book-review

Michelle Zauner’s memoir of her mother expertly navigates themes of biracial identity, Korean food, and human suffering. Owing to the many life experiences Zauner and I share as half-Korean, half-white people, she speaks to realities that have always eluded my own expression. For that—and for her beautiful, spiritual descriptions of Korean food—I am deeply grateful. 8 / 10.

A no-nonsense, no-jargon primer on how we got to climate change through the lens of human population, food, and energy. Hope Jahren’s voice is one of a gentle, wise friend urging the reader to integrate their values and their actions in an effort to use less and share more. 8 / 10.

This is a story about the weirdness of the world as understood by Christopher John Francis Boone, a boy with autism who lives with his father in a small town in the UK. Christopher and his idiosyncrasies are instantly lovable. Through the eyes of a boy who thinks of everyone as different from himself, we’re reminded just how many common threads bind us all together. 7 / 10.

This book is a celebration of the Creator God who created all that is made and invites us into a continual process of co-creation. It is an urge to reorient our making away from productivity or self-promotion and towards others and the world. It is a gentle reminder that God has delighted in our existence since before we knew him, and continues to delight in what we bring, albeit imperfect, broken, and lacking. 8 / 10.

The Phantom Tollbooth is a fable in every chapter, clever wit in every paragraph, and careful thought in every sentence. It is both a treatise on critical thinking and a tender story of a young boy’s adventure. It is just as much an epic struggle between Wisdom and Ignorance as it is a playful comedy. Its excellence is a testament to the fruits of curious wonder and deep wisdom. 10 / 10.

This lyrically beautiful novel explores rural Mississippi, masterfully demonstrating how the present and all its struggles never seem far from the brutal past that created them. The questions that this novel leaves about what hope and healing look like in the rural South are pertinent ones, and their delivery is somehow both searing and soothing, holding our feet to the fire while knowing it is what we need most. 9 / 10.

This is a most compelling, relevant, and urgent book on injustice in the modern world. Even while using vivid and often horrifying anecdotes to make clear the plight of women worldwide, there are no shock-and-awe tactics here; every claim is backed with research and vetted for broken assumptions. Every opportunity is taken to move the reader from their armchair into a place of progress. 10 / 10.

In a highly structured format, professor of theology Gary Burge guides his readers through the life of an academic faculty from their beginnings in finding security to their mid-life in finding success and finally to their closure in finding significance. While not directly applicable to integrating Christianity with graduate school, the roadmap is useful for the future. 6 / 10.

This informative, gospel-based discussion of marriage deals equally in theology, pastoral admonition, and lived experience. At its core, this book frames marriage as one of many ways to reflect part of God’s nature. While there are several normative views taken here that are worth discussing or disputing, many of the ideas presented were very helpful to me in a time of pre-engagement and discernment. 8 / 10.

Set in Israel at the time of Jesus, The Bronze Bow follows the lives of several Jewish youths as Roman oppression bends and shapes their adulthood. When Jesus proclaims a victory and kingdom that has already been established instead of catalyzing a revolt against Rome, the characters and readers alike must grapple with what to do when Jesus does not fit their expectations. 8 / 10.