Category Archives: The Reading Life

Book and article recommendations

Wonder & Whimsy: New Format

A weekly curation of quotations I come across in my reading life (or on random condiment jars) — from the inspirational to the miscellaneous. Perhaps one inspires you or catches your fancy too…

Robert Louis Stevenson:

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”

A good perspective on suffering from St. Francis de Sales:

“Do not wish for crosses unless you have borne those well which have already been offered to you.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, p. 225)

Flannery O’Conner:

“…discovering the church is apt to be a slow procedure but it can only take place if you have a free mind and no vested interest in disbelief…” (Habit of Being, p. 231)

Sarah Mackenzie on reading aloud as a family:

“The stories we read together act as a bridge when we can’t seem to find another way to connect. They are our currency, our language, our family culture. The words and stories we share become a part of our family identity.” (The Read Aloud Family, p. 38)

My Reading Challenge Pick for…”A work of poetry by a Catholic author”

Are you participating in the 2018 Catholic Reading Challenge? If not, it’s never too late to start — join us! I share my picks for each category about once a month. So far, the categories have been diversifying my reading life, particularly this next pick…

Category: “A work of poetry by a Catholic author”

My Pick: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins

I stumbled across a very helpful post at The Catholic Gentleman while determining what poet I should read for this category. It was a hard choice, but I ended up going with Gerard Manley Hopkins. No regrets here. (And now I have a solid list of remaining poets to work my way through next. First runner-up: Edith Sitwell.) Disclaimer: I’m not sure if the edition I linked to on Amazon is the exact one that I read, since my copy was a wonderful old and falling apart hardback from the library. However, I’m sure that most collections would have all of the same poems.

What I loved…

Hopkins’ faith and Catholic identity come through strongly in his poetry. There is a good bit that is symbolic, and then there are a good many poems that are commemorative. (Admittedly, I lacked the context for fully understanding some of them.) For example, he wrote a beautiful poem in commemoration of a group of nuns who drowned in a shipwreck. When reading selections such as these, I thought of him as a eulogist. There was also some moving symbolism used with the Blessed Mother, a fairly common subject in his poetry as well. Continue reading →

Wonder & Whimsy: Monkfruit?!

Now and then I like to share the helpful, enjoyable, and inspirational things that I have come across lately. Perhaps some of these might be just the thing you were looking for…

#1 — Gerard Manley Hopkins

I’ve been reading the poems of Catholic poet Gerard Manley Hopkins for one of the Catholic Reading Challenge categories. (Stay tuned for the upcoming blog post on that category at the end of the month.) They’re so beautiful and inspiring! Here’s a stanza from one poem titled, Easter, speaking of Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet with expensive ointment:

Break the box and shed the nard;

Stop not now to count the cost;

Hither bring pearl, opal, sard;

Reck not what the poor have lost;

Upon Christ throw all away:

Know ye, this is Easter Day.

#2 — Meal Plans (using Excel)

I’ve been frustrated lately with my (lack of) meal planning. So the other day I buckled down and created something that seems to be a keeper. I got the idea from this blogger, and tweaked it to fit for me. Basically, I created a meal planning and grocery list all in one Excel file. Continue reading →