Bookstores.

They actually still open these.

Apr 29, 2024

’s substack has been an extra joy as of late because he and his family just decided to up and buy a local bookstore he saw for sale. Reading through their process of buying and now updating and outfitting their store in time for its May 2 reopening is a delight. Shawn talks about waking up smiling as he and his wife compile lists and make decisions and order books upon books. It sounds both a little stressful and oh so lovely.

assorted book lot — Photo by Ugur Akdemir on Unsplash

In light of being excited about their excitement, I’m asking for a response from you, dear reader. Not because I need to fill out my TBR (the goodreads list currently sits at over 900) but maybe because I’d just like to know what scratches your reading itch. And maybe because I’m sure there great books out there that I’m not aware of that DO need to be added to that ever-growing TBR.

So tell me, if you suddenly came into bookstore ownership, what are you putting on the shelves first?

things read. (from actual books)

Step out from the shame of your
stains.
Refuse to put your hope in things
that do not cleanse.
Walk away from a life of denial.
…
He delights in doing for you
what you could never do for yourself.
He delights in making you
clean.
Paul David Tripp, Sunday Matters

the IG. (story-worthy)

the stacks. (book talk)

JUST STARTED: Last House, Jessica Shattuck
JUST FINISHED: Daniel’s Duck, Clyde Robert Bulla
JUST STARTED: Amelia Bedelia, Peggy Parish

snippets. (just a line or two)

What the Christian story and witness says are worth risking for a treasure kept where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves will not break in and steal.
Ashley Hales

Sin doesn’t respect ideologies. It does not stay in its lane, and it will not let you leverage it strategically. A conservative evangelicalism that makes peace, even a silent peace, with some sins of the flesh is making future peace with others.
Samuel D. James

Dear modern world, go out and look at the sky. Do not look at the sky for the sake of hitting your optimal heart rate on your fitness app. Look at the sky because you are a human, and it is the sky, and you need to remember that from time to time.
Kelly Keller

God reached into the muck and mire of our sin-broken world to rescue us, not because of what he saw in us but because of what was in him.
Paul Tripp

When we feel far from God, we like to speak of Him as if He’s on the outer edges of our lives. Maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe we are on the outer edges of Him.
Janell Downing

tbr. (add it to the list)

Amanda Churchill’s The Turtle House
Charles Martin’s When Crickets Cry
Faith Chang’s Peace Over Perfection

the interwebs. (a link list)

When I Don't Love My Body
“What you look at in the mirror and despise, God declared good and wonderful.”

You and I Probably Would Have Been Nazis
This one made me think. “We balk at this thought experiment only because we imagine ourselves knowing and feeling the way about those times the way we feel about them now. But that’s not how life works.”