Thursday, June 01, 2006

Holiday weekend reading

Book #8 - Night by Elie Wiesel. Wow. Powerful stuff. So much of it stays at the back of my head, too. One particular quote that stuck with me a bit more, possibly because I deal with proportions so often - as they arrive at Buchenwald: "A hundred of us had got into the wagon. A dozen of us got out - among them, my father and I." While I had read elsewhere about the Holocaust, I had not previously seen the perspective at the beginning - how the Jews of Sighet dismissed the warnings, not thinking it could ever be so bad for them... As I type, I'm reminded a bit about Outwitting the Gestapo by Lucie Aubrac - it's been a while since I read that. May need to again.
Thoughts also on perspective on religion, to be saved for a later date, when 2 more books are finished.

Book #9 - The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. I started this in January as a sort of tag along for the 40 Days of Purpose activities at the church where I play bells - it took me a bit longer to read. I will not begrudge those that found this powerful their experience, but for me - well, it gave me an opportunity to flesh out what I do NOT believe. To clarify what bothers me about many approaches to faith in the Christian world today. I don't want to rant to strongly on religion here - and in large part because a good deal of what I believe is that one's belief system should not be imposed on others - so I'll leave it at that and we'll revisit this (briefly), along with Night when I get those other 2 books done.

Book #10 - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis. Still rereading the series and reliving things I enjoyed deeply when much younger. Was grateful not to have Susan nagging in this one, and enjoyed the many adventures they had, though each adventure could have been fleshed out more....

More wedding stuff tomorrow, hopefully. Have a whole list to catch up on!

No comments: