On January 4, I started this post and titled it “Let’s get this year started reading!” And then I didn’t read much for about 6 weeks. 🙁 I think it was partly sort of a reading funk, where I couldn’t find much to interest me, and partly being preoccupied with other things. Regardless, I’m sorry for being MIA here for so long and I vow to do better. If only I would do it right after I finish a book, it wouldn’t be so overwhelming.
I also am publishing this with minimal book reviews or links, just because otherwise I would never get to it. Something is better than nothing. I am also in the middle of two big tomes… Prophetic City (about how Houston is a way to gauge where the rest of the country will be in 30 years) and The Source by James Michener, a 1000+ history of Judaism in novel form.
What’s been happening? I’ve finished another course of my MA program. This one kept me very busy writing three papers within 8 weeks, but I learned so much that my mind is quite full from the reading and satisfied from the meaningful discussions with classmates on the online forum. My next course starts on Wednesday.
I’m also really enjoying my Biblical Hebrew class and have just created a little guide for myself to keep all the verbal forms and prefix/suffix possibilities straight in my head. I’m also using a vocabulary app called Memrise that has greatly expanded my ability to remember all the new words. It’s much more fun to be in the class when I am not totally confused, and I now feel more on top of things. One of my goals is to be able to read a text in its original Hebrew, and I can say that I’m getting there, which is very exciting.
Sweet Girl is still doing well with virtual school. She has been diligent in her coursework and seems to be learning a lot. I help much less these days, but when I do, I’m enjoying learning where countries and capitals are in South Asia or trying to explain math inequalities to her.
We survived the “artic freeze” that hit Texas and sent us back to prehistoric times. It is such a bizarre feeling to have no access to the internet or cell coverage. Given that we are already cut off from everyone else because of Covid, it felt so odd to have no idea what was happening in the rest of the world. We built our house with a generator, so we had power and heat. We were without water for a few days, but we had lots of bottled water stored. Still, I appreciate every single luxury modern life affords now more than ever.
We had a piece of pool equipment crack and some sprinkler pipes break, but nothing inside the house. And of course our plants are all dead or completely shocked. Our flower beds look quite bare now and our palm tree is completely brown. There are a few things we are keeping to see if they come back.
I decided to upgrade my kindle since it was one of the very first versions. They had an offer of $25 if you send in your old one and then 20% off the purchase of a new one. It’s pretty much the same reading experience really, but it can store much more and this one is waterproof. It also doesn’t suddenly shut down for no reason, which is a plus.
So my brief listing of what I’ve read since January 1:
A Single Thread: a Novel by Tracy Chevalier
Violet is desperate to avoid a life of taking care of her aging mother, so after WWI, she moves into the city to a job and new friends, making a new life for herself. I found it interesting and enjoyed reading about her adventures.
The Last Runaway: a Novel by Tracy Chevalier
Single woman all alone in new country finds herself compelled to help with the Underground Railroad.
“It was not just that he smelled of fresh hay, even when covered with the mud and sweat of a day’s work. It was the raw, wordless connection, the buzz of electric tension in the air around them and the space between them that surprised her. She was painfully aware of him. Every breath he took, every toss of his head or roll of his shoulder or flick of his wrist as he guided the horses registered deep within her.”
The Decent Proposal: a Novel by Kemper Donovan
Two strangers thrown together by an anonymous benefactor and required to converse for two hours each week for a year in order to receive half a million dollars. Sounds silly, but I liked it!
“After two months of chipping away at each other’s personalities, of collecting meager specks and slivers, they had hit upon something solid, something they shared, and while it was a small find—commonplace even, in no way a point of pride for either of them—it felt significant because in the very moment of discovery they were able to pool it between them and watch it grow, a sum greater than its parts.”
“Like every other miracle, it came all at once, fully formed, and once seen, it was impossible to unsee. It was only natural, yet erroneous, to assume it had always been there, even in the very beginning.”
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant
How to see disagreement as an opportunity, not a threat. How to embrace being wrong as a chance to learn something new, etc.
The Midnight Library: a Novel by Matt Haig
Such a cool concept. When your life ends, you have a chance to see what may have happened if you’d chosen something different… a different route to work, talking to someone instead of walking past them, etc. There are millions of options. Ultimately, we must decide to truly live within our life’s ups and downs. It’s all perspective.
‘Every life contains many millions of decisions. Some big, some small. But every time one decision is taken over another, the outcomes differ. An irreversible variation occurs, which in turn leads to further variations. These books are portals to all the lives you could be living.’
“Every universe exists over every other universe. Like a million pictures on tracing paper, all with slight variations within the same frame. The many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics suggests there are an infinite number of divergent parallel universes. Every moment of your life you enter a new universe. With every decision you make.”
Judaism Straight Up: Why Real Religion Endures by Moshe Koppel
I read this one because in my most recent course, we were discussing secular v. religious Judaism, including secular liberalism. Koppel uses two personas to make the case that the religion has survived because of its traditional customs and values.
“This book is addressed mainly (but by no means exclusively) to those who have wrestled with the problem of maintaining deep traditional commitments while engaged with a cosmopolitan society that often denigrates such commitments. One of the reasons that such reconciliation is difficult is that even those who are deeply embedded in both cultures have a hard time putting their finger on the key underlying differences between their specific culture and the dominant Western one. Furthermore, certain norms and beliefs that are at odds with most religious traditions are so pervasive in contemporary Western society that one can hardly imagine them as anything but a part of the fabric of reality itself. They become the starting point from which traditional norms are judged – and, typically, found wanting.”
You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy
My monthly Mussar group was practicing Attentive Listening, so I read this book to add to our upcoming discussion. It’s really good with tons of interesting sections. I highlighted about 1/3 of the book!
“To listen is to be interested, and the result is more interesting conversations. The goal is to leave the exchange having learned something. You already know about you. You don’t know about the person with whom you are speaking or what you can learn from that person’s experience.”
The Authenticity Project: a Novel by Claire Pooley
Another light fiction choice… one notebook to share vulnerabilities that brings a few people together to share their lives. A cool idea and enjoyable, even if I got tired of it halfway through. I did finish it!
Normal People: A Novel by Sally Rooney
I felt nauseous reading this. Rooney has a way of making her characters vulnerable to each other, and she can describe hopeless despair very well. I’m struggling to understand the point of writing or publishing this book, since the two main characters are in the exact same emotional places they were in when we first met them. Aren’t they supposed to evolve and change? This kind of psychological roller coaster is not for me.
The Course of Modern Jewish History by Howard Sachar
I have to list this here because it’s enormous and I read every word for my most recent class. It’s a bit like an encyclopedia!
The Dinner List: A Novel by Rebecca Serle
I listened to this audiobook and I was annoyed by the way the author spoke. I’ve heard it often in younger people… the monotone, not much inflection or cadence in her voice. Hugely annoying. Still, the book was enjoyable. Five people from any time period you’d want to have dinner with, their conversation, etc. Kind of dumb.
Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life by Christie Tate
Kind of evident what it’s about, but I found it engaging. I’ve never been in group therapy, but it seems somewhat like a Mussar va’ad in that they share vulnerability. This one was interesting to watch as Christie Tate becomes able to have compassion for herself and connect with others.
Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters by Elie Wiesel
I read this a second time because my professor mentioned it in one of his lectures. Stories about the Baal Shem Tov and his disciples and a compelling way to learn about his mystical tradition in Judaism.
