2023 Reading

Time to close out my reading for 2023! I surpassed my goal of 36 with 54 (several of them shorter). Next year, I should include all the other books I read with my son. :-)

A Breakdown:
5 Novels (?)-- My fav was “Demon Copperhead” and runner-up was “The Sympathizer”. “Demon Copperhead” was also my fav overall for the year!

6  (Semi-)Related to Science-- “Breathless”, “How the World Really Works”, and “Range” especially resonated with me. “Your Inner Fish” was also pretty good.

 
6 (Auto)Biographies or Historical Portraits (a gripping one often reads like a good novel!)-- “And There Was Light” (Lincoln), “G-Man” (J. Edgar Hoover) and “PTL” (Jim Bakker) all stood out.

 
30+ Devotional, Faith-, and Ministry-Related Titles (Besides the Bible)-- The especially thoughtful “Proverbs: A Shorter Commentary”, “Jesus and the Eyewitnesses”, and “Rediscovering Jonah” especially spoke to me.

 
Though I haven’t had to commute for a while, I’m thankful I was able to multi-task by listening to 17 audiobooks either driving or working out at the gym.

 
Friends who enjoy reading: What titles did you most relish this past year?

Ruminating and Delighting Upon God's Word

Lately I’ve been appreciating the Jewish artist Marc Chagall’s 1933 work SOLITUDE, which I first stumbled across a month or so ago in a book I've been reading. In the painting, a man wearing a prayer shawl is resting on his hand meditating. He holds a Torah scroll close to his heart in the other hand. Even though the man’s back is set against the city, he's not ignoring his surroundings. Rather, he’s meditating deeply about what God's Torah says about eternal realities. And what of the goat chewing its cud -- while playing a violin?!!! In Chagall’s paintings goats often depict how the Jews were seen as Nazi scapegoats. Even more signficantly, a goat chewing on its cud illustrates the delight an observant Jew experiences ruminating on God’s Word. And what of the violin? Remember the 1971 musical “Fiddler on the Roof”? (By the way, the actor who played Tevye died in May of this year) FIDDLER was inspired by a delightful theme from several of Chagall’s paintings, one of which carried the same name. Instead of being distracted by arguing factions regarding current events, may God's people find their joy and delight by ruminating continually on God’s Word.