July 2019

Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren

As someone who tends to either mourn the dailyness of life or just completey disengage, this book was so beneficial. The truth is, the human condition means that, "So much of life, unavoidably, is maintenance." Warren illuminated how this is actually compatible with faith in Jesus. Warren's insights on the body, daily struggles, and nourishment were especially helpful. But I think the most challenging thing I read was, "The call to contentment is a call amidst the concrete circumstances I find myself in today." I will have to re-read this soon.

I wouldn't have been ready for this book if I hadn't read James K.A. Smith's You Are What You Love first. He introduced me to so many ideas and vocabulary of which I had previously been too ignorant even to be interested in this book. For example, in my experience the word liturgy reeked of empty tradition and half-hearted worship gatherings, until I read Smith define liturgy as "rituals that are loaded with ultimate story about who we are and what we're for." I'm so glad this book came to me at this time. I found many chapters quite helpful, but my favorites discussed the body, daily struggles, and nourishment.

Warren's reflections on living in a body were so illuminating to me. Thanks to Smith for first opening the door to a whole new way of existing, by challenging me to consider what it means that Christianity is an embodied faith. Warren discusses what some of the necessary repercussions of this fact, namely, that "So much of life, unavoidably, is maintenance" (37). She also draws attention to Romans 12:1-2 teaching that our bodies are instruments of worship (not just a "dirty source of evil" (38)). I can't wait for Lore Wilbert's book to come out so I can read her reflections on this! I've learned a lot from her via Instagram & her blog on this.

Particularly challenging were Warren's insights that began with a detailed description of what happened in her heart and mind when she lost her keys. Who hasn't been through such a daily occurrence that seems so monumentally derailing? She says, "Small things go wrong...[causing overwhelm, frustration, anxiety, anger, and fear]...and here is where the Savior designs to meet me" (53). "The call to contentment is a call amidst the concrete circumstances I find myself in today" (55). That quote right there might be the number one take-away. So challenging.

The chapter on nourishment offered some wise words about our bodily and spiritual nourishment. So helpful.

I highly recommend this book. Hope to read it again soon.

Books this book added to my TBR:

James KA Smith Desiring the Kingdom and Imagining the Kingdom

Harrison Dear Martin by Nic Stone

A dearly loved fave from July 2018 is now a dearly loved fave of July 2019. Challenging questions, emotionally charged issues. Realistic, yet hopeful. Nuanced with a beam of idealism. I (still) highly recommend it.

"'That idiot "pundit" would rather believe you and Manny were thugs than believe a twenty-year veteran cop made a snap judgment based on skin color. He identifies with the cop. If the cop is capable of murder, it means he's capable of the same. He can't accept that.'

'Well that's his hangup. Shouldn't be my problem.'

'You're right. But it is your problem because you're affected by it. I know it's shitty, excuse my language, and it's definitely not fair. But these people have to justify Garrett's actions. They need to believe you're a bad guy who got what he deserved in order for their world to keep spinning the way it always has.'

....

'You can't change how other people think and act, but you're in full control of you. When it comes down to it, the only question that matters is this: If nothing in the world ever changes, what type of ma are you gonna be?'" (151-152)

Tish Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

This book is engrossing and suspenseful in the best way. (It
is unusual for me to enjoy a courtroom drama mystery-ha!) It gives a
provocative, emotional, and unusually nuanced look at parenting. It
focuses on the lives of immigrants and of families with children with
disabilities. This book reminds me a lot of Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You—partly because Miracle's Young family immigrate from Korea, and Everything's
James Lee is the son of Chinese immigrants, and both stories raise
questions about being Asian and Asian-American in the US, but even more
than that, both have narration alternating among many different
characters, each chapter revealing a new tidbit that changes your
perspective of the Big Event that happens at the beginning but you don't
really understand until the end. Unlike character-driven Everything, Miracle Creek was
plot-driven. There definitely was no likeable protagonist to be found
here, but my opinions of the characters changed multiple times, and the
one that was my least favorite at the beginning was my favorite at the
end, and it was a thrilling ride.

I didn't look up Content
Warnings, and wish I'd known there would be descriptions of marital sex
and sexual assault of a minor. Let those who are sensitive to such
content be warned. (And feel free to ask me if you have questions.)

Tish Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Jane Austen is always there for me when I want a story where the biggest problem is how tough it is to be a gentlewoman in 1800. Her smarts and sass always make the carefree story so delicious.  This is what drew me to my first reading of Northanger Abbey. Catherine is a likeable character that reminds me of myself in some ways: rather naive (often humorously so); always taking the bits of known information and contriving whole extrapolated imagined narratives, often much to her demise. Austen’s satire of some of society’sfouble standards, her jibes at gothic novels and comments about novels in general were fun...and of course a decent love story! I give the book 3 stars--I liked it.

Tish Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

“We were rich in our stories.” — Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Fruit of the Drunken Tree

I'm re-reading a few or 2018's faves, and yeah, this one is still 5 bright stars.

Our
two narrators are Chula, who is 8, and her family's new 13-year-old
maid, Petrona. Seeing the danger, violence, and corruption that marked
the height of Escobar’s power through their eyes, described along with
other everyday happenings of girlhood, was so powerful. Their
experiences are so contrasted, not just because of the age difference,
but because of their differences in class and situation. Chula has a
stay-at-home mother and lives in a gated community. Petrona is trying to
provide for her mother and siblings after her family’s farm is burned
down and her father and two brothers taken by a paramilitary group. Both
face more than their fair share of despair and trauma. I found the
fates of these two characters, and the striking differences between
them, both heart-wrenching and compelling.

Re-reading this book
during this political moment made me realize that it’s probably
impossible to distinguish between my appreciation for the story and the
way it beautifully demonstrates what I hold to be fact: some people are
in need of asylum, and it is the right thing to make that process more
feasible and not impossible. I think this story is just as powerful and
important for people who disagree. We all need to hear stories from all
kinds of people and perspectives. I'm working on that.

Tish Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal

Pride & Prejudice retellings are popular, but this is my first,
(except part one of Pamela Aldan's account of Darcy's perspective.)
Kamal retells P&P, (originally set in England around 1800,) as set
in Pakistan in 1990. The plot, themes, and social criticism show
remarkable parallels between the two cultures. Even the names are just
slightly-adjusted from Austen's best-loved work. Kamal's humor and
social-criticisms felt a bit more forced than Austen's. She also
attempted to do an awful lot: along with showing hypocrisy, shameful
double standards, and harms of  patriarchy, she also touched on
colonization, homosexuality, body image and fat-shaming, and abortion.
At times Alys came across as an embodiment of the wisdom of progressive
thinking, and less like an individual human, but on the whole I found
this read enjoying. My favorite part of the heart of Pride and Prejudice
is the value of holding to one's principles despite opposition
(financial ill-effects, cultural pressure, etc), and the treasure of
finding a partner that shares your values, and with whom you can
cultivate a relationship generating mutual growth. Kamal presents that
beautifully. She also manages to create a novel that, like Austen's, can
read as a rom-com, or as a social commentary on upper middle class
women's issues.

It was distracting to me that Alys
loved and taught P&P but never acknowledged that she was living it. I
mean, how does Alysba Binat, with sisters named Jena, Mari, Quitty, and
Lady, who marries a Mr. Darsee, not acknowledge that?  Maybe, (I'm
reaching for a reason here) that points out the questions Kamal is
raising about colonization and literature. Alys loves English
literature. She has lived in many cultures, and is advantaged because
she knows English and has a good accent. She says, "Reading widely can
lead to an appreciation of the universalities across cultures." Darsee
says, "Sure. But it shouldn't just be a one-sided appreciation. We've
been forced to seek ourselves in the literature of others for far too
long." Perhaps Kamal's creation of this work, an original take and also
an imitation of the English literature she loves, and of Alys, who loves
and lives it, but still doesn't see her story as being identical, is a
way to declare the uniqueness of cultures and each person's experience.

Four stars--I really liked it. Here are some of my fave quotes:

Alys:
"If we women decide to marry according to standards, they we are
gold-diggers, but when you weigh us in matters of looks and chasteness,
then you're just being smart. I can't stand these double standards."

Alys: "Easier to commemorate history when you've been the coloniser and not the colonised."