May 2026
I made the drive from ICT to Rio Rancho twice this month (yes, right after gas prices exploded). We had a memorial service for my cousin who passed away in March. It was a sad trip, but cathartic. I got to spend important time grieving with my family and road tripping with my little sister. We also got to travel as a family to celebrate my nephew’s graduation. My brothers and I climbed La Luz Trail 137. May is always packed with activities. I’m ready to rest in June.
The FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11th. Send me (reply to this email or text me) your pick for the winning country to be added to a book giveaway. I’ll drop names into a drawing and send the winner a book of their choice (or I can pick if the winner can’t make up their mind). Here’s a link to an article with all the teams/odds as of this week. I’ll probably set up a bracket challenge too. Let me know if you want to participate.
Anyway, here are the books I finished and my reviews of them:
Fiction Books
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
I guess I need to schedule a holiday in Spain to try the fishing and watch the bullfights (do they even still do that?). I liked those parts of the book. There’s a bit about the beach that sounded great, too. The rest of the book was drama. Mostly drinking, the weird lives of writers, and everyone being in love with Lady Ashley. The volume of booze the group drinks during their parties, meals, and holiday trip is truly impressive.
Jake, the main character, and his friend Bill go fishing on the Irati River. It sounds like how we fish in New Mexico. They dig for worms and fish with fly rods above the dam for stream trout. They clean the fish they catch and keep them in bags to take home.
Most of what I know about bull fighting is from the movie Ferdinand, and I was disappointed that this book didn’t even mention a calming goat. The group with Jake watches the running of the bulls and the bullfights during the famous Festival of San FermÃn. The story tells about the dangers, the art, the style, and the real risks involved in the spectacle. The locals feel that the older bullfighters have lost “it,” and that the young fighter, Pedro Romero, has a shot at bringing “it” back. Everyone hates when Lady Brett Ashley seduces Romero. The locals think she will corrupt him, and her other lovers end up drunkenly brawling over it.
Here’s a fitting description of the book I found: “Spare, iceberg-deep, and quietly devastating, the novel captures a generation searching for meaning through drink, travel, and fleeting connection.” I don’t always get the depth, nuance, or historical context when I read books like this, but I am clever enough to see the struggles, grasping for connection, and listlessness the characters experience.
This is for lovers, wanderers, and seekers.
(Rated PG-13, Score 8/10, Audiobook read by William Hurt, 7:46)
Seth and Kendra are kids who expect a couple of boring weeks during a stay with their grandpa while their parents go on a cruise. But, during their stay, they discover many secrets about the magic home and the surrounding land called Fablehaven, which their grandfather protects. The story gets hectic on mid-summer’s eve, which is when the magical creatures cut loose, celebrate, and attack the family. Seth’s unchecked curiosity leads him to make a critical mistake, opening the door for evil and mischief, and leading to dire circumstances for the family and Fablehaven. The kids must prove their mettle in the face of mystical challenges. They face a witch (Muriel), a cliff troll (Nero), dyads, goblins, imps, satyrs, and a giant demon named Bahumat.
Themes like obedience, courage, responsibility, and consequences for choices are woven through the story. I enjoyed the colorful descriptions of the creatures. Mull did a good job of creating an easy-to-imagine setting. An illustrated version of the book is scheduled to come out soon. I imagine it will be fantastic. Also, Audible jacked up the download for our first set of files, so we were missing two critical chapters. That sucks. Don’t let them do that to you. If it feels like you missed something important, you probably did.
Here are my key takeaways: Don’t mess with fairies. Negotiation is an art. Obedience in safety-critical moments is non-negotiable. A warning to a young boy may as well be an invitation. Anything done by magic can also be undone by magic.
This is for young adventurers, wizards, demigods, and pranksters.
(Rated PG, Score 8/10, audiobook read by E.B. Stevens, 8:59)
Morning Star by Pierce Brown (Red Rising #3)
Have you ever been so mad at an author that you quit reading a book for a bit? I have now. Brown killed my favorite character. It hurt my feelings, so I stopped reading for a few days. When I came back, it all worked out.
The Jackal tortured Darrow for months after his fall at the end of book 2. Darrow’s enemies executed a copy of him, causing most of his friends and allies to lose hope and stop searching for him. The Sons of Ares eventually find and rescue Darrow and help him recover physically and psychologically. Darrow removes his gold sigils, becoming a colorless leader. The rebels make bold moves to destabilize Gold’s rule in the Solar System and the color caste system that has held the lower colors in slavery for so long. The plot is complex, with political and military strategy mixing into each move and countermove. The characters are bold and raw and memorable. The dialogue is sharp and witty.
With the whole scope of the story now in mind, I will say that I think this is my favorite book of the trilogy. I was better able to appreciate the tactics and strategy. I feel like I understood the characters better. The emotions felt more balanced. It’s complex, challenging, surprising, and dangerous. The audiobook performance is stellar.
This is for dreamers, chain-breakers, and tacticians.
(Rated R, Score 9/10, audiobook read by Tim Gerard Reynolds, 21:50)
Wingfeather Tales by Andrew Peterson
This short story collection is inspired by the Wingfeather Saga world and characters. First, a young thief saves a prince and his royal court. On his adventure, he learns the value of friends and names. Second, Ollister B. Pembrick falls in love with Sophia Stoop, only to lose her in a tragic misuse of a creature-taming potion. Third, a young Podo Helmer finds/steals a wagon full of boxes that are portals to other worlds. Fourth is a pirate tale of greedy dragon hunters who find themselves in the depths of the dragon king. This is also the story of how Podo Helmer loses his leg and develops his death feud with the King of Dragons. Fifth is the ballad of two young lads who fight over a young maiden for so long that they both end up losing her. Sixth, and longest, is a story about a couple who live through the nightmare of having their only daughter taken by the Fangs of Dang in the black carriage in the middle of the night. The father faces deep shame at having not fought for his daughter, and so he swears an oath to rescue the girl or, failing that, to seek bitter revenge. His quest takes him beyond the edges of the map, where his existence fades to survival of a primal quality as he seeks the Maker with his anger and unanswered questions. Can anything good come from such an adventure? The seventh story is not included in the audio version. It is a comic strip story about the Florid Sword and his sidekick. Each time I read a story in this collection, I find joy, wonder, and whimsy mixed with pain, loss, and other deep emotions. The characters are very relatable and animated, and the themes are timeless and true.
This book is for anyone looking for a Quill Diggle or an adventure tale.
(Rated PG, Score 8/10, audiobook read by Andrew Peterson, 10:38, Hardback, 384p.)
Platform Decay by Martha Wells (Murderbot #8)
Murderbot (SecUnit) is running a new module during its daring rescue mission in book 8. Murderbot has a new Mental Health module, which detects chemical changes in its organic parts and prompts it to check in with its emotions. It is hilarious and fascinating. I’m supposed to be learning how to identify and feel my own emotions, which is supposed to be healthy or something.
Murderbot’s mission is to sneak into a massive planetary torus (think giant space donut around a planet), find its humans, and haul them to safety. The torus is split into many zones, each governed, decorated, and maintained by different entities, giving the journey lots of extra texture. The extraction is complicated when SecUnit finds its humans and is blackmailed into extracting additional humans. The escape party sneaking through the torus is SecUnit, Naja (grandma), Farai (daughter), Sofi (granddaughter), and two children related to Supervisor Leonide. The party is forced to be quite dynamic as they traverse different zones on planes, ground vehicles, a boat, and other mass transit, but they don’t let Naja have a gun. Apparently, she’s not allowed to shoot anyone anymore.
I love the emotion checks. I love that the story is a running, internal dialogue. It is raw, real, snarky, hilarious, and sneaky-endearing. I love the logic, sci-fi setting, and futuristic tech details rolled into the story.
This is for Murderbot fans, older sci-fi readers, and mental health professionals.
(Rated R (language, violence), Score 10/10, audiobook read by Kevin R. Free, 5:45)
Rise of Light Bringer by Ted Dekker (And They Found Dragons #3)
Jack is out of options and out of time. The 169 human survivors on the Arc only have a few days’ worth of oxygen, and Jack hasn’t killed the dragon queens. Jack decides to join the Scalers so that they will take him to their queen. Instead, he finds the king of dragons. The dragon king calls Jack son, giving him black scales and power. Jack and the Scalers attack the silver tower and execute all of the silver dragons except one. Chasing the last silver dragon, Jack finds Yeshua, who pulls Jack out of the darkness and back into love. Jack forces a showdown with the king of dragons. It’s the only hope for the scalers and other humans. That’s the amazing thing about hope- you only need a tiny bit. Love conquers fear. Light pierces the darkness. Truth defeats deception.
This is for dragon riders, healers, and young warriors seeking truth.
(Rated G, Score 7/10, paperback, 193p.)
A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinneman (DCC #8)
Book 8 covers floors 10 and 11 of Dungeon Crawler World, Earth Edition. As Carl and Princess Donut continue to ignore the rules and chaos the game, the AI struggles to piece together a coherent strategy for these floors. Floor 10 is a series of races. Seven heats for all the remaining crawlers. The last team in each heat is eliminated/destroyed/exploded. Some crawlers try to work together to minimize the crawler-on-crawler races by not killing the NPC teams that are racing with them, but the AI has gone rogue and is a cheater, so there is inevitable ruin to their strategy.
Floor 11 is a Parade of Horribles, ending in a colosseum filled with mobs and bosses. The AI tries to tell the story of the AIs and Primals, but it is so unhinged that the story comes through as petty and vengeful. Carl and Princess Donut use their upgraded and looted vehicles to play their part in the parade. Carl then starts his “Carl Crazy” plan, where he does his “bend all the rules and break the game by doing unpredictable things” magic.
Book 8 felt calmer than the previous books. There were fewer new wrinkles introduced and less drama coming into the dungeon from the outside. The story was easier to follow (though definitely not simple), and the structure of the floors felt much more direct. Now we wait till 2028 for the last book.
This is for Crawlers, completionists, and Donut Holes.
(Rated R, Score 8/10, audiobook read by Jeff Hays, 20:27)
Non-Fiction Books
The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
We could have prevented the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in NYC. The signs and warnings were there. No one put them together soon enough. This book combines biographical content, research, and historical commentary to describe the evolution of the minds and philosophy/religious zeal that led to the devastating terrorist attack. First, Wright describes the evolution of modern Jihad through the life and ideas of the Egyptian Sayyid Qutb. Two radicals adopted the leadership of the movement- Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. During the Soviet-Afghan War, the terrorist organization called Al-Qaeda was born.
The book also discusses the efforts on the US side to understand the growing threat in the Middle East. John O’Neil is the main character who is obsessed with the bin Laden threat. Ultimately, the dysfunction in the US intelligence and investigative apparatus prevented the right people from having access to the right information to prevent the attack.
The history, philosophy, and religious research for this book are extensive. I found it interesting how the beliefs of the radical few warped the landscape of the world. Of course, humans have been using religion to abuse power since Cain, so this struggle is not new, but the scope of the danger has greatly increased with the power of modern weapons.
I worked diligently through this book. It was not as action-packed as some of the other books I read, but it was well-researched and well-written. I found the content more interesting as it touched on historical events that I could remember. I hope we learned some lessons from the devastating attack, and I hope we don’t forget those who paid the ultimate price while working to rescue others.
This is for historians and investigators.
(Rated PG-13, Score 8/10, audiobook read by the author, 16:31)
Procrastination Proof by Jon Acuff
Why do we wait so long to be remarkable? Procrastination. How can we stop waiting and get to doing? We need permission. Here are the four permissions (and the process to defeat procrastination): Permission to dream, permission to plan, permission to do, and permission to review. By dreaming, planning, doing, and reviewing, you can beat the procrastination habit.
The book is filled with lots of short chapters to make the learning simple, learnable, and direct. Here were some ideas I marked along the way:
Knowledge/wisdom should be tailored to meet the reader’s needs. I do this fairly naturally, but some folks need permission to adjust. For example, a basic rule is that if something takes less than 2 minutes to complete, just do it instead of adding it to your to-do list. But some literal folks might need permission to just do something that takes 3 minutes or 5 minutes. Tailor the solutions to fit your situation.
Seven truths to combat the lies about remarkable: 1. Remarkable exists. 2. Anyone who said you weren’t remarkable was talking to themselves. 3. Remarkable is simple. 4. Every part of your life can be remarkable. 5. Remarkable doesn’t cost community, it creates community. 6. Average people criticize remarkable people, but you would still rather be remarkable. 7. Remarkable is limitless.
~ We have permission to write our own owner’s manual.
~ Sometimes permission requires a breaker-bar belief.
~ The road to remarkable is paved with a whole lot of boring.
~ Questions to ask on your pretend podcast: What book have you read multiple times? How do you think successful people have lost their way? What traps do I need to look out for? These make every conversation a classroom.
~ Four F’s of scheduling: 1. Three days is firm. 2. Three weeks is fuzzy. 3. Three months is faint. 4. Three years is fiction.
~ Stress stacking is defeated by figuring out what is due in the next hour. Your whole list is not due right now. Just figure out what is actually due, and the overwhelm will dissipate.
~ I am not talented or smart enough to be unprepared.
~ If you say (or think), “I shouldn’t have to…”, ask yourself, “Then who should?” To defeat entitlement.
~ Reviewing is navel-gazing if it doesn’t help you improve. Reviewing is a super-power if it helps you make the next time better, smarter, cheaper…
~ You can’t change some things like the weather, but feelings, you can change those with a snickers, so if you don’t feel like doing something, change them till you do.
I like Jon Acuff's books because they are positive, engaging, funny, and useful. I reviewed some of this content with my work friends after he presented it at the Global Leadership Summit, and it has been useful for me as I’ve tackled some of the projects I have been putting off. Sometimes all it takes is permission.
This is for dreamers, planners, doers, and reviewers.
(Rated PG, Score 9/10, audiobook read by the author, 6:17)
Currently Reading-
Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldridge
A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle
I track my books in a database called Goodreads. It might help manage your reading lists.
Final Thoughts-
Hiking La Luz with my brothers was a massive milestone for me. I’ve been trying to climb that mountain for years. Once we got lost. Once we got snowed out halfway up. Then I blew up my knee, and I've been rehabbing since. The +3,500’ altitude gain over 8 miles is a great test of my recovery and stability. My knee proved that it could handle the challenge. My cardio was not as strong, going from KS altitude to over 10,678’ at the crest. Given the successful climb, I think I am ready to declare that phase of my training/recovery complete.
One of the strengths of my Southard family is that we show up when it matters most. Showing up for the big moments is so important. Relationships are built on trust, and trust is built when you show up even when it’s hard. Family is built on showing up. Stability is forged by showing up. Community happens where people show up. Strength is built by showing up and working hard. Who needs you to show up? Who will miss you if you don’t show up? What sucks worse than grieving? Grieving all alone. What is better than celebrating? Celebrating with all the people you love most. Show up for your people. It’s where the magic is.
Thanks for adventuring with me.
Joshua