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Rachel Held Evans – A Year of Biblical Womanhood
I’ve been wanting to read this book for a couple of years, but when the author sadly died earlier this year, it moved up my to-be-read list after I heard so much about the author and the books she’d written.
The premise really intrigued me, trying out different aspects of biblical womanhood each month in an attempt to try and be the ‘perfect’ woman. You may have heard of things like the ‘proverbs 31 woman’, and this book is kind of like that tested to the extreme.
“Those who seek to glorify biblical womanhood have forgotten the dark stories. They have forgotten that the concubine of Bethlehem, the raped princess of David’s house, the daughter of Jephthah, and the countless unnamed women who lived and died between the lines of Scripture exploited, neglected, ravaged and crushed at the hand of patriarchy are as much a part of our shared narrative as Deborah, Esther, Rebekah and Ruth.”
As you can see, biblical womanhood is not all great, and it’s not just about being the ‘ideal wife’. It was also horrible and brutal and a lot of women were severely oppressed. Throughout the book, Evans tells these stories too, stories that we should remember so we can not repeat them.
We need to share those stories, and our own stories, so that the next generation can have it slightly easier than us, and so on and so on.
“I see myself as a woman who is traveling through a thick jungle with a machete. I can see where other women have forged a path for me, but there are still a lot of vines in the way. My goal is to cut down some of those vines, so that the next generation will have a clearer path.”
As I mentioned, each month the author tries a new dimension of biblical womanhood, from seemingly small things like covering her head and making her own clothes, to bigger things like camping outside while she was on her period. The book was full of laughter and fun, but also hard times and stresses.
She doesn’t take herself too seriously, and that really comes across in what is written, the author is able to laugh at herself and honestly talk about her failures as well as her successes.
From reading the book, it’s clear that the usual definitions of ‘biblical womanhood’ are outdated and not remotely sensible to live by, but it also shows that what the new modern take on being a ‘traditional’ woman is doing to female independence. Being a ‘biblical’ woman does not mean bowing down to every whim of your husband, and it surely doesn’t mean that you can’t preach in church, it means being a member of Christ’s family.
“When we turn the word Bible into an adjective and stick it in front of another loaded word (like manhood, womanhood, politics, economics, marriage, and even equality), we tend to ignore or downplay the parts of the Bible that don’t fit our tastes. In an attempt to simplify, we try to force the Bible’s cacophony of voices into a single tone, to turn a complicated and at times troubling holy text into a list of bullet points.”
I definitely won’t be trying the things that the author tried over her year long experiment, but it was fascinating to read, and written with warmth and humour. I loved it.
352 pages. Published in: 2012Read in Paperbackon 18th August – 7th September 2019 -
Carole Matthews – Happiness for Beginners
My friend bought me this book for my birthday and she clearly knows me very well, because this book was exactly my cup of tea!
Characters that feel like friends and a setting that just can’t help but make you smile, what more could you ask for?
Seeing the relationships develop gradually throughout the book just gave me warm fuzzy feelings. And I don’t just mean the inevitable romance, but the growing relationship between Molly and the kids she works with on her farm was the best of all.
Plenty of ups and downs along the way meant that the story never got boring, and definitely not predictable, I read this book as if it was a movie playing in my mind (and I also think it would make a great movie too).
I read a few Carole Matthews books when I was in high school, but I haven’t read any for a while, I definitely think this is an author that’s back on my list!
464 pages. Published in: 2019Read in Paperbackon 28th July – 18th August 2019 -
Jess Phillips – Everywoman
I read this book in one weekend while house-sitting for my sister. It was so hot out that I basically hibernated on the sofa in front of a fan and devoured this book.
I’d heard of Jess Phillips before with some of her tweets being retweeted into my timeline, but I didn’t really know much of who she was. This book was a great intro into her mind and the things that she stands for.
Partly her life story, partly her opinions on key issues such as abuse against women, the book was compelling throughout. You could feel the raw emotion that she was pouring into this book, you know that she truly cares.
It was pretty hard to deal with some of the sections, like when she talks about some of the horrific trolling that she has had to encounter. It’s hard to relate to that as someone who has never gone through it, but it’s not something that anyone should have to cope with.
Just like some other books I’ve read, it feels a little presumptious to assume that the author is speaking on behalf of all women, we all have such different experiences that you can’t just generalise, but this one wasn’t as bad as some others.
All in all, I thought this was a great read, I think Jess Phillips has a great future, she’s going to go far. Even if she’s not your cup of tea, this was still a great read.
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RHS Harlow Carr
For my birthday this year (30!), it was a really sunny day so we decided to go for a walk around Harlow Carr in Harrogate. It’s been ages since I took my camera out with me, and it was the perfect day for it. Choosing to spend the day walking around a garden may make me officially middle-aged now, but I had the best day!
Let me know which are your favourite photos in the comments! My personal favourites are the bees – so happy to see them all buzzing around!
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Greta Thunberg – No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference
For £2.99, I would say this book was fine, and it did make me stop and think a fair few times, but it wasn’t really what I expected from (although that’s my problem as I didn’t know what this book was before I bought it).
To save you potential disappointment, this book is a collection of the speeches that Greta Thunberg has made, which unfortunately means that the book contains quite a lot of repetition – her speeches are impactful because she knows what she’s saying is strong, but that of course means that she does repeat herself.
She is (quite rightly) an inspirational young woman – deciding that politicians and those in power are not taking the climate crisis (yes – it is a crisis) seriously enough, and taking a stand to make people listen.
She’s been invited many places to give speeches, so people are clearly starting to listen, but when you read what she’s saying, you realise that none of it is enough – we’re heading towards a catastrophe, and only changes at the highest level are going to help.
Definitely an interesting woman to follow – but I imagine that you can probably read these speeches online without paying for the privilege, and I probably would have done so if I’d know what I was buying (damn you Waterstones with your enticing book covers by the side of the till!).
I’m giving the book 3 stars, but not because it was bad, it just wasn’t what I expected and I didn’t get out of it what I thought I would.
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What sparks your light?
It was my 30th birthday yesterday, and I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on the past couple of years, and how my 30-year-old self is not the self I had once pictured. In some ways, that’s a good thing, but in a lot of ways, I have neglected who I wanted to be and not taken care of myself in the way I should have.
The last couple of years have been really difficult for me personally, and it’s quite hard for me to admit that, it’s not easy to feel vulnerable. I’ve had a face presented to the world which is happy and smiley, but a lot of the time, I’ve just wanted to cry (and have often done so when I’ve reached the safety of my house/car).
But I think the only way I can make my 31-year-old self be who I want to be is if I start to be more honest with myself, and writing it on this blog encourages a bit of transparency.
I saw this picture in my facebook feed a few weeks ago and the quote has stuck in my head since.
I’ve been trying to think about the things that used to spark a light in me, things that I have let slide in the last few years, and I want to try to pick up those things again – I’m tired of feeling tired.
So a few things I want to concentrate on in the next few months:
- Taking care of myself – eating healthily and getting more exercise. This has taken the biggest hit over the last couple of years.
- Photography – I used to take my camera everywhere and spend ages after getting my pictures processed and uploaded online.
- Reading – this hasn’t suffered as much, but I want it to feel more like a joy and less like a chore.
- Watching baseball – this is something my dad and I used to do together, and for a long time it was too painful, but I miss it.
- Spending time outside in nature – just enjoying fresh air and green scenery and space to think away from the house.
I’ll keep checking in here to keep some accountability, even if no-one reads this, it’s something for me to feel responsible to.
And if anyone is reading – let me know what sparks your light, maybe it’ll give me some ideas for my next things to try!
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Milly Johnson – The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew
The perfect birthday present – a new Milly Johnson book! At least that’s what my husband thought when he pre-ordered it for my birthday, not bargaining on the fact that I’d be so eager to read it, I’d buy it two days before my birthday and read it in one sitting!
Sorry Cameron!
But how could I say no to these glorious blue edged pages (the special edition from Tesco). I’m a sucker for a coloured-edge, and I’ve not seen one this bright before, I could hardly not buy it!!
But I’ll stop fangirling over the outside now, and get down to the important bit – the inside.
I have to say, I think this is my favourite Milly yet (and there’s a lot of history to compete with). Our main character Sophie (Pom) is such a strong-willed woman (once she gets out from underneath her controlling bastard of a husband), and I fell in love with her character immediately.
The back-story we get from her about her school days really broke my heart. All she wanted was to be loved; she didn’t get that from her parents and she definitely didn’t get that from school – what a horrible place. But Sophie is fixed on the good memories, namely one special summer where she could be a child and have fun.
The opening chapters were completely gripping – we know we’re counting down to ‘doorstepgate’, where Sophie is going to claim back her life, but it’s teased to us so gradually that I was so tense by the time I got there. And through that unravelling, we come to see just how much of a piece of work her husband is.
John is a politician with aspirations to be Prime Minister and he’s surrounded by yes-men who are determined to smooth over any transgression and paint him as the perfect man – but we see that he’s far from it. Unfortunately, John’s yes-men also include Sophie’s parents, who see John as the son they always wanted, and they prioritise him completely over her, no matter the consequences.
So when Sophie finally runs away and finds herself in Yorkshire, she has a dilemma. She knows that she can’t run away forever, but the people she meets there are so lovely that she wishes she could.
The first person she meets is Tracey, a lovely warm character who makes Sophie feel immediately at home. And when she’s introduced to Tracey’s brother Elliot (the local vicar) and his son Luke, it feels like it’s going to be impossible to leave.
I loved the gradually unfolding relationships between all the characters in the book, you could see Sophie growing as her own person, and through that, helping the other characters to grow too. And the idea in the book for prom-dress recycling – what a great idea!
I won’t go into too much more detail on the plot so I don’t completely spoil it for you, but I will say that the romance in this book was spot-on. With Milly, you know that it’s always going to capture you and have you rooting for them from the start, but I liked the way that this romance seemed more ‘innocent’ and more like two friends coming together than anything that could have been more scandalous. As I said earlier, I think this may be Milly’s finest romance yet!
Bravo, Milly! I’m looking forward to book 17!
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Ethel Rohan – The Weight of Him
The blurb on the back of this book made me immediately want to buy this and read it – a man struggling with both the loss of someone close to him, and also struggling with his health and appearance – he’s extremely overweight and feels alienated from his family. I felt like I would be able to empathise a lot with him, and I was right, to an extent.
It turns out that the loss that Billy is struggling with is the loss of his son to suicide, and the emotions laid out in the book are so raw that my heart broke multiple times. It was so much more than I ever expected from the book. You can feel the grief rolling off the family. The expression of grief is different for each person, but it’s real and it’s heart-breaking.
Referred to from the start as ‘Big Billy’, our main character’s weight has become his identity, but he decides that in order to raise money for suicide awareness, he’s going to try and lose half his bodyweight and ask people to sponsor him. Unfortunately, the loss of Michael is still so fresh that his family find it very hard to get behind him, and I spent most of the time reading the book wishing that Billy wasn’t so alone.
There were also definitely times that I wanted to give him a shake and tell him to stop acting so stupidly and be with his family and be what his family needed, but I could definitely see how this single-minded focus was helping to heal some of the grief.
Without going into too much detail to give away spoilers, I will say that Billy was such an inspiring character, and has given me the kick I needed to start taking care of myself again. Like Billy, I’ve been really struggling the last couple of years with loss and I’ve stopped taking care of myself because it just hasn’t felt ‘worth it’, but through Billy’s story, I can see that I am worth it and I need to make some changes – maybe not quite as dramatic as Billy though!
One thing I wish from the book is that there had been more exploration of the other characters. As I mentioned before, the grief is affecting them all in different ways, but I would have loved to dive deeper into that and maybe see how Billy’s mission was affecting them from their point of view.
As I said, this book has affected me quite a lot, and I think it will be on my mind for a long time – if I can only be half as brave as Billy was, I’ll be happy.
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I’m back! (AKA Blog like no-one’s watching…)
…because they’re probably not!
It’s been an awful long time since I did any actual blogging on here – three years to be precise. I’ve concentrated more on book reviews and less on blogging, partly because I didn’t think what I had to say was worth saying.
But two things have changed my mind recently.
Firstly, I’ve started to feel the itch to blog again. something I haven’t wanted to do for a while. And while I really want to write, I no longer feel pressure to write a specific thing that people might expect from me – I felt this before but I’m now a lot more comfortable in being myself.
Secondly, I recently went to a conference called All Day Hey, and one of the talks was titled ‘Blog like no-one’s watching’, and while that’s probably true in my case anyway, the point of the talk was that you should blog about the things you care about, it doesn’t matter if it’s not work-related or anything to do with your profession, if you care about it, write about it.
I’ve always felt writing quite cathartic, even if I’m not particularly good at crafting the right words onto the page, but things that have happened in my personal life over the last couple of years have basically decimated my motivation to do anything at all. It’s been a struggle, and if I’m honest, I’m still struggling. But I’m hoping that blogging might help me get out some of the things I’m finding difficult and give me a space to vent some emotions.
So watch this space for more posts coming soon!
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Diana Gabaldon – Outlander
We went on holiday to Scotland for our anniversary this year, and gifts/souvenirs for Outlander were absolutely everywhere. I’d watched the first episode of the Amazon TV series with my friend, but I decided I wanted to read the book before I watched any further. I LOVE Scotland, and a book set in such beautiful scenery sounded like a dream.
Having watched the first episode of the series, I knew the main premise of the book was a woman called Claire Randall who unexpectedly travels through time from 1946 to 1743 and finds herself caught up immediately with the ancestor of her current-time husband, Frank.
It turns out that this ancestor (Jack) is not quite the man that Frank is, and Claire only narrowly escapes and finds herself caught up with a bunch of Scottish outlaws. Claire finds herself drawn inexplicably to a young man named Jamie, and it seems like their futures may be more intertwined than she could ever imagine. But that run-in with Jack won’t be her last, and it turns out that Jack and Jamie have a history that you would never have imagined.
At over 800 pages, there’s a lot of book here, but it felt fast-paced and exciting throughout, the writing completely drew me into the surroundings as if I was living through it with Claire. The descriptions of the Scottish highlands were so vivid that I don’t think I really need to watch the TV series anymore! It brought back memories from our holiday, like this from Glenfinnan. All I could imagine was how much different it would all have looked 200 years ago!
I will say, there’s a lot of romance (and sex) in this book (more than I expected), but it didn’t feel gratuitous, and I really loved how Jamie and Claire grew gradually closer together as the story developed.
I also loved how the characters were not at all how you would expect. Claire is definitely not a damsel in distress and is more than capable of looking after herself, and Jamie is not your typical scottish outlaw – capable of such tenderness and care for Claire that I would not have expected given how we are introduced to his character!
But if you’re not a fan of romance, don’t let that put you off, as there’s a huge amount of action – some more gruesome than I would probably have liked, but it was gripping and definitely didn’t let me predict what was going to happen next.
Since I started reading this, I found out that there’s another 7 books, and they all seem just as long as this one, but I can’t wait to get stuck in – I feel like this might be my new obsession!
864 pages. Published in: 1991Read in Paperbackon 11th May – 30th June 2019
Louise Douglas
(I've got no) Shelf Control…
Louise Douglas 