February is the shortest month of the year, with a mere 28 days to read books. But I did my best! Take a look below to see what I spent the last 4 weeks working on.
PAUL: A BIOGRAPHY by N.T. Wright
Theologian N.T. Wright made a name for himself in the late 20th century as the most visible voice of the so-called "New Perspective on Paul," which argued that our understanding of the apostle and his letters has been overly influenced by the medieval excesses of Roman Catholicism and the subsequent reforms of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, et al. Properly understood, says Wright, Paul must be understood foremost as a Jew who saw Jesus as the fulfillment of God's covenant with Israel—in Christ, Wright argues, God wasn't starting a new religion, but simply being faithful to the covenant that had come before and opening its blessings to all the world.
Having spent decades explaining this perspective in books, articles, sermon, and lectures, Wright now does so with an accessible biography of the apostle, one that seeks to explain chronologically the events of Paul's life and how they affected the content of his letters. As such, the book is trying to do several things at once.
Most obviously, it seeks to be a straight biography—a difficult task given how relatively little information we have to go on! Working from Paul's letters, the Book of Acts, and extrabiblical information about the 1st century world, Wright puts forth his theories about how Paul's life progressed from being a young, zealous Pharisee to his "conversion" (not Wright's favorite word, given its connotations that Saul the Jew became Paul the Christian) to his missionary journeys and writings. There are understandably some assumptions and inferences that must be made as part of this project, but Wright is always careful to qualify and explain the reasoning behind them.
Secondarily, the book is a textbook on the letters of Paul. Much of the second half of the book, for obvious reasons, consists of Wright summarizing and providing context for the contents of Paul's epistles. This is a worthy endeavor, obviously, but at times it's indistinguishable from a New Testament survey textbook or a biblical commentary. As someone who spends a lot of time in such reference books, I sometimes skimmed these passages more than I read them.
Finally, this book is another argument for the new (or, by now, not-so-new) perspective on Paul. Having written extensively about how certain key books and passages work within this perspective, this book is Wright's chance to do so at a more macro level, while also theorizing how key events in Paul's might be better understood through this perspective.
I didn't find this as compelling as some of Wright's other popular level books—and indeed, if you're familar with Wright, much of what's contained here is understandably rehashing previous works—but it's a worthy read nonetheless. Especially when operating as straight biography, this is a helpful resource for better understanding the apostle who wrote most of the New Testament.
CLOUD CUCKOO LAND by Anthony Doerr
In his breakout novel, All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr dazzled readers—myself included—with a historical epic told from multiple perspectives, all of which ultimately converged. With Cloud Cuckoo Land, he takes things one step further, not only by offering more characters, but by telling a story that spans centuries. Part historical fiction, part thriller, part science fiction, this book is doing a LOT all at once.
The connective thread of the story is the fictional book Cloud Cuckoo Land, written by the real Greek philosopher Diogenes. In 15th century Constantinople, a girl named Anna finds a copy of this book even as the city is being beseiged, including by Omeir, a boy conscripted into the sultan's army. In present-day Idaho, the book is set to be performed as a play, directed by the elderly Zeno Ninis, when the library where it is being prepared is taken hostage by a troubled teenager named Seymour. And in the 22nd century, Konstance, a young girl aboard the space ark Argos, discovers the book in the ship's virtual library, leading her to ask questions about her voyage.
If you're wondering how those disparate pieces could possibly relate to each other, welcome to my thought process for the first 300+ pages of this book. But sure enough, Doerr pulls it off in the end, rewarding readers' patience with a story that is ultimately about the preservation of stories.
This novel is more ambitious but less enjoyable than All the Light We Cannot See, owing mostly to the natural problem for a book with multiple POVs: some of the characters are more interesting than others. For my part, the Anna and Omeir chapters were considerably duller than the others, and the Konstance chapters were difficult to follow at times. Nevertheless, by the time I got to the payoff of the last 100 pages, my rating for this had gone from 3 stars to 4. Readers willing to stick it out the end will be glad they did.
QUEST IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK by Aaron Johnson
With the conclusion of this book, two of my kids and I have now made it halfway through the National Park Mystery Series (and are caught up, as author Aaron Johnson is currently writing the sixth). This was a good place to go on hiatus, as it was my favorite one so far.
As the title indicates, this entry takes Jake, Amber, and Wes to Yosemite National Park, where they continue on the scavenger hunt for ancient treasure laid out by Jake's late grandfather, a prize that sinister, enigmatic foes are also pursuing. As usual with these books, there are lots of facts about the National Parks System, conservation, and safety; additionally, there are corny jokes, riddles, and YA relational dynamics.
Two things made this book stand out for me as the best so far. The first is my own familiarity with Yosemite, a park which Lindsey and I visited several years ago. The second was a "side quest" of sorts within the story, in which the three heroes helped park rangers track down a missing child in the park. The kids and I were unanimous that this B story actually intrigued us more than the central plot, and the stakes felt higher.
It'll be a while before we read any more books in this series—according to his website, Aaron Johnson isn't very far into writing the sixth book—but we've certainly enjoyed them up to this point. Let me know if you want to borrow any of the first five!
ESSENTIAL IRON MAN VOL. 4-5 Let's just say it: the 1970s was a weird time to be telling stories about Iron Man. He'd been created in the Kennedy days of Cold War patriotism, when being a symbol of the military-industrial complex was a boon rather than a liability. But post-Vietnam, he seemed dated at best and problematic at worst, a cool costume in search of an enduring character. Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing into Ronald Reagan's 1980s, when consumerism and Commie-bashing became cool again, writer David Micheline and artist Bob Layton would finally give Tony Stark some shine and give readers an Iron Man title they could love.
Unfortunately, Essential Iron Man Vol. 4-5, covers the character's title from 1971-1976. So these books contain 50+ issues of grasping at straws, trying to make the armored Avenger cool. It goes about as well as you'd expect.
First there is Tony Stark's decision to renounce his industrialist ways and pivot to ecological research, a well-intentioned but clumsy overcorrection. Then there is the introduction and shuffling off of a host of supporting characters, none of whom managed to connect with readers. Most infamously, there is the redesign of the Iron Man mask, giving him a triangular nose that evokes The Wizard of Oz's Tin Man.
All of it is just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, and none of it ultimately does. This era can be thought of as years in the wilderness—full of movement, but absent any direction. Far from essential reading for anyone who is not a completist.
