Miscellany: A Christmas Playlist and a Slew of Book Recommendations
Plus, a podcast about the original Christmas villain.
Welcome to Three Things.
We’re a monthly digest of three things to help you engage with God, neighbor, and culture. But this is our monthly Miscellany where we (Andy and Phillip) tell you what we’ve been reading, thinking about and working on.
‘Tis the season of children’s nativity plays in the United Kingdom. For the church nativity, Phillip’s girls were cast as Elizabeth and a shepherd respectively. Elizabeth went on strike when the time came, leaving her pregnant mother to stand in, and the shepherd loudly dropped her metal crook during the Song of Simeon, quite enjoying the sound. This year’s best story, however, comes from another nativity where the Christ child was hailed as “a light to lighten the genitals.”
Reading: The author Katherine Rundell is taking UK bookshops by storm. Phillip picked up a copy of her recent novel Impossible Creatures from a stack in Waterstones only to be rushed by two eager booksellers telling him that it is indeed as good as Michael Morpurgo says: “There was Tolkien, there is Pullman and now there is Katherine Rundell.” It’s the first in a trilogy and he’ll be reading it aloud with Christa over the holiday season. David Brooks’ How to Know A Person is also on the nightstand.
Listening: Since it’s almost time, the Christmastide playlist from ArtandTheology.org is all queued up and, like their Advent playlist, offers a great base for culling a playlist of your own (as Phillip has done). He’s also enjoyed listening to the first part of Noiser’s new podcast on the original Christmas villain, Herod the Great.
The Johnstons are off on a babymoon next week to see Ronnie Scott's Jazz Orchestra at Christmas, but Phillip is seeking a generous donor to extend the babymoon with a New Year’s Eve journey to Long Beach, CA aboard The Queen Mary to ring in 2024 with Alex Mendham and His Orchestra. He just discovered them singing wintry tunes on Radio 3’s In Tune Christmas Special and, oh my, what a night it would be!
Then again, early bedtimes are really nice these days.
As the year closes, Andy is coming to the end of his second five-year journal. Each day, he writes a few sentences about what happened yesterday. Around this time of year, he reads through the previous year’s entries. For a decade now, it has been a discipline that helps him remember what has happened and feel the passage of time. Whether you are a journaler or not, consider this your recommendation to pick up the practice. There is no time to start like a new year…
Reading: Two factors have recently contributed to an increase in Andy’s book consumption: (1) ten hours of commute each week and (2) Andy has pushed his audiobook listening speed up to 3.5x. (He is still working up to the promised land of 8x, his audiobook app’s top speed. At that rarefied velocity, the file turns into sonorous dophin-like tones and clicks as the story imprints itself deep in your unconscious mind.)
Anyway… some gems lately include:
The Imperfect Pastor by Zack Eswine (Sorry for listening to your book so fast, Zack. The irony is not lost on me.)
This Homeward Ache by Amy Baik Lee. Insightful and poetic theological ruminations/memoir.
Hidden Potential by Adam Grant. Unexpected rules about how to be good at things.
The Ascendant Series by Craig Alanson. Classic epic fantasy. Alanson’s series wins the award for most uses of the word “fireball” in a fantasy trilogy.
Creating Character Arcs by Kim Weiland. If you’re stuck on a fiction story, listen to this and let your mind wander. Works every time.
Listening: Andy has been working on this important, transformational playlist that has provided a great boost to his personal writing over the past few weeks. He shares it with you in hopes that it might provide a similar boost to your own creative efforts this holiday season. (Warning: It is mostly AC/DC… make sure you’ve got your rocking pants on before pressing play.)
And for something more Christmas-y (and because I feel bad for traumatizing our British readers with the phrase “rocking pants”), here is a little jazz piano from Charlie Brown himself.
Watching: Patriot is funny, dark, bizarre, and strangely touching. It is the anti-Mission:Impossible.
New from The Darkling Psalter (Andy’s poetry and Psalm project): Psalm 65—Love the Curve in the Waterfall (thanks for that lovely turn of phrase, Marsh) and Psalm 39—Memory the Coinage of Unquiet Thought
New from Pattern Bible: (Andy’s Bible + theology Substack): Why Do Men in the Bible Find Their Wives at Wells? and The Flood and the Reversal of Creation.
Panama: High school weight room psych music and present day pull-ups Comforter. Should try it for writing too. Great playlist! I'd add Living Color, POD, RHCP's, Rage, and what-the-heck, The Carpenters. 🤘