Five Recent Reads

A list of my recent reads heading into summer...Japanese fiction and the best bio in decades

King: A Life, Jonathan Eig (2023)
Eig’s biography is the first major bio of King to be released in nearly four decades. Truly, this is a masterpiece. Drawing from fresh archival work and new interviews from those closest to King and his family, Eig presents King as a fully-orbed human, a deeply committed man of faith, an activist, and a mighty leader killed by the country he loved enough to demand it live up to its ideals. King is a riveting introduction to MLK’s life and the context in which he led. And it’s a full-course feast for those who intimately know King’s life and works. (For example: did you realize King said facetiously that racists in Mississippi should learn from those in Chicago because of the vicious backlash to his protest work in the Windy City?) I can’t praise this bio enough. The audiobook is excellent, too.

The Devotion of Suspect X, Keigo Higashino (2005)
Though Higashino isn’t displacing Tana French from the top slot in my mystery writers rankings, he’s launched himself into my top three. I particularly enjoyed the Japanese spin on the mystery genre, which focuses less on the bare facts of “whodunit” and more on the emotional and psychological dynamics of “whytheydunit.” This is the first entry in Higashino’s Detective Galileo series.

Deep River, Shusaku Endo (1993)
I’m working my way through all Endo novels. The Samurai and Silence are personal classics, and while Deep River is a tier below those, I appreciated Endo turning his gaze to contemporary society, a larger cast of characters, and the theme of spiritual pilgrimage. Folks say Flannery O’Connor wrote about the Christ-haunted South, but Endo writes here of a Christ-haunted humanity, using his cast of characters to showcase the distinct but connected forms of spiritual longing. Characters embody different forms of the “restless hearts” of which Augustine spoke, turning to different devices to find “rest” even as they all pilgrimage to India’s Ganges river.

Rare Leadership: 4 Uncommon Habits For Increasing Trust, Joy, and Engagement in the People You Lead, Jim Wilder and Marcus Warner (2016)
I have an allergic reaction to some leadership books. The genre is full of formulaic writing, soulless aphorisms, worst of all, false promises. Rare Leadership is worthwhile—it’s helpful and humane. The central paradigm offered is the movement of RARE leadership in times of peace and challenge:

• Remain relational.

• Act like yourself.

• Return to joy.

• Endure hardship well.

It’d be hard to imagine any leader — parent, pastor, teacher, manager, coach — not being helped by something in this book.

Long Story Short: The Bible in 12 Phrases, Glen Scrivener (2018)
I’ve spent the last year or so reading books with a friend who’s been exploring Christianity and recently became a Christian. We’ve read Mark’s Gospel, many works from Tim Keller, and now, this concise book by Scrivener. Long Story Short lives up to its title—it’s a solid introduction to the key movements of the biblical story, attuned to the skeptic and seeker with zero Bible knowledge. Scrivener is skilled at simplifying ideas without stripping them bare. This book would be great to use in youth discipleship settings.

And for fun, my current reads:

A Tale for The Time Being, Ruth Ozeki
Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
The Bible and the Liturgy, Jean Daniélou

What are you reading?
Any recommendations for me?
Share something you’ve read lately, and I’ll drop a recommendation for you.