The new year is off to a good start. Each month of the year I write some brief remarks on the books I read during that month. My goal in doing so is to offer up some books that may interest you, or on the rare occasion, let you know a book or two you can skip…or avoid. I’m sharing what I read, and if you would like, share what you read in the comments below. I am always looking to add some more titles to my reading lists.
My favorite book this month was a new book on parenting, 8 Errors Parents Make and How to Avoid Them by Michael Brock. This book was released in 2024, and a couple men from church highly recommended it, and now having read it, I see why. It is a practical guide in the application of biblical principles for the discipling of our children. This is one of those books that parents should read once, or twice, a year. Very good. Go get it.
Someone somewhere recommended Peter Heller to me, and so I grabbed The River. Two friends are out on a long canoe trip somewhere in Canada when a forest fire spreading near them forces them to change their plans. Add on to that, a quarreling couple, and the next day the man is alone. Where did the wife go? Where could she have gone in the middle of the wilderness? This is a thriller that reminded me of Blake Crouch, just without the science fiction elements.
Jonathan Auxier is becoming a favorite middle grade author of mine. I read The Night Gardener a year or two ago, I enjoyed it, so I read another one of Auxier’s books, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes. This is story of a blind boy who happens to be the greatest thief in the world, and he must save a long lost kingdom from a tyrant with unimaginable power. It is clever, dark, and yet still charming. My twelve year old son really liked it as well.
A friend of mine, Stuart Bryan, wrote a book on the sabbath and the Lord’s Day and I highly recommend it. The Taste of the Sabbath is a pithy book, biblical in its arguments, and makes a solid case that the Lord’s Day in the New Covenant is the Christian sabbath. Bryan also shows that the day of rest given by our God is for our benefit and enjoyment: worship, rest, and festivity. God is not a miser, nor a scrooge, but a benevolent Father who will not give His sons a stone when they ask for bread.
The Last Days of Socrates by Plato is part of our home-school co-op curriculum. I was reminded, once again, of the uselessness of Greek philosophy. However, the benefit of reading guys like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle is found when you realize that the presuppositions of our post-post-modern society are the same as Socrates’ selfish pursuit of his own immortality on his own terms. To understand the chaos of the individual, just read the Greeks. If you really want to know how to live in this world, however, read your Bible.
Postpartum Depression: Stopping the Spiral with His Sufficient Word by Shelbi Cullen is a brief and helpful booklet on this issue. Depression is a tricky monster, but God’s Word, and trust in what He has said, can bring healing and endurance. Depression, some think, is only a spiritual matter, or only a physical matter, but the truth is that we are whole beings and the spirit affects the body and the body affects the spirit. We cannot divide them so easily when it comes to care. Cullen does a fair job, but she leans more toward the spirit-side of things, so take that into account if you are seeking help for yourself, or a loved one, with this issue.
Speaking of counseling, I also read Paul David Tripp’s book, Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense (the hardcover edition is only 7.99 right now!). This is a fine introduction to the reality of suffering in the Christian life. Tripp does a fine job addressing the temptations that suffering can bring into our life, and he shows us how to be on guard against them. There are many helpful insights in this book, however Tripp leans Baptistic (subjective, and individualistic), and sometimes a bit gnostic. For example, in regard to gnosticism, he makes mention that heaven is our home, the goal of salvation, and fails to comment on the promise of resurrection of our physical bodies. It seems as though the affliction of our physical bodies, for Tripp, is only for the benefit of our souls. It also seems like Tripp thinks the grace of God is a substance that can infuse us with energy, or comfort, rather than being God’s expression of favor. He ignores Job, Ecclesiastes, and the sufferings of Jesus. One of the big things to deal with is the discipline of the Father toward the Son of His love for the purpose of maturation, and how the sufferings of Christ are given to the church for the sake of changing the world. Tripp does not mention the Church, except that we should help take care of one another, which is true enough. How do the sacraments illumine our suffering? How does corporate worship shape our suffering? What does it mean to be part of the Body of Christ? Again, a fine introduction to suffering in the Christian life, but more needs to be said.
I read a collection of short stories from Joyce Carol Oates called, The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares. A couple of these short stories are more the length of a novella. Oates is showing that the monsters of our nightmares are not werewolves and vampires, but simply our fellow man. We are the monsters hurting one another, sometimes in vicious ways. The endings of the stories did not always land for me, but the word Nightmare is right in the title of the collection, so maybe all these stories are to be read like abrupt dreams. Our dreams never end the way we expect.
Peter Nimble is on my bookshelf! Did you know there's a sequel - Sophie Quire?
My favorite book from last month was named Who. It is a very good book on how to hire excellent people for your business.
On a completely different note, have you read catcher in the rye?