The five of you who read my stuff semi-regularly will know that I’ve had a regular entry (really, my only regular long-form post) called the “book of the month.” I stole the idea from Doug Wilson, and I like to think it has gone fairly well. But you also probably noticed that the series died right around the time school started, and before that, scheduling had gotten very irregular. This was partially due to the usual writing discipline problems, but it was also partially due to my desire to make up a respectably lengthy post for my readers. With certain books, I had difficulty doing that—some books really only do warrant a blurb or a sentence.
Retiring the Book of the Month
So I am retiring the “book of the month” feature, at least for the moment. Instead, I am replacing it with a new feature I am currently calling “Schlepping the Shelf.” The idea will be to give a few comments on books I have finished recently, or longer books I am currently reading. The timeframe should be similar--around once a month. My hope is that it will be equally effective in spreading some knowledge for fellow readers, and that the less-polished format will encourage me to write it more often. Words that never get written do no good.
The Shelf—Some Great Reads from the Death of ’24 and the Birth of ‘25
Plato of Athens: A Life in Philosophy by Robin Waterfield. A biography of Plato’s life and work by one of my favorite Greek translators. Very good, it debunked a couple of myths I’d believed and gave a good overall picture of his work. His reading of Plato’s philosophy might be a tad individualistic (I’m not sure a Greek in that time period would have favored so “modern” an interpretation of Plato or Socrates—Waterfield might be pulling the classic move of reading his own times into history. Recommended by David Talcott.
A Man Called Intrepid: The Incredible Story of the Master Spy Who Helped Win World War II by William Stevenson. The story of the confusingly-named William Stephenson (no relation to the author) who was the architect and director of British Security Coordination, which worked with the OSS to run clandestine operations in WWII. Basically, Stevenson was the man who helped invent the modern intelligence agency. Both gripping and surprising, this book makes me wonder how much more has been declassified since it was published in 1972. Somebody needs to write a follow-up volume. Audible.
Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear by Jinger Duggar Vuolo. Compared to other “Deconstructing Christians” this is measured and wise. The Duggars had a monumental impact on a lot of people, but theological flaws in their belief eventually worked themselves out. Bill Gothard sounds like the reality of whatever people think Doug Wilson is—a self-promoter running his own sexually-confused cult of personality. Good for Jinger for working through all the “tangles” and risking friends and family relationships to do it. I am a bit concerned at the number of her books that have popped up in my feed since I finished it—I hope she’s not trading one lucrative, spiritually dangerous spotlight for another by becoming “the Duggar writer.” Read by the author on Audible, which is fun.
Haunted Cosmos by Brian Sauvé and Ben Garrett. The initial offering from Ogden's New Christendom Press. I’d describe this as “patchy” at best. Bits of it are excellent, but I’m not sure it’s enough to lift the whole project over the finish line. First, the intended audience is very unclear—given the tenor of advice and examples, I’d hypothesize it’s the 21-and-younger crowd (which makes the choice to release it in gorgeous, gilt hardback confusing; that demographic doesn’t usually value high-end volumes).
The book also has structural issues. I’m not sure the monster chapters in the middle actually tie in as well as they hoped. They feel random. And as I mentioned, I’m unclear on the overall why. If this is simply to give fans of their podcast something for the shelf, or to hook bookworms into their podcast, I guess this works. Otherwise, it’s a gorgeous book, but the audience and purpose seem up in the air (and better covered by the podcast itself). My advice? Skip it and go straight to YouTube for the real deal.
If one or two of these migrate on to your “I’d like to read that someday” pile (or written list, or shadowy mental concept) then all goals have been met. If you have any suggestions for how I can make this feature more helpful, O readers, please comment away on the platform where you found it. No author wants useless writings. Thanks for passing by.
If one or two of these migrate on to your “I’d like to read that someday” pile (or written list, or shadowy mental concept) then all goals have been met. If you have any suggestions for how I can make this feature more helpful, O readers, please comment away on the platform where you found it. No author wants useless writings. Thanks for passing by.
