Challenges

2019:




2019—2024: 


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Reading Everything in August

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No, that is not the title of a challenge...but it may as well be.  I'm up to my ears in books and it's wonderful. Sweet peas and ocean breezes    ♥ I spent most of my July weekends working on a large volunteer project for a non-profit.  It was a beneficial experience, but more of a commitment than I realized.  Now that that's pretty much wrapped up, I can turn back to books. Here's a quick list of what I'll be reading this month, at different levels of undivided attention and in no particular order: 1984 - George Orwell Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne Master and Commander - Patrick O'Brian Drawn from Memory - Ernest Shepard (illustrator of the original Winnie the Pooh) Psalms (almost finished) Tesla biography (yes, still) Smart People Should Build Things and The War on Normal People - Andrew Yang Nostromo - Joseph Conrad Moby-Dick - Herman Melville Other??  There's sure to be more. I probably mentioned bef...
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Wit and Wisdom in Chesterton's Heretics

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This year's reading is off to a good start, not so much in terms of speed (work and other activities have put the brakes on that) but in terms of content.  I've just finished G. K. Chesterton's Heretics , a light book for heavy hearts of little-'o' orthodox Christians who happen to be classic literature nerds.  Since I fall under that category, I found Heretics to be a bracing read and surprisingly relevant for the current times.  Chesterton is a hit-and-miss author for me; this book was definitely a "hit." George Bernard Shaw, Hilaire Belloc, and G. K. Chesterton. Heretics (1905) comes under one of my favorite niche genres - authors writing about other authors.  In this series of essays, Chesterton critiques such literary luminaries as Rudyard Kipling , H. G. Wells , and George Bernard Shaw, as well as others who have since fallen out of readership.  Imperialism, Nietzsche's Superman, human progress, and other topics of the day are covered he...
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The Art of Loving - Questions on Chapters 2.2-2.3

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Gage Skidmore [ CC BY-SA 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons Previously: The Art of Loving - A Ramble on Chapters 1–2.1 This post will be rather more disjointed than my first one, as these sections left me with more questions than conclusions.  Bear with me! As for the picture - especially in this part, I was having flashbacks to 12 Rules for Life , and anyone who found value in that book should probably read this one (and vice-versa). Chapter 2.2, "Love Between a Parent and a Child" The big theme of this part was Fromm's definition of fatherly and motherly love.  He describes motherly love as unconditional, forgiving, and organic to the mother-child relationship - C. S. Lewis's "Gift-Love," in other words, with no limit.  Motherly love and validation of the child is present whether the child "deserves" it or not.  Fatherly love, by contrast, is rules-based and must be earned in order to be granted: Since [Father's] love is conditioned...
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