John M. Barry, The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History (2004, Penguin Books, New York, 2018), 548 pages, some photos, index and notes. This is an impressive book that does more than just provide … Continue reading
Jesse Cole, Find Your Yellow Tux: How to be Successful by Standing Out (Lioncrest Publishing, 2018), 303 pages, some photos. The Back Story: One of the most amazing things I’ve seen while living in the Savannah area is the development … Continue reading
Things have been busy at my house as we are now showing it and trying to begin packing for our move to Virginia… But the busyness hasn’t kept me from sailing, as I crewed a boat up to Hilton Head … Continue reading
David Lee, Mine Tailings (Boulder, UT: Five Sisters Press, 2019), 79 pages. David Lee was formerly the poet laurate of Utah and has been affectionally referred to as “the Pig Poet.” About the time I was leaving Utah, Lee … Continue reading
James H. Cone, (Marynoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011), 202 pages including notes and an index. The late James Cone (1938-2018) tackled a tough topic, linking together the most powerful symbol for Christians, the cross, and the most shameful symbol … Continue reading
David Zucchino, Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2020), 426 pages including notes, bibliography, and index along with 12 additional pages of prints. On November 10, 1898, Wilmington, … Continue reading
Michael P. Cohen, Granite and Grace: Seeking the Heart of Yosemite (Reno: University of Nevada, 2019), 220 pages. A few hand drawn maps and line drawings at the top of each chapter by Valerie Cohen. When most people think of … Continue reading
Steven Pressfield, Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermoplyae (New York: Bantan Books, 1998), 386 pages. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel that is based on ancient Greek historians’ writings, especially Herodotus. The story is told through … Continue reading
Nancy Koester, Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 371 pages, B&W photos, notes. Harriet Beecher Stowe is best known for her novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The novel’s popularity fueled the anti-slavery movement in the North and … Continue reading
Eric Goodman, Cuppy and Stew: The Bombing of Flight 629, A Love Story (San Francisco: IF SF Publishing, 2020), 220 pages with a few photographs. The narrator is Susan, the youngest daughter of Cuppy and Stew, who died in the … Continue reading
What are you reading this days? Looking for a good book while you isolate yourself? Here are three books from books I recently read. It’s by sheer accident that two of them discuss Epictetus (but different parts of his philosophy): … Continue reading
The 2020 baseball season was scheduled to kickoff this past weekend. Unfortunately, it has been postponed due to the current pandemic. So here is a poem I wrote this weekend (you can even listen to it–how neat is that) along … Continue reading
If you have time on your hands as we wait out this pandemic, there are two good books that I recommend to anyone who enjoys history. In they cover three wars (Mexican, Civil, and World War II). S. C. Gwynne, … Continue reading
W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking, LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media (2018, Mariner Books, Boston, 2019), 407 pages including index and notes plus eight pages of photos. This timely book begins in 2009 with Donald Trump’s first tweet, promoting … Continue reading
David Sedaris, Thief by Finding (audiobooks, 1977) 13 hours 52 minutes. Years ago, I read Me Talk Pretty One Day. It was a very funny book and I’m not sure why it took me so long to get around to … Continue reading
Patrick F. McManus, Kerplunk! (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 227 pages. There is a favorite used bookstore in Wilmington, North Carolina that I often stop in when I’m home. This time I was looking to pick up another … Continue reading
I am in North Carolina, taking a few days off and sitting inside watching it rain… Here’s my last post of the year as I review two recent books I’ve read. I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year’s Eve … Continue reading
A little over a month ago, I attended the closing session of the Pat Conroy festival. Most of the events were held in Beaufort, SC, but the closing one was held in Bluffton, which is just across the river a … Continue reading
Bonnie Jo Campbell, Once Upon a River (New York: W.W. Norton, 2011), 348 pages. I enjoyed this novel even though it was hard to get through the opening part which included an incestuous rape of Margo, a teenage girl. … Continue reading
Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (New York: Knopf, 1978), 720 pages including notes and index. Some plates of photos and artwork. The world, or at least Western Europe, seemed to be coming apart in the … Continue reading
Not Guilty by C. Lee McKenzie Published October 2019 This book grabbed my attention in the first chapter and kept me engaged throughout. I didn’t want to put it down, wanting to figure out how the protagonist, Devon, gets through … Continue reading
Beverly Willett, Disassembly Required: A Memoir of Midlife Resurrection (New York: Post Hill Press, 2019), 269 pages. The framework of this story is rather simple. The author sells her home in Brooklyn, New York and moves to Savannah, Georgia. … Continue reading
Ben Sasse, Them: Why We Hate Each Other and How to Heal (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2018), 272 pages including notes and an index. One would need to be deaf and blind not to realize there are serious … Continue reading
This photo was taken at Delegal Creek last night as the sunset. Hurricane Dorian is several hundred miles south at this point. Today, as I write this, we have had a few bands of rain with wind, but nothing too … Continue reading
Zach Powers, First Cosmic Velocity (New York: Putman, 2019), 340 pages. I’m not sure how to classify this novel. At times I thought the author had written the first anti-Sci-fi (similar to the anti-western genre of films that began … Continue reading
John Sexton, Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game (New York: Gotham Books, 2013), 242 pages including photos, index and bibliography. Sexton, the president of New York University, has written a wonderful book that shares … Continue reading
J. Philip Newell, Listening to the Heartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1997), 112 pages. I have some problems with this book, but I’m glad I read it. I did like the last chapter where … Continue reading
A lot of students have fantasies of having teachers locked up. For my 5th grade teacher, it wasn’t a fantasy, it was a horrific experience. As a Marine embassy guard in China, which was behind enemy lines when the war began, … Continue reading
Joy Harjo, Conflict Resolutions for Holy Beings: Poems. (New York: W. W. Norton, 2015) 139 pages. I picked up this book after learning that Joy Harjo has been appointed poet laureate for the United States. It’s exciting because she’s the … Continue reading
David Halberstam, The Fifties (1993, New York: Ballantine Books, 1994), 800 pages including index’s and notes, plus 32 pages of black and white prints. The decade was 70% completed when I was born. I have no recall of the … Continue reading
Yesterday’s worship service focused on our responsible use of social media. Here is a review of a book that reminds the church how we might use such media in a positive way. Click here to read yesterday’s sermon, “A Light … Continue reading
I’m catching up on my reading… I keep thinking I’ll write short reviews for posts like this and I never do! These are some of the books I’ve read over the past month. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Purple Hibiscus (2003, New … Continue reading
Arthur C. Brooks, Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America for the Culture of Contempt (HarperCollins, 2019), 243 pages, index and notes. In this year’s January Series from Calvin College, I heard Brooks speak. Much of his … Continue reading
I am heading to a conference at Ghost Ranch, a Presbyterian Conference Center in North New Mexico, so there will be no sermon this week. Instead, let me catch up by providing three short (for me) book reviews of works … Continue reading
Belden C. Lane, The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality (Oxford University Press, 1988), 282 pages including notes, index, and some photos included within the text. This is a complicated book. Lane weaves together personal experiences in … Continue reading
Dan Janal, Write Your Book in a Flash: The Paint-by-Numbers System to Write the Book of Your Dreams-Fast! (TCK Publishing, 2018), 180 pages. I was skeptical as I began flipping through this book. I was easy to skim and … Continue reading
Courtney Hargrave, Burden: A Preacher, A Klansman, and a True Story of Redemption in the Modern South (New York: Convergent Books, 2018), 227 pages, no photos or index, 22 pages of notes and sources. Michael Burden, a troubled young … Continue reading
Ron Chernow, Grant (New York: Penguin, 2017), 1074 pages including bibliography, an index, and 16 pages of black and white photos. U. S. Grant is an amazing story. Even how he came upon his name (which was latter joked to … Continue reading
Billy Beasley, The Preacher’s Letter. (Little Elm, TX: eLectio Publishing, 2018), 265 pages Troy Dawkins is a middle aged kid trying to figure out life. He lives a solidarity life with his dog, Max, working as a bouncer at … Continue reading
Olivia Laing, To the River (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2011), 281 pages, a few black and white photos. The first sentence of this book, “I am haunted by waters,” jumped out at me. I’d read it before. It’s the ending line … Continue reading
Scott Stillman, Wilderness: The Gateway to the Soul (Boulder, CO: Wild Soul Press, 2018), 198 pages. I really wanted to like this book. I thought I would enjoy it. After all, like Stillman, I have done many wilderness trips, both … Continue reading
Joseph D. Small, Flawed Church, Faithful God: A Reformed Ecclesiology for the Real World (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018), 242 pages including indexes and bibliography. It has been suggested that ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church, is the weak link … Continue reading
Harrison Scott Key, Congratulations, Who Are You Again? A Memoir (New York: Harpers, 2018) , 347 pages including five appendices and no illustrations except an ink figure of a dog drawn by Beetle, the author’s daughter, while I waited for … Continue reading
Stephen Kinzer, The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2013), 402 pages including notes, bibliography and index plus 8 plates of black and white photographs. Two of the most … Continue reading
Larry Larance, A Better Looking Corpse: and other Southern Short Stories (Savannah, GA: Windchimes Press, 2007) 203 pages I haven’t meet Larance, but we live on the same island (Skidaway). I was lent a copy of his book by … Continue reading
David Gessner, Return of the Osprey: A Season of Flight and Wonder (Ballantine Books, 2001), 289 pages, 1 rough map. I purchased this book (along with an alumni sweatshirt) ten years ago at the University of North Carolina at … Continue reading
Beth Lindsay Templeton, Uncharted Journey: On the Challenges of Getting Older and Other Transitions (Greenville SC: FPS Press, 2018), 169 pages. This book consists of 42 letters written by a secret admirer to the reader. The letters vary in … Continue reading
Carey Nieuwhof, Didn’t See It Coming: Overcoming the 7 Greatest Challenges That No One Expects and Everyone Experiences (New York: WaterBrook, 2018), 211 pages. In this book Nieuwhof draws on personal events within his own life as he outlines … Continue reading
John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings (New York: Doubleday, 2008), 223 pages In the winter of 2000, I bumped into a Buddhist monk at a temple outside of Sunch’on, South Korea. He immediately stepped … Continue reading
George Saunders, Pastoralia: Stories and a Novella (New York: Riverhead Books, 2000), 189 pages. As I read the novella, Pastoralia, I was reminded of the trapped souls in Kafka’s writings. Here, two characters are a part of a primitive … Continue reading
Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking (New York: Penguin Books, 2000), 326 pages, notes and some photographs. 13 hours and 58 minutes on Audible. The title drew my attention. I’m a wanderlust and walker so this book was … Continue reading
Brendan McDonough with Stephan Talty, Granite Mountain: The Firsthand Account of a Tragic Wildfire, Its Lone Survivor, and the Firefighters Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice (New York: Hachette Books, 2016), 178 pages plus an insert of 8 pages of prints. … Continue reading
Eric Goodman, In the Days of Awe (New York: Washington Square Press, 1991), 288 pages. It appears that Jewish Joe Singer has hit rock bottom. A talented pitcher is, at the end of one season, divorced and banned from baseball. … Continue reading
The title of this post might raise a few eyebrows. Let me assure you, such a summer has nothing to do with me as my Great-Grandparents were in diapers during the summer of 1884. That summer was a pivotal year … Continue reading
Michelle Layer Rahal, Straining Forward: Minh Phuong Towner’s Story (Maitland, FL: Xulon Press, 2018), 355 pages, 10 pages of photos. I was introduced to Minh in 2011. I was preparing a sabbatical after leading First Presbyterian Church of Hastings … Continue reading
Thomas S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2014), 102 pages. Carey Nieuwhof, Lasting Impact: 7 Powerful Conversations that Will Help Your Church Grow (Rethink Group, 2015) 169 pages. Both … Continue reading
Alister McGrath, In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changes a Nation, A Language, and a Culture (2001: New York: Anchor, 2002). 338 pages, a few illustrations, list of sources and an index. While … Continue reading
Marc A. Jolley, Safe at Home: A Memoir of God, Baseball, and Family (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2005), 139 pages, a few photos. This is a delightful book in which Jolley recalls childhood memories with his father on … Continue reading
Leon Prather, Sr., “We Have Taken a City”: The Wilmington Racial Massacre and the Coup of 1898 (1984, Southport, NC: Dram Tree Books, 2006), 214 pages, black and white photos. “Politics, the old cliche goes, “makes strange bedfellows.” This can be seen in … Continue reading
Brennen Arkins, The Magic Kings (2015), 259 pages. The transition from elementary to middle school is a tough time for all students. For Alan and his classmates, it is made more uncertain by the 911 terrorist attacks that occurs at … Continue reading
Archibald Rutledge, Peace in the Heart (New York: Doubleday & Co, 1930), 316 pages, no illustrations Margaret Reagan introduced me to Archibald Rutledge and lent me this book. It’s the second of his books that I’ve read. Rutledge was … Continue reading
As I have been preaching from the Jacob stories in Genesis this August and September, I thought I would also share a review to a novel based on Jacob’s story: Frederick Buechner, Son of Laughter (San Francisco: Harpers Collins, 1994), … Continue reading
Rosalind K. Marshall, Columba’s Iona: A New History (Dingwall, Scotland, UK: Sandstone Press, 2014) 210 pages plus 24 color plates, 8 black and white plates, notes, bibliography, and index. One must make a significant effort to visit Iona. It’s a … Continue reading
Jane Dawson, John Knox, (New Haven: Yale, 2015), 373 pages, index and notes and 8 pages of illustrations. John Knox, the Protestant Reformer of Scotland, is often portrayed as a dour masochistic preacher and an opponent of Mary, Queen of … Continue reading
Craig Detweiler, iGods: How Technology shapes our Spiritual and Social Lives (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2013), 246 pages. Endnotes and an index. This is an enlightening book. A substantial part of the book is an overview of the … Continue reading
Charlie Peacock, New Way to Be Human: A Provocative Look at What It Means to Follow Jesus (Colorado Springs, CO: Shaw Books, 2004), 237 pages David Platt, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream (Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah … Continue reading
The Passion A Movie Review by Jeff Garrison Published in The Hastings Banner March 2004 Two hours of intense brutality. Over and over again, rods and whips struck Jesus as the crowd called for vengeance that the … Continue reading
Lucy Barrett, Salad Days in the Golden Years: Introducing Virginia and Matilda (Cleveland TN: Penman Publishing, 2015), 182 page This is a delightful novel written by a member of the church and a resident of Skidaway Island. This past year, … Continue reading
Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (New York: Dutton, 2009), 210 pages Idolatry is not just a failure to obey God, it is a setting of the whole … Continue reading
A Walk in the Woods (2015, 1 hour and 44 minutes) With the storms we’ve been having, Donna and I decided to go to the movies on Labor Day to see “A Walk in the Woods.” After all, I’ve hiked … Continue reading
Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith (New York: Harper Collins, 2009), 216 pages. Where do we encounter the divine? Have we created a false dichotomy, partitioning God off into a corner, away from our daily … Continue reading
This is my thoughts on Sailboat Church: Helping Your Church Rethink Its Mission and Practice by Joan Gray (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2014). In Sailboat Church, Joan Gray uses a sailboat as a metaphor for what a Spirit-filled Church … Continue reading
Wayne Muller, How, Then, Shall We Live? Four Simple Questions that Reveal the Beauty and Meaning of Our Lives (New York: Bantam Books, 1996), 289 pages. Wayne Muller is an ordained minister (he doesn’t give a denomination), a psychotherapist and the founder … Continue reading
Charles Seabrook, The World of the Salt Marsh: Appreciating and Protecting the Tidal Marshes of the Southeastern Atlantic Coast (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2013), 397 pages including an index and notes The salt marsh is an amazing landscape that … Continue reading
Charles Partee, The Theology of John Calvin (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2008), 345 pages The Theology of John Calvin is a fitting magnus opus for Charles Partee, who devoted a lifetime to studying and understanding the work of the … Continue reading
Paul C. Gutjahr, Charles Hodge: Guardian of American Orthodoxy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011) 477 pages including an index, notes, bibliography and a few photos. Charles Hodge taught at Princeton Theological Seminary for over fifty years and was perhaps the most … Continue reading
Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to Walk in the Dark (New York: HarperCollins, 2014), 200 pages The title of this book intrigued me. I have long been a fan of Barbara Brown Taylor and have read most everything she’s published. An Altar … Continue reading
In Sunday’s sermon, I referenced this book. This is an updated book review (I read the book and wrote the original review in 2009). Scott Bader-Saye, Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2007), 169 pages … Continue reading
