My random playlist has decided it’s a choral music morning. I just got Palestrina, Rachmaninoff, and now Vaughn Williams all in a row. Lovely.

The New Yorker’s Best Books of 2026 so far

This list was longer than I expected… and gave me several to add to my library holds list.

“To read the Bible as a book of love, we have to trust that nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even our interpretive mistakes.”

Richard Beck, from his new book The Book of Love. Boom.

I fear to become the old guy posting about the weather, but how can you not appreciate this morning? A splash of rain overnight to freshen things; clear blue sky and crisp air only in the 50s as the sun came up. For June in Iowa, today is a treat.

Pete Crow-Armstrong gets a single to complete hitting for the cycle tonight against the Rockies…. then immediately gets picked off first base. In the 7th inning of a one-run game. #sigh #Cubs #MLB

Wife and youngest daughter are out on a trip this week, which means the middle kid and I are holding down the fort. Had a nice day today - the kid made dinner, then I spent the evening out with a fire in the firepit and a good book.

I have never read any Brandon Sanderson before starting Mistborn: The Final Empire yesterday.

So far it seems workmanlike almost to the point of being formulaic, but I’m enjoying the experience enough to want to keep on reading.

“I was good enough to serve [the church], but not good enough to care for. And care is what I needed.”

And with that Aaron J. Smith perfectly summed up my experience of two decades as an adult in the evangelical church.

theclutteredmouth.com/sent-into…

2026 Reads: And the Dragons Do Come Raising a Transgender Kid in Rural America by Sim Butler 📚

A practical, honest voice. A lot of feelings that are familiar to me as the parent of a nonbinary kid.

2026 Reads: Prairie Fires The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser 📚

Having grown up with the Little House books, this thoroughly-researched biography puts them in quite a different light.