100 essays I don’t have time to write. Sara Ruhl

100 essays I don’t have time to write. Sara Ruhl

The collection of essays that are easily read but not always easily digested. Where there are nuggets  which prod  thinking.

11. An essay in praise of smallness 

“ i admire minimalism”

(One must admire the beauty of it)

12. Plays of ideas

“Small forthright words,used in the service of condensing experience, might have an idea buried in them as large as the most expansive work that wears  its intellectualism on its sleeve.  The unshed tears of the deeply felt are akin to the unused large words in the  service of a thought

Are we common man taking the roles of the famous famous people taking roles of the common man 

Almost impossible to truly think one thing While saying another thing

Life is not constantly about wanting to get something from somebody else . Life is about joy

The  Adverb game - The action in the manner of the word

Famous BY NAOMI SHIHAB NYE

Famous

BY NAOMI SHIHAB NYE

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence,   

which knew it would inherit the earth   

before anybody said so.   

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds   

watching him from the birdhouse.   

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.   

The idea you carry close to your bosom   

is famous to your bosom.   

The boot is famous to the earth,   

more famous than the dress shoe,   

which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it   

and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.   

I want to be famous to shuffling men   

who smile while crossing streets,   

sticky children in grocery lines,   

famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,   

or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,   

but because it never forgot what it could do.

Not I v. Joachim Fest

Not I. Joachim Fest

Fest was a German historian, biographer, journalist, and critic ; renown for his biography of Adolf Hitler.  He experienced firsthand the rise of the Nazis, the Second World War, and a defeated Germany; coming from the point of view in an intellectually rigorous German household opposed to the Nazis and how its members suffered for their political stance.

"His education had been all too greatly focused on the weighty themes he therefore began to drape garland on the grand scaffolding adding the handsome accessories which even if only socially were part of an education."

Even if all others do – I do not

Matt 26:33 Etiam si omnes -  ego non!  

As reads the Latin translation king James version in English in German is slightly different

Feeling abandoned by the reason of the world

All comfort is vile and despair the only duty

It may be that I didn’t take sufficient account of the fact that the state is led by a mad Man

“ Hitler is such a brazen liar that even the opposite of what he says is untrue”

People are dividing and the two groups it was US questions of those who answered them Nazis always have answered every question we should take you to make sure we always remain someone who asks questions

Because what the memory has preserved is never , strictly speaking  what actually happened. The past is always an imaginary museum 

Stop being so apocalyptic

David Thoreau “if  I knew for certain me that a man was coming to my house with the conscious  design of doing me good I should run for my life 

I'm usually not a WWII  type of reader, this however sparked an interest given our recent trip to Germany, Hungry, and Austria amongst others. I enjoyed it. In reading about his parents approach to education - particularly as it relates to reading and the arts I wonder if we have sufficiently exposed our family. I admire a rigorous, broad-spanning approach including subjects of which you know, and those which you don't. Expanding is good for this soul.

Origins . Dan Brown

Origins Dan Brown

In the model of Dan Brown, the story propels the reader down the intersection of Vatican / doctrine  technology ; and are they bringing Armageddon or deliverance. One of those books made for an easy, long airplane ride or car trip. He delivers as you would imagine.

Love is not a finite emotion 

We don’t have only so much to share

Our hearts create love as we need it

 It can be generated spontaneously out of nothing at all

Love is a private thing

The world does not need to know every detail 

All The Birds In The Sky. Charlie Jane Anders

All The Birds In The Sky. Charlie Jane Anders

It’s 1 part - sci-fi, 1 part - fantasy;  1 part - tech/ San Fran life, 1- part coming of age, 1- part end of the world,  1- part where you gotta skip some pages even tho at a key time 

A tough to define genre, not so tough to enjoy. NPR summarized the narrative well : ' Charlie Jane Anders' debut novel follows a girl with magical powers and a technically brilliant boy, uneasy friends since childhood, who get caught up in an apocalyptic war between science and magic."

It all tied in well with this mornings Sunday school class  about Moses and figuring out “who we are " I love awkward overlapping of content. It keeps people guessing where my next thought comes from?

Uncommon type - some short stories. Tom hanks

Uncommon type - some stories. Tom Hanks

I read this book review from NPR:

"Tom Hanks has heart. It's no news to his fans that empathy fuels his acting — including his back-to-back Oscar-winning portrayals of an AIDS victim in Philadelphia and the endearing hero of Forrest Gump.So it should come as no surprise that empathy also drives his first collection of fiction. While all of the 17 stories in Uncommon Type feature a different antique manual typewriter (Hanks is an avid collector), they are linked by something greater than typewriter ribbons: a decidedly benign, humane view of people and their foibles.

In a world where the news is unrelentingly bleak and much fiction tends toward the dystopic, post-apocalyptic, dark, or edgy, this is a gentler, sweeter kind of storytelling than we've come to expect. Some of the stories are whimsical, some funny, some downright sentimental. Even when Hanks writes about somber subjects like the durable distress of combat or the high stakes for immigrants fleeing persecution, he finds a sweet spot."

So naturally I went to the library and got the book, had to wait forever on the reserve list for my turn . I should have read this review in The Independent first:

"It's rare that a book is actually painful to read, but getting through Tom Hanks’s short-story It’s rare that a book is actually painful to read, but getting through Tom Hanks’s short-story collection, Uncommon Type, was like pulling teeth. “Some Stories” it reads on the front cover – some? At 400 pages, it felt like it was never going to end.

No volume of short stories should be this long. The exception to the rule is the collected works of Alice Munro or George Saunders, writers who’ve earned those pages through years of honed, hard graft; certainly not a debut, even if the author is an Oscar-winning actor and American national treasure. collection, Uncommon Type, was like pulling teeth. “Some Stories” it reads on the front cover – some? At 400 pages, it felt like it was never going to end.

No volume of short stories should be this long. The exception to the rule is the collected works of Alice Munro or George Saunders, writers who’ve earned those pages through years of honed, hard graft; certainly not a debut, even if the author is an Oscar-winning actor and American national hero.

At the very least, I would have expected Hanks’s editor to have picked a smaller selection of the strongest offerings. Instead, we have 17 stories, ranging from downright terrible to decidedly mediocre. I’m just going to come out and say it: written by anyone else, I don’t see how this collection would have been published.

I wished I would've read the latter first then I wouldn't have read it

Sourdough . Robin Sloan

Sourdough .  Robin Sloan

A smartly written novel by the author who brought us Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore. The latter delighted me , and i brought significant expectations to this. I was not disappointed!  Set in Silicon Valley with a  software code writing protagonist who develops an unanticipated passion for bread making - specifically sourdough bread  making. Her involvement with a ‘starter’ with a history leads her to pursue her passion ; and not necessarily the one you first identify. 

I enjoy this author.

My Last Lament. James William Brown

My Last Lament . James William Brown

The narrator is one of the few remaining traditional lamentors who mourn and celebrate the passing of one from this life to the next. 

The story is rooted-in the transition of Greece from the end of World War II, the clash in the tradition , hardships and confusion of conflicting agendas in  the modern world; which  continue in Greece today.

Reviews of the book attracted me as did my personal interest in the country from visits there, Brigham’s  mission there and reading a recent book Persian Fire by Tom Holland going back to Greece circ 480 bc . 

 Oddly marionettes play a key role here as they do in Pax.

Interesting - yes

Well written - yes

Greek tragedy - yes 

Rules for a knight by Ethan Hawke

Rules for a knight by Ethan Hawke

The title caught my eye perusing the shelves at the library and its cute little size. Ethan he is some no-name 2nd tier actor and I don’t know who he is , definitely not a role- model i follow. 

“It’s hard to know exactly what to make of this odd little book. An earnest primer on values that takes the whimsical form of a letter from an imaginary medieval knight to his children, it falls somewhere between celebrity vanity project and quirky philosophical commonplace. “ But outlines the values of fathers trying to teach his children as he thinks he’s nearing death. Fathers' finding effective ways of sharing values is an important subject to me; and knights of the round table was always large to my father.

The rules according to him:

(Most are fairly self-explanatory for a few I’ve added notes)

20 Rules

· Solitude.(Create time alone with yourself when seeking wisdom and clarity of your own mind silence is a helpful tool)

· Humility. 

· Gratitude.

· Pride. ... (Confidence)

· Cooperation. ... 

· Friendship. ... 

· Forgiveness  

· Honesty.

· Courage

· Grace

· Patience

· Justice

· Generosity

· Discipline

· Dedication

· Speech (do not speak ill of others, gossip and an idle tongue are enemies of friendship)

· Faith

· Equality

· Love

· Death ( Life is a series of farewell how we live is important not when we die ) 

A short , quick, enjoyable read. My question is whether to add it supplementary and complementary to value teaching tools such as For Strength Of Youth; Ways to Be  - by Gordon b hinckley ; and scripture legacy instruction/ blessings from Adam to posterity,  Jacob to sons, Lehi to his posterity, alma to his three boys. Or have it take a life of its own.

Five Carat Soul. James Mcbride

Five Carat Soul. James Mcbride

I regularly Enjoy reading the Sunday New York Times book review  magazine.  They don’t gloss over a poorly written book, or give undue praise. And  now and again that I uncover one which I’m prodded to check out. One such review which I quickly devoured was Five Carat Soul. 

I hadn’t read anything from McBride ;  wasn’t  really familiar with them but now that I’m going to that world.. I totally enjoy the work ! His short stories are a great read 

A few comments and some insight as to what you’re getting into:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/books/review/james-mcbride-five-carat-soul-stories.html

"Some are straightforward; some are gleefully surreal. And every one of them is brash, daring and defiantly original."

“That's an accurate way to describe McBride's entire collection. The stories in Five-Carat Soul vary widely in style and setting, but they're all linked by the author's compassionate sensibilities. The characters in this book — human and otherwise — feel real and beautifully drawn, and their stories are bound to stay with readers for a very long time.”

“Black life is as diverse and as wonderful as white life. My stories show that kind of humanity, because that’s really the world I live in”

Go get on your library’s waitlist.