Recap Book Chat Recap Book Chat
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If you are looking for a place to dive into great books, unpack big ideas, and connect with a community of readers, you made it! My mom, Sheila Barnes has taught and inspired young minds as an elementary teacher for 40+ years. Her passion is reading and it is contagious. My name is Kate Matthews and I am an artist, seeker of wisdom and lifelong student. We decided to start a book club a couple of years ago which has impacted and grown us tremendously. We hope you will join in on the fun and get lost in the magic of reading with us.
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Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Ruta Sepetys' finely crafted WWII novel, Salt to the Sea, is a gem. It was inspired by the real-life tragedy of the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff which claimed over 9,000 lives making it the greatest maritime disaster in history.
The story is told in four voices, each from a different homeland, Readers will meet:
Emilia, a 15 year old blond Polish girl with unbelievable perseverance and resilience.
Joana, a smart young woman with some medical training that abounds with kindness.
Florian, a handsome wounded German that saved Emilia from a Russian soldier. Florian is holding secrets, he was once a restoration assistant.
Alfred, a Nazi sailor on the Gustloff, concentrates on the people he hates, thinking of getting rid of Jews, Poles, and disabled as a disinfecting.
In the group of refugees, there was a cobbler, nicknamed the shoe poet for his gift with words.
“The shoes always tell the story…Your boots, they are expensive, well made. That tells me that you come from a wealthy family. But the style is one made for an older woman. That tells me they probably belong to your mother. That tells me you are loved, my dear. And your mother is not here, so that tells me that you are sad, my dear. The shoes tell the story.”
“Yet amidst all that , life has spit in the eye of death.” The shoe poet’s wise words after a baby is born in the chaos of war.
“You’re a blister, Ava, a sour little blister.” The colorful way he described the negative lady in the group.
How do these lives connect? Sepetys depicts the rawness of war and the kindness of caring at the same time in this remarkable book!
“Just when you think this war has taken everything from you, you meet someone and realize you still have more to give.”
Thanks so much for joining us. Happy reading!!!
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Bonus Bite-“The Rest of the Journey” from Glittering Vices by Rebecca DeYoung
Kate and Sheila wrap up Rebecca DeYoung’s Glittering Vices in this episode. It has been an enlightening trek. As Horace said, “To flee vice is the beginning of virtue.” The Rest of the Journey wraps up our study on the seven deadly sins and their remedies. Pride is the root and the trunk of the vice tree and vainglory, envy, acedia, avarice, wrath, gluttony, and lust are the main branches. The worst thing about the vices is that they thwart our ability to love and be loved. “Why are you relying on yourself, only to find yourself unreliable.” –Augustine
Our habits say a lot about who we are by reflecting the shape of our hearts and minds. Practicing spiritual disciplines helps bridge the gap between vices and virtues. These daily practices that help form virtuous habits are not always exciting but little by little they transform us into becoming more Christlike. This journey must be intentional, as John Stott said, “Holiness is not a condition into which we can drift.”
“The process, it is a gradual process dear heart, of putting off the old self and putting on the new self reveals nothing less than God’s power at work within us.” The process is comprehensive and includes all areas of our lives. It is also concrete. For example, if someone is practicing gratitude they would also do grateful things which would cause them to view the world through a different lens. Lastly, it is a communal endeavor. We all need help along the way, God created us this way.
“Are you ready to start the journey toward a closer relationship with Him, confident that God who began a good work in you will bring it to completion, for your good and His glory?”
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Samuel Coleridge’s Four Types of Readers
Have you ever heard the last two lines of this poem? “Water water everywhere
And all the boards did shrink,
Water water everywhere
Nor any drop to drink”
Join Kate and Sheila as they discuss Samuel Coleridge’s Four Types of Readers:
Sand-glasses / Hourglasses- like sand that runs in and out and leaves not a ‘vestige’ behind, in other words, these readers retain nothing. They are simply passing time as one might do when they are waiting at the dentist office perusing a magazine.
Sponges-absorb all they read and return it nearly in the same state only a little dirtied. They don't think much for themselves so they may miss the point.
Strain bag / Jelly bag - squeeze out valuable information and hold onto the unimportant or in Coleridge’s words, “retain merely the dregs of what they read.” The violent, shameful, or sullied parts stick and the main points get tossed out. Can happen when one is reading above his/her level.
Mogul / Golconda - profit by what they read and enable others to profit by it too.
These readers are able to cast aside all that is worthless and retain the pure gems. Picture the miner with a sieve working away searching for nuggets of gold. Annotating and making connections can help us glean from what we read and be more enlightened readers : )
Reading can be a rollercoaster ride, the highs would be the Mogul moments and the lows would be hourglasses and the others. It is interesting to note that we do not always bring our A game to our reading endeavors but maybe Coleridge can help us figure out when we don’t and possibly help us back up the train (of thought : ) to refocus and go for the GOLD!
One last Colerige quote, “Little is taught by contest or dispute, everything by sympathy and love.” Clever wording that connects with an old favorite that I just read in The Persian Pickle Club, “... you can get more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Aren’t connections cool?
Check out The Read Well Podcast episode #43 to hear where we discovered these four types of readers. We hope you have a blessed week. Thanks so much for lending us an ear, may your day be filled with cheer. Happy reading!
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Bonus Bite-“Lust” from Glittering Vices by Rebecca DeYoung
Please join Kate and Sheila as they discuss the last vice in Glittering Vices by
Rebecca DeYoung. She defines lust as a disordered desire for sexual pleasure. Lust begins as a sin of weakness not malice. This habitual attachment to pleasure erodes our relationship with God. DeYoung puts it this way, “Lust is a problem with the heart above your belt before it is a problem with the heat below it. Fulfilling pleasure without full human intimacy is lust’s false promise… an imitation of happiness.”
Vice happens when we try to make good gifts fill gaps that only God can satisfy. There is no substitute for God. Lust connects with pride. Engineered happiness results in a shallow version that only satisfies for a moment. Lust plays the same tired old game as the rest of the vices, winning the game means you lose.
Lust not only has a lot of collateral damage but it damages the person who lusts as well.
Despair, depression, shame, callousness, blindness to beauty, loneliness, disrespect, and self-loathing lay in its wake.
“When we misuse something habitually we tend to lose our appreciation for its true goodness. The choice to love is an opportunity to appreciate and value a flawed human for his or her sake.”
What is the antidote? Some call it temperance, some call it integrity of the heart, DeYoung calls it chastity. What is chastity? The virtue of chastity must be cultivated inside and out.
It grows greater with time and experience. The patience that Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13 is a must in this department. “Do we live a life intentionally bathed in the love of God, a love that quiets our deep search for happiness and communion elsewhere?” “We need communities that show us how to rely on the Spirit’s power in faithfulness and hope.”
“Give the body discipline, and you will see that the body is for the One who made it,” says the desert mother Amma Theodora. These early Christians took the unity of body and soul more seriously than we do today. Following Paul’s advice to pursue what is true, honorable, just, pure, excellent, and praiseworthy (Phil.4:8) helps prevent worldliness from drifting in.
Thanks so much for listening as we discover how to say good-bye to lust and hello to chastity!
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The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Part 2
Let’s meet the brothers: Dmitri- the eldest, impulsive, strong, uneducated, driven by desires
Ivan- the middle, the intellectual, preoccupied, gloomy atheist
Alyosha- the youngest, kind, thoughtful, brave, spiritually minded
Smerdyakov-illegitimate, ungrateful, sneaky, devious (creeper alert)
Please join Kate and Sheila discussion about the age-old struggle of good versus evil by looking at the gifted Russian writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s discordant family found in
The Brothers Karamazov!
(Translated by the award winning team of Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonskyy)
The father, Fyodor, was selfish, crude, neglectful, immoral, and muddleheaded. All his sons were raised by Grigory, his servant. Fyodor quipped, “I’m a buffoon out of shame…I act up because I’m insecure.”
Alyosha chose a different path than the others. “I want to live for immortality, and I reject any halfway compromise.” His mentor, Zosima, taught him from God’s Word.
He also advised the elder Karamazov, “Above all, do not lie to yourself. A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others.”
Dmitri shares with Alyosha, “Here the devil is struggling with God, and the battlefield is the human heart.”
Ivan’s words from his famous speech, The Grand Inquisitor, “He (Jesus) came to give His life for them! Instead of taking over men’s freedom, you increased it and forever burdened the kingdom of the human soul…by so terrible a burden as freedom of choice.”
The action culminates in an unforgettable courtroom scene. Both the prosecutor and the defense attorneys give moving speeches that end with applause. Did Dmitri murder his less than stellar father? If he didn't, who did?
Dostoevsky packs a lot into this book. What is the purpose of life? He shows the importance of living a life well and how the life we live affects others. As Alyosha says in closing,
“How good life is when you do something good and rightful.”
“A crust always looks bigger in another man’s hand.” Trust us this book will look big no matter whose hand it is in : ) It is a mammoth read (823 pages) but well worth the effort if you are looking for a challenge. Happy Reading dear listeners!
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Bonus Bite-“Gluttony” from Glittering Vices by Rebecca DeYoung
Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! This vice really hit home. Gluttony, like all the vices, begins with something created for good but sin creeps in and our desires run amok. Gregory the Great from the Middle Ages summed gluttony up in five categories:
Too daintily (nothing is ever quite right)
Too sumptuously (lavishly)
Too hastily (gobble and go)
Too greedily (ravenously-think Augustus Gloop)
Too much (tastes like more)
We learned that “what’s being eaten” deals with the first two and “how the food is eaten” deals with the last three. Indulgence whets the appetite instead of satisfying it. Ecclesiastes 6:7 reminds us…”his appetite is not satisfied.”
The trouble with instant gratification is it only lasts for an instant. This quick fix leaves us depleted and spiritually starved. We’re made to find our flourishing in more than physical pleasure. Something I need to remind myself when I reach for chocolate!
God made food good for our bodies and He made taste buds for us to savor the flavor. It all goes south when we try to do what Adam and Eve did long ago in the garden. When we choose to rely on food or drink instead of God we thwart our spiritual growth.
Every virtue has two vices, extremes in both directions. Those joyless about food lack appreciation, while the self-indulgent are striving to provide pleasure through food.
How do we get off this hamster wheel and unlearn the bad habits we’ve picked up?
Rebecca DeYoung guides us in Glittering Vices to give up gratification for gratitude.Yes, intentionality is key as is practice. Will it happen overnight? Not a chance, change takes time, however, rightly forming our desires will put us on the right pathway.
Please join Kate and Sheila as they strive to say, Good-bye gluttony, Hello temperance.
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