Ex Libris 05.2026

A book roundup.

Hello and welcome to ex libris (“from the library”), my periodic roundup of book discussion and recommendations. This work will be better with your contributions, so please feel free to chime in below if you’d like!

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Titles I’ve read recently:

Tim Keller on the Christian Life, Matt Smethurst. I think we’ve talked before about how helped I’ve been by Tim’s ministry. This is a great summary of the major themes in his teaching over the course of his life. If you want to get a high-level look at the ideas that defined his teaching ministry, Smethurst has gathered them up nicely here. I felt like I was listening to all the best sermons all over again.

Bully Pulpit, Michael J. Kruger. This book came out in 2022, and the author admits up front that he wishes he didn’t have to write it. Similarly, I wish that I didn’t have to read it. But it is extremely helpful in diagnosing harmful patterns—both intentional and unintentional—in churches. The book ends with a chapter on how to prevent such things before they start! This is a straightforward, Biblical resource. Highly recommended.

Jupiter Rising, Gary D. Schmidt. Here’s the sequel to Orbiting Jupiter, which I told you about last month. Though I don’t think this one rises to the level of the first, it’s nice to have the end of the story. Schmidt’s writing is so hospitable and lovely. It’s like a warm blanket. I’m so glad I picked it up!

Cannery Row, John Steinbeck. The story Steinbeck tells of the residents of Cannery Row is a picture of community in spite of all the shortcomings of the people therein. The action takes place over the course of a few months. There is a road trip (of course), a party gone wrong, and a few older, wiser people who hold things together. Not my favorite of Steinbeck’s, but I enjoyed it.

It has always seemed strange to me...The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.

Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children, Mac Barnett. Barnett is—brace yourself—the ninth US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, appointed by the Library of Congress. This means he has an office in Washington, D.C., which is unfortunate, since he lives in Oakland, California. This book celebrates children’s literature and the people who consume it, children. It’s encouraging and very, very funny. I didn’t learn until I was halfway through that this book caused a bit of a controversy, due largely to a quote taken out of context (surprise, surprise). You can read about that here if you’re interested. It also contains a nice observational chapter all about the book Goodnight Moon.

Fiction is that rare place where the adult and child can meet as equals. Equals, but not the same: It is true that adults know many things that children do not. But it is also true that we have forgotten many of the things kids know—not just about what it is like to be a kid, but about the world we all share.

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A note on purchase links: I’m a happy supporter of independent bookshops, so the links I provide will almost always go to my affiliate link at bookshop.org. For my local readers, I heartily recommend you buy them through our favorite, Goldberry Books, but you might have a shop closer to you. Of course, you can always find these selections on That Big Website That Ships Quickly, But Not As Quickly as It Used To, and Remember How They Sucked Us All In By Being a Bookstore to Begin With? I’m also a big fan of saving money and patronizing your local library. Happy reading!