Ah I have had The Heart of the Matter on my shelf for YEARS and I never want to pick it up. Maybe next Lent! Have you read The End of the Affair?
I also have been meaning to read The Genesis of Gender since last summer! It is also sitting and waiting for me on my shelf. I love your thoughts on NFP. We were the weird protestants that didn't believe in birth control and therefore it wasn't a road block to becoming Catholic (which was nice to have ONE easy part). But I am so glad for the extra "peer pressure" that the Church provides. It would have been really easy to justify birth control for hyper fertility if the Church didn't have such a clear stance!
The bookshelf piece by Joy Clarkson had be in stitches!
Can I add a bookshelf organizing category? I use the "my husband keeps bringing books home from work and I have no time to worry about it so there is no organization and it is chaos" system....The shelf in our living room is organized by author or publisher/books I want people to see. I really need to spend some good time organizing bookshelves but it keeps getting put on the back burner!
It's VERY worth it and I think it would be an excellent (f very sad) book club read. I was tearing up last night and couldn't fall asleep for a while after finishing it. And I haven't yet, but I want to pick it up soon given how good The Heart of the Matter was. And do-it's a quick read but it packs a punch. One easy part is nice haha. And it is such a hard thing to think 'outside' of if you don't have the support of conviction/exposure to other options because it is so pervasive/matter of fact for most people. And wasn't it hilarious? Gotta know what's worth prioritizing. I love the idea of organizing by what you want people to notice/see, bookshelves are such a revealing part of a home so that makes sense.
Our organization system is “we moved when our firstborn was 4M old so the books had to go somewhere quickly”. There are fiction shelves and nonfiction shelves, but that’s the best I’ve got for this season of life. 😂
You have to accept the season you're in! Fiction/nonfiction is the most basic divide so I get that. I spent waaaay too much of our last move organizing books by genre and pretending that it was super helpful/moving the process along.
My books are mostly organized by color, and upon seeing them so many people exclaim "I love the look but I could never do it to my own books!" And they tell me their varying objections: the horror of splitting up series, never being able to find the book they want, fiction touching non-fiction etc. And it just makes me laugh because it works for me. I won't split up a series if it aesthetically works better together on my shelves. I remember my books by their appearance so finding them is not an issue. And I don't mind childrens books touching philosophy. Plus I have a lot of tchotchkes, wooden animal toys (little kids always are utterly delighted by this when they visit and we pull them all down to play with haha), and picture frames all over my shelves so it's not the sterile monochrome color scheme that a lot of pictures online suggest. And most importantly, it brings me SO much joy to look at. When we moved the last time, we got rid of our tv and now our wall-to-wall bookshelves are the focal point of our living room and it just feels right that way. Haha a lot of thoughts on book organization!
I loved the Abigail Favale book so much. I plan to have my kids read it as part of our ethics/philosophy curriculum when they're teenagers.
Very intrigued by The Heart of the Matter. That's a Greene novel I haven't read.
Purgatorio was also my favorite when I read them back in college. Must reread soon!
Ah I have had The Heart of the Matter on my shelf for YEARS and I never want to pick it up. Maybe next Lent! Have you read The End of the Affair?
I also have been meaning to read The Genesis of Gender since last summer! It is also sitting and waiting for me on my shelf. I love your thoughts on NFP. We were the weird protestants that didn't believe in birth control and therefore it wasn't a road block to becoming Catholic (which was nice to have ONE easy part). But I am so glad for the extra "peer pressure" that the Church provides. It would have been really easy to justify birth control for hyper fertility if the Church didn't have such a clear stance!
The bookshelf piece by Joy Clarkson had be in stitches!
Can I add a bookshelf organizing category? I use the "my husband keeps bringing books home from work and I have no time to worry about it so there is no organization and it is chaos" system....The shelf in our living room is organized by author or publisher/books I want people to see. I really need to spend some good time organizing bookshelves but it keeps getting put on the back burner!
It's VERY worth it and I think it would be an excellent (f very sad) book club read. I was tearing up last night and couldn't fall asleep for a while after finishing it. And I haven't yet, but I want to pick it up soon given how good The Heart of the Matter was. And do-it's a quick read but it packs a punch. One easy part is nice haha. And it is such a hard thing to think 'outside' of if you don't have the support of conviction/exposure to other options because it is so pervasive/matter of fact for most people. And wasn't it hilarious? Gotta know what's worth prioritizing. I love the idea of organizing by what you want people to notice/see, bookshelves are such a revealing part of a home so that makes sense.
Heart of the Matter is Greene's best "Catholic" novel, in my opinion. Really great. Thanks for the "Talking Trollope" recommendation <3
I finished it yesterday and it broke my heart. I am going to be haunted by it for a long time. And enjoy! It was a very fun episode
Thanks so much for the shout out! ❤️
Thank you for your writing!
Our organization system is “we moved when our firstborn was 4M old so the books had to go somewhere quickly”. There are fiction shelves and nonfiction shelves, but that’s the best I’ve got for this season of life. 😂
You have to accept the season you're in! Fiction/nonfiction is the most basic divide so I get that. I spent waaaay too much of our last move organizing books by genre and pretending that it was super helpful/moving the process along.
My books are mostly organized by color, and upon seeing them so many people exclaim "I love the look but I could never do it to my own books!" And they tell me their varying objections: the horror of splitting up series, never being able to find the book they want, fiction touching non-fiction etc. And it just makes me laugh because it works for me. I won't split up a series if it aesthetically works better together on my shelves. I remember my books by their appearance so finding them is not an issue. And I don't mind childrens books touching philosophy. Plus I have a lot of tchotchkes, wooden animal toys (little kids always are utterly delighted by this when they visit and we pull them all down to play with haha), and picture frames all over my shelves so it's not the sterile monochrome color scheme that a lot of pictures online suggest. And most importantly, it brings me SO much joy to look at. When we moved the last time, we got rid of our tv and now our wall-to-wall bookshelves are the focal point of our living room and it just feels right that way. Haha a lot of thoughts on book organization!
I loved the Abigail Favale book so much. I plan to have my kids read it as part of our ethics/philosophy curriculum when they're teenagers.
Very intrigued by The Heart of the Matter. That's a Greene novel I haven't read.
Purgatorio was also my favorite when I read them back in college. Must reread soon!