Comedy in Minor Key by Hans Keilson

Well, it has been close to a year since I last blogged for the book club.  I guess the club sort of feel a part as soon as it began and I am completely to blame for that!  However, I have the great excuse that it took me a good 12 months to leave a VERY bad relationship and get well enough again to start reading and dreaming again- and what better a book than this one- Comedy in Minor Key.

In speaking about a refugee (Jew) during WWII in Germany who took shelter with a German couple, he had to part with all of his belongings and his life in order to find safety.  I recently had a similar dilemma.  I chose to leave my previous relationship for a better life where my kids and I can feel safe and to do this, I had to part with 75% of my belongings and move the 4 of us into 1 bedroom where we now share a home with another family and two other independent renters.

Unlike the novel I read, I now have the whole future ahead of me to start building relationships.  I have freedom to do as I please- within my financial means.

This story showed me that even after the grueling struggle from where I have recently come from, I still have so much to be grateful for.  If anything- I feel ever more blessed.  This experience caused me to make tough decisions and to focus on what is really important- my children and our safety.

25+ Nature and Wildlife Mobile Apps : Wildlife Promise

25+ Nature and Wildlife Mobile Apps : Wildlife Promise

Unbroken- By Hillebrand

Louis Zamperini- my new personal hero! I want to say that I will never complain that things are too difficult, although I know my limitations.  I am so amazed by what he went through.  Because of the war, Louis never reached his pull potential as an olympian, but he reached a potential far beyond that.  I never thought that would have been possible until I read the book and now I think I know preseverance through the eyes of Louis Zamperini.  For all of our service men past, present, and future- I am forever grateful for your sacrifice that you willing took on.  I would not be sitting here writing my blog if were not the work all our great service men to ensure personal liberties here in the States.

Freedom by John Franzen

Definitely a very honest look into our culture of freeedom and the consequences both good and bad that come with it.  I loved the polemic style that was woven throughout the book with candid, realistic takes on some of our country's most controversial issues.  Freedom allows all of us as individuals and as a country to make mistakes and then it is up to us to learn from them and perhaps realize some balance where personal liberty does not cheapen our relationships and civic duty to government and our environment.

On page 219 of The Wild Marsh, Rick Bass talks about weeds being enemies of change and life other than themselves. I really love his in depth look at all of nature's processes and our role in that framework. His imagery and metaphors really help explain even the most common scenes that most people wouldn't even give a second look. He has appreciation for the minute details that actually have such a massive role in nature. It has been a very involved book thus far- I don't want to miss any of his rummblings on and so forth about nature and all that goes with it!

Rick Bass on people who believe the forest or wilderness is wild, savage and without God: But there is nothing in this world that could ever convince me the God is to be set against the wild forest and the wilderness. That would be like trying to convince me that God is set also against another of God's creations, humankind itself. P. 92

On Rick Bass's : The Wild Marsh
In defense of taking the classroom outdoors: I'm grateful to that one turtle for the opportunity to help show them (his children) consideration. I'm grateful to the color of the sky at dusk, and to the unique and specific shape of Haystack Mountain to the north, and to the scent of the pine and fir forests early in the spring for helping form that calming matrix, as sense filled and tangible as a bough of fir branches spread beneath one's sleeping bag on a camping trip far back into the mountains, the mythic mountains of childhood. P 90.