Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks
I'd already seen the movie, but wanted to read the book. It's quite possibly my favorite Sparks story. Love it.
The Corn Grows Ripe, by Dorothy Rhoads
A story about a Mayan boy who has to take over the job of planting and harvesting the corn, a job his father can no longer do because of an injury. The boys and I read it and all enjoyed it. Really easy read.
.
Cool quotes - p. 58, Tigre worked on his rope. Several times he had to unravel it and start again, but each time it was a little easier. A few months ago, he thought, he would have given it up as not worth the trouble. But his persistence in keeping on with the bushing had done something more for him besides getting down bush. As using his muscles constantly had strengthened his arms, so doing the hard thing had exercised and strengthened his will. It was easier now for him to stick to unpleasant things.
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, by Michael Lewis
Another book that I'd already seen the movie for. I was hoping for extras that the movie didn't get to, but that turned out to be a lot of football talk. Needless to say, I skimmed those chapters. Otherwise, the movie stayed pretty true to the book.
Walk the World's Rim, by Betty Baker
I read this to the boys and we all liked it, though they sometimes had a hard time keeping the characters straight. Too bad I'm not good at doing different voices. Oh well. Anyway, this is a great story of friendship and other relationships, dreams and expectations, conflict and it's resolution. Lots of good lessons. Also a lot of sarcasm, which the boys loved.
Cool quotes - p. 119, (On the broken promises made by someone who didn't like their circumstances) His promises are like rainbows, formed in bad weather and vanishing in a clear sky.
Why I Jumped: A Dramatic Story of Finding Hope Beyond Depression, by Tina Zahn
Maryanne had recommended this book ages and ages ago on her blog, which she has since bailed on. So, I've had it on my "to read" list for a long time! Tina's life had included some really hard things, including abuse, and then she found herself in the depths of post-partum depression as an adult. This is her story of her life, the jump off a bridge in an attempt to kill herself, the miraculous rescue that foiled her suicidal plan, and how she's gotten to a place of mental and emotional stability.
I know people who have battled PPD to various degrees, so I don't doubt it's seriousness in the least. However, as I was reading this book I kept thinking of a comment Josh, my brother-in-law, made a while back about how they don't see PPD in the Philippines. Don't you think it's interesting that it's a cultural illness?
As a sidenote, Zahn's suicidal jump was caught on the dashboard camera of the first officer at the scene. This clip starts with a re-enactment of her driving to the bridge, then cuts to actual footage of her jump.
.
Staying Home Instead: How to Balance Your Family Life (and Your Checkbook), by Christine Davidson
I picked this up from the library's "free books" bin. Forced myself to finish it and skimmed several chapters. My thoughts were "duh" and "I don't care" as I read through it. I'm sure it's helpful to someone, but I thought it was a waste of time.
The Power of Half: One Family's Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back, by Kevin Salwen & Hannah Salwen
I really liked this book and have the CD on reserve at the library so Tim can listen to it during his commute. The main point of this book is that you can take half of something you have in excess (time, tangible items, etc) and use it to make someone else's life better. For example, if you spend $40 a month getting your haircut, you could drop it to $20 and use the other half to make life better for others. Or you could take the ten hours a week you spend watching TV, drop it to five and use the other five to volunteer somewhere.
While this family's experience was done on a large scale, simply because that's the opportunity they had, anyone can apply the concept to their own life. In a "more, bigger, faster, cooler" society, I love to see people putting a little thought into what they're doing with their money and why they're doing it. I also found it interesting to see how the family went about all the decision making for their project. Good read!
9 comments:
I had no idea PPD is a cultural illness. Perhaps its because we have so little help after giving birth and other countries have generations of women helping the new mom? Just a thought.
I bet it isn't necessarily a cultural illness...I bet we are just more open to talk about it here and have more resources to deal with it. It is very real and very hard.....like all mental illness it deserves the same respect as physical illness. I agree with Kami...we are so isolated here after giving birth where as in other countries it is a family affair. After my 3rd was born in 3 years and didn't sleep for 7 months for more than 2 hours at a time I can so relate to feeling depressed!!
In fact I remember sitting in a Bible study and several of the woman started opening up about needing some meds to help them through their depression and feeling so relieved not to be alone. I never took meds but look back and it would have helped me so much to get through without feeling such despair. It was such a relief to find a body of Christ with strong believers who were OK using meds to help and gave mental illness the same thought as heart disease or diabetes. Motherhood is hard and we need support!!!
The other thing I was thinking about the cultural statement....not that I have any opionions on this...☺ is that in the US we as women have so many expectations on us. Have a baby but get right up and keep your house clean, breastfeed, feed the rest of your kids healthy food, volunteer, go to work, look hot, be happy, etc etc. Where as in some countries you have a baby and you stay in bed for awhile with your baby while other people help you with the rest of your responsibilities. That's not always the case but I think it's why we can't make broad comparisons. We have no idea what is going on in anyone else's life. Just recently I was feeling really guilty for needing help with my kiddos and got into the comparison game where to me it looked like everyone else was handling motherhood so much better than me. But after talking to some friends realized that my situation is unique and also that most people do get some sort of support or help via family or paying for it. Totally off on a tangent here...perhaps I should be writing my own blog post. ☺
What does Josh notice about Filipino women and general depression? Or spiritual oppression? As both can feel similar I'm sure. Wow, that sounded almost accusing, I'm not (: Words are tricky.
Secondly I've dealt with both depression and unbalanced hormones all my adult life (hello six month straight period as proof!) and am sure it is not caused by my culture.
Wait, one more thing! I wonder also if Filipino women take contraceptives before and after pregnancy, as is common in our culture. Because I would think the hormone roller coaster could definitely be set in motion faster with them.
Let me clarify that by saying "cultural" I just meant it isn't universal.
Kami - Could be a matter of support, but I'm not sure if they've got a bunch of help after birth.
Abby - So, tell me what you think about the topic. :) I wish I could remember what we were talking about when Josh mentioned that. It was just an off-hand comment that stuck in my brain. There was another issue that he said they don't see there, but I can't remember what it was. Argh. I'm sure there are several things that can factor into PPD, but I do think it's interesting that they're just not seeing it over there and it's common here. Maybe it happens in some areas, but just not to the degree that it does here. I don't know.
Maryanne - You didn't sound accusing. :) I don't think culture causes depression, otherwise we'd all have it at some point. That being said, it's a pretty common problem in America. I wonder what the rates of depression are around the world. I'd guess, and this is just speculation, that the less advanced, technological, etc cultures have lower rates.
Maybe Beep will chime in here. :)
I got curious and snooped around.
"For every one man that develops depression, two women will, regardless of racial or ethnic background or economic status"
As researched by the Journal of the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization
Yeh...too bad I can't speak my mind huh? :) It's an interesting subject for sure!! Think I might read the book now...
Post a Comment