May Reading Log

I didn't feel like I did any more reading than usual in May, but the numbers tell a different story. Lots to see below!

HELP THANKS WOW by Anne Lamott

As she explains in the introduction to this book, writer Anne Lamott has found that virtually all of her prayers can be summed up with one or more of the book's titular words: help, thanks, wow. All of her prayers—and so, in a sense, all of her spiritual life—is suffused with either need, gratitude, wonder, or some amalgamation of the three. Help Thanks Wow is her meditation on these themes.

On the positive end, Lamott is a wonderfully gifted writer, and the rare author outside the evangelical publishing subculture who dares to write about spirituality from a Christian perspective. Furthermore, her insight into how simply our prayers can be summarized—help, thanks, wow—was instructive to me, something I've already shared with members of my congregation.

On the negative side, while Lamott's writing in this book is decidedly theistic, it seems as though she (or her editor/publisher) has sanded down any expressly Christian language in order to make the book more palatable to a general audience. I don't remember Jesus being mentioned once; the book assumes a benevolent Creator but never points to a crucified Savior. Knowing that Lamott is a Christian—and that fundamentalist types consider her heterodox—I wish she'd been a little bolder and veered away from the spiritual-but-not-religious side of the road.

Due to that criticism, I don't know that I'd recommend this book to just anybody, and it's one I'm glad I checked out from the library instead of purchasing. Nevertheless, there's some useful insights about prayer and some beautiful writing to be found. Proceed with caution, but you might appreciate what it offered here.

A LONG OBEDIENCE IN THE SAME DIRECTION by Eugene Peterson

This was a reread of a book I first tackled in 2019. What I said then remains true today, so here you go:

When A Long Obedience in the Same Direction was published in 1980, it was unlike anything else on the shelves at the Christian bookstore: a book that offered no easy answers and no 5 step plans, just a biblical call to the slow, methodical work of discipleship. 40 years later, it remains as singular a work as ever.

In this, Peterson's first book, he sounds what would become the clarion call of his written and pastoral ministry, a call to discipleship. In a society used to getting so much quickly, if not instantaneously, he writes that becoming more like Christ is something that takes a lifetime's worth of prayer, study, and effort. It is not always glamorous, but it is worthwhile.

To illustrate what he calls the biblical model for discipleship, he uses the Song of Ascents, a.k.a. Psalms 120-134. Each psalm shows a different facet of discipleship, from worship to service to blessing, with Peterson using both personal and pastoral anecdotes alongside his breakdown of the biblical text. Each chapter works both as an individual sermon on the topic and as a piece of the larger message on what it means to be a disciple.

In many ways, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction is the ur-text for everything Peterson would write afterwards—his call to incarnational, rooted, lifelong ministry is one he wrote about, preached about, and lived. Whether you've never heard of Peterson or own all his books, this one is not to be missed.

THE MEASURE OF ENOUGH by Deonna Kay

I confess, this is not an unbiased review. Deonna and her family are dear friends of mine, and this is her debut novel. I was thrilled to pick it up the day she announced its publication, and enjoyed reading it over the first half of May.

The Measure of Enough is a story about an independent but conflicted woman coming to terms with her family history. Through a return to her hometown and the reading of her mother's journals, she learns that her childhood was more complicated than it seemed, and her lifelong opinion of her unstable mother and her saint of a father does a 180. In the end, by wrestling with the demons of her past, she is able to come to terms with who she is, learning that, just as her mother had always preached, she is enough.

This novel, while filled with humor, tackles some deep subjects, including domestic abuse, sexual violence, and and mental illness. These topics are handled sensitively, but readers for whom those subjects are triggering should be warned. For anyone unfamiliar with or ill-educated on such topics, the novel provides some basic, therapeutic outlooks.

I'm so proud of Deonna for writing this book, and was glad to read it. Buy your copy today!

DIGITAL MINIMALISM by Cal Newport
SLOW PRODUCTIVITY by Cal Newport

Every couple of months, I get mildly obsessed with the intersection of time management and phone addiction, seeking the secret sauce to bring down my screen time and open up newfound hours in my day. This month, that preoccupation led me to two books by Cal Newport, both of which seek to recapture and redefine productivity in the digital age.

Digital Minimalism is the more focused and practical of the two, making a case and offering tips for how to divorce yourself from the siren songs of email, apps, and mindless scrolling. Newport's advice is, by his own admission, radical, but he argues that by temporarily taking extreme measures—for example, switching to a flip phone for 30 days—you will break bad habits and be better able to establish digital boundaries. His diagnosis is convincing, even if his prescriptions feel a little fantastical.

Slow Productivity is a broader and more meandering, but also more enjoyable, read. It argues that things like email and Zoom, far from making us more productive, have actually robbed us of the ability to get important things done—instead of working on projects, we're constantly responding to the latest query or attending a meeting. With a flurry of anecdotes and case studies, Newport argues that the key to productivity is working more slowly and deliberatively, instead of just more. Intentionality, not volume, is the key.

Both of these books were fascinating, if flawed. My overriding criticism is that most of Newport's solutions only work if you have a high degree of freedom in your work life—you can tell subordinates you only take meetings on certain mornings (as he suggests in Slow Productivity), but good luck telling that to your boss or a demanding client. Newport offers a compelling case for why modern office culture is broken, but his solutions will only work for those in upper management. These are interesting reads with good ideas therein, but take them with a grain of salt.

BOY by Roald Dahl

When you think of Roald Dahl, you probably think of his wildly inventive children's fiction, and for good reason. From James and the Giant Peach to The BFG, my kids and I have loved working our way through all the oddball characters and stories. But Dahl also had stories to tell about his own life, which he covered in two autobiographies dividing his life between boyhood and adulthood.

Boy covers, as the title indicates, Dahl's adolescence in Norway, Wales, and England. There are family tales, boarding school stories, and more, all told with his characteristic imagination and wit. Admittedly, the subject matter isn't quite as off-the-wall as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but it's an enjoyable ride nevertheless. My kids didn't seem to mind the absence of Dahl's usual wackiness! Next month, we'll finish up our 16-book boxed set of Roald Dahl books with the second half his autobiography, Going Solo.

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF W.B. YEATS

One of my resolutions for 2025 was to read more poetry, so I dutifully read one or two of W.B. Yeats' poems every morning for the first five months of the year.

Nope, I still don't "get" poetry.

Admittedly, my strategy was bad here. For a novice, going with one poet's complete works instead of a "best of" anthology was bound to disappoint me. Complete collections are for hard-core fans, not beginners.

And I did admire Yeats' hits, like "The Second Coming" ("Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold") and "Easter, 1916." The trouble is, most of the poems I enjoyed were the ones I was already familiar with; I didn't do a lot of highlighting of the material I was reading for the first time. By the time I got to his later works, which are longer, epic poems, my "reading" was a lot more skimming than comprehending.

None of this should be taken as a criticism of Yeats, often considered one of history's greatest poets. I'm just convinced I handled this project all wrong; I should not have started with a full course of Yeats when I was only intellectually prepared for a snack.

I did not enjoy this book, but I don't blame the author. Yeats was not at fault—rather, in the words of one of our best-known modern poets, "It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me."

ESSENTIAL X-MEN VOL. 11 by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, et al.

At long last, Essential X-Men Vol. 11 brings to a close Chris Claremont's run writing the X-Men, which began with 1975's Giant-Sized X-Men #1 and concludes here with the first three issues of the adjectiveless X-Men series, the first of which remains to this day the bestselling comic book of all time. This volume is almost exclusively devoted to tying up the loose ends necessary to debut that book and reset the X-Men universe—dissolving the X-Factor team so that Cyclops, Jean Grey, et al. can be X-Men again, injuring Professor X in such a way that he is once again wheelchair-bound, reestablishing Magneto as a villain, etc.

As mentioned last month, the end of Claremont's tenure did not happen on his timetable, nor according to his wishes. Marvel editorial, after years of letting him and Louise Simonson have their way with the X-universe, stepped in with a mandate to reset things in such a way that new readers could follow the action. And, while I sympathize with Claremont and am generally in favor of giving writers as much freedom as possible, I have to admit that Claremont's final three issues—which see the X-Men form two separate strike teams made up of fan favorite characters to face off against Magneto and his Acolytes—were the most I'd enjoyed X-Men comics in a while. With Jim Lee at the peak of his powers art-wise, the book has an energy that had been lacking for a long time in the years when Claremont had disassembled the team.

With that being said, issue #3 ends rather suddenly, probably a reflection of Claremont's abrupt decision to leave Marvel. After more than 15 years with this team, one wishes he had been allowed to craft his own conclusion instead of having it handed down. In this reader's mind, Marvel editorial's decision to pry the X-Men loose from Claremont's hands was probably the right one—you just wish it could have been done more gracefully.

I'm all X-ed out for a while, but there are still 7 volumes of Essential Wolverine and 5 of Essential X-Factor that I'll have to tackle someday. So for more mutant action, check back in around 2032!