From Strength to Strength (Arthur C Books)

 

This book looked like it was totally my jam. I have read a number of books on aging. Mostly, the books I've read have had an approach of aging well and accomplishing all you can. This one was more focused on letting things go, accepting declines and settling down into spirituality. I don't really buy into the striver curse. I plan to keep having goals and striving. If not, what else there? Oh ya....walk and meditate and ponder. I totally agree that you must make time for self-development by scheduling your meditation, prayer, reading and practice every day. Those are good things....but what is one going to do the rest of the day? He says that your decline, as painful as it is should be experienced - and shared. He also encourages the reader to embrace their weaknesses and to start by imagining the peace in your heart from no longer pretending you are not weak. This is all in an effort to have other drawn to you and learn from you. I'm not so sure anyone would find it that inspiring.

I did like his questions to ask yourself as you embark on new chapters. I thought they'd be good questions to ponder on each birthday:

• What activities will you keep?
• What activities will you evolve and do differently?
• What activities will you let go of?
• What new activities will you learn?
• What will you commit to doing in the next week to evolve into the new you? the next month? the next six months?
• In a year, what will be the first fruits to appear as a result of your commitments? 

I finished this book because I have the idea that that's what readers do. I can't say it was that profound or inspiring though, as much as I wanted it to be! 

The author sums up the book with:
Use things
Love people
Worship the divine

Good advice. The author is just three years older than me, but I don't think I'm going to  follow his thinking just yet. I think I am not ready to give up on being a striver just yet though. 

Goodreads says:

The roadmap for finding purpose, meaning, and success as we age, from bestselling author, Harvard professor, and the Atlantic's happiness columnist Arthur Brooks.

Many of us assume that the more successful we are, the less susceptible we become to the sense of professional and social irrelevance that often accompanies aging. But the truth is, the greater our achievements and our attachment to them, the more we notice our decline, and the more painful it is when it occurs.

What can we do, starting now, to make our older years a time of happiness, purpose, and yes, success?

At the height of his career at the age of 50, Arthur Brooks embarked on a seven-year journey to discover how to transform his future from one of disappointment over waning abilities into an opportunity for progress. From Strength to Strength is the result, a practical roadmap for the rest of your life.

Drawing on social science, philosophy, biography, theology, and eastern wisdom, as well as dozens of interviews with everyday men and women, Brooks shows us that true life success is well within our reach. By refocusing on certain priorities and habits that anyone can learn, such as deep wisdom, detachment from empty rewards, connection and service to others, and spiritual progress, we can set ourselves up for increased happiness.

Read this book and you, too, can go from strength to strength.

Because of Winn Dixie (Kate DiCamillo)

This is one of those books that when I finished it, I couldn't believe I hadn't read it before. It's definitely one to re-read. It is also one of those books that made me cry - which is pretty rare. It might have been because I read some chapters aloud to my class. (I always get so much more from a book when I read it aloud) All the heartache Opal has over her mother really pulled at my heart strings. We are doing this book for grade 3 book club this month. I'm going to put a poster up for kids to add a picture and 10 things about their pet, like Opal likes to list. She learns 10 things about her mother and later lists 10 things about Winn Dixie. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments in this book. It would be a great read aloud - if only the grade fours didn't often do it as a novel study.

Goodreads says:

Kate DiCamillo's beloved, best-selling debut novel is now available in a paperback digest edition.

Kate DiCamillo's first published novel, like Winn-Dixie himself, immediately proved to be a keeper—a New York Times bestseller, a Newbery Honor winner, the inspiration for a popular film, and most especially, a cherished classic that touches the hearts of readers of all ages. It's now available in a paperback digest format certain to bring this tale's magic to an even wider circle of fans.

The summer Opal and her father, the preacher, move to Naomi, Florida, Opal goes into the Winn-Dixie supermarket—and comes out with a dog. A big, ugly, suffering dog with a sterling sense of humor. A dog she dubs Winn-Dixie. Because of Winn-Dixie, the preacher tells Opal ten things about her absent mother, one for each year Opal has been alive. Winn-Dixie is better at making friends than anyone Opal has ever known, and together they meet the local librarian, Miss Franny Block, who once fought off a bear with a copy of WAR AND PEACE. They meet Gloria Dump, who is nearly blind but sees with her heart, and Otis, an ex-con who sets the animals in his pet shop loose after hours, then lulls them with his guitar.

Opal spends all that sweet summer collecting stories about her new friends and thinking about her mother. But because of Winn-Dixie or perhaps because she has grown, Opal learns to let go, just a little, and that friendship—and forgiveness—can sneak up on you like a sudden summer storm.

Boy Soup (Loris Lesynski)

Great Tumble Book story! The kids loved the trick. I loved the verse. Great rhymes. In the end, the giant is glad he didn't eat the boys. Lots of good descriptive adjectives in here!

Goodreads summary:

When Giant wakes up with a big hurting head and a sore raspy throat, he finds the cure is a bowl of Boy Soup! Giant captures five boys and Kate, who all protest his plan. But Kate soon comes up with her own remedy and convinces the Giant that the soup should be made, not of boys, but by boys.