EP 65: Bonus Episode Summer Book Recs

All right. Hey friends.

OK, so if you're here, you want to hear us talk about books,

which we'll be honest, this is a little self indulgent.

I'm with my friend Sarah and we just love talking about English

classes and the books that we're reading and all that good stuff.

So you heard Sarah mention the book James in our podcast and

that actually came out of, we have a staff book club that is

now affectionately called the Bailey Book Club or the BBC for

short. We do have stickers if you would

like one, if you'd like to join, but we read James.

Sarah picked that out for us. And so I got to read it as well.

And it really, it reminded me of a lot of my English classes and

just like strong literature that's well written.

So we'll talk about that for a little bit.

And then our current book club book that we're actually getting

ready to talk about this afternoon is Theo of Golden,

which has been, I think, super popular, especially in Christian

circles for good reason. And so I've got some fresh

thoughts. I finished that at midnight last

night for our book club. Then we'll talk about that as

well. And by the way, we are going to

have some spoilers in here. So if you have not read these

books, definitely hit pause, Go read them and then come back and

listen to our thoughts. You've already talked about

James a little bit, Sarah, But yeah, what are some thoughts

that you have that, you know, maybe go a little bit more into

what the book is actually about? So this was fascinating to me as

someone who loves American literature and I've studied Mark

Twain, I've studied his works and have a retelling of a

classic novel like Huck Finn from the perspective of a

different. Character was.

Really neat. And one thing that is prominent

in this book is language, the idea of how we speak and what

that means, which is fascinating because Mark Twain was one of

the reasons he was is known and famous in American literature is

because he was one of the first authors to write dialect.

Right. Like it sounds.

Yeah. So if you pick up Tom Sawyer or

Huck Finn, the words are written phonetically how someone would

speak in that context. Which sometimes can be hard to

read. You're like, wait, what are they

trying to say? You know, But it really does

bring you into the world of that character.

And they actually, you learn more about who they are in their

identity through the way that they speak.

Yes, yes. So it is.

It's a really important thing for Samuel Clemens and then it's

really highlighted in this book, James.

So one interesting thing that Whitney and I we've talked about

before that this is fascinating is that so the character of

James is actually literate, which was probably unlikely for

a slave in this time period to. Suspend some disbelief, yes?

We have to kind of buy into the concept, but he is literate and

he teaches his children how to read and write and how to do so

properly in the grammatic sense. However, when they are in the

presence of white people, they code switch back to that African

American dialect of the time and the and the book really dives

into how they could not give any kind of illusion of their

knowledge because then their masters would be threatened,

right? Because proper language, the

ability to read and write, that is all tied to this idea of

power. Humanity.

Education, being able to read something gives you power.

And so they had to kind of pretend when there were white

people present that they were ignorant.

And again, like it's Whitney said, you kind of have to

suspend disbelief because it's very unlikely that that would

have actually been true. But it does make you think.

It makes you think about the role of language and reading and

writing and how we talk and what does that mean about our

community and belonging. Like I'll, I'll tell a funny

story on my dad. So my dad's side of the family,

he grew up in Honey Path, South Carolina, which is very rural

area. And he is a software engineer

and went on a Clemson and highly educated man.

But when he is with his family, his dialect changes.

It goes back to, well, hey, Ma and that.

And I remember as a kid being like, man, dad does not talk

like that regularly. But when we're all together as a

family, it was just part of the family culture and brought a

sense of belonging and togetherness with that was how

he grew up hearing his parents speak.

And it's just fascinating the role that all that plays.

And I've even found that as an English teacher, I pick up on

the lingo of these teenagers. You know, I'm like lock in chat,

you know, like trying to to reach them to to connect with

them, to try and use their words.

What up twin? And nobody knows what I'm

talking about unless you have a teenager in your, but just

that's something that that is really delved into you in the

book of James that I found fascinating.

Yeah, and I'm so glad you bring that up.

Another book that we read, and this was actually my pick for

our book club, we read Born a Crime by Trevor Noah.

I will give a little bit of a content warning on that.

There's some language and things in there, but Trevor Noah is a

famous comedian, and he was born in South Africa during

apartheid, and his mother was black and his father was white.

And so he talks a lot about language as something that

establishes your identity even more so than race, even more so

than your financial status, your class.

And for me, yeah, I agree. Like you guys heard in our

episode with Brandon Garcia, Scott made me speak a little

Spanish. I majored in Spanish.

So I have spent a lot of time thinking about language and it

is so interesting that it allows you to enter into a culture.

And, and I think it's also equally the thing that can

divide people and create distance and boundaries is not

really so much how you look, but how you sound.

Because if we can communicate with each other and understand

one another, then we're in the same tribe.

We're in the same group, we're the same people.

And so, and that's what James is teaching his children.

Like you can belong if you can communicate well with somebody.

Trevor Noah makes that same point of there's all of these

tribes in Africa that have different dialects and things,

and they don't like each other because of their history and

things. But if he can learn to speak

like a certain tribe, then they're like, we don't think

that you're with us, but like, you sound like us.

So OK, welcome. You know, you're here.

But it does give you access to the world, you know, and if I

can get give a little soapbox, like I always say that learning

language is the best way to love somebody because it is how you

look. And you say, I'm going to come

and meet you on your terms instead of expecting you to come

meet me on my terms, which of course is exactly what Jesus did

for us. He didn't say like you got to

get yourself together before you can get into heaven and come get

on my level. He's like, no, I will become

like you so that I can love you and care for you.

So big fan of language and yeah, personal Everett really just

accomplishes that so well in in the book, James.

So we encourage you guys to go read that one if you haven't

already. And then view of golden.

It's so sweet, like it's just really beautiful.

It's a great summer read because it's just kind of light hearted.

It's encouraging. It was helpful for me to kind of

inspire how to be creative with generosity.

So the premise is that you have the protagonist, Theo, who is

conveniently named. I realized about halfway through

the book that Theo, of course, means God.

And then you learn later on his full name is Theophilus, which

means friend of God or loved by God.

So I was like, very well done by the AHU there.

But he moves to a town and he sees all of these portraits on

the wall of a coffee shop of the local people, and they're done

by a local artist. And he decides that he's going

to buy them and give them to the people.

And every time he kind of sits down and bestows 1 to a person,

that word. Bestowal is so intentional

throughout the book, and it's very it's a.

Formal word I'm. Going to bestow this upon you,

but it is a fascinating choice because it does because it kind

of captures the idea of benevolence and intentionality.

Not just like, oh, I picked up this thing for you.

It is this was mine and I am now giving it to you with purpose

and intention, out of a sense of benevolence and goodness.

And so it even just those little word choices are really.

Neat. Yeah.

And even in that episode that we just did, like, as you're

talking about, you sit down with your kids and have a family

meeting. I love that you call it that

before the EOC and you're like looking into their soul.

And you're like, I need to tell you something true about who you

are and your identity as an image bearer.

And it's really what Theo does as well.

Like he hands him this portrait and he's like, I see that you

are a kind person and that you are hard working and that.

And he calls everyone kind of in the end, he's like, this person

is capable of saintliness, which is just beautiful.

You know, that he's just taking each person as an image bearer

and just speaking truth into them.

So that was just helpful for me to kind of think through like,

yeah, how can I be more creative in my generosity?

Like, it doesn't always have to be money.

And and I think there's something about overcoming the

little bit of awkwardness that we have as human beings where

it's like, gosh, that's a really deep thing.

And I've just met this person, but this is a worthy thing to

say. And if they don't receive it or

it's a little awkward, like, OK, you know, but that's God

especially has us as believers saying the things that people

don't say. And that does set us apart in

some ways. And I, I, it really connected

with me. Like he, he also asked people to

share their story with him and he kind of learned some things

about them. He creates that safe space.

And for me in my job where I get to work on life change stories

with our people. Like, I really feel that of I'm

calling someone up and, you know, a staff member has given

me their name. Deepest things.

That you have. Experienced.

Right. Their deepest, hardest thing and

I'm trying to make them feel safe, but it is such an honor.

I mean, I always say I have the best job on staff and I, I know

a lot of our staff get to do versions of it, but it's so

encouraging. And you do get to like look

people in their eyes and tell them, I need you to know that

this is how God thinks of you. So Sarah, I know you said that

you had read this one a little while back, but any any big

thoughts that come up about it? So I love a novel that gives me

a really strong sense of place. And that is something that's

really strong here. It's it's a fictional town, but

it's definitely, we were, we were like, oh, it makes you

think of like Savannah or, you know, some of a deep Southern

town. And so there's some really

beautiful description in there. One of my favorite things about

Theo is his curiosity. He every person he meets, he

wants to know their story. And it's not just out of a

desire to be entertained or anything like that.

He genuinely cares about people and wants to know, you know,

both the good and the hard things that they have

experienced. And that's part of kind of his

mission. And I think you use this word

earlier, Whitney, is that he is creative with his generosity.

It's not just like, oh, I'm going to send them a gift card

or I'm going to, you know, give more money to this to church or

to this nonprofit or whatever he thinks specifically about, you

know, how can I care for this individual?

And so to do that, he gets to know them in some really

interesting ways. So yeah, it's it's a beautiful

probably the best way I could describe it is kind of a series

of vignettes where he goes through this process.

It does. You know, I don't, I don't, I

hate to give away the ending. It does it, it does kind of all

come together at the end in a way that makes us think about

sacrifice. And I don't know how else to say

it. The true nature of generosity,

to deplete oneself for the good of another.

And that's something that God has called us to you.

So yeah, I thought it was it was a good book.

I I have to nerd out a little bit and don't come at me.

But like literally it is more. It doesn't have like, a super

strong plot or character development or some of those

things that I look for in a work of literature, but it still was

a really valuable, enjoyable read.

Yeah, so hot take maybe. I agree.

I know it's it's a very beloved book.

I had like 10 people recommend it to me so I'm really.

I only give it four stars on Goodreads.

I know it's, it's very, it's very encouraging.

And I'll be honest sometimes, like I just want a book where

there's not like massive conflict and things like

sometimes it's just nice to read a sweet story and to feel

encouraged. Yeah.

I do think like my one critique is kind of like we were talking

about with James, how Percival Everett really takes pains to

write out the dialogue and he's really mirroring Mark Twain in

that to make you feel like you're in that environment and

you're just like in that world. Even though Theo Golden takes

place in the South, you know, there's one point where Theo is

like, oh, this is the first time I've heard someone use the word

ain't. And I'm like, oh, well, if

you're in the South, then we do say that a lot.

So there's again, a few things like that that suspend our

disbelief, but I certainly do not think that I could do

better. And I mean, this is Alan Levi's,

I believe, his first novel. And for a first novel, like it's

beautiful and incredible and the New York Times bestseller, so

and just really cool to see him pursue like representing the

gospel and like those themes in a way that is not.

Hugely. Overt and so I mean, I'm hopeful

that, you know, somebody will pick this up and really get to

hear the heart of the gospel in a new way.

We have some more thoughts, so please come find us and.

Yeah, we want to hear what you think.

Yes, for all of these, send us emails or reach out in the

comments. And like we'd love to just, we

love talking about books. Please continue to engage us and

tell us what you think. Tell us your critiques.

Tell us if you think that we're wrong.

We'd love that too. So thanks guys.

We'll see you next time on the Grace Church Podcast.