December and January Books

the desperation of dog-earing

I’ve started something new with my reading for class this quarter—I’m dog-earing pages. I don’t even know who I am anymore. I’ve always underlined and made interjections in the margins, but, for some reason, as I’ve considered papers and forum posts, I’ve needed more support.¹ The extra support has been turning down page corners to make ideas and concepts easy to find. When I need to write final papers in a few weeks, we’ll see if it has helped.

Last month, I listed my favorite books of 2023 so I’m catching up on December here too. I’d love to hear what you’re reading in the comments!

December Books

Nobody’s Mother by Sandra Glahn 

This got a whole review and a spot in my top 15 books of last year. Go read about it! 

All 5 Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan 

I borrowed these from one of the residents at work and tore through them once classes ended in December. The story is good. The ideas are compelling. I didn’t love them though because they are very plot-based. I reported to several people that it felt like you careened through every page of the story in threat of death and damage; I actually had a great visual that is impossible to share in writing. Pacing matters and these weren’t my favorite pacing.

The Sense of the Call by Marva J. Dawn 

I read through this during the fall. It’s a slow compelling to inner work: solitude, embracing suffering, letting go of success. If you’re interested in sustainable ministry, it’s for you. 

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien 

I was influenced by Breanne Rodgers to read The Silmarillion. I can’t do it justice here, but I will say two things. 1) The stories are majestic and epic. They cover histories and descendants and sweeping narratives, chronicling the history of Middle Earth. 2) They are a teeny bit depressing. It’s the ruin of this person and the downfall of this city and the tragic ending of this love story. Now you know. I’m glad I read it. If I read it again, I’m sure I’d be able to sort the people into better order. There were too many names to even pretend to remember who was who and how they were connected. 

January Books

The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy L. Sayers

I intend to write a whole post on Sayers, which is what compelled me to pick up this book. Sayers is making the argument that the life of the creative is modeled after the Trinity and we can learn about creative work from the Trinity and even about God from creative work. 

Redeeming Power by Diane Langberg 

I just finished an interesting sort of reading report for class for this book and it reminded me of how important I think this work is. She talks about what power is, addresses how power is abused, and then uses the life of Jesus to illustrate how beautifully power was redeemed in His life and can be in the church. Read it. 

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott²

I hadn’t read this book for years and years but I bought a lovely copy of it at our local bookstore and then pulled it off the shelf in December after finishing Percy Jackson. It was a much slower read but as delightful as I remembered. When I was younger, I mostly only read the first half. For a long time, I thought that was because—spoiler! Can you have spoilers in a book this old?—Beth dies. After rereading it, I think maybe I was uninterested in their lives past childhood because I was just a child. 

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

I bought this gargantuan book that Justin laughs at every night but I’m enjoying these stories so much. These are middle-grade fantasy that are in no way dumbed down in language or theme. I don’t mean that the themes are inappropriately adult but that they are real-to-life. I finished this first one and was in awe of how she brought the story together. 

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

The author has also written notes about her thought process for the stories that are delightful to read. This is the second of the series about Earths and it introduces some new characters. I felt ready to go back and read it as soon as it said “The End.” 

Your Daughters Shall Prophesy by Todd Korpi 

This is a newer book that I read for class and it was excellent. This is not so much a theology of women leading or a treatise for egalitarianism as much as it is a manual for how to live out a non-hierarchal gender belief. 5/5

The Headship of Men and the Abuse of Women by Kevin Giles

Did that title raise your eyebrows? I think maybe he did it on purpose. Some of the content is very heavy; clearly it addresses abuse and violence. I liked some of his explanations and jotted down places where I disagreed. This was also a book for class. 

Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman

This book was for my other class and I loved it. Thurman wanted to explore how it was possible for the oppressed to endure their suffering without losing their humanity. He develops the idea that if someone is to endure oppression, they must develop an inner life. They must refuse to fall prey to hatred or fear or deception. This should be on a shelf with our spiritual formation books. 

Malestrom by Carolyn Custis James

This was a reread but since it had been a few years, I was quickly sucked in when I tried to just skim. James, who also wrote one of my favorite books Half the Church, wants to rescue men from our poor cultural ideas of manhood. She holds up Jesus as the model male, naming that Jesus devoted enormous attention to his own relationship to God; he lived with a self-conscious open awareness that he lived under the gaze of God; he took an oppositional stance against the forces that appeal to a man’s pride and self-importance; he frees men to express the full range of human emotions, not just in private prayer but in public. It’s a fabulous read that affirms the goodness of men and the way our ideas of manhood are crippling then. 

The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin

I read the last few pages of this the last night of the month before I feel asleep. It is perhaps my favorite of the three Earthsea stories that I have read. To save the world, the mage…never mind, that would be a spoiler. 

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What have you been reading as the calendar has shifted from 2023 to 2024? Do you have any reading goals?

1. The reason is that I’m tired of school. That’s the reason.

2. I’ve yet to find the gorgeous cover that I bought locally anywhere online.