I hope you saw (on YouTube) or heard (on Apple or Spotify) our latest “Three Books from Hearts & Minds.” (I usuallly post the links every other week at our Hearts & Minds facebook page, too.) It’s almost like a live audio BookNotes, three books described in about a half an hour. This past one was three books — of the over 60 that we have — about C.S. Lewis. You’ll get a kick out of watching or listening to that. The next one  (coming out soon — see our store’s Facebook page) will be three books about reading and learning; I’m fond of it and hope you enjoy it.  The next will be books by or about Wendell Berry although we haven’t recorded that one yet. We have (I think) every book of his that is in print right here in Dallastown and he’s got that forthcoming novel coming. I hope you enjoy me chatting about books.

Before we get rolling this time, I want to tip my hat to the good folks who got three very special books to us a bit before their release date, books that we have already announced and are now here. We’ve got (and have sent out the pre-orders for) World of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading by Jeff Crosby (Paraclete Press; $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19) and The Soulwork of Justice: Four Movements for Contemplative Action by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson (Orbis Books; $26.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80) and Rebecca Sue: A Sister’s Reflections on Disability,Faith, and Love by Kathleen Norris (IVP; $25.99 // 20.79.) All three are excellent reads, each highly recommended.

We have a free live-stream program set with Jeff Crosby to discuss the reading life and his lovely new book on October 20th and hope to have virtual gigs lined up for Wes Granberg-Michaelson and Kathleen Norris before long as well. Great, right? Stay tuned for more details.

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This has been a hefty couple of weeks for all sorts of new titles and a few forthcoming ones are already here in the shop. So this week’s BookNotes was, when I envisioned it weeks ago, going to be called something like “My Most Anticipated Books of the Early Fall.” Each of these are actually in stock, here and now. As always, if you order from us (just click the order link at the bottom of this column), they are all 20% off. Thanks for your support. We appreciate you, dear reader.

Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership,The Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit Brené Brown (Random House) $32.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

Speaking of books that are highly anticipated, this, I suppose, will be one of the biggest selling books nationwide this fall. I don’t know if most faith-based bookstores carry “secular” stuff but we’re happy to feature this, glad for her brave reminders about vulnerability and “daring leadership.” Lots of our customers have appreciated her other work and we’re excited about this brand new one. It is about being, as she puts it, grounded.

Brown starts off with a slightly humorous story of an injury she faced (playing pickle-ball.) And off she goes, a fine writer, a great storyteller, a contemporary social scientist offering insight about, in this case, paradox. I only read a few pages so far, and a quick glance shows several chapters featuring the work of various leaders in this field (Adam Grant, for instance) and a beautiful poem by David Whyte.  It is going to be much-discussed, I’m sure. A handsomely made, solid hardback, over 430 pages.

Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters Carmen Joy Imes (IVP) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

Beth and I are so appreciative of how Carmen mentioned us in her weekly videos this summer listing books that are “must-reads” in various Biblical topics. Her love of learning and her pastoral care for the people of God by offering good resources on Biblical study is infectious. Hooray for that.

I have commented on this before so I’ll make this brief: it is one of the best books I know of to show how the theme of the peoplehood of God is an essential part of the entire Biblical narrative. The “church” didn’t just show up in the book of Acts, but the community of God is formed and forged within the unfolding drama of the Scriptural story. This is written like her lively and informative Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters (with a forward by Christopher Wright) and Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters (with a forward by J. Richard Middleton) so you know Becoming God’s Family (with a great forward by Esau McCauley) is going to be a great read, a great book to use for an adult class or home Bible study group. Don’t miss it — now more than ever there needs to be robust teaching about and consideration of what the local church even is. This book gets it really right!

The Gospel After Christendom: An Introduction to Cultural Apologetics edited by Collin Hansen, Skyler Flowers, and Ivan Mesa (Zondervan Reflective) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

I don’t know if you’ve been anticipating this one but some sure have. It is, I believe, the first book written with some connection to the recently formed Timothy Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics (and it is sincerely dedicated to him.) Cultural apologetic, which they explain in the first chapter, illustrates a shift among many to think about defending the faith (apologetics) in a way that is more culturally savvy, aware of the ways in which cultural stories and symbols and habits are formed by presuppositions and convictions and how our own faith is often formed by “the air we breath.” It uses beauty and imagination alongside argument and reason, to present a compelling and inviting vision of the good life.

More than a dozen contributors offer what look to be fascinating and I’m sure helpful chapters. In The Gospel After Christendom you’ve got Rebecca McLaughlin and Alan Noble and Trevin Wax and Rachel Gibson. I like that Gaven Ortlund is here and the brilliant Daniel Strange.  If you follow the Gospel Coalition at all you might know some of these contributors and if you don’t, this collection looks like a fine introduction of one side of evangelical faith that doesn’t get enough publicity. These are good folks seeking the peace of the city, working in balanced and wise ways to offer a critique of secularization not to win some culture war but to show in winsome ways why the gospel message embodied in the local church is a signpost to what folks really are looking for.

From Kuyperian scholar James Eglinton on why we need front porches to Sam Chan looking at the “cultural texts of everyday life” to our friend Alan Noble on the posture of “neither accommodating nor condemning”, this is going to be fascinating and beneficial. I’m eager to read the missiological vision behind all this (especially in Daniel Strange’s “Subversively Fulfilling the Social Imagination.” Joshua Chatraw — whose books on this are themselves indefensible for this conversation — even suggests this is a “framework for retrieval.” This has Hearts & Minds reader names all over it, I bet. We have it now!

Twelve Churches: An Unlikely History of the Buildings That Made Christianity Fergus Butler-Gallie (Avid Reader Press) $30.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

Hey, you heard it here first. This book just may be the sleeper of the fall, one that isn’t much anticipated or known but that once some reviews start appearing may become a much-loved, often recommended title. It’s a big, thick, history book, and the format is nothing short of genius. The subtitle says it all.

To cut to the chase, here are the chapter titles and the names of the church buildings Butler-Gallie tells us about, twelve places that are emblematic of much we need to know about church history and the life of God’s people all over the Earth. Wow. (Fergus Butler-Gallie, by the way, is an author, journalist, and an ordained Anglican priest who was educated at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and has served in London and Liverpool.) Naming them is fascinating enough, right? And all that he teaches about not just the architecture but the social and theological history of these places is going to be amazing.

1. Birth & Death – The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, West Bank of Palestine
2. Beauty – St. Peter’s, Rome, Italy
3. Power – Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey
4. Violence – Canterbury Cathedral ,England
5. Sex – Mount Athos, Greece
6. Nation – Bete Golgotha, Lalibela, Ethiopia
7. Expansion – Templo de las Américas, Dominican Republic
8. Faith – Kirishitan Hokora, Kasuga, Japan
9. Purity – Site of the First Meeting House, Salem, Massachusetts
10. Profit – Christ Church, Zanzibar,Tanzania
11. Justice – 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama
12.  Hope – Canaanland, Ota, Nigeria

Slow Theology: Eight Practices for Resilient Faith in a Turbulent World A. J. Swoboda & Nijay K. Gupta (Brazos Press) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I came to realize a while ago that this isn’t exactly theology, as such, or at least not academic systematic theology. It is a book for all of us by two great, thoughtful theology guys.  It is a guide to nurturing habits and practices that yield to deeper, more thoughtful and sustainable faith. It is, on one hand, about how to hear God in a fast-paced world.

It’s not just that I like slower, less efficient things these days, it’s that I like poking a bit at the idol of efficiency and reductionistic, transactional encounters. Who doesn’t want more humane relationships, more care, more enchantment, more charm? From Richard Foster’s old critique of superficiality to John Mark Comer’s The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry to Ellul’s big picture analysis of the technological society, we need to reduce some of the speedy stuff that is stealing our quality of life before the Lord. It’s why I loved — years ago (and brought in one of the authors to speak to us here about it )— the great book, Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus by C. Christopher Smith & John Pattison. From recent fascinations with sabbath-keeping and the yearning for better rest, I am sure this is part of the reason why we need a book like this. It is responding, too, in a way, to the old J. I. Packer line exhorting us to live more slowly so we have time “to be able to think deeply about God.”

So, again, this isn’t a standard book of theological topics; not even a gentle, restful, play, one. Rather it looks at eight everyday practices for slowing down that can help”fortify our faith and discern God’s voice.” It really is, as political theologian Kaitlyn Schiess says, “a breath of fresh air.” It is not just fresh, it is calm and, I’d say, beautiful.

Here are the chapters:

1. Take Your Time: Learn to Linger with God
2.  Embrace the Theological Journey: Take the Long View of Faith
3. Think Slowly: Applying Sabbath to Our Theology
4.  Ponder the Mysteries: Answers Aren’t Always the Answer
5. Go to the Problems: Challenge Yourself to Not Run from the Difficulties
6.  Let Pain Be the Altar: Talking to God Through Our Difficulties
7.  Believe Together: One Faith, One Body, and Communal Theology
8. Don’t Ever Give Up: Those Who Make It to the End Will Win

A Teachable Spirit: The Virtue of Learning from Strangers, Enemies, and Absolutely Anyone A. J. Swoboda (Zondervan) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

I love this book! Love it.

On the “virtue of learning.” Yes!

The new Swoboda book is a fresh take on a topic where we used to have a good handful of standards, namely, the development of the Christian mind. We have a whole shelf on thinking well as Christians. Yes, this book is about being learners, about the obligation for disciples of Jesus to be life-long students, apprentices, always growing. Curiously, though, it offers more than the call to have “the mind of Christ” and “think Christianly” but shows — through sparkling stories and great prose — ways to do just that. This is why we need to be curious and teachable, and, then, in a way I’ve not seen before, he lays out a variety of ways to learn, or venues for learning.

He says we can learn from experts, from strangers, from the dead, from enemies, from parents, from children, from secular culture (and has a chapter on each.)  I discussed my appreciation of this in our last podcast. It’s a real winner. Carmen Imes says that “our collective future depends on it.” A Teachable Spirit really is a fantastic book, enjoyable and solid. I highly recommend it. (And yes, the same dude has two new books out this month. Wow.)

Ask of Old Paths: Medieval Virtues and Vices for a Whole and Holy Life Grace Hamman (Zondervan) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

We’ve been waiting for this author (an independent scholar and writer living in Denver) to do another book on medieval studies since we loved her last one. We raved here at BookNotes about her 2023 release, Through Medieval Eyes: Beholding Christ with the Artists, Mystics, and Theologians of the Middle Ages. If you liked this — and many did! — you’ll like this one, no doubt.

It is, maybe, a bit more heavy, just a little more demanding since there isn’t as much art and captivating stuff about Jesus. But, don’t worry — it is so well written and so engaging that readers will be captivated. Our own views of the human person, of self-fulfillment, of virtue and vice have changed much over the centuries and yet maybe those people of faith in the so-called ‘dark ages’ might have much to offer us. Jessica Hooten Wilson wrote the enchanting forward and five of my favorite contemporary writers rave on the back.

Brian Zahnd calls it a “wonderfully written gem of a book” and Kaitlyn Schiess notes how robust is her theology of a whole and holy life. Rev. Claude Atcho — I quoted from his Reading Black Books in a presentation I did today — says (among other things) that readers will be “relieved.” (Fascinating!) Sarah Clarkson says Ask of Old Paths “grips the imagination and stares the heart.”  No bad, eh? Wilt thou be made whole?

Bad Indians Book Club: Reading at the Edge of a Thousand Worlds Patty Krawec (Broadleaf Books) $27.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

This is a book you might think is right up our alley, as they say, in our wheelhouse. We are interested in reading widely, we love books about books and the reading life, and we are sure that many of our (mostly) white audience is interested in expanding the sorts of voices they follow, the books they read, both in terms of topic and genre, and in terms of the social location, gender and race of the authors. We need diverse books.

Well this is that and more. It’s a tad academic with an astute, maybe even abstract tone, at times, with scholarly lingo and references to lots of Native authors and literary critics, activists and anti-colonialist philosophers. Deep as it was, it was a rich and valuable learning experience for me, following this remarkable project of hosting a book club and then a podcast by indigenous writers. (You learn about the important painting which is shown on the book cover.)  Indeed, there is much here to ponder and enjoy as Krawec guides us through a variety of essays and articles and insights by people of color and other writers, rooted in stories and episodes from her experiences. He telling of a unfulfilling visit to a interactive museum near where the Pilgrim’s landed is honest and wise.

As theoretical physics and author of The Disordered Cosmos, Dr. Chandra Prescod-Weinstein wrote of it, “thinking deeply alongside other books, Bad Indians Book Club is a needed guide at a moment when books are under attack.”  Indeed, there is much here to ponder and enjoy as Krawec guides us through a variety of essays and articles and insights by people of color and other writers, rooted in stories and episodes from her experiences. Her telling of an unfulfilling visit to an interactive museum near where the Pilgrims landed is sharply candid.

Or, as Kaitlin Curtice notes, it is “full of good medicine.”

I hope you know Kaitlin; we’ve reviewed her Native and Living Resistance and her forthcoming one, Everything Is a Story looks great. She continues, “Please buy this book, and celebrate the power of story in a weary yet flourishing world.” I was going to send it to a friend of mine, a white guy, who travelled to the uprising at Standing Rock (in Sioux territory in North Dakota) a few years ago but he passed away the other day before I got the package mailed. Maybe you know somebody who cares about indigenous cultures and the power of reading.

Awake: A Memoir Jen Hatmaker (Avid Reader Press) $30.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $24.00

You know I love memoirs. I have made a case often why they are not only often as enjoyable and captivating as good fiction but are able to build empathy and care for others seeing how they tell the story of their lives, such as they are. In this case, Hatmaker was (in case you don’t know) a major Southern Baptist hot item, an author, speaker, podcaster, etc. An influencer, we might say today. Cute and just a little sassy; I didn’t really care, much, although I really appreciated an amazing little book she did telling about seven areas of life we can simplify, spending less on ourselves, freeing up money for the poor and global missions. What? Was this upbeat evangelical reading Ron Sider? Good for her.

As her fame increased so did the tensions in her marriage. Her hubby was a cool church planting dude and she woke up one night to find him texting his secret lover. Her life became undone as you would expect, especially as the theology bros and other hotshots presumed the break-up was her fault. She was shifting to a more inclusive and justice-seeking posture and they blamed her. Obviously it threw her into a tailspin. I think it is unfair to say their attacks didn’t drive her fro church (and it certainly didn’t drive her from Jesus) but I’m eager to read this story to see how all of that influenced where she sees herself now.

I’ve read two substantive interviews with her in two major mainstream journals and she is articulate, strong, still hurting but coping, and disinterested in returning to her previous religious rock star status. She feels called to be a writer and this is (as it says on the back) “for women who are asking themselves how they got here, and if there i any where to go. Awake is a reminder that there is always a next chapter. And you can write it yourself.”

I don’t recommend it here for whatever theology she now has or doesn’t have, and, with any memoir, we’re not necessarily looking to the author for guidance. Just her story. Her writing, what insight she gleaned as she artfully pieced together her life.

It has been called “explosive” and it has been called “an act of reclamation, a powerful howl of honesty.” Kate Bowler calls it “a gorgeous, raw, and deeply convincing memoir.”  This is a big release, on a mainstream, general-market press, which is to say most Christian bookstores most likely won’t be carrying it. We’ve got it at 20% off for those who appreciate memoir.

The Father You Get And the Ones You Make, Believe in, and Become Patton Dodd (Broadleaf) $26.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

This is a page-turner, a heart-break, and a real inspiration, all at once. Dodd is a clever, good writer, and while this is a memoir about his alcoholic and distant father, it is also about father figures (“father-figuring” is a verb he uses) and guy friendships. His hunger to be heard, his desire for a dad lead him to almost compulsive father-figuring and his telling of those episodes are poignant and sometimes funny. And of course (as the title hints) this all shapes his own fathering.

As a dad who had a good dad (but wasn’t nearly as good of a dad as he was, I am afraid) this book meant a lot to me. I think every guy should read it. Thank you, Patton Dodd.

In fact, nearly every woman should, too. This slow burn of a good story about “the long shadow of a painful past” (as Ian Morgan Cron puts it) is for anyone who has struggled with self doubt, with religious complexity and doubt, with self-awareness and relationships. It is, as Jonathan Merritt writes, “A brave book and a riveting exploration of the nature of the relationships between parent and child…”

Nancy French is right when she says “it will stay with you long after you turn the page.”

I reviewed years ago Dodd’s first memoir, My Faith So Far (and I liked his interesting take on prayer in a book called The Prayer Wheel.) As a reader I care about this guy. I like him (and his sassy, wise wife and smart kids and wait til you get to a chapter mostly about his praying mother.) As you’ll learn fairly early in The Father You Get he was, for a long while, a ghost-writer and editor and helper for a world-renowned evangelical superstar (who ended up disgraced; yes, Dodd has father-figured him, and that megachurch pastor’s reply to Dodd’s letter upon his own resignation almost moved me to tears.) It’s a story worth reading, a book that works its writerly magic.

Anyway, Dodd now has a PhD in religion and literature from Boston University. He works for Know Your Name, a program that uses storytelling to build bridges across San Antonio’s economic divides (funded, by the way, by Howard Butt Foundation, who also runs the legendary Laity Lodge.) He is doing good work and seems mostly happy. But he has some stories, haunted as he is, and this memoir is a testimony of the struggle, to tell his story and (as another author put it) “treat his past with kindness.” It is a fabulous read.

Full of Myself: Black Womanhood and the Journey to Self-Possession Austin Channing Brown (Convergent) $27.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $21.60

Speaking of powerful, well-written, cleverly-told stories that are both page-turning and passionate and informative, Full of Myself is not only one that we anticipated (for months!) but is one we are sure will generate lots of generative conversations. Or it should! This is a sequel of sorts, the follow up on the memoirist essays I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by the great author, Austin Channing Brown.

One does not have to read I’m Still Here first, although it wouldn’t hurt. When Full of Myself begins we learn that she has been fired from her work as a DEI leader in a large (mostly white) megachurch. How she was hired to talk about race but was consistently monitored and rebuked by white leadership was painful and she tells it all fiercely. She soon loses a consulting job when some fancy leaders wanted her to please the client (a business with a largely Hispanic or Latino workforce and all white management) but doing things in a way that appeased the white professionals while disregarding the needs of the workers. Anyway, she’s mad about some stuff, and reader’s will be engaged, maybe mad right along with her.

She finds a job in student affairs at a Christian college that was eager to have her speak freely, to make major contributions. She had had it, placating others, denying her own instincts and voice, and committed to telling it like she saw it, fearlessly, even. She was delighted when this conservative, very white, college freed her to do her work in the way she thought best. Whew — good.

The stories continue, the plot unfolds. Jobs, marriage, illness, betrayals. She learns to love herself and this is the theme of the book — the mod font and purple cover is fun, but I don’t think it captures the gravity of her tales of hard-won self-awareness: her becoming “full of herself” is a virtue, not a joke.

The reading is enjoyable, though, and punchy stories are in chapters like “I love myself when I am connected” and “I love myself when I am embodied” and “I love myself when I am laughing.”  She celebrates her own awkwardness, her paid, her needs, and the sense of being erased, to often. These are important chapters designed for Black women — it is dedicated to “every Black Woman holding herself together with both hands” — but I am sure white folks will learn a lot. A lot. Don’t miss it.

Serving God Under Siege: How War Transformed a Ukrainian Community Valentyn Syniy (Eerdmans) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

This just arrived and when I say it is one of the most anticipated books of the fall, I guess I should qualify that. My fear is that few know about it, and it is an under-the-radar sort of book translated from the original Ukrainian. Pastor Syniy is a Baptist with several advanced degrees (including a Master’s in history and a PhD in theology) who also is President a Protestant seminary in the southern part of Ukraine. The original edition was entitled The Man Whose Home Was Stolen: The Fight for Freedom but Syniy readily agreed that the translated edition should have a different title. The endorsements are from some who know him and others who esteem him from afar, all who rave about the importance of this humble work — Craig Keener from Asbury, Michael Bird from Ridley College in Australia, Paul Copan from Palm Beach Atlantic. Elijah Brown of the Baptist World Alliance says it is “filled with harrowing stories and an even more powerful God.”

Personal war stories are often gripping, for obvious reasons. That he tells of how the Russian bombings effect the entire community of the Tavriski Christian Institute is illuminating, a picture one doesn’t usually get in the standard secular news reports.  Paul Copan (whose father is Ukrainian, so he has relatives in the war-torn land) noted that exhibits “courageous Christian leadership and Spirit-filled community in the face of loss, anger, confusion and moral struggle.”

One reviewer noted that it was “fast-paced, gripping, and hard to put down.” (Indeed, one guy said he couldn’t remember the last time he read a book straight through in one sitting!) Synod’s  displacement was devastating, but his faith endured, calling us all to, in Christ, point towards hope.

A Pilgrimage Into Letting Go: Helping Parents and Pastors Embrace the Uncontrollable Andrew Root and Kara Root (Brazos Press) $21.99  // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

I started my advanced copy of this and continued late into the night for three reasons, I realized. First, I really wanted to know what these two leaders I admire had to say — Andrew Root for his sheer brilliance in thinking theologically about culture and church and his wife, Presbyterian pastor Kara Root who is not as prolific in book publishing but a real wordsmith with her fabulous church-based memoir, The Deepest Belonging: A Story About Discovering Where God Meets Us and the meaty, devotional followup Receiving This Life: Practicing the Deepest Belonging.) Together I knew they’d be a powerful writing team.

Secondly, the book is about parenting. My kids are grown and while Beth and I read a lot during the years our kids were in the house, and there are lots of good faith-infused parenting books these days, I was very hungry for this allusive, creative, grace-filled, theologically-substantive parenting book. I was eager to see if their sociological insights would translate to real parenting advice.

Thirdly, I was anticipating this, with many others, I am sure. Because it is a memoir. It is a quest story, centered around a family adventure and relational spirituality nurtured on a less than perfect hike through a famous pilgrimage trail starting in England and crossing into Scotland, the sixty-three mile way of St. Cuthbert.

I have never traveled to Europe, and while our couple of family vacations were memorable — camping, mostly, visiting a few national parks — I couldn’t imagine going on a family pilgrimage. It makes for a good story, even if it isn’t quite Clark Griswold with Ellen and Rusty.

The opening essay is brilliant and ideal for fans of Andrew’s previous work; he explains they are using the philosophy of Hartmut Rosa as their main conversation partner on this journey. When the Root’s have anxiety about their ministry, calling, and parenting they read Rosa’s The Uncontrollability of the World and ponder his notions of acceleration and alienation. True to fashion for the philosopher Rosa and at least Andrew Root’s work, he shows, in this opening chapter, why “slowing down” won’t really help.

There are exercises to help ponder and experience a deeper sort of resonance with all of this. This is a memoir, a hiking journal, a parenting guidebook, and a guide to trusting God for philosopher nerds and other deep thinkers. What a book!. John Swinton, a theologian at the University of Aberdeen, who has written deeply about mental health issues, calls it a “gift.”

In the Low: Honest Prayers for Dark Seasons Justin McRoberts & Scott Erickson (Baker Books) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

This handsome hardback is a delight to look at, provocative, inspiring, and — for those who have followed this dynamic duo — not unlike their other prose + visual arts approach shown so vividly in Prayer: Forty Days of Practice and May It Be So: Forty Days with the Lords Prayer.

This new one is very much like that, but with a bit more writing — that is, not just allusive prayers and sayings, but some longer reflections — and there is color in the art. The black and white [and blue] graphic art pieces are in the Erickson style; edgy cool poster art with grit and humor and hip, odd illustrations would stand alone as an amazing bit of contemporary graphic art. Justin’s fine ruminations would stand on their own as honest, raw, deeply prayerful prose. Together they are hilarious, poignant, provocative, dare I say dynamite.

Not only is this even better than the previous two (both of which we raved about at BookNotes as unique and cool and helpful) with heavier stock paper and color and content, it has a somewhat provocative theme: “in the low” is to be down, sad, lamenting, maybe, depressed. And here’s what they say about that: “We spend time in the Low because we’re human, not because we’re broken.”

“We spend time in the Low because we’re human, not because we’re broken.”

Yep, In the Low is a collection of thoughtful words and illustrations for times of depression. “It is a book “designed to meet you where you are and sit with you there the way God does: intentionally and without judgement.”

I really appreciate this a lot, the poems and prayers and images, and trust their unique take on sitting with God in the midst of our challenging seasons. Some folks may find it a bit too allusive or obtuse — and a couple of the drawings are artfully weird — and others will go wild and buy a bunch to give away.  As hospital chaplain and author J.S. Park writes, “Any and every page of this work is a lifeline for the depth of depression and a direct line to the divine.” I like that K.J. Ramsey created a line that I myself have used about the other two — “it’s not your mothers prayer book.” Ho!

Listen to the artful rock artists, David Gungor:

This book is not a cure, nor a map to a brighter shore, but a quiet companion for the journey. In a world heavy with worry and shadowed by the ache of futility, it speaks not to fix but to witness.”

The Justice of Jesus: Reimagining Your Church’s Life Together to Purse Liberation and Wholeness Joash P. Thomas (Brazos Press) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

I was hoping to list this as one of the most anticipated books this fall, but, I will be honest: I’ve got a hundred books on the Biblical basis for social justice. (I did a BookNotes post a month ago listing a bunch and despite a few crackpots who called me rude names, it was well received.)  So was I itching to read another?

And then I started reading the early endorsements from acquaintances — Shane Claiborne, of course, Kristin Du Mez who talked about how very beautiful it was. That he is theologically conservative (with a degree from Dallas, no less) and grew up in a family which was from India, makes me want to listen. We need voices from the global South.

And he ran a political consultancy biz and lobbied the government around human rights issues. Wow.

And then this caught my eye: Sarah Bessey said “Joash’s deep love for the church shines from every page.”

The Justice of Jesus, as Biblically rooted and clearly devout as it is, still may be, as one reviewer suggested, “pastorally disruptive.” Maybe it could change how you prioritize justice work in your church, in our pulpits and budgets. It seems to be full of stories, and is said to be both passionate and practical, providing “practical steps for pursuing liberation and wholeness” in the context of renewed congregations. Wow, I couldn’t wait for it, and we are glad that it is now here. Hooray.

TWO GREAT YA NOVELS THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT (no matter your age)

The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story Daniel Nayeri (Levine Querido) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

You know the great author Daniel Nayeri, best known for (among many others) Everything Sad Is Untrue (A True Story), a tremendously well-rendered, creative YA novel that as many adults have read as youth. His 2023 The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams (which has the great silver Newbery Award on it, now) is out in paperback. This new one is set in his home-country of Iran, a historical fiction story of a unique sort of heroism in World War II. Beth opened it and started reading the minute she spied it, and if you appreciate Nayeri as we do, you will, too.

Here is what the publisher says:

1941. The German armies are storming across Europe. Iran is a neutral country occupied by British forces on one side, Soviet forces on another. Soldiers fill the teahouses of Isfahan. Nazi spies roam the alleyways. Babak and his little sister have just lost their father. Now orphans, fearing they will be separated, the two devise a plan. Babak will take up his father’s old job as a teacher to the nomads. With a chalkboard strapped to Babak’s back, and a satchel full of textbooks, the siblings set off to find the nomad tribes as they make their yearly trek across the mountains. On the treacherous journey they meet a Jewish boy, hiding from a Nazi spy. And suddenly, they are all in a race for survival. Against the backdrop of World War II comes an epic adventure in the faraway places. Through the cacophony of soldiers, tanks, and planes, can young hearts of different creeds and nations learn to find a common language? Master storyteller Daniel Nayeri keeps you on the edge of your seat, uncertain to the very end.

A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez María Dolores Águila (Roaring Brook Press) $17.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

I’ll admit this wasn’t on our most early anticipated list this season until a customer asked if we could order it for him. Kudos to Paul, which just goes to show that we really are a community learners, here — I can’t tell you how many times we learn of a novel or a commentary or a kids book (or a cookbook or a Bible study) from an enthralled friend and customer. But soon as our pal described it, I knew it was one we’d want to celebrate.

In this lovely cover, in one of the lemons, you can see the phrase “When injustice grows, resistance blooms.” Thanks be to God.

William Alexander, the National Book Award-winning author of Goblin Secrets, notes that thesis “a beautiful and essential lesson in courage.” It has been called poignant and heartfelt.

The story is historical fiction based on a real “Lemon Grove” episode in San Diego, 1931. It is written in verse and explores the story of twelve year old Roberto and how the School Board (field by anti-immigration hostility and anti-Mexican propaganda) was eventually sued for equal justice for Mexican immigrant kids (some facing threats of deportation.) This is a story of courage, of grace, of legal battle in the courts. Many of us know the story of racial integration for Blacks in the 1950s and 1960s but few know about this remarkable lawsuit.

It has been called a story of determination, a heart-wringing novel, a story “full of heartache and hope.”

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