May Reads

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
2.5 stars, rounded down
It started out quite charming. A few chapters in I was thrilled with what a delight this book would be: a likeable protagonist who loves books, a love story on the way, and just enough WWII info to make it feel not quite completely frivolous (but not enough to be a downer in this lighthearted, sweet book.) I was disappointed. I finished the book only because I was hoping that the ending would redeem it. Everyone said this book was so amazing, and usually I agree with the hype. In this instance, however, I think I just didn't have the suspension of disbelief required. I was not convinced of the easy, universal adoration that was gushed toward Juliet, and that her correspondents who hadn't even met her would share personal, traumatic details of the German occupation. (I had similar skepticism toward the idealized Elizabeth, and then waves of guilt for feeling so.) I furthermore was not convinced that the members of the literary society would be such good writers, and would all write in the same style. I found the love interest plot predictable but disappointing. I was not a fan of the manner in which the details of wartime were sprinkled throughout, only to accent the much lighter and inadequate plot, as if having survived such things just made the characters that much more endearing. By the time I finished, I was relieved it was over.
"Goodwill isn't nearly enough, is it, Juliet? Not nearly enough." --Dawsey

Emma
Of course picking this one up in the throes of a Pride & Prejudice hangover was unfair. To always be comparing Emma and her story to Elizabeth Bennet and hers is undoubtedly setting Emma up to disappoint. So let's phrase it this way: reading Emma made me more in love with P&P. Emma's naivete was initially sweet enough, but her slowness to learn grated on me. Emma's self-centeredness to the very end left her an unlikeable protagonist (which is HUGE). Emma contains many characters I also found grating. I'm sure it was set up as satire, but their dialogues would just go on and on, and I found the grating excessive. Austen is smart and witty, as always, but this one just doesn't shine.

The Gifts of Imperfection
More listy, but not as great as Daring Greatly. Probably says I still have a lot to learn about shame that I found the lists more deflating than inspiring. Still, so many good points. Such a needed voice.

None Like Him by Jen Wilkin

"So it has been ever since: human beings created to bear the image of God instead aspire to become like God...Rather than rest in the immutability of God, we pointed to our own calcified patterns and declare ourselves unchanging and unchangeable" (23).

"While God is not able to be fully known, he is able to be sufficiently known" (34).

"Because God is infinite, he is incomprehensible, unable to be fully known. Because humans are finite, we are able to be fully known. And the implications of our own knowability should change the way we live...Others...can't know us fully. One reason this is true is because we are masters at concealment, even from those we love and trust. We excel at showing our finer qualities while carefully tucking away our shortcomings. And because other people have a limited interest in plumbing the depths of our character, we can get away with it. "Man looks on the outward appearance," and is content to do so, being so typically intent on his own hidden issues that he has little time to concern himself with the hidden issues of his neighbor. No, our neighbor cannot know us, but far more concerning is that we do not and cannot fully know ourselves. "Who can discern his [own] errors?" (Ps. 19:12)" (35-36).

"God is not only an expert on God. He is also an expert on me" (37).

April 2019

The Invention of Wings (reread) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Still Waiting (reread) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Courage, Dear Heart ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Daring Greatly ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
White Fragility ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 
Atomic Habits ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Courage, Dear Heart by Rebecca C Reynolds

"Then one day it hit me--dissecting the miraculous from the mundane isn't the primary goal of a believer. God is not sitting around waiting for me to give him credit for some divine activity that he's hidden inside obscurity. He's placed me inside a miraculous whole, a macro universe that operates according to his mind-blowing laws of biology, chemistry, and physics. Inside this miraculous whole, micro compressions of God's creative power--miraculous instances--sometimes display God's direct intervention. For example, on the same day that grapes grown by common grace were fermenting slowly in jugs (the miraculous whole), Jesus also turned one batch of water very quickly into wine (the miraculous instance). Both exist on the continuum of the divine creation. Both testify to our Father's involvement in the universe" (91).

"When the Bible speaks about fear--which is often--if speaks to all of this complexity. God knows your defaults. He knows your instincts. He knows your biology, your chemistry, your genetics, your experiences, ad your intellectual capacity. Every connection that occurs in your nervous system, every fluid released by every gland, every physiological reaction--from the lump in your throat to the drop of your stomach--is seen by the God who made you.
"This means that when JEsus comes to the believer saying, 'Do not fear,' he's not like humans who tell you not to worry. He understands what others cannot understand about us because he knows us back and forth, inside and out. He knows that for some of us, this is a command to walk on land, and for others, it's a command to walk on water" (93).

"So when feelings of fear, anxiety, or restlessness do hit, it's important to see them for what they are. They aren't indications that God has abandoned us. They aren't indications that we have messed up or that we are on the wrong track. They are emotions to address. That's all" (101).

"So if you struggle with fear while someone in your religious community brags about his or her boldness, don't let that comparison go too deep. This difference might not result from spiritual maturity so much as chemical capacity. And besides that, you serve a God who isn't limited by your fear. In fact, it's possible that your inborn sensitivity is vital to the specific work God has prepared for you" (102).

"So what if instead of shaming ourselves for our feelings, trying to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and hating ourselves when we fail, we took time to admit the real truth of our situation to God? What if we just said, 'Lord, I am scared. I need some help with this fear'? This is a powerful step to take because the gospel isn't about working harder to prove ourselves--it's about the power of God living in incapable humans" (103).

March 2019

Eats Shoots and Leaves ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 
None Like Him ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 💫
The Path Between Us ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 
Swing ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫
Digital Minimalism ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 
Pride and Prejudice ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 
Where the Crawdads Sing ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I love the idea of this, of opposing sides coming together for conversation rather than debate, of valuing the relationship more than winning. So many of the things Holland and Silvers said in the first third of the book that I read were quite true, even inspiring. But honestly, they are saying what I already intuitively know: we have a real situation with how polarized things are right now, and if anything is to improve, we need to listen with compassion and open-mindedness instead of self-righteousness and assuming the worst, and that most of us need to be more informed of the facts in general but it's tough to do that when most of the information reaching our ears is from pundits.

"Empathy does not equal endorsement."

"Judas both made a terrible mistake and remains beloved. Judas is both sinner and child of God just as we are." I'm with you when you say that I can value the sanctity of life AND value a woman and her body, but I'm not sure I agree on your theology there.

2019 January-April Book Quotes

Anna Karenina

On how Levin viewed Kitty: "for him all the girls in the world were divided into two classes: one class—all the girls in the world except her, and those girls with all sorts of human weaknesses, and very ordinary girls; the other class—she alone, having no weaknesses of any sort and higher than all humanity."

Right after Anna and Vronsky finally suddenly sleep together. 





"'My God! Forgive me!' she said, sobbing, pressing his hands to her bosom.





"She felt so sinful, so guilty, that nothing was left her but to




humiliate herself and beg forgiveness; and as now there was no one in




her life but him, to him she addressed her prayer for forgiveness.




Looking at him, she had a physical sense of her humiliation, and she




could say nothing more." 










"'If you try to break a cord that is slack it is not easy to break it, but strain that cord to its utmost and the weight of a finger will snap it.'" --the doctor










"Karenin expressed the view that the higher educaiton of women is generally confounded with the question of women's emancipaiton, and that was the only reason for ocnsidering it injurious.





"'I, on the contrary, think that these two questions are firmly bound together, said Pestsov. 'It is a vicious circle. Women are deprived of rights because of their lack of education, and their lack of education results from their lack of rights.'"










"Vronsky and Anna were talking in the hushed voice in which--partly not to offend the artist, and partly not to utter aloud a stupid remark such as is so easily made when speaking about art--people generally talk at picture exhibitions." 










Karenin to Serezha: "It's not the reward but the work that is precious. I wish you understood that. You see, if you take pains and learn in order to get a reward, the work will seem hard; but when you work...if you love your work, you will find your reward in that.'"
















The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas





"A quiet conscience does not occasion such paleness in the cheeks, and such fear in the hands of a man."--the Count





 "To no class of persons is the presentation of a gratuitous opera box




more acceptable than to the wealthy millionaire, who still boasts




economy while carrying a king's ransom in his waistcoat




pocket."--narrator





"...in the eyes of the world, a large fortune covers all defects"--The Count





"You cannot control circumstances, my dear sir. Man proposes, and God disposes." --The Count










Digital Minimalism





“ A major reason that I recommend taking an extended break before trying to transform your digital life is that without the clarity provided by detox, the addictive people of the technologies will bias your decisions” (70).
“ for this process to succeed, you must also spend this. Trying to rediscover what is important to you and what you enjoy outside the world of the always – on, shiny digital.… For many people, their compulsive fill newspapers over avoid created by a lack of a well-developed leisure life” (71).
“… Solitude can be banished and even in the quietest setting if you allow input from other mines to intrude… Solitude requires you to move past reacting to information created by other people and focus instead on your own thoughts and experiences – wherever you happen to be (94).
“Many of these [digital communication] tools are engineered to hijack our social instincts to create an addictive allure” (143). “If you don’t first reform your relationship with tools like social media and text messaging, attempts to shoehorn more conversation [or whatever you decide is most meaningful, healthy, etc] into your life are likely to fail. It can’t simply be digital business as usual augmented with more time for authentic conversation/the shift in behavior will need to be more fundamental” (146).
 “Turtle draws a distinction between connection, her word for the low-bandwidth interactions that define our online social lives, and conversation, the much richer, high band with communication that defines real world encounters between humans” (144). Terkel is quoted, “Face-to-face conversation unfolds slowly. It teaches us patience. We attend to tone and nuance…When we communicate on our digital devices, we learn different habits” (145).
“... Conversation is the good stuff; it’s what we crave as humans and what provides us with the sense of community and belonging necessary to thrive. Connection, on the other hand, the appealing in the moment, provides very little of what we need “ (150).
“The key is the intention behind what you decide, not necessarily its details” (151).
“Consolidate texting” so it doesn’t so closely resemble an ongoing conversation that you are tempted to view it as a substitute.
On the importance of developing a “high-quality leisure life”...often digital noise helps us ignore the fact that we don’t have high-quality leisure lives. Without access to “mindless swiping and tapping,” it’s easy to become discontent, not necessarily for “craving a particular digital habit, but because he didn’t know what to do with himself once his general access to the world of connected screens was removed” (168). “Many minimalists will describe a phenomenon in which digital habits that they previously felt to be essential to their daily schedule suddenly seemed frivolous once they became more intentional about what they did with their time. When the void is filled, you know longer need distractions to help you avoid it” (169).
Quoting from Arnold Bennet’s How to Live on 24 Hours A Day: “ One of the chief things which my typical man has to learn is that the mental faculties are capable of a continuous hard activity; they do not tire like an arm or a leg. All they want is change — not rest, except in sleep” (176).
“A foundational’s name in digital minimalism is that new technology, when used with care and attention, create a better life then either Luddism or mindless adoption” (193).





Eats, Shoots and Leaves
"'Come inside,' it says, 'for CD's, VIDEO's, DVD's, and BOOK's.'





"If this satanic sprinkling of redundant apostrophes causes no little gasp or horror or quickening of the pulse, you should probably put down this book at once. By all means congratulate yourself that you are not a pedant or even a stickler; that you are happily equipped to live in a world of plummeting punctuation standards; but just don't bother to go any further. For any true stickler, you see, the signs of the plural word 'Book's' with an apostrophe in it will trigger a ghastly private emotional process similar to the stages of bereavement, though greatly accelerated. First there is shock. Within seconds, shock gives way to disbelief, disbelief to pain, and pain to anger. Finally (and this is where the analogy breaks down), anger gives way to a righteous urge to perpetrate an act of criminal damage with the aid of a permanent marker."
"Part of one's despair, of course, is that the world cares nothing for the little shocks endured by the sensitive stickler."
"It is no accident that the word 'punctioious' ('attentive to formality or etiquette') comes from the same original root word as punctuation."
"Sticklers unite, you have nothing to loser but your sense of proportion, and arguably you didn't have a lot of that to begin with. maybe we won't change the world, but at least we'll feel better....Because--here's the important thing--you won't be alone. That's always been the problem for sticklers, you see. The feeling of isolation."
"A degree in English language is not a prerequisite for caring about where a bracket is preferred to a dash, or a comma needs to be replaced by a semicolon. If I did not believe that everyone is capable of understanding where an apostrophe goes, I would not be writing this book."
"Next week: nouns and apostrophe's! (BBC website advertising grammar course for children)"
"Nowadays the fashion is against grammatical fussiness. A passage peppered with commas--which in the past would have indicated painstaking and authoritative editorial attention--smacks simply of no backbone."
The yob's comma: "'The yob's comma, of course, has no syntactical value: it is the equivalent of a fuddled gasp for breath, as the poor writer marshals his battered thoughts.'"
"Yet there will always be a problem aobut getting rid of teh hyphen: if it's not extra-marital sex (with a hyphen), it is perhaps extra marital sex, which is quite a different bunch of coconuts. Phrases abound that cry out for hyphens. Those much-invoked examples of the little used care, the superfluous hair remover, the pickled herring merchant, the slow moving traffic and the two hundred odd members of the Conservative Party would all be lost without it."
When she says that the internet "cannot be used as an instrument of oppression and is endlessly inclusive"---I can't tell if she's being serious?
"Proper punctuation is both the sign and the cause of clear thinking."
O Heavy Lightness Lent guide by Erin Moon
Our own personal happiness is the scourge of modern belief because it often comes at the expense of our soul, or the soul of someone else...He wants to bring life to us through His gifts, because His goal is not our happiness, but abundant life (Day 9)
I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening)
“We grow when our ideas about policy and problems are challenged. We become better thinkers, more articulate speakers, and more earnest listeners through the daily discomfort of engaging with other people about difficult subjects. Conflict is healthy. Conflict is necessary. Without conflict we stay in a comfortable state of arrested development” (147).
Quoting Dr Sherry Pagoto—“Exercise is uncomfortable— uncomfortable relative to our typical reality, that is. We live in a society where we keep the indoor temperature adjusted to perfection all year round, wrap ourselves and soft clothing, wear thick-soled shoes to protect our feet from harm, lay on cushy beds draped in poofy covers, and shower and scrub with warm water and soap every single day. Is all of this First-World pampering making us intolerant to even mild physical discomfort? Maybe exercise isn’t too uncomfortable – maybe our every day lives are a little too comfortable.”

“United without being unanimous”
Still Waiting
“God understands. Not one tear has been lost on him. Not a single one. Your suffering is as real to him as it has been to you. He knows what it has cost you, and he wants to comfort you in your pain” (156).

Courage, Dear Heart
“Posture tends to reveal as much about a scholar as his arguments.”
“Even when God is severe, he does not project indifference.”

Emma
Emma hated "always doing more than she wished and less than she ought."