BOOKS FINISHED since my last report
12. Birds of a Feather (Book 2) ~ by Jacqueline Winspear, 2004, mystery (England), 9/10Reading Now
13. Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio ~ by Peg Kehret, 1996, memoir, 9.5/10"Well then, let's stand by the window. ... Maurice had taught her: Always take the person to be questioned to a place where there's space, or where they can see few boundaries. Space broadens the mind and gives the voice room to be heard" (pp. 21-22).
"And what did Dr. Blanche say about it then?"
"That coincidence is a messenger sent by truth. That there are no accidents of fate" (p. 50).
Maurice's maxim: "To solve a problem, take it for a walk" (p. 106).
Blanche smiled ... "As I have said many times, my dear, each case has a way of shining a light on something we need to know about ourselves" (p. 194).
"Let the ideas come to us instead of chasing them."
"Exactly" (p. 238).
Maurice: "In learning about the mysths and legends of old, we learn something of ourselves. Stories, Maisie, are never just stories. They contain fundamental truths about the human condition" (p. 264).
"That's one more thing that I detest about war. It's not over when it ends" (p. 266).
"May I not sit in judgment. May I be open to hearing and accepting the truth of what I am told. May my decisions be for the good of all concerned. May my work bring peace" (p. 272).
"Move the body, Maisie, and you will move the mind" (p. 282).
"Resentment must give way to possibility, anger to acceptance, grief to compassion, disdain to respect — on both sides" (p. 299).
"Why were you out of bed?" ...
"I was doing the hula," I said. ...
"The hula?"
"Alice didn't know what the hula is," explained Renée.
"So Peg was going to show her," Dorothy added.
Shaking her head in disbelief, Willie helped me into bed and warned me to stay there. "In all my years of nursing," she said, "I've never had a polio patient try to dance the hula" (p. 102).
"Peg Schulze became Peg Kehret when I married Carl Kehret. We have two children, Anne and Bob, and I wept for joy the day they got their first polio vaccinations" (p. 172).
Pardonable Lies (Book 3) ~ by Winspear, 2005, mystery (England)Did you notice a "coincidence" here? I read in the previous Maisie Dobbs book (above) that her mentor Maurice said "coincidence is a messenger sent by truth," and the memoir is about a polio patient. Compare all three yellow highlights in this post, and you'll see that this quote ties together these three books. Hmm, what's going on? Is there something I should be aware of? I don't know, but I noticed this coincidence. I have NEVER before read about polio in any book I remember, and yet here are two in a row!
"I must dash. I've got a new patient this morning, a youngster crippled with polio, I'm afraid. See you Saturday" (p. 45).
Borrowed Book
They Will Inherit the Earth: Peace and Nonviolence in a Time of Climate Change ~ by John Dear, 2018, ethicsSheila Garcia gave me her copy to read. I have a stack of my own books I had planned to read this year, partly to get rid of the stacks of books in my apartment, but there are only 160 pages in this little book. What would you do? Oh, wait! Is this another coincidence? Look again at the documentary on violence at the top of this post. Maybe I'm supposed to read the book Sheila shared with me. What do you think?
In the Beatitudes, Jesus says of the meek, "they will inherit the earth." Meekness, John Dear argues, is the biblical word for nonviolence. He makes the connection Jesus makes at the start of his Sermon on the Mount between our practice of nonviolence and our unity with creation: our rejection of nonviolence is inevitably linked to the catastrophic effects of climate change and environmental ruin. Drawing on personal stories of his life in the desert of New Mexico, his time as a chaplain at Yosemite, his friendship with indigenous and environmental leaders, his experience at the Standing Rock protests, as well as his work with the Vatican on a new stance on nonviolence, John Dear invites us to return to nonviolence as a way of life and a living solidarity with Mother Earth and her creatures.
Bloggers gather in The Sunday Salon — at separate computers in different time zones — to talk about our lives and our reading.
I'm not sure if it is coincidence or kismet or just the simple way our human brain seeks out meaning in the connections it forms between random things. I like to think it is kismet, God's will, but that's just the way I like to think. In any case, you have certainly had a lot of odd connections in your reading lately. Polio. Nonviolence. Where will your reading take you next? (I'd read the 160-page book your friend loaned you, by the way. Perhaps your friend sees something that will be of importance to you in the book.)
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to use an odd technique of nonviolence in my daily life this year. When I feel like someone is lashing out at me, I'm trying to respond with a hyper-dose of sweetness and love. It's not my first instinct, but by practicing this technique it seems to be smoothing out a lot of things. There seem to be lots of hurting people in the world, at least in my small town, who are striking out at anything and anyone they run across. I love the Martin Luther King Jr. quote: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." I think that if MLK can respond to so much hatred with love that I can do it, too.
Have a good week, Bonnie!
Though sad that it’s needed, the community movement program to combat hate is a wonderful idea.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a great reading week
Thanks, Deb and Shelly Rae, for commenting. I have already decided to read the book Sheila handed me, actually. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered to write about it. The "coincidence" aspect was too good to pass up. I plan to write about it for my Book Beginnings on Friday post this week, so look for more about the book then.
ReplyDeleteThat documentary sounds really interesting. I’m glad something is being done about bullying because it was bad when I was a kid. I hope you have a good week!
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Not in My Town is a powerful video. Well, I've seen the first one about Billings, Montana, and used to show it in my class. The students liked it and it spurred really interesting conversations. I didn't realize there were other versions/continuations available.
ReplyDeleteFunny how things line up. Have a good week. My weekly update
ReplyDeleteI bought a Maisie Dobbs mystery a few years ago when it was on the sale table but I haven't read it yet. I've not read any books in the series but they look good.
ReplyDeleteDonna at Girl Who Reads