Ever wondered how many of Louis’ books you own or have read? Here’s the list:
Looking for something solid in these turbulent times? Something that doesn’t change? Something reliable?
Take the following steps:
Now that’s something you can count on.
My latest(this past Wednesday) was “The Empty Land”.
What I’ve been filling night shift time with for the past few weeks… following the adventures of Dirk Pitt.
In the spirit of hippy recycling evironmentalism – Can somebody send me Plan B by Anne Lamott? I’ll pay you back the postage some day, or I’ll send you something from my library after I dig it out of my shed…
I started Night by Elie Wiesel on my flights back home. Basically a chronicle of a young boy’s journey and survival through Nazi death camps. It’s a horrible little book – the author says in the preface that he couldn’t find the right words or enough words – but his words are bad enough – the reality must have been… I don’t know. I made it through a few chapters and had to take a break.
In the first few paragraphs – before the real misery of the story begins there was some very interesting quotes.
“He explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer…
Man comes closer to God through the questions he asks Him, he liked to say. Therein lies true dialogue. Man asks and God replies. But we don’t understand His replies. We cannot understand them. Because they dwell in the depths of our sould and remain there until we die. The real answers, Eliezer, you will find only within yourself.”
More from Po Bronson and Why do I love these people. I found this quote very interesting: page 295
“We need to appreciate how the radically changing world has forced families to adapt. People used to respect their elders, but it wasn’t just for their sage philosophy about life. Elders used to have very valuable practical know-how. They could tell you when to plant your crops and how to build a cabin and how to sew a sweater. You listened to them because you needed to. For the last 150 years, every generation has grown up in a newly minted world. My grandmother can’t fix the wireless card in my laptop. We’ve had to find new reason to hang on to our relationships, and largely, we have.”
I never thought about how things have changed for the “elders” of our day in this way.
I’ve got a new tradition – Large Print books. I’m on my third or fourth one from the Library here. It’s kind of easy to pick a book because the large print section seems to be fairly good summary of what’s new and popular since they only bring in a limited number.
The last few weeks I’ve been reading Why Do I Love These People?: Honest and Amazing Stories of Real Families by Po Bronson.
I’m about half done – it’s a good read. Basically the author is a story teller. This book is story after story of families with a little bit of advice and opinion tossed in. The stories are really incredible, and he writes in a way that’s easy to take – he draws you in quickly. Generally they are about tough situations that people have gone through, but they are real genuine stories – very realistic, not too much “disney factor”, but he still finds a way to include and inspire hope. I found them very easy to relate to – like “hey that’s just like so and so” or “wow – that’s exactly the way I’ve felt about my father, mother, brother, cousin etc.” or “I have that same dysfunction!”
There are a number of good themes running throughout – but one key idea is that triumph or success as family almost always involves choosing to “move forward”, which often means being at peace with what is in the past. Solutions are not simple and answers are not easy, but they can be found.
Another theme is that the family is stronger than you think. He states that he believes the family is actually evolving in a good way and is as strong as it has ever been – it’s best days are ahead. He gives quite convincing stats and arguments for this, including ones that challenge pessimistic (and common) thoughts/sayings like “divorce is ruining families today” or “parents never spend anytime with their kids” or “kids are too busy” or “kids watch too much tv” or “why would you ever want to bring more kids into this horrible world”. He admits these statements hold truth – but spins things in a more positive light. I found his analysis realistic but encouraging, and any author that can write about the family and walk that line well impresses me.
A good read – encouraging yet challenging, useful and enjoyable – good thoughts on family – that terribly wonderfully complex thing we are all part of…
If you’re reading list is short you might want to add this book (his website looks really good as well).
I re-read Angels&Demons by Dan Brown over the last few days. I think I’ll tackle Davinci Code again next week if I can find a copy. I thought I’d read them again to get ready for the movie coming out May 19th. I’m excited for it. Ron Howard and Tom Hanks should be a good combination.
I found the novels to be very interesting, a very good (&fast) read. I the controversy surrounding the whole thing somewhat humourous.. I’m amazed at how many off shoots that have been written about Davinci Code. If Dan Brown had a penny for every “cracking the Davinci code book or article”…
There’s no doubt that Dan Brown includes some controversial stuff in his books, and perhaps that’s part of his genius – it’s likely made him a millionaire, but it seems strange to me that people get so excited over a novel. It’s a novel, as in fiction – as in made up out of his head… just because he has some facts in there about buildings, paintings or history does not change that. Perhaps if I was Catholic I would care more, but I doubt it. Dan Brown answers some questions about the controversy on his website here.
I just finished Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. I enjoyed the read, easy to read deep stuff, my favorite kind of book. If you haven’t read it, I’d recommend you do. It’s a story about dying, but not really – more like a story about living. Here’s a few quotes.
“Love each other or perish”
“Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live”
“Accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it”
“The most important thin in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in”
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