July Reading Log

A week-long family vacation followed almost immediately by the busyness of Vacation Bible School meant less reading time than usual in July, but I was able to knock a few books off my list (including the two I bought on the aforementioned vacation.) Here's a look at what I read last month:

4 Articles I Like This Month

"The Dangers of Distracted Parenting" by Erika Christakis, The Atlantic. 9 minutes.

Much is written these days about the dangers of screen time for children—seriously, so much—but this article addresses a related but separate problem: screen time for parents. Adults in this generation are with their kids more than ever before, but because of the addictive devices in their pockets, are are rarely with them for more than a few minutes at a time. The result is not only a model for children of disengaged, distracted behavior, but also a lot of missing out on important bonding moments. A very convicting read for this parent with an iPhone.

"Life Inside Texas' Border Security Zone" by Melissa del Bosque, Texas Observer. 33 minutes.

For nearly 15 years now, Texas DPS has provided an increased security presence at the Texas-Mexico border (supplementing the work of the federal Border Patrol) with the stated goal of stopping an influx of illegal immigration and accompanying crime. The unfortunate result, as this article lays out, is a pair of counties living virtually under martial law while surrounding counties and, indeed, the entire state suffer as a result of this concentrated show of force. A fascinating, on-the-ground look at an issue which people on both sides of the aisle tend to think about emotionally before they think practically.

"Own Goal: The Inside Story of How the USMNT Missed the 2018 World Cup" by Andrew Helms and Matt Pentz, The Ringer. 45 minutes.

As an American, it was hard to get excited about the World Cup this summer because the U.S. Men's National Team failed to even qualify, a disaster that was years in the making. This lengthy, heavily sourced article documents the personalities, problems, and hubris that led to an America-less World Cup in 2018.

"The Birth of the New American Aristocracy" by Matthew Stewart, The Atlantic. 55 minutes.

Thanks to Bernie Sanders, most everyone is now familiar with the problem of inequality in our economy, that 38% of the nation's wealth is held by 1& of the population. But as this article shows, inequality isn't quite that simple—the problem isn't just that our system rewards the super-rich, but that our 'meritocracy' rewards the top 9.9% while giving the remains 90% little opportunity to climb into that upper bracket. The result, as this article shows with fascinating facts and innumerable insights, is that our nation's lawyers, doctors, and financial consultants—the upper-middle-class—now bear a striking resemblance to what we used to call the aristocracy, who are born into privilege and pass it on to their children, all while extolling the values of hard work and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Take your political blinders off and read this at face value; it's an endlessly fascinating (and depressing) look at the state of our economy.

PRAYER: FINDING THE HEART'S TRUE HOME by Richard J. Foster

Richard Foster is probably best known as the author of Celebration of Discipline, his book explaining the spiritual disciplines. However, having read both that book and this one, I can happily say that Prayer is my favorite of the two. It is, quite simply, the best book on prayer (not counting the Bible) that I've ever read.

A basic reading of the table of contents will show you that in Prayer: Finding the Heart's Home, Foster addresses every type of prayer imaginable, starting with "simple prayer" and concluding with "radical prayer," with everything from contemplative prayer, prayer of relinquishment, intercessory prayer, and many other in between. But to give the book both structure and narrative flow, Foster divides it into three sections: inward, upward, and outward prayer (i.e. seeking personal transformation, then intimacy with God, then ministry for others.) This structure makes it so that the reader's understanding of prayer grows as your comfort level diminishes...much like a particularly convicting sermon!

Most helpful to me, however, was the first chapter of the book, which is basically just a pep talk on prayer, a reminder that God not only hears but loves the prayers of His people, no matter how simple or selfish they are. "In the same way that a small child cannot draw a bad picture, so a child cannot offer a bad prayer," says Foster. I sometimes find it considerably easier to talk about prayer than to actually pray, to teach about prayer's value while struggling to actually pray well; Foster's words were a balm for my soul.

If prayer is what keeps you going through the day, read this book. You'll find your prayer life strengthened and will get some new perspectives on how to pray. If you think prayer is important but don't think you're particularly good at it, read this book. You'll learn better just what it is God wants from your prayers. And if you don't put much stock in prayer at all, read this book anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if it changes your mind. Simply, read this book. Then pray. That's my plan.

WHAT SAINT PAUL REALLY SAID: WAS PAUL OF TARSUS THE REAL FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY? by N.T. Wright

When you write as much stuff as the apostle Paul did, you're bound to get misinterpreted eventually. And sure enough, the 20th century saw numerous different scholarly opinions on Paul: for some he was a faithful servant of Christ; for others he was a misogynistic, traditionalist zealot; for still others he was the "real founder" of what we know today as Christianity. In this book, New Testament scholar N.T. Wright lays out his understanding of "what Paul really said" about Jesus, salvation, the kingdom of God, and the last days.

Wright comes to Paul at an angle, taking seriously his claim to have formerly been a zealous Pharisee (as shown by his violent persecution of the early Christians, whom he considered apostate Jews.) Thus Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus should not be seen as an abandonment of his Jewish faith and heritage, but as his recognition that Jesus was the fulfillment of everything he'd been waiting for. For Wright, everything Paul says in the New Testament should be read in light of the Abrahamic covenant: that God would, through His people Israel, restore and redeem the fallen world.

By reading Paul this way, Wright pokes holes in some of the traditional understandings of Christianity, including the doctrine of justification by faith. For Wright, justification and righteousness are both understood as covenantal and law-court terms, not moralistic ones, so that being "justified" or "righteous" is not really about how sinful you are, but about whether or not you have become a part of the covenant people of God. The cross, Wright says, is not about making bad people good so much as it is about making outsiders insiders. This is just one of a number of examples of Wright subtly tweaking traditional understandings of faith—every time he does it, it's both provocative and thoughtful...and often pretty persuasive.

Overall, Wright's so-called "new perspective" (countering the Reformed tradition) is grounded in the 2nd Temple Judaism that Paul once belonged to, and is in that sense convincing on a historical level. He makes some deductive leaps along the way, and does seem to occasionally make the classic academic mistake of wedding himself to his system even when the evidence contradicts it. But in general, this is an extremely helpful, accessible, well-written work that, at 183 pages, serves as good Cliff Notes for his 1700 page monster, Paul and the Faithfulness of God. I definitely recommend it for pastors and teachers.

WHERE I'M READING FROM: THE CHANGING WORLD OF BOOKS by Tim Parks

When you're a compulsive book buyer, sometimes a bargain sticker will make you pick something up that you normally wouldn't even notice, simply because you can't let a good deal pass you by. Such was the case with Where I'm Reading From, a slim collection of essays on the state of world literature by author, translator, and professor Tim Parks of the New York Review of Books. On vacation with my family, the cover caught my eye from the bargain table at Seattle's excellent Elliot Bay Book Company and reeled me in with its price tag.

I read nearly all of its 37 essays, most in the neighborhood of 5 pages apiece, during quiet moments on the trip, with mixed results. As the book's subtitle indicates, the essays are Parks's varied takes on how world literature is read, taught, and understood in the modern era, dealing with subjects like the dueling perceptions of authorship as an inner calling versus as a career, how academic criticism affects writing, and how an author's voice changes in translation. The general theme, if I had to nail it down, is that literature matters, but not always for the reasons we've been taught.

If the little I've said didn't already tip you off, the audience for this book is ultra-specific, the kind of intellectual literati who subscribe to the New York Review of Books, attend multiple literary festivals per year, and await the annual announcement of the Booker Prize winner with bated breath. Sadly, I'm not part of that audience, so a fair amount of what Parks said could be filed either under "this is over my head" or simply "I don't care about this." But there was enough gold among the silt for this to make for decent vacation reading. Besides, the price was good!

EVERYBODY LOVES OUR TOWN: AN ORAL HISTORY OF GRUNGE by Mark Yarm

Whenever I travel to a new city, I make it a priority to visit their best bookstore and buy at least one book (and grab a free bookmark.) If possible, I like to pick out a book that fits that city, so that the book also serves as a worthy souvenir of my trip. It was that impulse that inspired me to pick up Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge, a book that has Seattle written all over it.

For the sake of context, I am not part of the grunge generation—I was only 4 when Kurt Cobain committed suicide—but I am a fan of the music. While some look back at grunge as little more than a fad, I regard it as rock and roll's last gasp of creativity before hip-hop seized the reins of pop music. So I was fascinated to read this account of the rise, peak, and fall of grunge as told by the artists, producers, and managers who saw it all go down.

As the cover promises, the book deals with the heavy hitters of grunge—Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam—but just as fascinating are the stories about the lesser-known bands like the Melvins, TAD, the U-Men, and L7, many of whom influenced Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, and the rest without ever achieving their level of success. Starting with the arrival of these bands on the scene and the release of the Deep Six album, which featured six different bands and their "Seattle sound," the book does a great job telling not only the small stories about individual bands, but also keeping a 10,000-foot-view over the whole Seattle scene.

Everybody Loves Our Town features lots of gossip, lots of drug use (epidemic heroin use had a large role in the demise of grunge), and plenty of conflicting information depending on who's being interviewed at a given moment. But all of that chaos contributes to rather than detracts from the portrait of a scene that got too big too fast. Mark Yarm has done yeoman's work here in documenting a brief but important era in rock history. Recommended for any nostalgic 90's kids or music buffs.

ESSENTIAL HULK VOL. 4 by Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin, Steve Englehart, Herm Trimpe, et al.

Sometimes you want comics to mean something, to speak important truths about life, love, and the human condition. But sometimes you just want to watch colorful characters punch each other...and for that, we have Essential Hulk Vol. 4.

Despite a rotating cast of writers on The Incredible Hulk in the early 1970s, the editors seemed to have finally figured out the right formula for the book by the time of the issues that this Essential volume covers: keep the melodrama light, skew heavily toward the Hulk instead of Bruce Banner, and make sure you give Hulk somebody to smash before the end. That pattern makes the book formulaic on an issue-to-issue basis, but far from dull. In fact, this is my favorite Essential volume for the character so far.

Essential Hulk Vol. 4 sees the not-so-jolly green giant tangle with everyone from arch-foes like the Leader and the Abomination to less memorable villains like Captain Axis, Captain Omen, and Zzzax. But his primary antagonist throughout the book, as usual, is General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross and his newly commissioned Hulkbuster unit. Ross manages to capture Hulk/Banner multiple times during this volume's 28 issues, but never permanently. After all, Hulk is the strongest one there is.

As I mentioned, readers spend a lot more time with the Hulk, often brooding and confused in the woods, than with Bruce Banner in these issues. If Banner shows up at all, it is usually just for a couple of pages before something upsets him and brings back his counterpart. This volume is also light on Banner's romance with Betty Ross (General Ross's daughter), possibly because the writers realized they'd never gotten around to making her character interesting—perhaps for that reason, she is married off to Major Glen Talbot, Ross's second-in-command, before the end of this volume. Frankly, this neglecting of Hulk's supporting cast doesn't hurt the book at all—people don't buy a Hulk book for the soap opera, they buy it for the action.

1970s Hulk comics are just big dumb fun, faithfully and capably drawn almost exclusively by longtime artist Herb Trimpe. I definitely recommend these issues for Marvel fans, and will definitely be getting volume 5.