June 2012
0 posts
5 tags
Longing and Loss
As an open house activity at Fuller Theological Seminary, visitors were able to sit in on a sample lecture by Scott Cormode entitled “Things that Keep You Up at Night.”
The lecture was on leadership and on how in any service oriented job in ministry, leadership is required to help people live into their vision, defined as a “shared story of future hope.” Leadership is...
May 2012
18 posts
3 weeks until SF!
There are less than 3 weeks to go until I leave for San Francisco, and I have reached full support for my summer project! God is good! Thank you to everyone who has contributed and for the prayers :)
“How is anyone ever gonna come up with a book, or a painting, or a symphony, or a...”
– from Woody Allen’s brilliant screenplay for Midnight in Paris (via keeponlaughing)
Steph is going on a missions trip!
I’ve been fundraising for my summer project missions trip to San Francisco with Epic Movement for about a month now, and God has been blessing me through the process and teaching me lots of mind opening things!
Last night, we talked about the Rich Young Man in Mark 10 in Emmanuel Fellowship, and I shared some of the thoughts I had been churning in my mind about finances and riches in...
Day 30: The book you're reading right now
I’m reading Vincent Van Gogh: A Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. It is a gigantic book, and I toted it along every day that I had jury duty. It has been an interesting ride so far. Signs of his mental illness are not obvious from his childhood, but it is clear that he was a unique child that didn’t have the familial support he needed. He was opinionated, stubborn, and...
Day 29: An author you wish was more well-known
One little known Catholic author that I enjoy reading is Henri J. Nouwen. He writes on Christianity and faith, and was a Catholic priest who spent his life in Canada serving the mentally disabled. One of my favorite books is called The Inner Voice of Love. It was written during a time when Nouwen was depressed and doubted his faith in God. Everyday, he wrote a little encouragement note to...
Day 28: The first book you can remember reading on...
This one is tough…. I don’t have many memories before age 8. I used to have very vivid dreams when I was a kid that took place at my school and at home. I would always mix up the two, and I didn’t snap out of it until I turned 8 and changed schools. So I guess in third grade I liked reading Harry Potter (that was back when there were only three books out), Nancy Drew, and...
Day 27: Favorite Genre
Magic realism. Even better would be magic realism combined with historical fiction. Historical fiction is a close second.
Day 26: Your favorite type of non-fiction book
I LOVE history books. Biographies especially, because people’s lives are inspirations for my own. Looking into other people’s lives is also a way for me to identify my own cracks and things I need to work on. There’s something special about reading about something that actually happened in the past and applying it to events happening now.
Day 25: the nerdiest book you've read
does anderson cooper’s autobiography count? :D
Day 24: Your favorite series
The Chronicles of Narnia. The messages in the story are deep and meaningful and each book is fresh with new characters and settings. The historical settings of Narnia change for each, but it is always embedded within the same fantastical world. There is good and evil, and good animals and people sometimes make mistakes that are heart breaking. But everything is redeemable. I love the justice...
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung...”
– ― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (via justbesplendid)
I finally finished my Phoenix food blog Treasure Hunting in Phoenix! If you have time, check it out.
Day 23: A book you once hated, but now love.
I didn’t like the Great Gatsby when I had to read it in high school, because I just wanted Gatsby to snap out of his dream world and be normal. But now, I think I understand Gatsby better, and I have respect for the way he clings to his idealism in the midst of really bad situations. I think I’m more like Gatsby now than I was in high school, because college has actually made me less...
“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”
– St. Catherine of Siena
Day 22: A book you once loved, but don't anymore.
Harry Potter. I still love the fantastic world J.K. Rowling has created, but I can’t bring myself to read them again. I think about all the evil and sadness that Harry and his friends experience and even though I know they’re going to overcome everything in the end, I don’t like going through it with them again and again and again. Maybe one day I’ll enjoy it again, but...
April 2012
38 posts
Day 21: Most Disturbing Book you've read
I read The World According to Garp by John Irving for a book report in high school. It was so disturbing and more than once I wanted to fling the book across the room. The view of the world and sexuality it promotes is so twisted and loveless. Garp is always thinking of death. The most famous quote from the book is “In the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases.” It...
Day 20: Favorite Reading Environment
I love reading on the backyard patio at home in the spring and summer under the umbrella, or on the comfy couch in the sitting room in the winter. It has large windows that face the backyard east, so lots of natural light comes in. You can see the flowers and patio and the big tree. It’s also super cozy with a blanket and I can sit there for hours curled up reading until I have to turn on...
Day 19: A book that is woefully underrated
My guilty pleasure book is the Princess Diaries series. They are just so funny and so real. Well not the princess part, but the life of an awkward teenage pop-culture obsessed nerdy girl. When I don’t have the will to do anything after a long day, I read the princess diaries for therapy.
“He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those...”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Day 18: A book that you think is highly overrated
I had to read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre for school, and the structure of the books left much to be desired. There were a lot of wandering plots, and extraneous details that made the books so long. It left me super frustrated. I skipped ahead to the endings to find out what happened to them and then doubled back to get the vocab words and summaries and what not for class. If someone loves...
The Conclusion of Mental Health Week
Mental Health Week has ended, which is good because it is time to move on. I tend to have cycles of homebody-ness and then weeks when I don’t eat dinner at home once. Last week was definitely a “cancel all plans and chill at home” you can join me if you want kind of period. I was just so exhausted from Easter and my thesis that I needed to recuperate.
The week was really good...
Day 17: A book you want to like, but can’t get...
I really want to get into the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series. I see people reading it all the time, and I must be missing out on something great. My old boss even gave me a used set of all three of the books. I had a crack at the first one, but I simply could not get past the business talk and the strange names. It was so confusing and frustrating that I put it down. People tell me that...
Day 16: A book you haven’t read and have no...
The Host by Stephenie Meyer. yup, I do not like Twilight and I am sure I won’t like her alien book either.
“How the unforgettable faces of dusk would blend to her, the myriad footsteps, a...”
– This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald
“It is dreadful when something weighs on your mind, not to have a soul to...”
– Frederic Chopin
Day 15: a book that is on your "will read" list
Anna Karenina. It is so long, but I’ve heard really great things about it. And it is Russian and about women. Excellent.
“Nostalgia is denial: denial of the painful present. The name for this denial is...”
– Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
Day 14: a book you regret not having read sooner
I wouldn’t say not reading these books sooner is a regret of mine, but I wish I had read Anderson Cooper’s autobiography Dispatches from the Edge, and William Sloane Coffin’s Credo and Once to Every Man earlier.Both men are really inspiring to me. I wish I had read their autobiographies in high school instead of college, so that I would have been empowered to be different....
“Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.”
– ― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (via justbesplendid)
Day 13: Your favorite book from childhood
There are so many to choose from, but probably one that I found randomly in the library and loved was The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Vol. 1: Charmed Life and the Lives of Christopher Chant. It’s a crazy fantasy series about Chrestomanci, a man with 9 lives who is responsible for maintaining order in the kingdom of multiple worlds. It’s hard to explain how awesome this book is, but to...
Day 12: Favorite Authors
I love Spanish magical realist authors. Authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Carlos Ruiz Zafon always tell a great story that has love, adventure, history, mystery, and fantasy all wrapped up into one. Not many books can weave the spiritual and fear of the fantastical into a very plausible real life plot.
L. M. Montgomery, who wrote the Anne of Green Gables series is another one of my...
“There are dreamers and there are realists in this world. You’d think the...”
– Cameron, Modern Family (Episode: Punkin Chunkin)
Mental health week continues and the movie of the night was the Sound of Music. Recovery is good, and my stress levels are starting to go down. I’ve begun to realize how jealously I’ve guarded my time and how I continue to be selfish with my desires of others. Though I had retreated into my work for so long and was resentful of giving up time for other people, I selfishly expect so...
Day 11: Three Awful Film Adaptations of Books
1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It was my favorite book in the whole series but I didn’t like how they did the dementors.
2. The Scarlet Letter. The version with Demi Moore and the ridiculous red bird that flies by every time she and that guy who plays Sirius Black do something scandalous. It was hilarious.
3. Romeo and Juliet. The version that we had to watch in high...
“We didn’t talk about anything heavy or light. We were just there together. And...”
– Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Day 10: Five great film adaptations of books
1. Hunger Games 2. Lord of the Rings 3. Pride and Prejudice 4. Hugo 5. Anne of Green Gables :)
It is mental health week in the Apartment of Love, which means that Pride and prejudice will be on the tv and mexican food will be on the table. We’re recovering from the mental stresses of school and emotions of Easter.
Day 9: Favorite quotes about books
“I couldn’t help thinking that if I, by pure chance, had found a whole universe in a single unknown book, buried in that endless necropolis, tens of thousands more would remain unexplored, forgotten forever. I felt myself surrounded by millions of abandoned pages, by worlds and souls without an owner sinking in an ocean of darkness, while the world that throbbed outside the library seemed to...
Day 8: Favorite quotes from books
Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a literary genius.
“He dug so deeply into her sentiments that in search of interest he found love, because by trying to make her love him he ended up falling in love with her. Petra Cotes, for her part, loved him more and more as she felt his love increasing, and that was how in the ripeness of autumn she began to believe once more in the youthful superstition that...
“Want to change your character? Change your story. We become the roles we play.”
– Donald Miller
Day 7: the worst book you've read this year
Sadly, I did not like Mockingjay. I hated the shift in the tone of the series and I never got into it. Also the ending was horrible and I felt like she was trying to meet a writing deadline and finished it in a hurry. The relationships could have used more development, and I thought she could have written more books. Disappointing.
Day 6: the Best Book you've read this year
Probably Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I read it over the summer break, along with the Hunger Games series (a close second!) and it was good relaxing reading. Historical fiction with action and mystery. My kind of book.
“I went to Cambridge University. I took a number of baths - and a degree in...”
– Douglas Adams (via libraryland)
Day 5: 5 books to take to a desert island
the Bible It’s a big book with lots of stories and lessons about love.
Anna Karenina I‘ve always wanted to read it but it’s way too intimidating because of its thickness. But I would have tons of time to read on a desert island.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone So I could pretend I was somewhere magical once in a while.
Atlas Shrugged It makes you think about...