Here are the 7 books I read in July. This brings my 2023 total to 62 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 Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah” by Alan Light

This book gets filed into the “not a great book but I love it” category. It chronicles the story of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” a song that gets played on the radio, at weddings, and even at funerals. It’s lyrics are cryptic enough that it both confuses listeners while allowing everyone to claim ownership of its meaning.

Leonard Cohen rewrote and reworked the song for decades. I wish the book included all the known lyrics of the various versions. If you’re interested in the song, you might be better suited listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast Revisionist History, episode “Hallelujah,” which offers valuable insights on the song.

Bub: Essays from Just North of Nashville by Drew Bratcher

This one finds itself nestled between a few of my favorite things: music and stories about specific places. Bratcher shares about his family and the music and place that he loves. You get essays about his grandpa and Garth Brooks.

Bratcher comes from a long line of storytellers. This book is storytelling at its finest.

To Be a Woman: The Confusion Over Female Identity and How Christians Can Respond by Katie McCoy

Warning: This book makes sense. More than that, it makes a powerful argument. It recounts contemporary controversies over recent gender theories and combats them with reason, research, and the Bible.

From the book’s promotional material, McCoy’s work will help you understand:

• Why, as a culture, we’ve arrived in such a place of gender confusion 
• What the relationship is between biological sex and gender, and why this relationship is so crucial 
• The truth about gender transitioning, including the irreversible damage of hormone therapy on the female human body 
• Common myths and misunderstandings in the gender debate 
• What Scripture and science have to say on the matter 
• Ways to respond in a Christlike way to loved ones struggling with gender identity

Devoted to God’s Church: Core Values for Christian Fellowship by Sinclair Ferguson

In convincing fashion, Ferguson provides the case that being a Christian is not an individualistic or isolated activity. Believing in Jesus also involves belonging. Being a Christian, by definition, involves belonging to the church. It is an exploration on how to be the church rather than merely going to church.

This is a companion volume to Ferguson’s Devoted to God.

Discipleship (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works Volumes 4) by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read this book. Yet, this was my first reading in this particular edition. It was fun to read it and mark it up. It is now properly filled with underlines and marginal notes.

Published in 1937, Discipleship soon became a classic exposition of what it means to follow Christ in a modern world. At its center stands an interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount. Bonhoeffer with exegesis and passion, details what Jesus demanded of his followers.

Read it. If you’ve already read it – buy another copy and give it to someone else.

King: A Life by Jonathon Eig

This is the first major MLK biography in decades and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. The book reaffirms what we already knew to be true. Martin Luther King Jr., like all people, was a complicated man. He was a serial adulterer and plagiarizer, but also a passionate Baptist preacher and civil rights leader. The book gives much attention to MLK’s origin story along with his cast of associates.

I checked this one out from the library. I’ll be on the hunt for a cheap copy to keep.

My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff

Rakoff took a job as assistant to the literary agent for J. D. Salinger. She was tasked with processing Salinger’s voluminous fan mail among less interesting menial jobs. You get an inside view of the publishing world and the mind of Rakoff’s socialist boyfriend.

Just a fun, smart read. We need more like this one.