With my daughter home from college and temps rising, I am ready for summer. Maybe you’re getting there, too? There’s nothing like a good book by the pool (or ocean!) to make a perfect summer day.
I’ve loved what I have been able to read so far this year. Below are a handful of my favorites that I think will make your upcoming summer reading all the more enjoyable (I also posted a spring list a few months ago that you might want to look at as well).
Strange New World by Carl Trueman
Carl Trueman is one of the wisest contemporary evangelical cultural commentators. A historian by trade, Trueman offers perspective on how and why the secular world has landed where it has theologically and philosophically.
Trueman’s Strange New World helps make sense of the contemporary Western world where identity politics hold sway. An abbreviated version of Trueman’s The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (which I haven’t read yet), Strange New World helps anyone confused with navigating the modern world.
“To respond to our times we must first understand our times,” Trueman explains. Some have identified the spirit of our age as one of “expressive individualism,” where the individual’s feelings reign supreme. Trueman explains, "The modern self assumes the authority of inner feelings and sees authenticity as defined by the ability to give social expression to the same.”
Trueman explains how these ideas came to hold sway. Rising from the soil of Romantic philosophers, developing through Nietzsche, Marx, Wilde, and Freud, it is no accident where contemporary ideology has landed.
All of this creates an ideology that is unfriendly in a number of ways to a biblical worldview. For instance, “In biblical times or in ancient Greece, sex was regarded as something that human beings did; today it is considered to be something vital to who human beings are.”
Too often, Christians address symptoms of worldview issues without understanding their genesis. Trueman’s Strange New World is an important work that helps the Christian to discover not just the fruit of contemporary thinking, but the roots as well. Anyone wanting to engage the world thoughtfully and wisely should pick up Trueman’s work.
The Secret Place of Thunder by John Starke
Four hundred years ago, Shakespeare pens the immortal line, “All the world’s a stage” in As You Like It. If that was true in the 17th century, how much more is it true today where it is so easy to measure ourselves by the number of likes, views, and “friends” we accumulate on social media. In The Secret Place of Thunder my friend John Starke considers the lure of our performative culture on our hearts.
It turns out that Shakespeare’s line was not entirely original to him. Others, including Erasmus had penned similar lines. The problem, then, isn’t found in our culture, but in our hearts. Two thousand years ago Jesus warns us, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 6:1).
Starke argues that to experience the peaceful heart of God, we must go to “the secret place of thunder”—a reference to Asaph’s Psalm 81 which says, “In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder” (Ps. 81:7). Our deepest happiness is not found when we are seen and affirmed by others, but when we are at peace in the presence of God.
Starke’s The Secret Place of Thunder was a timely invitation to my weary soul. I trust it will encourage you as well.
Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri
Daniel Nayeri (whose given name is Khosrou) is a Persian American who grew up in the heart of America after departing Iran with his mom as an elementary-aged boy.
Nayeri’s Everything Sad is Untrue is written in the style of 1001 Arabian Nights. Nayeri takes the reader on a non-sequential journey through his life back with stories that often feel mythical.
Nayeri shares stories of pain and loss, hope and faith. My favorite portions are his reflections on his mom’s Christian faith near the end of the book.
Nayeri’s writing is unique; a reader will likely love or hate it. Don’t expect a linear memoir nor tidy themes, but Nayeri’s talent as a wordsmith is tremendous. As a fellow writer, I was inspired by Nayeri’s honest and poetic prose. And a reader cannot help but benefit from walking a mile in an immigrant’s shoes.
I look forward to reading more of Nayeri’s work. His voice is worth listening to.
Pistol by Mark Kriegel
Mark Kriegel’s Pistol is a top-notch biography of a name almost every basketball fan knows, but a story few remember.
Kriegel is an excellent storyteller who crafts Pistol Pete Marovich’s story with panache. My favorite part was the beginning and the end. Kriegel spends a long time on Pete’s father, Press. The two stories are really one. Press was a young immigrant who became obsessed with a new sport, basketball. He would pass that obsession down to his youngest son, Pete. Pete’s own story begins like a comet, the young phenom, giving himself to the game, but never reaching his potential because of his self-destructive tendencies, especially with alcohol.
Pete’s story concludes with a brief telling of his post-career transformation as he became a Christian. Unfortunately, Kriegel is not a very generous interpreter of this part of the story. At times he almost seems a little disappointed it was evangelical Christianity that changed Pete into a caring and generous man.
Strangely enough, the part of the story that lagged a bit for me was Pete’s NBA career (and even his college career, a bit). I guess that’s not surprising as Pete’s teams never accomplished much, in part because of his lack of leadership (self and team).
This is a well-written book about a fascinating family and an important figure in the transformation of the league from a by-the-book white man’s game to a much more creative game led by black men.
Any basketball fan is sure to enjoy Pistol.
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connely
This is a perfect pool book. Michael Connely introduces us to Mickey Haller. Haller is the son of a great trial lawyer who has lost his way. Haller is a gun-for-hire defense attorney who loves using angles and manipulation to get his clients off the hook.
Haller has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn’t recognize innocence if it stood right in front of him. But what he should have been on the watch for was evil.
The Lincoln Lawyer follows Haller’s defense of a high-stakes case of a Beverly Hills playboy arrested for attacking a woman. The murder of a close friend of Haller raises the stakes of the case even higher.
This was my first Michael Connelly book, and I enjoyed it. Connelly's pop style isn’t dumbed down, but it is easy read and well-paced. I was invested in the characters, and there were just enough turns to keep you interested and off-balance. I look forward to reading more of Connelly over the summer.
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Spring Reads 2023
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