On vacation from work...(duh) and have read two books so far, yes today is only Tuesday but I count the weekend also.
The first book I read is by a favorite author David Baldacci and is called The Sixth Man. This book had some unexpected twists to it, guess that is why it is a mystery?!! It is a very good read.
The second book is by S.J. Watson Before I Go To Sleep. This a new author to me and wow! This was a very good read. It was very spooky and the ending left you wanting to know more. Enjoyed this very much and would highly recommend it.
I am still working on the Viktor Fankl book mentioned before...this is a good book but one that makes you think. And some times I want to read without having to "think and ponder!"
On to baking....(cleaning out closets will be tackled another day) this is MY vacation after all!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
This book is a memoir, a self-help book and a psychology manual and has become a classic. This book tells
the chilling and inspirational story of eminent psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz and other concentration camps for three years during World War II. Immersed in great suffering and loss, Frankl began to wonder why some of his fellow prisoners were able not only to survive the horrifying conditions, but to grow in the process. "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how". What alone remains is the last of human freedoms--the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.
"Don't aim at success-the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run-in the long run, I say!--success will follow you precisely because you have forgotten to think of it."
Viktor had an American visa and was ready to leave Austria. His old parents were overjoyed because they expected I would soon be allowed to leave. The question beset me: could I really afford to leave my parents alone to face their fate, to be sent, sooner or later to a concentration camp, or even to a so-called extermination camp? I pondered this problem and could not arrive at a solution; this was the type of dilemma that made one wish for "a hint from Heaven" as the phrase goes. It was then I noticed a piece of marble lying on a table at home. His father explained it was a part of the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. (the largest Viennese synagogue was burned down by the National Socialists). His father explained the letter engraved on the piece stood for one of the commandments. Which one? Honor thy father and mother was the reply. At that moment Viktor decided to stay with his parents and let his visa lapse.
WOW!
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms-to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him, mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp.It is this spiritual freedom--which cannot be taken away--that makes life meaningful and purposeful. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death, human life cannot be complete. The way in which a man accepts his fate and the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity, even under the most difficult of situations, to add a deeper meaning to his life.
What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected of us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life-daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk or meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks it constantly sets before each individual. These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from man to man, and from moment to moment.
When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task; his single and unique task. He will have to acknowledge the fact that even in suffering he is unique and alone in the universe. No one can relieve him of his suffering or suffer in his place. His unique opportunity lies in the way he bears his burden.
Well, I need to quit tonight. As you can tell, this is a very intense book. I am just now reading about the issues they faced with their liberation.....more later...
the chilling and inspirational story of eminent psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz and other concentration camps for three years during World War II. Immersed in great suffering and loss, Frankl began to wonder why some of his fellow prisoners were able not only to survive the horrifying conditions, but to grow in the process. "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how". What alone remains is the last of human freedoms--the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.
"Don't aim at success-the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run-in the long run, I say!--success will follow you precisely because you have forgotten to think of it."
Viktor had an American visa and was ready to leave Austria. His old parents were overjoyed because they expected I would soon be allowed to leave. The question beset me: could I really afford to leave my parents alone to face their fate, to be sent, sooner or later to a concentration camp, or even to a so-called extermination camp? I pondered this problem and could not arrive at a solution; this was the type of dilemma that made one wish for "a hint from Heaven" as the phrase goes. It was then I noticed a piece of marble lying on a table at home. His father explained it was a part of the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. (the largest Viennese synagogue was burned down by the National Socialists). His father explained the letter engraved on the piece stood for one of the commandments. Which one? Honor thy father and mother was the reply. At that moment Viktor decided to stay with his parents and let his visa lapse.
WOW!
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms-to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him, mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp.It is this spiritual freedom--which cannot be taken away--that makes life meaningful and purposeful. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death, human life cannot be complete. The way in which a man accepts his fate and the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity, even under the most difficult of situations, to add a deeper meaning to his life.
What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected of us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life-daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk or meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks it constantly sets before each individual. These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from man to man, and from moment to moment.
When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task; his single and unique task. He will have to acknowledge the fact that even in suffering he is unique and alone in the universe. No one can relieve him of his suffering or suffer in his place. His unique opportunity lies in the way he bears his burden.
Well, I need to quit tonight. As you can tell, this is a very intense book. I am just now reading about the issues they faced with their liberation.....more later...
Interesting excerpt
I thought I would have lots to say about Cutting for Stone. I really enjoyed this book and I want to read his others also. I don't know WHY this particular story sticks with me, as I am so totally not a number person.
Shiva says his 2nd favorite number is 66 because if you take the numbers you can divide into sixty-six, including 66, and add them up, what you have is a square.What is your favorite number if 66 is your second favorite. He writes on the board 10, 213,223. Pray, tell us why would this number interest us? This number is the only number that describes itself when you read it. "one zero, two ones, three twos, and two threes!" It was the only bit of mathematics that stayed with me from that year.
Then there is this passage, sorry if this offends anyone, but I found it extremely funny. Marion is assisting his father Ghosh with a vasectomy. "Now, I tie off the cut ends with catgut. And then I tell the patient, 'No communication with wife allowed for the next ninety days'"
Ghosh turned to the patient and repeated the sentence. The patient nodded. "okay, you can communicate, say Good morning, darling and all that, but no sex for three months." The patient grinned. "okay, you can have sex, but you must wear a condom."
"I use interruptus," the patient said, speaking for the first time.
"You use what? Interruptus? Pull and pray? Good God, man! No wonder you have 5 kids! It's noble of you to try to get off the train at an earlier station, but it's unreliable. No sir. Interrupt the interrruptus, unless you want to reach your half dozen this year. You know what we call young men who use coitus interruptus?
The patient shook his head. "We call them Father! Daddy. Pater. Pappa. Pere. No sir, I have done the interrupting for you. Give me three months and you can tell your missus that she is not to worry because you will be shooting blanks, and there will be no more interruptions and you will be staying for dessert, coffee, and cigars."
Now for a more serious excerpt...Matron is talking with an American about funding their mission...God will judge us, Mr. Harris, by what we did to relieve the suffering of our fellow human beings. I don't think God cares what doctrine we embrace." I'll confess, Mr. Harris, that as I get older, my prayers aren't about forgiveness. My prayers are for money to do His work." "Do you know, dear man, that in my darkest moments, you have so often been the answer to my prayers?"
This next story is when Ghosh was in prison...and a fellow prisoner would tell the story of Abu Kassem. It was a tale well known to children all over Africa: Abu Kassem, a miserly Baghdad merchant, had held on to his battered, much repaired pair of slippers even though they were the objects of derision. At last, even he couldn't stomach the sight of them. But his every attempt to get rid of his slippers ended in disaster: when he tossed them out of his window the landed on the head of a pregnant woman who miscarried, and Abu was thrown in jail. When he dropped them into the canal, the slippers choked off the main drain and caused flooding and off Abu went to jail.....The slippers in the story mean that everything you see and do and touch, every seed you sow, or don't sow, becomes part of your destiny. In order to start to get rid of your slippers, you have to admit they are yours, and if you do, then they will get rid of themselves. I hope one day you see this as clearly as I did in Kerchele. The key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have and the ones you don't. If you keep saying your slippers aren't yours, then you will die searching, you'll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more. Not only our actions but also our omissions become our destiny.
Shiva says his 2nd favorite number is 66 because if you take the numbers you can divide into sixty-six, including 66, and add them up, what you have is a square.What is your favorite number if 66 is your second favorite. He writes on the board 10, 213,223. Pray, tell us why would this number interest us? This number is the only number that describes itself when you read it. "one zero, two ones, three twos, and two threes!" It was the only bit of mathematics that stayed with me from that year.
Then there is this passage, sorry if this offends anyone, but I found it extremely funny. Marion is assisting his father Ghosh with a vasectomy. "Now, I tie off the cut ends with catgut. And then I tell the patient, 'No communication with wife allowed for the next ninety days'"
Ghosh turned to the patient and repeated the sentence. The patient nodded. "okay, you can communicate, say Good morning, darling and all that, but no sex for three months." The patient grinned. "okay, you can have sex, but you must wear a condom."
"I use interruptus," the patient said, speaking for the first time.
"You use what? Interruptus? Pull and pray? Good God, man! No wonder you have 5 kids! It's noble of you to try to get off the train at an earlier station, but it's unreliable. No sir. Interrupt the interrruptus, unless you want to reach your half dozen this year. You know what we call young men who use coitus interruptus?
The patient shook his head. "We call them Father! Daddy. Pater. Pappa. Pere. No sir, I have done the interrupting for you. Give me three months and you can tell your missus that she is not to worry because you will be shooting blanks, and there will be no more interruptions and you will be staying for dessert, coffee, and cigars."
Now for a more serious excerpt...Matron is talking with an American about funding their mission...God will judge us, Mr. Harris, by what we did to relieve the suffering of our fellow human beings. I don't think God cares what doctrine we embrace." I'll confess, Mr. Harris, that as I get older, my prayers aren't about forgiveness. My prayers are for money to do His work." "Do you know, dear man, that in my darkest moments, you have so often been the answer to my prayers?"
This next story is when Ghosh was in prison...and a fellow prisoner would tell the story of Abu Kassem. It was a tale well known to children all over Africa: Abu Kassem, a miserly Baghdad merchant, had held on to his battered, much repaired pair of slippers even though they were the objects of derision. At last, even he couldn't stomach the sight of them. But his every attempt to get rid of his slippers ended in disaster: when he tossed them out of his window the landed on the head of a pregnant woman who miscarried, and Abu was thrown in jail. When he dropped them into the canal, the slippers choked off the main drain and caused flooding and off Abu went to jail.....The slippers in the story mean that everything you see and do and touch, every seed you sow, or don't sow, becomes part of your destiny. In order to start to get rid of your slippers, you have to admit they are yours, and if you do, then they will get rid of themselves. I hope one day you see this as clearly as I did in Kerchele. The key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have and the ones you don't. If you keep saying your slippers aren't yours, then you will die searching, you'll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more. Not only our actions but also our omissions become our destiny.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Such a dweeb!!
Okay, I just read what I posted about "forgetting" who the author of the "Silver Sparrow" is....duh! That is the entire reason for this "blog"..to keep tract of what and who I read!! SO in the previous post is the answer to my brain sprain!!
I am currently reading a most wonderful book, need to get off here so I can read some more!!
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese I am only on chapter 15 but it is hard to put down. One comment made in this book is "God will judge us by what we did to relieve the suffering of our fellow human beings. I don't think God cares what doctrine we embrace." Is that a true statement or what!! And I feel the need to step up with more action by myself to help in ways I can here and now in my life!! And to remember a statement from a previous book, "you can't out give God".
Well, back to reading..
I am currently reading a most wonderful book, need to get off here so I can read some more!!
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese I am only on chapter 15 but it is hard to put down. One comment made in this book is "God will judge us by what we did to relieve the suffering of our fellow human beings. I don't think God cares what doctrine we embrace." Is that a true statement or what!! And I feel the need to step up with more action by myself to help in ways I can here and now in my life!! And to remember a statement from a previous book, "you can't out give God".
Well, back to reading..
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Too busy!! for words!!!
I have really been reading, just not taking the time to post what I have read. And of course now I don't remember some information about the books I have read! (Blame it on work...crazy busy, crazy hours, come home to crash and disappear into a book for a little while, then back to another day at work.)
First the book I enjoyed that I don't remember the author....Silver Sparrow. I will get her other books at some point in time. This was a book about her father, a bigamist, and how she was always "a secret." I wonder is she will write another book from the dad's perspective? That could be interesting also.
Eve Iris Johansen...a book of suspense. I have read many of her books already. Am looking forward to the next two Quinn and Bonnie.
It's Not that I am Bitter Gina Barreca This was interesting but don't know that I would read it again. The best part of the book was the 52 things learned by 51! There were some hilarious ones and then some that made me think!
It's Only a Flat Tire in the Rain Max Davis, M.A. Ok this is going to be a long post! This was an amazing book and one that I really needed to read at this time in my life!!
3 principles....1. Understand that life is a struggle. Scott Peck "Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult." 2. Embrace the struggle. 3. Trust God..He can be trusted, not always to keep adversity from entering our lives, but to guide us through it.
3 soul killers...1. too much diversion (we let urgent things take priority over the important!) 2. too much amusement (we don't know how to be quiet and alone. We are afraid of silence and boredom.)
3. too much stuff....Having stuff is not bad. But the pursuit of stuff, for stuff's sake, kills the soul.
3 soul nourishers....1. feeding on soul food...choice is the most powerful gift God has bestowed on humans. Nourishing our soul and becoming centered on God, begin with choice. Choice always begins in the mind, not the emotions. 2. Heeding the moment.....Don't miss life by living in the past or in the future. 3. Seeding others....a solid, life transforming principle is "you can't out-give God!!!"
The last book I just finished reading last night at midnight!! (I know I know....work in the morning...this is a very good book THANKS EMILY!!)
Born to Run Christopher McDougall This book actually makes you WANT to learn to run!! Unfortunately I am sure I am/would be again, like the writer says "In my mind's eye, I am light and quick as a Navajo on the hunt. In reality, I look like Frankenstein's monster trying to tango." SO to ask the question, "what is the right way to run??!" Would some one please tell me!! I did thoroughly enjoy this book, just wish I had the time/energy to run...I know I know I have 24 hours in my day just like everyone. These people run hundreds of miles (sometimes in a stretch of time, not days apart..and when do they work when they are running miles and miles and miles and miles..ok you get the point!)
First the book I enjoyed that I don't remember the author....Silver Sparrow. I will get her other books at some point in time. This was a book about her father, a bigamist, and how she was always "a secret." I wonder is she will write another book from the dad's perspective? That could be interesting also.
Eve Iris Johansen...a book of suspense. I have read many of her books already. Am looking forward to the next two Quinn and Bonnie.
It's Not that I am Bitter Gina Barreca This was interesting but don't know that I would read it again. The best part of the book was the 52 things learned by 51! There were some hilarious ones and then some that made me think!
It's Only a Flat Tire in the Rain Max Davis, M.A. Ok this is going to be a long post! This was an amazing book and one that I really needed to read at this time in my life!!
3 principles....1. Understand that life is a struggle. Scott Peck "Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult." 2. Embrace the struggle. 3. Trust God..He can be trusted, not always to keep adversity from entering our lives, but to guide us through it.
3 soul killers...1. too much diversion (we let urgent things take priority over the important!) 2. too much amusement (we don't know how to be quiet and alone. We are afraid of silence and boredom.)
3. too much stuff....Having stuff is not bad. But the pursuit of stuff, for stuff's sake, kills the soul.
3 soul nourishers....1. feeding on soul food...choice is the most powerful gift God has bestowed on humans. Nourishing our soul and becoming centered on God, begin with choice. Choice always begins in the mind, not the emotions. 2. Heeding the moment.....Don't miss life by living in the past or in the future. 3. Seeding others....a solid, life transforming principle is "you can't out-give God!!!"
The last book I just finished reading last night at midnight!! (I know I know....work in the morning...this is a very good book THANKS EMILY!!)
Born to Run Christopher McDougall This book actually makes you WANT to learn to run!! Unfortunately I am sure I am/would be again, like the writer says "In my mind's eye, I am light and quick as a Navajo on the hunt. In reality, I look like Frankenstein's monster trying to tango." SO to ask the question, "what is the right way to run??!" Would some one please tell me!! I did thoroughly enjoy this book, just wish I had the time/energy to run...I know I know I have 24 hours in my day just like everyone. These people run hundreds of miles (sometimes in a stretch of time, not days apart..and when do they work when they are running miles and miles and miles and miles..ok you get the point!)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Not reading???? What is WRONG?
I can hardly believe this myself!! I haven't picked up a book in a couple days....and I am not comatose!! My daughter told me about pinterest.com and I am so hooked! The only thing I can say in defense of myself, it is "better" than playing bejeweled on FB for hours on end! So books, my friends, I will be back just don't know for sure when!!
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Why do I read?
Hmm, good question! I read because books can take you to places you can never go physically. I read because books take you away from yourself and your own world for a while. Books can be very good friends, reading them over and over is like talking to an old friend- you know- the friend you haven't seen for years and the conversation picks up like there was no break in it! Books give you a different point of view. Books can be educational, some are even meant to be!! :) You can meet people in books that you will never have the chance to personally meet due to life circumstances. History books can be amazing in a lot of different ways. I read because my parents taught me the joy of reading, by seeing them read themselves, and by them reading to us. Some of my best memories are of my Father reading a chapter a night to us, Rascal by Sterling North. Mom would take us to the library and we had a librarian who would let us take numerous books out a time. She told Mom that we took such good care of the books we borrowed and we read them so very quickly that she couldn't hold us to the "limit" (which was 3! a person! ) I still come out of the library with my arms full and usually have to go back for more before the time limit of 3 weeks is up. Yes, I am a fast reader and I read instead of watching TV. (Did not grow up with tv in the house, thank you Mom and Dad!!)
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