I love to read. By God’s grace I am a pretty fast reader; I usually read a couple books each week. I find it helpful to summarize my thoughts on each book and I offer those thoughts in hopes that you will be encouraged to either read or pass over the given title.

Living by Revealed Truth: The Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon  by Tom Nettles. When this book arrived I was initially taken aback by its format. The size is something like 9 inches by 7.5 inches and the text is laid out in double-column. In other words, this is a textbook on Prince of Preachers. Don’t go into it thinking it will be a biography along this lines of Marsden’s Jonathan Edwards or Gordon’s Calvin, instead approach it more as a treasure trove of research on Spurgeon. Nettles isn’t interested in a flowing narrative, as he opts instead to insert Spurgeon’s pastoral theology at various points along the way. For example, after recounting Spurgeon’s baptism at Isleham Ferry the book proceeds to discuss his theology and practice of baptism before returning to Spurgeon’s burgeoning ministry. Some will think this method stilts the story, but I think it’s appropriate for what this book is trying to accomplish. All in all, this would be an incredible addition to any Spurgeon aficionado’s library.

A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers by DA Carson. Few books on prayer have influenced my life as much as this one, so I try to read it every year or so. Carson’s aim is to get ordinary Christians to know God in such a way that they become devoted to “spiritual, persistent, biblically minded prayer” (16). To do this the great Canadian exegetes eight different Pauline prayers to show what they tell us about God and how such knowledge should overflow into our prayer lives. The book displays Carson’s profound wisdom as he challenges and comforts in all the right places. I am not sure how someone can read it and not find their practice of prayer transformed according to Scripture. Tolle lege!

Heaven and Hell by John Jakes. This is the final installment of Jakes’ sweeping historical fiction trilogy on the Civil War. I found this volume to be the weakest in the trilogy, probably because the era of Reconstruction just can’t compete with the tension and gravity of the antebellum and Civil War years. Like the previous two volumes, this one simultaneously weaves multiple story lines together, but unlike the first two some of these story lines aren’t terribly compelling. I actually almost gave up on the book halfway through because it seemed like Jakes was going to make the postbellum period more devastating than the Civil War for the trilogy’s protagonists. Nevertheless, I persevered and am glad I did so. Jakes is especially strong in capturing the darker realities of our country’s dealings with Native Americans in the 1870s, as well as the terrible rise of the Ku Klux Klan. This was an entertaining and informative series.

Void Moon by Michael Connelly. Sooner or later I was bound to read a Connelly book I didn’t like and Void Moon was it. The narrative focuses on fresh-out-of-prison Cassie Black, who attempts one final heist so she can get out of Dodge. The plot line is promising, but it eventually gets mired in verbose descriptions and narrow perspectives. Make no mistake, the book is entertaining, just in a James Patterson kind of way. And Connelly is better than that.