EPISODE 943: STOCKING STUFFER OF WOW
Your Fellow Wowsers have gifts for you!
It’s Black Friday weekend/week/month/I don’t even know anymore, and in place of me rambling on and on about who knows what, I thought I’d drop an early Wow that highlights the very apt and interesting writings of some other Wowsers, available for yours and others’ stockings, right now!
There are probably more of you with new books or cool things out than I realize—don’t hesitate to drop me a line and say so; I love to boost! But here’s what I know:
Abandoning Temples, Jeff Johnson—Writer of Wow Jeff Johnson writes a blog about faith and spirituality, and did a pop culture spirituality piece about Only Murders in the Building a while back that’s a real favorite of mine. He’s a great writer. The short essays in Abandoning Temples are really accessible and thought-provoking. It’s the kind of book you can curl up with and draw life from in the deep quiet of winter.
Till The Moon Be No More, Valerie Schultz—Wise One of Wow Valerie Schultz has a gift for looking deeply into her own life experience and finding within spiritual insight that’s really helpful for others. She’s truly one of the great spiritual writers working today. Here’s something she did in July about being married a long time. Here’s something she did a while back about being a parent. As you can see, her new book is about getting older, a topic I’m definitely interested in ha ha. I adore that subtitle. Grit and grace, indeed!
Climbing the Admissions Leadership Peak, Ken Anselment—My college friend Ken Anselment, who is one of the cleverererest guys I know (when you’re that clever you really are required to use all those suffixes), has spent decades working in college admissions. A couple years ago he started a podcast where he interviews other leaders in the field, and he’s turned those conversations into a book of best ideals and practices. The book’s higher ed focus makes it a great gift for anyone in university work, but I was also really struck by the underlying spirituality that comes through.
I Came Here Seeking a Person, William Glenn—Last year at around this time I interviewed Bill for the Wow about his memoir of growing up Catholic and gay, entering the Jesuits and everything that came after. For me, a great memoir has to do two things: Tell a meaningful story, and give me something—ideas, questions, insights—to take with me into my own life. And Bill delivers both in spades. For those who aren’t paid subscribers to the Wow, I’ve taken the paywall down from that interview. I really recommend checking it out. Talking to Bill (or reading his book) is like opening a very cool treasure chest.
Fleeting Moments: Praying when you are too busy, Loretta Pehanich—Fleeting Moments isn’t a new book, but I like recommending it to people, both because Loretta is a great writer and friend, and because who hasn’t had that struggle to find a space of quiet in the midst of the busyness of life. It’s the kind of book we need right now!
*ALERT SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION ALERT*
As it turns out, I also have a couple pop culture-y books out there!
The World of Funko: Harry Potter is the start of a new line of coffee table books about Funko Pops! from Insight Editions (which does lots of great pop culture books). This first book looks at the characters and stories of Harry Potter through the lens of Funko’s many collectible Pop! figures. It’s been a blast going back to the Harry Potter films with fresh eyes and also talking to designers at Funko about their figurines. But the heart of the book, really, is the photographs by Cassie Fuertez. They are so cool!
Over the last couple years I’ve also done a series of tiny Game of Thrones books accompanying different products. My absolute favorite is this light-up dragon’s head, but there’s also an encyclopedia and trivia game that was super fun to write, and a very cool letter-opener in the shape of the dagger Arya uses to kill the Night King.
That skull is everything!
As I write this, I am sitting in a hotel in LA, preparing to hop on a plane tonight to Sydney. I’ll be in Australia for the month of December and then some. Once upon a time, I was in the process of getting a visa to work in Australia. Then the pandemic came, and I got tossed out of my house, and a lot of other things, too!
It’s my first time back since all that fell apart. I’m really looking forward to seeing old friends, wandering my old haunts (and perhaps discovering a few new ones, too).
Almost certainly, my schedule of dropping Wows will change while I’m abroad. This next week I don’t think I’ll be posting anything. The week of the 9th I plan to be back at it. But Australia is a day ahead, and I am bad at time, so I may be early, I may be late…We will take this adventure together!
Happy trails! And happy reading!
Safe travels!
Oh my stars, Jim, thanks for featuring my book!