April in Books (2023)

a reading bonanza

Every month when I post books finished I get in trouble from at least one reader for making you feel bad about my or your reading habits. Sorry! It's not a competition, I just like reading. And this month I was on vacation for 2 weeks which meant I got through a lot of books.

If you're wondering how I choose what to read, it's a mix. Sometimes I source suggestions from friends, other times I follow whims, or follow a lead from one book to another. I also compile lists of things that sound interesting. At the start of this year I put together a few lists that I am systematically working through over the year. I have a conscious selection of ancient works, as well as intentional attention to works by people of colour and women. So there is never a shortage of things to read!

Photo by Cristina Gottardi on Unsplash

32. Lent, Esau McCaulley. (Review)

33. How I became the World's Fittest Woman, Tia-Clair Toomey.

    I have a love/hate relationship with CrossFit, but nevertheless a lot of admiration for some of its top athletes. Tia has won the CrossFit Games 6 years straight, and in the last few years with daylight second. This book is written with a (named!) ghost-writer and covers up to 2018 and her first win in 2017. It's not a well-written book, but I did enjoy hearing her story (up to this point anyway).

34. The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams.

    The first book of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, a fantasy series from the 90s (which is when I first read it). I decided to revisit it learning that Williams had written a sequel series in the last 4 years. Kind of half way between Tolkien and GRR Martin. Also, very long books!

35. The Next Evangelicalism, Soong-Chan Rah. (Review)

36. After Evangelicalism, David P. Gushee.

    Review forthcoming. Maybe. This is a much less sympathetic critique of evangelicalism, by someone who is exvangelical. I have a lot of sympathy for their critiques, on the whole, but I’m far less convinced of some of the positions they’ve landed in. I do think that there is something that ought to be post-evangelical, but I’m not convinced that this is it.

37. Hard Work Pays Off, Mat Fraser.

    So apparently I am reading CrossFit books this month. Fraser is the male Tia Toomey, 5x winner of the CrossFit Games and dominant until his retirement 2 years ago. This book has a bit of biography in it, but it's woven into training tips and reflection (and recipes) so that it's part training guide and tips, part biography. One can also do a bit of comparison between Tia and Mat, who have more than a few similarities in their stories.

38. A Praying life, Paul E. Miller.

    I don't quite agree with everything Miller says about prayer everywhere, but having read his book on a Praying Church, I wanted to step earlier and read this one too. Above all else, you come away with a sense of Miller's own, long term, prayerful dependence upon God through plenty of difficult times and circumstances, and God's faithfulness in answering prayer. So, this was encouraging and inspiring on that account, and I did learn more than a few things along the way.

39. First: What it takes to win, Rich Froning Jr..

    Another CrossFit book? (I hear you say). This one surprised me. Rich was a 4x Games champion, in  the era prior to Fraser. Since then he has competed in Teams (and won so, so many years in Teams). This is more a memoir than Fraser's book, more like Tia's book in that regard, but honestly better written.  What surprised me was the unabashed and central role of faith in Jesus in Froning's life and this book (though looking at the publishing house perhaps I could have twigged earlier). I kind of wish it had been revised or updated since 2013 though.

40. Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams.

    Book 2 of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. Also very long, but I was on a holiday reading blitz!

41. Desiring the kingdom, James K.A. Smith. (Review)

    Great book!

42. How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind, Thomas Oden.

    This isn't actually a long book but it took me 3 months to finish it because it's kind of repetitive. The author's main thesis is good : we ought to think of African Christianity as ancient, indigenous to Africa, pan-African, and a vigorous source of orthodoxy. It deserves more and better attention.

43. Five Theological Orations, Gregory of Nazianzus.

    A theological classic. Gregory gives his outstanding defence of Trinitarian orthodoxy.

44. Getting out of Bed, O. Alan Noble. (Review)

45. A Gift of Love, Martin Luther King, Jr.

    The most important, influential, and significant theologian of the USA is not Jonathan Edwards, it's MLK. Which is why it's a travesty that he is not well-read, but reduced to sound-bites and his quotations are more honoured in their misuse and abuse, than their use. The best antidote to this is to read (and listen) to MLK in his own words. This book, which is derivative from "Strength to Love" with a few additions and one subtraction, is a collection of sermons which are well worth the read. If you’ve never listened to MLK preach, I heartily recommend it too. Here’s a famous one: “A Knock at Midnight”.

Okay, well that was a good selection of books!

Other things:

Here’s a good article I read recently, about learning from collectivist cultures (and why westerners don’t have all-night prayer meetings). Here’s another one that I think finds beautiful words to put flesh on the practice of forgiveness in the author’s extremely hard situation.

And here’s a podcast episode from the great podcast Where Ya From? It's an interview with Dr. Justo González, an acclaimed Cuban-American theologian and historian with incredible joie de vivre as you'll hear in this episode (which I listened to twice, it was so good).