The Well Update - The Well-Educated Mind

 

I have not delved this deep into a Well Update in YEARS! I think it is because I am tapering off on my spiritual direction appointments and have tapered off (and stopped until next Wednesday) on my walking. I only had about seven hours of direction both individual and group. (It was supposed to be nine, but I had one who didn't show up (twice) and a cancellation due to internet issues.) And I am devoting about an hour to concentrated stretching and strengthening with a bit of Pilates. I should be swimming, but I am not too worried about my cardio on the Camino. That is good (but I digress and appropriate for the "Well-Tuned Body" portion of this Well update! LOL!)

The Well-Educated Mind

I didn't even want to do this part of the update because I have not been working through the book pictured above. I am #9 out of 2,126 people on the List Challenge for this book. (#1 is probably not true because there is NO WAY a person would have read every single book on that list - unless the author is on the list challenge, but this "Guest" has done it on all the reading lists. Very suspicious, but I digress once again.) When George saw me eyeing this book while at the library, he said, "There she goes again." I love a challenge. If you are new to my blog, from 2002-2013, I read 287 classics. So I thought my "lists" were done until this book. I am reading books I have never even heard of, and most of the time, I have really liked them! (Some have been duds but not many.)

But alas, I have had other things going on. Since I picked up this list, I have had reading for certifications in Spiritual Direction, the Enneagram, NASM Personal Training with Women's Fitness, Weight Loss, Corrective Exercise Specializations (NASM-CPT, CES, WFS, WLS), and Mental Health Coaching. I read nine books for the Order of the Mustard Seed too. I am also reading four Renovare Book Club books every year. So, I sprinkle these in between, and I will be very old if I finish this list! LOL!

All that to say is that I LOVE to learn. I am thirsty for learning. I cannot help myself. I love to learn and then apply. Rinse. Repeat. 

Lately, I have been reading books about the Camino de Santiago (The Way is Made by Walking) and the inward soul journey (Soul Journey). 

I also read at least 52 books a year. I'm at 41. The last from the 1000 Books List I read was Instead of a Letter. The ones I read for spiritual enrichment are so much more edifying, but when I read from the 1000 Books List. I learn compassion for people. I won't stop this new challenge, even though sometimes they are a bit edgy for me! I won't obsess over it. My "BHAG" (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) was the 287 books nine years ago. This is just icing and more LEARNING! 

I am loving my reading journey with more spiritual books this year. (Renovare Book Club has some wonderful ones this year, and I have the possibility of nine people in our group!)

I am also taking another certification course in EMDR because I am fascinated by it. 

I am also learning so much as I prepare PowerPoints for each of the Enneagram types and then teach them to my directees! I go deeper, and I understand people and myself so much better. That is another kind of "education"!

I am also learning about IT bands! But that will be my next installment of The Well Update! 

TTFN.

The State of The Well

I have not done this in ages! Here goes.

Well-Watered Soul

I think this is probably the thing I have really grown the most in over the last two years. COVID opened up new possibilities for growth for me. 

While I found Renovare Institute too academic for me, and since I had been in Renovare since the 90s, it was all books I had read before (and loved). 

I do thank Renovare for opening up my world through their books and the book club. The Institute did lead me to the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius. I had been doing components (Ignatian contemplation and the Examen) for years, and I had even purchased this book by Ignatius in the 2000s, but it wasn't until the Institute assigned A Simple Life-Changing Prayer by Jim Manney that I really understood what the Exercises were all about, and I dove in with all my heart. I will never forget the morning of October 31, 2017, when I woke up to God saying, "READ THIS BOOK." So I did, and it was life-changing like the book said! It helped me understand the Examen and Imaginative Contemplation as part of the larger picture of Ignatian Spirituality. 

I had spent years with the Benedictines and the Trappists, and I have so much to thank them for: deeper Lectio Divina, Praying the Hours, and my first exposure to spiritual direction with Sister Joan (Benedictine) and Brother Mark (Trappist RIP), but I didn't understand Ignatian spirituality until I read Manney's book and The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything.  This was the challenge I wanted and needed. When I went through the Exercises that year in 4 months, years of struggle were released as "sin patterns" and "inordinate attachments" were named and acknowledged in the "bubble wrap of God's love" (my phrase) bringing me into closer abiding union with Him! 

I am grateful for Renovare, in general, because the book club led me to How to Pray by Pete Greig, and that, in turn, led me to join The Order of the Mustard Seed. I was looking for a community with the Spiritual Exercises people (most out of town and not easily able to connect with because they do most face-to-face and not through Zoom). God closed that door very clearly only to open wide the door of The Order of the Mustard Seed.

I am also grateful for Sustainable Faith as I looked for a Spiritual Direction training that emphasized Ignatian spirituality, and I loved it.

But reading The Sacred Enneagram for one of my book reports in Sustainable Faith opened my heart to adopt Centering Prayer (Silent Prayer in a more general sense) after having done it at the Trappist Monastery several times and finding myself going into Silent Prayer at the end of Ignatian (Imaginative) Contemplation or Lectio Divina. I think COVID caused all these formerly "in-person" groups to offer it online so that I could experience it with people who have been doing it for years and years. I am so grateful. (Two out of the four online groups are Benedictine.) 

So it has born fruit of the presence of God in my life during the hours I am not intentionally having a Silent Prayer time. That has been huge as I am learning that I "let go" so much more easily without all the emotions attached. What is, is. I let go. 

Well-Educated Mind

I really cannot believe that I am doing yet another BOOK LIST! Ack! I am reading through the 1000 Books to Read Before You Die. I think 90% of the books are really good and ones I never would have thought to pick up to read. I have grown so much in my understanding (which feeds my Enneagram Type 5 Harmony Triad connection 2-5-8). I will say there is one book that I really dislike. I have been trying to read it for over a month, and I am only 1/3rd of the way through. Life is too short. I am thinking of just counting it as attempted and return it to the library! (I returned it!)

Speaking of Enneagram, that is where I have become more well-educated, and that has been so helpful for my own personal growth. I am also teaching more and doing one-on-one sessions for it. I am seeking to develop more spiritual resources for my directees in this area. 

Well-Adjusted Heart

I have been noticing how I don't "angst" over things. I don't experience as much shame as I once did. I am not saying I apologize less because I still make mistakes, but I don't feel shame when I say "no" or set boundaries like I once did. I can remember a time when I could not say "no"! That would get me into the biggest trouble. I have been really good at saying "no" lately, but the shame I felt about disappointing people would make me stew for too long. Now I am not stewing. I am letting it go more easily (part from above - Silent Prayer practice of letting both pleasant and negative thoughts go), and I am also getting to the bottom of my shame which tells me the lie that if I say "no" and disappoint people, they will not like me or love me or want me to be part of their group. That is the selfish twisted mind of an Enneagram Type Two. So for my mental health, I get into how my body is feeling. I go for a walk. I acknowledge and release my fear of being unwanted and unloved, and I receive God's truth: I am wanted and loved by him (this gets to the "inordinate attachments" in the Spiritual Exercises too). I return after my walk and resolve to LIVE in that truth. It has been beautiful!

Where I see how much I have grown is for two things:

1) I met with someone who I poured my life into for 3 1/2 years. We have not met for over 10 years. I had other priorities, and I have grown so much in the last 10 years because we met again for tea a few weeks ago, and I realized, that person is not someone I want to invest in. I put up with so much of that person's semi-bullying verbal behavior when we met for 3 1/2 years, but I could see it so much more clearly. I didn't like the way she spoke to me. I did not like the way she treated me. Before, I just figured it was me, and I would twist myself like a pretzel so she would "like" me (again, a selfish desire that I need to acknowledge). In this latest conversation, I stayed just 45 minutes, and I said, "I have to go" quite naturally (not abruptly), and she had no idea. I just don't like the way we interact, and I don't want to pursue that relationship. That was huge for me. My hubby gave me high 5s all around because he does it so much more naturally than I do. I have had to learn to discern what is the best way to "number my days" with people, and I think back on the hours and hours we spent together ten years ago, and I would never do that now. 

2) The other situation is with an autocratic, patriarchal leader. I have poured hours into a project with no guidance other than the words "develop abiding resources." Nine months into it, he interfered with a major decision without even consulting or informing me or my team. I even read his instructions to me that I have followed to the letter, but he changed his instructions without a discussion after nine months of hard work. The discussion around this change involved no openness to hearing my team's point of view. An autocratic and impractical decision was made, and while I would have had no problem had that decision been made before we implemented it, but it was made in mid-stream, and it would take hours to undo what we had already done. I will implement the change mid-stream, but once my part is finished, I will move on to the implementation with individuals who respond to what we have done rather than continuing to develop content. God had already told me December 21, 2021, as an exit for the leadership of this team, and I am going to hold to that as my passions lead me elsewhere. I have loved doing this and the people I have been working with. I do not hold any ill feelings toward this leader. I just don't want to be on his task force anymore after I am done with my part of the task. 

It is OK to want other things. That is what I am learning. 

Well-Tuned Strength 

Part of my people-pleasing would also cause me to teach a Back class for one of the health clubs I work for that was hurting my back! I know it may work for most of the people who have taken this well-loved class, but I was in the most pain I have been in years! So I said, "NO"! I have not looked back, and they found someone else. 

So, I am just teaching one in-person class of Pilates at the Univ this term. I am excited to do that. I have been pretty good about maintaining my Pilates strength all summer, and I am so excited to get back to the Univ face to face with students. My class is full and even has a waiting list.

I am still walking the Route 66 challenge, and I am 63% of the way there with cardio great.

Weight is still something I need to grow in. I am still within my ideal weight range, but I like to be in the middle rather than the top. This is my biggest challenge.

15. The Pilgrim's Progress in Modern English by John Bunyan

This is my fourth or fifth time reading this. The first time I read it in the children's version to my kids, the second and third time I read it in the English of the time it was written for two different classics lists, then I taught it to a British Literature Class I led (but not sure I read the whole thing that time), then I read it in this Modern English version for my current Book Dames Book Club. Whew!

I loved this version, and it might be a better place to start for people. John Bunyan quotes Scripture throughout the book, and I love that this version has all the cross-references in the footnotes. This is a classic that everyone should read. I wish I had the time to quote some things from it. I have quotes from when I studied it for the Well-Educated Mind, but I have not transferred them from my old computer to my new one. I need to do that before I lose all of them forever. 

This time something did strike me about the book. Christian was not accompanied by the Holy Spirit in His journey. There was no direct contact with God. Consequently he was often left without guidance and guessing. God always guides! That is the thing that is missing from Pilgrim's journey! We are never alone in our journey!



I am also listening to the final chapter (of part I). It is the Blackstone Audio version. The narrator is excellent!

BHAG COMPLETE: 287 Classics in 555 Weeks

BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOAL COMPLETE!!!!

Started: Wednesday, October 16, 2002 
Completed: Tuesday, June 4, 2013 
at 3:33 PM.

287 books in 3885 days or 

10 years, 7 months, 20 days or . . . 

• 555 weeks
• 93,240 hours
• 5,594,400 minutes
• 335,664,000 seconds

How appropriate to start and end this journey with the Invitation to the Classics List (85 books).

In between, I read The Well-Educated Mind (154 books) and The Book of Great Books: A Guide to 100 World Classics (104 books if you count sequels and trilogies). Minus the overlap on each list that is 287 
books! (press links to see the lists)

Here is the entire list compiled: https://carolhomeschool2.blogspot.com/2011/09/well-educated-mind-list.html

MY STORY

My love for classical literature came very late in life! It was 1996, and I happened by a PBS performance of a musical: Les Miserables. I was enthralled and told my mother-in-law how much it moved me. She went back to her bedroom and returned with the book, Les Miserables, in a thick paperback. I couldn't put it down. I wept through the last fifteen pages in June of 1996 and did not want it to end. On my birthday, the next month, I was at a live performance of the musical. From then on, I was hooked on the classics! 

When I came back from Malaysia in 1999, my friend, Teala, invited me over to  watch what everyone else watched while I was away: Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth! What a delight! But the book is always better than the movie so shortly after that, I visited my mom in California and she got the book for me from her library. OH MY! 

We traveled all over the West throughout the spring and summer, telling people about our time in Malaysia. During our nomadic wanderings, I gobbled up all five additional Austen novels. 

Prior to that, despite having a master's degree, the only classics I had ever read were The Great Gatsby and Siddhartha during my freshman year in high school (1974). I did NOT get those books, I was too young to understand them! 

When we settled back to the States, and I started home educating, I wanted a semi-classical education for my kids. I also wanted to do the four year cycle of history suggested by The Well-Trained Mind and to integrate the literature of the time period we were studying. Somehow, I ran across Invitation to the Classics and David Denby's Great Books in my library, and these books inspired me to read the classics in an orderly way in order to be a good example for my kids; picking and choosing which ones I would have them read.

I had already read a few books on the Invitation to the Classics (ITC) list before the "official" start of this journey on October 16, 2002 (Pride and Prejudice, Pilgrim's Progress, Beowulf, Inferno, and Letters and Papers from Prison). So when I ordered my own copy of ITC, I also ordered The Brothers Karamazov (Read Oct 2002), Purgatorio (October 2002), and The Bacchae (Nov 2002). 

A year later, The Well-Educated Mind came out, and I switched to that list. This one took me almost 8 years to complete. Then, I did the 100 World Classics and finished this journey back where I started with Invitation to the Classics! 

Words cannot describe how much I learned. Maybe I will write a book about my journey someday!

But for right now, I am going to rest and bask in the accomplishment!!!

Doing the happy dance!!!

June 24, 2009 When I Completed the Ancients List of The Well-Educated Mind
(See My Photo Set in My Last Post or HERE)

By the way, in the midst of all of this, I started a classics book club with four other women with the original intent of reading the books from the list. But some did not like the books from the list. So we read other classics. That combined with the classics I read "off list" on my own, I have read 320 classics since 1996.

Here is the "off list":

Les Miserables
Silas Marner
Catcher in the Rye
Little Women
Little Men
Jo's Boys
Wives and Daughters
The Picture of Dorian Grey
Tale of Two Cities
Captains Courageous
Man's Search for Meaning (Babes)
The Alchemist (Babes)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Much Ado About Nothing
Wuthering Heights
A Room with a View
Passage to India
Northanger Abbey
Sense and Sensibility
Mansfield Park
Persuasion
Emma
Three Musketeers
Hound of the Baskervilles
Atonement (considered a modern classic)
A Prayer for Owen Meany (modern classic)
Night
Cry, the Beloved Country
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Scapegoat
The Count of Monte Cristo
Gone with the Wind
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
To Kill a Mockingbird

The Well Balance

Well-Adjusted Heart

I think the "adjustment" to our new work mentality is coming along nicely. I need to breathe through it. I have this balancing between being a wife and being a mother with George up in Hillsboro/Newberg and the boys down in Corvallis. Something happened yesterday that made me realize that I am needed as a mother. I know my two kid are both adults now, but they need processing and pampering as well as life training (for the housecleaning and cooking). They are doing so well, but a mother's work is never done.

Trying to also balance time with my friends my age too. I am more purposeful about initiating time with Kim, Teala, and Jean. So lovely to be with friends and balance it with ministry people (who are also my friends but at a different life stage!).


Well-Watered Soul

. . .from which all things flow! Nancy has been sending me pictures of the spring she sees on her runs for the past seven years. She says it never runs dry, and she always prays for me there. Praise God for prayer warriors in this life. 

I do feel well-watered. I love my time in the epistles. So practical and rich.  I almost done with 1 John this morning. 

I am behind in my "Walk for the World" praying though. I am being a bit goal oriented on the finish of the BBC. 

Well-Educated Mind

I am 97 pages away from saying goodbye to William Faulkner forever. I am so excited to be only 440 pages away from my Well-Educated Mind journey. Someday I will count up all the books I have read in the process. It has been great, but I do look forward to just reading any old book again!

Well-Tuned Strength

Because I have been a bit goal oriented on the more sedentary Mind and Soul Goals (and even HEART time with friends who would rather sit and eat and talk than walk), I am 1.4 pounds over. My goal this year is MAINTENANCE. So, I do not want to slip in this area. I have broken my rule about not writing if I am over. I need to really reevaluate this. I am a "J" (closure) personality type, but I know that most of the things I am passionate about (READING, STUDYING SCRIPTURE, WRITING, and PHOTOGRAPHY) are all SEDENTARY PASSIONS. My WELLNESS passion is outnumbered 4:1! 

Sitting has caused more back wonkiness too. So, as I write, I am realizing that I am going to abandon the goal until 1.4 is gone. That should be less than a week. I have to have my goals in balance. I can listen to my WELL-EDUCATE MIND books as I walk and walk with friends though! :)

So, I am off to walk with Kim for her break after drinking a healthy strawberry and banana smoothie (no sugar added)! 

BYE!!!! Will write more when 1.4 pounds down. I need to stick to what I started in ALL areas!!!! 

Great processing through this freewrite!

The Well-Educated Mind List

Haven't done the full list in ever so long.  The only book left is in large font. Thankfully, it is really interesting!

Ancients (15 out of 15)

BC
2000 Epic of Gilgamesh/Ferry/Poetry
800 Iliad (*+ T)/ Homer/Lattimore/ Poetry
800 Odyssey(*+ T) /Homer/Lattimore/Poetry
600 Greek Lyrics/ Lattimore/Poetry
458 Agamemnon(*+ T)/ Aeschylus/Drama
450 Oedipus Rex(*+ T)/ Sophocles/Drama
441 Histories/ Herodotus/ History
431 Medea/ Euripedes/ Drama
400 Birds/ (Clouds – T) /Aristophanes/ Drama
400 Peloponnesian War(*+ )/Thucydides/ History
375 Republic(*+)/ Plato/ History
330 Poetics(+)/ Aristotle/Drama 
65 Odes of Horace/Poetry
AD
100 Greek Lives/Roman Lives by Plutarch

Medieval Times (19 out of 19)

400 Confessions*+ T Augustine Fitzgerald Autobio 
426 City of God+ Augustine History
731 Ecclesiastical History of the English People Bede History
1000 Beowulf* Poetry
1300 Inferno*+ Poetry 
1300's Everyman Drama
1350 Sir Gawain & the Green Knight* Poetry
1386 Canterbury Tales* Chaucer Poetry
1430 The Book of Margery Kempe Autobio
1513 Prince*+ Machiavelli History
1516 Utopia* Sir Thomas More History
1564 Sonnets Shakespeare Poetry 
1580 Essays+ Montaigne Autobio
1588 Life of Teresa of Avila Autobio
1588 Doctor Faustus Marlowe Drama
1592 Richard III Shakespeare Drama
1594 Midsummer's Nights Dream* Shakespeare Drama
1600 Hamlet* Shakespeare Drama

1600 Poems* Donne Poetry (British)

Early Modern -1600-1850 (33 out of 33)

1605 Don Quixote*+ Cervantes Penguin Novel

1611 Psalms KJV Poetry

1641 Meditations+ Descartes Autobio 
1667 Paradise Lost*+ Milton Poetry

1666 Grace Abounding Bunyon Autobio 
1669 Tartuffe Moliere Drama
1679 Pilgrim's Progress* Bunyon Novel
1682 Narrative of Captivity & Restoration(T) Rowlandson Autobio
1690 True End Civil Government Locke History
1700 Way of the World Congreve Drama 
1726 Gulliver's Travels* Swift Novel 
1754 History of England, V.5 Hume History
1757 Songs of Innocence and Experience by Blake/Poetry (British)
1762 Social Contract+ Rousseau History
1773 She Stoops to Conquer Goldsmith Drama
1776 Common Sense (T) Paine Dover History
1776 Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire Gibbon Wormsley(Ab) History
1777 School of Scandal Sheridan Drama

1781 Confessions* Rousseau Autobio 
1791 Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (T)
1792 Vindication of the Rights of Women+ Wollstonecraft History (British)
1798 Lyrical Ballads* Wordsworth, Cooleridge Poetry (British)
1813 Pride & Prejudice*+ Austen Novel 
1819 Odes* & Poems Keats Poetry (British)
Longfellow Poetry (American)
Tennyson Poetry (British)
Whitman Poetry (American)
1835 Democracy in America* Tocqueville History
1838 Oliver Twist Dickens Novel
1847 Jane Eyre Bronte Novel
1848 The Comunist Manifesto+ Marx&Engel History
1850 The Scarlet Letter* Hawthorne Novel

Modern History (1850 to present)

 ( 86 out of 87)

Rossetti Poetry (British)
1851 Moby-Dick/Melville/Novel
Uncle Tom's Cabin/Stowe/Novel 
1854 Walden/Thoreau/Autobio
1857 Madame Bovary* Flaubert Novel
1860 Civilization of Renaissance Burckhardt History
1861 Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Jacobs Autobio
1866 Crime & Punishment Dostoyevsky Novel

1850- 1866 * Dickinson Poetry (American)
1872 Dunbar Poetry (American)
1877 Anna Karenina* Tolstoy Novel
1878 Return of the Native Hardy Novel 
1878 Sandburg Poetry (American)
1879 Doll's House Ibsen Drama
1881 Life & Times/Narrative of Frederick Douglass * T Autobio
1881 The Portrait of a Lady* James Novel 
1883 Williams Poetry (American)
1884 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn* Twain
1895 The Red Badge of Courage Crane Novel
1899 Importance of Being Earnest Wilde Drama
1901 Up From Slavery Washington Autobio
1902 Heart of Darkness* Conrad Novel
1902 Hughes Poetry (American)
1903 Souls of Black Folk DuBois History (American)
1904 Cherry Orchard Chekov Drama
1904 The Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism Weber History (German)
1905 House of Mirth Wharton Novel 
1907 Auden Poetry (American)
1908 Ecce Homo Nietzsche Autobio (German)
1913 Poems* Frost Poetry (American)
1921 Queen Victoria Stachey History
1922 Larkin Poetry (British)
1924 St. Joan Shaw Drama
1925 Mein Kampf Hitler Autobio
The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald Novel
Mrs. Dolloway Woolf Novel
The Trial* Kafka Novel 
1929 An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth Gandhi Autobio
1932-1963 Sylvia Plath Poetry (American)

(1865-1939) William Butler Yeats (Irish)

Auto of Alice B. Toklas Stein Autobio

Born 1934 Mark Strand Poetry (American)

Born 1929 Adrienne Rich Poetry (American)

1935 Murder in Cathedral T.S. Eliot Drama
1937 The Road to Wigan Pier Orwell History
1938 Our Town Wilder Drama
1939 Seamus Heaney Poetry (Irish)
The New England Mind Miller History 

1940 Long Day's Journey into Night O'Neill Drama
Native Son Wright Novel
1940 Robert Pinsky Poetry (American)
1942 Stranger Camus Novel
1944 No Exit Sartre Drama
1947 A Streetcar Named Desire Williams Drama 
1948 Seven Story Mountain Merton Autobio
1949 1984 Orwell Novel 
Death of a Salesman Miller Drama
1952 Invisible Man Ellison Novel
Waiting for Godot Beckett Drama

1955 The Great Crash Galbraith History 

Surprised by Joy C.S. Lewis Autobio

1956 Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) Poetry (American) (DO NOT RECOMMEND ICK!)

1956 Seize the Day Bellow Novel
1959 The Longest Day Ryan History
1960 A Man for All Seasons Bolt Drama
1963 The Feminine Mystique Frieden History
1965 The Autobiography of + Malcolm X Autobio
1967 One Hundred Years of Solitude Marquez Novel
Rosencrantz & Guildenstein Stoppard Drama
1972 If on a Winter's Night a Traveler Calvino Novel 
1973 Journal of Solitude Sarton Autobio
Gulag Archipelago Solzhenitsyn Autobio
1974 Roll, Jordan, Roll Genovese History

1974 Equus Shaffer Drama 
1977 Born Again Colson Autobio
Song of Solomon Morrison Novel
1978 Distant Mirror Tuchman History

1978 Jan Kenyon (1947-1975) Poetry (American)
1982 Hunger of Memory Rodriguez Autobio
1985 White Noise Delillo Novel

1985 Rita Dove (1952- )Poetry (American)
1987 All the President's Men Woodward & Bernstein History
1988 Battle Cry of Freedom McPherson History
1989 Road from Coorain Conway Autobio
1990 Possession Byatt Novel

A Midwife's Tale Ballard Autobio
1992 The End of History & the Last Man Fukuyama History
1995 All Rivers Run to the Sea Wiesel Autobio

(*ITC, +D overlap, T)

ITC= Invitation to the Classics D=Denby's Great Books T = Thelma's Library

One Book Left in The Well-Educated Mind: 99.3670886% Done!

I finished reading The New England Mind, and it was a LABOR! I think it took me six weeks to get through it!

 MODERN (1850 – present)

1860 Civilization of Renaissance Burckhardt (May 18, 2011)

1904 Protestant Work Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism Weber (May 5, 2011)

1938 The New England Mind: Colony to Province Miller 491 pages (October 11, 2011 at 10:12 pm)

1973 The Gulag Archipelago (only Autobiography left) 472 pages

1974 Roll, Jordan, Roll Genovese 665 pages (August 20, 2011)

1987 All the President's Men Woodward & Bernstein (March 23, 2011)

1990 A Midwife's Tale Ballard (May 19, 2011) 
1992 The End of History & the Last Man Fukuyama 339 pages (July 20, 2011)

Space

For some reason, I can't sleep. So, I am typing away. I was supposed to have a full Sabbath day, and I did pretty well other than the long hike I took with some friends, but I need more.

I was with people though the whole weekend, and I am sort of peopled out after that. I need to refuel. Some of the news I heard over the weekend was a little unnerving, but I did let that go, and I just chose to pray for parties involved (not any problems with me, just those around me, disturbed by some people's choices). 

Tomorrow, I have dial-a-book, piano, meeting with the R & B, and S & D. 

Thursday, I have Valentina and Pieter, Jane, testing for Paul with Marguerite, and family dinner and discipleship. 

Friday, Elizabeth, looking at houses, and Buck's party here

Saturday, I meet with Ginny and Lorraine. Then up to Newberg to see mom with the family. 

I look forward to church on Sunday since I haven't been in a few weeks. I think there is a Grad Party that day too. 

I want to create a little bit of space for myself right now. :)

The Well-Educated Mind Update 154/158 = 97%

1967 pages to go! 

MODERN (1850 – present)

1860 Civilization of Renaissance Burckhardt (May 18, 2011)

1904 Protestant Work Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism Weber (May 5, 2011)

1938 The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century Miller 491 pages

1973 The Gulag Archipelago (only Autobiography left) 472 pages

1974 Roll, Jordan, Roll Genovese 665 pages

1987 All the President's Men Woodward & Bernstein (March 23, 2011)

1990 A Midwife's Tale Ballard (May 19, 2011)
1992 The End of History & the Last Man Fukuyama 339 pages

The Well-Educated Mind Update - 153/158 (97%)

2021 pages to go (4 books + 54 pages) 

MODERN (1850 – present)

1860 Civilization of Renaissance Burckhardt (May 18, 2011)

1904 Protestant Work Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism Weber (May 5, 2011)

1938 The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century Miller 491 pages

1973 The Gulag Archipelago (only Autobiography left) 472 pages

1974 Roll, Jordan, Roll Genovese 665 pages

1987 All the President's Men Woodward & Bernstein (March 23, 2011)

1990 A Midwife's Tale Ballard 352 pages (54 left)
1992 The End of History & the Last Man Fukuyama 339 pages