When Audiobooks Beat Ira Glass

Since buying my car last August, I’ve already put over 17,000 miles on it.  Thanks to country-living, in a normal week I put close to 500 miles on it commuting to my office and running errands.  Then there’s all the cross-country driving.  It adds up quick.

Like certain other BookWoms, I’m a devoted NPR-ite.  But after a whole day of driving, I just don’t want to listen to the same Ari Shapiro report for the fifth time.  So I’ve come to diversify my playlist with podcasts—why does everyone sound like Ira Glass taught them English?—sermons, and most recently, audiobooks.

Ames has already pointed out the benefits of audiobooks.  Since signing up for Audible, I’ve tucked away far more books than I could have by simply reading with my eyes.  I started off with a doozy: Eric Metaxas’s colossal, magisterial, and sheerly daunting Bonhoeffer.  I have a whole new level of respect for JE for plowing through the book; I allowed my mind to wander more than once during the author’s generous sprinkling of Bonhoeffer-and-Dohnányi segments.  (22 hours with Bonhoeffer, and for better or for worse you will never be the same.)

Things got a little easier on the brain when I added some mission stories to my list. I thought listing those to which I’ve listened to so far might give readers a place to start with finding edifying audiobooks:

• Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
• God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew
• Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret by Howard Taylor and Gregg Lewis
• Heavenly Man by Brother Yun
• Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot
• Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Rose Diebler
• Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi*
• Hind’s Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard*

(*not a mission story, but still great!)

I often found myself driving to places that I truly did not want to be at (west Texas, anyone?).  In these faith-trying moments, each of these stories gave me confidence in God’s providence and love for me.  While I can’t wholeheartedly endorse all the content in each work, these testimonies became my companions on the long journey and compelled me to ask for greater things in prayer as well.  It would be an honor for my testimony to have the same impact on others that these stories did on me.

Several of the main figures in these stories suffered extreme physical pain, heartbreak, and inconvenience for the sake of the gospel.  Just as I passed through the western edge of Oklahoma City on one particular cross-country trip, I silently told God, “Lord, I’ll die for you. I’m willing to do it.”  And God gently responded, “But will you live for me?”  Would I live a life of pain and not just take a momentary bullet for Him?

Needless to say, I had plenty of hard questions to ask myself about my own spiritual walk driving down I-40—questions that This American Life doesn’t ask.  Make driving a spiritual experience and you won’t be sorry!

– ML

The Choice to Stop Reading

I’ve put a hold on my reading, and before you recoil in horror, let me explain that this literary pause is entirely self imposed.

I’ve recently started research on the history of the Sabbath.  In search for an analytical framework, I’ve read through parts of the American religious history canon as well as more theoretical works.  They say that it’s “publish or perish” in academia, but the red-headed stepchild corollary that many miss is that you can’t just publish anything you want—original ideas are what get you places.

Then the other week I happened to run into a senior scholar who generously lent me some of his time and advice.  I’d been wrestling with some conceptual questions and asked him what he thought, expecting a thoughtful answer that’d bring clarity.

Instead, he pointed me to Scripture.  Read it and form a framework before you read anything else on the topic, he advised firmly.

I deeply appreciate this wisdom.  I love books and basically marinate in them all week as a PhD student, but there’s no wisdom like the wisdom that comes from the divine Book.  So, I’m taking a risk and not reading anything on this particular topic until I spend some one-on-one time in the Bible.

Other books can do so much to enrich our understanding of Scripture.  But Scripture can do that much and more to enrich our understanding of other books.

– ML

When Breath Becomes Air

When Breath Becomes Air was Paul Kalanithi’s dying wish. He made his wife and family promised they would herald it to publication during the last hours of his life, and it turned out to be such a gift to humanity.

 

Written during the two years between Paul’s cancer diagnosis and his death, When Breath Becomes Air records Paul’s inner life as he grappled with meaning and identity in his altered life. Facing death and dying, the words in the book are brave, philosophical, real, without being sentimental. I did not need Kleenex until the last paragraph of his book, although the Epilogue by Lucy Kalanithi, his wife, was a killer.

 

Paul could’ve written this book as a heart-wrenching tragedy, but he did not. The book’s voice came from a very clear-eyed man, addressing deep questions on how he should live his life now that an end is real. In the most powerful passage of the book, for me, Lucy asked Paul if having a child would make saying goodbye more painful. Paul responded, “Wouldn’t it be great if it did?” I had to re-read this section over, since I didn’t understand it at first. In a world that has high regard for practicality, I had never heard anything like this before–a deep commitment that living is not about avoiding suffering. It’s about meaning.

 

I could stop there in convincing you to read this gem. But I’ll keep going, because the man Paul Kalanithi was such a polymath that his book–supposedly unfinished–had multiple fascinating threads.

 

Bibliophilia

 

Paul was deeply insightful. His pursuit of higher education was driven by a seeking spirit, a quest to find and understand the meaning of human existence. He was a lover of literature, and though his areas of expertise do not overlap with mine, I can understand his relationship with books. Before he was a medical student and a neurosurgeon, he was a literature student. And as bibliophiles would resonate, many authors accompanied his mind throughout his life.

 

Excellence

 

Polymath–this is how many have described him. And in all that he did, he embodied excellence. He saw neurosurgery as a calling, not a job with a list of tasks to be checked off. For him, it was a moral imperative to be excellent, physically, technically, and spiritually, as failure could alter another person’s identity. He sensed the sacredness of dealing with the human brain and nerves, and the book is also his journey in growing to be more excellent as he went through medical training. I dedicated an entire article inspired by his excellence here.

 

Needless to say, this book will easily one of the best this year, if not ever. It will leave deep impressions on the readers, guaranteed.

 

P.S. This book spurred so many thoughts for me. If you’re interested, these are the two articles inspired by this book.

Consciousness of Time: Wisdom in the Sabbath

Excellence: Why It Matters

 

Wonder

It’s been a while for a lot of things. Pertinently, it’s been a while since a book made me stop reading and just ache with the characters. Since a book made me flip back to who the author is and just celebrate her. Since multiple characters tore me up inside and I had to read a book that could be read in just a few days over a period of a week because I couldn’t take it all in one chunk.

This is a lot to say about a little book, and perhaps reading it during the peak of hormonal instability might have attributed to some of the tears that welled up in my eyes as I experienced the lives of these children. Nevertheless, read this book.

Wonder is about children. Particularly, a child named August Pullman. He was born with a truly once-in-a-billion mutation that caused severe facial deformities. This is the story of his life in middle school, the melting pot of all things cruel and beautiful. Although fictional, this character was inspired by a child Palacio saw one day. It is about coping with life, dealing with bullies, kind hearts, mean spirits, and self-awareness. And although it is about children, it is about humanity, and it reminded me how smart I really was when I was 10 years old and how I’ve forgotten it.

The book takes multiple perspectives but the main one is August’s. And he is in the 5th grade. Perhaps I liked it most because I know this age group better now since I am teaching middle school. The librarian at our school thought it good enough to purchase a copy for every single student and staff member at the whole. entire. school. Granted, at the time there were far fewer students than there are now.

There are many things I liked about this book. I fear that I relate too much to too many characters and I fear that many people do too. How can a fear seem so personal yet it is so relatable that thousands of people pushed this to the New York Times’ Best Sellers list? Isn’t it odd, that your private pains are the same as so many others? How you can root for someone and want to be someone and not be someone at the same time?

Do yourself a favor and read this thing. It’s short and beautifully not entirely painless. It is so real you feel it in your bones.  This book is not meant to be read for the ending. Even August is a little ambivalent about it. This book is meant to be read for the soul. It brought me out of book blogging silence. Need I say more?

.js.

A BookWom Birthday

At my age, birthdays usually give way from parties and presents to dinners out and someone else doing the chores for the evening. So imagine my surprise when I arrived home yesterday (my birthday) to find a box from Amazon waiting on our stoop.

“Did you order anything?” my husband asked.* I had not. It took me a couple of seconds to get in the door, wield my mailbox key and stab through the packing tape to get inside the package.

 

And this is what I found inside.

Two books that I recently added to my reading list. Important to note, this list is pretty much in my mind, not kept up-to-date on my Amazon wish list, or even included here.

Who knew me so well to send two of the exact books I had my eye on–which are new releases and still in hardcover, mind you? None other than jelia!

Thanks for the friendship, girl! I’m so grateful for you as a friend, and as a fellow BookWom. It’s a little creepy that you can read minds, but it’s also one of the things that makes you so good at recommending books to others.

There are two more books I have on my holds on the digital catalog at my library, but once I get through those, I will not be requesting any others until I tackle those two books. Keep your eyes open for future reviews.

What type of gifts do other bibliophiles love to receive? Let us know, and they may be included in a future list!

AS

*Don’t let this post let anyone think my husband did not give me a birthday gift. He did, but it is not book related. 🙂

Remember the Library

Even though we had shelves and shelves full of books in our own home, there was something enchanting about going to the library. The one at school was exciting, though small, and quickly its contents were essentially memorized. My high school’s library lacked charm, given it was the access point to several of the humanities class rooms. The local public library never lost its ability to please, even after I moved back to my hometown, jobless after law school.  And then there were the libraries in college and law school. Overwhelming. So. Many. Books.

But it was in college and law school where I stopped using libraries as a place to check out books for pleasure, and rather used them as a place to collect research and references for my next upcoming paper.

When I received a Kindle as a gift for my law school graduation, though, I re-encountered the public library. This time to sign up for access to the digital catalog. I really need to start utilizing the physical collection too, but to date that has not yet happened. A few items on my reading list are not available on-line, though, so this may end up happening soon.

Anyways, this got me thinking. For any reader out there, whether in school or not, don’t forget your library! Here are some reasons why:

1. Free reading

One semester in college, there were literally so many books on my reading list, I could not afford to purchase them all (I was avoiding taking more student loans than I absolutely needed to). But that was okay, because my professor made all of the books available at the library. Which was great. I did all of my reading for that semester without a problem and saved several hundred dollars.

Now, I’m using every extra penny possible to pay down my law school student loans (unfortunately those were harder to avoid), so it’s hard to justify even buying the occasional book, even on discount on Amazon. I am no Erasmus, who famously stated, “When I get a little money, I buy books. And if there is any left over, I buy food.” So access to the public library lets me continue to advance my thirst for knowledge and information while not setting back my pocket book.

2. Incentive to finish

Libraries give deadlines–even for their digital titles. I often feel guilty when I don’t finish a book. But when I purchase a lengthy one, I often find it takes me a long time to finish them. For example, Boenhoeffer was one of the first ones that I downloaded when I got my Kindle, purchased with a gift card. It’s thick, and took me almost a year to finish. When I borrow from the library, I know that I have a date I need to finish it buy. And yes, you can extend the loans if you need just a little more time (I’ve done this many times), but I think the impending deadline is still incentive enough to get through the book. It’s almost like an assignment, but since no report is due at the end (except for the ones we self-impose on ourselves on this blog), it ends in pure joy to see that yet another book has been completely read and checked off the book list.

3. Exposure to new topics

I’m not really 100% sure why, but I think because #1 on this list is true, and I’m not investing in something, I’m more likely to read a book outside my traditional areas of interest if I borrow it from the library. It’s an experiment, and dipping of the toe into a new lake of knowledge. Sometimes it’s good, and I dive in. Sometimes, not so much, and I go for the next topic. If I’m investing money in my books, then I’m keeping that investment in books that I can use in my field or are essential to our family library. But if I want to branch out, the library is the perfect place to do this.

4. The reading community

Okay, so this one would probably be more prevalent in my experience if I actually went to my physical library building rather than relying on the on-line catalog, but in theory, your local library is a hub of community activity. During my last job, I lived in Ann Arbor, home to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. They regularly have events that include bringing in authors of recently published books for talks, and I would gleefully attend. An introvert, I never talked to anyone while I was there, but the talks were also stimulating, and the free cookies and lemonade never hurt either. In the alternative, if your desire is to completely avoid people at all costs, having access to the digital catalog means you can download free reads until your heart’s content–without ever seeing another person.

Just writing this post is making me want to participate more in my local library, and thankful that public libraries are something that are available to the people in our country. Free access to books is something that should always be supported.

Why do you think readers should remember the library?

In Defense of E-Books

Full disclosure: I actually prefer print books over e-books. I think every true bibliophile does. Jelia has offered a critique of the developing medium, so I have decided to write my defense of e-books. More disclosure, I have owned a Kindle for the last four years, and I have read the vast majority of the books during that time on the Kindle and not in hard copy. Here’s my top three reasons why e-books are worth embracing even if they are an inferior substitute to their printed predecessors, kind of like digital music being inferior to records.

1. Portability

Esunhae already mentioned this in her pro/con analysis. Like her, I love that my kindle syncs with the cloud, my phone, my husband’s iPad, and my desktop. I have read so many more books recently because when there is a 15 minute recess in court, or I’m stuck in the line at the post office, or waiting for take out (all true scenarios), I can read the next few pages.

Also, as a person who travels to do presentations from time to time, it is so helpful to have all of the books I am using in my talks on the same device. The weight of my backpack from high school had me bent over nearly as bad as Quasimodo, but now I can carry even my smallest purses and bring a complete library with me.

2. Highlighting and Notes

People complain about the highlighting/note taking features in the books, and that they are not conducive to class. To be fair, I didn’t get a Kindle until I had completed my education. But as a student who had to write numerous papers for history classes both in undergrad and masters level classes, I think I would have loved using digital books. I can’t explain the number of times I wished I could “control f” in my book and find what I was looking for–even more efficient than skimming, in my opinion.

Kindle allows me to do that. Not only that, but it allows me to save the notes and highlights from the books that I have borrowed from the on-line library, which is also a positive feature. I save all of my notes and highlights on Evernote, which makes looking up relevant notes and passages that much easier. In fact, it’s easiest when I’m saving those notes from my phone or iPad because of the IOS share feature, it opens right up into Evernote and saves.

Highlighting in Kindle also keeps my compulsiveness from taking over the joy of reading a book. My husband is in shock when he sees my books with perfectly ruled underlining on passages I deemed important–and then adulterates those same books by dog-earing the pages I so lovingly cared for. We are still working on our shared care for books, but when I read on Kindle, I don’t have to worry about keeping a ruler in my purse just keep the underlying perfect. I realize this plus has more to do with my own neurosis than anything else.

3. Easy Access

I hate toll roads and airports. They know you are trapped, so they can jack the prices way up on everything. Including books. More than once in my life I have run out of reading material while traveling, but I refuse to purchase books at inflated rates. Kindle solves that problem for me. Same Amazon pricing no matter where I am, delivered for free over Wi-fi, or 3G in the places where I can’t get onto Wi-fi for free.

Additionally, it’s so easy to get free downloads as well. Your local library probably offers free finds on-line that you can download until your e-reader without ever having to set foot into the library again after you set up your account. Also, if you subscribe to Amazon Prime, they have numerous volumes available on loan for free from their vast collection.

No, the Kindle, or my iPhone, do not feel like a book in hand. Even after downloading my latest read, it does not smell of new book. When my kids come along, I will not be reading to them from the iPad, but from real books. But for my own consumption, I find that whatever way gets me to read the book is the best way. And honestly, right now, if I am going to actually read a book at all, I can’t beat the ease and price of reading an e-book.

Why do you use an e-reader–or not?

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.

Thinking, Fast and Slow is the best book I’ve read in recent years. Equal parts entertaining and edifying, it is the proverbial fishing pole in Maimonides’ giving fish vs. teaching to fish aphorism. Thinking explains how the human brain processes information, the cognitive biases we are trapped in, and teaches us how to guard against its downfalls in wanting to believe illusions disguised as truths.

The brilliance of Thinking is in its simplicity. Daniel Kahneman is not lacking in credentials by any means—a Nobel laureate, Princeton scholar, best-seller author—but the book’s ability to distill his undoubtedly complex research subjects in simple, accessible language appraises its value even more. Its message can be learned by all, its chapters concise and effective, and its examples very relatable to common, daily lives.

Kahneman’s success in engaging and persuading his readers to accept his conclusions is largely attributed to the examples he employs. The challenge of educating an audience of their biases is the insufficiency of mere statements of the fact. One has to persuade them by leading them into a situation where these biases would be revealed and they are ‘caught’ in the moment. Indeed, engaging and participating in the experiments is the best way to read this book.

I’ve written some of my highlights of the book here, here, and here. I consider Thinking a reference book that I will surely return to again. It is also a great resource for teaching materials or dialogues surrounding cognitive science.

A book that sharpens the mind is always a must-read.

JE

Go Set A Watchman

Harper Lee, Go Set A Watchman, Thomas Nelson Publishing, 2015.

I love Go Set A Watchman (GSAW). I enjoy GSAW as a book, but I love it ever more as a phenomenon. From the story of how the manuscript was discovered, the speculation on whether or not Harper Lee was forced to publish it, the debate on whether it should or shouldn’t be published, to the discussions surrounding racial tensions dealt in the book, everything surrounding GSAW is unprecedented.

The reverse chronological timeline of the writing of GSAW and To Kill A Mockingbird (TKAM) versus their publications is the trickiest, because it colors the interpretation of the story and its characters. Consequently, it generates so many conversations and fascinating, enjoyable articles.

“Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman, is his conscience. There is no such thing as a collective conscious.” Go Set A Watchman, Chapter 18.

Read the full review here …

JE

Beloved

Toni Morrison, Beloved, Penguin Putnam Inc., 1998.

Chilling. Powerful. Mysterious. Beautiful. Like a painting.

Beloved is a work of art. And like many pieces of art, there are aspects of it that I don’t understand. I’m not too left-brained, however, to miss the beauty of Morrison’s words and phrases.

Beloved tells the story of Sethe, an ex-slave, and her daughter, Denver. They live in a house, called 124, which seems to be haunted by the spirit of a baby—Sethe’s dead child. Upon the arrival of Paul D, an old friend/fellow slave of Sethe, the spirit left the house. But not long after, a girl about the age of Sethe’s daughter if she had lived arrives at 124 and catalyzes a series of reactions from the 3 main characters. This woman calls herself Beloved.

The confusion of who, or what, Beloved is remains a mystery, both to the characters in the novel and the readers. Sethe and Denver believe she is the dead child returning in flesh. Or, she may be just a confused girl who believes Sethe is her mother. Regardless, as a literary device, the character Beloved is brilliantly created to trigger the other characters’ development.

Indeed, character development is, to me, the meat of the story. With Beloved’s presence, they are faced with history in slavery, their past actions, and how they are impacted by their past. Beloved’s identity is confused with the beliefs that each character projects to her—whom they think she is.

My favorite parts of the book are when Morrison zooms in to the internal narratives of each character, employing the first-person point of view. The emotions are palpable. The plot’s climaxes are also glorious, in a terrifying way (I won’t spoil any plot).

Zooming out to the social context that Morrison is addressing, Beloved is a powerful painting of what slavery does to humans and their sense of ‘self.’ Multiple times in the novel she describes a fragmenting experience that the characters experience—feeling that their heads, arms, or legs are coming apart, or not recognizing their own voices. Even though the characters are technically free men and women, the trauma of being owned and tortured remains in their lives.

There are two things (for the sake of this short review) that I think Morrison highlights in the novel. One, the impact of slavery is intergenerational. Denver grows up free, but she very much reaps the experiences of her mother and grandmother. The healing process from the evil of slavery is long and arduous. Two, when someone or a people is degraded, all humanity is degraded. Slavery does not only degrade the slaves, but also the perpetrators. A web of humanity connects us all.

JE