the bookshelf
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november and december bookshelf.
I did almost no reading in October because we were busy settling into our house, and November is a little fuzzy, but I’ll share what I remember from the last two months, and since this list is long, I’ll try to keep my remarks short-winded (which you know is no small task for me). [Note: I purposely don’t want to give more than a sentence describing the contents of the books I read because I feel like there are plenty of online reviews that do that well; instead I want to use this space to give my personal opinion of the book and whether I’d recommend it.] School of Essential…
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september bookshelf.
7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, Jen Hatmaker Here’s something I love about staying at the Gentino’s. We arrive at their house and there is a huge stack of library books on the end table, ready and waiting for anyone’s perusal. The nice thing about this practice, is not only is there lots of reading material available, but chances are people are skimming through the same book at the same time, and great conversations are to be had as a result. 7 was a book I brought and contributed to the stack, and it was one of the books that generated conversation this month. Linda poked through it, Joe poked…
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august bookshelf.
This was quite a month for reading, but before you get too impressed, know that I didn’t finish all of these books. However, I’ll still give some thoughts on each one, in case you’re interested (if it takes you awhile to read through it all, don’t worry; it took several days to write!). 1. A Sacred Sorrow, Michael Card (recommendation from my dad) It’s hands down the best book I’ve ever read on suffering. I’ll be recommending this book to everyone, and you don’t need to be going through something truly horrible to resonate with it. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that suffering is common to all of…
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learning a city.
“I have loved making my way, imperfectly, around a foreign city on my own. I have loved walking endlessly and getting lost and arriving at the museum or restaurant or store I wanted to go to just as it was closing. Missing the point of my excursion has forced me, on so many occasions, to find the secondary smaller points: the old woman sweeping out her front yard and putting water out for the cats, the baker cleaning out his ovens for the afternoon, the two kids refilling their shoe shine boxes with polish and clean rags—all of these small moments found only by wandering down a side street behind…
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confession.
Confession: I have a problem with becoming emotionally attached to books. Not all books, mind you, but certain books, yes, I do. Example: I finished A Suitable Boy on Sunday afternoon. And now it’s Tuesday night. It is 10:06, well past the time for me to close my laptop and pick up a book (I am a firm believer in no media for an hour before bed-time). And the book I ought to be picking up is Mrs. Dalloway, since I promised myself to read every one of Barbara Kingsolver’s favorite authors. Well, I did start Mrs. Dalloway on Sunday night; really, I did. I read 18 pages. But since…
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a few mid-february thoughts.
Probably each of these thoughts is a blog post in itself, but I’ll just clump them all together in one eternal post-of-the-week. – Changes, changes for us (or, as Mom Gentino says, “You guys always have some sort of drama.”). But good changes. David and I started language study on Monday! You think it took us long enough to begin!? Well, this is really the perfect scenario. We went in with our friends to hire a tutor for five days a week. David and John meet with her from 11-12, and Alison and I from 12-1. We all love Neetu. She is fun, a fantastic teacher, and makes the hour fly…
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a year of reading.
2011 kicked off my first reading journal. I hope from now on to write down every book I read, every year, and a few lines about it. It’s been fascinating to look back over the year and see what books I read. It says a lot about me. I read fifty-six books last year (counting a few unfinished books that I read at least 200 pages of). Yes, I set aside books that don’t grip me or better me. Julie will never forgive me for reading half of her favorite novel David Copperfield and quitting. Some notable unfinished works of 2011 are Crime and Punishment, Shantaram, and I hate to…
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one-rat rule.
The roof of the Biryani Emperor was held up by rafters of wood, and a rodent had materialized on one of them. ‘Boy!’ Masterji shouted. ‘Look at that thing up there on the wood.’ The ‘boy’—the middle-aged waiter—looked up. Undeterred by all the attention, the sly rat kept moving along the rafter, like a leopard on a branch. The ‘boy’ yawned. Masterji pushed his biryani, not even half eaten, in the direction of the boy. ‘I have a rule. I can’t eat this.’ It was true: he had a ‘one-rat rule’—never revisit a place where a single rat has been observed. ‘You and your rule.’ Mr. Pinto helped himself to…
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loving the little years.
I finished Rachel Jankovic’s book, Loving the Little Years: Motherhood In the Trenches, just now. It is short and fun and practical, and is one I’ll probably reread many times; I highly recommend it. It makes me love my kids even more. It also makes me feel more overwhelmed with this task—this calling—of motherhood than ever. It inspires me with new ideas and, I think most of all, it makes me long to enjoy it all. I have so much to learn about motherhood, about dying to myself and consistent discipline and teaching my children about Jesus. But after reading this book, the two things I pray for are repentance…
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bleak house.
I am, at the moment, happily immersed in the world of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. I love Dickens. One of my top five favorite books of all time is David Copperfield, and who didn’t grudgingly love Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities when you were made to read them in high school? Mom Gentino read Bleak House for her book club last year and convinced me to try it. Try it, I did. It was one of the first (free!) books I downloaded when I got my Kindle. And I got exactly 34 percent through it before giving up. There are so many characters to keep straight. And five…