It is no secret that we all at Current love books. It’s a rather extreme sort of love, which leads grown men and women to reflect on a regular basis just where else in this house, overflowing as it is with books, one could stuff yet another bookcase. If you’ve ever been in a Zoom meeting with John Fea, you might have noticed all the books that are towering behind, over, and around him, hemming him in, ever more tightly. Personally, I always feel just a twinge of fear for his safety–right there on camera, we might see an avalanche. But then, how else is a historian supposed to live?
This love of books is directly related to our appreciation of book reviews. We believe that good books are worth talking about. In fact, these conversations are an integral part of an intellectual tradition that goes back to antiquity.
In defending the value of book reviews, Current Contributing Editor Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn wrote a year ago, “The life of the mind—and the heart and soul—leaves traces. Our place of entry into cultural life falls somewhere in-between the pen strokes of some and the brushstrokes of others: Our voices soar or tremble amid the echoes of the spoken words of some and the still resounding music of others. One of the strongest cases for the reviewing of books is that it is a way to participate in this tradition of commenting on the ideas and creations of others, a tradition with ancient antecedents.” This week, in Current‘s first ever Spring Books Week, we take a break from regular features to listen to this music and participate in this ancient tradition.
We invite you to join us in this pleasure of reading insightful thinkers–Christina Bieber Lake, Timothy Larsen, Melanie Springer Mock, Carla Galdo, and Siobhan Heekin-Canedy–as they review new books that we think are worth reading.
The mix of books under review this week is eclectic, but not any more so than you will generally find in our reviews section. This too is deliberate: reading fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and history of different sorts challenges us in different but similarly necessary ways. Indeed, one could say that we already jump-started Spring Books Week on Good Friday, with William Tate’s beautiful review of Jane Greer’s recent poetry collections. If you missed it on Friday, go ahead and catch up now! It was, in fact, Current‘s first ever poetry review. You will find a second one later this week.
Last but not least, I want to say here something that I say to Current reviewers. Our reviews are an invitation to a conversation. They are never meant as the final word.
So, I invite you this week to leave comments, ask questions, and tell us about your favorite books of the recent past–or books that you most look forward to reading this year.