Every month we show what is on our reading table.

This month we added three new books.

  1. “Stand” (114 pages, paperback, 2022) by Pastor Jon Benzinger: From a local church we visited: “You are in the midst of the greatest attack on Christianity in your life. Make no mistake, the war is coming for you. The question is, will you be ready for it and will you fight or fold? This easy-to-understand book clarifies the change you’re sensing in our culture, at your church, your job, or your school, and gives you tools to stand faithfully against this aggressive and heretical attack on the gospel. Jon Benzinger is the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Bible Church in Gilbert, Arizona, contributor to the Redeeming Truth podcast, founder of helpingpastors.org, and President of the Redeemer Center for Church Leadership.”
  2. “As Time Goes By” (432 pages, paperback, 1998) by Michael Walsh: “You know what happens right after Casablanca‘s Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) walks off with Capt. Louis Renault (Claude Rains) into the mist? This novel. Walsh, a former crime reporter and Timemagazine music critic, can’t equal the beautiful relationships in the classic film, but he does give us a clever takeoff on the tale, with less romance but much more action. As Time Goes By is both a prequel and a sequel, fleshing out Rick’s mysterious life by flashing back to his 1930s New York gangland past and taking us with him, Ilsa, and Sam the piano man as they plot to kill Reinhard Heydrich, the Hangman of Prague. Rick Blaine started out as Yitzik Baline, who learned to shoot in the booze-fueled underworld of Tick-Tock Shapiro and Dion O’Hanlon. A fracas that made Walter Winchell’s column explains why Rick wound up in the Casablanca gin joint.”
  3. “Memory’s Legion” (432 pages, paperback, 2022) by James A Corey: I picked this up at a Barnes and Noble visit along with the next book. “From Leviathan Wakes to Leviathan Falls, James S. A. Corey’s Hugo Award-winning Expanse series has redefined modern space opera. Now, available in print for the first time comes the complete collection of short fiction set in the Expanse universe, including both a brand-new novella set after the events of Leviathan Falls and author’s notes on each story.”
  4. “It’s Elemental: The Hidden Chemistry in Everything” (304 pages, paperback, 2022) by Kate Biberdorf: I picked this up at a Barnes and Noble visit along with the previous book. “Have you ever wondered what makes dough rise? Or how your morning coffee gives you that energy boost? Or why your shampoo is making your hair look greasy? The answer is chemistry. From the moment we wake up until the time we go to sleep (and even while we sleep), chemistry is at work—and it doesn’t take a PhD in science to understand it.”

Not pictured:

  1. “The One Year Bible” with help from the “Lutheran Study Bible“.