Grandma Ruth Doesn't Go to Funerals

By: Sharon J. Mondragón

Jean's copy, paperback, 247 pages (including acknowledgements and a recipe)

Published: 2025

Genre: Christian realistic fiction

I was so ready for a "lighter" book and this one fit the bill! I've been on library waiting lists for a month, but I did find a pdf of the first few chapters online. Thankfully, a book club friend finished early enough to give me her copy in church yesterday. I purposely didn't take a sub job so I could finish it before book club tonight!

Grandma Ruth's health doesn't allow her to attend funerals any more, so she sends her granddaughter Sarah Elizabeth in her stead. The Southern charm is strong in this book and I loved the mystery of what exactly P.B. Harrington meant on his death bed. (We get the answer on the second to last page of the story!)

I'm surprised I stuck so many post-its in, since it's a pretty lightweight book. I think I just enjoyed it so darn much!

Page 27: "The macaroni and cheese casserole had been polished off long ago, but I didn't swing by the kitchen to take the dish home. Under Patti Sue's supervision, it was undoubtedly already washed, dried, and sitting on a counter, but I was under strict instructions from Grandma Ruth to retrieve the casserole dish one week after the reception, so as to visit with (read that check on) the bereaved."

Grandma Ruth was a wise old gal. She had Sarah trained well!

Page 31: "Grandma Ruth fixed me with a stare that told me I was indulging in wild speculation that bordered on disrespect. It was just a look, but it had all those words in it."

I love when people have a "look" that communicates so much more than words!

Page 47: "But as I looked into those kind eyes, something stirred, as if hope had caught its breath. I took a moment to clear the lump of gratitude from my throat before I went back into the parlor."

This is one of my favorite parts of the book! Doc Milford's words of encouragement were what she needed after having had such a bad experience with Jake. (I groaned when she was tempted by Jake coming back into her life and trying to sweet talk her back.) The image of "as if hope had caught its breath" really struck me. Hope is powerful!

Page 48: "I know most people my age keep their lives on their phones, but I like paper, section tabs, and fancy writing implements."

Me, too! I love office supplies.

Page 55: "She's been nitpicky about everything to do with words since high school, which explains why she has taken so well to working in a law office. I'm a numbers girl and could care less. Or is it couldn't care less? Never mind - you know what I mean."

This just made me giggle. I'm more of a words person than a number person, but I love this little aside.

Page 99: "During our final confrontation, the one in which I threw the engagement ring at him across the room, he told me that the situation was all my fault. He would never have taken up with Buffy if I had just given in.

He said calling off the wedding was a lucky escape for him, as I was probably frigid, anyway. It was as if he never realized just how warm my heart and all the rest of me was toward him, how my blood roared in my ears when he touched me, or how many times the only thing that kept me from going over the brink was the mental image of Grandma Ruth's piercing blue eyes."

He was such an awful creep! I understand her desire and temptation, but am SO glad that it was drilled in to her to not have sex before marriage. She experienced heartache, but not to the degree she would have had she "given in" to him.

Page 122: "I hated having to read between the lines, with all the suspicion and second-guessing that went with it."

She goes on, but my patience ran out. Stop jumping to conclusions!

Page 127: "Then, I cried and cried and felt that God was too big. Too big to care about me. My broken heart was a mere drop in the bucket of the vast suffering in the world."

 

God being too big . . . her grandma means it in a way that was meant to encourage Sarah to trust Him, not to make her think He was too big to care about her.

 

Page 161: "'I do not gossip, Sarah Elizabeth, nor do I pass gossip,' Grandma Ruth said through tight lips.

'Of course not,' I said. 'You gather information.'

'That's right, young lady, and don't you forget it.'"

 

The whole focus on gossip / not gossiping got a little old . . . according to the Bible, gossip is sin. Period.

Page 174: "Remember, 'if your lips you would keep from slips, five things regard with care -'

"I know, I know. 'Of whom you speak, to whom you speak, and how and when and where.'"

 

When  Sarah's mom starts the saying and Sarah finishes it, I love that they have that common knowledge / teaching. That's a good way to raise kids - with sayings that help them learn the right way to live and speak.

Page 181: "It was bad enough that his credit cards were maxed out and it looked like I'd have to pick up the check. But he also didn't know which of his cards he'd maxed out. That says he doesn't pay attention to his money and probably lives beyond his means. So, it doesn't matter if he comes into an inheritance or not. It'll be gone in no time, and he'll have no idea where it went."

Ugh. People like this baffle me. Don't spend money you don't have. Don't live beyond your means. I love that Meredith saw this right away on a first date!

Page 226: "Yes, I know I told Miss Charlotte she looked lovely when she really looked like something the cat dragged in, but that's different. Completely, bless-your-heart different."

Lying is lying, Sarah. But the Southern "bless your heart" reference clarifies it.

I enjoyed the book and have even requested another title by this author. The recipe in the back was for the "famous" macaroni and cheese dish. I was kind of hoping it would be for the lemon bars . . . It will be fun to talk about this at book club tonight. I'm so glad I had the chance to finish it!

One Child: A teacher's struggle to save a gifted and troubled girl / Basic Needs: A year with street kids in a city school

One Child by Torey L. Hayden (publ. 1980)

Basic Needs by Julie Landsman (publ. 1993)

 

As I just added a "new" book to my collection (conversational French which belonged to my mother back when she was trying to learn - 1960s?), I knew I had to remove a book. I simply own too many things!

I know I have read both of these before, but I could not find them in either my blog or on my old Excel sheet. I kept them because they are very good and capture a time and an attitude about why I became a teacher. I care about students. I want them to succeed. These books are both inspiring and frustrating. 

But time is becoming more and more precious than money or things and so they need to go. (In a previous time, I would have re-read them and done thorough blog entries.) 

I'll probably drop them into a Little Free Library and hope a teacher gets them.

The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance

By: Rebecca Clarren

Libby audiobook 9 hours

Read by: the author

Published: 2023

Genre: non-fiction, history

 

This was recommended to me by a dear friend. It is an incredibly well researched and well written book. I'm so glad it was read by the author! What an experience to listen to this. Challenging in a lot of ways, but so worthwhile.

This summary (author unknown) is wonderful. I copied it from Birchbark Books because I thought that was a good option (and it's a wonderful store in the Twin Cities):

Growing up, Rebecca Clarren only knew the major plot points of her tenacious immigrant family’s origins. Her great-great-grandparents, the Sinykins, and their six children fled antisemitism in Russia and arrived in the United States at the turn of the 20th century, ultimately settling on a 160-acre homestead in South Dakota. Over the next few decades, despite tough years on a merciless prairie and multiple setbacks, the Sinykins became an American immigrant success story.

What none of Clarren’s ancestors ever mentioned was that their land, the foundation for much of their wealth, had been cruelly taken from the Lakota by the United States government. By the time the Sinykins moved to South Dakota, America had broken hundreds of treaties with hundreds of Indigenous nations across the continent, and the land that had once been reserved for the seven bands of the Lakota had been diminished, splintered, and handed for free, or practically free, to white settlers. In The Cost of Free Land, Clarren melds investigative reporting with personal family history to reveal the intertwined stories of her family and the Lakota, and the devastating cycle of loss of Indigenous land, culture, and resources that continues today.

 

Since I was listening instead of reading text, I have fewer notes. Here are some of my observations and take-aways:

•  The slaughter of buffalo with the goal of eradicating Indians (there are source writings that point to this "solution" to the "Indian problem") is even more horrific than killing the buffalo for sport!
• The lies and "promises made, promises broken" strategy of dealing with Native Americans is simply evil. Labeling them "savage" or in need of "culture" is so ignorant and twisted.
• I didn't really understand the Treaty of Fort Laramie (signed in 1868) and the link I've provided uses pretty mild language. The fact that we "gave" indigenous peoples "rights" to their own land . . . and then tried to take it back to find gold (and later, oil) is just another example of evil, greedy, selfish treatment. Ugh!
• Why did our government use coercion and outright fraud to steal from people? And reneg on promises and treaties? And then continue to steal and subjugate? Why do we continue to rationalize decisions which were clearly self-serving.
• I will need to wait a while, but I think I need to read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee . . . It's kind of painful to read these books, so I'll put that on a "later" list.
• Frank L. Baum . . . yuk. I used to think more highly of him. He was definitely part of the problem rather than a solution.
• The continuous use by white historians of the term "battle" for what was definitely a "massacre" by U.S. Soldiers of Indian encampments . . . words have power.
• One of the most interesting parts of her book is how she describes the treatment of her Jewish ancestors escaping ill treatment in Europe and their benefiting by "free land" in South Dakota. Hence the title of the book - there was a very high cost to this land!
• She says that Hitler was inspired by the U.S. government's treatment of American Indians and his concentration camps were modeled on Indian reservations. I think Hitler had his own level of evil going on, but for him to be inspired by some of our country's worst policies toward our neighbors is so sad.
• Forced lease, 1923 anthrax, cattle vs. buffalo, . . . this book is both interesting and informative. Clarren has done an amazing job and gave me lots of food for thought.
• I loved the epilogue and the ways we can all think about restitution and reparation. I may read this again in a few years (in print) and will definitely recommend it to others.
  

 

Night (With Connections)

By: Elie Wiesel

Holt, Rinehart, and Winston added a  plethora of other writings with various authors and publication dates

Published: 1956 (original by Wiesel) 

Borrowed from NPHS . . . and I wish I owned a copy

hardcover 193 pages

Genre: Holocaust memoir

 

I thought I owned a copy of this book, but I didn't find one after ransacking my shelves. I had started reading this when I was subbing one day at the high school. I asked if I could borrow it because I liked how there were so many other essays, short stories, etc. at the back of it.

 

Sadly, I finished reading this right after the Civil War quilts book and right before starting one on the treatment of Native Americans . . . I definitely need to find a "lighter" book to read soon!

 

This one was powerful and I have a LOT of post-it notes sticking out of it. I'm so glad Wiesel survived and has this experience to share with the rest of the world, but I'm horrified at man's inhumanity to man.

 

Page  25: "Time passed very quickly. It was already four o'clock in the morning. My father ran to right and left, exhausted, comforting friends, running to the Jewish Council to see if the edict had not been revoked in the meantime. To the very last moment, a germ of hope stayed alive in our hearts."

A germ of hope. Hope is so powerful and necessary. I don't think they could possibly have imagined what was truly coming at that point, but they had already been rounded up into the ghettos and were now being evicted for a worse fate.

Page 41: "A lorry drew up at the pit and delivered its load - little children. Babies! Yes, I saw it - saw it with my own eyes . . . those children in the flames. (Is it surprising that I could not sleep after that? Sleep had fled from my eyes.)

Seeing something horrific has a way of imprinting on our brains. I can't imagine the horror and grief of seeing Nazis killing and disposing of innocent children as though they were garbage.

Page 43: "Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.

Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever."

 

He goes on with "Never shall I . . . " and it absolutely breaks my heart. I can't be pious and claim I'd retain my faith in God were I faced with this kind of nightmare. My worst struggles cannot hold even a tiny dim candle to what Wiesel and so many others experienced during WWII. There are so many, many things I'm curious to ask God about. The loss of life due to Hitler's Nazi Party isn't the only time in human history that people have acted like evil monsters, but it's certainly legendary. 

Page 47: "His face has stayed in my memory to this day. A tall man, about thirty, with crime inscribed upon his brow and in the pupils of his eyes. He looked us over as if we were a pack of leprous dogs hanging onto our lives."

This description of the SS officer who "welcomed" them to Auschwitz is chilling. How awful to have such sharp, awful mental images the rest of your life.

Page 66: "Within a few minutes, the camp looked like an abandoned ship. Not a living soul on the paths. Near the kitchen, two cauldrons of steaming hot soup had been left, half full. Two cauldrons of soup, right in the middle of the path, with no one guarding them! A feast for kings, abandoned, supreme temptation! Hundreds of eyes looked at them, sparkling with desire. Two lambs, with a hundred wolves lying in wait for them. Two lambs without a shepherd - a gift. But who would dare?"

His writing is so incredibly effective. He makes me feel the hunger and fear.

Page 74: "Why, but why should I bless Him? In every fiber I rebelled. Because He had had thousands of children burned in His pits? Because He kept six crematories working night and day, on Sundays and feast days?"

He goes on in this strain, but doesn't get to the point that he recognizes that God gives us free will and some people choose evil. Why does God allow this evil is a separate question. Wiesel's anger and refusal to praise when the others are saying the Mourner's Kaddish is understandable, though. Again, I do not know how I would survive such an extremely horrific situation (and I genuinely hope I never have to find out).

Page 83: ". . . if he could have gone on believing in God, if he could have seen a proof of God in this Calvary, he would not have been taken by the selection. But as soon as he felt the first cracks forming in his faith, he had lost his reason for struggling and had begun to die."

Wiesel is talking about another prisoner, Akiba Drumer. Losing your "reason for struggling" can also be seen in hospitals and other places. If you have hope, a purpose, something to fight for, your chances are good. When you lose that, the end is already near.

Page 87: "'I've got more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He's the only one who's kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.'"

Wiesel was in the camp hospital after an operation and the fellow in the bed next to him said that they would not get out alive. Their entire conversation is painful but illuminating.

Page 106: "When they withdrew, next to me were two corpses, side by side, the father and the son.

I was fifteen years old."

Ugh. The son had been so eager to eat both rations of bread (due to starvation and his father's frailty) but was killed by others who wanted the bread. And Wiesel was only fifteen years old watching this happen. Tragic.

Page 115: "Don't forget that you're in a concentration camp. Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else. Even of his father. Here, there are no fathers, no brothers, no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone. I'll give you a sound piece of advice - don't give your ration of bread and soup to your old father. There's nothing you can do for him. And you're killing yourself. Instead, you ought to be having his ration."

Eliezer (as his father called him) struggled with starvation and kindness, caring for his father and surviving. He wanted to eat more, of course! But he wanted his father to survive as well. Heart breaking.

A Spring Morning by Ida Fink (one of the "Connections" pieces) Page 129: "'Are those trucks coming for us, Papa?' she asked, and he could no longer hold back his tears. The child knew! Five years old! The age for teddy bears and blocks. Why did we have her? She'll never go to school, she'll never love."

I cannot fathom the deep grief of parents who could not protect their children from the nightmare heading toward them. Just as I cannot fathom the parents of children in Gaza right now, having no safe place to live and raise a family without fear of bombs and death. My life is so safe and easy! The end of this short story left me in tears. It is beautifully written.

My Black Messiah part of Mauthausen May 1945 by Sonia Schreiber Weitz (one of the "Connections" pieces) page 149:

You can read it here.

 

This poem, especially the line "But deep within his gentle eyes . . . A flood of devastating pain, his innocence forever slain." This just gets me! I'd love to read some first person accounts from the American soldiers who liberated the camps.

The Yellow Star by S.B. Unsdorfer (one of the "Connections" pieces) Page 153: "Hundreds of prisoners who in their wild hunger had rushed the kitchens and stormed the food stores, died the next day sitting on the toilets or lying on their beds. Long, long after the Nazi captors had deserted their prisoners, death raged throughout the camp and took its toll in thousands."

Unsdorfer wrote about his own experiences in Buchenwald. How awful to finally be liberated and then see so many die because of actually eating food after being nearly starved to death. 

The Yellow Star by S.B. Unsdorfer (one of the "Connections" pieces) Page 155: "Who, I wondered, would again care to hear of God, of religion, of rituals, and of observances?

I knew that the Germans would now have to supply us with food, that the British would bring drugs and medical aid, that the Americans would flood us with cigarettes, chocolates, and vitamins. But who would provide the religious serum which was so necessary to instill some spirit of Godliness into a hopelessly crushed people?"

Oh! To meet physical needs is one thing, but it is much more vital and difficult to provide spiritual healing. Encouragement and hope have power.

The Yellow Star by S.B. Unsdorfer (one of the "Connections" pieces) Page 158: "I Believe

I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.

I believe in love even when feeling it not.

I believe in God even when He is silent.

Inscription on the walls of a cellar in Cologne, Germany, where Jews hid from Nazis.

 

This is a good poem. Faith is all about believing in things you cannot prove.

 

An Inner Freedom from Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (one of the "Connections" pieces) Page 170: "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

I've been reading Frankl's book off and on (I really have too many books going on at a time!) and I love his look at humanity.

A Cambodian Nightmare by Alex Tizon (one of the "Connections" pieces) Page 175: "'The best way to survive was to shut up,' says Lee Lim, a 31-year-old Cambodian who works as an Asian liaison for King County police."

 

Writing about the Khmer Rouge and the atrocities committed in Cambodia in the 1960s and 70s, Tizon acknowledges that most people victimized do not talk about their experiences. This is in part due to how people were tortured and killed for "dissatisfaction" and in part due to their cultural attitudes toward the following.

A Cambodian Nightmare by Alex Tizon (one of the "Connections" pieces) Page 175: "Likewise, clinicians must work toward understanding the Cambodian world view, a largely pantheistic view that does not make easy separations between spirit, body and mind; natural and supernatural; past and present lives."

A Cambodian Nightmare by Alex Tizon (one of the "Connections" pieces) Page 175: "It was the anger of Jewish survivors of the Nazi holocaust that fueled the telling and re-telling of their story to the rest of the world."

Here's to anger! Sometimes we need to get mad and speak up about injustice, evil, and wrong. No, not sometimes. All the time. I may need to go read some Bonhoffer . . . 

Why do They Visit? A Look at the Success of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by John Aloysius Farrell (one of the "Connections" pieces) Page 182: "What is worse? Evil? Or vacillation in its presence, in the cause of comfort, by those who knew better?"

He's writing about Jesse Owens getting to run in the 1936 Olympics . . . "because the US Olympic Committee, in fear of further offending its Nazi hosts, forced two Jewish runners - Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller - off the team for the 400-meter relay." I didn't know about this! I've never been to the museum, but I would like to experience it someday. I need to be challenged out of my comfort zone.

Why do They Visit? A Look at the Success of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by John Aloysius Farrell (one of the "Connections" pieces) Page 185: "Students are starved . . . for moral education and discourse, for arenas where they can think about talk about fundamental human behavior. . . . In an age of relativity, here is certainty. Here is Evil. . . . If there is indeed Evil, and not merely victimization, must there not be Good, not just conditioning? And if there is Good, may there not yet be God?"

 

Wow. This guy is mostly talking about the Holocaust museum, but he's also talking about young people's need for some moral truth. I kind of want my own copy of this book. The Connections are such good supplements to Wiesel's writing. (I do own copies of Maus and Maus II, by Art Spiegelman.) 

Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech December 10, 1986 by Elie Wiesel (one of the "Connections" pieces) Page 187: "And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

I had to look up info on Wiesel and found that he died in 2016 at age 87. I wonder what he would have had to say about the world today. His entire speech is simply amazing. This whole book was amazing. And painful.

 

The Civil War Diary Quilt: 121 Stories and the Quilt Blocks They Inspired

By: Rosemary Youngs

Borrowed from MQ (sort of) paperback 286 pages

Published: 2005

Genre: Non-fiction, history, quilting

I say "sort of" because this is technically "my" book. It was on the "Free" table at MQ and it looked interesting, so I grabbed it. Now that I've read it fully, I'll donate it to someone else (or just drop it back onto the Free table.

My biggest takeaways were:

• these women had an active faith in God. They prayed and praised regularly. Whether they were with the North or the South, they looked to God for deliverance.
• the Southern focus was hard for me to read. The women who wanted their "boys" to defeat the "intruders" and who saw their perspective as right and just . . . was hard for me to wrap my head around. And it made me wonder how many people down south still think they were just and right. 
• The quilt blocks were so fun to look at! Both the drawings and the fabric constructions the author and her friends made. I kept thinking, "Nope. Don't want to make these blocks." But when I got to page 176-7, I put a post-it note in. What a great use of scrappy fabric! I may make some of these, but I'm not sure what colors I'll use.
• War is ugly. Both sides - killing, pain, fear, atrocities. I'm so thankful I don't live in a war zone.
• I did like how the diary or letter matched with the name of the quilt block. Like the one I might make from the pages listed above. "Recovering Items" is about plunder and losing things.
  

 

 

 

I didn't think I would blog about specific parts of the book, but I ended up sticking post-its in various places.

Page  23 (Rachel Young King Anderson): ". . . we still have shelter and food and raiment for which we are indebted to the goodness of God alone and still look to Him and Him alone for deliverance from the horrors of war and sin, for protection and for safety. Oh that His mercies may continue with us to the end."

Rachel was one of my favorites, so I'm glad the book started with her.

Page 165 (Emma Florence LeConte Furman): "I ran upstairs to my bedroom windows just in time to see the U.S. flag run up over the State house. O what a horrid sight! What a degradation! After four long bitter years of bloodshed and hatred, now to float there at last! That hateful symbol of despotism!"

Yes, she was a teen when she wrote this. Yes, she was a passionate Southerner. But still . . . the sight of the U.S. flag to cause such a strong reaction. Wow.

Page 177 (Emma again): "How are we to get clothes? - when even calico is from $25 to $30 a yard - "

Woah! That is expensive fabric for 2025, let alone 1864! I don't buy much fabric (I get free stuff a lot), but I make very careful choices when I do purchase it. 

Page 181 (Emma): "Hurrah! Old Abe Lincoln has been assassinated! It may be abstractly wrong to be so jubilant, but I just can't help it."

Lincoln is one of my favorite presidents. He loved the Lord and tried to be a wise and just leader. He was such an incredible man. Her joy is my sorrow.

Page 205 (Rebecca Loraine Richmond): "The answer is in the power of Omniscience only, but the 'signs of the times' seem to indicate that the end is not far off."

She's actually talking about the future of the planet Earth! End times, Revelation, . . . it may sound silly, but I don't think about people in the 1860s thinking that way.

Page 212 (Susie King Taylor) Intro info: "She soon had to give up teaching and found work as a housewife or maid so she could support herself and her son. Although she worked in the Army as a nurse, black women were not allowed to work in a hospital after the war was over. . . . She was asked by many friends to write a book about her Army life, and therefore wrote 'Reminiscence of My Life in Camp' in 1902. It is a very important historical document - one of the few Civil War journals written by a black woman."

I want to read this!

Page 232 (Mary Austin Adelia Wallace) Intro info: "Mary not only attended to daily chores, but also spent time painting, putting up fences, selling livestock, lathing and delivering loads of sugarcane to the mill. Basically, Mary took over the duties of her husband. She became resourceful in finding ways to make money, taking care of the farm and finishing their new home. She spent her spare time sewing and knitting."

What a woman! Spare time? What spare time?

Page 273: "A China Doll for Abbie" by Larry Wakefield - I cried when I read the story of young soldier Billy Voice and the legacy of his promise to his little sister Abbie. When adult Abbie heard stories from Herman Dunkalow, a 90 year old man who was part of both the Civil War and WWI, I cried. Amazing.

I enjoyed this more than I expected! But I also saw a few other blocks I have made or will make . . . Snail's Trail (though they gave it a different name) for example.

The Goldfinch

By: Donna Tartt

Libby audiobook 32.5 hours (unabridged)

Published: 2013 

Read by: David Pittu

Genre: realistic fiction

This book had been recommended to me by Cina Chapman (a teacher I worked with in Chaska) on 11.18.2015 and by Walter Roers (a Minnesota author I met . . . and read his book Pathos Rising). I had been sorting through my scraps of paper with book recommendations. The Goldfinch won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2014.

Partial summary from Cliff's Notes: "Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch is a complex story about Theodore “Theo” Decker, a young boy who suffers the loss of his mother in a terrorist attack at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Disoriented during the attack, he takes the masterpiece The Goldfinch; this, along with the death of his mother, becomes the catalyst for a decade of adventure, sorrow, mystery, and redemption for Theo. "

 

Also from Cliff's Notes:

Main Characters: Theodore “Theo” Decker; Boris Pavlikovsky; James “Hobie” Hobart

Major Thematic Topics: Forced maturity; the value of art; love; the definition of family; self-awareness

 

The book is in five parts with twelve chapters and many sub-sections. The numbering got confusing and so I ignored it. I've been trying to find the names of the five sections online and I can't!

I kept waiting to like the book, but the further I got the more I disliked it.

Initially, the protagonist was 13 years old and a strange mix of mature and immature. I kept thinking, "Just tell!" When he didn't want to talk to the school counselor, psychologist, etc., it kind of made sense. But when he didn't even talk with Hobie about his experience in the museum . . . he was exacerbating his own agony.

 

At about six hours and 50 minutes was my favorite part of the book. Theo is learning about wood working and furniture repair from Hobie. I loved this part so much! 

The other part I enjoyed was Boris calling him "Potter" because of his glasses. The reader did excellent vocal work for all parts.

He and Boris shoplifting, smoking, drinking, and then Boris talking about not stealing from tourists. . . ugh! Their moral compass was seriously messed up!

When he was in Las Vegas, one comment by Boris stood out to me. "Anything is okay if Americans do it." Especially in our current political comment, this strikes hard. Most of the world has a perception of Americans that has been earned, but is painful to me.

The drugs and dishonesty continue . . . as he and Mitzi are picking out wedding china and he keeps saying he doesn't care, why doesn't he just say he'd prefer some antique store china?!?! Why get married to someone you can't talk honestly with about what you like and don't like? (Especially since she was looking at super expensive china - $800 per plate - and what he liked had more character and cost significantly less?)

Boris. I didn't see the next part with Boris coming. The scenes in Amsterdam were a bit surreal. More vodka, heroin, etc. I really didn't like Theo much. Boris' resolution was a good way for the story to go.

His unrequited love for Pippa and his fatalistic attitude . . . In a conversation with Pippa, he said, "Teaching is a shit job." How would he even know? He was so self-centered and self-absorbed.

The philosophizing toward the end of the book bugged me. Why would I listen to life advice from such an awful person? The only thing he said that I could relate to was, "Life is short." Amen to that. Probably too short to spend 32.5 hours listening to this book!

I did learn that Libby won't autoreturn a book while you're actually listening to it. I listened at faster speed, but knew I wouldn't finish before the autoreturn (3.18.25 @ 12:26pm), but I watched the clock go on to 1pm before I finished. As soon as I exited the book, it disappeared. Interesting to know! I had already placed a request for a print copy, thinking I'd have to finish it later. I'm done with it now!

I'm really curious why those two people highly recommended this book to me. . .

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23

By: W. Phillip Keller

personal copy, paperback 173 pages

Published: 1970, reprint 2007

Genre: Christian devotional, theology

 

I heard several recommendations of this book. Initially, I requested it via Libby ebook and waited quite a while to get it. I started reading it in Libby but was too busy with other things and it autoreturned, so I purchased a copy for myself.

 

This little book has a LOT of post-it notes in it! Since it's my personal copy, I quickly switched to just underlining and writing in the actual book. I'm going to try to just hit a few of the high points here.

 

The author goes over Psalm 23 line by line, making the comparison between actual sheep farming and what Scripture has to say to us. I memorized Psalm 23 quite a few years ago. My mom teared up when I recited it for Ruth Nesbitt at the end of her life. It's good Scripture to know.

 

Page 30: "One of the fallacies that is common among Christians today is the assertion that if a man or woman is prospering materially it is a significant mark of the blessing of God upon his or her life. This simply is not so."

 

I love that in addition to going through the 23rd Psalm thoroughly, he refers to many other Scriptures to point the reader back to God's Word. Here he points out that Revelation 3:17 says, "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked." There is so much more - read the book!

 

Page 48: "One of the outstanding marks of a Christian should be a serene sense of gentle contentment."

 

This can be a struggle! Trust in the Lord can be my mantra, but if I don't actually LIVE that trust, I miss out on the peace that He intends for me.

 

Page  61: "The biographies of the great men and women of God repeatedly point out how the secret of the success in their spiritual life was attributed to the 'quiet time' of each morning."

This strikes me. My morning is prioritized by drinking coffee, playing my games (Wordle, etc.), and making my list for the day. Morning devotions are important, but I don't focus on them or the Lord as much as on my own "stuff." I think this needs to change!

Page 88: "Our behavior patterns and life habits are so much like that of sheep it is well nigh embarrassing."

As I read this, I thought of my daughter-in-law who raises sheep. I wonder if she would be willing to read this book. I love that the author has a faith-based perspective on both sheep and the Psalm.

Page 134: ". . . do I fully appreciate what it has cost Him to prepare this table for me?"

I too often take Jesus' sacrifice for granted. Time for contemplation and praise need to be a priority in my day.

There are so many other passages that I underlined or marked, but I want to have this book on hand to re-read and pray about. I don't often purchase books any more, but I'm glad I bought this one. After Libby auto-returned it last time, I requested it again. That was on January 6. Here I am on March 16th and Libby says I have an eight week wait! I'm going to cancel my hold. I can read my personal copy at my leisure!