Considering the Reading goals,
I've been doing well enough. No fiction this month, but that's OK.
Christian books
Brother Yun: Living Water
I kept reading this slowly, 1-2
chapters per day, to absorb and pray about what Brother Yun teaches.
His main point is to surrender to God. Instead of asking God to bless
our plans and desires, to let Him change our heart so that we will
live out His plans.
C. S. Lewis: The Problem of Pain
Still thinking about this, will post
more about this subject at some point.
Learning
Paula Tilli: Toisin. (Otherwise. My
life with Asperger's.)
Gretchen Rubin: The Happiness Project
I can see why this book has been so
popular. Rubin makes many good points about happiness, what it is and
isn't, and how a lot of it boils down to the choices we make. And she
writes very well.
I have one reservation with
this book. It is such a tempting concept that we can make ourselves
happy with our own effort: have a nice formula, think positive, do X,
Y and Z, and you'll be happier. Obviously, we are all responsible for
our own choices and attitudes, and those influence our lives a lot.
However, I'm convinced that real, lasting joy is only found in a
relationship with God, the loving Father. Which is something you will
not find in Rubin's book.
Having said that, there were many good
tips and takeaways in this book. The following are my own paraphrases
of what I'm hoping to keep in mind:
- Appreciate what you have: attitude of gratitude.
- Give up trying to be someone you're not.
- Goals are good, but enjoying the process is at least as important.
- Lighten up - relax - take time for fun and joking and silliness, too. (Especially as a parent.)
- Make time for people and relationships.
- Even if it's hard to get started, decluttering eventually makes me feel better.
For Fun
Rita Ahonen: Minu Stockholm (My Stockholm)
Forced to emigrate from the Soviet
Union in 1988, Estonian Rita Ahonen found herself adapting to life
in Stockholm. Even though Sweden is not very far from Estonia, there
were many culture shocks and surprises along the way. I really
enjoyed this story: I've travelled quite a bit in both Estonia and
Sweden, and this book gave insights into both of those countries and
cultures. And lots of little moments of recognition.
John Mullan: What Matters in Jane
Austen?
When I listed this as one of my favourite reads from last year, I was inspired to read it again. :)
Still liking it.
Robert Capa: Sotakuvaaja (Slightly Out
Of Focus)
This memoir of a famous war
photographer reads a bit like a novel. He recounts his adventures and
does not dwell too much on the gory details. His photographs,
however, show the grittiness of war plainly enough. Recommended for
those who like to read about WW2.
Hard to categorize
Janika Tamm: Minu Keenia
Most books I've read of this series
belong to "for fun" category. This one was not exactly a
light read - Tamm recounts many stories of suffering people and the difficulties and challenges she faced in community development work. On the other hand,
there are the hopeful stories, too. (Janika worked as a volunteer in
a number of community projects in Kenya.)
Do photography books count as
reading, when the pictures speak more than the texts?
Steve McCurry: The Iconic Photographs
A huge and heavy book, fantastic photographs. (If I only had the time, I could spend several hours browsing the photo galleries on his website.)
A Day in the World
Book description from the website: "A Day in the World is a compilation of
images from Aday.org. This 512-page book is a remarkable journey
around our planet. Almost a 100.000 pictures from more than 160
countries were submitted to Aday.org and the thousand best have been
selected for this book by an international panel of photo editors.
The result is a unique tale of life on earth in one day, a visually
spellbinding record of our time. "
The project asked people to take
pictures on May 15, 2012 and submit them to the website, aday.org. And yes, the compilation is fascinating. (To
check out all those nearly 100.000 pictures, if you wish, just go to
the website...)
Stats:
Books completed: 13
of which non fiction: 13
and fiction: 0
Languages:
Finnish: 3
English: 8
Estonian: 2
In the middle of reading: 2 books. (Ann Voskamp's A Thousand Gifts and
Noreen Riols's Secret Ministry of Ag. and Fish. Both would deserve their own blog posts in due time....)
One of my goals was to find more (new) books for
Junior Bookworm to read. These days, he is racing through Enid
Blyton's Famous Five series, which is at least new to him. With 21 titles listed in the series, it'll take him a while to finish it (he has read 5 so far), but I'll keep looking anyway...
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