WWW Wednesday // August 18, 2021

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme currently hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. The three W’s stand for the following questions: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next? To participate, make a post or comment answering the three questions, link up to the host (Sam)’s post, and check out what others are reading and talking about! I typically participate once a month, approximately in the middle of the month, as a halfway check-in on my monthly reading goals.

What Am I Currently Reading?

📚 Text, Lies, and Cataloging by Jana Brubaker Nonfiction – Library Science/Cataloging

What do James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces, Margaret B. Jones’ Love and Consequence and Wanda Koolmatrie’s My Own Sweet Time have in common? None of these popular books are what they appear to be. Frey’s fraudulent drug addiction memoir was really a semi-fictional novel, Jones’ chronicle of her life in a street gang was a complete fabrication, and Koolmatrie was not an Aboriginal woman removed from her family as a child, as in her seemingly autobiographical account, but rather a white taxi driver named Leon Carmen. Deceptive literary works mislead readers and present librarians with a dilemma. Whether making recommendations to patrons or creating catalog records, objectivity and accuracy are crucial–and can be difficult when a book’s authorship or veracity is in doubt. This informative (and entertaining!) study addresses ethical considerations for deceptive works and proposes cataloging solutions that are provocative and designed to spark debate. An extensive annotated bibliography describes books that are not what they seem.

📚 Disruptive Witness by Alan Noble Nonfiction – Theology/Christian Living

We live in a distracted, secular age. These two trends define life in Western society today. We are increasingly addicted to habits―and devices―that distract and “buffer” us from substantive reflection and deep engagement with the world. And we live in what Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls “a secular age”―an age in which all beliefs are equally viable and real transcendence is less and less plausible. Drawing on Taylor’s work, Alan Noble describes how these realities shape our thinking and affect our daily lives. Too often Christians have acquiesced to these trends, and the result has been a church that struggles to disrupt the ingrained patterns of people’s lives. But the gospel of Jesus is inherently disruptive: like a plow, it breaks up the hardened surface to expose the fertile earth below. In this book Noble lays out individual, ecclesial, and cultural practices that disrupt our society’s deep-rooted assumptions and point beyond them to the transcendent grace and beauty of Jesus. Disruptive Witness casts a new vision for the evangelical imagination, calling us away from abstraction and cliché to a more faithful embodiment of the gospel for our day.

What Did I Recently Finish Reading?

📚 Discernment (The Legacy Chronicles #3) by Lauren H. Salisbury Biblically-Inspired Science Fiction ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review to Come

A misfit, a fugitive, and a sacred destiny. Everything changes when all three collide.

In Jiya’s world, the only choice a woman has is who she will marry. When she meets a mysterious off-worlder, she must decide how far she is willing to push the boundaries of Teraburan culture to gain her freedom, and whether that is truly what she wants.

Mahsan has never been accepted for who he is. The sole human raised on an Esarelian cruiser, his attempts to belong led only to disaster and him becoming a fugitive. When he is invited into the home of a Teraburan clan leader, he finds a place where he could finally put down roots. But his past haunts him, and he will need to make peace with it if he wants any kind of future in his new home.

Not everyone approves of Jiya and Mahsan’s friendship, and some will stop at nothing to keep them apart. As the unlikely pair discover their true calling, they will have to confront everything they thought they knew and learn to see themselves as they never have before.

📚 To Be or Not To Be: A Choosable-Path Adventure by Ryan North Graphic Novel Retelling (sort of) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

When Shakespeare wrote Hamlet he gave the world just one possible storyline, drawn from a constellation of billions of alternate narratives. And now you can correct that horrible mistake! Play as Hamlet and avenge your father’s death with ruthless efficiency this time. Play as Ophelia and change the world with your scientific brilliance. Play as Hamlet’s father and die on the first page, then investigate your own murder “as a ghost”! Featuring over 100 different endings, each illustrated by today’s greatest artists, incredible side quests, fun puzzles, and a book-within-a-book instead of a play-within-a-play, “To Be or Not To Be” offers up new surprises and secrets every time you read it. 

What Might I Read Next?

I have no idea whatsoever.

This seems to be an in-between season for my reading. Not a slump, per se, but nothing is really piquing my attention very strongly at the moment. Still, the two books I finished most recently were very good. I also DNF’d a nonfiction book this week: Wear No Evil by Greta Eagan. I knew going in that it was about ethical fashion, but I expected it to be more down-to-earth. The way this book talks about fashion as if it’s so important just doesn’t resonate with me. It’s probably not a bad book, just not a good fit for me.

What books are on your reading radar this week?

Until the next chapter,

Jana