North and South

The world is a beautiful warm place once again. I'm sitting on my balcony watching the trees and listening to the wind and loving this place. When it's summer here you forget what winter is. There is a vague memory of dark and cold, but 30 below is unimaginable and dark is something not understood. I think that's the trick that keeps people here, every summer this land weaves a spell and you become addicted. Addicted to green forests, blue and white mountains, the sound of the wind in the aspens, and never ending day. Jane's happy to have summer back too, water is no longer in a solid form. : ) I have been reading North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. Already seen the BBC miniseries (several times : ) and I love the way they stayed so close to the book. The actors and personalities in the movie seem like they walked right out of the book. And the plot is almost identical. There are a few variations so far, though. Margaret does not go to the mill in the book but she could have and it would not have been out of character. : ) Other then that I haven't found any differences yet. I do know that the end is not the same. : ) How? Well I read the end first, of course. : ) I am enjoying the book but I think I like the movie better. Bessy's character is a little different in the book, She is always talking about her death and going to heaven, she quotes alot of Revelations which is a little disturbing since it out of context, meaning she isn't quite sure if it's for her and there is no mention of scriptural salvation. Margaret's mother is also a little different, very whiny at the beginning, at Helstone. Helps you understand the father a little better. Also Margaret is outspoken enough to find fault with a complete stranger's way of thinking but not outspoken enough to ask her father why he left the church. That frustrates me. But that is in the movie also. I just like the movie, I think they did a wonderful job with casting, plot, and location. It's a beautiful movie.

A very late review of Small Miracles

I have to be completely honest, I've been putting off writing about this book not only because I'm a horrible procrastinator but because I intensely disliked reading it. Small Miracles is a collection of story from the Holocaust. They are all about Jews in Europe that miraculously survived. They are told by the survivors themselves or by family members that have heard them over and over again. (Something I thought was very interesting about this book was the way they talked about God in almost every chapter but never spelled His name out, it was always written G-d. If done out of true honor and respect for Him it would be commendable.) The week before I started reading this book we had a message at church about God's plan for Israel and how He still watching over them. This book was a great illustration of that. Some of these stories are amazing and completely unexplainable. A few of them seem a little unbelievable. People seeing angels and things like that, but most of them are undeniable the hand of God. And that's the whole point of the book, they are stories of modern day miracles. So why didn't I like it??? Well, even though every story was about the survivors, and every story had a "happy ending", for the one or two survivors in each story there were thousands and thousands of friends and family that went to a unimaginably horrible death. I couldn't help thinking and drawing a comparison with the building hatred for anything truly Christian in America today. It's not like the Jews of Europe were loved one day and burned the next. It happened gradually. I am convinced they will be killing Christians in America one day. I have been thinking about it almost daily lately, especially since the elections. It scares me, no it terrifies me! So reading this book was miserable. I keep thinking about being tortured for my faith the way the New Testament Christians were and what it was about that thought that was so very horrible to me, and I realized it's not the actual pain of torture that bothered me to such a great extent. I've been told that child birth is extremely painful too but I never think of it with horror. And many women joyfully choose it. So it's not the pain. It is that fact that one human being could do that to another human being, not only could but have. The fact that "normal" German men shoved Jewish men, women, and children into gas chambers along with all the other atrocities committed then is where the horror really comes from. How could a person inflict that much pain on another person??? And I realized it's so horrible because it is a little picture into the real heart of man. It's sin, raw and not dressed up by western politeness. It's a world without the grace of God. It's what is hidden in every heart, my heart, and it is very scary. And Jesus died for that creature, chose to die! Even if the price for our sin had been a finger prick why would He have chose to submit to it???? He deserves our loyalty even through torture. I know that I do not have it in me to go through what the members of the first church went through, I just could not do it. I have finally admitted it to myself because I realized that they couldn't either. Mr. Coulter was up here a few years ago and he sung some of his song for our church, one of them was about those first Christian martyrs. In the song he asks the question "How did they do it, how did they watch their families being torn up around them and go willingly to the arena for their God?". In the chorus of the song he answers the question. It was grace! It was only God's grace that upheld them through it. They were just like us, they would not have had the ability within them either except for the grace of God.

Told ya!!!

Yeah, so blogging in the summer just doesn't happen. Since Alaskan summers have a lifespan of about three months I just can't bring myself to sit down and blog thinking that there's gonna be snow in a few weeks. : ) There's snow now though so here I am. Had an interesting summer to say the least. Very hard but still managed to have a few adventures. The last few years we've started our summers by going hiking on Memorial Day and every year it turns into a grand adventure. One year we hiked Donnelly Dome in a blizzard, last year I hiked Granite Tors with my brothers and slept in a cave, that was awesome!, and this year we hiked Whikersham Dome with the Degerlunds. Jock and Ross slept in a little crevasse stuffed with all their gear and actually lasted the whole night even though Sam set a tent up for them because we didn't expect them to. The boys went sledding on an old patch of snow by using their sleeping mats for sleds. I even tried it, it was fun! I think we spent most of June and July at the lake. I love living so close to Chena Lakes. (so does Jane!) Me and Kris spent the fourth of July with Jo in Anchor Point. It was the perfectly weekend vacation, we just hung out with our sister and did a bunch of nothing, it was so quiet and comforting at her house. We walked to the ocean everyday and went to the farmer's market in Homer. I love Homer!! We ate pizza at Starvin Marvin's (it was delicious) and Jason embarrassed us by singing along with song from the 80's they were playing there. Jo said she was too used to it to be embarrassed and refused to constrain her husband. : ) August was crazy with Missions Conference and family vacation. We loved having the whole McCandless family here for two weeks. If they ever want to come back there is always a place for them here. We were able to show them alot of Alaska, we went to Denali Park and took them all down to visit Mr. Ron and Mrs. Anita. It always doubles the fun to show an outsider Alaska. I'm so lucky to live here. I didn't get to go to Chitna this year. : ( I missed it alot.


Things I learned this summer:

People actually think I'm an adult. ; ) I had to give two girls at work their 90 day reviews. So I'm kinda a supervisor I guess. I know some of you think that would be easy for me : ) being a older sister and all but it wasn't.

Life is alot harder then I thought it would be, and God is really the only sure and steady thing in this world. It's my own fault if I get the rug pulled out from under me because I was relying completely on people for my emotional and spiritual support. I learn this summer that God really does mean it when he says He want us to rest on Him alone.

At Missions Conference this year I learned three things:

How to kill a rat; : )
that there is somebody out there as silly as Aaron that somehow managed to bluff his way into the elite club made up of conservative Baptist Pastors; and that bubbles can carry alot of weight. (thanks Mrs. Anita: )

I have read a few good books lately that I want to talk about we'll see if I ever do though. : )

Last "Mango" Post

Hey, so I finished Climbing the Mango Trees about a week ago. I blame my tardy posting on Alaskan summers. They're very precious and choosing between going to the lake and typing on the computer......well there's no contest. But the book is read and I have to say I'm a little disappointed in it. The author style was very choppy. At first I didn't mind it, I kept thinking she would come back to each thought and expand on it but as I got closer to the end I figure out that wasn't the case. The book ended feeling very unfinished. I guess I was just looking for a more indepth book on Indian culture and this wasn't it. It was interesting though. She sure makes Indian food sound good. Jordan has been bugging us to try some of the recipes in the back. So for all of you who read the book here are some questions.

What did you think of the authors writing style? Do you agree that is was choppy and unfinished?

What did you think about the books view of Indian culture? What part of the culture did you like, what did you not like?

I still felt like I wasn't getting a good view of Indian culture. I liked the picnics with the whole family, that sounded like alot of fun, and the mountain vacation site sounded so pretty. I did not like how weak the culture made her father appear.

Have you tried any of the recipes???

Check in and tell us if you read the book or didn't read the book.

P.S. : ) Who likes the elephant?

Round 2

So, you should all have started your copy of SM(Small Miracles of the Holocaust), assuming you've purchased or checked it out from the library already, assuming you've even finished Climbing the Mango Trees. You have three weeks to finish it so figure out a schedule that will get you through by then.

As you finish each story, feel free to go ahead and write what you thought about it. We don't have to wait till we're half way through to begin discussion.

The next book Bekah has chosen to read once we've finished SM will be The Fallacy Detective.I've always wanted to take an in depth look at what all the different fallacies are and I've heard rave reviews on this book. It's written for younger audience, and I think is mainly centered towards Christian homeschoolers, but I've heard it's still is a good read for adults too.

So, what do you think?

                                                  

Hi everyone.  : )  So I'm almost done with Climbing the Mango Trees, just a few more chapters to go.   I bought a few mangoes and tried the spicy mixture she mentions at the very beginning of the book.   Ground salt, pepper, chiles (I used cayenne) and roasted cumin (I roasted it in a skillet on the stove top)  I had my mom and Mrs. Joy try it too, they loved it. : )  If any of you try it make sure you post what you think.  I few things about the book so far: 

I have heard a few people complain that the author seems very self absorbed.  Keep in mind, people, that this is not a history of India.  It's an autobiography of sorts, meaning it's about the author.  It would be hard to write an autobiography without writing about yourself. : )  Though I have to admit, while I enjoy hearing about her life in an elite multi-cultural Indian family, I can't shake the nagging thought we are only getting a look at a small section of the Indian culture at the time.   I'm sure her story is not the story of the majority of Indians and I'd like to get a more accurate view of "middle class" India.

May favorite parts (there are two : )  are when she compared herself to British heroines (Elizabeth Bennett being one, who just happens to be my favorite heroine ever) this part had Tobi rolling with laughter : )  and second favorite part was when see wrote the essay about what it is to be Indian after Partition.   Sounds like she understood her privileged position and even may have been discriminated against because of it.  I thought that was very interesting that she would come up with it on her own and that she wanted to write about it.  

I looked up a few more thing on google. : )  Lutyens was mentioned all through the book as the designer of New Delhi.   Seems like he made a big impact on that city of India.  I also looked up blancmange, after hear the description of the Indian and Muslim food it does look a little bland. 

Half Way There Yet?

We kind of prolonged the time for finishing Climbing the Mango Trees because it's the first book and we started it on short notice. I've updated the reading schedule and you can find it to the right on the sidebar. Everyone should be done with Climbing the Mango Trees by June 6th so you guys have a lot of time now.

So, now that everyone should be half way(up to chapter 15) through Climbing the Mango Trees we should begin some official discussion on the first half. Has everyone gotten their copy yet? Are you all half way through? What do you think so far? What are your favorite parts out of what you've read so far? What have you found interesting? Hopefully we can fill this comment section up with a lot of book discussion.

Also, I'm giving you a quick reminder to get a hold of a copy of Small Miracles of the Holocaust as soon as possible. We're starting it on June 7th and that's gonna be here in no time. Unless you want to be stuck behind all the discussion, get your copy now.

Thanks,
Enjoy the discussion...

Research

Hi everyone! Where you all able to get a copy of Climbing the Mango Trees? I hope so, it's interesting so far. I've always wanted to study India's history, it seems very complex and not what I thought at first. I thought Indian culture would be more like Arab culture, closed to western influence and strict about their religion and women. There is a lot of terms in this book that I don't understand, it would take forever to look them all up but a did look a few up. Oh! but first how many of you knew that Om meant "I am"? What do you think of that? Interesting huh?

So I did a little research on the Indian caste system. It is so complex. Every caste has many subcastes. But there is four main castes Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras in order from highest to lowest. Kayastha, the caste the author belongs to, it somehow is connected to the Brahmins this makes her upper caste. I get the feeling that not all of India lived like her. I'd like to read about life for one of the lower caste during the same time period written by the lower caste but since they didn't read or write that is probably very rare.
Here is a map of India during the British rule.


You can see Delhi in the center at the top. Couldn't find a map of Old Delhi.
Here is a sample of Sanskrit. It is very pretty. I wish English looked like that with all the curly things. : )
The internet has shut down on me three times since I started this post so just one more thing.
How would you like to live in a joint family like the author did???? : ) I think it sounds like a lot of fun. Let us know what you all think of the book so far.

Blog Schedule, Next Book, Ideas, and Meeting?

Well, I added a Book Club Schedule so everyone has a guideline for where to be when we discuss the book. When we get to those dates, I'll let everyone know and we can discuss how ever much we've read. It's okay if you haven't gotten as far as the schedule says by then. Don't worry if you've read past it either; it's just a rough indication of where you should be.

I decided since this first book has been announced on such short notice, I'll tell everyone what book we're reading next so that everyone will have enough time to find it. It is:
Small Miracles of the Holocaust

Another thing:
If anyone has any ideas for stuff on the blog, I would love to hear them. Any book quotes that I could use for the blog description under the header? Any ideas for what I could put in the leave you comments area? Most of you who run blogs know what I mean, the usual customizing. I would enjoy any ideas or input. Also, if you know anymore interesting stuff we could put in the side bar, I'd appreciate it.

One more thing:
Is anyone interested in meetings? I know not many people in town have joined the club, but I know a few more people that will probably join in when we tell them about it. Let us know if it's an option for you. When might you be able to make it? Where might you like to meet? I'm not sure if we'll end up meeting regularly, but if we could, it would be fun.

Rules and an Anouncement

Hi everyone!!!  Sauron here. : )  Those of you who know me well will understand this blog, the rest of you might get a little frustrated, though I hope not.  Or you who do know me well might get frustrated just aticipating how you know this blog will be ran. : ) I apoligize in advance.  The only reason I'm involving myself with this whole blog thing at all is because this blog will be based on books (my first love) and people's opinions.  As soon as Tobi set this up I found lots of books I'd like to read but know I won't by myself.  I've already picked the first book out and am having a hard time keeping myself from reading it.   I'll tell you the name in a little bit.   So rule......... : ) the number one rule is there are no rules and when I do make rules they are subject to change without notice.  : )hehehe Just kidding.  I'll start with answering Aimee's question.   No, you don't have to read every book.   I am not planning on reading every book myself.  In fact if there is a book you'd like to read and several other members of the book club want to read it we can work it so that you could do a guest post or something like that.  I want lots of book suggestions!  My vision for this blog is for it to be more like a public forum then a one person blog, with maybe several books going at once.  Since we all pretty much read the same stuff, me and Tobi thought it would be fun just to read the books we are already going to read sometime, at the same time.  : ) So we can talk about them.   That's what this blog is really all about, talking about books.  That is going to require input.  No following without commenting!!  There has got to be a way to take followers off it they don't participate.  hhhmmm I'll have to ask Tobi.  I want everyone to use this blog to discuss books they've read.  What you liked, what you didn't like.  Don't worry about making your comments too long.   And because the comments aren't moderated you and someone else could have a whole discussion with me having to check my blog every few hours. : )  I love it!!  So.....rules, 

Rule 1

You must comment.  Right now we want just one book suggestion from each member. 

Rule 2

Anyone can be a member, anyone.  Even the dreaded ATB.  : )

Rule 3

hhhhmmmmm, rule 3....... Oh yeah, I don't promise to read any book, but I hope that doesn't stop you from reading it.  Let me know if you want to guest post a review. 

Rule 4

Discussion = Opinions   Expect to be challanged.  You can't just say you "like" a book, you have to back it up and tell the club why.   This should include writing style (use example quotations from the book), favorite characters or dialoge, how the book made you feel, what the authors motives or message was , etc.  Basically discussion should include details. It is also ok if you hate a book just let everyone know why.  Since no one here is the author no one should get offended.

Rule 5

If any book contains characters, actions, or dialoge that is not christian you'd better mention it if you notice it.  We are Christians so I expect all of us to be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves" and point out sin were ever we see it.   This doesn't mean tha

t one wrong thing ruins the whole book.  example: The Scarlet Pimpernel  (comment if you know what I'm talking about) But exposing wrong will help others develope their sin radars, : ) for lack of a better term. 

Rule 6

Does anyone have a rule 6?????   Come on, participation is welco

me.  

So now the announcment, drum roll, please......... the first book the Dragonfly book club will read is,  Climbing the Mango Trees - A Memoir of a Childhood in India by Madhur Jaffrey

Welcome

Hello Hello Hello
Welcome to the Dragonfly Bookclub. This club has been years in the planning because Rebekah’s been trying to start one for years, but was just too lazy to get around to it. So even though the one typing right now is me(Tobi), this is officially Rebekah’s club. She’s the one who gets to make the rules, break the rules, make all the decisions, veto book suggestions, etc. I’m kinda like the mouth of Sauron you know? She’s the evil dark lord who gets to decree all her evil schemes and I’m the one that will take the time to tell you all of them because she’s too lazy to post them herself. Not that she won’t ever post, I’m sure she will eventually.

Kind of book club:
This is not just a blog book club, it’s also a local book club. Hopefully we’ll end up meeting at coffee shops and stuff like that to have dialogues about the portion of the book we’ve all read. The blog is for those who can’t make it, or live out of town e.g. Anchor Point or PA if any of the people from there are interested. The comment section of each post is going to be used more as a forum, so they won’t need to be moderated. You can give ideas of what books you’d like to read, talk about what you think about the book you’re reading at the time, talk about what times or places would work best if we end up meeting somewhere. Also, if you write a full length review of a book, you can email it to Bekah and she can post it on the blog. If you know people who might be interested and aren’t up on the blogworld, they can still participate so let them know.

How to join:
Well for now, drop off a comment below. Let us know you’re interested, tell us any ideas you might have. Give us a list of books you’d like to read and any feedback. Remember to include the book title and author.

I’ll be posting more in the next few days to tell everyone how things will go down, but that’s all for now. Thanks.