Embracing Complexity - a catch up post about various books and a few shows

 2023 has been an eventful year. A chunk of my time has been absorbed by a full time job that has taken me to the world of John Deere and engines. I'm chalking up my neglect of book log to adjusting to this new 40 hr a week work life. However, in the midst of this - I have read a few things and watched a few things all of which may not make it to this "catch up post" but it will at least put my mind at ease that I've deposited a thought or two about these works. 

Now that I've logged into the wi fi here at Starbucks - even just puttering away at these keys with my half fingered gloves and pretending like I'm doing something important makes me feel happy. A note on the gloves - I bought these gloves because I loved how they looked on Emily Blunt in the show The English - her reason for wearing them notwithstanding...

 -whimsical tale with a twist set in the south. Kindred spirits, themes of abandonment and class struggles, joys of nature and art, 

Winston Graham books - The Poldark series - still in the midst of it. Had enjoyed both series - the one from the 80s and the more recent one. The books are not a disappointment. If you love the characters from the show, Graham unpacks them even more keenly and artfully in the books. The mining and business details I usually kind of skim over so I can get to the juicy stuff. 

High Performance Habits - Brendan Burchard - Definitely one of the best self help books I've read in years. It veers away from the focus on temperament and takes a pragmatic behavioral approach to achievement. This sounds like it smacks of an outdated americanism fake it til you make it kind of thing by that description but it's actually not. Anyone who knows me, knows that I adore personality studies and all the good work that has been done to help us understand our hardwiring. This book manages to be emotionally integrated whilst offering great ideas that are applicable for maintaining energy levels, keeping a positive view, and well, I need to read it again because every chapter had me writing down quotes in my journal, and I actually own this book - or our charter school does or something. Anyway I have access to it. 

Rob Bell: the Bible book - This is part of an ongoing quest to decipher what I think about the Bible and how to reconcile my upbringing with my current beliefs. I have an allegiance to Jesus and God, but definitely some doubts about how to interpret the Bible and a deep skepticism towards anyone who claims to be able to interpret it too confidently. This book pretty much echoed many of my sentiments. Some of his guidance towards how to read the Bible were deeply resonating. I can ask questions about the author, author's perspective, cultural context, and and be able to absorb the mystical complexity of humanity's quest to understand God and God's revelation to humans. I can remain open to things that I don't understand like blood sacrifice and was Jesus really divine?

DE Stevenson - My friend introduced me to this 20th century British author and I love her works! I have read maybe 4 of her novels I think this year. Her most famous novel Mrs. Buncle was actually my least favorite. I will keep requesting her books from the library. Charming and easy to read but also full of beauty and truly complex characters that one can relate to. Complex must be the word of my day because I notice I keep using it. Embrace the Complexity

Through the Narrow Gate - Karen Armstrong - Interesting memoir about a woman who entered a convent in England during the 1960s. She didn't stay, but her tale is personal and honest  - respectful and fascinating. 

Tribe - Sebastian Junger - Nonfiction - what we're missing in modern life - the continuity of tribe - one of the factors that makes reintegration so difficult for military personnel - not only the recovery from trauma and violence but how do you do life without your band of "bros" - and sistahs too 'course. I'd never really heard anybody talk about how apparently people who have experienced deep periods of crisis and the most abject forms of war - often report feeling happier during those times. There's something incredibly bonding about hardship and struggle. The ways that we've insulated ourselves from it (some of us) have not necessarily led to more personal fulfillment and contentment. This gave me pause. I looked back on some of my favorite moments in my life and they all involved some sort of a challenging circumstance which felt that there were elements of risk and discomfort and where I was doing it with a group of people. Camaraderie was at its height: cattle work - esp on horseback, mission trips, and the trenches of young motherhood.

He also touched on the defection of European settlers to indigenous groups and how many of them had no wish to return to "civilized" society presumably because of the way of life and freedoms they enjoyed. 

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak - Daughter read this to me. Poignant and very unique. Whole story written in perspective of the grim reaper. That's definitely a creative idea. I found it to be a bit laborious, the artsy language a bit tiresome, and in general I try to avoid any stories about WWII because they're so sad and because the whole topic is so exhausted - a tear jerker for sure. She sobbed but I, the misty eyed pincushion - did not - I hadn't really allowed myself to get too attached to the characters because she had forewarned me about all the deaths - and the because of the aforementioned reasons. 

The Crown - series - Amazing - just started it - beyond my expectations for sure. 

Madam Secretary - I slogged out of this in the middle but then it picked up steam again towards the end of the series. Excellent - incredible acting, directing, and dialogue. Gave me a perspective on the reality of politics vs my naïve idealism. I totally idolize M Sec in this - she's winsome and assertive - boss babe without being annoying and domineering. I adore her. I love her relationship with her husband and how they process their lives together. I actually changed my political party from libertarian to Republican because of this show - not because they're Republican leaning - I would say quite the opposite -but because this show made me realize that I'm probably not even in the game unless you're on one of the actual teams that's playing. The other teams are outside the stadium just trying to get in. 

Ishi - in Two Worlds - biography by Theodora Kreober. Documents her husband's work with Ishi who had apparently wandered in from the wild and spent the last few years of his life as a subject of study for some anthropologists in San Francisco. He was more than that to them it seems. They tried to be genuine friends and felt they were. 

 

He was reputably the last know member of the Yahi Native American tribe. He had been discovered in 1911 and eventually died of Tuberculosis. This biography tapts into journals, records, and the author's own remembrances about Ishi. It was published in 1961.