Conquered Words: April

This is my monthly post where I tell you what I have read and (ever so briefly) what I thought about each work. If you haven't read these books, then read this blog and pretend that you did!

I'm starting to measure time on how often I write these. It seems like just yesterday I was writing March and all of a sudden I'm under April showers.

Well it didn't exactly rain books thanks to my solid block of schooling and the awesome work that is going on at church. However, the two books I did read were astounding. I'm starting to figure out that being in school generally keeps me away from the books I want to read. Sometimes, this is a good thing. Sometimes, I read ancient pieces of literature that I would never choose to read but are good for my general knowledge. But sometimes, sometimes I read astronomy text books and sometimes I read pretty ridiculous articles on globalization that repeat themselves over and over and over and over and over. And then sometimes I get really mad and I want to hit things. Until then, here's what I read:

1) The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. by Martin Luther King Jr. and Clayborne Carson (Grand Central Publishing, 416 pages). Do not give me another book on leadership, or how to lead, or what to do when this happens or that happens, or six ways for people to follow me, or ten ways to improving your leadership, blah blah blah....no no no, give me the testimony of a leader. Give me his stories when he was tried, give me his reflections on the decisions, the hurt of betrayal, or the pain of public failure. That, my friends, helps me. Martin Luther King Jr. was no saint, he has more sins than we speak of, but he led with ferocious certainty of success. Through the pages of this book, there is mostly the picture of a worried man. Worried that it wouldn't work, worried that his family was suffering, worried that people would hate him, worried that he would be history's joke. He wrestles with all of this and solves his worry by going alone in prayer. My favorite story he shares was when he was meeting with his core team in Birmingham, Alabama. They were all in a motel realizing they were out of money, and if Dr. King were to be arrested (as he planned to be the following day), they would not have bail for him and he would spend who knows how long in jail, unable to lead his movement. As he sat in this predicament, he had several voices of people he trusted saying different things. He was torn, worrying about the possible outcomes and seeing that he had sucked all his resources dry. Except for his God. He left the room and went into the adjacent bedroom telling his staff to give him 10 minutes alone. While in the room, he fell on his face and begged God for courage to do the right thing. After praying, he stood up, walked out, and told his people he would be arrested and trust that God would provide. He was arrested, and God did provide, but in more ways than MLK thought. After reading this book, it is clear to me that MLK's greatest leadership technique was his understanding of prayer, and his confidence in his vision.

2) Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Random House, 349 pages). What to say about this novel? It won the National Book Award for a reason. The creativity of this narrative is so unworldly majestic yet so perfectly real. When I finished this book, I wanted to start it again. McCann has the ability to transcend the human language and at the same time communicate and formulate the most universal human stories, thoughts, and characters. This book tells countless stories of many different characters colliding at many different places and times, and McCann uses them to form some of the most inglorious tales, which is what makes this novel so dang glorious. The characters are raw, the stories seem so true, and the amount of emotion that is in each sentence is almost exhausting. This guy knows how to write, but I think more importantly, knows what it means to be human. I fully agree with Frank McCourt's take on this novel: "No novelist writing of New York has climbed higher, dived deeper." Somehow, McCann is able to transcend and descend at the same time, a rare feat in fiction. This is a symphony. Tons of different stories working in harmony together. Beyond all of this, McCann gives one of the best pictures of New York I've ever read. He paints New York as the most human of cities, universalizing it to reach all audiences.

Yikes. I guess that'll do, pig. That's what I read. Also, just to prepare you, I will probably have nothing to report for next month. I really don't see me being able to actually finish one book this month. I know, shocking. But I just don't see it happening. I give you this prophecy in order to warn you of the possibility of next month's CW being VERY LAAAAMMMMEEE.

Keep reading, friends.