A few years ago, I set a goal to read at least one book a month, as I had allowed my phone, social media, etc. to greatly lessen my ability to stay focused. In 2025, I continued this challenge and read 36 books. This was not planned, but I did have quite a pile of books waiting for me at the conclusion of 2024 and I got through January with two books completed and four knocked out in February. So, I thought to myself 'I think I can read three a month if I plan it well.' As of this writing I've read some part of a book every single day of 2025 and it's definitely been a personal best. I will not attempt to repeat this goal in 2026 — or increase it. I know lots of folks read 50 or more books a year, but also include audiobooks in this (more power to you, if that's you). Towards the end of this run, I started to feel like I had homework every day — and I definitely don't want reading to become that!
Without further ado, here's what I read with my favorites, listed in order of reading, at the end of the post.
JANUARY
Fiction, Suspense
Thoughts:
Famed "scary-book" writer Stephen King's 2023 collection of short stories "You Like It Darker" was a fun way to begin my 2025 reading. I've read a bit more fiction recently and I find it stirring my imagination in the real world a little more, too. This collection of 12 stories includes some that are short (10 pages or so) and some that are longer (more than 150). My favorites were the two longer stories — "Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream" (fantastic) and "Rattlesnakes" (which is a compelling story of a "Cujo" character in later life). Some are intense and quasi-scary and "Stranger Things"-like ("The Dreamers"), some are mysterious ("The Turbulence Experts"), and some leave you pondering just what's real in the real world ("The Answer Man"). I read this 500-page book every day for the first 19 days of January and enjoyed just about every minute of it.
Non-Fiction, Biography
Thoughts:
The late comedian Norm Macdonald (RIP, 2021) was, more or less, either greatly loved or greatly hated by fans of Saturday Night Live (where, IMO, he did brilliant work and, he admits, is how most will remember him after he dies) and stand-up comedy. His deadpan/dry delivery and use of old-timey phrases made me love his work, but I also can see where he wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. I won't rehash his biography here, but I will say, if you are interested in his *actual* life, this book is a complete fabrication and not useful in the least. However, as a work of his *comedy,* it's *fantastic!* In fact, critic Lili Loofbourow says this about the book, “There has never been a less straightforward book. It’s playful and spry and just unbelievably cagey.”
There are some rehashed jokes (the brilliant "moth joke" appears, for instance), but there are also moments of profound wisdom that reveal his writing chops.
“When it’s unexpected, death comes fast like a ravenous wolf and tears open your throat with a merciful fury. But when it’s expected, it comes slow and patient like a snake, and the doctor tells you how far away it is and when, exactly, it will be at your door. And when it will be at the foot of your bed. And when it will be on your flesh. It’s all right there on their clipboards.”
During the writing, Macdonald had cancer. However, he was still a few years from his demise, but he also aware of his mortality, revealed by the description above — while not actually writing about his own mortality, but as a tool in a fantastical story about a boy with cancer.
Overall, there are a few laugh out loud moments in the book, some moments of utter bewilderment, and some moving moments. All in all, it's a piece of work that fits perfectly in the Norm Macdonald catalog of work. If you are a fan, I highly recommend this book.
FEBRUARY
Non-Fiction, Christian Living
Thoughts:
While, technically, I was assigned this book to read as a part of Redemption Christian Church staff, I was pleasantly surprised with the impact of the book on a personal level. It's pretty challenging, in terms of content, especially as it relates to one's own life.
Following Jesus is a life-long process ("a long obedience in the same direction," as Eugene Peterson once wrote) and, as the subtitle says, you try to "be with Jesus," "become like Jesus," and "do what Jesus did." After that, you put all of it into practice as a "rule of life." However, as Jesus notes, the way is narrow and not many choose to be his apprentice. It's not about growing converts to Christianity as a religion, it's about apprenticing people into life in the kingdom of God. It's not easy, as Comer notes, but it's also more difficult to live a life not following The Way.
Whether you've been following Jesus for decades or only a few minutes, I think this book may be helpful for you. It's extremely read-able (lots of one-sentence paragraphs and designed to be easy to read while turning pages fairly rapidly) and practical (though not at all theologically "shallow"), too.
Non-Fiction, Christian Living
Thoughts:
The "gospel-centered" movement of the latter-aughts to early 2010s was highlighted by the "young, restless, reformed" tribe. It is a movement I more than flirted with back then, but it also helped me focus on the gospel (good news) of Jesus' life, death, burial, and resurrection more intently.
In "Lest We Drift: Five Departure Dangers From the One True Gospel," author Jared C. Wilson (in his 27th book ... wow) examines the movement(s) surrounding being "gospel-centered" and shows us how we can so easily drift from this foundational doctrine. We can drift into dryness, superficiality, pragmatism, and victimhood — among other dangers. Wilson notes that we (our churches and us, as individuals) can often practice "conflating the news with its implications" (p 18). We can also too often decide it's not enough — "We know what works and the gospel isn't it." (p.30).
As always, Wilson's writing is top-notch (though he acknowledges he struggled writing this book as much as he has ever struggled) deftly weaving in storytelling and commentary.
With chapters that are not too long, I found this to be an instructional, informative, and helpful read. It's also a good reminder to always keep my eyes on Jesus — the author and perfecter of our faith — both in my personal life and in my career in ministry.
Fiction, Literary Fiction, Science Fiction
Thoughts:
A book that was called "ravishingly beautiful" by the New York Times sets the bar pretty high for expectations. Full disclosure: I was given this book by a friend who has thanked me for inspiring his return to reading after a long dry spell. This book showed up on my doorstep one day with no explanation, but I tracked down the source. He just thought I would love it.
As an example of author Samantha Harvey's talent, one of my favorite paragraphs from the book is this one — as the character Shaun looks at the earth below. "Why would you do this? Trying to live where you can never thrive? Trying to go where the universe doesn't want you when there's a perfectly good earth just there that does. He's never sure if man's lust for space is curiosity or ingratitude. If this weird hot longing makes him a hero or an idiot. Undoubtedly something just short of either." (p. 73).
The novel chronicles six women and men, selected for the last space station mission of its kind, as the make 16 orbits of earth. The book, as a whole, is a bit of an "elegy to our environment and planet" (as described on the back cover).
"The hand of politics is so visible from their vantage point that they don’t know how they could have missed it at first. It’s utterly manifest in every detail of the view, just as the sculpting force of gravity has made a sphere of the planet and pushed and pulled the tides which shape the coasts, so has politics sculpted and shaped and left evidence of itself everywhere." (p. 111).
The book, while tremendously well-written and, occasionally, compelling kept me interested *enough,* however I often found myself a little bored at times (much like the astronauts themselves in the story). All in all, I'm glad I read it and it stretched my reading muscles a bit. Your mileage may vary. It is a well-written and creative look at life on earth from a vantage point of thousands of miles above it.
Non-Fiction, History, Civil War
Thoughts:
This short (158 pages) book details the Civil War's Battle of Franklin (Tenn.). The best summary of what happened there on Nov. 30, 1864 is on page 105 of the book by James R. Knight.
"The Civil War brought a level of carnage to America that remains unmatched, before or since. The combat casualties in one afternoon at Franklin exceeded the combat dead and wounded of either the War of 1812 or the twenty-month-long Mexican-American War, which provided the training ground for most of the senior Civil War commanders on both sides."
My interest in this book can't be divorced from my own story, which includes significant time in Franklin, Tenn., during a pivotal chapter in my life. In September 1995, my MTSU roommate Will Burton got me a job at the Franklin Domino's Pizza. My first night ever being in Franklin was the first night of that job (I had to learn how to navigate its streets with a paper map VERY quickly). What I later learned, however, was the building at 1225 Columbia Ave. was on top of the battlefield where 2,300 men — including six Confederate generals — were killed. Later, I fell in love with my now-wife on the grounds where, 133 years prior, "the devil had full possession of the earth," as the subtitle states.
My five years of learning every street in Franklin like the back of my hand came rushing back to me as I read this book. Street names like Cleburne, Adams, Granbury, Strahl, Carter, and Gist — along with Battle Ave. to the south and Liberty Pike to the north — made much more sense to me. My understanding of the area made paragraphs like this pretty vivid.
"... while the field started out almost two miles wide, as an attacker got closer to the Federal lines, the Harpeth River began to pinch in on the east so that units on that flank were obliged to shift to their left, crowding others off their original line of advance and mixing regiments and brigades together. It was like marching down into a funnel. When they finally reached the Federal entrenchments, Hood's entire attacking force would be compressed onto a front barely 1,600 yards wide. So many men packed into such a small space, and all fighting for their lives, would shortly produce a level of horror, bloodshed, violence, brutality and hand-to-hand combat beyond the experience of even the most hardened veterans on either side." (p. 61)
Civil War books, like this one, often focus on details of the battles and it's easy to get lost in the minutiae of battle plans, successes, and mistakes. However, we should never lose sight of the fact that, at places like Franklin where more than 2,300 men perished, there are no winners. This book focuses fairly heavily on the details, but doesn't leave out this important fact either.
I wish I had spent more time from 18 to 23 years old understanding the place where I was standing (Side Note: Those who once worked in the [now-demolished] store often experienced some strange phenomenon — including *my* only interaction with what I consider to be a ghostly encounter and a flying pizza pan lid). However, at 47 years old, and 25 years removed from my days in Franklin, I have a deeper appreciation for what happened there (both in 1864 and in 1995 to 2000). Our visit to the Carter House and Carnton in 2023 was long overdue and peaked my interest in this book (a Christmas gift in 2024).
Time does as time always does — marches onward. However, my hope is understanding our past can help us from repeating the same mistakes. I'm not always hopeful about that, but reading about events such as the battle of Franklin helps me understand it's not a light thing to talk of war.
MARCH
Non-Fiction, Biography, Cultural Studies, Music History
The day before my 17th birthday, I was watching MTV News when channel mainstay Kurt Loder announced Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain had died by suicide in Seattle, Wash. As I watched the reports, I heard Cobain called "the voice of his generation" and comparisons to John Lennon abounded. Needless to say, for a 17-year-old Gen X'er, the news was a bombshell — a "where were you" kind of cultural moment.
With that in mind, I was only a modest Nirvana fan at the time. I owned "Nevermind" on cassette, but none of their other output. I do remember "Smells Like Teen Spirit" reverberating from my radio like few other songs ever had in my young life. I knew it was "different," but I lacked the understanding of music history to know how much of a game-changer it really was, at the time. Regardless, as I aged I began to understand the weight Cobain and Nirvana held in the pantheon of cultural history. While I grew to appreciate the music as I aged, the band's tragic story intrigued me just as much.
Last year, I heard an interview about the book "The Amplified Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana" by music journalist Michael Azerrad and I put it on my wishlist to one day read. My daughter, Gabi bought it for me last Christmas (I'm sure Nirvana's regular place in our family's road trip playlists helped her make the choice). I'm not sure what prompted me to choose this book to read just more than 30 years after that bleak day, but I'm glad I made my way through all 615 pages.
Author Azerrad spent a great deal of time with Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl, among others, and gives an unflinching look into the band's rise and fall. Along the way, he artfully describes the band's place in not only musical, but also, cultural, history.
As the band's (massively successful 1991 album) "Nevermind" caught fire in the culture by early 1992, Azerrad noted the impact, no only on the music world, but the culture, at large, as the album "... marked the definitive end of the baby boomers, who prided themselves on their youth, as the sole arbiters of youth culture. A backlash was clearly in the cards." (p. 365)
Azerrad also painfully describes the toll success had on Cobain's already-fragile mental health — combined with a host of physical ailments — and the devastating consequences of his turn to heroin to numb himself: "Maybe it's the drug you do when millions of people love you and you don't even love yourself." (p. 387)
He further explains Cobain's terrible choice in April 1994 like this: "Over the years, hundreds of people have asked me why Kurt killed himself. Actually, what often happens is that they tell me why he killed himself. They have their opinions, despite never having met the man, and disregard, to my face, my own firsthand observations of Kurt if they don't confirm what they already believe. And very few of them are willing to acknowledge this simple, unsensational fact: Kurt had a dark constellation of well-documented risk factors for suicide, including truly inhuman levels of professional pressure, chronic severe physical pain, some sort of mental illness, a long family history of suicide, and a deep heroin addiction, not to mention the fact that opiates were likely diminishing his brain's ability to feel happiness or tolerate pain of any kind." (p. 600)
Today, Nirvana is likely a t-shirt logo on a person who very well may have no idea of the music Cobain, Novoselic, and Grohl created. They may also have no real idea of the Beatles-like cultural impact the band made on Generation X. Plainly, they were an "important" band for more than just music. When Azerrad was asked to write the book, he was asked to "tell the truth." In this expanded/"amplified" take on the original book (titled "Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana, released while the band was still active), Azerrad does just that — unflinchingly — and helps explain, as well as I've ever seen it explained, why Nirvana mattered then and still matters today.
Ultimately, while I found the book fascinating, there's no way around the depressing conclusion to the band (and, by extension, the book itself). Beyond music, beyond cultural impact was a man who "always copped out of things, all (his) life" (p. 601), whose parents' divorce at age seven deeply traumatized him and his outlook on the world for the next 20 years of his life, and whose crushing mental health struggles led him to incredibly destructive decisions.
By the end of the book, I enjoyed much of it and was glad I read it, but I also just felt sad. There's nothing glamorous about the way Cobain's life ended. "Voice of a generation" or not, the book helped me see a human being who had myriad struggles and just couldn't find his way towards any sort of hope.
Non-Fiction, Biography, Sports, Regional History
Thoughts:
When Shannon and I first moved to Dubois County, having little money and ample free time, we often just drove around, looking at the landscapes of our new home county and region. We were strangers in a strange land, so to speak and were slightly fascinated but the sights of all the corn, farms, and new surroundings. One Friday night in the spring of 2001, we were attempting to find an area drive-in movie theater when we went north on US-231 instead of south. As we left Jasper, I saw a directional sign to French Lick, Ind. I was excited. Shannon was mildly baffled by my excitement. "Larry Bird's from French Lick!" I exclaimed. I'm not sure of Shannon's response, but it was likely along the lines of "who's Larry Bird?"
Being the home region for one of the greatest basketball players of all time — and a player I had only watched on TV and read about in magazines often as a kid — is a huge source of pride in our region, and justifiably so. While there are no national parks for Bird, like our region's (Abraham) Lincoln State Park (the area where our 16th president grew from child to man), for sports fans, French Lick is known far and wide.
In "As If By Magic: The Story of Larry Bird's Indiana High School Basketball Days," author Randy Mills takes the reader on a deep dive of Bird's high school career at Springs Valley High School. And, when I say "deep dive," I'm not kidding. The not-quite game-by-game account of his high school career is pretty fascinating if, for nothing else, than to see how greatness didn't happen out of nowhere, it was built one game at a time in gyms around our region.
The book is also an insight to an era I missed out on by moving to Indiana in late 2000. That, of course, is the single-class basketball tournament of legends ("Hoosiers," "Class Basketball is Wrong!"). Mills, a professor at Oakland City University, gives outsiders a taste of those days and, for those who lived through it, I'm sure a trip down memory lane. I especially got a kick out of reading about names of key characters who are now relatives to people and/or people I actually know in real life as well as the frequent use of my old employer's archives (the newspaper formerly known as The "Jasper" Herald — community journalism matters people and we didn't know how good we had it ... but I digress).
To be fair, if you're not into basketball, I doubt this book will do much for you. The personal drama and narrative of Bird's turbulent early life is often crowded out by game details and regional basketball minutiae (for more on a very key period in Bird's early life, I recommend my old colleague Michael Rubino's **excellent** 2015 piece for Indianapolis Monthly Magazine). For me, however, it was a chance to learn more about what happened in our area in the few years before I was born and two decades before I discovered I lived in the county next to "Larry Legend."
Non-Fiction, Sports, Baseball
Thoughts:
As another baseball season begins, hope once again springs eternal for my favorite team to make another run at baseball glory. Because of this timing, I thought this past week was the perfect opportunity to read a book I received this past Christmas by MLB.com Atlanta Braves writer Mark Bowman called "The Franchise."
Bowman takes the reader through the history of the Braves organization, from its founding in Boston (as the Beaneaters) to its mid-century stint in Milwaukee all the way through the 2023 season — with World Series titles in 1914, 1957, 1995, and 2021 (the last two being my favorites — and in my lifetime). He introduces us to key players on and off the field. For baseball fans, this deep dive into some front office maneuverings is intriguing and helps explain some things that happened on the field years down the road. Bowman also explores non-baseball influencers like Ted Turner and his vision that brought Braves baseball to the entire country when, often, fans couldn't even get a regular look at their home teams. This is, in fact, the era in which my fandom began. When I was a kid, I would spend a week at my grandparents home every summer in Jackson, Tenn., and we would watch the Braves play every night during my week-long stay (after my grandfather would watch "Crossfire" on CNN and argue with the CNN personalities). These were the days of the mid-80s Braves of Dale Murphy and Bob Horner, among others, who were perennial losers. Despite this, my love for the team was sealed. The 1990s brought us decade-long winning, as has this current era. In "The Franchise," Bowman gives quick, but unique insight into all of these eras, decisions, legends, cities, championships, architects, and future of the team.
Obviously, this book is a wide-ranging look at the organization and never dives too deep into any one area of examination. He also sands over any rough edges on controversial eras, players, or issues (though he does not spare and has particular ire for the mid-2010's era that lost the team 13 prospects and a — now-rescinded — lifetime ban for former general manager John Coppolella for circumventing international signing rules from 2015-17). Almost any of these controversies surrounding players or coaches or other issues could be fleshed out further, but that's not really the point of this overview of a book.
I highly recommend this easy-to/quick-to-read book if you are a Braves fan. If you aren't a baseball fan, it's probably not your cup of tea. Finally, if you've got a kid in your life that may not read much but loves baseball (and/or the Braves), this may be a great way to get them reading and help them learn more about "America's Team — The Atlanta Braves."
APRIL
Non-Fiction, Church Administration, Leadership
Thoughts:
A "second-chair leader" is what I am in my role as Executive Minister at Redemption Christian Church in southern Indiana. I am among the leaders of the church, but am not the "first chair" — nor do I aspire to be in the first chair. I was given a few books surrounding this role at an Executive Leader Learning Community I attended in late February. One of those books was "Leading From The Second Chair: Serving Your Church, fulfilling, Your Role, and Realizing Your Dreams" by Mike Bones and Roger Patterson.
Using the biblical story of Joseph as a starting point, the authors examine three paradoxes: Subordinate-Leader, Deep-Wide, and Contentment-Dreaming. All three paradoxes are present daily in the life of a "second chair" leader.
This type of book is not normally my cup of tea, but I appreciated the easy nature of this read, the focus on what I do every day, and the challenges I face that others may not. I appreciated the real-world examples and that they didn't just say "here's what you should be doing instead." I also got a few nuggets of wisdom to take with me in my role.
While the book is aimed at people like me in the church world, I think there are principles that can benefit second-chair leaders in any line of work.
Non-Fiction, Biography, History
In his sermon on the mount, Jesus said (as recorded in Matthew 6), "you cannot serve both God and mammon." Throughout the ages, this truth has cut to the heart of so much about our social, political, and cultural struggles. In mid-19th century America, this eternal struggle was on full — and brutally harsh — display.
In his book And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle, Pulitzer Prize-winner Jon Meacham writes of the life and times of our 16th president and the issue of slavery that permeated every aspect of American life in the era (and, in reality, has in every era since our founding).
Meacham's beautifully written book explores a man — Abraham Lincoln — and not just a myth or a legend. He also traces Lincoln's ever-evolving path toward being, ultimately, the most significant figure of the nineteenth century — if not all of American history.
I can't possibly say much about this book that Meacham's words can't convey on their own. Below are quotes from the book which leaped off the page to me.
WHO LINCOLN WAS:
"Lincoln was not all he might have been — vanishingly few human beings are — but he was more than many men have been. We could have done worse. And we have. And, as Lincoln himself would readily acknowledge, we can always do better. In that cause, we must try to see Abraham Lincoln — and ourselves — whole." (Prologue xxxvii)
RACISM:
"That he did not seek political or social equality between whites and Blacks, and his occasional use of the N-word including in the debates with Douglas, raise difficult questions about Lincoln's own views on race. However deep his antislavery commitment, he was a white man in a white-dominated nation shaped by anti-Black prejudice that he to some extent shared. As his defenders have noted. Lincoln had respectful dealings with free Black people in Springfield, including representing Black clients, and he would welcome Black callers to the White House - details that suggest more of an egalitarian attitude than many of his white contemporaries shared." (p. 164-165)
DIFFERING REALITIES:
"He was seeking the presidency of a country riven not only by competing interests but by incompatible understandings of reality. Lincoln saw democracy as an essential good; his foes saw it as a threat to an aristocracy of power. Lincoln saw slavery as an evil to be eradicated; his foes saw it as a necessary and divinely ordained fact of life. To defend that aristocracy, and that fact of life, those foes of the Republican rail-splitter of Illinois had gathered in Charleston, South Carolina, to marshal their forces, and to take their stand." (p. 187)
SLAVERY AND THE SOUTH:
"To question slavery was to question the white South's values, faith, and intelligence — and such questions solicited not thoughtful replies but raw anger. For slavery was not incidental to the white Southern way of life, it was essential to white Southern power in terms of creating wealth, of maintaining white hegemony, and of holding sway in national politics. Limit slavery and you limited the reach of white Southerners; allow freedom to grow in the West and you put slavery in danger where it existed. When everything was at stake, nothing could be conceded." (p. 191)
RELIGION:
"A true portrait of Lincoln as president must include our best — if necessarily imperfect and incomplete — effort to capture how he understood the concepts of God and Providence. For if we take him at his word — and we should, for few presidents chose his words with more care — the mature Lincoln viewed the history of the American people and nation as mysteriously but inexorably intertwined with the will and wishes, the vengeance and the mercy and the punishments and the rewards of a divine force beyond time and space." (p. 226)
THE WAR'S TOLL:
"The Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, was disastrous, too. In the second week of December, Confederates crushed the Union forces there, exacting about thirteen thousand casualties to the South's nearly five thousand. "If there is a worse place than Hell," Lincoln said, "I am in it." As in the Secession Winter, there were calls for peace through compromise and negotiation — calls that were more urgent in light of the death toll and the Confederate victories. Unless the Union could triumph in the field, Lincoln said privately, "the bottom would be out of the whole affair." (p. 285)
RE-ELECTION
"In the fourth year of war, two hundred forty-five years after the arrival of the enslaved at Jamestown, eighty-eight years after the Declaration of Independence, and seventy-six years after the ratification of the Constitution, an American president insisted that a core moral commitment to liberty must survive the vicissitudes of politics, the prejudices of race, and the contests of interest. ... His achievement is remarkable not because he was otherworldly, or saintly, or savior-like, but because he was what he was-an imperfect man seeking to bring a more perfect Union into being." (p. 349)
LEGACY
"Lincoln kept America's democratic project alive. He did not do so alone. Innumerable ordinary people made sacrifices, even unto death, to preserve the Union against the designs of the rebel South. But Lincoln was essential, and his ultimate vision of the nation — that the country should be free of slavery — was informed by a moral understanding. To him, America ought to seek to practice the principles of the Declaration of Independence as fully as possible, for the alternatives were so much worse." (p. 418-419, Epilogue)
I started this book two days past the 160th anniversary of Appomattox Court House and four days prior to the 160th anniversary of Lincoln's death. For two weeks, I have immersed myself daily in the life of Lincoln and the happenings of the mid-nineteenth century. Meacham doesn't dwell on battle plans, successes and failures as so many Civil War-era book do, but deeply explores the man at the center of it all.
Without saying too much, there are so many unfortunate parallels between then and now. "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it," so I've heard. I've also heard that "history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Our Union endured an apocalypse in the mid 1800s, the reprecussions of which echo in our land on a daily basis even in 2025. Meacham's book helps us see the role the right man at the right time played in keeping the country together, despite enourmous "fightings within and fears without."
Meacham concludes with these thoughts, which offer some hope among the weight: "Lincoln's life shows us that progress can be made by fallible and fallen presidents and peoples — which in a fallible and fallen world, should give us hope." (p. 420, Epilogue)
I strongly recommend this book. So far, it's my read of the year.
Non-Fiction, Religion
Thoughts:
Experiencing loss or pain at the hands of another Christ-follower is particularly painful. In his short book "A Tale of Three Kings," author Gene Edwards poses the question "what do you do when someone throws a spear at you?"
Edwards uses the stories of Saul, David, and Absalom to guide readers to ask these questions of themselves. Are you a Saul, seeking to thwart the rise of a David? Are you an Absalom, who see a David in your way? Are you a David who sees the throne as God's and not his to own? These are all important questions to consider, especially if you're in church leadership (as I am).
The book is a tremendously quick read and just under 100 pages (also making it a perfect refreshment read after the intense and lengthy Lincoln biography I read just prior to this one). It's also filled with good questions to ask of oneself about to what we may be clinging and who is ultimately at the helm of your life's throne.
The "imagined narrative" approach isn't for everyone, especially those who find any deviation from the bilical text offensive. However, I've read the Saul/David/Absalom story many times and I didn't find anything in this book that moved in any significant from the original text.
Finally, this book was given to me as part of an Executive Leader's Learning Community, in which I participate. I didn't go into reading it with great excitement (I read it now mostly because it was short), but I'm glad I read it as there are some questions posed in this book I need to ask of myself.
MAY
Non-Fiction, Music, Cultural Studies
Thoughts:
In early 2022, I read a book about "the 80s hard-rock explosion" called "Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion by Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour. It was a fun look back at the decade where I first became aware of the music I liked. The oral-history style was easy to navigate and gave it a compelling first-hand account of the era.
When my friend Jeremiah (of The Next Chapter — where you can purchase your own copy today) texted me a photo of "Lollapalooza: The Uncensored History of Alternative Rock's Wildest Festival" by the same authors, I knew I would definitely enjoy it. So, with some birthday money, I jumped in.
The book, a sort-of sequel to the previously-mentioned work, picks up right before Nirvana was about to hit the scene, but it also points out how the alternative scene was already happening with some commercial viability even before "Nevermind" hit stores — much less blew up into the album that "killed hair metal." Bienstock and Beaujour conducted interviews with so many major players of the Lollapalooza era, like Perry Farrell, to lesser-known acts, giving us an inside look at a traveling festival that set the stage for so many of the music festivals we have today all over the country.
Like so many rock bios, there are highs and lows, tales of debauchery (yes, even in the "enlightened" alternative era of rock), and ego battles — but I always seem to read the books anyway. Each year of the traveling version of the festival (1991-1997 and 2003) gets a section. The controversial 1996 tour with Metallica is the least explored while the "disaster" year of 1995 (where Sonic Youth headlined to half-full amphitheaters and Courtney ("the widow Cobain") Love ran roughshod over, well, everyone, including her bandmates) gets the most detailed treatment.
The book was a fun way for me to get a deeper look into the music that shaped my adolescence — despite never attending a Lollapalooza tour or subsequent festivals in Chicago — and it gave me a behind-the-scenes look a culturally-important moment in music history. I've rarely not enjoyed a book of that type and this is no exception.
Non-Fiction, Cultural Studies
Thoughts:
I'm a fairly avid listener of Malcolm Gladwell's podcast, "Revisionist History." For several years, it's been my go-to mowing podcast (in fact, I once got a positive response from Mr. Gladwell on social media when I mentioned this factoid). Gladwell is an excellent writer and thinker, in my opinion, and rarely follows conventional wisdom about whatever subject he's writing or podcasting. He has several fantastic books including "David and Goliath," "Outliers", and his debut, "The Tipping Point." Late last year, he released "Revenge of the Tipping Point" near the 25th anniversary of his debut.
If you are familiar with Gladwell's work, there's not much I can add, except to say, you will probably really enjoy "Revenge." He breaks up the book into four parts, with two to three chapters per part. He tackles how epidemics happen in part one by detailing how what seem to be national or international epidemics are often very localized and "spread" by a few people — including "epidemics" of bank robberies in the early 1990s and "epidemics" of insurance fraud in the 1980s, among other issues. He then moves to matters of social engineering and how diversity efforts in colleges and neighborhoods are often extremely complicated, at best. The following section is about "overstories," and how seemingly in-bedrock social and cultural issues are often turned by storytelling in popular culture. His conclusion is a 40-page look at the opioid epidemic and how, for example, something as innocuous as 50-year-old bureaucracy may have saved people in Illinois while people one state over in Indiana were heavily negatively impacted. It's a maddening look at a problem that devastated parts of our country and is a uniquely American epidemic.
He also challenges the notion that we are helpless in the face of epidemics as he writes: "We retreat to the position that epidemics are mysterious, that we are powerless to affect them and bear no responsibility for the course they take." (p. 263)
Gladwell always has a way of making the reader think, even if they may not agree with his conclusions. For that, I have always appreciated his work and "Revenge of the Tipping Point" is a worthy addition to his catalog of work. I recommend this book to any reader who is curious about why things happen they way they happen and are willing to think critically (a much-needed trait in our world, in my opinion) about issues affecting our culture and society.
Non-Fiction, History
Thoughts:
The 1920s are often characterized with the moniker "roaring" for the rise of jazz, flappers, and a buildings after World War I. However, there was also the rise of hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, especially in northern (Union) states like Indiana.
The leader of the Indiana faction of the Klan was DC Stephenson, a brash, charismatic, charlatan of a man. "Steve" helped the Klan infiltrate churches, police forces, judicial seats, and high-ranking seats of political power — all ripe for the picking. He was lauded by influencers in these arenas, but he was also a man who abused many women at will, including the woman whose death ultimately brought him and the Klan down.
Timothy Egan's gripping historical account of this era is recounted in "A Fever In The Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot To Take Over America, And The Woman Who Stopped Them." He recounts Stephenson's rise to power as well as the Klan's and how the group wormed its way into the heart of the country, from the north, south, midwest, to as far west as Oregon. In the Epilogue, he asks this vital question: "What if the leaders of the 1920s Klan didn't drive public sentiment, but rode it? A vein of hatred was always there for the tapping." (p. 345)
As a courtroom drama, the book is fantastic on its own, but as a look back into an era many of us would prefer to forget or whitewash, it's a stark reminder of where we've been and who we were.
It's been said that "history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." While "A Fever In The Heartland" is a gripping — and recommended — historical account of American attitudes and actions a century ago, the stories certainly bear examination and remembering in our present day.
JUNE
Non-Fiction, History, Nature
Thoughts:
My friend Bob once told me to invest in myself and my family by taking vacations. Through generosity, we've been able to spend significant time in Cape San Blas, Florida for 11 of the past 13 years. In 2022, a scheduling mishap (it's a long story) pushed us further inland to Port St. Joe, Fla. In the house where we stayed was a copy of the 2017 book "The Gulf: The Making Of An American Sea" by Jack E. Davis. It looked interesting but I didn't pick up my own copy until 2024 when I purchased a copy at No Name Books & Gifts (FWIW: Support your favorite local bookstore!) in Port St. Joe. I determined to save it until the next time we were in town. June 2025 was that time.
The Gulf of Mexico (named "El Golfo de México" in the mid-1500s — and I won't digress into the current discussion about its name) has been a rich source of life for the entirety of recorded history. Even as Europeans found natives living in the regions when they "discovered" the land, they found a people living from its resources — a very healthy people who were tall and muscular from living off the sea and not by planting crops further inland. Since then, it's been a unique source of livelihood for millions of people and the final destination of many of our country's rivers.
The book is well-researched, detailed, and lengthy (530 pages of readable text) but extremely thorough and well-written — gripping, at times. Davis spends equal time detailing history and the cause-and-effect nature of human development upon its shores. As Florida developed a tourist trade ("Centuries came and went before playground replaced battleground." [p. 232]), Texas developed the means for humans to travel to Florida more readily via the gift/curse of the Gulf's oil.
"Whereas postwar home builders found open opportunities on Florida's Mangrove Coast, industrial America found a haven on Texas's salt-marsh coast. The eastern Gulf pursued a leisure economy; the western, an industrial one. As condominium towers rose on one side, distilling towers rose on the other. People inundated one coast; chemicals, the other coast. Florida's growth was intoxicating in a fantasy-world way; Texas's, toxic in a real-world way. Industry defenders said they were creating jobs and tax revenues. This was true. Equally true was what environmental defenders were saying: that which poisoned birds and fish would poison people." (p. 419)
While I found myself marveling at the hubris of man in the face of an unceasing sea like the Gulf, I was also reminded that we would have never experienced the land we've loved for a dozen-plus years without the ability to put gas in our cars and drive the 687 miles to reach a place where we've often found natural bliss and much-needed rest. We are a modern people with little in common with the native population who lived along the shores of this peninsula. However, reading "The Gulf" has helped me reflect on, and think deeper about, the majesty of the sea in front of which I currently sit. As always, preservation is not done alone. Davis describes: "Preservation is not control - just the opposite. It means managing our own behavior, not nature's. It means letting go, allowing nature to find its resonating beat. In this instance, we should abandon the impulse to lead and instead follow, holding ourselves to the precept that nature takes better care of itself than do humans." (p. 529)
While "The Gulf" could occasionally be a bit of work to properly digest, I ultimately garnered much from my reading of it and would recommend it to anyone interested. The locale certainly helped my attention span and was an appropriate setting, as well. The Gulf — which certainly doesn't give a single thought to what any man decides to call it — has done its unceasing work long before me and will continue long after I'm gone. I'm thankful for further insight into what the place I greet as an "old friend" each time I'm blessed enough to be able to pay a visit.
Non-Fiction, Cinema, Popular Culture
Thoughts:
In the summer of 1982, I was five years old — hardly old enough to appreciate most of the films discussed in the book "The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982" by former Entertainment Weekly film critic Chris Nashawaty. However, after hearing an interview with the writer on a NPR podcast, I was intrigued by his book. My daughter purchased this one for me on my birthday this year.
Films like "Blade Runner," "The Road Warrior," "Tron," "Conan The Barbarian," and "The Thing" are still on my never-watched list. However films like "E.T.," "Poltergeist," and "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" left at least a moderate impression on me — in some cases a deep impression. May to July 1982 was a pivotal year for sci-fi and "nerd culture," at large, he argues.
Nashawaty's book looks at the five-year lead-up to the epic summer of epic films of 1982, beginning with "Star Wars" being released in 1977. It was a time before the ubiquity of Marvel movies and before our film culture was "... living in one endless summer." He examines what it took to get each of these films off the ground, the struggles each faced, and where each found its place in popular culture in latter days.
Despite having never seen many of the films discussed, the book was extremely enjoyable. If you like to learn of the inner workings of Hollywood (not gossip, but the mechanizations) or any of these films, you will likely enjoy this book, too.
Non-Fiction, Theology, Biblical Studies
Thoughts:
Revelation, the final book of the Bible, is, perhaps, one of the most confounding and debated books in Scripture. Perspectives and beliefs vary WILDLY on the book and its text. With that in mind, my final read of June was from Shane J. Wood (PhD, University of Edinburgh), professor of "New Testament & Its Origins" at Ozark Christian College.
Wood encourages us to read "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" as just that — a book pointing us to Jesus. "Revelation thins the veil separating heaven and earth to provide perspective and a path to overcome what's broken in us, and because of us." (p. 1-2).
If you're looking for a book giving us antichrist identification, arguing for or against the rapture, pre-, post-, or a-millennialism — or any number of belief *systems* surrounding eschatological belief, this isn't the book for which you're probably looking. Instead, Wood pushes the reader to look beyond predictions toward "something more grand." (p. 182) Wood pushes us to see the divine intimacy between God and His people. It definitely strikes a chord with me and may with you, as well.
With that in mind, I enjoyed this read, but will likely need to read it again to get its full impact, as other ways of reading Revelation are hardwired into my mind. Even as Wood walks through the entire book of Revelation and shows the reader how it's all about Jesus and not about current events, I still struggled at times to fully grasp what he intends via this work. Maybe I will report back next year if I decide to read it again.
JULY
Fiction, Suspense/Horror
Thoughts:
After a long string of non-fiction, I thought I would go back to a work of fiction for my first read of July. I chose Stephen King's third novel "The Shining," originally released in 1977. Fairly needless to say, this is a classic piece of writing, amplified by the success of the film which came three years later in 1980.
The book is so much better and quite different, I found. King's work is nearly always compelling and keeps me turning the pages, needing to see what's going to happen next. "The Shining" was intense and a fun read. If this type of story is not your speed, you'll definitely not want to take this recommendation.
"The Shining" is a modern classic work of frightening suspense for a reason. Also, I mostly read this during daylight hours, haha!
Non-Fiction, History, Church History, Cultural Studies
Thoughts:
It's often said if you want to know where you're going, you have to know where you've been. The same is true for cultural and religious movements, as well.
The "Jesus People Movement" of the 1960s and 70s was a unique moment in church history that reverberates today. What started as baby boomer hippies finding Jesus quickly transformed into evangelical baby boomers remaking the modern American church.
In "God's Forever Family," author Larry Eskridge does a thorough examination of this era and the various offshoots of the movement. He treats the era respectfully, but honestly, as well. While the book has a bit of an academic aftertaste in its tone, it's also very engaging and compelling, especially if church history is your cup of tea.
In fact, the church in which I have devoted the past 20-plus years of my life would not be what it is without the changes brought forth by this movement. The way I've integrated modern styles of music in southern Indiana is a direct — though I may not have always known it — result of the movement birthed in 1960s southern California. In fact, the songs we sing in our church, as well as the Contemporary Christian Music industry as a whole, owes its existence to this era. Like so many things, however, what started out pure was, ultimately compromised and/or corrupted by human frailty, greed, and fallenness. A "pure" move of God became a move of politics (for example, Billy Graham's 1970s political motives are laid bare here — and it doesn't reflect all that well on that particular era of his ministry) or an all-too-familiar way to fleece the flock for monetary gain..
All in all, the book is very fascinating, though occasionally bogged down in details of relatively unknown participants and survey respondents (this part was unusual, in my view, and a bit too academic).
One complaint I have is about the book's physical properties. While the book is lengthy, the typeface used was rather small, allowing it to be manageable in size (284 pages, plus 100 pages of appendix and notes sections). However, the normal reading time for, say, 10 pages is actually about the time it would take for nearly 20. With a normal typeface (or maybe I'm getting too old), this could have been a 500-page book fairly easily.
Other than that, I heartily recommend this one.
Fiction, Political Science, Classics
Thoughts:
Somehow, I had never read George Orwell's classic piece of political satire "Animal Farm." In short, though written around the era of World War II, its lessons and warnings still reverberate in modern America, circa 2025.
It's a classic for a reason.
AUGUST
Non-Fiction, Cultural Studies, History
Thoughts:
It's easy to assume things happen naturally or because of a popular groundswell. In reality, that's almost never really the case.
In Jospeh M. Thompson's quasi-academic book "Cold War Country: How Nashville's Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism," the assistant professor of history at Mississippi State University details how country music came to be closely aligned with movements of patriotism — and how that patriotism eventually morphed into a "sound of the conservatives who claimed unyielding support for the military as a plank in the Republican Party platform." (p. 258).
While we, the public, often naturally assume the stylings of country music are a "natural" fit for support of the military, the truth revealed in "Cold War Country" is related — as so many things are — to cold, hard cash. Beginning in the 1950s, a burgeoning country music industry sought ways to increase its visibility and market share in the music business while a post-World War II military was looking for ways to increase its ranks to support a burgeoning Cold War. A marriage of convenience ensued, with the Department of Defense partnering with country music in ways we may have never imagined to market American values to mostly white, mostly southern young men. Vietnam and race relations complicated this marriage and presidents and politicians like Richard Nixon capitalized on the country fan base for support, using (often extremely cynically) the music and its musicians to help sell a message.
Thompson does a great job of providing details to back his claims and "the history of how a devotion to US militarization developed a southern accent" (p. 258) from the beginnings of the partnership in the 1940s through Elvis's stint in the Army ("... Sun Records owes as much to Uncle Sam as it did to Sam Phillips ..." [p. 107]) to how military service actually helped launch the careers of more than a few country music artists from Johnny Cash to George Strait.
Presenting facts with minimal commentary, Thompson shines a spotlight on the success of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The U.S.A." phenomenon of the 1980s and beyond — and how Greenwood had "a song in search of a war" that could boost his sagging sales — and honestly explores the music/military relationship all the way to Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)" and how the very specific post-9/11 message Keith intended for that song grew out of his control very quickly in the early 2000s.
The book, while engaging, is not always easy to navigate and, at times, strays into the minutiae of charts, sales, and military radio strategies, bogging down the overarching narrative. However, I found the book to be very informative and enjoyable to read, especially as it headed toward the more familiar (to me) eras of the 1980s, 90s and 2000s.
I grew up a fan of country music and still love many of its songs and artists (much to my wife's chagrin, haha) that gave voice to my feelings as a native rural southerner, but I can also see how it's a business and, as former NBC Sports executive Don Ohlmeyer once said "the answer to all of your questions is money." While chasing the almighty dollar doesn't necessarily diminish my love for certain songs or artists, this understanding helps me to see motives a bit more clearly, especially when it comes to artists promoting a very specific way to feel patriotic. After all, loving someone or something means being honest about who or what they are — warts and all — and not simply being blindly loyal to a narrow definition of affection.
Non-Fiction, Cultural Studies, History
Thoughts:
I started playing guitar when I was a teenager. It didn't take long for my musical palette to include the influences of my modern-day musical heroes. Eric Clapton begat Richie Sambora and Eddie Van Halen and Robert Johnson begat Eric Clapton — and so on. My love of rock music birthed a love of blues music and a love of blues-music lore.
In his 2004 book "Escaping The Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues," author Elijah Wald details how much of what we currently think about blues icons like Robert Johnson and the blues, in general, is the product of myth-making and story-telling and bears little resemblance to the actual lives of Johnson, Son House, Leroy Carr, and others. In fact, Wald tells the reader often of Johnson's relative obscurity in his life and death and how the British (blues-influenced) Invasion of the 1960s set the template for what most people think about blues music and Johnson's life and music.
The book was highly enjoyable and informative. I'm thankful I read it as a middle-aged adult who is much more grounded in a desire for truth and reality than I may have been in the 1990s as a teenager. It doesn't take anything away from my love of acoustic Delta blues to know that Robert Johnson, had he lived, might have only played that style for a very short period in his career. It helped me understand that artists like Leroy Carr were actually much more popular with actual fans of blues music of the day than he is now (almost unknown). Wald's tracing of how modern blues became synonymous with middle-aged white men (like me) and its parallel course with the baby it birthed — rock music — doesn't make me like blues music less, it just makes me more aware of the music's role in my life and its growth and sustainability as a musical form.
As always, there's a separation of myth and reality that's important to dissect (including an afterward where Wald lays to rest the "selling his soul at the crossroads" legend). Wald's book does a solid, if sometimes uneven, job of doing just that. This is a recommended book for music fans and those interested in deeper cultural studies.
Fiction, Autofiction
Thoughts:
Last year, I read Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" and "No Country For Old Men" and absolutely loved them. After sharing my thoughts, I was recommended "Suttree," a novel that (as described by the Wikipedia description) "follows Cornelius Suttree, who has repudiated his former life of privilege to become a fisherman on the Tennessee River."
Diving into this book, I kept waiting for the plot to unfold. About a quarter of the way through I realized there was no "plot," per se, but that this work was a character study of one man and the people/misfits around him who have been cast off by society. In a way it's a darker Huckleberry Finn.
While I appreciate McCarthy's writing, I won't lie to you — this book was hard to complete. If you appreciate McCarthy's work — filled with gothic tales and wild characters — your mileage may vary. Perhaps, this is a case of mistaken expectations (very likely, in fact) and it had its moments of brilliance and engagement, but I, ultimately, found it difficult.
SEPTEMBER
Non-Fiction, Social Studies, Cultural Studies
I've often told my wife that we are living in the midst of a societal revolution, akin to living in the middle of the Industrial Revolution in the previous century. Ours, however, is technological — and has far-reaching implications for the emerging generations. With that in mind, the invention of the smartphone, and its associated uses, is one of the most significant inventions in modern history. Frankly, we don't really know what to do with it yet.
Jonathan Haidt's much-ballyhooed study "The Anxious Generation" delves into how childhood is being fundamentally rewired by smartphones and social media, especially, and what we can do to course-correct. I won't dive into all of his solutions, though I tend to agree with most, if not all, of them. Naturally, since my children are now adults, this book was read with a bit of hindsight as opposed to anxiousness about my own children's future. We waited until our kids were 16 and 15, respectively to get them smartphones — and, in my opinion, that was still too early. Additionally, a regular conversation in our household is whether smartphones (and social media) are good for *anyone.*
There are far weightier reviews of this very popular book, so I'll spare you mine. However, I recommend this book to, well, pretty much everyone. Because this is about our collective future.
Non-Fiction, Leadership
Thoughts:
Anxiety is a roadblock for so many. Oftentimes, it is for me, as well. This book is aimed at helping leaders understand the source of their anxieties and provides tools to mange it.
While some parts were helpful, the most engaging parts were when author Steve Cuss was recounting stories related to his points.
Non-Fiction, History
Thoughts:
So many books on the Civil War are full of details about specific battles, fighting strategies, and military jargon. Lost, so often, are the stories which help us understand what was going on in the country during this most devastating of times in American history.
In his book "1861: The Civil War Awakening," author Adam Goodheart helps us find humanity in the lead-up to and beginning of the war. He focuses on stories from people we may have no previously known much about such as a regiment of New York City firemen, and idealistic group of German immigrants, and a group of slaves in Virginia.
I found this a refreshing approach to Civil War reading and appreciated his efforts in doing so. It, once again, helps us see that the Civil War, while deeply about people like Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, was also about people like Elmer Ellsworth, an acrobatic militia colonel. While the leaders and military heroes of the war are remembered, the scars were born by the everyday people of America (and, in my view, we remain the walking wounded from this war).
I found "1861" to be a fascinating book.
OCTOBER
Non-Fiction, Biography
Thoughts:
On the next-to-last page of the epilogue of "King: A Life" by Jonathan Eig, the author writes what is probably the most profound sentence in the book (I highlighted it in an otherwise unmarked book).
"But in hallowing King we have hollowed him."
Eig's work detailing the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — the winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Biography — is among the most captivating biographies I have ever had the pleasure of reading — but it was also often tough to read about King, the man, when you've primarily known of King, the myth.
In a prophetic tradition, King was a Moses-like figure in modern American history. He led an extraordinary movement for human rights and called for America to fulfill the promise established in our founding documents (that "all men are created equal"). He was also a man who was mercilessly hounded by the Hoover-led FBI and JFK/LBJ-era government, ridiculed by both white and black activists — as well as everyday people — of his day, cheated on his wife more regularly, was a workaholic who was not entirely present in his children's lives as he placed the mission above his home, and struggled mightily with feelings of guilt, depression, and failure, especially in the final year of his life. In other words, like Moses, he was entirely human.
Eig doesn't shy away from the failures in King's life, but he also celebrates his triumphs. Chapter 27's recounting of The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (aka the "I Have A Dream" speech) is fairly breathtaking in its account. Reading the soaring, prophetic (not in the sense of telling the future, but calling to righteousness, justice, and faithfulness) words of King's speeches and sermon more than once brought tears to my eyes. Eig masterfully weaves all parts of King's life together and it's easy to see why the book was so lauded upon its release in 2024.
There are many things to discuss in the book, including the way history may not repeat, but definitely rhymes. ("The Yale historian C. Vann Woodward wrote in Harper's Magazine that the civil rights movement seemed to be following the same course as Reconstruction: "a rising tide of indignation against an ancient wrong, the slow crumbling of stubborn resistance, the sudden rush and elation of victory — and then ... the onset of reaction and the fading of high hopes." (p. 508)).
Eig writes this in his closing thoughts on the final page: "Where do we go from here? In spite of the way America treated him, King still had faith when he asked that question. Today, his words might help us make our way through these troubled times, but only if we actually read them; only if we embrace the complicated King, the flawed King, the human King, the radical King; only if we see and hear him clearly again, as America saw and heard him once before. "Our very survival," he wrote, "depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change."
Every year in January, Americans of all shapes and sizes, colors and creeds quote Martin Luther King Jr., especially on social media, but most of us have little idea who he really was — even if we were alive at the time — and the context in which he spoke and preached. We have little idea that he felt called by God to lead this movement for equality (a "call" he received at a humble kitchen table in Montgomery, Alabama). We have little idea of the tremendous toil he endured in his 39 short years of life. We have little idea of the many flaws he had. We (present company included until now) have little idea because we know a myth and not a man.
To more fully understand, I would urge anyone to read Eig's biography of King, perhaps the best book I have — or will — read in 2025, or possibly in years to come.
Fiction, Classic, Political Science
Thoughts:
I first read George Orwell's classic work of literature "1984" in high school (probably somewhere in the vicinity of 1992-93). I decided to read it again this year because it had been at least 30 years since I had read it front-to-back and not just given it a cursory look on the bookshelf. I also grabbed a copy marketed as a 75th anniversary edition paperback — and the print was a little larger than the copy I had in high school.
It was one of the few assigned readings in high school I really enjoyed and seemed to grasp. However, reading it again with my 48-year-old mind and eyes — and with more than a bit of worldly wisdom — brought a whole new level of appreciation.
The mere selection of this book is a statement, I realize. However, the parallels to 2025 are fairly unmistakable, in my view.
"Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth." (p. 66)
"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." (p. 73)
"... practices which had been long abandoned, in some cases for hundreds of years — imprisonment without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public execution, torture to extract confessions, the use of hostages and the deportation of whole populations — not only became common again, but were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened and progressive." (p. 182)
"There is a Party slogan dealing with the control of the past" he said. "Repeat it, if you please." "'Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past.'" repeated Winston obediently. (p. 221 ... also where Rage Against The Machine got a lyric for the song "Testify," ha!)
At 16, I felt a sympathy for Winston Smith. At 48, I think I understand and relate to him on a deeper level.
It's my humble opinion that more of us should have read "1984" in high school — and even more of us should read it again as adults. Let the reader understand.
... or in Newspeak translation from ChatGPT: "It is the collective consensus that continual engagement with Approved Historical Literature ensures optimal thought alignment. Re-reading enhances compliance. Understanding is mandatory."
Non-Fiction, Religious Studies, Literary Journalism
Thoughts:
In the mid-2000s a co-worker at the newspaper where I used to work let me borrow a copy of the 1995 book "Salvation On Sand Mountain." He and I used to discuss religion and spiritual matters quite frequently and I miss talking to him on a regular basis. Recently, I thought about him, that book, and our conversations and decided to pick up my own copy. I'm so glad I did.
The book, a 1995 National Book Award finalist, chronicles author Dennis Covington "as he goes from covering the trial of Glenn Summerford in Scottsboro, Alabama to experiencing a snake handling church in Appalachia." (description from Wikipedia). Like many works of literary journalism, the book begins with Covington as a neutral observer, but, as the story unfolds, he is drawn into the story itself and becomes an active participant. Along the way, he seeks to understand where he came from — both relationally and spiritually.
For the uninitiated, snake handling is a very fringe and obscure sect of Holiness Christianity, primarily residing in southern Appalachia. Handlers take the (extended) ending of Mark 16 extremely seriously, basing much of their entire faith practice on this text.
Let me just say this: It's a gripping story and a very wild ride.
The book is fantastic and Covington (who, sadly, died in 2024) is a stellar story teller. He vividly describes the people, the land, and the practices. He gives the reader stunning visuals via the written word. In other words, he shows, he doesn't tell. Despite having read it somewhere near 20 years ago and the book itself being 30 years old, the story is just as gripping now as it was then — perhaps more with some age and (hopefully) wisdom under my belt.
As Covington struggles to understand where he came from, he drops this brilliant thought in the final pages. "Knowing where you come from is one thing, but it's suicide to stay there."
I highly recommend this book.
NOVEMBER
Fiction, Suspense
Thoughts:
"Misery" was my third Stephen King read of the year. While I'm not an ultra-fan, apparently I am fan enough to want to reread a book I first read in high school more than 30 years ago. While my memory of it had faded significantly (I didn't really recall how it ended, after all, nor did I recall many details of the movie adaptation), I knew it would be worth revisiting as a 48 year old who had a little more seasoning on him than he did at 14 or 15 (when my mom asked the Paris city librarian if I was old enough to read "The Stand" and other King novels).
"Misery" is more psychological thriller than it is horror/terror and was a blast to read again. It's been out so long, I won't recap it for you, but I (relatively speaking) blazed through this one. Next year, I plan to re-read "The Stand" and then I don't have any plans for any other King work on the docket (I do have "It's The End of the World As We Know It" — which is a King-adjacent novel of tales written by others in "The Stand" universe, and I'm both nervous and excited to read that one).
Your mileage with this kind of fiction (or King himself) may vary, but I really enjoyed getting to know the nuances of Paul Sheldon and Annie Wilkes again as an adult.
Non-Fiction, Autobiography, Comedy
Thoughts:
First, I am not the market demographic for this book from comedienne Leanne Morgan. Even though I'm middle-aged, I am decidedly male. Second, and with that in mind, I find Leanne Morgan pretty hilarious. So, I can confidently say I enjoyed her debut book.
Read Nov. 7 to 9, it was a quick, breezy, fun read.
Non-Fiction, Modern History
Thoughts:
The events of Sept. 11, 2001 are, for those old enough to remember, seared into our memories. There was simply nothing like it for most Americans. I would also argue that our current cultural, political, and social climate are direct descendants of that day. One of my favorite writers, Chuck Klosterman, argues 9/11 was the end of the nineties "era," in spirit, if not in actual time — and I have to agree with him. There is a before 9/11 and an after. Few monumental events have that kind of impact.
So much ink has been used up writing about this terrible day, but, when I saw the 2019 New York Times bestseller "The Only Plane In The Sky: An Oral History of 9/11" on the shelf at The Next Chapter in Jasper, I knew I had to read it.
Author Garrett M. Graff masterfully weaves the events of the day together through oral histories, allowing the people involved to tell the story. While the title was inspired by the events of Air Force One (with President Bush) crisscrossing the country that day, that's only a small portion of how Graff tells the story.
The most gripping parts of the story, for me, are the accounts of the ordinary people in the World Trade Center towers, in the Pentagon, and on United Airlines Flight 93. These first-and second-hand accounts are absolutely terrifying, inspiring, and all the emotions in between. There is no attempt to provide commentary, opinion, meaning, or to examine consequences, it just tells the story of one pivotal day in American history — and does it brilliantly.
As events are further in the rearview mirror, they naturally lose some impact. However, the immediacy of these stories help us, truly, to "never forget" what happened on that dark day. This was one of my favorite books to read so far this year, bar none. I recommend it to anyone.
Non-Fiction, Leadership, Workplace Culture
Thoughts:
Let me be clear, this is a book I read to help me at my workplace (Executive Minister of Redemption Christian Church in southern Indiana).
It was a helpful guide to attempting to establish a stronger work culture in our workplaces, helping staff see a clear vision, bring them more energy to their jobs, and, hopefully, enjoy their work life just a little more.
I got a few helpful hints and some things to discard — which is standard for a book like this. For a leadership book, it's pretty niche, but it was helpful.
DECEMBER
Non-Fiction, Autobiography
Thoughts:
Bruce Springsteen has been always present in my memory. Along with Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Prince, the early memories of my 1980s childhood included Springsteen, in full "Born In The USA" flight. The lore of New Jersey (as a state to which I have never been), the romanticism of the open road, and the blue-collar poetry of the everyman were ingrained in those early songs and have remained throughout my life — though my fandom has definitely ebbed and flowed.
Springsteen's autobiography, "Born To Run," is a *thorough* look at the artist's life, from childhood to present day, with few stones left unturned. He chronicles his and his family's mental health challenges quite extensively — as well as providing insights into his work, his worldview, and the voice he has been provided.
I got to see Springsteen on the "Wrecking Ball" tour in 2012 and it was a stellar night. I had always heard the stories, but to see him work, in the flesh, was special. I've always appreciated his imagery, his songwriting skill, and his ability to make the specific universal. The God-haunted nature of his lyrics (spurred by his strong Catholic upbringing) are also a reason his work has always interested me.
If you're a fan, you've likely already read this. If you're Springsteen-curious, the book may make you dive deeper. If you dislike him (for whatever reason), I don't think I can convince you to read this book — but maybe you should anyway to hear where he's coming from.
I started reading the book because I am a casual fan. Knowing the stories behind the stories only make me appreciate his work more.
JAN. 1 to OCT. 24, 2025
Non-Fiction
Thoughts:
This year was the eleventh time I've read through the entire Bible in a year. This plan, compiled by Phoenix, Arizona's Christ Church of The Valley was the first plan I have done that included weekend (Saturday and Sunday) breaks. For the majority of the year, I did not utilize those breaks — though I eventually started the breaks at some point in the summer, I believe — and read straight through, putting me 65 days ahead. I don't say that to boast, but to confess I didn't utilize the plan as designed — and this may have colored my view of the plan on the whole.
A few things about this specific plan: First, while I understand the concept of this method, I will likely return to every-day reading in 2026 (I recently purchased a physical Bible designed for daily readings to complete it one year and I'm interested to try it out in 2026). I've built a habit of a decent amount of daily reading and it's important to me to keep it going (and not to have off days where I just read small passages). Second, because of the built-in breaks, there were actually MORE daily readings than a typical Bible-in-a-year plan and some days that meant spending 20 minutes or more reading (not a bad thing, just noting it). Third, I found the way it worked through Psalms and Proverbs somewhat cumbersome. It alternated readings throughout the year, ripping away some continuity and context from a more fluid reading of the texts and rendering these great books as bite-sized chunks of wisdom.
With all of that in mind, reading the Bible is better than NOT reading the Bible.
Finally, this was my first time reading the Bible all the way through in the New Living Translation (NLT). While I miss some of the beauty of the English Standard Version (my typical go-to in previous years), I do find the NLT much more understandable and will read the NLT again in 2026, if my plans stand.
I would recommend this plan to anyone who knows they need breaks or will forget to read on the weekends, but it does involve MORE daily reading, not less. However, I will say it was not my favorite plan — but anything that helps you read more Scripture on a regular basis is okay in my book.
MY TOP TEN (BESIDES CLASSICS AND THE BIBLE, OF COURSE) IN THE ORDER I READ THEM:
1. "You Like It Darker: Stories" by Stephen King
2. "Practicing The Way: Be With Jesus, Become Like Him, Do As He Did" by John Mark Comer
3. "And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle" by Jon Meacham
4. "Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering" by Malcolm Gladwell
5. "A Fever In The Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot To Take Over America, And The Woman Who Stopped Them" by Timothy Egan
6. "God's Forever Family: The Jesus People Movement In America" by Larry Eskridge
7. "The Anxious Generation: how The Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness" by Jonathan Haidt
8. "King: A Life" by Jonathan Eig
9. "Salvation On Sand Mountain: Snake Handling And Redemption In Southern Appalachia" by Dennis Covington
10. "The Only Plane In The Sky: An Oral History of 9/11" by Garrett M. Graff
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