Rhonda's Ramblings

I read The Third Summer of the Sisterhood today. And I was trying to decide which character I most relate to. And I decided there are pieces of all them that resonate with me.

But a couple of quotes really stood out to me and hit me where I’m at, thatI immediately related to situations in my life.

She’d (Bridget) rather go through her life doubting that such a thing was possible than knowing it was real and she couldn’t have it.
What a pitiful waste she was. She was willing to give away, to throw away, the very best she had. It was one thing to sacrifice yourself for a great cause. It was another to destroy yourself for a person who didn’t even want you. It was an act of self-immolation, a sacrifice nobody wanted, that did nobody any good. What could be more tragic than that?

She thought she was independent and strong, but she got one small taste of love and she was hungrier than anyone. She was ravenous.

And another one from Bridget;

I didn’t know if it (friendship) would be possible after what we did two summers ago, but then it happened. I was happy. I loved being your friend. I admit I may have had some other thought too, but they didn’t matter to me nearly as much as being your friend. I was happy to be close to you on any terms.

And I relate this one to the same situation.

She (Lena) was still waiting for him to come back to her, even though he wasn’t going to. She was still holding out for something that wasn’t going to happen. She was good at waiting. That seemed like a sad thing to be good at.

Release me, she begged silently.

She needed to be free of him. She needed to get on with her life. Maybe even to fall in love again. She had a candidate in mind

(except I don’t have a candidate in mind)

:sigh: Yeah.

But this one isn’t deep at all. It just made me laugh.

Carmen made attempts to clean her room while she waited. In truth, she did that spasmodic, surface rearranging, like putting the random AA battery into her sock drawer to get it out of sight, that would only make the job bigger when she got down to real cleaning.

For the record, I really love these books. They are very real, and even though they are about teenage girls, I still really relate to them. Maybe that says something about my maturity level.

Well, I suppose a blog entry is long overdue.

But today, I picked up two books that were on hold at the library for me. The Third Summer of the Sisterhood and the latest Harry Potter. I was disciplined enough to straighten up the house before reading the first few chapters of the Sisterhood. I know if I start Harry Potter, I will be entirely unproductive tommorow, so I’m trying to be good.

My sister got married last weekend, and it was a wonderful wedding. A couple of people have said that it was the best wedding that they have been to. How fun is that?

And my computer keeps freezing while I’m trying to write this. It’s quite frustrating. So, that is my short little update for now.

Today I was thinking about which books have impacted me the most. Which is a really hard question. I have been a reader for almost as long as I can remember…starting with memorizing Hop on Pop by Dr Seuss. And my mom used to ground me from reading, because I would be reading so much. But in thinking about what books have been important to me, I decided to fill out this book baton.

Total Number of Books I Own:

I have NO idea. In my house right now I would say that there are least 300…probably a lot more. But most of those belonged to my grandpa. My books are spread out among my mom’s house, my brother’s house and my house. So, I can’t even estimate. My brother brought over a couple of boxes that I had been storing at his house and most of them were full of books. A couple of hundred, probably.

Last Book I Bought:

I rarely buy new books. I use the library a lot, and borrow books from friends. And if I buy them, they are usually used. I bought a few books at the thrift store recently. A couple Garrison Keillor books (since Trey recommends him so highly): Lake Wobegon Summer 1956, Wobegon Boy, and We are Still Married. At the same thrift store, I also bought Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris,.

Books I’m Reading Now:

A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa by Howard W. French.
Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton. A friend lent me this with high praise and told me that I must read it, but I must say it has taken a back seat to books from the library, because they have time limit.
A Sense of Place: Great Travel Writers Talk About Their Craft, Lives, And Inspiration by Michael Shapiro.

Recently read:

Glittering Images by Susan Howatch (recommended by Kari…I really liked it.)
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares.
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris.
And The Little House on the Prairie series

Up next:

Well, I have the third Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants on hold at the library and also the 6th Harry Potter. But who knows when either of those will be available.

Books That Have Been Important To Me:

Well, There is no question in my mind about what would top this list. (Other than the Bible. I agree with Kari when she says: “Oh, and I think saying “the Bible” is totally cheating. The Bible is more than a book.”)
The book that has impacted me the most in my life is Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot. I can’t even count how many times I have read it (at least 15) and it never failed to convict me and challenge me and encourage me.

I read The Pleasures of God by John Piper at a time in my life when I was experiencing the most spiritual growth and felt the closest to God. This growth was not due to this book necessarily, but the book helped me re-evaluate my understanding of the character of God…and my character.

This is a hard question, because so many books have meant a lot to me.

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Though my favorite book that she wrote is The Blue Castle

Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church by Philip Yancey was quite good as well.

Most of the books that I listed that mean a lot to me have impacted me spirtually. But there are also many books that I have reread many times just because I love them. Like A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins. I don’t know. There are so many more, but I will have to think about that question some more. So, the question that led me to fill out this has not even been answered.

Well, I have a lot to say. But I probably won’t say any of it.

I had a wonderful somewhat old fashioned 4th of July with the family. BBQ, homemade ice cream, homemade pie, a cheery summer sun-dress, a straw hat, a ride in the 1961 convertible, fireworks, sparklers, and family and friends and celebrating this great country that we live in. What more could one ask for? Well, except for hanging out at the river…that’s what I really wanted to do and wasn’t able to.

I’ve had lots of thoughts that I’ve been wanting to write about…but somehow they never get typed up. I’ve been thinking quite a bit about poverty, in America and around the world. But you will just have to wait to hear them. I have also been reading quite a bit. I just finished the first book in the Mitford series, and a book of selected writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and am now reading Cry the Beloved Country.

And speaking of books, can I say that libraries are possibly my all-time favorite invention? Free books and free cds. How amazing is that?

I am currently making zucchinin bread. I don’t know why I am making zucchini bread so late at night. It seemed a good idea at the time, but it takes an hour to bake. And I am tired. But as soon as it’s done, I’m going to bed. And by the way, if any of you all need zucchini, I have an over-abundance.

So, I was just reading a “What to Read” list. The writer suggested many good books, and wrote a little blurb about each one. The problem is that she summarizes the books rather than giving a teaser that would make me more interested in the book. Here is an example: (I won’t name the book, so I don’t ruin it for you. )

“Originally published in two parts, the first half introduces John, Mildred, and Ben; in the second part, Ben dies and John marries.”

Thanks. Why even read the second book?

~Rhonda

I am currently reading Myth of the Welfare Queen: A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist’s Portrait of Women on the Line. I saw it while perusing books at the library…and the title jumped out at me and I had to pick it up. I am not finished with it, but basically, it paints a portrait of real life families living on welfare in the 1990’s, when welfare reform was a hot political topic. Though the families it followed lived in inner city of North Philadelphia, much of it hit home with me.

I think there is a prevailing thought in America that people on welfare are just trying to work the system and are taking advantage of other people’s money. While I know that happens, I don’t think the majority of people that are on welfare are happy about it.

I remember well the waiting room in our counties’ welfare office. It seems we went there quite often when I was a kid. I’m not really sure what exactly these trips to the welfare office were for. I assume to discuss the details of the forms that my mom had to fill out regularly. She had to report every bit of income that came in.

My mom didn’t just sit around and wait for the welfare check to come every month. She cleaned houses. She went to school. At Christmas time she would make wreaths and centerpieces and we would sit in front of the grocery store selling them for extra money.

My mom did not want to be on welfare, but the circumstances of life led her there. She had three children, no specific education, and a husband who didn’t have a job and who was addicted to drugs and alcohol, and at three or four different times, she didn’t have a home for this family. There weren’t many options.

But we were not necessarily your typical welfare family (whatever that is). All 3 of us kids attended private Christian schools. But we didn’t take advantage of the government to pay for our private education. My brother’s tuition was paid by an “anonymous” donor. And for my and my sister’s tuition, all of us kids and my mom worked after school a few days a week cleaning the bathrooms and the classrooms. Which, I must say is kind of embarrassing for a kid. But I think it taught me a good work ethic…and it led to all 3 of us paying our own way through high school.

We were these really poor kids who didn’t find dumpster diving all that foreign, yet we went to school with a lot of kids who had money. Kind of a strange dynamic. I remember being a bit ashamed that we were on welfare and that we had to use food stamps. But looking back on it now, I realize that we did not just get a handout. We definitely got a hand up. My mom was able to attend the community college while on welfare, and from her work study job she worked her way up to different jobs at the community college, and has now been working there full time for many years. My mom was able to buy a house a few years ago, which I’m sure was only a distant dream in those times of homelessness. Her 3 children all have bachelor’s degrees. (Well, Rebecca will have hers in a few months.) We are a welfare success story.

But, more importantly than that, we are also a story about the grace of God. His amazing grace

Valancy wakened early, in the lifeless, hopeless hour just preceding dawn. She had not slept very well. One does not sleep well, sometimes, when one is twenty-nine on the morrow, and unmarried, in a community and connection where the unmarried are simply those who have failed to get a man.

Deerwood and the Stirlings had long since relegated Valancy to hopeless old maidenhood. But Valancy herself had never quite relinquished a certain pitiful, shamed, little hope that Romance would come her way yet–never, until this wet, horrible morning, when she wakened to the fact that she was twenty-nine and unsought by any man.

Ay, there lay the sting. Valancy did not mind so much being an old maid. After all, she thought, being an old maid couldn’t possibly be as dreadful as being married to an Uncle Wellington or an Uncle Benjamin, or even an Uncle Herbert. What hurt her was that she had never had a chance to be anything but an old maid. No man had ever desired her.

It’s sad that I relate to those lines so much. I don’t always mind so much that I am single. I am independent and have the freedom to do a lot of things that I never would have been able to had I been married. And I enjoy my singleness oftentimes. But it does hurt to know that I have never had a chance to get rid of that singleness. No man has ever desired me. I could write paragraphs about this, but that would get a little too personal, probably, so I will refrain.

The excerpt is from my favorite L.M. Montgomery book, The Blue Castle. I have read the Anne of Green Gables series and the Emily books, and I love them all. But I very much identify with Valancy at this point in my life…though I identified with Anne and Emily at other points.

I first read The Blue Castle a few years back when I was visiting my dear friend, Avril, and her sister in Rochester, New York. My favorite British boy, Andy, was also visiting. On a beautiful autumn day, we decided to spend a day by the water. We spent the day at a park on Lake Ontario…and for entertainment, we brought a soccer ball, The Blue Castle, and each other. Much to Andy’s disappointment, I am sure, we decided to read this book out loud. And Andy got sucked into reading it with us as well. And he even agreed to read a chapter out loud. It might have helped that we were in a very adolescent mood…so, we read this book as a “romance novel”. It’s amazing how many old-fashioned words can be twisted.

I don’t own this book, but I decided to order it tonight. So, I will have it in a couple of days. The entire text is available online. But somehow that is not nearly the same as turning pages in a book.

So, maybe I will do a better review once I read it again.

At 29, Valancy had never been in love, and it seemed romance had completely passed her by. Her only consolations were the “forbidden” books and her daydreams of the Blue Castle. Then, Valancy suddenly took charge of her life and discovered a world full of surprises and adventures.

I used to be a voracious reader.

Before I started kindergarten, the first book I learned to read was Hop on Pop. I actually think that at first I just memorized it, but used that information to teach myself how to read. Rarely was there a time when I was a kid that I didn’t have my nose in a book. I would read in every little spare moment. My mom used to ground me from reading, because it would escape into a book when I was supposed to be doing the dishes, cleaning my room or anything else, really.

I’m pretty sure that I was the only person who used our tiny little library at my Elementary School. It was full of cheesy Christian fiction from many years earlier, such as the Sugar Creek Gang. But I devoured every book in that room. And I still have a couple of them today that I never returned. Oops. Though I’m sure nobody missed them at all. I actually think that some of my earliest interest in missions came from these books. One that I still have is a short story compilation called Kidnapped and other Missionary Stories. I must have reread that one 15 times at least. And of course I read all the books that girls are supposed to read, like Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie, and Little Women. (Sidenote: a girl of about 10 came into the restaurant the other night with book 6 in the Anne series…and though she was with about 10 other people, she spent the entire time reading the book…reminded me of myself. )

This affinity for reading continued through high school. We didn’t really have a library at school, but my best friend always bought lots of books, and passed them on to me afterwards. This section of my reading history included books that I should be a bit ashamed of. I seem to remember reading a bunch of V.C. Andrews books and The Clan of the Cave Bear. My senior year of high school, I vividly remember my best friend and I always having a book to read during 2nd period and 5th period. So much so, that my teacher would often start the class by requesting that we put our books away before class started. This period also included some good books as well. A Seperate Peace, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter (probably the only person in my class who read that when it was assigned), The Chosen, and lots of historical fiction.

And in college, I know for a fact that my grades suffered because I read too much. Well, that and the fact that I worked a lot. But I would not necessarily read the books that I was supposed to be reading for class; I would read books for pleasure. The book that I read the most often was Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot. I read it at least 5 times the first semester that I had it. By far, that is the book that has impacted my life the most. I also loved to take advantage of our library. It had lots of books that hadn’t been checked out since the 1960’s, which I think was a tragedy. I frequented the missionary biography section the most. But also found G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, and one of my favorites, They Found the Secret. “This book presents the lives of twenty well-known and little-known Christians in search of the pattern which leads to the abundant life Jesus promised.”

When I moved to Honduras, there wasn’t a lot of choice in what I read. Pretty much any English books that I could find. Or books that my roommates mom sent her. This included lots of Christian Fiction, John Grisham, and of course rereading The Shadow of the Almighty a few times. And getting my butt kicked and encouraged by As Silver Refined: Learning to Embrace Life’s Disappointments.

I continued to read a lot and get loads of books at the libary over the next couple of years, the most memorable reads being The Pleasures of God and The Material World: A Global Family Portrait, a book that I checked out of the library all the time until my mom got it for me for Christmas a few years back.

But something has happened in the last couple of years. I have not read nearly as much as I used to. And I don’t know why. Perhaps it is because of the internet. Or perhaps I used up all my reading energy in the first 25 years of my life. I still read. Probably a lot more than some people. But not up to my normal reading habits. A couple of years back I decided that I was going to read each of the 100 best novels of the century. But I didn’t get very far. I read maybe four of them. Only 96 to go.

I did read quite a few books this week…including rereading the first two Harry Potter books. And so, my love for reading has been rekindled a bit. And I decided I have to read more. So, I went to Kari’s blog and wrote down many of her book recommendations, because I trust her taste. She’s a librarian. She can’t be wrong. And she leads a book club.