Reading Journal

I was bad. I bought a book today. Technically, I bought two. One was a birthday present, however. The other one I bought...I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it and put it in my "new" category, in case Pride, Prejudice and Zombies doesn't come through by the time I'm ready for it.



Our New Nation

It has really been interesting to see how time has changed how we view history. Textbooks like this today have more history to cover, so they can't really go into much depth, despite there being more information readily available. Journals being found and all that jazz.



Whenever I read general history books, it's always been interesting to see what gets revealed about Mormonism. A lot of the ones that I read during my schooling talked about Joseph Smith and some of the trials they went through on their way to Nauvoo. They also lumped the Mormon Trail into the unit with the Oregon Trail, mentioning Brigham Young in passing. And that was the end of the coverage of Mormonism. Except for the obligatory discussion on polygamy, which I found amusing more often than not.



This book takes a different spin. Smith didn't even make it into the index. The trials of the early saints discussed were not the persecution that drove them from place to place. Rather, it was the trek across the country and their settling Utah and making it a state. Since there were fewer states in 1948 and less wars to discuss the history of, "Our New Nation" has been able to discuss how many of the states were settled and became states. I don't remember getting that from my history books. Then again, maybe I would have learned this things in school had I been paying attention.



[Quotes]
Anyone know of Cornelius Cox? Starting on page 149, they quote some excerpts from his journal traveling to California during the gold rush.
"There is one young lady with our company, a Miss Wayland from western Texas. She is about sixteen and quite a pretty girl. I have claimed kinship with her mother, whose maiden name was Cox. But she refuses to acknowledge me unless I will shave, which is a condition I cannot comply with."

p. 163 explains, perhaps, why history can be so hard to understand.
"The long continued story which history tells is divided into many short stories. Often these short stories tell about happenings which were going on at the same time."

___________________________________________
"Sense and Sensibility"

I won't comment on the plot or writing in general, since there have been plenty of Austen critics who are much more qualified to do such, but allow me to say that I do understand why Emma Thompson made Sir John a widow, even though his wife provides an ample parallel in the relationship between family. That, and his wife is (by her nature) a rather minor character.

[Quotes]
I'll quote by chapter, since there are probably as many versions as there are chapters.

Chapter 4
Elinor discussing her opinion of Edward with Marianne.
"...I have seen a great deal of him, have studied his sentiments, and heard his opinions on subjects of literature and taste; and, upon the whole, I venture to pronounce that his mind is well informed, his enjoyment of books exceeding great, his imagination lively, his observation just and correct, and his taste delicate and pure. His abilities in every respect improve as much upon acquaintance as his manners and person. At first sight, his address is certainly not striking; and his person can hardly be called handsome, till the expression of his eyes, which are uncommonly good, and teh general sweetness of his countenance is perceived. At present, I know him so well, that I think him really handsome; or, at least, almost so."
Less wordy: She finds him pretty on the outside because she thinks he's pretty on the inside.

Chapter 15, nearing the end
Elinor discussing Marianne's possible engagement to Willoughby with their mother.
Mrs. Dashwood: "I have not wanted syllables where actions have spoken so plainly....Have we not perfectly understood each other? Has not my consent been daily asked by his looks, his manner, his attentive and affectionate respect?"
Elinor: "I confess...that every circumstance except one is in favour of their engagement, but that one is the total silence of both on the subject, and with me it almost outweighs every other."

Chapter 18
Marianne and Edward, discussing art and beauty.
Edward: "Remember, I have no knowldge in the picturesque, and I shall offend you by my ignorance and want of taste, if we come to particulars."

Chapter 19
Good advice
"You are are in a melancholy humour, and facny that anyone unlike yourself must be happy. But remember that the pain of parting from friends will be felt by everybody at times, whatever be their education or state. Know your own happiness."

Reading Journal

After over 2 months of reading, I finally finished "A Marvelouis Work and A Wonder." I'm going to pick out the quotes here and take it with me to church. The sisters said there was an investigator who might be interested in reading it, and I know my Visiting Teaching companion said she'd like to read it.



It can get dry and repetitive, but that's par for the course of a reference book. I realized about half way through it that it wasn't intended to be read the way I read it: cover to cover. The best way to read this book is by section. Use the table of contents to discover what you'd like to learn more about, and read a chapter at a time.

p. 3
Quoting a pamphlet entitled "The Strength of the Mormon Position," by Elder Orson F. Whitney

"One day he said to me: You Mormons are all ignoramuses. You don't even know the strength of your own positionn....The issue is between Catholicism and Mormonism. If we are right, you are wrong; if you are right, we are wrong; and that's all there is to it. The Protestants haven't a leg to stand on. For, if we are wrong, they are wrong with us, since they were a part of us and went out from us. If we are right, they are apostates whom we cut off long ago."

p. 115

After citing John 16:7, 12-14

"[The Savior], his Father, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct personages, and that their oneness referred to in the scriptures is only oneness of purpose and desire, else why should Jesus pray unto his Father and promise that the Father would send another Comforter? There cannont be another unless there is already one. Jesus is the one Comforter, and surely he would not pray unto himself, asking that he himself send himself as 'another Comforter.'"

p. 305
"There are many faithful people who have done all they consistently could to prove themselves worthy of the choicest blessings of the Lord but how have been deprived the privilege of having children through no fault of their own. On the other hand, there are many who have borne children whose lives have been such that they will be entirely unworthy of them in the eternal worlds. The Lord has provided a millenium, during which time, no doubt, necessary adjustments will be made."
That is probably my most favorite passage from this entire book.

______________________________________________
I'm also continuing to read "Our New Nation." Which is a 7th grade history book from 1948.

Allow me to quote from the preface, or "Purpose and Plan of this Book," on page 5.
"The history contains frequent quotations from our leaders. Some of these hae been simplified to meet vocabulary requirements. The authors have also occasionally used conversations that might have taken place in order to make America's past more understandable and interesting to the pupil."

I managed to find this little gem on page 13, which I feel says a lot about history and about life. It's sentences like this that make me like reading books I wouldn't normally read. Call it "the brown sugar in the oatmeal," if you will. It's placed after George Washington has denied petitions to make him king, and the telling of people's reactions to that.
"People were beginning to understand that it might be as hard to keep freedom as it had been to win it."

Here's something page 15 of the book attributes to Benjamin Franklin during the Federal Convention (when the Founding Fathers were drawing up the Constitution). Considering the confession in the preface, I'm not sure how accurate that attribution is.
"The longer I live...the more I hae come to respect other men's opinions. For I have noticed that when the carpenter wishes to make a perfect joint, he has to plane a little from each plank. In that way he is able to bring them together in a tight and perfect joint. Let us do the same thing. Let us each be willing to give up some of the things we want for the good of all. For, gentlemen, what we need in these meetings is light, not heat."

p. 82. I have intentionally left some of the words as blanks to prove how history can repeat itself.
"[General _______] believed that the _____(a)____ had been helping the ___(b)____. So he captured a ____(a)___ fort and drove out the ___(a)____ soldiers. He pulled down the ___(a)____ flag and raised the American flag instead.
"When news of this reached __(a)___, the king and his officers in the ___(a)____ government were very angry. They demanded that General _______ be punished for going into ___(a)____ territory. Our country hummed with excitement. The papers were filled with talk of war.
"But our government insisted that the invasion of _______ had been necessary. It refused to punish General _______ or dismiss him from the army."

___________________________________________
This afternoon, I plan on watching "Sense and Sensibility" so that it'll be easier for me to plow through the book. I'll need to really zoom through one of the two in order to get a "purse book," since neither of the books I'm reading will physically fit into my purse. Oh, well, I guess that means I'll have to write on my breaks at work, huh?

Reading Journal

Technically, this should be dated for 09-06-18...

I'm fudging my cycle/rules a little bit.

I had no idea how close I was to finishing the Review. I sat down to read some this afternoon (Thursday) and all I had left was a book review (which made me want to read the book) and a couple of poems. There were some art pieces I didn't look too closely at because I just wanted to be finished with it.

I then read a Dilbert book this afternoon as my Random, so the next label on the cycle is another True, but I'm only about 75% finished with A Marvelous Work and a Wonder and would therefore be reading two books from the same category. I said I didn't want to do that because if I can read 3 books in the time it takes me to push through one (I anticipate it most often being a True), then I should stop pushing and put it down. But AMW&W is one that I want to fnish. One problem is that the font is so small, and it's made even smaller every time they block quote scriptures. Which is quite often. There's simply more text in it than there are in the other books I've read since starting.

I'm planning on reading the history book c. 1941 I got at a garage sale as my next True. So, I'll be reading two True at the same time. Although for different reasons, and they're really different genres. I'd consider the garage sale book almost comical.

I haven't decided on my next Old, though. Maybe Pride and Prejudice, since my next New is going to be Pride, Prejudice and Zombies. But I'd feel like I was wasting my time reading that, since I've already read it 2 or 3 times in the past 5 years. You know what; I'm going to the library to check for the Zombie book. I might just pick up another Austen book I haven't read yet. (Like Emma or Persuasion, probably whichever one's shorter or more available.)

Update: I picked up Sense and Sensibility because the library branch I went to only had 2 Austen's available: S&S and Northanger Abbey. I've seen the movie, time to read the book.

In list format, here's my reading rotation:
True 1: AMW&W
True 2: Our Nation's History (c. 1941)
Old: Sense & Sensibility
New: Pride, Prejudice and Zombies

That ought to keep me busy for a while.

*off to read*

Writing Journal

The past few weeks/monthish, I've come up with some good lines/images and have tried some of them out in poems, but I don't like the poems as much as I like the lines. Some of them I have yet to try out, so I'm making a list. Because, sometimes, I like lists. Steal any of these, and someone else will kill you.

• "Like a rock in a river, he won't roll on his own."




• a bridge being repairable from only one side




• "You earn what you want by learning to love what you're given."




• "...desire to be consumed."




• purposes for different bone structures




• Since there is no limit to the mistakes we can make, there is no limit to the rectifying of those mistakes (in God's eyes)




• "I'm musing you."




• Image: hiking packs, taking lead out of ours and putting into the one Christ is carrying.
  Christ's burden:my burden::coin purse:Mary Poppin's carpet bag




• "So busy looking back, I didn't see what was ahead."




• Meaning of "Grace shall be as your day"




• "He heard her voice across the room/and perked up in nervousness"

Just now, this very instant, while parading through my notes and listening to Airborne Toxic Event on youtube, I pulled out this haiku.

Dependency
Sans emotion, things
Are crystal clear. Desire
Disguises the truth.

Writing Journal

Last summer, I was inspired by some unusual noise in a Sacrament meeting. Most of the time, there's dead silence in a Single's Ward during that ordinance. But, this one time, in Sacrament meeting, there were a bunch of people and everyone uses the plastic cups instead of the old paper ones now. The noise was distracting until I found symbolism in it. Then it became beautiful.

Ever since then, I've been trying to write a poem about it. I don't know that I've ever been successful. I never feel that any of them are finished. Like this one I wrote during the Lenten Writing Challenge.

I came up with a haiku about it today. Title is WIP (Work in Progress), as usual.

Forgiveness
Plastic cups fall into
The tray, sounding of sweet, pure
Forgiveness