3rd Annual (way too early) Summer Reading List

Ben D’Alessio

The following are six books I read in the past year (check out years one and two) and very much recommend for any season, however, year three makes this a “thing” now, so we’re gonna stick with it. They are in no particular order, but #1 very well might be my favorite book since the last list.

1. The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks (2015)

Told from the perspective of the prophet Nathan (Natan in the book), The Secret Chord is a massively powerful read that provides an account of King David unlike anything I could’ve expected. Beginning from before David was more than a glorified raider, Brooks creates a world that treats slavery, rape, and murder with ambivalence — oftentimes a justified means to an end. The Machiavellian character, receiving messages from God through Nathan, also happens to be as blessed a musician as he is a King.

Bracketed passage in my book: “To me, even now, after so many years of hearing him play almost every day, it remains a marvel, that a man can draw forth such sounds from a piece of wood and some strands of gut. His overlapping harmonies, the way the plucked strings swell and ebb…