Book Notes: "Chalice", by Robin McKinley

"Chalice", by Robin McKinley is another one of those books I read on vacation. And on vacation, I really enjoyed it.

It's one of the spacier of McKinley's books.

The "spacey" label is hard to explain if you haven't read any McKinley before, but the best I can explain it is that McKinley is really good at writing books that make you feel as if you were dreaming. You know that vague-yet-specific, image-full-yet-clarity-less feeling you get when you're dreaming?  McKinley's books can be like that.

And this one really is.

Yet not in a bad way. I floated along quite happily reading this. I liked the land, I liked the bees, I liked the heroine, I emphasized with her frustratoin.  The resolution worked - though I'm not sure any other writer could have made it make sense.

If you want an atmospheric read that makes you think of sunshine and honey and herbs, this is your book. Very enjoyable, but sort of hard to explain afterwards.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell


This post contains Amazon affiliate links. (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Yarnalong: "The Ministry of Motherhood" and "Favorite Scarf Ever"

Ginny over at Small Things says: ~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

So here is what I'm knitting and reading right now:

The book: The book is "The Ministry of Motherhood", by Sally Clarkson. This is the first time I've read a book by Sally Clarkson, and I'm really glad I picked it up!

The knitting: The knitting is a free pattern, called "Favorite Scarf Ever", and I'm knitting it in the Candombe colorway of Malabrigo's sock yarn. My husband bought me this particular yarn on an anniversary trip a few years ago, and it took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to make from it. But this pattern is simple, and shows the variegated colors nicely. I'm looking forward to wearing it this fall!



For more posts about books & knitting, head on over to the yarnalong link-up over at Small Things.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Weekend Links!

Some good reading for your weekend, from around the Web:

"Aspergian Christianity":

. . . I soon came to see it as a gift that those with Aspergers or others on the autistic spectrum have to offer to the church and the world: the gift of truth-telling. Instead of being offended by the forthrightness or clarity of speech from those who have Aspergers, we can welcome it as a reminder of the way we use our words, and the power that they have. When choose beating around the bush, or gently trying to imply what feels like a blatant truth, we can learn from those who speak the truth plainly. We must always choose gentleness when communicating that truth, but we ought to pursue speaking the truth.

"Things I Love about the Things I Love" (this one has great pictures and GIFs):

The way it always feels miraculous when you look down at the finished product and think "this used to just be string." 

"Why You Do What You Do" - I'm still in the middle of listening to this podcast interview with Carolyn McCulley, so I can't endorse it whole-heartedly (yet, anyway), but I'm really appreciating her distinction between the idea of "women in the workplace" and "women being productive". Lots of good thoughts here.

"I Liked Everything I Saw on Facebook for Two Days. Here’s What It Did to Me": frightening stuff.

"It’s Just Better with Community":

God never meant for us to live our lives by ourselves. God lives in perfect community with Himself, and we as His image bearers are also to live in community with one another. When Christ ascended to the Father, He commissioned a community—the Church—to embody His message to the world. We need to live life with others. 

And finally, after hearing the sad news of Robin Williams' death, I found these two articles particularly helpful:
-"What Does the Church Say About Suicide?": I'm not Catholic, so I don't agree with every nuance here, but it's a really good place to start thinking about these issues.
-"the depressed Christian: why the dark night is no measure of your soul":

I wanted their souls to be better, stronger, more determined. I had no idea at all what their brains were going through. But now I know. And I am humbled beyond words.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Editing myself, editing others

It's really odd to turn from rewriting my own work to editing the work of someone else.

But that cognitive dissonance is where I'm living this week.  This week, I'm revising a novel I just finished. I'm looking at my own words and trying to make them clearer. The plot, the characters, the setting . . . I want every bit of this story to be compelling. I want it to pull the reader forward, to entice, to delight.

Basically, I want to make it very, very easy for the reader to keep on reading. If I do my job well, the reader won't even know I was there. She'll just know she read a great book.

And then, after an hour or two of revising my own stuff, I turn to my editing job: right now I'm reviewing and editing essays submitted for this collection.

All of the essays are heartfelt and moving. The writers' openness, honesty, and courage overwhelm me. These essays are all beautiful.

That's my reaction as a person, anyway.

But as an editor, some of them are a delight for a different reason. They're a delight because they make my job easy.

Some of the essays just read so smoothly and clearly that I look at them and think, "I have hardly anything to do here. This reads beautifully just as it is."

And then, then . . . then I realize what I'm aiming for as I revise my own work.

I want to make my editor smile. I want to make her think, "I have hardly anything to do here."*

Now I know.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell



*Now that's a lie. Just a bit. I've never read anything, as an editor, that I thought I couldn't improve. And if I ever got anything back from an editor without notes, I think I'd keel over in a dead faint. But . . . there's notes and there's notes, you know?  You know. :)

Book Notes: "Something Other Than God", by Jennifer Fulwiler

I've been a fan of Jennifer's blog for such a long time, but her book, "Something Other Than God", just hits it out of the park.

I read this book so quickly. It just flew by and putting it down - even when I really ought to have been sleeping - was really hard.

Most of you are probably familiar with Jenn's blog, Conversion Diary. I've read it for years, and I'm here to say: this book is not a regurgitation of her blog content. It's not a bunch of blog posts crammed together into a print volume; it's a real live book.

Yet, at the same time, it's Jenn's voice, the voice I've grown to love as I've read her blog over the years.

You know how Jenn is so straight-forward and blunt, and yet so honest and (when it's called for) absolutely, appropriately, gushy about how God works in our lives? Yeah, that's this book. ("Gushy" is not a diss. She's so smart, and researches so well. I'm just saying that, when it's right to be emotionally moved, she doesn't hide the fact that she's emotionally moved. I love that.)

It's no secret that I'm not a Roman Catholic, and so it's no secret that I disagree with some of the theology in this book. Nonetheless, her story about how God draws her near, defeats her human protests against his power, and makes clear to her that He is who He says He is?  That felt so familiar.

Great book. I'm glad I bought it, and I look forward to rereading it.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Yarnalong: "Cleaning House" and the Bloom Striped Cowl

Ginny over at Small Things says: ~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

So here is what I'm knitting and reading right now:

The book: The book is Cleaning House: a Mom's 12-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement, by Kay Wills Wyma.

That lovely long subtitle there pretty much explains the premise. :)  It's the author's chronicle of a year where she worked on teaching her kids to work. Each month, she chooses a different area to tutor them in.

With that premise, it could have been a harsh sort of book, all about the laziness of kids. But it's not (so far anyway), mostly because the author focuses on what she needs to learn just as much as on what her kids need to learn. I liked this passage, where she's bringing one of her children to "help" her on an errand:

I was kicking myself. How many opportunities had I missed on the countless visits to the grocery store? More often than not, I'd found ways to avoid even taking them into the store, focusing on the immediate benefit of a quick get-in-get-out grab over the long-term rewards of a learning opportunity. I have as much to learn from this task as I do.

The knitting: The knitting is the Bloom Striped Cowl by Sharyn Anhalt.  I downloaded the pattern when it was free. It was totally an impulse, but I actually had the right yarn, so I couldn't resist. (I knit it in Universal Yarn's Bamboo Blooms Handpaints in Kanji. The white contrast yarn is Valley Yarns' Amherst.) I

It turned out to be a totally enjoyable mindless knit, so I'm glad I gave in to the impulse.

For more posts about books & knitting, head on over to the yarnalong link-up over at Small Things.

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Ordinary Time: continuing the work

What we began as an act of Christmas charity or a Lenten sacrifice can grow roots in us during Ordinary Time. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how daily, weekly, and monthly sacrifices can be used to bring Christ’s Kingdom here on earth.     

- Ann Dominguez,  Let Us Keep the Feast: Pentecost and Ordinary Time

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell