as I make my way through this book for a second time, I find that I am amused and almost annoyed with the way this community tries to function. the way they try to control everything, even the peoples' natural sexual desires for the opposite gender ("stirrings"), is so odd! I remember feeling this way as I read the book the first time too. yet that's what makes this such a good story. it is such an interesting setting and story line. but I could never live in a community like this, haha.
p.s. I don't know if its my turn to pick next month's book (I think it is), but I know what it's going to be and I'm excited to share it with you girls!
happy reading,
kaufman
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Half-way through
Well,
I'm about half-way through the book so far and I find it very interesting. It makes me wonder what it would be like if life was that way. Definately has its pros and cons, but I don't think overall I would enjoy it. Right now Jonas has just had his first day at his new "job." I really like the "Giver" as well too, I like that Jonas doesn't have to be polite now, haha..
strickland
I'm about half-way through the book so far and I find it very interesting. It makes me wonder what it would be like if life was that way. Definately has its pros and cons, but I don't think overall I would enjoy it. Right now Jonas has just had his first day at his new "job." I really like the "Giver" as well too, I like that Jonas doesn't have to be polite now, haha..
strickland
Monday, September 13, 2010
giver
I am looking at my book in my bookshelf right now, and I'm about to start it this afternoon!
yay
kaufman
yay
kaufman
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
book #2
I never read The Giver in elementary school, however I bought it a few years ago because I heard it was so good. So I have read it recently but I don't mind reading it again! I definitely enjoyed it and I'll be glad to pick it back up and give it a second go. Good choice Miss Taylor!
Kaufman
Kaufman
The Giver
Hi everyone!
One more comment about The Giver. You can find it in the "Young Adult" or "Young Readers" section. The bookstore I went to the other day actually had it displayed right out front so it shouldn't be to hard to find. I can't wait to see what everyone thinks of the book. I had a hard time choosing, especially following Strickland's book! I'll being writing my thoughts tomorrow.
Tay.
p.s. Make sure you keep an open mind Strickland :)
One more comment about The Giver. You can find it in the "Young Adult" or "Young Readers" section. The bookstore I went to the other day actually had it displayed right out front so it shouldn't be to hard to find. I can't wait to see what everyone thinks of the book. I had a hard time choosing, especially following Strickland's book! I'll being writing my thoughts tomorrow.
Tay.
p.s. Make sure you keep an open mind Strickland :)
Book #2
Hey Guys-
Taylor posted the next book under Kuafman's post of Traveling Mercies so it starts today!
Everyone has promised to be more diligent this time around...i hope this is true.
strickland
Taylor posted the next book under Kuafman's post of Traveling Mercies so it starts today!
Everyone has promised to be more diligent this time around...i hope this is true.
strickland
My Thoughts...
My thoughts on Traveling Mercies-
First, I really enjoyed it, kept my attention and made me laugh and think. First, I just want to say "ditto" on all Kaufmans views. I loved the quote about just "being there giving grahm crackers to someone," or something along those lines. I think anyone that has been through some degree of their own personal tragedy can agree that the mere prescence of someone speaks the loudest.
I will also agree with kaufman that you never really get a full grasp of how Anne might view Christianity...but I also don't know exactly how I view Christianity either, however I do agree with kaufman that I think there are core beliefs a "Christian" should have. Hers seems alittle New Age to me, a bit scatter brained, and emotionally driven, but again, I definately saw myself in her thoughts alot and I feel like we would be very good friends if she were somewhat younger.
On the "feminst" side I do believe I will disagree with kaufman slightly here. I loved it. I feel like these days any woman who has confidence in herself, or is opinionated or head strong in any way is considered a "feminist." I see it more as a confidence, just merely being comfortable with who you are, and not really giving a shit about what other people label you as (as she puts it). I found it inspiriing and might find some feminist groups to join myself...kidding...kind of.
I like her chapter on forgiveness alot, pg 128 she talks about how she went around saying she is not a Christian who is big on forgiveness, but the other kind, i found that really funny. But i totally agree with her later on when she realizes that not forgiving somone is really causing no harm to that person, just yourself. she says "it's like drinking rat poision than waiting for the rat to die. I thought that was clever...
All in all i loved the book, I could totally relate to the way she thinks. I loved towards the end when she was talking about holding her elderly mom's hand in the sand, because she wasn't good at walking in the sand, and how much she loved her mom and wanted to help her, and was terrified of her dying some day, but then she is secretly resentful about how slow her mom is, lipstick on her teeth, and wanting to throw her in the road for a jeep to runover her...hahahaha, i really do enjoy how honest she is, and if we are honest with ourselves we have all had thoughts like that about people in our lives (if not i have just shared too much of myself with you all). One last quote I liked alot where she is talking about miracles in our lives
Pg 198 "Maybe its not a miracle to you, but I know where I was, and I know where I am now, and you just can't get here from there."
cheers to our bookclub book #2 -Strickland-
First, I really enjoyed it, kept my attention and made me laugh and think. First, I just want to say "ditto" on all Kaufmans views. I loved the quote about just "being there giving grahm crackers to someone," or something along those lines. I think anyone that has been through some degree of their own personal tragedy can agree that the mere prescence of someone speaks the loudest.
I will also agree with kaufman that you never really get a full grasp of how Anne might view Christianity...but I also don't know exactly how I view Christianity either, however I do agree with kaufman that I think there are core beliefs a "Christian" should have. Hers seems alittle New Age to me, a bit scatter brained, and emotionally driven, but again, I definately saw myself in her thoughts alot and I feel like we would be very good friends if she were somewhat younger.
On the "feminst" side I do believe I will disagree with kaufman slightly here. I loved it. I feel like these days any woman who has confidence in herself, or is opinionated or head strong in any way is considered a "feminist." I see it more as a confidence, just merely being comfortable with who you are, and not really giving a shit about what other people label you as (as she puts it). I found it inspiriing and might find some feminist groups to join myself...kidding...kind of.
I like her chapter on forgiveness alot, pg 128 she talks about how she went around saying she is not a Christian who is big on forgiveness, but the other kind, i found that really funny. But i totally agree with her later on when she realizes that not forgiving somone is really causing no harm to that person, just yourself. she says "it's like drinking rat poision than waiting for the rat to die. I thought that was clever...
All in all i loved the book, I could totally relate to the way she thinks. I loved towards the end when she was talking about holding her elderly mom's hand in the sand, because she wasn't good at walking in the sand, and how much she loved her mom and wanted to help her, and was terrified of her dying some day, but then she is secretly resentful about how slow her mom is, lipstick on her teeth, and wanting to throw her in the road for a jeep to runover her...hahahaha, i really do enjoy how honest she is, and if we are honest with ourselves we have all had thoughts like that about people in our lives (if not i have just shared too much of myself with you all). One last quote I liked alot where she is talking about miracles in our lives
Pg 198 "Maybe its not a miracle to you, but I know where I was, and I know where I am now, and you just can't get here from there."
cheers to our bookclub book #2 -Strickland-
Traveling Mercies
well I realize it is Sept 1, but I just finished the last chapter of our lovely little book today! I will try to be more on time for the next one. (although I see no one else has written yet either so maybe I'm off the hook!) ;)
I really enjoyed this book! The introduction was pretty long, and I usually get annoyed with intros and prefaces and I try to speed through them, but this was actually one part of the book I enjoyed the most. I liked hearing about her childhood as she grew up being involved with several different families and different faiths. It definitely gives her an interesting perspective and background as she eventually made her way toward Christianity. I thought her little "conversion" moment was pretty interesting.
"I began to cry and left before the benediction, and I raced home and felt the little cat running along at my heels, and I walked down the dock past dozens of potted flowers, under a sky as blue as one of God's own dreams, and opened the door to my houseboat, and I stood there a minute, and then I hung my head and said, 'F*** it: I quit.' I took a long deep breath and said out loud, 'All right. You can come in'."
I find this kinda cool because, a. it just goes to show me that God really does reveal Himself to people, even those who are bent on resisting Him. Anne had described for a while that she felt this presence and this nagging weight or something on her heart, which she believed to be Jesus pursuing her. I think that is really a beautiful thing. My point b. is that her experience of accepting Christ into her life is definitely very different from my own (I would say we had some different word choices!), but this was her unique moment of opening her heart up to the Lord and He used that as His open door to come into her life. As I grow older I'm always amazed to see different people's various experiences with the Lord; He works in so many ways, and who am I to say that because He's worked in my own life a certain way, He will do the exact same thing in everyone else. Of course, I do believe that there are basic things foundational to being a Christian: i.e. making a conscious decision to accept Christ's work on the cross, accepting Him as your personal Savior, we cannot get to heaven on our own works, etc, etc, but the journey of someone getting to this point can vary a lot; I believe for some it's a specific moment like Anne's, for others a more gradual realization and acceptance over time.
As I continued on in the book I began to see what an interesting character this Anne is! I don't know what you girls thought but I at times thought she was a little out there. :) For instance, how she licked her friend's ashes off her hand as she was spreading them out on the lake, and she said she just wanted to "taste her" and keep some of her inside. Now I know she was going through major grief, but I thought that was a little odd! Speaking of grief though, I saw that this was largely a theme of this book and I thought she had some good thoughts on how to deal with it. Not only did she talk about dealing with grief in your own life, but on how to help others deal with grief that I thought was beneficial, as I sometimes don't know how to best help someone when they are hurting.
"As I've said before, I believe that when all is said and done, all you can do is to show up for someone in crisis, which seems so inadequate. But then when you do, it can radically change everything. Your there-ness, your stepping into a scared parent's line of vision, can be life giving, because often everyone else is in hiding - especially, in the beginning, the parents [or whoever else you're dealing with here]. So you come to keep them company when it feels like the whole world is falling apart, and your being there says that just for this moment, this one tiny piece of the world is OK, or is at least better."
Also, something that her pastor Veronica said:
"This is life's nature: that lives and hearts get broken - those of people we love, those of people we'll never meet. The world sometimes feels like the waiting room of the emergency ward and that we who are more or less OK for now need to take the tenderest possible care of the more wounded people in the waiting room, until the healer comes. You sit with people, you bring them juice and graham crackers."
Again, the older I get, the more I'm seeing how much pain there is in this world and how many people are privately hurting that we wouldn't even know are in pain. I believe we should turn to God first with our grief and our hurting hearts, but I also know that he gave us friends, family, and other people in our lives to come alongside us to help us through this often difficult journey. I love that about God; He has made us in His image, and He is a relational God - therefore He made us as relational human beings! He delights in our deep friendships and joy of being together and when we help each other; I think that it honors Him. Ok I'm getting off on tangents. But back to the grief point, for me as a nurse that also motivates me to be better at coming alongside patients and families in the hospital who are truly dealing with heart-wrenching situations. I only hope that I'll have people there for me during those times as well.
I wouldn't say I agreed with everything Anne had to say; for one thing she kept referring to God as a "she". She also seemed very liberal and feminist, but I still liked a lot of her thoughts. I felt like I didn't get a totally clear picture of what her view of being a Christian was; I know I talked before about her conversion experience, but things she said afterward seemed to be a little wishy-washy and emotions-driven. I didn't really hear her talking very concretely about Christ as the Savior of her life and the only true way to God, so I don't know if that's not what she believes or maybe she simply didn't refer to it much. I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong. You guys can comment on what you thought of that.
last thing, I enjoyed her son, Sam. He is a little pistol and I thought their relationship was pretty sweet.
overall, very enjoyable read! I look forward to seeing what you ladies have to say about it.
Kaufman
I really enjoyed this book! The introduction was pretty long, and I usually get annoyed with intros and prefaces and I try to speed through them, but this was actually one part of the book I enjoyed the most. I liked hearing about her childhood as she grew up being involved with several different families and different faiths. It definitely gives her an interesting perspective and background as she eventually made her way toward Christianity. I thought her little "conversion" moment was pretty interesting.
"I began to cry and left before the benediction, and I raced home and felt the little cat running along at my heels, and I walked down the dock past dozens of potted flowers, under a sky as blue as one of God's own dreams, and opened the door to my houseboat, and I stood there a minute, and then I hung my head and said, 'F*** it: I quit.' I took a long deep breath and said out loud, 'All right. You can come in'."
I find this kinda cool because, a. it just goes to show me that God really does reveal Himself to people, even those who are bent on resisting Him. Anne had described for a while that she felt this presence and this nagging weight or something on her heart, which she believed to be Jesus pursuing her. I think that is really a beautiful thing. My point b. is that her experience of accepting Christ into her life is definitely very different from my own (I would say we had some different word choices!), but this was her unique moment of opening her heart up to the Lord and He used that as His open door to come into her life. As I grow older I'm always amazed to see different people's various experiences with the Lord; He works in so many ways, and who am I to say that because He's worked in my own life a certain way, He will do the exact same thing in everyone else. Of course, I do believe that there are basic things foundational to being a Christian: i.e. making a conscious decision to accept Christ's work on the cross, accepting Him as your personal Savior, we cannot get to heaven on our own works, etc, etc, but the journey of someone getting to this point can vary a lot; I believe for some it's a specific moment like Anne's, for others a more gradual realization and acceptance over time.
As I continued on in the book I began to see what an interesting character this Anne is! I don't know what you girls thought but I at times thought she was a little out there. :) For instance, how she licked her friend's ashes off her hand as she was spreading them out on the lake, and she said she just wanted to "taste her" and keep some of her inside. Now I know she was going through major grief, but I thought that was a little odd! Speaking of grief though, I saw that this was largely a theme of this book and I thought she had some good thoughts on how to deal with it. Not only did she talk about dealing with grief in your own life, but on how to help others deal with grief that I thought was beneficial, as I sometimes don't know how to best help someone when they are hurting.
"As I've said before, I believe that when all is said and done, all you can do is to show up for someone in crisis, which seems so inadequate. But then when you do, it can radically change everything. Your there-ness, your stepping into a scared parent's line of vision, can be life giving, because often everyone else is in hiding - especially, in the beginning, the parents [or whoever else you're dealing with here]. So you come to keep them company when it feels like the whole world is falling apart, and your being there says that just for this moment, this one tiny piece of the world is OK, or is at least better."
Also, something that her pastor Veronica said:
"This is life's nature: that lives and hearts get broken - those of people we love, those of people we'll never meet. The world sometimes feels like the waiting room of the emergency ward and that we who are more or less OK for now need to take the tenderest possible care of the more wounded people in the waiting room, until the healer comes. You sit with people, you bring them juice and graham crackers."
Again, the older I get, the more I'm seeing how much pain there is in this world and how many people are privately hurting that we wouldn't even know are in pain. I believe we should turn to God first with our grief and our hurting hearts, but I also know that he gave us friends, family, and other people in our lives to come alongside us to help us through this often difficult journey. I love that about God; He has made us in His image, and He is a relational God - therefore He made us as relational human beings! He delights in our deep friendships and joy of being together and when we help each other; I think that it honors Him. Ok I'm getting off on tangents. But back to the grief point, for me as a nurse that also motivates me to be better at coming alongside patients and families in the hospital who are truly dealing with heart-wrenching situations. I only hope that I'll have people there for me during those times as well.
I wouldn't say I agreed with everything Anne had to say; for one thing she kept referring to God as a "she". She also seemed very liberal and feminist, but I still liked a lot of her thoughts. I felt like I didn't get a totally clear picture of what her view of being a Christian was; I know I talked before about her conversion experience, but things she said afterward seemed to be a little wishy-washy and emotions-driven. I didn't really hear her talking very concretely about Christ as the Savior of her life and the only true way to God, so I don't know if that's not what she believes or maybe she simply didn't refer to it much. I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong. You guys can comment on what you thought of that.
last thing, I enjoyed her son, Sam. He is a little pistol and I thought their relationship was pretty sweet.
overall, very enjoyable read! I look forward to seeing what you ladies have to say about it.
Kaufman
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