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TO HOLD Mary Balogh (2007). Someone to Hold. This is the 2nd book in the Westcott romance series set in the Regency era of England. Camille Westcott (raised as lady Wescott but when here father dies, she discovers she is an illegitamate child of an illegitamate marriange) takes on a job as a teacher at an orphanage where her legitimate sister Anne had been teaching for 26 years...she meets Joel Cunningham who grew up in the orphanage and vounteers teaching art...Joel discovers he is the nephew of a wealthy man who dies and leaves him a fortune...Camille and Joel have an awkward relationship, but eventually marry and adopt 2 children from the orphanage. Favorite quotes: Choices...accept and move forward, deny and carry on, hide away and close one's mind, explore, make sense of it, and be born anew (49) Something that seems tragic, in hindsight, often holds an unexpected gift (374) Joel's paintings capture the character, the qualities of a person, not just the imag,e and for that...
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AGING Connie Zweig (2021). The Inner Work of Age:                                               Shifting from Role to Soul. Zweig has a PhD in Depth Psychology...thesis: aging provides an opportunity to shift life perspective from outside roles of the hero's journey, ego, family, work and so forth to universal soul orientation of awareness, mindfulness, meditation, spirit, love, and service. we can grow into the wise elder (e.g., Gandalf, Obi Wan Kenobi) by entering 3 portals of awareness: shadow--e.g., ageism--hear and befriend the messages of the body as it ages pure awareness--cultivate via meditation, opening, silence, from "doing to being" mortaility--coming to terms withour personal death (e.g., life review) practices: digest the life we've lived by performing a life review distill the lesson learned from our life review turn the lessons into ...
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SEDUCTION Mary Balogh (2009). Seducing an Angel. This is the 4th book in the Huxtable series set in Regency England. Stephen, the Earl of Merton, the youngest of the Huxtables, is targeted for seduction by Cassandra Belmont (a widow with a checkered past, according to the ton), but the plan backfires, and through extraordinary circumstances, the two marry. i love how Balogh takes seemingly disastrous circumstances and turns them around for a long-term good as in the case of 2 nights of seduction which results in the discovery of a pregnancy 7 months later solidifing their decision to marry. Favorite quotes: Think of those who have been kind to you today. Forget those who have not.116 Some events, some moments, were dropped deliberately into one's life...by an unseen hand. But that hand has no power to dictate one's response. It is up to the individual concerned to make something out of these events and moments. Or not. 150 ...I would be ready to come here and be healed. And to ...
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WAR Yeva Skalietska (2022). You Don't Know What War Is:                                                  The Diary of a Young Girl from the Ukraine. Yeva was 12 years old when the war began in her city in the Ukraine...she kept a detailed diary by day and time for 28 days, from the sound of the first bomb to her landing in Dublin, Ireland, free at last. The fear, uncertainty, and trauma of the bombings come through powerfully in Yeva's story--all material concerns are nothing compared to the overwhelming need to survive for oneself and one's loved ones.  The kindness of ordinary people who helped her escape Ukraine to Hungary, then to Dublin, restores my faith in humanity.  The ability to connect by mobile phone was a blessing and a curse.  Prayer was a central part of the story--G help us, get us safe.  I (Jim) feel so GRAT...
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SEDUCTION Mary Balogh (2009). Then Comes Seduction. This is the 2nd book in the Huxtable series set in the Regency era of England. Jasper Finley, Baron Montford, wagers to seduce Katherine Huxtable in a fortnight, and upon the verge of winning his wager, he stops and confesses his wager to her...later he makes a double wager with Kate, that they will each fall in love with each other--which in time, they do, but not without an intriguing set of seductions. Favorite quotes: Kate: "...decided that love was not safe but that it must be pursued at all costs." (224) There was something very special about Cedarhurst, something that spoke to her soul. She could just sit here forever...Just being. A part of it all." (294) One sound psychological principle for remaking memories: Jasper remakes an old memory (the initial seduction) by creating a similar set of circumstances but with a different, more positive ending (a mutual seduction), thereby superimposing this new memory over ...
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POETRY Richard Kennedy (Ed.). (1994). E. E. Cummings Selected Poems. Cummings earned an MA at Harvard in English and the Classics...he was also a professional painter, WWI ambulance driver in France, and nature lover. Cummings' mother encouraged him to keep a journal as a boy...he spent May-Oct (5 months a year) at Joy Farm from the time of his father's death every year. He married 3 of the most beautiful women in the US, the last for 40 years. Cummings' writing style often uses lower case letters, especially in referencing himself as "i"...he uses space on the page to convey nonverbal meaning and delights in word play, puns, intentional misspellings, word breaks, parentheses, rhyme... Most of the poems read like riddles/mysteries to me, they need to be read slowly, even them, some of the poems seem incomprehensible...i remember reading some of his poems as a boy in an english literature class and now i wanted to dig deeper...overall, i am disappointed in this sel...
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AT LAST Mary Balogh (2009). At Last Comes Love. This is the 3rd book in Balogh's Huxtable series set in the Regency era of England. Duncan Pennethore (Earl of Sherigford) and Margaret Huxtable are both desperate to be married, but for very different reasons...a serendipitous "crash" into each other at a ball leads to a marriage within 2 weeks...Duncan appears to be a rake, but his story reveals an honorable man willing to sacrifice for others. Some favorite quotes: There were certain moments upon which the whole of the future course of one's life turned...(p.61) I think love is always being put to the test...It bends, but it never breaks. Not if it is real. (p.281) Other days were crammed so full of events that it was impossible to believe so much living could be packed into twenty-four hours.(p.381) Not just "certain moments" but all moments are potentially moments upon which the whole future course of one's life turns; yet, there are particular moment...
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