Preventing Grace
Well, I have been enjoying my blogging break—sleeping till 7 and everything—but I can’t pass up this opportunity to wish 2020 an enthusiastic and delighted good-bye. After praying for its demise all these months, I must celebrate this auspicious moment of finally getting what I want. Join me in a virtual glass of something warm and a slice of cheese! We made it…well, most of us did…
Also, I have a variety of odds and ends that I wanted to sweep up—
Nailed It On Kindle
like the fact that the kindle problems with Nailed It are being resolved, along with a big SORRY that it took me so long to catch on that it wasn’t working. If you have the kindle version and it doesn’t somehow become fixed, please let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
Virtue Signaling
Also, if you were thinking about trying to become a better person and letting other people know, Melanie and I had a fun conversation (or at least I had fun) about my upcoming piece on Virtue Signalling for CRI (should be out soon). In 2021, let’s Make Humility Great Again.
All the Books
And finally, I read a ton of good books this year. I’ve been gradually upping my total of books from 40 (2018) to 60 (2019) to 80 (2020). This has turned into quite a reasonable pursuit especially when I mixed difficult books in with fun ones and reread some that I knew would not disappoint me. Here were my new favorites, listed in the order I read them (not in the order I loved them) and beyond that the few that I did not love quite so much
Books I Loved in 2020
The Towers of Trebizon—this book happened to me at the beginning of 2020 and it really bowled me over. I’m going to read it again starting tomorrow. I love it so much.
I Drink Therefore I Am—NGL, didn’t understand most of this book, in spite of having taking Wines at Cornell all those decades ago. The combination of drinking and philosophy, though, made me want to understand, so that’s something, isn’t it?
The Story of Human Language—this was an audible Great Course that I enjoyed very much. A lot of it was review for me, but John McWhorter is just so fun, especially since he can basically pronounce every single language except Chinese.
A Very Short Introduction to Beauty—this was, what’s the word?… Beautiful. Hope to listen to it again this year.
Love Thy Body—can’t believe I didn’t get to this sooner. So good for arranging the furniture of the age into some kind of comprehensible order. Honestly, it increased my sense of compassion and curiosity and lowered my rage levels, which is always a good thing.
The Order of Time—also fascinatingly far above my head. Until he concluded at the end that it’s really no problem that we die. Felt he was missing some key element. What is that? OH RIGHT…GOD.
A Place to Belong—So so so good. And, as I said elsewhere, I started reading it during the most severe part of lockdown, and so wept onto all the pages. Really helped me cope, for one thing, and then also put language around why church is a necessary and essential proposition, especially in the time of covid.
The Soul of Shame—have also raved about this elsewhere. Really helpful. So much more helpful than literally everything by Brené Brown.
An Experiment in Criticism—read this swiftly alongside a child for some reason. Can’t believe I hadn’t read it before. Excellent of course.
Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood—also have written about this elsewhere. An excellent and provocative, as I have been saying to myself, opening salvo.
Anxious—I mean, this was the book to read in a year like this. So good. Very practical and prodding, both.
Becoming Sage—this book was all too timely, for me, as I considered the reality that I’m not getting any younger. Grateful for Michelle’s gracious push back on the cult of youth (especially since no one says that about me anymore).
Le Crime de l’Orient Express—listened to this, having never read it or seen the movie, then watched the old one, then listened to it in English. Hopefully will watch the new movie, though I hear it wasn’t as good as the old.
Home Cooking—Not sure why I hadn’t gotten all the way through this, but it’s beautiful.
The Coddling of the American Mind—so interesting, especially as it is a couple of years old. Curious what they would say after this year. All their predictions essentially came to pass.
All That’s Good—so very timely in a year when I was prepared only to think dark and terrible thoughts, Hannah dragged me out of the mire.
Companions in Suffering—In some sort of fit of providence, God arranged for me to read this right before my mom and dad lost all their stuff. So that was convenient. Thanks God! Great book.
The Odyssey—the new translation, read by Claire Danes, is just fantastic, as all of you know as you listened to me rave about it. Wish someone would do this to Dante so that I could get through it a little more easily.
Richard Rohr and the Enneagram Secret—very helpful encyclopedic look at Richard Rohr’s theology and why there are so many better ways to gaze at your own navel.
Miss Pym Disposes—A fun, short mystery, exactly the sort of thing you need after a lot of serious reading.
The Caxton Lending Library—Also fun. Might have read it in an hour while eating a whole block of cheese.
Live Not by Lies—very good, of course, if extremely discouraging. But seriously, you might as well read it because 2021 is not promising to be any better than 2020.
Marriage in the Middle—For real, marriage is hard, and you might as well face facts, but also it’s worth it. Don’t give up!
Darwin Devolves—this is older, of course, and I haven’t tackled his other ones, and also, I’m not smart enough to read this sort of book, but I found it very interesting. Someday I should read it again to see if I’ve gotten more intelligent.
Another Gospel—so so excellent. Have raved about it all over. Read. This. Book. Then give some away. Then read it again.
Planet Narnia—loved this! Even though I mangled the description to all the people I told about it, and made them think that I was weird and into conspiracy theories. But seriously, read it even though I can’t tell you why.
Save the Cat—I don’t know if I’ll ever manage to write a novel or even a short story, but this was very good. And, curiously enough, when I tried to plot out a beat sheet for the whole Bible, it totally worked. It’s true, every story is essentially the same.
The Book of the Dun Cow—only got through this because I was also reading Save the Cat. Kept me from freaking out because it’s quite suspenseful (for me), but good! Totally worth it!
The Promise of Ankles—this is more my speed. I don’t know what I’ll do when McCall stops doing 44 Scotland Street, IT’S MY FAVORITE.
The Seventh Train—Bit dark, but so good. Wasn’t sure as it went along, where it was going, which is kind of the point. Tried plotting it out by the rules of Save the Cat and yes, it does work! Really good.
The Pilgrim’s Progress—oh my gosh, I hated this so much, but I felt bad about hating it, so I’m putting it in my list of good books, rather than bad ones, as I know that I am the one that’s wrong (I think) and not the book. Still, I feel I shall have some things to say about this at some point.
The Pilgrim’s Regress—much more my speed, although, I have noticed that Lewis does fall so easily into some sort of schmaltzy lyricism whenever he talks about women. Anyway, by turns funny, but also insightful. A good treat after enduring the real one.
So there you are, I basically loved everything I read this year. But there were some that I’m jumbling onto the Dumb/Not Worth Your Time list.
Books I Didn’t Love Quite So Much in 2020
When Bad Things Happen—this wasn’t terrible, but so disappointing, because the book itself was full of examples of people being bad, even when he insisted that they were good. Also, I’m sorry, but his reading of the bible was extremely disappointing.
Untamed—do I need to say anything about this? You. Are. Not. A Cheetah.
I Thought It Was Just Me—This wasn’t all bad, but it made me extremely dubious about what constitutes actual research in the social sciences. Seems too much like she arrived at all the conclusions she already had.
Blue Like Jazz—wanted to like this, much as I love Portland, but honestly, it feels so 2001. Doesn’t really stand up as a classic or anything.
The Road Back to You—This was well written and funny, but so wrong-headed I don’t even know what to say. Just one big long exercise in confirmation bias, that’s what it is.
Didn’t See That Coming—Yeah, I’m sorry Rachel, we all saw it coming and we don’t believe you that you didn’t.
Books I’m Reading Right Now
At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances
The Problem of Pain
Eustace Diamonds
The Righteous Mind (almost done)
Cynical Theories
Why Does God Allow Evil
And hopefully, if I can get a copy, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman.
My singular goal, for 2021, is to get to 100 books by the end of the year. I think I can do it because I am also committed to giving up the Doom Scroll. Already this week I’ve managed to, every time I start to move my thumb down my screen, go straight over to my kindle app, and just start reading any book. From thence to picking up a physical tome has been but a five-minute search around for whatever it was I actually reading…oh! That’s why I always end up on the internet.
And Finally
Happy NEW YEAR!!! If you wait long enough, like God, eventually bad things go away (so that more bad things can take their place…or the end comes…either way, at least it’s a change of scenery.)
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