Expecting Adam by Martha Beck

I liked this book a lot. It is a nonfiction about Martha Beck (daughter of Hugh Nibley) dealing with being pregnant with a down syndrome baby. At the time, she and her husband are getting their doctorates at Harvard. They already have one child which has made things difficult enough to compete in the intellectual world of the Harvard. Everyone at Harvard is hard core for learning it seems and looks down on anyone with kids. So when Martha finds out that her second baby will be born with down syndrome she faces many difficulties. Let's just say that the word abortion is mentioned several times by several people. But while she was expecting Adam, she experienced so many amazing things.

I learned so much from this book about what women go through while being pregnant. It does not make it sound pleasant, but yet it does it in a way that you know it will be worth it. Also, there is a little bit of anti-mormon talk in there, but it is very subtle. What boggles my mind is that as I read all these things that Martha experienced, some I would call out and out miracles, she passes them off as bunraku puppeteers looking out for her and doesn't even seem to fathom that it is God that is looking out for her. It seemed like such a waste in some ways which is like a part in the book when Martha wonders why all these wonderful things are happening to her. Why is she being saved when there are others out there who are suffering? How does God choose who receives his help. This is one of the main reasons, I think why she will not accept a God who can pick and choose without any sort of criteria, or at least that she doesn't know the criteria.

I do reccommend this book because it is quite amazing all the things Martha experiences and sees. It is wonderfully written and it gave me a better appreciation of a God who loves us, whether we accept him or not.

Quotes:

"Baby talk is found in all nations, all cultures; it is the original Mother Tongue. It translates across any language barrier because it is more about music that about words; the sounds themselves, not their meaning, give comfort and support."

"One of the great myths of our society is that when women are left with small children, they are not alone. The truth is that mother left with babies is far more alone than she would be without them; every bit of energy, attention, protectiveness, and care she might use to meet her own needs must first be directed toward the needs of her children."

"This is the part of us that makes our brief, improbable little lives worth living: the ability to reach through our own isolation and find strength, and comfort, and warmth for and in each other. This is what human beings do. This is what we live for, the way horses live to run."

"The Taoist saying that 'when two great forces collide, the victory will go to the one that knows how to yield.' The idea is that a fluid substance, like water, may seem to give in to a rigid substance, like stone--but in the end, it is the water that shapes the stone, and the other way around."

Series of Unfortunate Events: The End by Lemony Snicket

Well, the series has finally been wrapped up, well about as far as it can be. As the book puts it there can never really be an end because the Baudelaire's story will continue even after the book is written and their story will link to someone else's story and so on and so on. That's how we all are.

Well, this was an okay series. In some ways I wish I hadn't started it. I had this foreboding feeling that the book was going to end with no resolution at all. Well, it didn't really but it concluded enough to my satisfaction. At least they weren't entirely unhappy when it ended. But some people bad people and some good people died. There were some mysteries revealed and some not.

I wouldn't really recommend this series that much. The writing is clever and the story is unique but most of the time I got irritated with the repetitiveness. So if you are already into you might as well keep going but if not, no need to start.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Another book for my book club for which I have already seen the movie. That's four in a row. What does that say? That I watch too many movies....Nah!

I really liked this book and having already seen the movie didn't detract from it at all. In fact I couldn't even really remember much of it, just the basic premise. Which is: A poor family in 1948 England who live in a run-down castle. The father is a well-known author who published only book and doesn't intend on ever writing again due to some unknown depression causing reason. The step-mother is an ex-portrait model for artists who spends her time fretting over her husband and communing with nature in the nude. Two daughters, Rose and Cassandra and one son Thomas.

The book is written in the form of Cassandra's journal. It is very interesting to read which makes me think if I wrote my journal like that 1. I would be more apt to actually write in my journal and 2. It would more enjoyable to be read later, by myself or progeny. It tells the story of the family meeting two young American boys who have inherited the land which the castle is on. Everyone pins their hope on Rose (the eldest and prettiest daughter) to land the elder son in marriage which will solve all their problems. However complications arise. Cassandra finds herself in love with the elder son while pushing away the affections of Stephen, their unpaid servant boy. Along the way is Cassandra trying to find a way to help her family be more happy while setting her own happiness aside. Wonderful story even though it left me a bit disappointed.

Quotes:
After the girls have just met the Americans and Rose is already determined to marry Simon, the elder brother. "I have an idea that it is a game most girls play when they meet any eligible young men. They just...wonder." Meaning wonder how it would be to marry that person. Just a little later she says "There is something revolting about the way girls' minds so often jump to marriage long before they jump to love. And most of those minds are shut to what marriage really means."

Cassandra walks down to the Vicar and contemplates religion as she is feeling very low over her situation with Simon. Her and her family do not attend church. "a person as wretched as I was ought to be able to get some sort of help from the Church. Then I told myself that as I never gave the Church a thought when I was feeling happy, I could hardly expect it to do anything for me when I wasn't. You can't get insurance money without paying the premiums." This thought has been in my mind many times and she says something of this nature to the Vicar and here is his reply. "It'd be most unfair not to---(rush to church when one is miserable) you'd be doing religion out of its very best chance."

Talking about Prayer: "Prayer's a very tricky business....Well, for inexperienced pray-ers it sometimes is. You see, they're apt to thing of God as a slot-machine. If nothing comes out they say 'I knew dashed well it was empty'--when the whole secret of prayer is knowing the machine's full."