager, The Problem and Promise of Freedom

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for June 15-21!

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

The Weekly Wrap: June 8-14

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The Weekly Wrap: June 8-14

Patience and Reading

One of the things that strikes me about our public discourse is how poorly formed are many of the things people say. People often speak in slogans or memes rather than making real arguments I wonder if we are becoming an increasingly impatient people. Real discussion and deliberation about the common good takes time. That is because good solutions are rarely simple. It takes a lot of work and thought and back and forth to put good ones together.

The act of reading is an act of patience. For example, I am reading William Kent Krueger’s Trickster’s Point, one of his Cork O’Connor novels. There are times I’m tempted to jump ahead to find out the resolution, usually exposing a killer. But one of the rewards of patience is to savor Krueger’s writing, how he develops a worldview at the intersection of indigenous and Catholic heritage, h9ow he develops character and unfolds plot.

Long books particularly require patience. They also develop the capacity to hold the thread of a narrative or an argument. Recently, I finished Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. It is a nearly 700 page defense of the idea that our canonical gospels are either based on or are eyewitness accounts. The writer marshals ancient sources and the use of names, and other internal evidence to make an impressive case and respond to possible critiques. I think it will be a landmark book and it certainly made a compelling case

The internet and phone scrolling has arguably diminished our capacities for patience and attention. It makes good sense, it seems to me, to exclude phones during school days. (I also wonder whether excluding the use of AI when we want students to think, create, and critique might be good.) Some teachers are incorporating time for long form reading into classes. I wonder if something like this might be a good idea for our public officials as well. Of course it means a public more interested in solutions than slogans. One can hope…

Five Articles Worth Reading

Oprah Winfrey likes novelist Wally Lamb, having recently chosen his latest book for her book club, the third time she has selected one of his books. In “Wally Lamb’s Guilty Pleasure Is a History of Mad Magazine,” the latest “By the Book” interview in The New York Times, we learn he follow’s Oprah’s picks as well.

There is a small., but growing abstinence movement among singles. Melissa Febos chronicles her abstinence journey in her new book, The Dry Season. Actually, she notes her surprise at how enjoyable abstinence was for her. She recommends six other helpful books in “What to Read When You’re Ready to Say No.”

On the other hand, we are facing declining birthrates around the world. Why people aren’t having children is being widely discussed. In a newsletter from Comment, a Canadian magazine, I saw this article, “Why Have Children,” a thoughtful conversation on this topic with Anastasia berg, Brian Dijkema, and Rachel Wiseman.

At my house, we had children’s editions of some classic works including those of Jules Verne, which I ate up as a child. But “9 Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Jules Verne’s ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas’ ” was all new to me!

Finally, Elena Gosalvez Blanco recounts what it was like to work for “The Talented Ms. Highsmith.” She worked for Patricia Highsmith, the writer of psychological thrillers during the final months of her life. Her interview for the job consisted of one question: “Do you like Hemingway?” Ms. Blanco answered “no” and discovered Highsmith hated Hemingway. She got the job!

Quote of the Week

Dorothy L. Sayers, the playwright, novelist, and Christian essayist was born June 13, 1893. This quote seems even more true in our “post-truth” era than it was in her day:

“The great advantage about telling the truth is that nobody ever believes it.”

Miscellaneous Musings

I love hearing from people who read my blogs or follow me on social media. A delightful 89 year old gentleman contacted me today with a question about a recent review. If nothing else, it’s good to know that people do read what I write.

This gentleman also admitted that he hasn’t read many of the books I reviewed–the review told him enough. I joked that “I read so you don’t have to!” Actually, reviewers often serve that function. There are books I am glad to know about that I won’t have time to read, or sufficient interest. So don’t feel guilty about not reading everything I review!

I received a book this week titled “Mid-Faith Crisis,” by Catherine McNeil and Jason Hague. I learned recently that many who go through such crises often are not young, as it is thought, but in their fifties. My own conclusion is that we are meant to grow in our faith journey, and what we learned and believed in our twenties may not always work so well later in life. I’m curious to see what these writers say.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Justin Evans, The Little Book of Data

Tuesday: Roger Lundin, Emily Dickinson and the Art of Belief

Wednesday: Emily Hunter McGowin, Households of Faith

Thursday: J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Numenor

Friday: Rowan Williams, Passions of the Soul

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for June 8-14!

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

The Weekly Wrap: June 1-7

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The Weekly Wrap: June 1-7

Whither, or Wither, Amazon Books?

On Friday, Publisher’s Weekly, announced “Amazon Cuts Jobs in Book Division.” They say they are cutting fewer than 100 roles, which doesn’t tell us how many people are losing their jobs. This includes layoffs at their Kindle and Goodreads units. This is after the company saw a 30% increase in the sales of Kindles following release of a new generation of devices. There were no comments about the performance of Goodreads.

Remember when Amazon was a bookseller? One associated Amazon with books. You could find just about anything and get it delivered quickly. While that is still largely true, more of the book sales depend on third party sellers using the platform.

Remember when Goodreads was the online place you and your friends talked about the books you were reading? Sure one can still do this, but Amazon uses the platform for marketing and has made few improvements. Meanwhile newcomers, as well as the venerable LibraryThing, create more opportunities for reader interaction as well as offering features not available on Goodreads.

Amazon says it is consolidating roles with other divisions, probably for operating efficiency. But they are cutting the number of people working with books at a time when both Barnes & Noble and the indie bookstore market are growing. It seems the focus is on efficiency and technology.

Amazon is still the behemoth when it comes to bookselling and publishers and other booksellers must reckon with it. The truth is, though, no one is too big to fail. If Amazon relies only on algorithms and AI to sell us books and provide us online spaces to talk about them, they just might be surprised how many prefer other places to buy books and other platforms to talk about them. But perhaps books aren’t that interesting when you can launch celebrities into space for less than 15 minutes for big bucks and notoriety.

Five Articles Worth Reading

Imagine if your job provided a research stipend that covered the cost of books. Deb Olin Unferth discovered that this is a very mixed blessing. “The Stipend” is also a fascinating exploration of our propensity as bibliophiles to acquire books far in excess of our capacity to read them.

The Atlantic has begun a new series involving writers retracing the steps of their favorite authors. In the first of these, Caity Weaver is “An Innocent Abroad in Mark Twain’s Paris.” She both recounts Twains travels and her own journey, complete with a number of photographs.

Rivers are defining features in our geography. Towns are built along them and many industries depend on them. In a new book, Robert Macfarlane explores Is a River Alive? In “Britain’s Premier Nature Writer Cries Us a River” one of my favorite reviewers, Jennifer Szalai gives us her take on the book.

Thomas Mann was born 150 years ago yesterday, on June 6, 1875. At one time, Mann embrace militaristic nationalism but eventually repudiated Nazi fascism, becoming an advocate of liberal democracy, even while persisting in conservative values. Ed Simon traces “The Political Journey of Thomas Mann.” The concluding quote by Mann is sobering: “Let me tell you the whole truth. If ever fascism should come to America, it will come in the name of freedom.”

Avoiding the use of adverbs is common advice in writing programs. In “Defending Adverbs Exuberantly if Conditionally,” Lincoln Michel gives a qualified and tongue-in-cheek defense for the use of the lowly adverb.

Quote of the Week

Fittingly(!), Thomas Mann provides our quote this week. Would that the nations, and indeed all of us would learn this:

“War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.”

Miscellaneous Musings

Two new books highlighted in this Publisher’s Weekly newsletter focus on “Business Lessons from Taylor Swift.” With a net worth of $1.5 billion, there might be some things others in the billionaire class might learn from her, if they are willing to learn from a woman. I was struck with this observation: “The book underscores her philosophy that success and joy is found in the giving itself, not just quantifiable monetary success.”

As it happens, I’m reading a biography of Emily Dickinson. I’m struck by her choice of seclusion and decision not to publish her work during her life. That doesn’t mean she didn’t get critical appraisal. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who played a founding role in The Atlantic, was her literary critic, pointing out awkward constructions while respecting her decision not to publish. For this, he was rewarded with the opportunity to co-edit the first collection of her work published posthumously.

This year marks a year of The Weekly Wrap. I would love to say it has been a huge success but that is still largely aspirational. But my aim is to try to curate news and articles that enrich the reading life of other readers as they have mine. I’d love to hear your thoughts, both what you’ve liked, and what you would like in this weekly literary journey. And please forward this to your friends if you like what I’m doing. Since I do this pro bono (and I have reasons for that), I won’t make more money. But it is fun to reach more people with one’s ideas! And thanks for reading!

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Wallace Stegner, The Spectator Bird

Tuesday: Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses

Wednesday: Georges Simenon, The Saint Fiacre Affair

Thursday: Scott Cairns, Love’s Immensity

Friday: Dr. Lisa Compton and Taylor Patterson, Skills for Safeguarding

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for June 1-7, 2025!

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

The Weekly Wrap: May 25-31

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The Weekly Wrap: May 25-31

AI Laziness

A romantic novel in which the AI prompt was never edited out. A White House report on health citing non-existent sources. An article with summer book recommendations in which some of the authors existed but not the books attributed to them.

One might argue that each of these expose the flaws of AI. I suspect what they really expose is the flaws of the particular humans using this tool. Laziness that doesn’t carefully line edit, that doesn’t verify sources, and that doesn’t confirm the existence and availability of books. Similar to computer programming, AI is only as good as the prompts given it. “Garbage in, garbage out.”

Actually, AI has become quite good. A college professor friend now considers AI capable of writing at a professorial level. He shared examples of using AI in various forms of analysis of large amounts of material.

But one thing both of us are agreed upon is that AI offers a dangerous temptation to let it do our thinking for us. It may be a student writing a paper or an author cranking out a steamy novel. What we are doing when we let AI think for us is denying the intrinsic worth of thinking. For many of us, hammering out our ideas in writing serves to clarify thought.

Lest you think I am an AI Luddite, I do believe AI may be a helpful interlocutor in the process. I might ask AI to evaluate an argument for weaknesses or to raise counter arguments. It strikes me that when the chance to do this with real people is unavailable, this could be quite helpful. However, I am still thinking, and indeed, am forced to think harder and better.

I guess what it comes down to is that the ability to think and reason and create from our thoughts is one of the things that makes us human. I’m just not willing to give that up. I’m not ready to slack on the hard work of being a thinking human.

Five Articles Worth Reading

Alasdair MacIntyre, the philosopher, died recently. Charles Matthewes reviews his life and work in “Remembering Alasdair MacIntyre.”

“In a nation known for its relatively poor health, nearly everybody seems to be thinking about how to be healthy….” This line in “The Perilous Spread of the Wellness Craze” captured my attention. Sheila McClear explores the connection between our health care inequalities and the explosion of the wellness industry.

Nick Ripatrazone explores the decline of literary criticism in “The Art of the Critic.” Specifically, he argues for the importance of criticism as a benefit not only to audiences but to writers.

Geraldine Brooks is popular with many readers. Her husband died in 2019. In this interview, “Geraldine Brooks Is a Widow Now,” she talks about loss, grief, writing, and her Jewish faith.

Finally, the summer can be a great time to break out of our reading ruts. The New York Times Book Review has published a “Summer Reading Bucket List” of ten literary “to-do’s,” challenging us to see if we can check off five. The even include a copiable checklist!

…And a Video Worth Watching

The Covenant of Water was one of my favorite books of 2024. I have Cutting for Stone on my reading stack. On Thursday, physician and author Abraham Verghese gave the commencement address at Harvard. One of his pieces of advice for students was to commend the importance of reading novels. As an immigrant to the U.S., he also had some thoughtful and challenging critiques of our current political scene. In case you haven’t seen the video, it is worth watching, especially if you appreciate his writing.

Quote of the Week

G. K. Chesterton was born May 29, 1874. I’ve often appreciated his wit and turn of phrase. This one has some good advice:

“Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.”

Miscellaneous Musings

Regular followers of this blog may have noticed that I have been posting two reviews a day this week. One of these has been of a children’s book published by IVP Kids. What a joy. I’ve loved the combination of brilliant illustration, good writing, and especially the inclusive character of these books. The first book I reviewed, Jesus Loves the Little Children, typified this approach showing pictures of children from every culture as well as children with disabilities. The reason for the extra reviews? I wanted to review these books, compliments of IVP Kids, before passing them along to our church’s Little Free Library, which we’ve just set up.

I was thrilled to visit the new Barnes & Noble store in Dublin, Ohio. When I walked in, it took my breath away–it was huge and overwhelming at first. And it was packed. But I like how the different sections were set apart from each other, many with comfortable seating. Not only that, the cafe was huge. But there was one drawback: the checkout and service counter was smaller than in the old store. And the lines were long.

I like the writing of Amor Towles. And I love bookstores, in case you haven’t noticed. I enjoyed this brief video clip of Towles supporting BINC, a national foundation supporting independent booksellers.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: The Month in Reviews: May 2025

Tuesday: Ian Harber, Walking Through Deconstructioin

Wednesday: Josephine Quinn, How the World Made the West

Thursday: Brian Goldstone, There is No Place For Us

Friday: Terence Halliday and K.K. Yeo, eds., Justice and Rights

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for May 25-31, 2025!

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

The Weekly Wrap: May 18-24

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The Weekly Wrap: May 18-24

New or Used?

Twice this week, I’ve been in discussions of the ethics of buying used books. One was this morning over breakfast with a friend. The other was earlier a week after reading “Is It Ethical to Buy Used Books and Music?” in the New York Times Magazine. I invited a discussion of this on my Facebook page, eliciting some strong opinions.

I’m personally torn on this. I respect what goes into writing a book and think authors worth their hire. And I support brick and mortar stores selling new books. A significant part of my book buying does support authors and the outlets selling them. But I also contribute to the used book economy. I donate and sell books I’ve read for re-sale. And I’ve bought a lot of used books and frequented the portion of the bookselling economy that flourishes by selling used books.

Perhaps the most interesting response on my book page was from several authors who were glad to see books get into people’s hands via either route, particularly if people talked about the books! They realize that word of mouth sells a lot of books and more of people reading their books, however they (legally) obtain them is beneficial.

For many, libraries and used books are the only way they can afford books. And things like library book sales fund a variety of library programs while passing along books very cheaply.

I also think the ecology of book printing suggests that there may be a value in passing along books to multiple readers, until they fall apart. It seems a tragedy to find perfectly good books in a waste or recycling bin. I also wonder if there is a tragedy of books sitting on shelves for decades after one person has read them if they won’t be used for reference or re-reading. I find myself looking at my own shelves this way more and more.

The best answer I’ve come up with is to set aside a portion of my book budget for new books to support my local booksellers and authors while buying backlist titles (and public domain titles) on a used basis. Sometimes, this is a necessity when a book is out of print. And I try to pass along both books and the word about them.

I’d be curious how others have thought about this!

Five Articles Worth Reading

There is nothing like a good mystery or crime novel for a summer beach read, wherever your “beach” is. Crimereads posted a list of 80 books in “The Most Anticipated Crime Fiction of Summer 2025.” Stock up!

One of the things I love about children’s books is the art. In “The Beauty of Imperfect Children’s Book Art” award-winning artist Elisha Cooper takes us behind the scenes, discussing both his influences and practices.

For many of us, A Prayer for Owen Meany was our introduction to the writing of John Irving. How many of these “13 Facts About John Irving’s ‘A Prayer for Owen Meany’” are new to you?

Now we come to the shameless promotion department. Matthew Carey Jordan is a friend from the days when he was a doctoral student in philosophy at The Ohio State University. Since then, he has taught at Auburn, then returned to his home turf in the Cleveland area to head up an innovative humanities program at Cuyahoga Community College. More recently he became Vice President of Academic Affairs at St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology. He has also followed figures like John Henry Newman from evangelical Christianity to the Roman Catholic Church. All this is background to introduce his Substack newsletter, Less of a Theory, which is about “reflections on issues in philosophy of religion, theology, and American culture, written for laypeople rather than scholars.” I’m a grateful subscriber. Here’s a sample, In illo Uno unum, which is Pope Leo XIV’s motto.

Finally, this Monday is Memorial Day in the United States, when we remember those who died in service to our country. “What Veterans’ Poems Can Teach Us About Healing on Memorial Day” allows war veterans to use their own words to speak to the service, loss, and healing this day represents.

Quote of the Week

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born May 22, 1859. He not only gave us Sherlock Holmes but this piece of pithy wisdom applicable in many contexts:

“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”

Miscellaneous Musings

I don’t recall requesting this but the folks at Penguin Random House sent me a copy of the new John Hancock by Willard Sterne Randall. I read and loved his biography on Jefferson years ago. So, I look forward to John Hancock becoming more in my understanding than a flourishing signature!

I’ve been troubled by the incessant offers from institutional buyers to purchase my house, not to re-sell, but to rent. Then I hear what rents go for in my area and I’m not sure if I would be able to rent, let alone buy a home in my area today if I were starting out. In Brian Goldstone’s No Place for Us, I’m learning this is just the tip of a much larger national problem. Unfortunately, for many working poor, affordable housing is out of reach or simply unavailable. Increasing numbers are doubling up, living in extended stay hotels or rooming houses. I’d like to think we are a better country than this, but the facts in many communities suggest otherwise.

Our local Barnes & Noble is opening in a new location on May 28. Thy are taking over a bigger retail space in a shopping center across the street from their old location. My membership just renewed with them so I’m entitled to a new tote bag. I wonder if I’ll get any other swag to put in it (or maybe a book or two). At any rate, I’m delighted that they continue to have a presence in our part of town.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Gabrielle Zevin, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Tuesday: George MacDonald, Gutta Percha Willie

Wednesday: Liz Charlotte Grant, Knock at the Sky

Thursday: Bruce Herman, Makers By Nature

Friday: Rachel G. Jordan, If the Ocean Has a Soul

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for May 18-24, 2025!

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

The Weekly Wrap: May 11-17

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The Weekly Wrap: May 11-17

Story Keeping

We have always loved storytellers, from the stories told in oral cultures, to writers who spin stories, to historians who research and tell the stories of our past. Less glamorous, but just as important, I would contend, are those who are story keepers. Without story keepers, our stories may die within a generation or less, whether from neglect or deliberate action.

Who are the story keepers? They are the publishers who keep important stories in print. They are the librarians who keep the stories on their shelves and connect readers and books. Booksellers, who take financial risks to make books available to readers are story keeping heroes.

I believe we are entering a season where story keeping is taking on greater importance. For example, books are being removed from libraries in service academies and schools. Others have pressed for the removals of books from public libraries. It may be subjects labeled “DEI,” which may include many works of Black, or other ethnic histories. Or it may include books portraying non-traditional gender identity or sexual orientation. If it has been politicized, it has probably been challenged or removed.

I don’t necessarily agree with all the stories or how they ought to be told. It is messy because of the rich mosaic of people who make up our society. Some just think it is simpler to erase the stories that differ from our favorite rendering of the story. But when we do this, we only hear the versions of a story from those who hold power. Then dissenting stories that give a fuller perspective are silenced. Simpler but smaller is what we get.

We are all important to the work of story keeping. We can support publishers, librarians, and booksellers. Whenever we buy and read and talk about books, we are story keepers. And when we read diverse books, we help keep alive the stories of those on the margins whose stories are under attack. We should aggressively resist any effort to ban or destroy books. I hope we don’t come to the day of Fahrenheit 451, where it becomes the task of those who want to save the stories to memorize them. Ultimately, they understood that this is what it meant to save civilization.

Five Articles Worth Reading

Summer is coming and the reading is easy. The Atlantic “The Summer Reading Guide” offers recommendations of great books for the beach or those hot summer afternoons where we dive into a book while sipping our sweet tea.

Were there books that made you challenge the conventions, that opened your mind to new ways of thinking about life, relationships, society? Timothy Aubry explores this topic in “Gateway Books.” What were your gateway books?

Then, perhaps you would study philosophy to explore the meaning of life. However, Pranay Sanklecha describes how this is not what he found in his philosophy studies in “Philosophy was once alive.”

What is “close reading”? In a review of On Close Reading by John Guillory, Dan Sinykin explores how one defines “close reading” and its place in literary studies. The article is “Pay Attention!” His own argument for close reading in the penultimate paragraph made reading this one worth it for me.

Finally, Mrs. Dalloway is one hundred years old! “A Hundred Years of Mrs. Dalloway” explores how Virginia Woolf’s novel was so revolutionary both in its day and in its long-term impact.

Quote of the Week

Feminist poet Adrienne Rich was born on May 16, 1929. She observed:

“Lying is done with words and also with silence.”

It seems to me that this is a corollary to Edmund Burke’s famous statement, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Miscellaneous Musings

Ron Chernow’s Mark Twain arrived at my doorstep today. It is another massive biography, coming in at over a thousand pages of text. I’ll literally be reading that all summer. But if it is like his previous works, it should be a great ride.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. If anything, I have enjoyed The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry even more. And its main character is a somewhat cranky bookseller!

As an addendum to my thoughts on story keeping. I consider reviewing as a form of story keeping. I try to review a variety of diverse and important books and it is one of my ways to be a story keeper, making sure others know of these important stories.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Wesley Vander Lugt, ed. A Prophet in Darkness

Tuesday: Agatha Christie, Third Girl

Wednesday: Jeffrey W. Barbeau, The Last Romantic

Thursday: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson, Abundance

Friday: Michael J. Gilmour, Reading the Margins

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for May 11-17, 2025!

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

The Weekly Wrap: May 4-10

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The Weekly Wrap: May 4-10

Thanks, Mom!

My mother passed away nearly fifteen years ago. But I can never forget her or all the ways she shaped my life. She was intelligent and loved learning. If I remember rightly, she won a statewide chemistry contest in high school. But she also had so much practical sense, managing our house when dad was away, and coaching me how to handle bullies at school. And I spent a lot of time sick in my first years of school and she nursed me through repeated bouts of the croup and other childhood illnesses.

I mentioned my mom was intelligent. She was a reader and because of that, we had a house full of books, mostly hers. Some were stored in the back of my bedroom closet and it was an adventure to crawl in there and explore! I don’t recall any books being off limit.

My mom liked to read over lunch. And so did I. Then we would talk about what we were reading. It didn’t matter that hers was historical fiction and mine was a baseball biography. Maybe that is where this love of talking about books came from.

I don’t recall my mom either reading to me or teaching me to read. She just loved reading and left her books all over the house. And I think that is why I became a reader, which has immeasurably enriched my life. And so, on this Mother’s Day weekend, I say once again, “Thanks, Mom!”

Five Articles Worth Reading

So many of us who read love words. We look up unfamiliar ones. We relish the sound and rhythms of well-crafted poetry or sentences. Bennett Kleinman compiled “The Most Beautiful Words in the English Language, According to Linguists.” Fittingly “mother” was one of these. But my favorite, “evanescent,” was not included.

While we are thinking of mothers, no two mother-child relationships are the same. To understand our mothers is one aspect of understanding ourselves. In “What to Read to Understand Your Mom,” Sophia Stewart recommends seven books on different kinds of moms.

But for some of us, the need is more immediate, and our thought is what to buy mom for Mother’s Day. And of course, as readers, our thoughts turn to books. Well, I’ve got you covered! “Our Favorite Books for Every Type of Mom” is a great list of book recommendations. Whether she loves thrillers, historical fiction, is a foodie, or even a baseball fan, you’ll find something on this list!

If it weren’t for Johannes Gutenberg, books would hardly be so commonplace. I wonder if we would even have bookstores. But what do we know of the man? In “Start the Presses!,” Joseph Hone reviews a new biography by Eric Marshall White, Johannes Gutenberg: A Biography in Books.

Finally, in the latest salvo of our current U.S. president’s culture war, we learned yesterday of the firing of Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress since 2016, the first woman and first Black to hold this post. No reason for the firing was given. The Library of Congress not only serves as a library and research service for Congress. It is also our national library, the People’s Library. It administers copyright in the U.S. and provides services to other libraries and to researchers. I have used its digital resources. Publishers Weekly discusses Dr. Hayden, and the reactions to and implications of her firing in “Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden Fired by White House.”

Quote of the Week

Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard was born May 5, 1813. He observed:

“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”

I am a staunch defender of free speech but would also be the first to admit that it is often exercised without forethought, in ways that exacerbate conflict rather than contributing to more harmonious relations and the pursuit of the common good.

Miscellaneous Musings

Reading Jakob Hutter: His Life and Letters, I was sobered by how this Anabaptist forebear, and many who were with him, suffered with courage for their faith. In this country, we tend to wear crosses rather than bear them. The latter is actually truer to the faith, that either suffers or deeply identifies with the suffering.

Incidentally, that’s a theme of A Prophet in the Darkness on the art of Georges Rouault. Rouault often juxtaposed, especially in his Miserere series, images of the poor, the marginalized, and the suffering Christ.

It is common to complain about the postal service. But I think I owe our mail carrier big time! On one day this week, we received five different book packages, including one from overseas. Even our oversize mailbox couldn’t contain everything and so she placed them neatly on our stoop. Note to self: I need to figure out how to let our local postmaster know how much we appreciate her service.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Graham Greene, The Lawless Roads

Tuesday: James W. Barker, Writing and Rewriting the Gospels

Wednesday: Curt Parton, Until the Last One’s Found

Thursday: William Kent Krueger, Northwest Angle

Friday: Emmy Barth Maendel and Jonathan Seiling, Jakob Hutter: His Life and Letters

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for May 4-10, 2025!

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The Weekly Wrap: April 27-May 3

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The Weekly Wrap: April 27-May 3

Children’s Book Week

May 5-11 is Children’s Book Week. Yesterday, Publisher’s Weekly posted “2025 Children’s Book Week Presents Full Roster of Event Ideas.” This caught my attention because because I’ve been thinking of children’s books of late. Our church has a playground that we have a grant to upgrade. It is quite popular with the children of our food pantry patrons. One of our upgrades is to install a Little Free Library and I’ve been asked to help with getting books for it.

And I realized I know little of what is popular, or even better what is good literature for children aside from the “classics” we read to our son over thirty years ago. While I read a number of books these days, few are children’s books, or the popular books among adult readers. So for this, I will be relying on a mom who does know something about this, and maybe whatever I can learn from our local librarian or other Little Free Library curators.

Maybe this is forcing me to put my money where my mouth is. I believe passionately in encouraging children to read and in efforts to cultivate the joy of reading among children. I was a child reader and I guess the habit stuck!

This article in The Guardian surprised me: “Most parents don’t enjoy reading to their children, survey suggests.” The surprise came in the light of how much I enjoyed family reading times. It was both great stories and family closeness that made these times special. I miss them, quite honestly. It seems many parents now view reading as a skill to acquire rather than an experience to be shared. What concerns me is that without the joy, I suspect few children will become avid readers.

So I applaud Children’s Book Week. And maybe it’s time to stop applauding and roll up my sleeves.

Five Articles Worth Reading

The name Logan Pearsall Smith probably doesn’t mean much to most of us. He was an essayist and critic, born in America and Harvard-trained before going on to Oxford, living out his life in London. In “Logan Pearsall Smith,” Aaron James observes, “To the extent that his writings are about anything at all, they are about the art of writing itself: the technique of crafting beautiful prose, the painstaking process of developing a beautiful style, ‘the indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable Perfection.’ “

Part of the challenge of “crafting beautiful prose” in English is the character of the language, which one learns if you are a conversation partner with a foreign national learning the language. Dennis Duncan reviews two books on “The Centuries-Long Struggle to Make English Words Behave.”

What do we do when a classic work, one well-written, is also racist? Such is the case with Mark Twain’s Huck Finn. Many of us were gratified by the recognition Percival Everett’s James received as a kind of “reply” to Huck Finn. But do we then discard Twain’s work? Naomi Kanakia grapples with this question in “Is Huck Finn still a classic?”

There seems to be an endless fascination with books on anything related to the sinking of the Titanic. If your appetite for these has not been sated, Atlas Obscura has a reading list of books I’ve not seen before in “Titanic’s Legacy: Our Favorite Reads.”

Finally, one of the delights of warmer weather in the northern hemisphere is the chance to take our books outside. In “Six Books You’ll Want to Read Outdoors” Bekah Waalkes defends outdoor reading and offers six recommendations. She includes Mary Oliver’s Devotions which I heartily recommend!

Quote of the Week

Having retired in the last year, I thoroughly embrace this sentiment of Annie Dillard:

“I worked so hard all my life, and all I want to do now is read.”

On April 30, Annie Dillard turned 80. I’d say she has earned some reading time.

Miscellaneous Musings

Sometimes, book titles intrigue me. How to Love a Forest by Ethan Tapper (Broadleaf) arrived in my mailbox this week. He contends we love forests, not by doing nothing, but by tending them, including cutting some trees.

I just finished reading a book on Markus Barth. He was the son of theologian Karl Barth. However the book convinced me he is deserving more of my attention as a biblical scholar. Years ago, I shelved a copy of his Justification but don’t believe I ever read it. Maybe its time.

I love the Maigret novels of Georges Simenon. It is great news to hear Picador is reissuing over 100 of them. I also love Michael Innes’ Appleby stories. Time for a reissue?

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Luci Shaw, An Incremental Life

Tuesday: Luke Timothy Johnson, Imitating Christ

Wednesday: Mark R. Lindsay, Markus Barth

Thursday: David A. deSilva, Judea under Greek and Roman Rule

Friday: Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for April 27 – May 3, 2025!

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

The Weekly Wrap: April 20-26

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Indie Bookstore Day 2025

Today is Indie Bookstore Day in the United States. This is the twelfth year for Indie booksellers who are part of the American Booksellers Association to band together to host special events at over 1600 bookstores in all fifty states. It seems to me a wonderful way to celebrate the vibrant and growing presence of Indie booksellers.

I think of the bookseller I interviewed recently at the Birch Tree Bookery in Marion, Ohio. Marion is one of the small to medium size county seats in Ohio. This husband and wife bookselling team launched the store a couple years back in a bookstore desert. The nearest store was at least 20 miles away. They are now in their third location, each larger than the last as they’ve built a reading community. No Barnes & Noble is going to move here. And this is what Indies are doing across the country.

The long and the short of it is that today is a very good day to visit your nearest Indie (the Indie Bookstore Day site will help you find one). Not only will you find fun, bookish activities. You may also find your next great read.

Can’t make it in person? Most are set up to take orders. I placed an order at my favorite Indie since I won’t be able to support them in person. If you can’t figure out how to order from the store, you can also order through Bookshop.org which has raised nearly $38 million for local bookstores.

Our Indie bookstores are a crucial ingredient to making our towns places livable, interesting, unique places. They are gathering places in a world lacking good third places. And they are far better than algorithms when it comes to matching people with books they will love.

Five Articles Worth Reading

It’s National Poetry Month. And who would have thought of Iowa City as a poetry mecca? ” ‘Poetry City: Iowa City, Iowa” tells the story of a college town, the home of a famed writing program and how they’ve kept it “weird”–a center for poetry where one might never expect it.

Tomie dePaola’s Strega Nona is turning 50. Elisabeth Egan has a unique take, which she offers in “I’ve Read ‘Strega Nona’ 100 Times. Now I Feel Sorry for Her Sidekick.” She thinks Big Anthony has not gotten the credit he is due.

Did you know that Isaac Asimov wrote some of his books under the pen name Paul French? And did you know that a reviewer who hated Asimov’s writing loved that of Paul French, amusing Asimov to no end. You can read all about it in “When Isaac Asimov Decided to Secretly Write Under the Name Paul French.”

I’ve seen pictures of the J.P. Morgan Library, in New York City. It is an amazing personal library. “Ambition, Discipline, Nerve” is a fascinating article about the librarian Morgan hired to build that library.

You would think people of faith would die well. In “Fragments for the End of Life” Justin Hawkins reviews Burdened Agency: Christian Theology and End-of-Life Ethics by Travis Pickell, a book that explains why this is so.

Quote of the Week

Charlotte Brontë was born April 21, 1816. She makes an observation we desperately need in our culture of grievance:

“Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs.”

Miscellaneous Musings

As we get older, it becomes harder to find people further along than we. Luci Shaw is in her late 90’s and just published another poetry book, An Incremental Life. If I can grow older half as well as she, that will be a good thing.

He spent much of his work as a book editor, work he did well. In my last job, part of my work involved editing, work for which I had no experience. He gave me a crash course. As a fellow “retiree,” one of the things Andy LePeau does is review books. I love seeing how he does it, particularly when we’ve read the same book. I commend his blog, Andy Unedited.

This week marked the passing of Pope Francis. He died on Easter Monday and on the day before Earth Day. He lived the Easter hope and taught us to care for our common home. If you have not read it, LAUDATO SI’, an encyclical letter, is a marvelous and sweeping statement of a vision for caring for our common home, inspired by his namesake, Francis of Assisi. Requiescat in pace.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: James Crossley and Chris Keith, eds., The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus

Tuesday: Michael Innes, The Open House

Wednesday: Ida Friederike Gorres, John Henry Newman: A Life Sacrificed

Thursday: The Month in Reviews: April 2025

Friday: William F. Buckley, Jr., Tucker’s Last Stand

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for April 20-26, 2025!

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

The Weekly Wrap: April 13-19

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Moving Sale

A few weeks back, we stopped by our local Barnes & Noble store to discover everything in the store was 25 percent off. Add my member discount and that made for some cool savings. A couple of the books I will be reviewing in the next week came from that trip. But such a sale was unusual, and to either quell or confirm my fears, I spoke to a bookseller.

What a relief! I learned they are moving into a bigger space across the street, in a building once occupied by Bed, Bath, and Beyond–a casualty of the retail wars. Instead of going there to fit out my son’s college dorm, as we once did, we can feast our eyes and empty our wallets on books!

But the news gets better! This week, I learned that the discount was up to 40 percent. The rationale is that it is easier to sell off the inventory than move it. And they still had books of interest. I came home with three–a collection of Jorge Luis Borges essays, a Haruki Murakami novel, and o book on the working homeless in America I’d seen reviewed recently. My TBR ever groweth!

But not all bookstores do it this way. The Guardian ran a story recently of a small-town bookstore that mobilized a human chain to move 9,100 books to a new location, passed from hand to hand. Three hundred people came out to help. That’s bookstore love! I suspect that wouldn’t work in our case because of a heavily travelled road between the two locations.

Part of me is wistful. I have memories of sitting at the cafe with my wife, sharing our book finds, or “retreat” days that included a stop at the Panera that shared the building, for lunch, then a quick browse and some coffee while I journaled. The Panera moved out a couple years ago, and soon, the building will be empty. I’ll guess we’ll have to make new memories.

Five Articles Worth Reading

“Doing Nothing Is Everything” reviews Aflame: Learning from Silence by Pico Iyer. The author describes himself as areligious but represents a growing trend of areligious people seeking out monasteries for silence.

Miles Terlunen makes a confession that amounts to an apology from literary scholars to the wider reading public. He admits that “Scholars Have Lost the Plot!,” as they follow strategies of slow reading to ferret out other aspects of literary works.

“‘Why would he take such a risk?’ How a famous Chinese author befriended his censor” is a fascinating account by a critic of the Communist Party of his relationship with a censor on Weibo, China’s equivalent of X. Makes me wonder what could happen (or is happening) here.

Emily Henry is described in this article from The New York Times as “a new standard-bearer of the romance genre.” I’m not a romance reader and had never heard of this fellow Ohioan, but for those interest in the genre, this is a deep dive into her work.

Camino Real by Tennessee Williams is set in a mental institution. In “Faulkner and Plath Go to a Play,” we learn of the profound impact the play had on each of them, due to their own histories of institutionalization.

Quote of the Week

Thornton Wilder, born April 11 1897, offered this advice, that could be a personal watchword:

“Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day.”

Miscellaneous Musings

I’m thoroughly enjoying The Bookshop by Evan Friss. It’s a history of the American bookstore, from Ben Franklin on, concluding with Parnassus, Ann Patchett’s bookstore. It impresses me with the unique personality of every bookstore, one thing that makes visiting them so much fun.

I’m reading a rather thick book on “the next quest for the historical Jesus.” It is a collection of essays that seems to be an effort to lay the groundwork for this “quest.” But it is curious in admitting on one hand that we cannot get behind the accounts of Jesus, yet also explores many of the background factors from class and clothing to the military presence in Judea. One thing that I do appreciate is the easing up on the criteria of “authenticity” which would reject as an authentic saying of Jesus anything anyone else had said.

One of the books coming out this spring is a new biography of Mark Twain by Ron Chernow, who has written a number of significant biographies, including biographies of Alexander Hamilton and George Washington. It’s at the top of my wishlist.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!

Tuesday: Agatha Christie, Three Act Tragedy

Wednesday: Camden Morgante, Recovering From Purity Culture

Thursday: C.S. Lewis, The Reading Life

Friday: Evan Friss, The Bookshop

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for April 13-19, 2025!

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