December Reading Log

We made it, everybody! 2024 is drawing to a close, and so is the year of reading. Here’s how I wrapped things up in December!

JESUS FEMINIST by Sarah Bessey

The word "feminist" carries so much baggage that your blood pressure may have gone up just from reading the title of this book. Thanks in part to the excesses of second-wave feminism, in part to its post-Roe pairing with abortion rights, and in part to plain ol' bad P.R., there are those who spit the word "feminism" more than they say it. Nevertheless, a basic definition of feminism, according to Sarah Bessey, is simply "the radical notion that women are people too." From that foundation comes Jesus Feminist, her accounting of what the Bible says about women and how it should motivate Christians to think and feel and act.

As the title indicates, this book is about both Christianity and sociology, orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Bessey spends parts of the book doing standard expository work on familiar "women in ministry" texts, but also has whole chapters devoted simply to the stories of women working for the Lord in ways big and small. Her mission is bigger than the title indicates, as is her scope.

This is not really a book about the role of women in the church—after all, the title is a dead giveaway of where she falls on the complementarian-egalitarian spectrum. Rather, it's a book about the kingdom of God that Jesus preached and proclaimed, and an invitation to women to join and take part in the redemptive work of Jesus. Her concern is not flipping tables, even as she acknowledges that sometimes she wants to, but in repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and service.

With a writing style that recalls Rachel Held Evans—who wrote the foreward to this book—Bessey has given the church much to think about, with a message that is firm in conviction but gentle in delivery. Even if you don't like the title, I think you could learn something from Jesus Feminist.

YOUR JESUS IS TOO AMERICAN by Steve Bezner

Speaking of books whose titles might irritate you...😅

Thing is, much like Jesus Feminist, Your Jesus Is Too American is about more than its title indicates. You might assume this is a book about how Christians ought to engage in politics—but, while that inevitably comes up, this is actually a book about the kingdom of God.

Steve Bezner, a Houston-area pastor, wrote this book to challenge believers to cast aside American preconceptions about Christianity and instead embrace the vision for life that Jesus taught and embodied. When you do that—when Jesus is not only the sacrificial lamb who died on the cross, but also your teacher—it affects everything from how you treat your enemies to what you do with your money to how you engage in the public square.

Borrowing heavily from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Bezner makes a compelling case for kingdom living, grounded in biblical theology and pastoral practice. For anyone who feels like the church is spinning its wheels in tumultuous times, this book will get you fired up and ready to work.

WHY WE LOVE FOOTBALL by Joe Posnanski

I don't love football, not the way I love baseball. Nevertheless, I am an American man—not only that, a Texan man. Football is right up there with country music and barbecue around here—whether it's your thing or not, it's part of the ecosystem.

So when Joe Posnanski, my favorite sportswriter, followed up his bestselling Why We Love Baseball with a companion volume, Why We Love Football, I knew two things: 1) it wouldn't appeal to me as much as its predecessor did, and 2) I would still find a lot to like about it. And I was right—for football fans of any stripe, Why We Love Football is a joyful romp through the game's greatest moments.

Over its 100 chapters, all bite-sized snacks of 5 pages or so, Posnanski narrates some of the sport's greatest highlights, players, coaches, and traditions with humor, pathos, and passion. From Knute Rockne to Bill Belichick, from Johnny Unitas to Partick Mahomes, from the Hail Mary to Philly Special, he runs the gamut. Almost every chapter, I found myself pulling up highlights on YouTube, whether to watch a play for the first time or to refresh my memory of one I'd seen before.

What runs throughout these individual moments is a love for a game that, as George Carlin so memorably illustrated in his classic bit, is just as American as baseball despite being its total opposite in many many ways. For fans of the gridiron, you'll cherish Why We Love Football.

HOW TO READ A BOOK by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren

After all these years—I've been writing these logs for 7 years now—I figured I should probably learn how to read a book, right?

But seriously, How to Read a Book is the acclaimed text on reading comprehension, a book that purports to teach readers how to get the most out of what they're reading. From elementary-level reading—literally, your ABCs—all the way to the philosophical texts of Aristotle and Aquinas, this book is a guide to reading well.

For someone who loves reading as much as I do, there was much to appreciate about this book, which takes its task seriously and leaves no stone unturned. That being said, this was definitely a textbook—while well-written, it was pretty dry. One of its lessons was how to effectively skim certain kinds of works, and I put that knowledge to use from time to time.

How to Read a Book is considered a classic in its field, and indeed, I can't think of how it could have done better at achieving its goals. But was it thrilling bedtime reading? Not exactly.

THE BFG by Roald Dahl

On evenings where the kids went to bed at a reasonable hour—which was far from every night—this beloved story was December's bedtime reading, and it didn't take long for it to become a favorite, maybe even surpassing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or James and the Giant Peach. The BFG is the story of an orphan girl named Sophie who is kidnapped one night by what turns out to be the one-and-only Big Friendly Giant. While the BFG's size mimics fellow giants like Fleshlumpeater and Bloodbottler, his temperament and appetite do not—instead of eating "human beans" like they do, he is a kindly giant who keeps to himself and sticks to snozzcumbers. Once he and Sophie become friends, she convinces him that he must do what he can to stop his fellow giants from gobbling people up every night, and they enlist none other than the Queen of England to help them.

This book is one of the darker ones we've read so far, owing mostly to the scary giants (and the deep, mean voice Daddy used when reading their speaking parts). But the frightening parts are more than balanced by the humor, which largely comes from the BFG's Hulk-like syntax and penchant for malapropisms—for example, helicopters are "bellypoppers." All in all, this was a really fun one to read aloud, and had a story that was simple but worthy of the 200 pages it took to tell. A worthy bedtime book for the last month of 2024!

BATMAN VOL. 1-10, BATMAN: NIGHT OF THE OWLS, JOKER: DEATH IN THE FAMILY by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo

When DC Comics rebooted its universe (again) in 2011 with its "New 52" line of 52 monthly titles, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman book was the runaway hit. Snyder's grandiose vision of Batman and Capullo's career-defining art were a revelation for a book that had been consistent but somewhat plodding, and they injected newfound life into it from the get-go. Their first arc introduced the Court of Owls, Illuminati-like puppet masters who had operated behind the scenes in Gotham City for generations and who now, at long last, targeted Bruce Wayne. Their second arc was a Joker story that crossed over into every Bat-title and ended with Batman estranged from everyone in his family but Alfred. The third arc, "Zero Year," stretched out over more than a year and was Snyder's version of the Frank Miller classic "Year One," an origin story about Batman's initial adventures upon donning the cape and cowl.

The first half of the run, in other words, was golden. But I'd never revisited the second half (or, in fact, all of "Zero Year") since buying it in single issues. So this month I returned to the Snyder-Capullo run to read it in its entirety, from its idea-packed inception to its limp to the finish line.

The Court of Owls story (including a few crossover issues in a companion volume I purchased) was as good as I remembered. "The Death of the Family" had an amazing run-up but a somewhat anticlimactic ending, just as I recalled. "Zero Year" was way too long—again, just as I remembered—but held together and offered a different feel from the always-prepared "Bat God" most modern Batman stories depict. Unfortunately, by "Endgame," their second Joker story, I had started to figure out why Snyder got tiresome to me after a a while. For him, every tale needs to be cataclysmic, needs to shake the Dark Knight to his core, needs to be the definitive Batman story. And when you're writing a graphic novel, that works—but when you're doing a monthly book, it starts to wear thin as you try to top yourself month after month.

So by the end, when Commissioner Gordon temporarily donned the cape and cowl with the real Batman presumed dead, the grandiosity that was once captivating had become cringey. The Snyder-Capullo run (and really my criticism is reserved for Snyder; Capullo is basically flawless throughout) went a couple years too long. Nevertheless, it's a fun ride, and especially the early issues are a must-read for any Batman fan. It’s not perfect, but it’s good!