An encounter, a book, and a surprising coincidence

When I joined a group at a table in the Café, I noticed that Genies was wearing a T-shirt that said, "Kind people are my kind of people."  Genies is my kind of people!  And this is a perfect segue into what I'm reading now on my Kindle.

The Power of Kindness: The Unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life ~ by Piero Ferrucci, 2016 (10th anniv. edition), nonfiction, 352 pages

This book challenges us with the promise that generosity and decency are the secret to a fuller, more satisfying life.  Kindness is the key to our own happiness.  Ferrucci has added a chapter on harmlessness to chapters on virtues such as mindfulness, empathy, gratitude, generosity, and joy — plus new techniques, meditations, and exercises.

Now comes the curious happenstance:  I typed up this blog post and set it to post just after midnight.  I read both fiction and nonfiction, sometimes alternating back and forth.  After writing about nonfiction, I was in the mood to get back to my novel while things were still fresh on my mind, so I picked up the mystery I'd been reading on Donna's Kindle:  The Consequences of Fear (Book 16 of the Maisie Dobbs mysteries).  Almost immediately I came across this sentence:  "If I look back, Maisie, I think kindness is the most important thing" (p. 56).  Kindness, again!  What are the odds?

Word of the Day

hap·pen·stance / noun (North American) = coincidence.  Example:  "It was just happenstance that I was at that point in reading the book."

Books from an article in the Atlantic

The Atlantic published an article on Sept 10, 2022 about "The Books We Read Too Late — And That You Should Read Now."  It mentions "finishing a title and thinking about how it might have affected you — if only you'd found it sooner."  Then different writers tell us about these seven novels.

Sleepless Nights ~ by Elizabeth Hardwick, 1979, fiction, 144 pages

This fiction is also "refracted memoir," the Atlantic article says.  A woman looks back on her life — the parade of people, the shifting background of place — and assembles a scrapbook of memories, reflections, portraits, letters, wishes, and dreams.

How Should a Person Be? ~ by Sheila Heti, 2013, fiction, 320 pages

The narrator, named Sheila like the author, struggles to make out who she should be.

American Born Chinese ~ by Gene Luen Yang, 2021, YA fiction, 240 pages

Three story lines collide.  Characters include Wei-Chen, a Taiwanese student in a mostly white suburban school; Jin Wang, born in the U.S. to Chinese immigrants; Danny, an all-American boy, and his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee.

Black Thunder ~ by Arna Bontemps, 1968, historical fiction, 253 pages

This is "a fictionalized account of Gabriel's Rebellion, a thwarted revolt of enslaved people in Virginia in 1800, which examines masculinity as well as the links between oppression and uprisings."

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ~ by Gabrielle Zevin, 2022, fiction (Massachusetts and California), 416 pages

Sam and Sadie meet at a children's hospital in Los Angeles, reconnect during college, and start a successful gaming company with their friend Marx; but they struggle with race, wealth, disability, and gender.

A House in Norway ~ by Vigdis Hjorth, translated by Charlotte Barslund, 2017, fiction (Norway), 175 pages

This is a short novel about a divorced textile artist who lives alone in a semi-isolated house.

Wonder ~ by R. J. Palacio, 2012, children's fiction, 320 pages

This novel is about a fifth grader named Auggie Pullman, who was born with a genetic disorder that has disfigured his face.  I read this book several years ago and rated it 10/10.

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon.

Cats and dogs ~ and one bird

It wasn't a rainy day, but I happened to think of "raining cats and dogs" when I got up last Sunday morning.  So I've found a way to stretch your mind for a few minutes.  Come up with answers for these questions about cats and dogs.  To make it even more interesting, "L" must be the first letter of every answer.

1. This item is used to walk the dog (or CAT, see Clawdia above) ______________
2. Cats are said to have nine of these ____________________________________
3. What sibling kittens and puppies with the same mom are called ______________
4. Name of a well-known collie who starred in movies ________________________
5. Where a cat often naps on a person ___________________________________
6. How Alyssa's dog Hazel mastered her obedience training _________________

My friend Emily left a comment on one of my blog posts in November 2019:

"Purring is such a peaceful way to communicate."

Some things for you to ponder today, since it's Caturday!

_____________________________________________

** I borrowed the activity idea above from page 90 of my friend Donna's Little Moments of Joy Adult Activity Book by J. K. Timmet (2019), adding my spin to it and rewording it.  The book has easy puzzles, coloring pages, brain games, word search, and writing activities in it.

Isn't this a pretty bird on the cover?  Does anyone know what it is?

Answers:  Leash, Lives, Litter, Lassie, Lap, [and she] Learned

Beginning ~ the day after he died

Beginning

On the day after Jesus' death, it looked as if whatever small mark he left on the world would rapidly disappear.  Instead, his impact on human history has been unparalleled.  After his disappearance from earth, the days of his unusual influence began.  That influence is what this book is about.  Rightly seen, this effect on past and current history will cause any thoughtful person — apart from their religious ideas about Christianity — to ask, "Who was this man?"

Who Is This Man? : The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus ~ by John Ortberg, 2014, religion, 224 pages

John Ortberg explores the paradox of Jesus, history's most familiar figure while simultaneously the man no one knows.  This book traces the incredible life and legacy of Jesus from his days on Earth to the present moment, showing us:

• How his vision of life continues to haunt and challenge humanity.
• The ways his influence has inspired movements in art, science, government, medicine, and education.
• How his lessons about dignity, compassion, forgiveness, and hope continue to influence humanity.
• How the influence of Jesus has swept over history.
• How his vision of life continues to impact us today.

Gilion at Rose City Reader.

hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Life after death?

Resurrected to Eternal Life: On Dying and Rising ~ by Jürgen Moltmann, translated by Ellen Yutzy Glebe, 2021, theology, 88 pages

Drawing on themes from his oeuvre's entire arc, Resurrected to Eternal Life testifies to the inner unity of his theology:  the cross, the Spirit, the kingdom, the end, and the hope that makes the end present here and now.  Seasoned readers of Moltmann will find in these pages a capstone of a lifetime of theological exploration, while those new to his thinking will find a concise entry point into his voluminous work.

I'm curious whether Moltmann thinks there is life after death.  He begins in the Foreword by referring to his 1964 book Theology of Hope, which I've read.  I blogged about this book last year (click on the title link), and I finally got around to reading it this week.

"Words, words, words!" quoth Hamlet

         

"What do you read, my lord?"

"Words, words, words."

                           ~~~ Hamlet

Avi recently wrote about Monologophobia:

A 150th anniversary edition of Roget’s Thesaurus has recently been published.  Who was Peter Mark Roget?  He was an important 19th century English physician, mathematician, inventor of a prototype for the motion-picture film camera, creator of a pocket chessboard, and an expert on bees.  But perhaps he also suffered from "monologophobia" — which, I recently learned means an obsessive fear of using the same word twice.  Roget — for the first edition of the book — coined the word Thesaurus, apparently taking it from the Greek word for "treasure house."

Monologophobia, huh?  Maybe I have a touch of it, too.  By the way, this version of the book was published in 2006.  I don't call 2006 "recent," but okay.  I think Amazon has a math problem.  Amazon seems to think Roget's Thesaurus was originally published on January 1, 1746.  Wait a minute, Amazon!  I have helpfully highlighted in yellow the words above, that Roget lived in the 19th century.  Wikipedia says he lived from January 18, 1779 to September 12, 1869.  It would be very difficult to publish something decades before you were born.

Learn more about Roget in this Smithsonian Magazine article from last year.  Before he wrote a thesaurus, Roget had to escape Napoleon’s dragnet.  At the dawn of the 19th century, the young Brit got caught in an international crisis while touring Europe.

By the way, I know the word quoth is archaic, okay?  It means "said."  I remember that in school I had to read "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe.  I especially remember these two widely separated lines:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary ... 

Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."

That second line simply means that the raven SAID "Nevermore."  In the title of this post of mine, Hamlet does the saying.

Grappling with two ideas on TWOsday

Both are quotes from Madeleine L'Engle, one of my favorite writers.