January Reading Log

Lots of reading this month, everything from faith to baseball to superheroes. Take a look!

8 Articles I Like This Month

"What Does Arming Ourselves in Our Houses of Worship Do to Our Souls?" by Joshua J. Whitfield, The Dallas Morning News. 3 minutes.
"The Idea of Carrying Weapons into Church is a Gut Punch" by John Kanelis, The Dallas Morning News. 1 minute.
"'Be Careful': It's About Safety, and Also About Stopping Hate" by Kaitlin Griffin, The Dallas Morning News. 2 minutes.

In this trio of columns published in the January 12 edition of The Dallas Morning News' "Voices" section, different perspectives are offered on what it means, at both a spiritual and social level, that churches are moving away from being gun-free zones to places where armed security teams roam the halls. My take: I appreciate the efforts of SGBC's "Sheep Dog" team. I hate that we are living in a time when such measures are deemed necessary. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

"Let's Help Women Choose Life" by Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa, The Dallas Morning News. 2 minutes.

Donald Trump is frequently called "the most pro-life president ever" by his supporters, a superlative he has embraced. Is that accurate? Pro-life feminist Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa says no, and offers a brief but compelling argument why not.

"The Making of an NBA Icon" by Howard Beck, Bleacher Report. 6 minutes.
"Kobe's Greatness Was Both Beautiful and Maddening" by Zach Lowe, ESPN. 11 minutes.
"Kobe Bryant Was More Human than Hero" by Sarah Spain, ESPN. 8 minutes.
"Losing Kobe Bryant, the Dad" by Shea Serrano, The Ringer. 6 minutes.

While I'm a huge NBA guy, I won't pretend I was a big Kobe Bryant fan (I knew he was an icon, but I also thought he was perennially overrated). But, like everyone, I was shocked when Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and 7 others died in a helicopter crash this past Sunday. In the week following Kobe's death, thousands of obituaries and retrospectives came out; these were my favorites.

THE DANIEL CODE: LIVING OUT TRUTH IN A CULTURE THAT IS LOSING ITS WAY by O.S. Hawkins

A gift from a church member, The Daniel Code was a step outside my comfort zone as a reader. I'm quite disdainful of the evangelical church's emphasis on culture wars over the last 40 years, and (as the subtitle indicates) this book fits neatly in that stream of thought. However, by the end I had to conclude that The Daniel Code offers a clear, biblical take on how to live faithfully in an unfaithful society.

The Daniel Code, written by onetime FBC Dallas pastor and current CEO of Guidestone Financial Resources O.S. Hawkins, uses as its outline the first six chapters of the biblical Book of Daniel, the story of a man and his three friends who had to figure out how to stay faithful to their God while exiled in Babylon. Comparing modern-day America to ancient Babylon, Hawkins challenges the reader to follow the example of Daniel and his friends by staying true to God even when doing so sets you apart or threatens your security.

By and large, the comparison works pretty well. Written in sermonic language (3 alliterative points, anecdotal illustrations, etc.), Hawkins makes his points clearly and with biblical support. While I've heard many a preacher compare America to Babylon, few have done so as effectively as Hawkins does here, and his use of Daniel and Co. as alternatives to a pagan lifestyle presents a biblical model to follow. Furthermore, Hawkins  consistently directs the conversation toward Christ, something preachers often fail to get around to when using the Old Testament as their starting point.

With that being said, some parts of the book work better than others. When Hawkins is prescribing individual solutions based on the lives of Daniel and his friends, it's a good fit. When he starts using Daniel as a template for national revival, he veers into the always dangerous America-equals-ancient-Israel fallacy, a huge pet peeve of mine. And the second section of the book, based on the prophetic second chapter of Daniel, is an exegetical mess even if your eschatology is dispensationalist (which mine is not). His analysis of the narrative texts is on point; his explanations of prophecy are, in my opinion, pure eisegesis.

All in all, I appreciated this book more than I thought I would. If you've bought into the culture wars, this is a far better work than most of the books at Christian bookstores, which tend to do more exegeting of Fox News than the Bible. If, like me, you're skeptical about the culture wars, this book is a helpful look at things from that point of view, one that strives for spiritual solutions instead of incendiary rhetoric.

VELVET ELVIS: REPAINTING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH by Rob Bell

Before he was exiled from evangelicalism for questioning the doctrine of hell in his book Love Wins, Rob Bell was one of the biggest names out there, a pastor with a special gift for asking questions previously thought out of bounds and speaking to the doubts and fears many were feeling. Velvet Elvis was arguably his most personal work, a book that dares to think critically about Christianity without abandoning love for Jesus.

Throughout the book, Bell reminds readers that Jesus, not organized Christianity, is the Savior of the world, and that many of our assumptions, prejudices, and attitudes related to faith have more to do with manmade systems than anything Jesus said. In Velvet Elvis, he encourages readers to go back to the gospel, to listen and learn directly from Jesus. Questions and critical thinking, he argues, are not to be feared, but embraced—after all, what kind of God can't stand up to some probing questions?

Velvet Elvis was very influential in the Emergent Church movement, where Bell worked alongside other preachers and writers like Brian McLaren to try and present the gospel to the postmodern world. You can see why it was popular when you read it; Bell has a relatable yet deep writing voice, intelligent without being over your head. His vision of faith is winsome and wise, and certainly attractive for those willing to listen.

My only criticism is a familiar one for Bell and others within the Emergent Church—at a certain point, you want questions to be answered; eventually relativity must give way to absolute truth. While I fully support the thrust of Bell's questions-are-ok mentality, at times his openness to new ideas seemed to verge on I'm-ok-you're-ok relativism. 

For mature believers willing to listen, learn, and seek, Velvet Elvis is a thoughtful examination of our faith. You won't come away with a lot of answers, but you'll be thankful for the perspective.

THE BIG FELLA: BABE RUTH AND THE WORLD HE CREATED by Jane Leavy

First things first: this was not a baseball biography, not really. In fact, it's hard to call it a biography at all, given that it wasn't written in the linear birth-life-death trajectory. Instead, tasked with chronicling the life of one of the most transcendent celebrity athletes of all time, author Jane Leavy offers something that feels more like a collection of magazine profiles, the sum of which leaves you knowing more about Babe Ruth than you did before you started—but unfortunately, still makes him seem a figure too much larger than life to really understand.

To her credit, Leavy's book is meticulously researched, offering more information than you ever cared to know about Ruth's finances and celebrity appearances. Indeed, Christy Walsh, who worked as the Babe's agent before that was even a thing, is almost the Robin to Ruth's Batman throughout the book, negotiating not only Ruth's contracts with the Yankees, but his endorsement deals, public appearances, and offseason barnstorming tours. Leavy, who says in the afterward that this book has been in the works for a decade, has done her homework on the under-discussed parts of Ruth's legacy.

Unfortunately for baseball fans, the events which made Ruth a household name—his 60 home run season, his Called Shot, the infamous sale of his contract by the Red Sox to the Yankees—are treated as prior knowledge, mentioned but never really delved into. Fans wanting to know about Ruth's baseball career should probably look to a different book; here baseball is mostly just treated as Ruth's vehicle to fame rather than something worthy of attention.

As mentioned above, Leavy organizes the book in an unorthodox way rather than in the traditional linear style of a biography. Organizing the chapters around an offseason barnstorming tour of the nation, each stop on the tour is used as a springboard to talk about some facet of Ruth's life, from his upbringing to his marriages to his trademark dispute with the Curtiss Candy Company over the Baby Ruth bar. This layout keeps you on your toes, but also makes for a disorienting reading experience at times, and ultimately leaves you wondering what got left on the cutting room floor.

I enjoyed The Big Fella, but was also frustrated by it. Leavy is an excellent researcher and writer; I can't help but wonder what sort of a book she could have written if she'd for a traditional biography instead of playing fast and loose with the genre. 

THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner

Have you ever read something, sat back, and said to yourself, "I have no idea what I just read"? Well, thanks to James Joyce's Ulysses and now William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, I certainly have. I read this book from beginning to end and while, much like with Ulysses, I can appreciate the craft and the cleverness, I wouldn't begin to say I enjoyed it. Nor would I recommend it to anyone but a literature professor.

The Sound and the Fury, according to Wikipedia, "centers on the Compson family, former Southern aristocrats who are struggling to deal with the dissolution of their family and its reputation. Over the course of the 30 years or so related in the novel, the family falls into financial ruin, loses its religious faith and the respect of the town of Jefferson, and many of them die tragically." Some of that's news to me—while I could tell you the characters' names and relationships, I'd have struggled to lay out the plot even if you put a gun to my head.

That's because The Sound and the Fury begins with a 75-page chapter that is one of the most notorious in American literature. Told from the perspective of a severely retarded character, the chapter is written in stream of consciousness, bounces from one period of time to another without explanation, and generally does the reader no favors. Even reading the Cliff Notes afterwards is exhausting. Again, I can admire the ambition and the craft of Faulkner's writing here, but I can't help but wonder what the point of storytelling is if it doesn't communicate. The book gets progressively easier to read each chapter, taking it easier on the stream of consciousness when the narrator changes and then eventually moving to a third person perspective. But by the time I got there, I was so lost that I was really just reading so that I could say I finished it.

When you read a few reviews by people smarter than me, you start to understand what Faulker is doing in the book and you're able to appreciate that, yes, what seems like nonsense ultimately serves a purpose. But I'll echo what I said about Ulysses: stories are meant to be read, not deciphered; I don't think I should need a decoder ring to get through a novel. There's a difference between difficult and incomprehensible; The Sound and the Fury straddles the line.

A VELOCITY OF BEING: LETTERS TO A YOUNG READER edited by Maria Popova and Claudia Bedrick

Another gift from a church member, this book was a daily delight for me throughout the month. A Velocity of Being is a collection of short letters by authors, poets, and writers of all stripes, from Neil Gaiman to Jane Goodall to Shonda Rhimes, written to young readers. Each letter is then accompanied by a full page illustration by artists ranging from Mo Willems to Art Spiegelman.

The resulting collection is one of my favorite kinds of books, a celebration of reading by those who value it most. Whether telling their own stories of skipping school to finish a book or offering advice on how and why to stick with reading, the letter writers' passion for the written word is infectious, and makes you want to spend all day curled up with a good book.

This book was a mainstay on my nightstand this month, and anytime I had a minute or two to spare, I'd read a letter. To avoid the book becoming repetitive, I'd advise reading it just that way, rather than for an extended period of time, when the letters might start running together. If you love reading, this book will make you feel right at home.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 1-2 by Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, and Cory Smith

Thanos is dead, but as a contingency plan he had previously uploaded his consciousness into someone in the galaxy. So, organized by Thanos's brother Starfox, Marvel's cosmic protectors take it upon themselves to assassinate the person they think most likely to be Thanos's unwitting heir: Gamora, formerly of the Guardians of the Galaxy. And it's up to a new team of Guardians to keep that from happening.

That's the premise of the first volume of Donny Cates' take on everyone's favorite band of lovable space idiots, and it's a winning formula for humor, action, and just plain fun. Cates is a rising star at Marvel, and he has a knack for balancing pathos with zaniness in his comics, which incidentally is exactly what has made for the best Guardians stories. The first volume does a great job featuring some fan favorite Marvel cosmic characters while still giving the spotlight to core Guardians (specifically Star-Lord, Groot, and Gamora)

Volume 2 doesn't take its foot off the pedal, bringing Rocket and eventually Drax back into the fold as the Guardians must take on a future version of the Church of Universal Truth, a zealous enemy borrowed from Jim Starlin's Warlock and Infinity stories. I worried that, as is sometimes the case when a new writer comes onto a book, Cates might have only had one good story to tell about the Guardians and then start coasting, but that's far from the case. If anything, the character work is better in volume 2, thanks largely to the return of Rocket and his interactions with his Guardians family.

If you liked the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, there's no reason you won't like these books. My brother put these in my hands, and I'm grateful he did; they made for a fun week's worth of comic reading.

BATMAN/FLASH: THE BUTTON by Tom King, Joshua Williamson, Jason Fabok, and Howard Porter

In 2011, DC Comics made the bold decision to reboot their entire line of comics through a crossover event called "Flashpoint," starting every title over at issue #1 and, in the cases of characters seen as in need of an update, making major changes to the heroes themselves. While positively received at first, the "New 52" (named after the number of titles DC was publishing at the time) eventually proved to be a bust among fans, who complained about the changes made to DC continuity and the elimination of beloved characters.

So in 2016, DC released a one-shot, DC Rebirth, which was advertised as the first step in restoring what had been. The big tease at the end of that issue, which promised to explain why the New 52 universe was so different from what had come before (and how it would be reset), was the appearance of Dr. Manhattan of Watchmen fame. Though published by DC, Watchmen had historically been a standalone story in its own pocket universe, a glassed-off masterpiece that did not interact with the DC Universe. DC Rebirth changed that in one of the legitimately most compelling cliffhangers I can remember.

So the Batman/Flash four issue crossover, "The Button," collected in this deluxe hardcover, serves largely as a bridge between the Rebirth one-shot and the 12-issue maxiseries Doomsday Clock (reviewed below.) The story sees Batman and Flash return to the Flashpoint alternate timeline, in which Bruce Wayne was shot as a child and Thomas Wayne becomes Batman, and furthers the mystery of how and why their universe is off-kilter.

The Batman issues are superior to the Flash issues, both in writing and art, and the whole crossover is largely one big meh. I remember the excitement when these issues came out, the anticipation people felt that perhaps answers were coming. Upon the revelation that, nope, this crossover was just continuing to string fans along until the next big event, the story receded into the background. After reading it, I can see why. Mysteries are fun, but when left unsolved they're ultimately unsatisfying.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank

Doomsday Clock #1 arrived in November 2017 with a lot of hype and a lot of promise. Its job: fix the DC Universe. Easy, right? Unfortunately, the 12-issue maxiseries didn't end 2 years later, in December 2019, plagued by delays. The result is a great story, but not a great crossover event.

Doomsday Clock is the fulfillment the story begun by DC Rebirth and continued in Batman/Flash: The Button, a meeting between the DC Universe and the Watchmen universe. Told in the style of the Watchmen series, it sees Watchmen characters Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan fiddling with the reality of the DC Universe in an attempt to save their own, ultimately leading to a confrontation between Superman and Dr. Manhattan.

There's a lot to like in the series. The craft is outstanding, with Geoff Johns doing a mean Alan Moore impression and Gary Frank turning out art so clean and detailed that you can almost the repeated delays he subjected the book to—almost. Furthermore, the central theme beyond the book demonstrates a great understanding of why fans love the DC Universe. As shown in the climactic confrontation between Dr. Manhattan and Superman, hope is the animating force behind the DC Universe, as personified by Superman. It works in-story, it gives you the warm fuzzies when you're reading it, and it seems to offer direction to a comics universe that often appears aimless.

Unfortunately, Doomsday Clock, while an entertaining and well-crafted story, is itself a bit aimless. Is it a Watchmen sequel? A universe-shifting crossover event? A standalone story? Geoff Johns, the mastermind behind the entire DC Rebirth initiative, never seems exactly sure. And so the result is a sort of Watchmen impression that feels important but doesn't actually seem to have any sort of lasting consequences.

I initially read this series as it was coming out, but finally gave up 3/4 of the way through, frustrated by the shipping delays and lost in the weeds of the story's many threads. I'm glad I returned once the series was over and I could read it all at once; this is very much a series intended to be read as a graphic novel instead of as bimonthly issues. It didn't accomplish its big goal—the DC Universe remains a mess of thematic contradictions—but it was fun to read, and offers a nice capper to Geoff Johns' take on what DC is all about.