Dec
18
2009
Russell Moore’s Top 10 Books of 2009
In introducing his top 10 list, Dr. Moore writes:
There are lots of biblical and theological and pastoral books I enjoyed this year, but I’m not including them here. That said, I can’t rule out that there’s not some powerful theological reflection in almost all of the works I list below. I’ve compiled just a list of books I enjoyed, for various reasons, none of them explicitly biblical or pastoral.
I’ve listed each book below. Click on “excerpt” to read the full blog post about the book.
And happy reading in 2010!
1. Wendell Berry, Leavings: Poems
[T]his one deserves to be number one on my list (even though it is technically copyrighted 2010). This collection of poems is reflective, a looking back on a life lived, and a reaffirmation of the things Mr. Berry has long been about: place, land, community, fidelity, mystery. . . . These poems are true, good, and beautiful. They seem to be written by a man who can’t help but be a covert Trinitarian, in spite of it all (or maybe because of it all).
2. Dan Baum, Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans
The book is “a multi-voiced biography” of nine ordinary (perhaps I should say “not famous” because there’s nothing “ordinary” about some of these lives) people living in New Orleans up to and right after Hurricane Katrina. . . . Even if you’ve never been to New Orleans, this book will make you think about what makes your city or village or town unique, and will call you to love it (and the human stories buzzing about within it) more.
3. Andrew J. Cherlin, Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today
Cherlin ties the divorce culture in marriage to the prioritization of “choice” in “spirituality” and religion. Before we learn to divorce our husbands or wives, we learn first to divorce our parents’ churches. He is right, and we have the revolving door congregations and marriage licenses to prove it, to our shame and, ultimately, to our judgment.
4. Frederick Barthelme, Waveland
This book, written by University of Southern Mississippi writer Frederick Barthelme, looks at the human catastrophes of broken marriages against the backdrop of the natural catastrophe of a ravaged coastline.
This novel explores the meanings of modern marriage, and the reasons they are suddenly left little more than rubble.
5. Jim Tomlinson, Nothing Like an Ocean: Stories (Kentucky Voices)
This book, written from the vantage point of Appalachian Kentucky (the author is from Berea), hits at the universal human condition in a series of stories. The cover of this collection is a bleak picture of some winter trees, leaves gone with nothing but the gray behind them. The stories inside are kind of like that picture. If Flannery O’Connor deals with the dark side of human existence, these stories tend to look at the bleak side, the sad, melancholy inside of so many around us, and where it comes from.
6. Terry Teachout, Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong
Even if you don’t like jazz (how could you not like jazz?), you’ll enjoy this new biography of one of the greatest of all time, Louis Armstrong. Too many Americans know Armstrong’s inimitable voice from “It’s a Wonderful World” but they don’t know his even more inimitable jazz sound as a pioneer in a distinctively American art form. Terry Teachout, drama critic of the Wall Street Journal, remedies this with a biography that’s been widely hailed by reviewers as one of the most honest and captivating life-stories of the year. I agree.
7. Gilbert Meilaender, Neither Beast Nor God: The Dignity of the Human Person
I am stunned by how often I hear evangelical Christians (including some very conservative ones) who have no idea how to think about bioethical issues beyond the question of abortion. . . . Gilbert Meilaender provided this year a superb resource for thoughtful people to consider questions of human dignity, and how to maintain it. He starts and ends with the most important question: “What is man?”
8. Brad Gooch, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor
Even if you’ve never read a line of Flannery O’Connor, you’ll enjoy this biography. And then you’ll want to read O’Connor. Pick up a copy, find a quiet hayloft to read it in, and, of course, always watch out for those travelling Bible salesmen.
9. Eugene D. Genovese, Miss Betsey: A Memoir of Marriage
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a better example in print of a man honoring his wife and, beyond that, honoring marriage itself. Historian Eugene Genovese writes here a kind of love letter to his recently departed wife, scholar Elizabeth Fox-Genovese. . . . [T]he way he walked with her through terminal illness, and the way he shows us her grace and beauty, without sentimentality or mawkishness, is why this book can help anyone who wants to see something of the glory of marriage as it can be.
10. John Updike, Endpoint and Other Poems
Updike was a genius at observing the ways of fallen humans. I’d recommend these poems perhaps especially to young pastors who haven’t yet seen what it looks like to see a man die. The rawness of these thoughts and emotions can help such a preacher see the gulf over which he stands, preaching the gospel of repentance, faith, and newness of life.