The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction, written by Justin Whitmel Earley
Focusing on four daily and four weekly habits, this book explains why each habit is important, gives practical suggestions for implementing the habits, includes personal anecdotes, and provides several recommended resources. And it's all framed with the humble understanding that we'll fail regularly. This book is clearly and intentionally written from the perspective of the author's Christian faith, but the behaviors suggested are applicable, doable, and beneficial regardless of religious beliefs. I learned about this book on The Daily Grace Co., episode 292, Summer Playlist: Habits of Purpose w/ Justin Whitmel Earley and really enjoyed it.
p. 8, Education is what you learn and know - things that are taught. Formation is what you practice and do - things that are caught. The most important things in life, of course, are caught not taught, and formation is largely about all the unseen habits.
p. 34, Legalism is the belief that the world hangs on what I do and that God and people love me based on how I perform. This is an important concept because it's the exact opposite of the gospel: God loves us not because of what we do, but rather in spite of what we do - in spite of our good deeds and our bad deeds. Legalism takes the unmerited love of God and bends it into something earned - and just like that, the world is about us and not about him.
p. 67, Attention is our precious commodity. Our life is defined by what we pay attention to. This means our life is defined by which of the many cries for our attention we heed.
p. 72, There's no love of neighbor outside of attention to neighbor.
p. 85, Anger and fear have something in common: we become the center of things.
p. 89, Planned scrolling can be very different. If you carefully curate what is in your feed and when you will scroll, the dynamic radically shifts. But in general, I believe we should be wary of the flicking thumb motion. The restless thumb often correlates to the restless heart.
p. 98, Vulnerability and time turn people who have a relationship in to people who have a friendship. That's what friendship is: vulnerability across time.
p. 101, It's worth noting that as hard as telling the truth is, telling someone that you haven't been telling the truth is even harder.
p. 155, Place habits before love, and you will be full of legalism, but place love before habits, and you will be full of the gospel. God's love for us really can change the way we live, but the way we live will never change God's love for us.
p. 165, Any process of curating a beautiful life will be laced with failure. That's what process means: learning as you go. But that's not an impediment to a beautiful life: it's the way to it.
p. 184, Like it or not, you're not as independent thinker as you wish you were. You become the stories you watch. Choose them carefully. Choose ones that challenge your perspective, ones that you know you won't agree with.
Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books, written by Hwang Bo-reum and translated from Korean by Shanna Tan
Books about books always intrigue me, but this one was different than others I've read because it's a compilation of short essays. The author focuses on many aspects of reading - what we read (bestsellers, novels, poetry, etc.), places we get books (libraries, indie bookshops, etc.), our motivation to read (using a timer, to seek answers, to live the life we want, etc.), and more (quitting books, collecting quotes, book discussions, etc.). It falls into the "it's fine" category for me, neither boring nor awesome. Although I felt mostly neutral about it, I did like the convenience of being able to read an essay or two in tiny pockets of time. I learned about this book on What Should I Read Next?, episode 515 - I can't read all the books, and that's okay.
p. 42, But when a person with a narrow outlook on what life looks like starts to read, they change. The moment we realise that the life we struggle to flee from might be what someone else years for, our worldview, once the size of a keyhole, expands as if we're standing in front of a full-length window, and our ears, clogged with lies and exaggeration, clear to welcome genuine voices speaking to us.
p. 74, Whether it's the books I've been meaning to get to, books I'm seeing for the first time, those with worn covers or brand-new ones with stiff spines - every book seems to be waving at me: Come, read me!
p. 162, But when one chooses to fixate on a problem, the problem seems to grow larger than life, and life itself turns into a problem.
p. 182, It's not going to be a light or easy read. But we shouldn't run away. Many truths in the world are hard-hitting. If you need something easy and comforting, there are self-help books. But there are times we need to learn to live with discomfort.
'Don't run away,' I remind myself. I tend to stay in my comfort zone, and reading is my way of pushing myself beyond that. Stereotypes or biases aren't easy to break; I want to grow into a more mature person.
Finding Chika: A Little Girl, and Earthquake, and the Making of a Family, written and narrated by Mitch Albom
Having read some of Albom's other books, this one piqued my interest when I saw it as an "available now" option on Libby. It's a memoir about a young Haitian girl at an orphanage that Albom's in charge of and the relationship he and his wife have with her when she comes to America for medical care. It's their bittersweet story of love, pain, faith, grief, and family. An advantage of listening to the audiobook version of the story is that it includes several recordings of Chika's voice.
2:15:59, Sometimes life throws a saddle on you before you are ready to run.
Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make Your Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy, written and narrated by Chris Duffy
I expected to find myself more engaged in this book than I ended up being, but it was still an interesting look at the value of humor in our lives. I particularly appreciated the challenge for people to pay attention to their surroundings and to use humor as a way to connect with other people. I learned about this book from the 1/16/26 edition of Shelf Awareness.
9:54, A sense of humor is a portal to a better life.
32:44, How do they put the toilet paper on the roll? Do they do it correctly (with the paper coming down over the top) or like a degenerate (hanging down loose and wild in the back like some kind of paper mullet)?
I'll Push You: A Journey of 500 Miles, Two Best Friends, and One Wheelchair, written and narrated by Patrick Gray and Justin SkeesuckChosen from the "available now" options on Libby, I enjoyed this memoir about two men who traveled the Camino de Santiago together. Lifelong best friends, one has a disease that has slowly (and sometimes quickly) taken away the use of his arms and legs. This book is not only about one pushing the other and a wheelchair through the mountains of Spain for several weeks, but also about their shared history, the impact of commitment in a friendship, the blessing of helping others and being helped by them, the kindness of strangers, and the personal growth experienced on a journey countless people have taken as a spiritual pilgrimage.
5:21:34, That's when I realized that more often than not the miracle isn't the absence of struggle, disease, or pain. It is the presence of grace and certainty; the ability to face strife, the unknown, or a slow death without fear.
5:25:43, Life is messy and the only way I can make it through is to let others carry the burdens I can't. That I have to let go of the safety I find in my own abilities. I have to let go of the reins so I can embrace the provision of others.
The Letter Keeper, written by Charles Martin and narrated by Jonathan K. Riggs
Having read the first novel in this series back in December, I enjoyed this next installment of the story. The main character is a man who's dedicated his life to rescuing kids, primarily girls, who have been victims of human trafficking. New love, a second marriage, and all the women he cares about most being stolen at one time are at the center of this story that also includes deep friendship, fierce loyalty, and sacrificial love.
4:19:01, "There's a thing that happens when we start to believe the lies about ourselves, and when we think other people believe them to. Those lies become our prison, the bars we see through. They hold us captive. It's like some giant hand holding our head beneath the surface of the water. Every few minutes it will let us up, only to sink us farther the next go around. A vicious cycle. In my experience, only one thing on planet earth breaks the power of that hand and flings wide the prison doors."
She nodded, whispering. "The truth?"
"And until you speak it with your mouth, out loud, you're bound."
And the Mountains Echoed, written by Khaled Hosseini and narrated by Khaled Hosseini, Navid Negahban, and Shohreh Aghdashloo
This was an "available now" option on Libby and I really liked A Thousand Splendid Suns, another book by the same author, a couple years ago, so I checked it out. The story centers on a young brother and sister from a poor family in Afghanistan, separated in childhood when the sister was sold to a couple without children. Along with the stories of their lives over many decades, the book also focuses on the lives of several secondary characters and family relationships. Although I didn't dislike it, it felt a bit disjointed and wandering to me. I wonder if I'd have felt differently if I'd read the print version. That being said, I loved the narration and enjoyed each of the storylines.
Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, written by Virginia Roberts Giuffre with collaborator Amy Wallace
Published six months after the author's suicide, and including an introduction from her collaborator written after Giuffre's death, this book is an important and challenging one to read. As one of the many survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking, and one who went public with accusations involving both him and Ghislaine Maxwell, her story will break your heart and disgust you. It will also make you admire her fight for accountability, despite great personal cost, and increase your respect for those who advocate for victims. Broken into four sections, you'll learn about her childhood, the years she was trafficked, her life after escaping, and her legal battle for justice.
It goes without saying that there are general content warnings because the book centers on sexual abuse and pedophilia, but I also want to give a specific warning that there are detailed descriptions of some interactions, particularly in the first half. While I'm not offended by those descriptions because I think they're critical for understanding the horror of what happened, I personally chose to skim over some parts because I'd read enough to get the gist of things and reading every word wasn't going to benefit me.
The Poetry Remedy: Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind, and Soul, written by William Sieghart
Originally published in the UK as The Poetry Pharmacy, the same name as the in person poetry consultations the author has with people, this book shares specific poems for specific problems. I like the format, which names the condition being treated (need for reassurance, loss of creativity, regret, social overload, unrequited love, and so on), other ailments it could be suitable for, one page of the author's thoughts on the topic, and one page (occasionally more for a long poem) with a single relevant poem. I learned about this book from This Book Made Me Think of You, written by Libby Page, which I read last month.
p. 22, Welcome your sorrows, as you would a friend or a guest to your life. Let them perch on you for a while, like a particularly bold butterfly. And yet by the same token, don't clutch them to you. Don't enjoy their company too much. One day they're going to want to fly away; and you're going to have to let them.
p. 120, In their heads and in their jumbled suitcases, first-generation immigrants bring whole new worlds with them to their adopted homes; their different perspective allows them to see the places they move to in ways that more established or jaded residents probably never would, and to help others see it that way, too.
p. 160, The wisest people know that the fact something happens to everyone does not somehow invalidate its agony. Pain is pain, whether it is unique or universal.
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 5, written by Beth Brower and narrated by Genevieve GauntI'm still enjoying this series and the progressive character development. It's a good mix of lighthearted fluff and real life struggles. I love its focus on friendship, as well as how grief is handled.
6:35:15, I've decided positivity is the Everest of virtues. You have to not only confront the dismal realities of life but choose, oft times, to blatantly ignore them.
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 6, written by Beth Brower and narrated by Genevieve Gaunt
Six down, two to go in this series. I love all the characters, even the obnoxious ones, and am so impressed with all the voices the narrator uses.
45:08, I've never thought of myself as a person who hates. The word itself hits its target with a sickening thud. I know this from having been on the receiving end of such sentiments. However, I do defend the philosophy that someone can fit rather snugly on an enemies list without it sneaking over into unadulterated hatred. As a less than average Christian, I do my best to keep my feelings in the realm of extravagant dislike with a hefty dose of disdain.
