I read 10 books in April and 9 books in May. This brings my 2023 total to 44 books.

This book log is extremely past due – and includes 2 months! I’m finding it increasingly harder to make the time or provide the effort for my book log. I’m contemplating the idea of turning it into a video log. Time will tell.

Here’s two months worth of books. Happy reading!

(I must always clarify that I read many books with which I disagree. I learn the most by reading things that do not represent my position.)

The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter. It is plodding, beautiful, and problematic. Apparently no connection, apart from name, exists between Longfellow’s character and the sixteenth-century Hiawatha. Longfellow’s was drawn on the writings of Henry R. Schoolcraft, who had confused the real Hiawatha—a Mohawk known as a great Iroquois reformer and statesman, with a Ojibwe/Chippewa tribal trickster Naanabozho (Manabozho). The poem is filled with oral traditions, legends, and Longfellow’s inventions. Much is wrong but most is beautiful. It can be slow and hard to follow but patience is rewarded.

The opening lines:

Should you ask me, whence these stories?

Whence these legends and traditions,

With the odors of the forest,

With the dew and dump of meadows,

With the curling smoke of wigwams,

With the rushing of great rivers,

With the frequent repetitions,

As of thunder in the mountains?

I picked up my fragile, 100-year-old, illustrated copy in lovely used bookstore, McWha, in Belton, Texas. It contains the inscription on the flyleaf: James B. Ellish Jr – 1907.

The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece by Jonathon Hard

A fast-paced true story of a lost Caravaggio painting. Its pages turn like a beach read. Grad students find a clue and keeping digging until they solve the mystery surrounding a masterpiece, The Taking of Christ.

I’ve always had an interest in art. In the last few years my interest has turned into fascination bordering on obsession. I stare at art, read art books, and I’m always on the hunt for a good art story. I love to sneak them into sermons. I have a Caravaggio reproduction in my study. The thought that one of his works could be lost is worthy of a book or two or …. hundred.

Faith Formation in Secular Age: Responding to the Church’s Obsession with Youthfulness by Andrew Root

I finished another volume in Root’s collection of books dealing with the secular age. Root is equal parts brilliant and entertaining. This work chronicles the churches obsession with all things new, hip, and young. Root provides the necessary analysis and pushback while continuing to deal with Charles Taylor’s Secular Age.

This is a work of scholarship but can dip into comedy – but it still makes your head hurt. Root can also speak to the heart with his mystic tendencies. The book is too complex to properly summarize.

The Coming Tsunami: Why Christians are Labeled Intolerant, Irrelevant, Opressive, and Dangerous – and How We Can Turn the Tide by Jim Denison

I picked this one up at a giveaway table at a conference I attended. I will rarely turn away a free book. I appreciate much of Denison‘s work. It is needed and helpful. It is hard to argue with the analysis of cultural trends he deals with in this book – post-truth, sexual revolution, secular religion, and more.

Wrongly read this book pits “us” against “them.” Rightly read it provides topography for engaging the world with the hope of the gospel. I fear that most who read this work will choose to throw up hands in the wake of doom and gloom. I pray for more.

Hidden in Plain View: Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels and Acts by Lydia McGrew

This is a tremendous work. It is apologetics from a unique angle. McGrew looks to show the credibility and reliability of the New Testament by looking at undesigned coincidences in the Gospels and Acts.

Undesigned coincidences was a new term to me. McGrew shows how the gospel writers, without intention, provided unified retellings even while not providing the same details. You need to pick this one up. The book came to me as a recommendation from Colin Bullard, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Longview, Texas. Thank God for books and friends.

Dying to Grow: Reclaiming the Heart for Evangelism in the Church by Nathan Lorick

I ordered this book after I heard Lorick speak at my church for a Rehoboth Baptist Association meeting. I heard enough in the sermon that I wanted to hear more. This book is a passionately call for the church to preach the gospel and equip church members to do the same. Clear. Concise. Helpful.

Don’t Hold Back: Leaving Behind the American Gospel to Follow Jesus Fully by David Platt

I believe the subtitle of the book is a bit of a stretch. I expected more interaction with a definition of “American Gospel.” Platt has led his church through internal and external struggles in recent days. This has been well-documented on social media – like everything these days! I thought this book might be a public response. It is not.

Those familiar with Platt will not be surprised by much. The content is a clarion call to remain rooted in the gospel and passionate about gospel implications.

No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green by Melody Green

This was a fun one. I was only mildly familiar with the story of Keith Green. I knew some of his songs and his tragic death. Not much else. This volume, written by his wife, tells the dramatic story of Green’s conversion to Christian faith and his pursuit of spiritual maturity. Great stories along the way.

The vast majority of the book plods through Keith’s early days of coming to faith. It is great – but there is a lot of it. I really enjoy autobiographies/biographies of musicians. I want more about songwriting, touring, etc.

Goodbye to a River by John Graves

A masterpiece. This is the type of book I desire to write. It is majestic prose centered on the love of a particular place. It also has the best last line of a book that I have ever read. After being asked if he traversed the river, “All by yourself?” the book concludes:

“Not exactly,” I said. “I had a dog.”

It will make my year end favorites and also be added to my all-time favorites. This is my first John Graves book. I’ll now work my way through his entire catalog.

The Fifth Great Awakening and the Future of America by Jim Denison and Ryan Denison

A small volume that I also picked up at a giveaway table along with the previous Denison book listed. Pithy. Helpful.

Kites: The Gentle Art of High Flying (How to make and fly over 20 Glorious Kites) by Susan Tyrrell

I jumped for joy when I found this in a little free library. This is a book about kites written by a kite lover. Tyrrell wrote and illustrated this pet project filled with sketches, instructions, and information.

I learned about kite pioneers and kite construction. I learned of the Malay kite, the Indian fighter, the Eddy kite, the box kite, the parafoil, the carp windsock, the flexikite, and more. I had a lukewarm interest in kites but Tyrrell made me love kites. I’m thrilled to have it displayed in my collection.

Recapturing Evangelism: A Biblical Theological Approach by Matt Queen

You will be hard-pressed to find a better book on evangelism. This is the proverbial “soup to nuts” volume on evangelism. Queen covers the topic from all angles. He provides a survey but also does not shy away from providing his own insights and opinion. I have a friend doing doctoral work on evangelism. As soon as I started reading this work, I texted him a picture of the cover and said “You better read and interact with this one.“

Mobilize to Evangelize: The Pastor and Effective Congregational Evangelism by Matt Queen

If you’re looking for a book on evangelism pick up the one above (Recapturing Evangelism). This slim volume is more of a in assessment manual then it is a book.

The Gospel Invitation: Why Publicly Inviting People to Receive Christ Still Matters by OS Hawking and Matt Queen

I can’t say that I’ve ever read a book on giving public gospel invitations. (Some might say “It shows!”) But that does make this the best one on the topic that I’ve ever read! I always feel like my gospel invitation needs more work. This definitely provided some insight and illustration. It can borderline on being pedantic but I don’t believe it completely crosses the line.

I’ll Take the High Road by Bob Blake

Purchased in the bookstore in the Milwaukee airport, Renaissance Books. This might carry the title of “My Favorite Bookstore.” It is filled with vintage books for cheap. Always a highlight of my mission trips to Milwaukee.

Like Goodbye to a River listed above, this volume is in one of my favorite genres – the travel/adventure memoir. Bob Blake looked out his classroom window as a law student at Harvard, closed his books, and set out on a round-the-world adventure. The book chronicles 16 months of travel.

Blake landed a job as a seaman on the SS Odyssey. After debarking the ship, he picked up Alexander the Great’s route of conquest throughout the Middle East. It provides a year vacation without needing to board a ship or plane.

This will likely make the list of my year end favorites.

Devoted to God: Blueprints for Sanctification by Sinclair Ferguson

A wonderful look at the biblical topic of sanctification, the process of becoming more holy. If you paired this volume with Dane Ortlund’s Deeper and John Oswalt’s Called to be Holy, you would have a great foundation built on the subject.

Ferguson has also written a companion volume, Devoted to the Church. I’m on the opening chapter now.

Spiritual Gifts: What They Are and Why They Matter by Thomas Schreiner

I read this in preparation of discussing gifts for a series I am preaching on Sunday nights titled “The Church as it Should Be.” Schreiner is cessationist, which I am not, but I found the book to be extremely helpful. You might ask, “What is a cessationist?” Google it, or better yet, read the book! His discussions on the specific gifts are pithy but thorough enough to gain a grasp.

A Dream About Lightening Bugs : A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons by Ben Folds

I enjoy memoirs of singer/songwriters. I love to hear of stories of the road and songwriting methods. This is a good one. While it can be crude, it is honest – and you want a memoir to be honest. But then again, I don’t know Ben Folds. Perhaps he has me fooled!

When I was in high school I listened to Ben Folds band’s song “Brick” on repeat. As I grew older, I suspected that the song might be about Ben and his high school girlfriend getting an abortion. The lyrics are cryptic but I had a hunch. Maybe it was obvious to everyone but me. The memoir confirms my suspicions. The pages retelling the event are heartbreaking. I cried. When I finish crying, I reread the pages to my wife. The pages are a living illustration of brokenness and lostness.

1, 2, 3 John Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament by Karen Jobes

Yes, I read every word of this commentary. I spent 24 weeks preaching through 1 John on Wednesday nights. I’m currently in week four in 2 John. Soon I will enter 3 John. This commentary has been a fantastic resource. The Zondervan series is my favorite commentary series and this volume is one of the best.