Category: Books & Reading

Reading Roundup: June 2025

~ Joseph McBee ~ Leave a comment

I finished 5 books in June for a total of 35 so far this year. That’s behind my goal, but I set a reading goal just to have a target. As long as I am reading and reading good books, I don’t worry about it.

I also made some good progress on my outrageous Summer Reading Goal by making it 340 pages into LONESOME DOVE. Between you and me, I had hoped to finish the thing by the end of the month, but, I fell short…by 518 pages!

I started Chernow’s massive biography (does he write anything else?) on Grant and I was immediately drawn in, but my progress is the proverbial drop in the bucket.

Here is a quick tour of what I did finish this month.

Let me begin by telling you how much and why I love Jeffrey Overstreet’s book, THROUGH A SCREEN DARKLY. You know how when you read a book you enjoy so much, you start slowing down as you get to the end because you don’t want the experience to be over? I’ve only ever done that with novels. Until this book. I seriously did not want Overstreet’s “cinematic memoir” to end. It is just too good.

Overstreet is a writer, film critic, and college professor and he writes with a love for God and for art that shows up on every page. I have always loved movies and I think about them deeply and, honestly, have often been made fun of by others for doing that. With this book, I felt seen. I felt less like an odd ball and more like there were others like me. There are people who take movies seriously as art and Overstreet is speaking to us as one of us.

At the same time, he is writing to anyone who enjoys movies. He writes from a Christian worldview, but I think anyone can learn to think about and enjoy films on a deeper level by reading this book. Oh, and my “To Be Viewed” list grew A LOT as I read. Excellent subject matter for my series on Films Christians Should Watch.

Wild Bill: The True Story of the American Frontier’s First Gunfighter by Tom Clavin is engaging and fun. Clavin is an excellent writer and he brings deep research and investigation to his writing in ways that build your fascination with the subject matter. I knew about Wild Bill, but I did not KNOW Wild Bill and now I feel like I do. Clavin portrays the gunslinger as a product of his times in many ways and sets straight many of the legends/myths that surround him. But that doesn’t make him any less exciting or less imposing as a fixture of the Old West. The truth is, in many ways, better than the fiction.

I struggled with The Practice of Piety. In fact, I almost set it aside multiple times, but it’s a thin enough volume that I thought I should power through it and I did. I don’t think the book itself is “bad” I just found it a bit tedious and heavy handed. I know what you’re thinking, “What do you expect from a Puritan writer?!” But I have often found books from Puritans to be filled with joy. Maybe I am not reading this at the right time in my life. I’m going to keep it on my shelf. I may visit it again someday.

If you are a leader in any capacity and in any context, or if you want to be, the The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier should be on your TBR pile. Preferably somewhere near the top. Stanier’s rule for writing is to make his books as short as possible while still being helpful and he delivers here. Every page is packed. Not a paragraph is wasted. Even if you’ve been coaching for years, you’ll get something, probably A LOT of things that will make you more effective. The members of your team will be grateful to you for reading and applying what you learn here.

I love Henri Nouwen’s books and Spiritual Formation is no exception. But this one does need to be read carefully. By that I mean, his Catholic theology is far more prevalent here than in some of his other writing, and there were points where he crossed into universalism. There are things in this book that can be received as is, some that can be redeemed, but there are also things I believe must be rejected. So, while I can recommend it, I recommend it with caution.

Currently Reading

Here are some books I am currently reading that will hopefully find their way into July 2025’s Reading Roundup.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. The fact that McMurtry can fascinate me for five pages about a wooden sign is astonishing. Readers of this book know what I am talking about here.

A Burning in My Bones by Winn Collier. This is the biography of Eugene Peterson. I am already fully engaged with this one.

The Healing Path by Dan Allender. Allender and Crabb are two of my favorite writers about the soul.

Ancient Wisdom for the Care of Souls by Coleman M. Ford and Shawn J. Whilhite. I am getting so much out of this book on classical pastoral ministry.

To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink. This one is for work. I must admit I am getting a little sick of business books. I try to read at least one a month so I can keep developing in my professional life, but I may put these aside for a while. Maybe until the end of the year.

Red Side Story by Jasper Fforde, who is one of my favorite writers. I will quite literally buy all of his books in hardcover and read them ASAP.

Grant by Ron Chernow. Wow. This thing is HUGE and already fascinating.

The Christian Faith by Michael Horton is my next systematic theology book. This one will be on my currently reading list for quite some time.

Going to Great Links: June 28, 2025

~ Joseph McBee ~ Leave a comment

Here are 7 links I want to share with you this week.

First, I have discovered this excellent pocket notebook from Bookaroo. It’s affordable and excellent. I carry it with everywhere I go.

I love books and reading and books and articles about books and reading so here is an article about reading that I enjoyed.

Here is a helpful and encouraging article about why you don’t need another prayer technique.

This article on a man dealing with terminal cancer as a Christian really got me thinking about my own life and trials and sufferings (MINOR in comparison). Do I honor God? Do I face them with faith in him?

Okay, does it really surprise anyone that AI is making us dumber already? Not me! That is why this blog is and always will be a no AI zone.

I am a proponent of the daily morning Quiet Time (I grew up SBC in the 80’s) so I appreciate this article making the case for morning devotions.

I had the opportunity and honor to preach at my home church last Sunday. You can watch the sermon here. It begins at the 22 minute mark, but the whole service is worth watching.

That’s your 7!

From the Commonplace Book: Reading as a Discipline

~ Joseph McBee ~ Leave a comment

“Reading takes time. You have to make it a non-negotiable part of the day.

This precious time must be guarded! Some thinkers, as they rise in prominence as a result of their interesting ideas, gradually devote less time to reading and more time to lucrative opportunities.

This is a mistake. They are neglecting one of the core habits that made them so interesting in the first place.

Similar to a gym routine, it must be built right into your schedule and must become an unthinking custom.”

– Rob Henderson

Going to Great Links: June 21, 2025

~ Joseph McBee ~ Leave a comment

Here are 7 links to things I liked this week.

I am preparing to lead a night of prayer and worship for the men at our church and I found this article about Three Gifts We Are Guaranteed in Prayer helpful.

I’ve been thinking a lot (as usual) about church and as i often say, “the church should be the church” and part of that is maintaining the “churchiness” of church, which is hard to define depending on your cultural background. But I was delighted to see that Churchiness is Back…apparently.

I wrote on my weekly feature “Films Christians Should Watch” about movie love, Perfect Days. As preparation for that post, I enjoyed this review from the Criterion Collection.

I look forward to receiving Ryan Holiday’s monthly reading list email and I recommend it to anyone interested in good book recommendations from a smart and deep reader. You can register for it here.

If you’d like to take a look at back issues, you can see a whole host of his recommendations on the website for his bookstore, The Painted Porch.

I like to use cacao in my morning coffee, it’s really good for you. My preferred brand is from Terrasoul Superfoods. They have a lot of other tasty stuff too.

This is my new writing instrument of choice and I love it. The Pilot Varsity, a disposable fountain pen.

That’s your 7!

Going to Great Links: June 14, 2025

~ Joseph McBee ~ Leave a comment

Here are 7 links to things I enjoyed this week.

I am BAD when it comes to reading the classics of literature, although I am trying to do better. I appreciated this summary of Italo Calvino’s 14 Criteria for What Makes a Classic a Classic.

Here is some wonderfully strange stuff from the David Lynch archives.

Speaking of archives, here is an interesting one: The National Diary Archive, which seeks to preserve “the diaries and letters of the common person.”

Speaking of diaries, here is some fun stuff from Monty Python member Michael Palin on keeping a diary, which he has done for MANY years and has published some that I have enjoyed dipping into.

Here is more stuff from Palin on keeping a diary from an older article in the Guardian, in which he gives practical tips and talks about how diary keeping enriches your life and brings it more into focus.

I enjoyed this little video from author A.J. Harley, Dalek Website Design for Authors.

Poet Malcolm Guite does these wonderful videos where we are a guest in his study and he reads to us from Tolkien while he smokes his pipe.

That’s your 7!

When it Comes to Reading, Time is NOT the Issue

~ Joseph McBee ~ Leave a comment

Time is not the issue. Priority is. – Tim Ferriss

People often ask me how I get so much reading done. The simple answer is that it’s because reading is a priority for me.

Honestly, I don’t read near as much as other people I know and know of. I just talk and write more about books and reading than others do because I love it and want to encourage and inspire others to read.

And I often feel like I could/should be reading more.

But when I am not reading as much as I want to, it’s not because I don’t have time, it’s because I don’t make it a priority.

And I think this is true for pretty much everyone.

I’m not here to tell you all the ways you are failing to make reading a priority. You already know and making you feel guilty about it is manipulative, and therefore unloving, and won’t help anyway.

Our priorities are what they are and until we decide to change them and take action on that, they will stay the way they are. We are responsible.

If you would like to make reading books a greater priority in your life, I do have a few ideas that might help.

Be honest about how you’re spending your time.
Take a look at where you are spending time now that could be spent reading. Be brutally honest with yourself. You already know where you are wasting time. It’s just more comfortable to ignore the reality.

Read something you enjoy.
I advocate for starting with books you enjoy and read as many of them as you can. Over time you will start to enjoy reading itself and that will lead you to branch out and try new types of literature. Most of us still see reading as a chore because of school. But we’re grown-ups now. Read what you want and explore things that interest you or that you think would be helpful to you.

Schedule reading time or at least set a page goal.
Set aside some time in your calendar each day for reading. Don’t go crazy if it’s not currently a part of your life. Make it a span of time you KNOW you can handle. If that’s only five minutes to start with, fine. Do it and feel good about it. If time doesn’t work for you, try a page count. Again, set the smallest achievable number. If that’s 2 pages, do it and feel good about it. Over time, it will expand. Probably faster than you think.

Take a book into the bathroom with you.
I know this one is “icky” but as the book says, “everybody poops” so take a book in there with you. Right now, you’re probably scrolling on your phone while you sit. Read instead.

Take a book everywhere you go.
You should always have a book with you because you never know when you’ll have a chance to get some reading done. And no, reading a book on your phone doesn’t count. It needs to be a physical book. That’s because there are too many ways to get distracted when you read on a device. I can almost guarantee you’ll end up watching TikTok (or something of that ilk) instead of reading because it’s easier and our brains like easy things.

Talk about books and reading.
The tribe of readers is large and welcoming. When you talk about books with others who are also excited about books and reading, it’s inspiring to you both. We book people LOVE to talk books. And I have found the passion of bookish sorts infectious. And I have never been judged for what I have not read or what I have read. So, come talk to us. We will happily put down what we’re reading to discuss books with you.

There are more, but this will get your started on the road to making reading as big a priority as you want it to be.

Reading Roundup: May 2025

~ Joseph McBee ~ 2 Comments

I finished 7 books in May including the New Living Translation of the Bible. That is a total of 29 books for the year so far, which seems rather low to me. My goal is to make this Summer a big time of reading and I even have an OUTRAGEOUS reading goal, which I will share later in this post.

But first, the May 2025 Reading Roundup!

I read Noah Kagan’s Million Dollar Weekend: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Launch a 7-Figure Business in 48 Hours, which is a shortish book with a long title. Full disclosure, I have read too many of these books thinking they will serve as a magic wand to POOF make a successful business appear. That’s dumb, I know, but this is the LAST book I will read of this sort. I am either going to start a business this year–a small side hustle thing–or I’m not. I know what I need to know and reading about it is now just a waste of time.

That does NOT mean Kagan’s book was a waste. It wasn’t. In fact, I learned a lot. It’s equal parts inspiring and practical and it’s written by a guy that has actually built a business (many in fact) that is not a business on teaching other people how to build businesses, which the internet seems to be bursting with. So, if you’re going to have a last book on this topic, this is a good one.

Speaking of last books…I read The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About by Mel Robbins and it is absolutely the LAST self-help book I will ever read in whatever time remains in my life. I did a longer post on this, you can read if you like, but I have come to the belief after far too many hours wasted in this kind of stuff, that self-help books are garbage. You probably already knew that, which means you are also probably smarter and/or less stubborn than I.

One of my favorite writers and thinkers, Jessica Hooten-Wilson, suggested that Christians should read the entire Bible every year and read it in a different version each time. While I have read the Bible through many times, I usually stick to the ESV. This year I went with the New Living Translation. I wanted to read it in the first 90 days and then spend the rest of the year in a deep dive of Ecclesiastes and 1 and 2 Peter, but it took five months to complete, not three. That still gives me 7 months for my deep dives and I did appreciate the NLT, although I remain a member of the ESV faithful. It’s still, in my opinion, the strongest version we have available to us.

I’ve been trying to read more novels this year and I love books about books and reading so The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald was perfect for me. I wrote a longer review on this well-written, amusing, and yet sad book. I recommend it for the excellent prose and the unique and yet familiar cast of characters.

And speaking of books about books, 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff was a fun one to read. It is a collection of letters from Hanff to a little bookshop in London. I thought this was a novel, but the letters are real and a delight to read. You can finish this one in a single reading session and it’s worth the time.

Gospel Eldership: Equipping a New Generation of Servant Leaders by Robert Thune is excellent. I am going through this with some men from my church. You know how some books that say they are supposed to be used in discussion groups only have a few unhelpful discussion questions tacked to the end of each chapter? This is NOT that. This book truly was designed to be discussed with others. It has well-written, convicting, and inspiring articles followed by discussion questions and personal exploration questions that take you much deeper into the subject matter and open up a lot of excellent discussion that facilitates growth both personally and as a group. The real beauty of this book is that it is Biblical and gospel rich content.

I’ve saved the best for last and that is Lest We Drift: Five Departure Dangers from the One True Gospel by Jared Wilson. Again, I wrote a longer review on this one, but this is the best book (not including the Bible of course) that I read this month. Wilson has written a lot of excellent gospel-centered books and this one may be his best one yet. If you are in ministry in any capacity, I would add this to your TBR immediately but it is really a book every Christian could benefit from.

My Outrageous Summer Reading Goal

As promised, here is my Outrageous Summer Reading Goal. I want to finish these three monster books in 90 days (June – August). They represent a grand total of 2,366 pages. This is in addition to other books I am reading, not in the place of.

That many pages seems like a lot, but it’s really around 27 pages a day when you break it down. That’s doable.

LEST WE DRIFT – A Review

~ Joseph McBee ~ 1 Comment
  1. The whole Bible is about Jesus.
  2. People change by grace, not law.
  3. Our ultimate validation is found not in our performance, but in Christ’s.

These three claims provide the substance of gospel-centrality. – Jared Wilson

Jared Wilson has written many gospel-centered books. This is not his first, and God willing it won’t be his last. But out of all the ones I’ve read so far, and they have all been good, this one in particular stands out.

Wilson writes with the mind of a theologian, the heart of a pastor, and the passion of someone who knows he is a great sinner in need of a great Savior. In fact, he is very open and honest about his own weaknesses and the ways he has drifted from the gospel and the consequences that came with that and how the gospel of Jesus Christ was and is good news to him.

In LEST WE DRIFT, Wilson deftly reveals the ways the modern evangelical church has drifted away from the true gospel and into victimhood, dryness, superficiality, pragmatism, and what he calls “the new legalism.” I cannot point to a single one of these and say, “THIS, this is the one I drift toward.” I cannot say that because I have been guilty of them all.

As Wilson shows us, this is because it’s so tragically easy to drift away from the good news of Jesus into other things, even important and good things, and point to them and say, “this thing is of first importance” and when we do that, we are missing it. We are missing where true life really is and we are pointing others away from Jesus too.

The author is primarily writing to people in ministry, especially pastors and those in training to become pastors, but I genuinely believe every Christian will benefit from this book.

Personally, I don’t like to say that any book other than the Bible is a “must-read” but if you’re in ministry in any capacity, LEST WE DRIFT should be added to your list quickly, read deeply, and discussed thoroughly with others in ministry with you.

As Wilson warns…

Whatever her pastors are, a church will become. If we do not much find the gospel resilient, over time our people won’t either. If we do not find it a versatile resource, neither will our congregation.

Pastors, lead the way back to the gospel and help your people stay in awe of Jesus by being in awe of him yourself.

The impetus for LEST WE DRIFT seems to be the way the gospel-centric movement among evangelical churches has faded and many of its primary voices have been silenced because of moral failings or because they have moved on to other ideas. They have “drifted” away from the gospel.

Sometimes, as I read this book, I got the feeling that Wilson is one of the few people left at a party everyone else left, not wanting it to end, or not realizing it’s over. There was a feeling of sadness in the way he wrote. Not self-pity, genuine sadness that the ones who left, are missing where the real joy is and he’s calling for them to come back. And, he’s inviting others to come along too.

Wilson’s writing in LEST WE DRIFT packs some punch in a lot of places. Take this passage from his chapter on drifting into victimhood for example:

The therapeutic centering of the self is not simply a perpetual deification; because every person now walks around believing him-or herself to be the center of the universe, we are inevitably and continually aggrieved by everyone else’s violations of our sacred self. The therapeutic insistence of self-centrality is by necessity an insistence on victimhood.

But while Wilson writes strongly, there is no harshness in the way he writes it. The strength of his words are based in love for Jesus and for the people of God. You may feel convicted but you won’t feel condemned.

I think, LEST WE DRIFT is a timely and beautiful book. I was more in love with Jesus after I read it, and I also feel more aware of the ways I have often drifted away from the gospel in my own life. But I don’t feel ashamed. I feel invited back to the heart of God.

I am DONE with “Self-Help” Books

~ Joseph McBee ~ Leave a comment

I have read my LAST self-help book and, honestly, I should have quit reading them a long time ago.

I’ve wasted countless hours and dollars reading what I now see as garbage books and what finally killed it for me was Mel Robbins’ latest best-seller, THE LET THEM THEORY.

The book is really about emotional intelligence, specifically self-regulation and relationship management skills. The premise is that we should just let adults act how they want to act (Let Them) and then we choose our response because that is all we can control anyway (Let Me).

That’s all fine. I don’t have an issue with the premise. It’s true, I cannot control how other people act or how they feel or what they think of me. I can only control how I respond and how I treat them.

That’s called being an emotionally mature adult.

And Robbins makes some decent points throughout the book, but they are just a few nuggets here and there and you have to wade through a lot of junk to find them.

Here are my problems with self-help books in general and why I will absolutely avoid them all from this day forth!

First, every one I have read, and I really mean EVERY ONE, has at least 20 to 30 pages of the author making their case for why you should listen to them and why, even though they have no formal learning in the area they are writing about, they are still an expert and have loaded their book with anecdotal evidence that proves it, and besides, everyone else says they are awesome and that the advice they give is “life changing.” Just look at how much money they make and how many speaking gigs they book each year and how many downloads their online content has.

Robbins even posts pictures of people with “Let Them” tattoos as proof that her ideas work.

Second, self-help books are all about…

  • Reclaiming your “personal power”
  • Living your dreams
  • Making life work for you
  • Dumping people who drag you down
  • Achieving success beyond your wildest dreams
  • And other hyperbolic nonsense

Third, self-help books are fluff. They are the cotton candy of books. They are pretty tasty, but there is nothing nourishing about them and they leave you feeling a little sick when you’re done with them. Usually, they are a blog post stretched over 200 plus pages with lots of stories about how successful the author is at whatever it is they are trying to hawk.

I experienced that with Robbins’ first book THE 5 SECOND RULE. It is an entire book about how counting down from five and then “blasting off” into whatever it is you are avoiding can change your whole life.

Finally, and this is really the clincher for me, self-help books cheapen relationships.

On the surface, THE LET THEM THEORY is an exception to that rule because it’s all about our relationships with others. But is it really?

Robbins’ book is all about YOU and how to reclaim and hang on to your personal power no matter what the people in your life do. And, like ALL self-help books I have ever read, if any relationship in your life is not working for you, dump them and move on because you are more important than anyone else.

That’s the inevitable conclusion. If it’s all about me, and you are not serving me and my goals, then you are gone.

It reduces people to obstacles to be destroyed or moved around, or tools to be used to get the life I want.

I used to be able to overlook that and try to hang on to the few nuggets I found in the book and just ignore the relationship advice.

I can’t do that anymore.

Maybe that’s because I’ve been on the receiving end of being pushed out because I wasn’t serving someone else’s happiness anymore.

But I’d like to think it’s because I am being formed more by my faith in Christ than I am by anything else.

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13)

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)

“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:16-18)

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3)

And so many others.

Am I suggesting that someone should stay in an abusive relationship? Of course not. But I think we are too quick to label situations and people as toxic, abusive, and traumatic, just because we get our feelings hurt or someone acts selfishly or because a relationship is a challenge.

Of course relationships are a challenge. And of course people can be mean and selfish and unloving and unkind. I know I can. So can you.

That’s where loves comes in. Not self-love, love for God and love for others. Those are the two greatest commandments after all. Jesus said so. (Matthew 22:36-40)

All this to say, I am finally done with self-help books. Better late than never.

The Magic of Reading Books

~ Joseph McBee ~ Leave a comment

Most people don’t remember when they learned to read.

I do.

I remember the precise moment in first grade when the black lines on a page came together to form words I could understand. I remember what it felt like, the swell of excitement in my chest, the fascination. I was overwhelmed and from that moment on, I was in love with reading.

Even before that moment I was in love with books.

My parents read to me a lot before I could read myself and there was one book in particular that I wanted read to me over and over again. It got to the point where at 3 or 4 years of age, I had the thing memorized.

My dad got a kick out of asking me to “read” my favorite book to dinner guests. I had it memorized so well, I even knew when to turn the page. The visitors were amazed as I “read” the book out loud and my dad would tell them I was clearly a genius.

Fast forward to elementary school and my favorite part of school was access to the library, which I went to every change I got.

I remember being shown the school library for the first time and learning how to find books using the Dewey Decimal System and the card catalogue (yes I’m that old). I was so excited I could barely sit still. I couldn’t believe that I had access to an entire room filled with books!

Each year, I would pick a bookcase at random and I would read every book on it by the end of the school year, checking them out one at a time. I did that all the way through middle school as well.

My parents bought me a box set of THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA and I devoured them multiple times. I also read the novelization of E.T. I read A BEAR CALLED PADDINGTON, which I passed on to my oldest son, who then passed it on to my oldest granddaughter. I read stacks of Beverley Cleary and Judy Blume novels, and I don’t know how many Hardy Boys mysteries. I just couldn’t get enough. I would even pull volumes of the encyclopedia set off the shelves in our home and read random articles from them.

When I was in 7th grade, my parents got me a subscription to the Reader’s Digest classic book collection and the first volume, which I opened on Christmas morning, was THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE. I still have that book. And from then on, being gifted books felt like an expression of love to me.

When people ask me how I read so many books each year, and I don’t read as many as other people I know, I am afraid my answer is not very satisfying.

I just love to read and I always have. It’s not a chore. It’s a delight.

As Stephen King said, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”