Brenda of Coffee, Tea, Books, and Me: On the rereading of books.

“However, the reread can be pure joy. For one thing, I only reread books (unless for information) that I loved in the first reading. It is the nonfiction book by the author whose advice I took to heart. It is the work of fiction whose world I want to enter into again. Even though I know how it will end, I want to walk the path once more. There is nothing like seeing old friends on shelves, always available with “just what I need” for that moment in time. “

I reread lots of books. As I said I’m rereading Madeleine L’Engle’s books this year. When I need pure comfort reading, I reread Agatha Christie, of all things. I don’t care that I already know how it ends; I like watching how it all works out again.

Brenda’s Living Life on Purpose Journey:

“I wanted to create a place in this world that is truly a sactuary for us and I’ve spent a lot of time and given attention to doing so. Because this brings me great joy, I have never considered it work. (Although the process of keeping it all clean and clutter free involves work.)”

I’m really enjoying Brenda’s blog, Coffee, Tea, Books and Me. She has a lot of practical ideas about living a full and simple life to the glory of God.

Mental Multivitamin on the professionalization of motherhood.

“Yet here we are, we women of this generation, being driven mad by the awesome responsibility of micromanaging our children’s lives, including ensuring that the next generation has all manner of wonderful and educational experiences and excitements in their lives. We seem to have far more concerns than our mothers had to jerk us out of technicolor dreams, don’t we?”

I do think that Engineer Husband and I worry a lot more about whether we are “good parents” and whether we’re “doing it right” than my parents or his did. It’s difficult to remember that how the kids turn out is NOT my sole responsibility; in fact, I believe it’s mostly the responsibility of the children themselves. But if they listen to our society, they’ll probably blame me if anything goes wrong, and if I’m not careful, I’ll believe that it’s my job to make them into good adults instead of theirs.