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GailV

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Everything posted by GailV

  1. Two more finished yesterday: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller. @TravelingChris mentioned this in the January thread, which sparked my interest in re-reading it. This time through was different, as is often the case. Right now I'm immersed in how scholars approach ancient literature, and also in various theological discussions, so I was seeing more cross-over with that. Plus these days I'm a little more in tune to seeing themes throughout a work. I found the third section much more intriguing this time around. I'm glad I read it again, and will be thinking about Mrs Grales and Rachel in the days to come. Also, it took me this long to read it because I couldn't find it on any of the bookshelves in our house (soooo many bookshelves to search!), yet I knew I owned it. It eventually turned up in Brooklyn ... one of the kids had taken it to share with friends. In the meantime, I got a copy from the public library. Curveball: When Your Faith Takes Turns You Never Saw Coming (or, How I stumbled and Tripped My Way to Finding a Bigger God) by Peter Enns. I'm a Pete Enns fan, and heard a suggestion that this might be a good book to read when starting to poke around in actual scholarship on how and when various parts of the Bible were written, plus what the language actually meant at that time. He does wander into topics I tend to gravitate towards, like Near Death Experiences and quantum physics (but not simulation hypothesis, alas). Overall, an interesting read. I got it from the public library, so I had to hand copy all the passages I wanted to save into a notebook. But maybe that's an advantage, as it solidified them better in my mind.
  2. I was reading, but not posting -- everyone else seemed to know So Much More than what I did. Which, honestly, still the case today.
  3. The Origins of Early Christian Literature: Contextualizing the New Testament within Greco-Roman Literary Culture by Robyn Faith Walsh. Another tie-in to reading the New Testament through this year; this time a scholarly look at the authors of the synoptic gospels. From the back cover: "Conventional approaches to the Synoptic gospels argue that the gospel authors acted as literate spokespersons for their religious communities. Whether described as documenting intragroup "oral traditions" or preserving the collective perspectives of their fellow Christ-followers, these writers are treated as something akin to the Romantic Poets speaking for the Volk - a questionable framework inherited from nineteenth-century German Romanticism. Robyn Faith Walsh argues that the Synoptic gospels were written by elite cultural producers working within a dynamic cadre of literate specialists, including persons who may or may not have been professed Christians." The early parts about Germanic folk tales was a bit of a slog for me -- the vocabulary and concepts used to analyze literature are totally foreign to me and thus slow going. Loved the later parts comparing various Hellenistic lit to Bible stories, and how mashups of Homer, subversive biois (eg Socrates, Aesop) etc with the Septuagint might have been a popular product right after the Jewish War (be assured that I am stating that waaaaaay more casually than the author would). Now I'm trying to decide what next -- some Dennis MacDonald, or maybe Richard Miller? Both seem like they're all-in with the idea that a lot of gospel vignettes find their origins in popular tropes of the day. Hmmm.... (Actually I'm inching through an entire pile of books right now, so no rush to make that decision. Also, this rabbit trail demonstrates why telling me to read the entire New Testament this year might be a bad idea.)
  4. A Rooster for Asklepios: A Slave's Story Book 1 by Christopher Stanley. I discovered this author, a recently retired professor, while casually rummaging around in the world of New Testament history. When I saw he had a book on Kindle Unlimited I immediately downloaded it, and was instantly whisked into the world of Novels for Homeschoolers Studying Ancient History. Wow wow wow, I really felt I was pre-reading a book for my kids' study! Soooo much info, PLUS he has a website so you can browse pictures, videos, and maps A Slave Story resources (see also the Blog linked on that page for even more background information of various scenes in the book). My goodness, I'm so tempted to text my kids (adults living in a different state) and assign this as reading JUST BECAUSE IT FEELS LIKE THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Also, I was listening to a podcast featuring Candida Moss talking about her latest book which touches on slaves in early Christianity, and it was amazing how many things she mentioned that I already knew, thanks to this book. For example, slaves were the technology of the era (where we would use a device or machine, they used a slave). The testimony of a slave was only acceptable if the slave had been beaten/tortured, because they were assumed to otherwise lie. We can identify a slave in literature (or life) via naming conventions. If you're considering diving in, be aware that the novel covers medicine in the region and era (so much diarrhea goes on), relationships between Romans and Jews (a couple of times Paulus is mentioned as a Jew who is proclaiming new things; one Jew mentions Christos), several mentions that "Jews cut off the end of their pricks", sex is mentioned casually (eg, masters totally own their slaves body) but takes place "off screen". Edited to add: I was also pleased with the tiny detail that when the Roman characters visited a Jewish meeting and heard about the story of Abram, a Roman character pondered that it sounded like the story of Aeneas.
  5. I just discovered this thread. I am so sorry to hear about this loss.
  6. I keep my stack on the floor. It's currently actually 2 stacks, with room to become 3 stacks. PROBLEM SOLVED! Finished in February but didn't get around to posting: The Gospel of Mark: A Beginner's Guide to the Good News by Amy-Jill Levine. As noted before, our church is reading through the New Testament, one chapter per day 5x/week**. We just finished Mark. I had gotten this to go alongside for my own reference, and, wow, what a good choice! I loved how she approached things, how she portrayed her struggle with some passages, her comments on various interpretations one can find in various sources. **We have a daily devotional the pastor wrote, but, honestly, it's very dull. Also, we have a variety of weekly discussion groups -- most Sunday School classes and Bible studies are focussing on this -- DH and I attend a Thursday night group that's centering on what we're reading. So I'm just over here being Extra with all my bonus books and Teaching Company downloads. Fortunately, our Thursday night group leader is also very Extra (we have a wee bit of a competition about who buys more books), and also loves AJ Levine, so it's working out nicely.
  7. Something to Live For by Richard Roper. @Ottakee posted about this book earlier this month. I got it out of the library, and read it over a weekend while sitting on the couch with a bad cold. It was PERFECT for what I wanted to read at that moment -- sweet, poignant, a little weird, easy to finish in a weekend. I can't really improve on Ottakee's description of this quirky little book. Thank you so much for mentioning it! The Warrior's Meditation by Richard L. Haight. "The best-kept secret in self-improvement, cognitive enhancement, and emotional regulation, taught by a Master of four Samurai arts." Why, yes, I read yet another book on meditation. This one was based more in martial arts and Samurai. I read on Kindle Unlimited, which was lovely for a couple of hot links to videos -- the one to a breathing technique was very helpful, the one on the author simultaneously whistling and humming seemed a little pointless (although it was memorable - I would've otherwise forgotten that section of the book almost immediately). Also, one page of the Kindle version seemed to be missing, so that was weird. The Ready Reference at the end gives a nice little summary of various types of meditation, both his technique, plus some others such as mantra, zazen, mindfulness. Spoiler alert -- his technique is basically mindfulness plus sitting in open awareness. I liked how he explained some things.
  8. Ok, this is off topic, but this reminded me of when older dd was in college and lived 2 years in a house off-campus. She started an Instagram account called Sink Updates, just showing pictures of their kitchen sink and maybe a line describing the amount of dirty dishes or extenuating circumstances/activities (like a big class project). She never named names, just left it there for the world to see.
  9. GailV

    My sick day

    Sorry you're sick, but good that the appointments are working out well.
  10. Wait, are you going through the entire series? If so, can we hang out and be best friends? I keep trying to get dd to read it (and watch it) so we can discuss, but, alas, she's always too busy. Oooh, another favorite. When I read the post before yours I was tempted to re-read all of the Expanse (why yes, I have all 9 of them right here on the shelf - I'm missing the novellas) but as soon as I saw your post I switched gears to trying to remember last time I read Canticle for Leibowitz.
  11. Soul Lessons from the Light: How Spiritually Transformative Experiences Changed My Life by Yvonne Kason, MD. I heard the author on a podcast and thought it would be interesting to read more about her and her experiences. The book provided a few more details about the plane crash she was in, and the time she slipped on ice and bashed her head. Other than that, it was very repetitive, and remarkably boring considering the subject matter (she's had multiple Near Death Experiences and other major spiritual experiences). I supposed her traumatic brain injury might have something to do with the repetitiveness -- maybe that reads better to her, and maybe it's helpful to others in the same situation. Just One Damned Thing After Another: The Chronicles of St. Mary's by Jodi Taylor. Book one of the series, which I hadn't heard of before seeing a mention on the Parasol Protectorate Facebook group. History, time travel, romance -- all sorts of genres rolled up together, with a big emphasis on having fun with it all. I'll be continuing through the series.
  12. I finished two books of poetry in the past week. I read poetry very slowly, and generally don't do more than one book at a time, but these were so different from each other that it worked to have both going at once. The Vanishing Song: Poems by Jay Hulme. I started following Jay Hulme years ago on Twitter, enjoying his adventures exploring cathedrals all over Britain. This is the second poetry book of his I've read, and I'm absolutely in love with it. As one reviewer put it, "this collection is totally unhinged and shot through with Holy Madness." Christian mystics! Death! Resurrection! But all with an underlying sense of humor and love! Wow wow wow, I loved this. I'd start rereading immediately, but I have 2 other new books of poetry I haven't even started. I Could Pee on This, and Other Poems by Cats. Francesco Marciuliano. Silly little poems about cats. Some are quite charming. One of my permanent Christmas-list items is "books of poetry" -- dd found this in a pile of free books somewhere in NYC, knows that I aspire to crazy-cat-lady (as does she), and thus came up with a gift that hit THREE key points - poetry, cats, used items/stooping. Winner!
  13. Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher. NYT bestseller, YA fiction. I am very much NOT the target audience, but the author's aunt is here on the forum, so I wanted to read it. It was fun - sort of a mix of romcom and historical fantasy, with a LGBTQ spin. Gotta love having an Arthurian-adjacent character referencing being his buddy's "wingman", which gives you a taste of how cheeky the "historical" part is. The Puppy Problem by Katie Meyer, who is also here on the forum. I was mostly intrigued by the service dog helping the autistic child; the romance of the adults was a distraction for me. So, oops on me missing the point. Still, it's a nice addition to her series on Paradise Island and its emphasis on pets/animals.
  14. Yes, the cool kids are all talking about fungi these days (really, even poets in my social media feeds have been all in on mycology metaphors for the past year or so), but we're still getting new info about how plants communicate: Video of plants communicating
  15. BTW, my understanding of the Do Not Call registry is that it gives the option to prosecute if you still receive calls. Few people bother to prosecute, so it's a bit meaningless.
  16. What brand(s) do you use? Regular collagen powder - bovine, fish, pork - gives me insomnia (even taking it at 6am) plus some mild anxiety. So I'm on the lookout for a vegan alternative.
  17. I got the Jewish Annotated New Testament for this read-through - love Amy-Jill Levine. Last time we did this I used The Source by A. Nyland, which was very focussed on how Greek is translated. Of course, now I'm instantly convinced that the First Nations version is something I absolutely need. Hmmm....
  18. Same! Finished 2 so far: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. Recommended by @Grace Hopper last month. I really enjoyed this. Plus, after I finished I realized that one of the categories on this year's Winter Read at our library is "read a book that someone recommended to you" so I'm counting this. Flop Dead Gorgeous: an Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt. I'd listened to another book in this series during Christmas, so when I saw this on the New Book shelf I grabbed it. As expected, it was fun and light. As nearly as I can tell it doesn't make a difference what order you read this series in. I'm not interested in reading another of these any time soon, though. Which is probably good since I have at least 3 other books started, plus at church we're doing the "Read a chapter of the New Testament each weekday, and all the sermons and Sunday School lessons will coordinate with this" thing again this year (there are 260 chapters in the New Testament, and slightly more weekdays than that in 2024).
  19. A few years back I read about plants getting drunk*. Pretty much set a new standard for things that make me raise my eyebrows. * I was a Horticulture major in school, and go on nerdy-plant-kicks on a regular basis. This little gem was in a book by Stephen Buhner, but I don't recall which one. I think he was writing about how plants utilize hallucinogens for their own purposes. Hmm, now I'm going to spend the next hour following up on this. THANKS A LOT EVERYONE FOR CRASHING MY PLANS FOR AN INDUSTRIOUS DAY
  20. OTOH, the entire internet is welcome to stroll on through all of these posts on the main boards. I assumed that was the reason for being a little vague. WE all have different levels of identifying information we're comfortable with, and that can change over time, and even day to day or post to post.
  21. Deck the Hounds: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt. Holiday whodunit on audio so I could knit while listening. Actually, the Christmas part of this was tangential to the plot - the holiday just happened to be going on in the background. But it was still a fun book. I'm pretty sure I've read other books in this series. Twelve Days of Christmas: A Christmas Novel by Debbi Macomber. Holiday romance audio book. This was so bad I couldn't finish it. I stopped once, then needed something to half-listen-to while doing a tubular bind off so I tried a bit more. Yikes, it got even worse - our heroine was surprised that she had a 24 hour stomach bug because, by golly, she had gotten her flu vaccine. HELLO DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT "FLU" ACTUALLY IS?? All the Christmas knitting is done!
  22. Just put a hold on this at the library - I love stuff like this - and I notice I'm the second hold. So ... who here already put a hold on this in the SLCL system? Am I going to have to start fighting you for other recommended books that have fewer copies in the system?
  23. Dashing Through the Snowbirds: a Meg Langslow Mystery by Donna Andrews. Holiday whodunit. I got this as an audiobook through the Libby app so I could knit while I listened. It was as fun as any Meg Langslow book -- I've been reading random books out of this series since about the very first book, which was many years ago. This was the first time I'd listened to an audio version, though, and it took me several hours to get over the fact that the reader didn't sound like the voice in my head.
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