August Reading Log

Lots of reading at the beginning of the month, less so at the end. Here's what my nose was buried in this August!

3 Articles I Like This Month

"How the Pandemic Defeated America" by Ed Yong, The Atlantic. 34 minutes.

A chronological, blow-by-blow account of all the reasons the U.S. has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. A sobering look at all the ways our institutions and leaders failed us.

"How to Learn Everything: The MasterClass Diaries" by Irina Dumitrescu, Longreads. 21 minutes.

By now you've likely seen online ads for professionally filmed, slickly produced, celebrity-filmed Master Class series of how-to videos. This article is one writer's account of what she learned, about the series and about herself, by enrolling in 5 of these classes.

"It's Hard to Make Dignity Interesting. Chadwick Boseman Found a Way." by Wesley Morris, The New York Times. 6 minutes.

In the wake of the stunning news of actor Chadwick Boseman's death at age 43, this article briefly and powerfully explains why he connected so deeply with so many.

THE JOURNEY by Billy Graham

Confession: I didn't finish this one. Off the top of my head, this is the 4th Billy Graham book I've read, and likely my last. Billy Graham was a phenomenal preacher, a model servant, and an effective leader, but his writing has consistently left me cold.

The Journey is essentially his tract on struggles in the Christian life, addressing everything from doubt to temptation to grief. The counsel he offers is, as you might expect, both biblical and practical, and easily understandable to the point of sometimes being reductive. Pastors could easily read these chapters and find sermon outlines within them.

But therein lies the problem: the book reads more like a series of sermon outlines than a unified text. Graham's style works well for a sermon, especially given his oratorical prowess, but it bores me to tears when I read it. So after 100+ pages of skimming, I finally admitted defeat and gave up. Anybody who wants my copy is welcome to it—I'll stick to listening to Billy Graham sermons; you can read his books.

THE POST-QUARANTINE CHURCH by Thom S. Rainer

*I wrote a brief review of this book for the Baptist Standard. So as to neither plagiarize nor repeat myself, allow me to simply link to that review here.*

AT CANAAN'S EDGE: AMERICA IN THE KING YEARS 1965-1968 by Taylor Branch

This third and final volume in Taylor Branch's trilogy on the Civil Rights Movement deals with the twilight of that movement as it is overcome by the Vietnam War, divisions with the African-American population, and ultimately an assassin's bullet. Beginning with the initial shock but ultimate triumph of Selma, it continues into Martin Luther King Jr.'s shift to anti-war and anti-poverty activism, where the Civil Rights Movement finally became a truly national movement instead of something confined to the South. By the time of King's assassination, which concludes the book and thus the trilogy, it is clear there is still much progress to be made, something which sadly remains true today.

As in the previous two books, Branch tells the story of the movement with an eye for detail and a focus on key figures like King, Lyndon Johnson, Stokely Carmichael, and others. The book is heavily researched and relies extensively on primary sources newly available at the time of its writing, especially FBI recordings made on orders from J. Edgar Hoover. Readers interested in the movement will learn a lot about the events, strategies, and dynamics of various parties.

If I had one disappointment upon finishing the trilogy, it was that Branch didn't do much biographical work on Martin Luther King. I am fascinated by the man, as are many, and in Branch's hands he remained for the most part a cipher, a Great Man instead of one I came to know and understand. Perhaps sometime in the near future I'll pick up a King biography and see what I can learn.

THE STRANGER by Albert Camus

Between Heart of Darkness in May and now this, I seem to be developing a talent for reading the most depressing books possible during the pandemic. What a fun treat.

The Stranger is an existentialist classic, the story of a man who, following the death of his mother, finds himself walking through the world. Instead of the searing grief he might have expected, he goes on a date after her funeral. His encounters with friends and neighbors show him to be numb to a world that is paying him no mind. The turning point of the story comes when he murders a man on the beach, not out of rage or vengeance, but gnawing annoyance. Even as he is tried, found guilty, and sentenced to execution, this protagonist never descends into despair nor ascends into joy, but remains stuck in an all-consuming malaise.

...sounds fun, right? Admittedly, it's not a beach read. Nevertheless, Camus' brisk, concise prose combined with a consistent (if depressing) theme made this the kind of book I appreciated even when I wasn't enjoying it. It's a novel that wastes no time, pulls no punches, and leaves you thinking by the end. Unlike the aforementioned Heart of Darkness, which was laborious to get through, this was a tale that I still would have finished even if it had been twice as long. Great novels tackle big questions through story, and The Stranger does that in spades.

ESSENTIAL X-MEN VOL. 2 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Terry Austin, et al.

Here's the short version: this volume contains the single best creative run the X-Men ever had, and one of the best runs in the history of comics.

Now for the longer version. After Essential X-Men Vol. 1 saw Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum establish the new X-Men team and new artist John Byrne get his feet wet with some introductory stories, things really take off here, culminating in the Dark Phoenix Saga, a story so definitive that it has been adapted to film twice (unfortunately, quite badly.) The story chronicles the corruption, downfall, and redemption of Jean Grey, a founding member of the X-Men who becomes imbued with a power so strong it consumes her. There's a reason filmmakers and animators keep coming back to this well; it's a classic in every sense. Indeed, "Child of Light and Darkness," the saga's penultimate issue, is one of the best single issues I've ever read.

And then, as if that wasn't enough, only a few issues later Claremont and Byrne follow things up with "Days of Future Past," one of the most famous alternate timeline stories ever written (and deservedly so.) In the story, we are introduced to a dark future in which mutants have been all but exterminated by the Sentinels program, which has in turn taken over the American government. Only by altering the present can the X-Men save their future. In just two issues, Claremont and Byrne put on a master class in storytelling and deliver a tale that holds up just as well in 2020 as it did when it debuted 40 years ago.

Chris Claremont would write X-Men comics for 15 years, but this was his peak. John Byrne was arguably the most popular artist of the 1980s, but his work never looked better than these issues. The pair are McCartney and Lennon, brilliant apart but transcendent together. Any fan of superhero comics owes it to themselves to read these issues.

SATCHEL PAIGE: STRIKING OUT JIM CROW by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso

When I bought this in March at my comic shop's shelter-in-place sale, I thought I was purchasing a graphic novel biography of legendary Negro Leagues pitcher Satchel Paige. By the time I finishing reading it, it was clear I was reading something altogether different, a compelling story about life in the Jim Crow South. It wasn't what I signed up for, but I'm glad to have experienced it.

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow tells the story of Emmet, an Alabama sharecropper who played briefly in the Negro Leagues (including against the legendary Paige) before an injury ended his career. With black-and-white, simple cartooning, artist Rich Tomasso shows the bleakness of Emmet's life on the farm, especially when it comes to his relationship with the white farmers who live nearby. Both small acts of prejudice and more dramatic acts of hatred, including a lynching, haunt the story.

The moment of hope comes in the book's final hope, when the titular Paige and his team barnstorm nearby against a team that includes the white farmers. While no longer the force of nature he once was, Paige remains an icon, and his performance serves as a beacon of pride for Emmet and his friends.

As mentioned,, Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow isn't really a baseball book, but a work of historical fiction. Its matter-of-fact look at life in the Jim Crow South is as compelling as it is difficult to read, and Paige's presence in the book acts not as a magical solution, but one shining moment in a time of darkness. Whether you give this to your kids or read it yourself, this book is an easy-to-read, well-written story about Jim Crow that will inform and inspire.