What Did You Read in May 2024?

I hope everyone had a good month of reading! I further hope that (1) you will find something to explore from my reading list and (2) you’ll share what you read. (I’ll soon share what movies I watched and will want to know what you saw, so stay tuned.)

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Not pictured:

Butcher’s Moon (Parker #16, 1974) Richard Stark

Richard Stark (pen name of Donald Westlake) pulls out all the stops in what most people at the time thought would be the 16th and final book in the Parker series. What begins as a seemingly routine sequel to Slayground (Parker #14) turns into a tour-de-force as Parker, simply trying to recover $73K from a heist carried out two years prior, starts a mob war. Fans wouldn’t see a new Parker novel for 23 years, but I don’t plan to wait that long to read Comeback (1997). Stay tuned.

How to Read a Book: Advice for Christian Readers (2024) Andrew David Naselli

Inspired by Mortimer J. Adler’s classic How to Read a Book (1940), Naselli’s work focuses more on how to be a more productive, disciplined, and thoughtful reader as well as how to enjoy reading. (Imagine that…) I wish Naselli would’ve expanded the scope of his fiction suggestions, but his other suggestions are solid. This book is particularly designed for Christian readers, especially in learning how to dive deeper into Scripture and theology, yet most readers would benefit from it.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (2024) Jonathan Haidt

I greatly admire Haidt’s honesty and courage in writing a book that desperately needed to be written. Haidt suggests that the isolation brought on by the pandemic, combined with smartphones and social media, has created a harmful situation for our children leading to a multitude of problems. Many of his solutions are worth implementing, but others may be a hard sell. A few of Haidt’s examples of safety strategies implemented with his own children may be a bit much for some parents, but the basic concepts seem logical and practical.

From the photo:

Valdez is Coming (1970) from the Elmore Leonard: Westerns collection from Library of America; 2nd read, first read in 2010)

People often mistake kindness for weakness. That’s not always a mistake, but when it is, look out. Roberto Valdez is a seemingly meek, inconsequential town marshal attempting to do his job. When he’s manipulated into killing an African-American in self-defense, Valdez asks Frank Tanner, the influential power rancher who sought the man, to pay $500 to his widow. Tanner won’t give Valdez the time of day, but his men are quick to ridicule Valdez and more than glad to teach him a lesson in minding his own business. Big mistake. Valdez is Coming is a terrific Western (and Elmore Leonard wrote a lot of them) of justice and morality.

Pastor, Jesus Is Enough: Hope for the Weary, the Burned Out, and the Broken (2023) Jeremy Writebol

Our church’s pastor suddenly and unexpectedly passed away last September, which placed an enormous burden on the congregation and church elders (of which I am one). I have seen all of us taking on many hard and necessary tasks and witnessed how worn out we are, constantly solving one problem while picking up two more. Although this book is primarily meant for pastors, all church officers can learn much from it.

Opening Wednesday at a Theater Or Drive-In Near You: The Shadow Cinema of the American ‘70s (2017) Charles Taylor

It’s unlikely we’ll ever see another decade in movies like the 1970s, my favorite era for cinema. The experimental ventures taken by the major studios provided constant revelation and excitement, even if those efforts didn’t always work. That freedom from the Production Code opened the floodgates, at least for a while. You rarely see experimentation in mainstream movies, but in the ‘70s titles like Vanishing Point, Hickey & Boggs, Two-Lane Blacktop, Ulzana’s Raid, and others made it into the same theaters that were screening The Godfather, All the President’s Men, and, yes, Star Wars. That first set of films usually didn’t play very long, not because they were of lesser quality (although some were), but because most audiences didn’t know what to do with them. Opening Wednesday celebrates those movies, and while the book wears its heart on its sleeve a bit too much at times, many of the essays hit just as hard as some of the films they explore.

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession (2023) Michael Finkel

Having previously enjoyed the author’s earlier book The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit, I figured my chances of liking The Art Thief were pretty good. As we devour the pages, The Art Thief gives readers the feeling that “This can’t be true. How could one guy steal so many works of art over so many years and never come close to getting caught?” I won’t spoil it for you, but The Art Thief is a page-turner you can get lost in.

Scorchy Smith: Partners in Danger, Volume II (1935-36, 1977) Noel Sickles

I’m a big fan of classic newspaper comic strips, especially crime and adventure comics such as Terry and the Pirates, Dick Tracy, and others. I’ve been trying to find a copy of Scorchy Smith and the Art of Noel Sickles (2008) for years, but it’s out of print and expensive to buy second-hand. The volume I’m listing here (probably a third of Sickles’s run on the title) is as close and affordable as I’ve been able to get. You can read about Sickles's career and why he didn’t draw Scorchy Smith for very long, but the artist was definitely onto something with his art style, which far surpasses the writing in these stories. Even in this thin paperback with a less-than-stellar transfer, you can see why Sickles influenced so many artists.

Crossing to Safety (1987) Wallace Stegner

Some books you read at just the right time in your life, and for me this is one of those. Had I read Crossing to Safety as a young man it would’ve meant little to me. Yet in this season of life, it resonates. Goodreads describes the book this way: “Two couples meet during the Depression years in Madison, Wisconsin, and become devoted friends despite vast differences in upbringing and social status.” That description removes everything that makes this book vibrant, joyful, anxious, fearful, exuberant, ambitious, humbling, and lovely. I hope you’ll try it. I plan to return to it in a few years to see if it resonates as well as it does now.

Okay, now let me know what you read in May.