STORIES BY O. HENRY

The exact version of Stories by O. Henry I am reviewing, with its particular selection of stories, is now out of print and cannot be found even on Amazon.com. Nevertheless, what remarks can be made about a selection of Henry’s stories can be applied to his entire body of work. This volume featured twenty-three of his stories, including such notables as “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Cop and the Anthem.”

O. Henry (the pen name of William Sydney Porter) is known for his short stories primarily because of their surprise endings. However, in a collection like this one, where the reader knows to look for the twist, some endings can be predicted. Henry is also notable for his spectacular use of vocabulary (keep a dictionary handy). It’s often unrealistic that Henry’s characters know such grandiose words, but that doesn’t matter – Henry often uses this device for wordplay and humor, and it’s all in good fun. Henry’s writing is typically excellent. He covers the spectrum of society, often with some telling insights into the human condition.

Not all of O. Henry’s stories have held up over time, but he is certainly worth reading.

RECOMMENDED

INTRODUCING CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE by Millard J. Erickson

Introducing Christian Doctrine (second edition, 2001), written by Millard J. Erickson and edited by L. Arnold Hustad, is a briefer version of Erickson's previous work, Christian Theology. Introducing Christian Doctrine is an introductory-level textbook in systematic theology. 

This book covers the full gamut of Christian theology, with sections on what theology is, God's revelation, the nature and work of god, humanity and sin, the person and work of Christ, the Holy Spirit, salvation, the church, and eschatology. On issues of doctrine, Erickson explains the various positions, identifies their strengths and weaknesses, and then pronounces which he believes is the best position. The reader may not always agree, but Erickson's arguments are well-reasoned and logical.

Introducing Christian Doctrine is easy to read, perhaps surprisingly so, both for theology students and laity. And in addition to being a worthwhile textbook, it also serves as a very handy quick reference guide to doctrinal questions. No self-respecting theologian should be without it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

FRANNY AND ZOOEY by J. D. Salinger

Franny and Zooey (1961) is J. D. Salinger’s two-part novel about an intellectual and spiritually unfulfilled girl and her intellectual, snobbish brother. This novel features the Glass family, which Salinger has written about on other occasions. The majority of the book consists of three lengthy conversations: between Franny and her boyfriend, between Zooey and their mother, and between Franny and Zooey. The novel is so dialogue-heavy it reads very much like a play. The book’s primary theme is spirituality, particularly of an Eastern bent (which is what Salinger himself was so fascinated by).

What Salinger does very well is communicate his characters’ feelings subtly, through their speech and behavior, rather than by narration, which takes all the style out of things. The reader really feels like he or she gets to know Franny and Zooey (neither of them is particularly likeable, but that’s beside the point).

While the dialogue between Salinger’s characters is generally quite good, they all have the unbearable tendency to launch into unrealistic and lengthy monologues at any given moment. Here, at times, Salinger is in effect preaching to the reader.

Inexplicably, Salinger is eternally focused on smoking. The reader always knows what each character is smoking, whether it’s lit, and what hand he or she is holding it in. It’s to the point of distraction, and serves no reasonable purpose other than to briefly interrupt interminable monologues. Salinger also displays other tendencies to micromanage his characters and their world (he gives ridiculously long descriptions of certain things, most egregiously the contents of the medicine cabinet).

Ultimately, Franny and Zooey’s downfall is that it doesn’t particularly go anywhere. There’s no real payoff. Two hundred pages of pampered, superior huffing and puffing, while entertaining at times and tedious by the end, climaxes with an unsatisfactory piece of basic, Eastern-worldview advice that gets treated as the greatest of revelations.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

THE BLIND SIDE by Michael Lewis

The Blind Side, by Michael Lewis, is primarily a biography of projected future NFL first-round draft pick Michael Oher and secondarily a history of the evolution of the left tackle position in the NFL.

Lewis chronicles how Oher, who bounced around as a child and never learned to learn, was taken in by the wealthy Tuohy family, how they helped him to learn and to play football, and how he went on to start at Ole Miss. Lewis does an excellent job communicating the characters’ personalities to the reader, particularly Oher’s.

Interspersed throughout the book are historical anecdotes about the evolution of the left tackle position. Lewis gives particular attention to Lawrence Taylor and the shift to fast, destructive pass rushers, and to Bill Walsh, who was one of the first coaches to emphasize protection of the quarterback’s blind side.

While Lewis tells a very interesting story, his writing style has its flaws. He jumps around quite a bit, which is almost as distracting (he just does it one too many times) as the sentence fragments he loves to sprinkle in. Lewis also uses the wrong word a few times. He mixes up “insure” and “ensure.” He calls linemen “ectomorphs” (ectomorphs have slender builds). The copy editor for this book was asleep at the switch.

On the whole, this is an interesting and entertaining book about a likeable young man, and a good recap of a major strategic shift in the NFL.

RECOMMENDED