Bird Box, by Josh Malerman

Bird Box on Netflix got a lot of hype and seemed to be very popular, so when I saw the audio book by Josh Malerman at the library I decided to check it out.  It's not the worst book I've ever read, but I didn't like it very much.

Here's the premise, crudely stated: some kind of entity or creatures or something has invaded the world.  Anyone who sees them/it immediately becomes violently self-destructive.  People are killing themselves.  The whole world descends into suicidal madness.  A few people realize that they are safe as long as they don't see the thing.  So they live in houses with all the windows boarded up.  If they need to venture outside for food or other supplies, they must wear a blindfold.

The story focuses on Malorie, who survives for a while with a small group of people.  She and her two kids attempt to float down the river to meet up with a community with whom they had brief contact by phone.  The story shifts between the weeks immediately following the initial outbreak or invasion and their flight by boat.

I like speculative stories and read lots of sci-fi, but this book is full of so much absurdity that I grew weary of it.  The reader is kept in the dark just like the characters.  But please, give me a little context or explanation.  You look at it and want to kill yourself?  Whatever.  Malerman writes some decent scenes, and has a good sense of suspense and the slow reveal.  But the whole package just didn't work for me.  For a suspense novel it turned out to be rather dull and uninteresting with a disappointing ending.

By the way, after I listened to the audiobook, I watched the movie.  I'd say the movie is marginally better than the book, but still not very good.

Radically Normal, by Josh Kelley

I really liked Josh Kelley's book Radically Normal: You Don't Have to Live Crazy to Follow Jesus.  Before I talk about the content of the book, I want to mention one reason I especially like it.  I've read many books by popular pastor/authors.  Publishers like these guys.  They grow a big church, gain some notoriety for their congregation size or growth, and have a ready audience of several thousand.  Publishers figure that even if the book isn't that great, they can count on sales of at least a few thousand from the pastor's congregation.  As Kelley says, he grew a congregation of 100 to 75 under his leadership, and eventually shut the place down.  Not only is there a high level of humility in this, it is also evidence that a publisher took a chance on him due to the quality of the work rather than the security of a ready reader base.

Aside from the question of the size of Kelley's congregation, Radically Normal is an enjoyable and challenging take on the Christian life.  Kelley describes radically normal Christianity as "the biblical art of fully engaging this life while focusing on the next."  The Christian life is about maintaining a balance between complacency and obsessiveness.  On one hand, "the distractions of this life are constantly pulling us away from God."  On the other hand, some Christians get hung up on dos and don'ts (mostly don'ts).

With good-natured aplomb, Kelley covers a spectrum of life choices and emphases, like work, finances, celebration, and church life, navigating between the two extremes.  He calls on Christians not to be dismissive of the blessings of this life.  He writes, "the more I've learned to properly enjoy earthly things, the more I long for heaven."  Further, speaking of creation care specifically, but applying this attitude more generally, he writes, "Rather than treat this world like a hotel room that someone else will clean up, we should treat it like a lakeside cabin that our boss let us borrow for the weekend."

Christians live between the already and the not yet, the temporal and the eternal, the kingdom of this world and the eternal kingdom.  We walk the line between complacency and obsessiveness, keeping our eyes on the promise of heaven while seeing the glory of heaven in the everyday.  Kelley is a worthy guide on this path.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Outrunning the Demons, by Phil Hewitt

Runners know the power of running for healing, therapy, happiness, and a whole slew of health benefits, mental and physical.  Few runners know the power of running like author Phil Hewitt.  After suffering a brutal beating and stabbing by a mugger who wanted his camera, he found solace and recovery from the trauma through running.

In Outrunning the Demons: Lives Transformed Through Running, Hewitt tells his own story, but he also gathers stories from dozens of runners around the world for whom running has been essential to their own lives.  Through his profiles of the runners, interspersed with the interviewees' own words, Hewitt writes about runners overcoming PTSD from war and from other traumatic experiences, running to overcome addiction, running to bounce back from loss and tragedy, running to deal with disabilities, and running to feel whole again.

Many runners can relate to sentiments like these:

• "Always he could come back, determined to quit.  And every time he did, he would put on his running shoes."
• "When [her] world fell apart, she turned to running."
• "Running helped me find the mental strength to carry on."
• "Running is pure and beautifully simple.  You carry with you only what you need, then put one foot in front of the other until you get where you need to be."
• "It was running she turned to in her moment of need, and it has been running that has maintained her ever since."
• "Running gave me the confidence that I so desperately lacked."

I would guess most people start running to get in shape, stay in shape, keep the weight off, or maybe as a competitive outlet.  Runners are also aware of the psychological effects, as Hewitt points out, of "feel-good endorphins, natural cannabis-like brain chemicals . . . that can enhance your sense of well being" and dopamine, which "can provide a natural high."  For many runners, running is a social outlet.  But no matter why people get into or stick with running, these stories remind us of the deeper, more profound potential that running holds for healing.  As Hewitt writes, "Running sets our spirits soaring.  No wonder we feel better when we run."


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

The Bible of Unspeakable Truths, by Greg Gutfeld

I really enjoy Greg Gutfeld on Fox News Channel's "The Five."  He's hilarious, irreverent, and is a conservative who's not afraid to ruffle feathers by straying from conservative talking points.  In his book The Bible of Unspeakable Truths, he offers some of his characteristic political commentary, but mostly it's full of his characteristic non-political social commentary and general goofiness.

The goofiness, unfortunately, sets the tone of the book.  Maybe, since these pieces were originally short, stand-alone magazine pieces or magazine marginalia, that goofiness was more palatable in small doses.  But in concentrated form in the book, it gets old.  Examples: "Back when I was a teenager/transgendered tennis pro in the 1980s. . . ."  "So there I was, lounging in my shorty robe made of sliced meats . . ."  "I spend my time doing what all good journalists do: trying to find my pants."

Amid this sprinkling of silly non sequiturs, Gutfeld has a solid take on the topics he covers, even if he communicates his take in a snarky, dismissive style.  Of course, that's what he's known for.  Oh, and I haven't mentioned that this is definitely not a book for kids.  He jokes a lot about drinking, sex, cannibalism, and other off-color topics  Gutfeld's fans will enjoy the book.  Readers looking for a bit more substance will be disappointed.  Nevertheless, all readers will get a good laugh.

Constitutional Rights and Constitutional Design, by Paul Yowell

Paul Yowell, an American legal scholar who teaches at Oriel College, Oxford, has some proposals for altering the judicial process in the US and other nations with a similar model of constitutional courts. In Constitutional Rights and Constitutional Design, he proposes that American-style court systems would benefit from moving toward a Kelsenian model.

Named for Austrian jurist Hans Kelsen, the Kelsenian model dominates many European courts. In contrast to the American system of appellate courts, the Kelsenian model allows for more political and legislative authority, aside from its legal authority.

Yowell argues for a broader scope of the American court’s bases for its rulings.  Whereas every Supreme Court justice is a graduate of one of two elite US law schools, he argues that the court would benefit from a legislative council which can inform the court on non-legal technical matters. The fact that courts have relied increasingly on extralegal source materials, including popular publications and the free, collaboratively written Wikipedia, as well as more academic and social science resources, points to the need for expert consultants from a variety of fields.

By their nature, legislatures tend to consist of men women from a variety of professions. Many, of course, are lawyers, but many are businessmen, doctors, civic leaders, investment professionals, even bartenders.  Their varied backgrounds combined make for a body that has greater expertise than the courts in shaping legislation. Many court decisions hinge on technical legal interpretation, but more and more rulings rely on the aforementioned non-legal sources.

The American appellate court structure has, in a sense, elevated the courts above the legislature.  The American process is designed to mete out justice and to protect the rights of minorities, but as Yowell points out, court rulings have at times done the opposite, requiring corrective action by the legislature.  Ultimately, "judicial review of legislation can work injustice to individuals no less than abuse of power by legislatures."

Yowell's analysis is challenging and thorough, engaging case law and specific examples of rulings, as well as legal scholars and ethicists to bolster his case.  American jurists take note: Yowell's ideas are worth considering.

Love Does, by Bob Goff

In Bob Goff's book Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World, he tells story after story about his adventures in loving people, loving life, and following God.  It's part memoir, part inspirational, and part just-a-good-time.  He has lived his life with abandon, whimsy, and faith, and seeks to pass some of that along to his readers.

Goff is one of those guys who doesn't use the words "No" or "I can't" very often.  If he did, he wouldn't have travelled to Africa to free children from prison, or taken his kids to eat ice cream with heads of state.  He tells funny stories and inevitably brings it around to a solid life lesson.  As a Christian, he has found unique and effective ways to serve God around the world.  It's fun to read his stories and be challenged by Goff's willingness to take chances in following God.

My delight was tempered, however, by the fact that as he tries to model whimsical living and obedience, he doesn't seem to grasp how unrealistic his modeling is for most people.  Your little girl wants to have high tea?  Take her on a trip to London!  Your kids write to world leaders and get invitations to come for a visit?  Travel across Europe!  Taking trips with your friends on your motorcycle and sidecar, or inviting your dying friend's family to vacation at your family's lodge in Canada, or sailing with your son in his new boat to park it on the dock in your backyard, I mean, who wouldn't want to do these things?  Apparently his wallet is thicker than mine (and I suspect most of his readers).

Nevertheless, Goff seems like a great guy and he tells good stories.  Should I have more whimsy in my life?  Should I be ready to follow God into crazy adventures?  Yes and yes.  Too bad the realities of life and finances so often prevent me from doing things I dream about.

The Baggage Handler, by David Rawlings

Three weary travelers, each having flown to the same city for important life events, get their luggage switched at the airport.  That's the start of David Rawlings's The Baggage Handler, a novel with a message.  Once the travelers realize they have the wrong bags, their trip--and maybe major life opportunities--seem to be dashed.  The young man trying out for a track scholarship doesn't have his spikes.  The business man trying to justify his branch's continued operation doesn't have his presentation.  The mom who is jealous of her sister's perfect life doesn't have the clothes she needs for the big wedding weekend.

As each calls the airline to arrange to recover their luggage, they are directed to an unmarked warehouse in a seemingly deserted area of town.  There they each meet a baggage handler whom they had seen at the airport.  Soon he reveals the real reason for their being there.  He's the baggage handler, here to help them deal with the baggage in their lives.  No, not their luggage, although he helps with that, too, but their baggage, the things that prevent them from being who they were made to be.

The Baggage Handler reads as you might expect from a story that's really not about telling a story, but about teaching a lesson.  It's a valuable lesson that we probably all need to hear.  Perhaps you have baggage holding you back, whether it's comparing yourself to others, trying to live up to your parents' expectations, harboring unforgiveness, or being overly critical of yourself.  Maybe you have some baggage you need to hand over to the baggage handler.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!