July Reads

I haven't posted a quick reading update in a long while, so I thought I would share a few of the July reads I have been digging into and learning from. What did you read in July?

Emma by Jane Austen

I haven't read a Jane Austen novel in a long time (too long) and I would say the perfect summer time Austen book is Emma, which has been so fun to re-read. I am picking up so many of the nuances (irony and satire bits) that I absolutely missed in my previously readings years and years ago. The new film adaptation is pretty good (definitely entertaining and vibrant) but I will always say the book is better and I stand by that claim. Austen captures the social aspects and the personalities of the characters so well in the dialogues. You can tell when Ms. Bates talks on and on for a page and a half, jumping from one topic to another like a distracted squirrel, that being around her for more than a short time would be exhausting. You can read how well Emma's attitude and stance on social situations (and her matchmaking) feeds how she thinks she is correct in everything, when she is actually completely and utterly wrong, wrecking havoc over many lives. She is blind to many things, which creates the mishaps (like a comedy of errors) that occur throughout the novel. I got my mum to read this with me, and I hope she's enjoying it.

Aristotle's Way by Edith Hall

This summer I have been fully diving into philosophy. I wrote about this before, and how I missed through my schooling having any sort of adequate dive into philosophy. I am catching up now, reading and listening to lectures and talks on various thinkers through the ages. Aristotle is pretty much essential reading as an ancient philosopher who still resounds today. I read Aristotle's Poetics earlier this year and loved it, so this was a great follow-up to that, with even more information on how he lived and thought. So much of our modern view of how to live a happy life (a good life) comes from Aristotle. 

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

I have been wanting to re-read this wonderful book for a couple years now. My deeper dives into philosophy and early Greek teachings have really motivated me to pick this up again, and I am so glad I did. This book is nothing like other Lewis books, but it's right up his street if you know anything about Lewis's interests and study of myths. It's a story from the perspective of the ugly sister, Orual, to the beautiful Psyche, taking place in pre-Christian times. Their father, the king, is a bit unhinged, and he follows the priest's (to the gods) advice to sacrifice his daughter, Psyche. She is left in the wild for the beast to claim, thereby freeing the king. Psyche is, instead, claimed by the god, Cupid, who loves her and she lives in joy with him. Then, Orual travels to visit and see her sister, overjoyed to find her alive, but her jealousy changes everything.

Bullies and Saints by John Dickson

I am deeply interested in learning more about church history, leaders, and events in what has shaped the church since its establishment in the first century. Sometimes we only know the tales as they are told from one side, glossing over the background motivations behind some particular event. The church is not innocent through history - some of the decisions made by leaders of the church caused death and destruction (think about The Crusades, which is just one example). There are two sides to the actions. Good and bad have been done. I am soaking in the knowledge so I can feel my way around history and understand how sweeping changes were caused. I believe the only way to understand what might be happening in our nations and churches today is to look back and grasp some of what already happened (leading to ramifications we feel today).