Just a peek inside my life: while I'm working on this post our 1 year old is wandering around the room pulling homeschool materials and toys off the shelves. He's dumping them out and moving on to the next thing. But I am ignoring that while I put this post together. So, while you're reading, imagine me picking up every toy we own.
On to the links!
Learning
- 10 Books Every Christian Home Library Needs by Jared C. Wilson. Agree? Disagree? What titles would you add to the list? (I thought of some good apologetics titles and some strong biographies.)
- How the Berenstain Bears Found Salvation by Saul Austerlitz. An interesting essay on the ongoing series of books that has outlived its creators. We don't own any Berenstain Bears books (I find them tedious to read aloud), but my kids do read them at the library or at their grandparents' houses. (And yes, I did like them as a kid, I confess.)
- What Does it Mean for a Book to be "Great"? A Conversation with Wes Callihan, Martin Cothran, and Andrew Kern by David Kern. Listening to Andrew Kern and Martin Cothran (and others) is one of my favorite things to do at the GHC. This post is like listening to one of those fascinating conversations.
Living
- Why Does Friendship at Times Feel One-Sided? by Christine Hoover at Grace Covers Me. One thing I've learned about friendship as an adult: it's harder than I thought it would be. (OK, so that's not a great insight. Sorry.)
- 12 Theses on a Christian Understanding of Economics by Albert Mohler. Much of this sounds like it ought to be common sense, but sense isn't so common any more.
- Better Than 'I Will Pray for You' by Elliot Clark at TGC. Interesting idea. (Side note: another alternative to the empty "I'll pray for you" is to say "Can I pray with you right now about this?")
- 3 Quick Questions Before Quitting Your Church by Tim Challies. And yes, I know, there are good reasons to leave a church, but it would be good if church members would take the time to consider these questions first.
- Listen to Black Lives Matter Supporters, Don't Dismiss Them With Abortion Stats by Christina Marie Bennett for The Federalist. I'm glad someone is courageous enough to write like this.
- Related to the above: The New Culture of Life by Ruth Graham in Slate.
Loving
- A Transatlantic Elegy for an American Hillbilly by Mez McConnell. I really want to read this book! (I found this post fascinating, because Appalachian roots are, typically, Scots-Irish, so it's interesting that things developed similarly on both sides of the Atlantic.)
- I kind of thought my strategy-loving husband might have written this: A Stupid-Simple Way Out of Trump vs Hillary 2016. But it was actually written by Michael Graham for The Federalist. I have pretty much zero hope that this will happen, but hey, it's an idea.
- More political posts: Seeking Clarity in this Confusing Election Season by Kevin DeYoung; An Open Letter to Fellow Christians Who Plan to Vote for Donald Trump from Semicolon Blog; and this final political link comes with a HUGE disclaimer that the language is awful, so don't read if you're easily offended, but if you can get past that it is quite insightful: How Half of America Lost Its Mind (6 Reasons for Trump's Rise that No One Talks About) by David Wong at Cracked.
- Irony abounds in this piece: The Creator of Gaia Theory is as Mischievous and Subversive as Ever by Decca Aitkenhead in The Guardian. (Hey, maybe the Science isn't "settled"? And maybe we don't know everything? #justsaying)
- This moving piece is at times difficult reading, but it's worth your time: The Terrorist Inside My Husband's Brain by Susan Schneider Williams (wife of the late Robin Williams) for Neurology.
- A long but fascinating piece about Shirley Jackson: The Novelist Disguised as a Housewife by Ruth Franklin in NY Mag. (Note: I haven't read Jackson's work. I just found the whole mom / writer story compelling.)
- I love libraries and yes, I've had many daydreams even as a child about living in one. So this definitely piqued my interest: Inside the New York Public Library's Last, Secret Apartments by Sarah Laskow in Atlas Obscura.
Here at Living Unabridged:
- I republished this old post: 31 Realities of Life for an INTJ Woman
- One year ago: Picture Books for Fall
- Two years ago: we were in the middle of this series - 31 Authors Children Love
Also of note: we're doing some behind the scenes work on the blog so if you find a broken link, or something isn't where you thought it should be, my apologies. I hope the site will be more helpful and user-friendly when we're done.
What caught your eye this week?
