It has been a really busy week. One of those coming-to-the-end-of-term weeks that I had kinda forgotten about. It has been a strange transition for Clint and I to come out of "real world" work and into the mental work required of grad school.
Let me recommend a few books, since that's my area of expertise right now.
First, let me recommend to you that you should remember to read a good children's picture book every once in a while. My personal favorite is a book called Miss Suzy about a squirrel. I've been surprised to remember how much children's lit deals with the real kind of pain we experience daily.
On that note, take some time to read a Young Adult fiction book that you haven't read since you were a child. I read Little House in the Big Woods and found it richly rewarding. Can I also recommend two books that I didn't read as a child but enjoyed dedicating an afternoon to now? They are Holes by Louis Sachar and The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin.
If you are a feminist who struggles how to deal with "patriarchy" in the Biblical texts without denying inherency I have two books to recommend: Discovering Eve by Carol Meyers and Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion by Margaret Y. MacDonald. They were very helpful to me recently in defining what my own biblical feminism is without devolving into polemical arguments about "women in ministry" or "women and authority." (My paper this week was on women in the early Church context, esp. regarding "reproductive rights")
Oh, and if you ever wondered if there were any women recorded in the first, hmm 1300 years of Christian thought, one great book to check out is The Forgotten Desert Mothers by Laura Swan.
Hmm... what else. I'm beginning to sound like a librarian for women and children.
Can I give a hearty recommendation to read Julian of Norwich's long text Revelation of Divine Love if you haven't before? I know, I know, I'm biased, but I was looking at it again recently. SO rich.
Needless to say, after such a heady life, Clint was beginning to get hungry (since our agreement is that I cook dinner for him) and our apartment was a big mess. So this weekend brought to life a domestic urge. We are relatively tidy now and ready to face another week of reading.
Blessings in the many and diverse undertakings you might face this week!
Books! I love life in a bibliography! You should do it at least once a month! We could make a game where we always do life in bibliography every once in a while.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the apartment getting messy and food needing to be made, though. Our embodiment always eventually reasserts itself. :o)
L--Thanks for the recommendations! I agree--life in bibligraphy is wonderful and can speak...volumes. : ) I love children's literature, and will take up your recommendations. I reread the whole Little House series a few years back and it was so fun. I was amazed, in particular, to be reminded of the rigorous education the Ingalls children received, e.g. performing long division on their heads during the "exhibit" the school put on for the whole town.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you and the Mr. are well!
-Jen Wotochek
omg you said Ursula K. LeGuin - that's the author karen joy fowler talks about (via her nerdy boy character in jane austen's book club). ha!
ReplyDeletewe miss you guys - we're growing @ ccnyc yet i also feel that we're separating - only because of the 3 separate services. how i long for a unified 1 service a day! that's a very selfish thought, but i do wish...
happy gobble gobble day!