Sunday, July 10, 2022

Reading ruminations

But first, a night photo of St. Louis.  A young man named Alexander Johnson used a drone to get this shot and posted it on Nextdoor's News Feed (our neighborhood app).  Isn't it beautiful?  Look carefully, and you can see the Arch on the horizon.

Quotes and ruminations

The Virtues of Aging ~ by Jimmy Carter, 1998, memoir, 160 pages, 10/10
  • "I'm a morning person, and when doing office work or writing, I get up very early and put in two or three hours of my most productive work before breakfast time" (p. 74).
    This makes me laugh.  I myself an a night owl in an early bird world. 
  • "With reasonably good health, there are two crucial factors in how happy or successful an older person is:  (1)  having a purpose in life and (2) maintaining quality relationships with others" (pp. 60-61).
  • My purpose in life hasn't changed, in that I always try to help others around me.  Living in a senior retirement center means I've had a chance to develop (and maintain) friendships with lots of other folks my age.  The down side is that they keep dying!  Yeah, we can expect that here, but I'm very glad I've gotten to know these people.  More keep moving in as others leave to nursing home or to live with family.  So I am making new friends, while keeping the old friends, many of whom I've known for decades.
Reading, finally

Fresh Scars ~ by Donna Mumma, 2021, fiction (Florida), 305 pages

I posted the beginning lines of this book back in February, but I never got around to reading it.  Asia Butler and her sister, Ivy Butler Morelli, have not spoken in fifteen years because the two endured brutal emotional abuse from their mother, Veronica, and want only to forget the past — and each other.  Click the title link above, if you want to read more about the plot.  What I've read so far (two chapters) has grabbed my attention, so I think I'll just post this and go read more of it.

3 comments:

Helen's Book Blog said...

I think I said this when you first posted about the Jimmy Carter book, but I am so impressed with him as a human being. He got such a bad rap when he was president, but he has probably done more for humanity than all of the rest of them put together!

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Yes, Helen, you did leave a positive comment about Jimmy Carter before. (Sorry, I have now fixed the link to reflect the correct book by Jimmy Carter).

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

Even if we are not living in a senior retirement center, people keep dying on us. I really hate this.

Thanks for sharing the Jimmy Carter book. He's a fine man, and I'm proud he was our president. Wish I could say that for all our former presidents.