Mama Squirrel's 2018 Reading List: What's done, what's not (Updated)

This felt like a good year for reading, although when I see the list written out, it doesn't look like so much. Only eight novels? Well, there were some others, but they were re-reads (listed separately). Three poetry books? I resolve to do better in 2019.

There are quite a few adult education textbooks included, because that's what I spent a lot of time this year reading.

Best Books I Read in 2018

Funniest fiction: To Say Nothing of the Dog (Oxford Time Travel, #2)
Connie Willis

Scariest fiction: The Thanatos Syndrome
Walker Percy

Most needed in today's world:  The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time
David L. Ulin

Most useful: Two Awesome Hours: Science-Based Strategies to Harness Your Best Time and Get Your Most Important Work Done
Josh Davis

Runner-up for most useful: Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time
Jeff Sutherland

A book Christians should read: A Mind for God
James Emery White

Runner-up for a book Christians should read: Reading for the Common Good: How Books Help Our Churches and Neighborhoods Flourish
C. Christopher Smith

Most interesting devotional book: 40 days to a Joy-Filled Life
Tommy Newberry

Favourite simplicity book (and I read quite a few this year): Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff
Dana K. White

Runner-up for favourite simplicity book: Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism
Fumio Sasaki


Books completed in 2018, including re-reads

Disclaimer: just because I read it doesn't mean I recommend it!

Novels and plays

The Archivist
Martha Cooley

Go Set a Watchman
Harper Lee

Home
Marilynne Robinson

To Say Nothing of the Dog (Oxford Time Travel, #2)
Connie Willis

The Thanatos Syndrome
Walker Percy

Leota's Garden
Francine Rivers

Clock Dance
Anne Tyler

The Cocktail Party
T.S. Eliot

Farewell, Four Waters: One Aid Worker's Sudden Escape from Afghanistan. A Novel Based on True Events
Kate McCord

Poetry

This Great Unknowing: Last Poems
Denise Levertov

This Day: New and Collected Sabbath Poems 1979 - 2012
Wendell Berry

Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year
Malcolm Guite

Art books

Gathie Falk
Robin Laurence

The Tangled Garden: The Art of J. E. H. MacDonald
Paul Duval

Woldemar Neufeld's Canada: A Mennonite Artist in the Canadian Landscape 1925-1995 (re-read)
Laurence Neufeld

Faith and worldview

Reading for the Common Good: How Books Help Our Churches and Neighborhoods Flourish
C. Christopher Smith

When Helping Hurts
Steve Corbett

Unpoverty: Rich Lessons from the Working Poor
Mark Lutz

A Mind for God
James Emery White

The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation
Rod Dreher

An Other Kingdom
Peter Block et al.

Getting Love Right (short paper)
Dallas Willard

Getting Stuff Done

Two Awesome Hours: Science-Based Strategies to Harness Your Best Time and Get Your Most Important Work Done
Josh Davis

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time
Jeff Sutherland

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
Kerry Patterson

Make Peace With Anyone: Breakthrough Strategies to Quickly End Any Conflict, Feud, or Estrangement
David J. Lieberman

How to be creative: Rediscover your creativity and live the life you truly want
Liz Dean

Homekeeping and simplicity books

Let It Go: Downsizing Your Way to a Richer, Happier Life
Peter Walsh

Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff
Dana K. White

Year of No Clutter
Eve O. Schaub

Mini-missions for Simplicity: small actions for massive change
Courtney Carver

Soulful Simplicity: How Living with Less Can Lead to So Much More
Courtney Carver

A Life of Being, Having, and Doing Enough
Wayne Muller

The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story
Marie Kondo

Love the House You're In: 40 Ways to Improve Your Home and Change Your Life
Paige Rien

The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful
Myquillyn Smith

Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism
Fumio Sasaki

The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store
Cait Flanders

Clothes and style books

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion
Elizabeth L. Cline

The Curated Wardrobe: A Stylist’s Secrets to Going Beyond the Basic Capsule Wardrobe to Effortless Personal Style
Rachel Nachmias

The Face of The Business: Develop Your Signature Style, Step Out from Behind the Curtain and Catapult Your Business on Video
Rachel Nachmias

The Color of Style
David Zyla

The Pocket Stylist
Kendall Farr

The Fashion File: Advice, Tips, and Inspiration from the Costume Designer of Mad Men
Janie Bryant

Education, Charlotte Mason and Otherwise

Ourselves Book II (re-read)
Charlotte Mason

A Touch of the Infinite
Megan Elizabeth Hoyt

Know and Tell: The Art of Narration
Karen Glass

Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination
Vigen Guroian

The Purposes of Adult Education: An Introduction
Bruce Spencer

Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty
Elizabeth F. Barkley

Planning Instruction for Adult Learners
Patricia Cranton

Educating for a Change
Rick Arnold et al.

Designing Effective Instruction, 7th Edition
Gary R. Morrison et al.

Facilitating with Ease!: Core Skills for Facilitators, Team Leaders and Members, Managers, Consultants, and Trainers
Ingrid Bens

The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom
Stephen D. Brookfield

Methods that Matter
Harvey Daniels & Marilyn Bizar

The Art Of Facilitation
Dale Hunter

Learning Group Leadership: An Experiential Approach
Jeffrey A. Kottler

How To Teach Adults
William A. Draves

Reading and writing books

Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction
Jon Franklin

The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time
David L. Ulin

How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing
Paul J. Silvia

Style: Toward Clarity and Grace
Joseph M. Williams

Sin Boldly!: Dr. Dave's Guide To Writing The College Paper
David R. Williams

Deep Writing
Eric Maisel

Miscellaneous books

Gift Wrapping with Textiles: Stylish Ideas from Japan
Chizuko Morita

How to Pack: Travel Smart for Any Trip
Hitha Palepu

Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type
Isobel Briggs Myers

The Twelve Teas of Christmas
Emilie Barnes

The Greatest Gift
Ann Voskamp

Hallelujah: A Journey Through Advent with Handel's Messiah
Cindy Rollins

Favourite and nostalgic re-reads

A Light in the Window
Jan Karon

These High, Green Hills
Jan Karon

Out to Canaan
Jan Karon

To Be Where You Are
Jan Karon

The Wisdom of Narnia
C.S. Lewis

The Last Battle
C.S. Lewis

Leaf by Niggle
J.R.R. Tolkien

Not Under the Law
Grace Livingston Hill

Sleeping Murder (Miss Marple #13)
Agatha Christie

Miss Pinkerton
Mary Roberts Rinehart

Jerusalem Inn (Richard Jury, #5)
Martha Grimes

The Man With a Load of Mischief (Richard Jury, #1)
Martha Grimes

Clothe Your Spirit: Dressing for Self-Expression
Jennifer Robin

I Haven't a Thing to Wear!
Judith Keith

Books I'm trying to finish by the end of 2018

The Invention of Clouds

Richard Hamblyn
(Done!)

Power through Prayer
E.M. Bounds
(Done!)

12 Rules for Living
Jordan Peterson
(Done!)

Books I've started that will stretch through the new year

The Divine Conspiracy
Dallas Willard

Keep it Real
Lee Gutkind (ed.)

40 days to a Joy-Filled Life
Tommy Newberry

On Education
Northrop Frye

A Quick Book Review: Decluttering at the Speed of Life

Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff, by Dana K. White (Amazon link)

If you want to hear an original and practical voice in the clutter of decluttering books, check this one out. One reason it resonated with me is that Mr. Fixit and I followed very similar methods when we downsized, so we know they can work!

One example: think of your house (or apartment), clothes closet, purse shelf, and dinner-knife compartment as a collection of big and small containers. Each one is designed to hold just so much stuff, no more; so we should keep no more than the container allows. Sounds like a no-brainer, but how many times do we try to keep it all, or to bring in more, rather than working with the space we have? Most of us recognize this reality when we pack a suitcase: it's only so big, we can't take all those shoes plus a hairdryer plus presents for the relatives. But we're often not as careful when it comes to home spaces.

In the past year, for example, I have turned down free drinking glasses, because I knew all our designated drinking glass space was taken, and I did not want to give something else up so that we could have more drinking glasses.  But at some point we might decide we don't need as many coffee mugs and we do want more drinking glasses. It's all about choices.

Mr. Fixit's half of our bedroom closet is mostly storage cubes and shelves for things he uses. He has very few hanging clothes, so that's fine with him; or he can hang things in the hall closet. But my side is all hangers.

I was happy to be able to fit in as many bookcases as we did into our apartment space. That is (not counting Lydia's room and Mr. Fixit's closet shelves), exactly three: two in the dining area and one in the bedroom. I do have a small space in another cupboard for university textbooks, and we often have books living on the coffee table. But that's it! There are no good places to put more bookshelves, and the ones we have are pretty full. If I started bringing home piles of books from the thrift store, I would soon have a problem. So respecting the limits of our space helps us stay with "enough" and not "too much."

Check out Decluttering at the Speed of Life for more uncluttered decluttering talk.

From the archives: Serious Times (book review)

First posted September 2011

"God calls us to live large on the very stage we find ourselves.  God has placed us in this very situation to infuse it with meaning and significance.  This enables us to live for Christ now rather than waiting for a set of circumstances we imagine will allow us to serve him in the future.  This simple but profound attitude has marked many of the great lives...."

The best book I've read lately...really the best...is Serious Times: Making Your Life Matter in an Urgent Day, by James Emery White, published in 2004.

I'm not sure if I'd ever read anything by Dr. White before.  I didn't go looking for him.  The book turned up in a pile of "religious non-fiction" I was pricing at the thrift store.  I liked the look of it and decided to buy it myself.

The Amazon reviews are pretty right on.  To say it's an entertaining book (as someone there said) might sound like you were doing it an injustice (I mean, the title is Serious Times); but it is written in an engaging and readable style.  Good thought stuff, good faith stuff, good life stuff.  I especially liked the chapter on "Developing Our Minds."  Here's a quote from that chapter:

"Beyond engaging various fields of thought, it is critical to be able to think about our faith in relation to its significance.  In dialogue with the world, the deepest question regarding the Christian faith is 'So what?'  This simple question gets to the heart of not only thinking Christianly but communicating Christianity itself....The Christian mind must understand the significance [of the resurrection] in order to offer it to the world.  If we cannot, we will have lost our place in the most critical of conversations--indeed, the only conversation that matters."

This one is a keeper.  I'd like to figure out a way to use it for an adult Sunday School class.  It would also be a great addition to a highschool worldview course.

One more quote:

"By nature we tend to adapt, to conform, to our surroundings.  There are only two forces shaping us: one is the world and the other is the will of God.  If we are to avoid becoming in the surrounding culture, we must take a stand.  That stand comes through the renewing of our minds....Taken into prayer, ideas become real, life-changing, dynamic.  Then, and only then, they change my life."

Favourite posts of 2017, #2: Review of The Arts and the Christian Imagination

First posted February 20th, 2017

The Arts and the Christian Imagination Essays on Art, Literature and Aesthetics, by Clyde S. Kilby, edited by William Dyrness and Keith Call (Paraclete Press / Mount Tabor Books / ISBN 978-1-61261-861-6 / 256 pages  / Hardcover / $28.99)

Our homeschooling community views education in the context of lifelong learning, and as part of the classical and liberal arts tradition. We recognize the value of each person as one who has been created in God's image, and who therefore shares in some of God's attributes such as the ability to imagine and create, and to form a relationship with the things that have been created. Our  curriculum includes more than normal amounts of poetry, drama, music, and art, the things that many schools would treat as frills or extras; but to us they are so vital, in the literal sense of vital meaning life-giving, that we have started referring to them as "The Riches."

Another phrase we use is "spreading the feast," as opposed to shoving things down people's throats, but which acknowledges that as human beings we do have "affinities" or natural, God-given attractions for truth and beauty. In fact, we are so out of touch with current beliefs as to insist that truth and beauty not only do exist, but that teaching them to children, and seeking after them as adults, is part of what we are called to do as Christians.

A writer and academic who agreed with that idea was Dr. Clyde S. Kilby, a longtime professor at Wheaton College, and author of The Arts and the Christian Imagination, a new collection of his writings from about fifty years ago. His essay "Christian Imagination" is also included in the older edition of Leland Ryken's collection The Christian Imagination, and appropriately enough it follows there right after C.S. Lewis's essay "Christianity and Culture." The subheadings include "The Bible: A Work of the Imagination"; "God, the Imaginer"; "The Failure of Imagination in Evangelical Christianity"; and "Learning to Live Imaginatively," and these are typical of the things he discusses throughout his work.

At one point Dr. Kilby refers to Lewis's description of a child on Easter morning who was heard to say "Chocolate eggs and Jesus risen," and he says "In our desperate evangelical desire for a clear, logical depiction of Jesus risen we have tended to remove the chocolate eggs...There is a simplicity which diminishes and a simplicity which enlarges...The first is that of the cliché-simplicity with mind and heart removed. The other is that of art...The first silently denies the multiplicity and grandeur of creation, salvation and indeed all things. The second symbolizes and celebrates them...[it] suggests the creative and sovereign God of the universe with whom there are no impossibilities."

So part of the problem of Christians making sense of the arts, besides needing more chocolate eggs, is that we may try to stick to what we call real, in the "life is real and life is earnest" sense, and forget that God's creation is full of amazement and grandeur, and although it may be fallen, it still reflects the power and beauty of its Creator. We have a feast laid out for us in Creation, and in the beautiful things that people have created in art, in music, in literature, things that are just as real as our everyday world of work, and that can give us a clearer picture of the love and holiness and power of the Father who inspired them.

The only complaint I have about the book is the almost unavoidable problem of repetition through the various essays and talks. Like any teacher, Dr. Kilby had favourite illustrations and examples which he re-used over the years, and reading the whole book in a short time might make you feel that you've been through a particular point several times already. On the other hand, exploring the collection of talks as a whole is a good way to get a sense of his most vital themes.

Well recommended for those wanting to dig deeper on the question of faith and the arts.

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher for purposes of review, but received no other compensation. All opinions (as much as humanly possible!) are my own.

From the recent archives: All Creation Waits (Book Review)

First posted November 2016. Check out this week's Mason Jar podcast for an interview with Gayle Boss and Megan Hoyt!

"Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God. If I spend enough time with the tiniest creature, even a caterpillar, I would never have to prepare a sermon. So full of God is every creature." ~~ Meister Eckhart, quoted as a preface to All Creation Waits

In his review of All Creation Waits, writer Brian Doyle refers to it as a "sidelong" book, which I take to mean indirect, something like a parable. In twenty-five short readings, accompanied with woodcut illustrations, Gayle Boss takes you on an early-winter walk around Lake Michigan, with stop-offs to visit skunks, foxes, porcupines, and other local inhabitants. What are they doing at this time of year? As "all creation waits" for the Advent of the Saviour, animal activities are lyrically described, but without much added-on interpretation. This is not a book of prayers or Scriptures; the animals are not analogies; they do not think of much beyond shelter and food, and they have no imagined sense that Christmas is coming. It reminds me more of Prayers from the Ark, or some of the Christmas readings that take the viewpoint of the cow and the spider; or the muskrat scene at the beginning of The Long Winter.

A sample from the chapter "Whitetail Deer":

"Gliding through the woods in groups of two, three, or four, their coats the color of brush and bark render them nearly invisible to us. So when, in October, we see herds of them out in the open, it seems a curtain has been pulled back on a secret society. They know the cold is coming. Banding together against predators, they forage widely in the fields before their food freezes, or vanishes under snow.

"But then, a drive deeper than feeding seizes them. By November both bucks and does, restless, verge on reckless. Trumping food and wariness, the primal urge to reproduce one’s self and one’s kind surges with the winds of the coming, killing cold."

This book would be most suitable for families with children, who perhaps are looking for something non-commercial but also not directly Bible-related for Advent reading times. [One possible note of caution: there are occasional references to mating which might or might not be appropriate for some families.] It could be useful for homeschoolers, or for those who need a set of readings for less-usual, out-of-church situations. It is a good reminder that the animals are (still, thankfully) all around us. Their stories are a (sidelong) glimpse of the way God creates and sustains them--and us.

Statement of disclosure: I received a complimentary e-copy of this book for purposes of review, but I was not otherwise compensated for this review. All opinions are my own.

From the archives: The Cuckoo Clock (book review)

First posted November 2008

Crayons and I are reading The Cuckoo Clock, by Mary Stolz. It's the type of European-village fairy tale that reminds me of Tolkien's Smith of Wootton Major or maybe Walter Wangerin Jr.'s Elisabeth and the Water Troll (which we also just finished reading). It's also the kind of magical story that I can't imagine writing--at least, not going through all the "normal" drafting and editing processes. It seems, like some of Rumer Godden's stories, to have sprung to life complete and whole, like the wooden cuckoo bird itself that begins to sing all the songs of the forest.

You can find short descriptions of the plot anywhere, so I won't go into it much. A needy young boy, Erich, manages to connect with the one kindred spirit in town: the elderly clockmaker, who begins to train him as an assistant and allows him to help carve his final masterpiece. When the clock is finished, the clockmaker dies--shattering the small security Erich has found with him, but leaving him a fiddle and his carving tools. That's only the first half of the story: the rest of the adventure is Erich's.

I found this description on the Amazon site:

"Stolz' delicate ironies and precise writing style save her story from sentimentality, enabling it to teach an interesting and rigorous lesson about the liability of the self-involved to understand the true beauty of the world. Original, wise, and thoughtful. Christine Behrmann, New York Public Lib. (Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

And that's very true; the abused-orphan story has been done to death, and Stolz herself pokes fun at this tradition: "Boys even younger would leave unhappy homes and go into the wide world seeking their fortunes, which, according to the stories, they always found." It would be easy for this story to become forced and overdrawn. But in the hands of a master craftsman, even such a plain stick of wood can become something beautiful.

Charlotte Mason for big people (and a book review)

What do grown-up CMers do? I don't mean career-wise, but life-choices-wise. And I don't mean just those who had a CM education, but those who began as parents. Or grandparents. Or who don't have children at all...like Charlotte Mason.

How does living by CM principles make a difference in parts of life that have little to do with teaching and parenting?

What does it all have to do with Mr, Fixit and I waking up alone in the apartment this morning (because Lydia had a studying sleepover with a friend), listening to the radio host talking about Canada's immigration policy, feeding the always-frantic guinea pig, swallowing vitamins, running the washer, making instant coffee, pulling a box of old car photos out of the storage room (Mr. Fixit is scanning them into the computer), noticing that the discount store has a rock-bottom sale on cream cheese (you can freeze it, right?), catching up on the AmblesideOnline forum, making a mental note to dust inside the glass-front cabinet (did we somehow bring that particular dust with us?), taking recycling to the row of bins at the back of the building?

Or with what we do with the rest of our days?

Right after we moved here, I walked downtown to the library and updated my card (I think I first got a computerized card around the time the Apprentice was a baby and we were borrowing picture books from the bookmobile). One of the books I borrowed was about slow cooking for two. The other was The Dean's Watch, by Elizabeth Goudge.

I wasn't sure what the title meant, but it turned out to be about a pocket watch belonging to the Dean, who is not a college VIP but the pastor of an unnamed English cathedral, ca. 1870. This particular Dean has a bad temper and abuses his nice watch, which both irritates and pleases the local watchmaker. He enjoys working on it, but he wishes the Dean would show a little more care. He also wants nothing to do with churches and clergymen, other than fixing their watches and winding their antique clocks.

The watchmaker and the Dean are saved, so to speak, by their mutual friendship with an elderly, disabled woman who could...in some ways...be Charlotte Mason. Her own story is that she grew up unappreciated and neglected by her family, a sort of Cinderella daughter whose prince never materialized. In a series of Way of the Will resolutions, she decided to make her life happy in spite of everything. By the time of the watch story, she is one of the most loved people in town, in spite of not being able to leave her house. (A nice contrast to Miss Havisham, and more theological than Pollyanna.) Her influence not only helps the Dean to stop throwing his watch around, but starts the wheels moving to repair other unhappy lives. People start noticing that the others around them are also human beings, individuals with unique needs, talents, and fears. Even the mean fish seller has a secret wish (he wants a caravan so he can run the Victorian equivalent of a food truck). And he himself just happens to have an old brazier under the fish garbage out back, which is what the Dean needs to help the poor old cathedral doorkeeper keep warm on the job. Strangely enough, the Dean never noticed that until recently. Must be something in the old lady's tea.

That's Charlotte Mason for grownups. It's not all about whether we keep going to art shows, or know the names of the trees around us (Mr. Fixit has suggested we check out a local trail soon). It's not about whether we feel guilty doing a crossword (remembering that Charlotte called such things futilities), or mentally virtuous watching a history documentary. It seems to be more about how we view even our small, everyday meetings and talkings. It's a way of seeing people and caring about them; a habit of seeing something good on every walk, even if it's just birds chattering on the roof of the discount store; and trying to say something cheerful, even if it's just "The tea's 'ot." Our determination is not only to make our world happier, but to enlist those around us as agents (as Dallas Willard called it, a divine conspiracy).

Linked from the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival at The Common Room.

Book Review: The Ecumenism of Beauty

The Ecumenism of Beauty. Edited by Timothy Verdon (Paraclete Press / Mount Tabor Books / ISBN 978-1-61261-924-8 / 128 pages/ full-color illustrations / Hardcover / $28.99) [Published May 1, 2017]

www.paracletepress.com
Paraclete Press, Mount Tabor Books: Brewster, MA, and Barga, Italy

"The last fifty years have seen a rediscovery of the role of the visual arts in the lives of all Christians. In tune with this ecumenical age, this book shares the belief that beauty and art can bridge differences." (from the publisher's description)

At the risk of just doing a cut-and-paste book review, I want to share the vision behind this book:

Other contributors to this book include Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant artists, scholars, and clergy who will participate in a two-part symposium, The Arts and Ecumenism—What Theology Risks in Artistic Creation. Part one will take place in May of 2017 in Paris, Strasbourg and Florence. Presentations will discuss Catholic and Protestant approaches to art through history, theology and liturgical contexts...The US portion of the symposium will take place in October, 2017, in New Haven, CT, at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music on the topic of Sacred Arts in North American Context, and in Orleans, MA with academic presentations, musical performance and an art exhibit on the theme: The Word in Color, Action, Music and Form.

It sounds like some big and important things are going on this year! The Ecumenism of Beauty is a sort of preview of what will be shared at these events, including photographs of the works of art that will be discussed. After reading the book of Clyde Kilby's essays earlier this year, I was really looking forward to reading how some of those ideas might be playing out in the meeting point between today's church and today's art.

Unfortunately, I can't give this book all the stars I would have liked to. If I have to nail down one reason, it's my probably unfair position as a Protestant trying to pass judgment on a book written by and published by Roman Catholics, in an area (visual art, particularly liturgical art) that is not something I am very knowledgeable about. As an under-educated but interested observer, the discussion didn't seem all that...ecumenical...to me. I've been part of a variety of churches, some more liturgical than others; so I'm not very opinionated on highly-decorated or less-decorated worship spaces. However, I found the overall tone of the essays somewhat dismissive of those who prefer to worship without what they see as visual distractions. Perhaps the authors felt those Christians would not have much to say on the subject of liturgical art, particularly in churches--which is, for the most part, the "beauty" referred to in the title.

I may come back to this book when I'm feeling less distracted myself. I did enjoy looking at the included art, though again some of it just puzzled me.

If liturgical and contemplative Christian art is something that excites you, you will probably want to get a copy of this book and also stay tuned in as the European and U.S. symposia take place.

Statement of disclosure: I was sent a free e-copy of this book by the publisher for purposes of review. Opinions given here are my own.

The Arts and the Christian Imagination (Book Review)

The Arts and the Christian Imagination Essays on Art, Literature and Aesthetics, by Clyde S. Kilby, edited by William Dyrness and Keith Call (Paraclete Press / Mount Tabor Books / ISBN 978-1-61261-861-6 / 256 pages  / Hardcover / $28.99)

Our homeschooling community views education in the context of lifelong learning, and as part of the classical and liberal arts tradition. We recognize the value of each person as one who has been created in God's image, and who therefore shares in some of God's attributes such as the ability to imagine and create, and to form a relationship with the things that have been created. Our  curriculum includes more than normal amounts of poetry, drama, music, and art, the things that many schools would treat as frills or extras; but to us they are so vital, in the literal sense of vital meaning life-giving, that we have started referring to them as "The Riches."

Another phrase we use is "spreading the feast," as opposed to shoving things down people's throats, but which acknowledges that as human beings we do have "affinities" or natural, God-given attractions for truth and beauty. In fact, we are so out of touch with current beliefs as to insist that truth and beauty not only do exist, but that teaching them to children, and seeking after them as adults, is part of what we are called to do as Christians.

A writer and academic who agreed with that idea was Dr. Clyde S. Kilby, a longtime professor at Wheaton College, and author of The Arts and the Christian Imagination, a new collection of his writings from about fifty years ago. His essay "Christian Imagination" is also included in the older edition of Leland Ryken's collection The Christian Imagination, and appropriately enough it follows there right after C.S. Lewis's essay "Christianity and Culture." The subheadings include "The Bible: A Work of the Imagination"; "God, the Imaginer"; "The Failure of Imagination in Evangelical Christianity"; and "Learning to Live Imaginatively," and these are typical of the things he discusses throughout his work.

At one point Dr. Kilby refers to Lewis's description of a child on Easter morning who was heard to say "Chocolate eggs and Jesus risen," and he says "In our desperate evangelical desire for a clear, logical depiction of Jesus risen we have tended to remove the chocolate eggs...There is a simplicity which diminishes and a simplicity which enlarges...The first is that of the cliché-simplicity with mind and heart removed. The other is that of art...The first silently denies the multiplicity and grandeur of creation, salvation and indeed all things. The second symbolizes and celebrates them...[it] suggests the creative and sovereign God of the universe with whom there are no impossibilities."

So part of the problem of Christians making sense of the arts, besides needing more chocolate eggs, is that we may try to stick to what we call real, in the "life is real and life is earnest" sense, and forget that God's creation is full of amazement and grandeur, and although it may be fallen, it still reflects the power and beauty of its Creator. We have a feast laid out for us in Creation, and in the beautiful things that people have created in art, in music, in literature, things that are just as real as our everyday world of work, and that can give us a clearer picture of the love and holiness and power of the Father who inspired them.

The only complaint I have about the book is the almost unavoidable problem of repetition through the various essays and talks. Like any teacher, Dr. Kilby had favourite illustrations and examples which he re-used over the years, and reading the whole book in a short time might make you feel that you've been through a particular point several times already. On the other hand, exploring the collection of talks as a whole is a good way to get a sense of his most vital themes.

Well recommended for those wanting to dig deeper on the question of faith and the arts.

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher for purposes of review, but received no other compensation. All opinions (as much as humanly possible!) are my own.

Zero Waste Home (Book Review)

Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life By Reducing Your Waste, by Bea Johnson. 2013, Simon & Schuster.

I recently watched Bea Johnson on a Youtube TedTalk about the ZeroWaste lifestyle. When she evangelizes about reducing waste, people listen. She seems to have earned a certain amount of "street cred" by her testimony of a sinful (i.e. overspending and overtrashing) past, and by the fact that she practices her gospel of glass-not-plastic while raising two teenagers (in California). Besides, she's an attractive woman with an easygoing speaking style. If viewers were expecting a hellfire and damnation sermon about plastic straws, it wasn't going to happen.

I borrowed Zero Waste Home from the library, mostly because of our impending garbage collection restrictions, and also because we've been making an extra effort to streamline our possessions. I figured out two things quickly: first, this is (like listening to Bea Johnson speak) an enjoyable, chatty, practical book. Second, in spite of the fact that I like the book and got a few ideas for things we might try here, or products we might look for, I will not be a Zero Waster any time soon, if ever. There are just too many things I would have to say no to, and some of them are very good things, even if they do come in non-compostable packaging. When we were at the very busy Euro-Foods store this morning, I wondered how the meat and cheese counter people (and the already-antsy customers) would react to someone slowing things down even more by bringing in glass jars. Along with meat (wrapped in butcher paper) and three prepared cabbage rolls (which they put into a foam clamshell), we bought frozen perogies (in a plastic wrapper), tea (in cardboard boxes), chocolate (in wrappers), a glass jar of sauerkraut, doughnuts and rolls (which we put into plastic bags), and some cheese (which came in foil-wrapped triangles inside a round cardboard box, you know the kind). So we brought home just as much packaging garbage as we would have from buying supermarket foods; but at the same time we were supporting a locally-run store with its own bakery, meat processing, and cabbage-roll-wrapping facilities; plus the small company that made the perogies and so on. In a Zero Waste lifestyle, I guess we could take in jars and ask for the cabbage rolls and pork loin to be put in those; we could make our own sauerkraut; we could choose a different kind of cheese that doesn't come in extra packaging. And we probably wouldn't be buying the Polish chocolate bars, or the perogies. Again, all this comes out of the choices we make every day, and Bea Johnson makes a very good point about it: those choices are based on the ideas that are the most important to us. If we are convinced that every bit of paper and plastic and styrofoam should be rejected for the sake of the planet and/or for our health and/or for our peace of mind, then saying "no" is a no-brainer, and it's totally worth giving up boxed tea and perogies in a plastic wrapper. I'm just not sure that that's the best goal for our family, right now.

I found her take on clothing interesting, and somewhat surprising. She has little interest in promoting the purchase of new sustainably-made clothing, preferring to shop what's already been produced, at thrift stores or by swapping clothes with friends. She gives a sample list of the contents of her own closet, which comes out to around the same amount of clothes as a Project 333 wardrobe. But when she describes being able to sweep all her clothes into one bag and leave the closet bare for visiting renters (and having all the members of her family do the same), I realize that that level of proficiency in Tiny-Wardrobe-ness, like the problem of boxed groceries, is probably not where I need to be aiming right now. I also don't see myself using cocoa or cornstarch as makeup anytime soon. Or making my own glue.

However, I am not dissing everything that the Johnsons do, by any means. While I don't agree with some of her thoughts on population planning, or the small value she puts on owning books, I am in total agreement about the need for children to have more time outdoors, less time plugged in, and fewer but better toys. When it comes to the bigger picture of trying to live responsibly and safely, I think they have a lot of the right ideas. The question then comes down to how we implement those ideas, and how far we take them before they run smack into other (also valuable) values.

Final take from a still not quite converted reader? Worthwhile picking up in any case for the generous amount of practical homekeeping help (even a few recipes). You might also want to check out the Zero Waste blog.

Clutter Free (Book Review)

Clutter Free: Quick and Easy Steps to Simplifying Your Space

by Kathi Lipp

Harvest House Publishers, 2015

Probably the worst time to read a decluttering book is the middle of December, and the worst place to do it is in your living room or wherever you put the majority of your Christmas decorations. Christmas, even if we don't buy lots of Stuff, is still, often, about Stuff. For our family, Stuff is the vintage collectibles that are part of our daily life, and the extra helping of them that we bring out at the holidays. Stuff is the extra Crockpot that we picked up at a yard sale in the summer, that is the same vintage and type as ours but looks nicer. We don't buy backups of every appliance (no extra toaster ovens sitting around), but we do pick up Crockpots. Stuff is the gifts that we will give each other, new or used. It's the four-pack of sticky tape I grabbed at Walmart (although I didn't buy any new giftwrap, and our stickers and cards came mostly from yard sales and charitable freebies). It's the several packages of variously-flavoured baking chips and two cans of Eagle Brand milk in the pantry; they're there, and we're going to use them. It's pretty hard to have Christmas without any extra Stuff. (I'll stop with the George Carlin intonation now.)

That said, I don't exactly identify with the shop-o-manic reader Kathi Lipp often seems to be addressing in this book. If you don't regularly go crazy at warehouse stores, or if you don't understand why she buys duplicates of things she already has at home, you may wonder what she has to say that you don't already know. 

Like the Bob Newhart "Stop It" skit she describes near the beginning, the real answer to clutter is "Don't do that." If something's going to cause financial or space problems, or otherwise make a mess of things, the sanest response is just not to do it. However, human beings don't always act sanely, and you may find yourself coping with your own or somebody else's past or present clutter problems. Lipp, being a Christian writer, would also point out that bad stewardship is a form of disobedience (and can include covetousness, dishonesty, and stealing), and that the hoarding of Stuff, which we might justify by calling it prudence, is not God's best for us. I appreciated her thought that simplicity is not all about "one size fits all." For instance, she has no problem with keeping a certain number of physical books around (whereas some clutter guides will happily assume that everything one wants to read can be gotten from the library). Lipp sees value in cultivating her interest and skill in cooking, and therefore spends time and space on that; on the other hand, as a poor seamstress, she has little use for a sewing machine. The takeaway I get from her book, rather than Newhart's stern "Stop It," is a gentler "It's Okay." It's okay to let go. It's okay not to let sharp advertising pull your dollars in the wrong direction. It's okay to say you're already okay (and don't need more).

If you need an "It's Okay" to help get things back on track, Clutter Free may speak to your heart.

Eyes Open in Advent (Book Review of All Creation Waits)

All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings by Gayle Boss (Paraclete / ISBN 978-1-61261-785-5 / 112 pages / Paperback / $17.99)
www.paracletepress.com

"Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God. If I spend enough time with the tiniest creature, even a caterpillar, I would never have to prepare a sermon. So full of God is every creature." ~~ Meister Eckhart, quoted as a preface to All Creation Waits

In his review of All Creation Waits, writer Brian Doyle refers to it as a "sidelong" book, which I take to mean indirect, something like a parable. In twenty-five short readings, accompanied with woodcut illustrations, Gayle Boss takes you on an early-winter walk around Lake Michigan, with stop-offs to visit skunks, foxes, porcupines, and other local inhabitants. What are they doing at this time of year? As "all creation waits" for the Advent of the Saviour, animal activities are lyrically described, but without much added-on interpretation. This is not a book of prayers or Scriptures; the animals are not analogies; they do not think of much beyond shelter and food, and they have no imagined sense that Christmas is coming. It reminds me more of Prayers from the Ark, or some of the Christmas readings that take the viewpoint of the cow and the spider; or the muskrat scene at the beginning of The Long Winter.

A sample from the chapter "Whitetail Deer":

"Gliding through the woods in groups of two, three, or four, their coats the color of brush and bark render them nearly invisible to us. So when, in October, we see herds of them out in the open, it seems a curtain has been pulled back on a secret society. They know the cold is coming. Banding together against predators, they forage widely in the fields before their food freezes, or vanishes under snow.

"But then, a drive deeper than feeding seizes them. By November both bucks and does, restless, verge on reckless. Trumping food and wariness, the primal urge to reproduce one’s self and one’s kind surges with the winds of the coming, killing cold."

This book would be most suitable for families with children, who perhaps are looking for something non-commercial but also not directly Bible-related for Advent reading times. [One possible note of caution: there are occasional references to mating which might or might not be appropriate for some families.] It could be useful for homeschoolers, or for those who need a set of readings for less-usual, out-of-church situations. It is a good reminder that the animals are (still, thankfully) all around us. Their stories are a (sidelong) glimpse of the way God creates and sustains them--and us.

Statement of disclosure: I received a complimentary e-copy of this book for purposes of review, but I was not otherwise compensated for this review. All opinions are my own.

The Curated Closet (book review)

The Curated Closet: A simple system for discovering your personal style and building your dream wardrobe; by Anuschka Rees. Ten Speed Press, 2016.

"Curated" is to 2016 what "artisanal" was a few years ago. It means approximately the same thing, and that thing isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just an overused thing. The positive side of "curated"  is that it implies something carefully chosen,  involving individualized perception and taste; and it also assumes some kind of a "less is more" approach. All of this applies to the advice given in The Curated Closet and on the blog that preceded it, Into Mind. It is a non-multiple-choice way of clothing yourself smarter and better. You don't have to fit into any particular box of physique, season, or blood type, says the book; you can combine elements of this and that, create a style that is your very own.

Unfortunately, assuming that we all have enough fashion sense, say to be able to discern "menswear-inspired French chic" from "Grace Kelly goes to college," is where a book like this leaves some of us in the dust. Some of us don't know our Boho colours from our "contemporary mod," or who Carrie Bradshaw was or what she dressed like (I had to look that up). The open-ended advice of "do what's right for you" can be either empowering or just frustrating. It doesn't matter whether we're told to cut up fashion magazines (which many of us don't have around the house, other than freebie mags from Walmart); or to look at Pinterest for inspiration: the problem, for the average person who doesn't normally spend  time perusing these things, is that we still don't know what we're looking for or at.

But if you take this book slowly, in the right order, and don't let it overwhelm you, there is more help included than may first appear. Simply making a list of things you like can get you halfway there, whether you can come up with a name-in-quotation-marks for it or not. If you're happy with the majority of what's in your closet, and it functions well in your current lifestyle, then you probably have an idea of what you need to buy next or what small changes you want to make. I appreciate Rees' advice to to buy new clothes slowly, both for budget reasons and because it's easy to overdo any sudden change.

If you're confused by the personalized colour-palette approach, as Rees points out, that's.only one way of grouping clothes, and she offers at least two other methods that might work better for you. If you can't tell your key pieces from your statements (another irritating word that should disappear soon) or your basics, that's still okay; you might be better off writing down what your usual pattern, uniform, or formula for an outfit is. Do you usually wear jeans, t-shirts, and cardigans? That's fine: just make sure you have enough of everything to get you through to the next laundry day.  Obviously the point of a curated wardrobe, for Rees, is not to hang it in a museum but to let it be worn and enjoyed.

If you have a great sense of your personal style, you probably know most of what Rees has to say already. But if you find shopping frustrating, and kind of wish you could get yourself a little more together, this book might be what you need.

I borrowed a copy of The Curated Closet from the library to write this review. All opinions are my own.

From the archives: Happiness is, happiness isn't (book review)

Edited from a post of February, 2008

Someone at church handed me a book to read called Happiness™ by Will Ferguson (Penguin Books, 2002) . I knew it was meant to be satirical; I didn't know just how much off-colour stuff I was going to have to muck through to get to the heart of it. Hip-waders would be advised.

However, I do like the premise of the book, and it did try to make some good points. It’s a novel about an (imaginary) self-help book called What I Learned On the Mountain that--astonishingly--works. And its impact (mostly negative) on the editor who discovered it and society in general. Some of the initial effects:

“People no longer felt estranged from their bodies. They felt connected. For the first time, possibly ever, Americans began to feel comfortable with who they were. Cosmetics went unsold; department stores stood half-deserted. Expensive perfumes were marked down and sat gathering dust. GQ magazine switched its emphasis from men’s fashion to articles on ‘fostering happiness.’ Dour Calvin Klein models stood on street corners holding up signs: ‘Will pout for food.’” (Happiness™)

Unfortunately, the spread of “happiness” not only begins to destroy the economy (the alcohol and tobacco market dries up alongside the cosmetics industry), but it (whatever it is) destroys people's minds and emotions as well. The editor, Edwin, comes to this conclusion:

“[It’s] a world without a soul. A world without laughter. Without real laughter. The kind that makes your heart ache and your eyes go blurry….we need our vices….because life is sad and short and over far too soon.”

One could argue that this version of happiness isn’t happiness at all, but some kind of selfish, mindless seeking after bliss. (bliss n : a state of extreme happiness [syn: blissfulness, cloud nine, seventh heaven, walking on air]) Edwin pleads for what he calls “joy” instead of “happiness.” However, you could also argue with Edwin’s definition of “joy” since it seems to be based only on celebrating the ugliness, pettiness and vices of humanity (accepting and enjoying what makes us human) rather than looking outwards from ourselves (e.g. to a supreme Being).

I hear echoes of Brave New World in this--the Noble Savage "claiming the right to be unhappy." However, Edwin isn't the Noble Savage by any means, or even Brave New World's questioning Bernard; he's a frustrated Gen-Xer who can't stand his wife, or his cat, or his boss, or his job, or the city he lives in. His only redeeming quality is that--somehow--he's one of the few people who read What I Learned On the Mountain and aren't taken in by it. This implies that he's worthy of telling the rest of us what supposedly makes life meaningful.

And I suppose he's right, in a general way. Too much seeking after "happiness" is just self-seeking and self-defeating; yes, there's something deeper out there. But I felt reluctant to accept much of his pontificating...I think you can get a just as good a read on happiness-as-human-experience in Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, and without the profanity.

20 Things You Should Read (Book Review)

20 Things You Should Read (From 20 writers who challenge us to live extraordinary lives). Compiled by David Edwards, Margaret Feinberg, Janella Griggs, Matthew Paul Turner.Tyndale House Publishers, 2006.

In Dante's visit to heaven, he sees images in the form of something like candles, that turn out to be the spirits of believers. Some of them, including Thomas Aquinas and St. Benedict, speak to him and try to answer his questions about faith. Near the end, in Longfellow's translation, Dante says:

From that time forward what I saw was greater
Than our discourse, that to such vision yields,
And yields the memory unto such excess.

Even as he is who seeth in a dream,
And after dreaming the imprinted passion
Remains, and to his mind the rest returns not,

Even such am I, for almost utterly
Ceases my vision, and distilleth yet
Within my heart the sweetness born of it...

Dante admits a huge and understandable reluctance, shared with the reader, to leave this experience behind, even with faith that someday he will return. In the meantime, David Edwards et al offer a few more voices from the Christian "cloud of witnesses," which might have made up extra Cantos if Dante had been able to stay longer.

On my shelf I have a thirty-year-old Penguin paperback called Part III: The Christian Testament Since the Bible.  In spite of that heretical-sounding title, it's simply a compilation of great writings from the Christian tradition, with little or no commentary or explanation. I also have a book by Terry Glaspey about books that Christians should read, which tells you about the books, but gives only brief excerpts. 20 Things tries to hit a middle ground: each writer is given a short introduction, and then it's turned over to them for several pages apiece. The decision to include only the chosen twenty may raise a few eyebrows: G.K. Chesterton, but not C.S. Lewis? Karl Barth, but not, say, Francis Schaeffer? However, twenty it is, and every single excerpt is worthwhile, even Karl Barth. Like a conversation between the spirits in Paradiso, themes and thoughts are repeated. Ideas of faith and salvation jump out like online "word clouds." Even contradictions seem to recede in the constant emphasis on simple and pure love of God.

In fact, the writers included are so powerful that they make the additional material seem a bit lacking, almost coarse by comparison (although I think it improves throughout the book). Pop culture references and phrases like "They were undoubtedly amazing multitaskers back then" are aimed at the "twentysomethings" who are assumed to be the target audience of the book. It's a bit of a jump from Dante's "tour guides" Virgil and Beatrice. But it does help to have at least some introduction to less-familiar writers.

I can say I read the whole thing; but can I possibly say I did justice on one reading to St. Augustine, John Calvin, Frederick Douglass, and A.W. Tozer? This is a book I'll be going back to.

On our Tenth Blogaversary: We are not just aggregate data

It's ironic that the tenth anniversary (blogaversary) of Dewey's Treehouse falls on the same day as the first U.S. Common Core-based standardized testing.

It's ironic partly because this blog has never been all about education, but, in another sense, yes, it is. It's about the past ten years of watching our children experience different sides of home and government education. It's about the growth and changes of the AmblesideOnline curriculum in those ten years, and the ongoing discussions of Charlotte Mason and "subversive teaching." Even when I'm posting about what's for supper, it reminds me that "education is a life."

Last night I finished reading Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, by Martha C. Nussbaum. (Martha C. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics in the Philosophy Department, Law School, and Divinity School at the University of Chicago.) In vocabulary and in some of her suggested solutions to education issues, Nussbaum does not run along all the same tracks as Charlotte Mason or the Circe Institute. She spends a lot of time discussing the Socratic method, and she has a surprising amount of respect for the current U.S. president, although (even in 2010) she said she did not entirely trust his educational outlook. I think that she's not totally into "dead white (Protestant) guys"; she would prefer a more global and inclusive curriculum. She believes in democracy, in spite of what "Uncle Eric" says about it.

However, when it comes to the need for a more humanizing education, and the consequences if it's lost, I'm right in there with her. Charlotte Mason warned against utilitarian education. Nussbaum warns against allowing education to be controlled by economics. This week, the Truth in American Education website posted this:

"Then the vice-chair of the NGA Education and Workforce Committee said something peculiar.

 “'The Elementary and Secondary Education Act will allow states to align our needs through early education to higher education with the needs of our innovative businesses, developing a stronger workforce development pipeline, expanding opportunity for all of our people and ensuring that students are prepared for success in all phases of life,' said Governor Maggie Hassan (D-NH).

"There you have it.  They believe education is about the needs of our business and not the needs of our children and their families.  It’s not about teaching kids to be well-educated, well-rounded citizens.  Instead education is to be a pipeline for the workforce.  That’s the shift from classical education to workforce development."

A word that Nussbaum uses throughout Not for Profit is "sympathy." In a list of abilities that citizens should have (page 25), she includes "the ability to have concern for the lives of others, to grasp what policies of many types mean for the opportunities and experiences of ones fellow citizens, of many types, and for people outside one's own nation." Next on the list is "the ability to imagine well a variety of complex issues affecting the story of a human life as it unfolds...in a way informed by an understanding of a wide range of human stories, not just by aggregate data." (emphasis mine)

On this day when the success or failure of Common Core will be tested...by computer, no less...let's celebrate sympathy. Let's hold up the failing hands of imagination. Let's have some fun that is funny.

Happy Blogaversary. Climb on up, share some stories, have some cake.