31 Days of Books: A Review

Whew!  You guys, I did it.  31 book reviews in 31 days.  Some days I had to double up, and some reviews were probably more thoughtful than others, but they're all up!  Thank you to everyone who showed interest and encouraged this project.  It was not easy, but I feel like I learned a lot.

I though I'd recap by mentioning a few reflections on the project:

*  The whole "31 days" concept is a really good challenge if you want to express or share something you're passionate about.  I definitely want to do another one and don't think I'll wait till next October.

*  The hardest part of each post was the "One Sentence Summary."  You will probably notice a lot of complex sentences, bending the rules of what can be included in one sentence... but I knew if I allowed myself to elaborate on the plot, the review would become 1) way too long and 2) probably give too much away.

*  While I did modify the structure a bit along the way, I realized a bit too late that I should have included a rating system (e.g. out of five stars).  I specifically chose books I liked well enough to recommend - reviewing books you don't like can be fun, but gets too easy and boring over time - but some of these are a good 3.5/5 while others are novels par excellence.  Interestingly, as I added my reviews to goodreads, more than once I adjusted my rating on there to reflect how I feel about the book in hindsight.

*  When I first started out, I composed a list of what I was going to review.  Any of the requests I got for authors or specific books happened to already be included in that list.  [You know me so well ;]  The only alteration that was made after drafting up the list was to sub out "Silas Marner" to include a poem, The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock. [If you're a big George Eliot fan, I'm sorry.  I just wasn't feeling up to her that day.]

*  By far, the most viewed review is Animal Farm, which kind of surprises me.

*  The funnest (and often easiest) part of each review was actually "One reason you maybe shouldn't read it."


I plan to continue more book reviews, and will likely use a similar structure, though I look forward on expanding certain parts of it.  I hope you enjoyed hearing a bit about each of these books.  Books are my love language and literally nothing compares to the feeling I get when people tell me they're reading a book I recommended or they're enjoying one of my favorites.  So, if you choose to pick up one of these, please do let me know and mention what you think of it.


Below I've compiled the final list with links to each review:

1. The Fault in Our Stars
2. The Princess Bride
3. Pygmalion
4. At the Back of the North Wind
5. A Wrinkle in Time
6. The Count of Monte Cristo
7. A Study in Scarlet
8. Northanger Abbey
9. The Woman in White
10. Much Ado about Nothing
11. Animal Farm
12. The Age of Innocence
13. Six Characters in Search of an Author
14. Oedipus Tyrannus
15. The Picture of Dorian Gray
16. Room
17. History of Love
18. Ender's Game
19. Manalive
20. Surprised by Oxford
21. A Severe Mercy
22. To the Lighthouse
23. Heart of Darkness
24. Hunchback of Notre-Dame
25. The Scarlet Pimpernel
26. A Tale of Two Cities
27. The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock
28. To Kill a Mockingbird
29. Wieland
30. Phantom of the Opera
31. Frankenstein

Happy reading!

"A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world."

- John le Carre

I agree.  But it's my view right now.

And some days feel (to borrow John Green's phrasing) "existentially fraught."

Well, most of you know that.

I've talked with you. Texted you.

You've read my ranty blog posts.

I keep saying this, but the problem isn't my job, per se.

I enjoy most of what I get to do and the people I work with.

I'm even saddened by the realization that, at so young an age, this is probably the best boss I'll ever work for.  Ok, sounding hopeful, at least top 3.

This job is empowering and is teaching me a lot.

And provides a rather beautiful paycheck.

So when I rant... it's not because I want to switch jobs.

I am restless and wrestling right now.

I don't know who I want to be when I grow up.

I'm going to be 23 this month.

Yes, young.  I know.

Several have asked me lately,

"How old are you?

...Only 22.

Well, you've got lots of time."

Yes.  I do.

But I don't want to waste any of it.

And there has to be more than this.

More than rushing to work

(Wo)manning a desk

Relying on Starbucks

Waiting for the weekend

Checking fb, twitter, insta, blogs for something inspirational

Constantly eating on-the-go

Crossing off to-do lists

Filling out "adulthood" forms

Filling out stupid-*@$%-car-accident forms

Maybe reading a little, watching a little

Doing laundry (if I'm lucky)

And checking on virtual life once more before bed

I mean, yesterday, I seriously had instant oatmeal out of a paper cup for breakfast.

Lameness has become a frequent guest :/

And I know I seem moody because I'm all "check out my fabulous weekend..."

"Here's a morsel in this stimuli-overload, inspiration-starved world..."

"You wouldn't believe this funny story..."

But a large part of my life is spent here.  With a view from the desk.

And sometimes I think I'm going cuckoo

Scratch that... am cuckoo.

I identify so much with my good friend, Prufrock.

Do I dare

Disturb the universe?

In a minute, there is time

For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all:

Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, 

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons...

Although it's pumps of chai, not coffee spoons, in my case.

But still... what is this modern life?

And why does everything inside me anxiously wrestle against it?

One of my selves (yes, I'm totally schizo... and so am I) tries to shush the other selves,

"Samara, you're too dramatic.

Bob's out this week so it's just quiet.

LBD is over and you're missing your fiction-fix.

You should just eat better, exercise better, sleep better.

Samara, be grateful!!"

Yes.  Yes, those are probably all true.

And yet.

I know that God is in the tedious and monday-ne (I made a word!).

I know that He is teaching me, like Jacob,  through wrestling.

Teaching me that I can rely only on Him.

For peace. For provision. For sanity.

For love.

I know those things.  I am learning those things.

But I have dared to listen to a distant call.

One that thrills as it terrifies.

One that challenges everything comfortable and calculated.

And it isn't specific.  I can't make out the call.

But I'm daring to incline my ear.

Because I don't know who or what or where I was made for.

But I know I have yet to arrive.

Of Tangled and Typology :)

This weekend I had one of those great "Wow!  Not everyone thinks everyone thinks the same way I do (thank God!)" moments. 

I was at my sister's watching Tangled with my neice and nephew. We were watching the scene at the end [er...Spoilers?] and I exclaimed how much I love this film.  My sister asked why.  I rambled off a few things quickly:

- Mother Gothel's mirror breaks - a symbol of the shattering of the power of vanity [very much a Mirror Mirror relationship going on here... interesting since Snow White was Disney's 1st feature film and Tangled was it's 50th :]

- Flynn chooses to save Rapunzel rather than himself - amazing!

- The shards from that mirror would prove the very weapon Flynn would need to free Rapunzel and defeat Mother Gothel.

- There's a brief, but powerful shot of the rapidly aging Mother Gothel looking in the broken mirror - representing her fractured psyche [unfotunately, I couldn't find a picture of that shot]

- Pascal uses Rapunzel's hair (of all things) to trip Mother Gothel and she falls out the window to her death.

- Then of course we get the touching death of Flynn Rider - and even though you know Disney is going to bring him back to life, giving Rapunzel a haircut and killing off the "prince charming" in the same scene automatically qualifies it for "Most Unpredictable Disney Clip" - if not entire movie!

- And in one final, gorgeous shot before the resurrection a la Beauty and the Beast... we get this: the shattered mirror and shattered dreams - the (seeming) finality of death - bathed in rays of light.  And the Sun has not lost it's healing power after all.

So anyway... I rambled off most of those thoughts about the power of imagery very quickly, until my sister said, "Stop it, you're hurting my brain!"  After laughter and a "Wait - really?" - I had that wonderful shock to the system that, yes, I am odd.  And maybe people who are not constantly reading into things have a less stressful life.  Maybe they actually get more out of it!!

But its actually come at a wonderful time.  I've been learning so much about people lately - about our differences. We took the Meyers Briggs / Jungian Typology test at work [seriously, take it if you haven't and then visit the personality pages to get a scarily accurate description of your Type].  There are 16 different types of personalities according that test.  I'm also reading the 5 love languages.  I've had some really eye-opening experiences with family members and friends and co-workers. 

And I'm becoming aware again of the variety that exists in the human race - and that ALL of it is a reflection of who God is.

Some of you may just get this easier than I do.  But I've seriously been amazed listening to people who think in an entirely different way - not just from a different point of view, but an entirely other grid. Yet that grid is as much in the image of God as any other - even when they seem contrary.  And when I say "grid," I'm not talking about worldview as much as I'm talking about the personality and perspective each of us was born with.  Obviously each personality has its strengths and weaknesses... but there is something God just LOVES about each of them.  He's put a piece of himself in introverts and extroverts, in people who see black & white and those who see color, in the nerds and the free spirits.  They all reflect who He is!  And that's incredible!!

So even when you get bugged or someone doesn't understand you - take a moment to enjoy the variety in other people and to discover an aspect of God's character that you might not have seen or appreciated before!

This film has been on my mind lately...

And I have a growing realization of the profundity of this clip.

(And I adore Peter O'Toole :)

I have so many friends in England right now, several more falling in love with Sherlock, and I get to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee with some British friends this weekend. It all makes me feel... connected. 


A woman I greatly appreciate told me something priceless after I got back from England last year. She said, "I've realized, some people are threads that make up a piece of fabric. They are the foundation to community. But some people are the threads that hold two different pieces of fabric together--and they feel the pull. They are woven into one community, then another, but without fully belonging to just one. It can be painful, but without those threads, we wouldn't have the interwoven, interconnected Body of Christ."
I've realized I'm one of those threads. I hope that doesn't sound arrogant--its more heavy than it is enjoyable. But I do feel the pull of a far off place... and I don't know when I'll be able to return. But like I said, receiving post-cards that have made the journey and talking with other "threads"--some who feel the pull much stronger than I do!--it helps. It sometimes feels like a workout for my heart's capacity, but it helps.


Even with feeling like an interwoven thread, I hold onto a promise that becomes more real, more pertinent everyday:

"My dear Sam, you cannot always be torn into two. You must be whole and one for many, many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be and to do."

I'm waiting for that wholeness. And I know its coming. But until then...

God save the Queen!

week recap

Hi! I feel I've been neglecting the blogosphere due to the craziness that was this week... so let me just share a few lovelies I've come across recently.

"Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say 'infinitely' when you mean 'very'; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite." - Clive Staples
This is one of his tips for aspiring writers that I found on Letters of Note. Afraid I'm guilty of this one =/ As an enthusiast, I'm a bit too fond of hyperbole. But this was a great reminder of the value of written words.

* * * * *

This week Comp Lit was all about T. S. Eliot. Boy is he amazing. My teacher explained that he spoke at least 7 languages and was probably one of the most well-read persons of all time--yah, understatement. In this context I could appreciate his "Tradition and the Individual Talent" so much more. He's not another snobby critic complaining that writers aren't doing it right. He's a writer sharing part of his process and challenging both himself and his audiences to real greatness. "No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone." Revelation right there. And that was before he got saved. He argues, "We dwell with satisfaction upon the poet's difference from his predecessors... we endeavour to find something that can be isolated in order to be enjoyed... the most individual parts of his work may be those n which the dead poets, his ancestors, assert their immortality most vigorously." Powerful--and I agree completely.
As far as his poetry, I am still mulling it over. We read The Wasteland, The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Gerontion, The Hollow Men, and Burnt Norton. Heavy duty, but so incredible. Just a few lines:

Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume
- The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock


"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons"? I cannot get over how genius this line is!

Ok... and one more passage. This one, a bit longer, is from the first of the The Four Quartets, Burnt Norton.

Words move, music moves
Only in time; but that which is only living
Can only die. Words, after speech, reach
Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern,
Can words or music reach
The stillness, as a Chinese jar still
Moves perpetually in its stillness.
Not the stillness of the violin, while the note lasts,
Not that only, but the co-existence,
Or say that the end precedes the beginning,
And the end and the beginning were always there
Before the beginning and after the end.
And all is always now. Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still. Shrieking voices
Scolding, mocking, or merely chattering,
Always assail them. The Word in the desert
Is most attacked by the voices of temptation,
The crying shadow in the funeral dance,
The loud lament of the disconsolate chimera.

I have read this half a dozen times now and I'm still sorting the meaning. Eliot said, "The poet is occupied with frontiers of consciousness beyond which words fail, though meaning still exists." I love this. And I'm loving him.

* * * * *

Last thought, yesterday I had a revelation that rocked me!

Ok, a little background. The Greek conception of "glory" is kleos [κλέος]. Kleos carries with it the idea of later people telling stories of a person's fame. In it's pure form it is the idea that Sam postulates in The Two Towers when he asks, "I wonder if we'll ever be put into songs or tales." The more self-centered, Greek notion is embodied by Achilles who had been given the option between a long-life without kleos or dying young with great kleos and boldly chose to have kleos. I should also note that kleos is masculine and a woman could never be described as having kleos.
After establishing all of that, the revelation I had this week is that the New Testament does not use kleos when it defines God's glory. It uses the feminine doxa [δόξα]. Not only is the word feminine, doxa is the only ancient Greek word for "glory" that can apply to women as well as men. This is incredible!! While God most often identifies Himself as a male, we know that God is neither male nor female. If all of us were made in the image of God, then we display the full spectrum of His being and attributes in the glories of being male and female. So, I am amazed that God would use the inclusive doxa when describing His glory. So cool!

So today was kind of sad for me... Today we had the last day of our current honors "cohort" (literally, the call us a cohort. it makes me feel... mischievous :)
I just wanted to share a few highlights (funny/thought-provoking/etc.) from class:

• Libby sharing a presentation on "Time-Shifty Novels" - favorite new academic term!
• Greta complaining about The Blindside and The Help as stories of "White people helping Black people portrayed as not being able to do things for themselves." Still mulling that over.
• Mr. Tyler Britton, J. Crew dandy, telling me after a discussion of The Road that during class he had been profiling classmates to determine who--in a post-apocalyptic world--would become cannibals. But don't worry, he informed that I would not be a cannibal. So relieving to here.
• Alex's response to the professor's question: "What kept you turning the pages in The Gangster We're All Looking For?" Alex [speaking for the class]: "It was assigned."
• David and Alex pulling up my blog one day during break and exclaiming, "Samara, are you engaged?!?" Wow.
• Nicole's "I'm for the empowerment of everybody" comment.
• Caitlyn describing History of Love as "beautifully sad." Perfect description.
• Wading through Faulkner together. I feel as though we all carry battle scars now.

Those are just a few. This quarter was fantastic and it's been such a different experience to be in a smaller more relational class. I've appreciated it so much. I'm so glad that so many of us are in Kaplan's class next quarter. It'll be grand. But for one and all, thank you for such a fabulous quarter.

Only 6 days till I fly home and 1 week till family camp =) I am struggling with all the mixed feelings of loving Oxford, but also being so ready to be home. This has been so incredible and I can't believe its ending. We wrap up and I say goodbye to everyone on friday ='( But, I cannot wait to go home! So I thought I'd share just a few things that I love about both.

Things I will miss:

• being surrounded by old, beautiful things--the streets, the buildings, the books, etc
• my kindred spirit, Kristina =')
• british accents
• the new building quad at Magdalen and my tree
• Jane Austen discussions
• Bus reader boards
• Stephanie Downing, one of the funniest, most amazing people I know--please move to Bellevue =)
• Magdalen's dining hall
• going places connected to so many favorite authors
• Radcliffe Camera! All of the Bodleian, but especially the Radcliffe
• having a Bod card
• nerding out all the time with good friends
• English gardens
• earl grey
• culture that was made for me: plays, bookshops, the Ashmolean Museum
• amazing Magdalen hot chocolate every morning for breakfast
• pedantic breakfast conversations

Things I can't wait for:

• my family
• Ross and Ida
• Mexican food
• late night Starbucks
• late night anything!
• my own bed and shower
• driving!!
• Kirkland waterfront (especially now that Jaunita Beach has reopened)
• talking to my parents whenever
• family movie nights
• being able to plug more than one thing in at a time
• pay checks
• redoing my room with Sarah
• Wednesday farmer's market
• family camp and friends =)

*please note that these lists are not nearly comprehensive, just a few on the top of my head

Fashion, beauty, and other thoughts

Ok... I've kind of been on a fashion binge lately. I mean, I've always loved fashion, but the Lord has been re-awakening my love beauty and dress up and being girlie! I love it. The last few days I've been looking at pictures from New York Fashion Week (which just wrapped up). It's got me really excited. I feel like a lot of designers--not all, but most--are getting back to fun, feminine things, rather than wild, risque messes. Anyway, here are few that stood out to me:

Marc Jacobs, fall line

loveee this ensemble... :)

Victoria Beckham, fall line

PS. I reeeeally like that belt!

I'm also super excited for the Oscars tomorrow. I do hope that The King's Speech and Inception win big... but I'm way more interested in seeing what people wear! After the show, I'll post some of my favorite looks, but this was by far my favorite dress from last year. Rachel McAdams was just stunning in springy floral print with an elegant up-do and tasteful earrings. I just love it.

With my little obsession over fashion right now, I asked the Lord to show me more of what He thinks is beautiful and what beauty means. I've been in this process for a while--asking Him what beauty in literature looks like, beauty in film and music and art. I don't think beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is in the eye of the King... But getting back to fashion and outward beauty, He revealed some really amazing things to me. The first verse He pointed me to was Proverbs 31, about the Virtuous Woman. This is how it reads in the Message:

"A good woman is hard to find,

and worth far more than diamonds...

She makes her own clothing,

and dresses in colorful linens and silks.

Her husband is greatly respected

when he deliberates with the city fathers.

She designs gowns and sells them,

brings sweaters she knits to the dress shops.

Her clothes are well made and elegant

and she always faces tomorrow with a smile..."

Ok... a few things about this passage really stood out to me. First of all--the verse about her husband being respected is literally bookended by two verses about his wife's clothing. There seems to be a connection between the way she presents herself and the level of honor he receives.

The other thing--which to me was a HUGE revelation!--was the last verse. This whole section is talking about her designing and making beautiful clothes. Then it ends with the coupling of (seemingly) different ideas. Yet, once again, the author makes a connection between her clothes being "elegant" and her facing the future "with a smile." In other words, the author is connecting her outer beauty (her clothes) with her inner beauty (peace about her future), and pointing out how they affect one another.

Isn't that amazing?!? I totally flipped out when He showed me this. I mean, fashion matters to Him! He created the heart of a daughter to want to be beautiful--even over the top. Why? Because He likes to be over the top. I'm convinced that's why we have so many different eye colors, why there are such breathtaking sunsets, why there are mountains and wildflowers and beaches. We don't have these things because of the laws of nature. These are the laws of nature because our God is an extravagant God who loves beauty. And so He made a little girl with the desire to dress up--not just for the purpose of dressing up--but so she could face "tomorrow with a smile."