by John Chandler

The tour of “Best of 2017” lists continued with Little Fires Everywhere. The title is justified in the first chapter as we find literal little files all over a house. Yet, the continued reading of the book builds layer after layer onto the plot of metaphorical fires building in the lives of two very different families.

I’m drawn to fiction with well developed characters. While a few were left out, this book was full of them.

I had 1776 waiting on my Kindle for a long time after finding it on sale, but it never seemed the right time to read it. I enjoy reading history, but I consider it mostly to be for leisure reading, and that’s the one gap I seem to have in my reading rhythms of late. So, I mostly read this in my “productive” morning reading time.

I suppose that’s all a way of saying that I think this book got shortchanged. I’ve always had at least a minor interest in the Revolutionary War, so I enjoyed this book. But I also had a drive to finish that kept me from plodding my way through the details and events described.

The result is, of course, that a summary of my experience reading the book becomes more about my process than the book itself.

I don’t fancy myself a fantasy reader (though I do count Tolkien among my favorites). So, it took me a while, not a few recommendations, and a sale price on the ebook before I finally tackled The Name of the Wind.

I can see why it’s so well liked. It’s a very readable book. The world-building took me to another place each time I read it. I always connect with characters more than plot or setting, and I didn’t feel like I missed having them around after I finished.

The second book is calling for nme. But at 1120 pages, I haven’t decided yet if I will answer.

This newest book by Brené Brown’s focuses on the need to stand alone for what you believe. At the same time, it is built on her core underlying framework of relational vulnerability and courage.

I suppose you could argue that each of her books is essentially the same book with a slightly different spin. But I find her voice and perspective to be so important that I wouldn’t consider that a bad thing.

I read this via audiobook, as I did her last one. Her storytelling emphasis makes her books easy to follow as audiobooks. Unfortunately, I think I don’t invest the same emotional depth when I listen to them rather than read them.

I read this to help prepare for my Seek Opportunities sermon last month. I used two quotes from the book in the sermon, but the ideas from this book were present from start to finish.

I can’t say I’ve read shelves and shelves of books on race, difference, and bias, but I’ve read some. This one is a stand out. It’s based on her scholarly work, but written at a popular level which results in a good mix of both thoughtfulness and accessibility. It stretches thinking but also offers ideas for a reasonable way forward.

I always try to have one thick book in my current reading pile. By thick, I mean thick with dense ideas to stretch or fill gaps in my thinking. Usually, it’s in the area of theology. And yes, it’s usually thick in terms of pages and heft too.

All of Jürgen Moltmann’s books fit in this category, and I return to him at least once a year to read a new one. He’s written so many.

It’s been a number of years since I read God in Creation. In it, he explores God’s relationship with creation, and dismantles views that might purely see earth a corrupt place we need to escape. It’s still my favorite of his and informs my thinking a great deal today.

The Coming of God was good to read in that it carries along that same understanding to how we often hear called “end times”. (Such a gross term.) The focus here is much more on the true hope for what “New Creation” should be — in every way, that’s language for an idea much more consistent with the writings of the New Testament.

January 31, 2018 at 07:51PM Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

Homo Deus is the Yuval Noah Harari’s follow-up to Sapiens. The latter is his broad take on the history of humanity, while this newer tackles his projected future.

I read both via audiobook, which somewhat breaks a personal rule. I find that I do best with audiobooks that have a narrative structure, like history or biography. Listening to more conceptual books like these, I find, leads me to getting more the breadth of the book than the depth of it.

I got enough out of my auditory reading of this to appreciate the overall ideas and be left wanting more. There is much I’d like to return to in the print version and engage his work through my Christian understanding…but golly there’s a lot of competition in my reading queue.

The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place

I briefly met Andy Crouch a number of years ago at the Q Conference here in Austin. he was wearing a Daring Fireball t-shirt, so he has some street cred as a fellow nerd when it comes to talking about tech.

I’ve also read each of Andy Crouch’s prior books, and found value in each. So, when I saw this book released, I figured I’d be reading it sooner or later. I wish it had been sooner.

Andy offers much more that just rules for how to engage technology. He starts with some broader philosophy of what the purpose of a family should be. It’s not comprehensive, of course, but at least enough to set the tone and direction of this book. But those few chapters alone could merit healthy discussion for any family.

But going on from there, he offers an intentioned and realistic picture of how technology might best be utilized toward those ends. He offers a measured view of the value and the disruption that technology can offer relationships, especially among those who live alongside one another.

The one critique of the book is the title. Not that it doesn’t represent well the content of the book. But there is helpful stuff in here for anyone, not just families with kids at home. I’d hope the title doesn’t cause people without young ‘uns to avoid it.

Part of the reason the previously mentioned The Three Musketeers took so long to read is that I was also slowly working my way through this with my son. When we started I was wondering if he was old enough to read it, and now he’s ready to move on to the next books all on his own. So yeah, it took a while. Still a pure delight to read and one of my favorites.

A thoughtful book by a thoughtful person on topics I myself hope to be thoughtful about. Not sure this one broke new ground for me in things I haven’t read or considered at other times. But still good to read something like this to bring a careful engagement of art and faith back into my day to day thinking.