booklovers
by the mama-book-lover
Berlin, Germany
We haven’t had much literature and so now we are feasting.
Grandpa is reading a book he had been waiting to find at the library in NZ for months.
Jgirl14 and Jboy13 have spent two days negotiating time in two 500-page Conn Iggulden books, Lord of the Bows and Bones of the Hills. They’ve enjoyed these so much (every spare moment having been spent with noses in them) that they want to find the first in this Mongolian series, Wolf of the Plains. Then when the kids go to bed, Rob dives in for a read!
I have discovered a new bible. I believe passionately about masters of a trade or craft allowing learners to apprentice with them….so imagine my delight to find on the kitchen table (obviously being used), The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Peter Reinhart, the author can obviously bake bread, and he can teach as well; the book is well named. In fact, he teaches so well that I even read the bits I would usually be inclined to skip over like how enzymes work. Then there are the recipes. I haven’t had the opportunity to try any yet, but they just look like they’re going to work. I’ve jotted down a few just in case we’ll be able to bake in the next six months. Then I think we’ll need to buy the book!
We met Tom Hodgkinson in Cambodia – at least that’s where we read his ideas on idleness. I found his subsequent work on the shelf this morning, and while I was fairly certain our definitions of freedom would differ (correct!), I skimmed through “How to be Free” in a couple of hours. I am now sitting here wondering how two people with such clearly opposing worldviews can think so similarly (you can see I appreciate this book more than his first) The only conclusion I can reach is that Tom advocates living a lifestyle (for the most part) that fits with my definition of freedom – the ability to live in line with universal principles devised and revealed by God. He would no doubt be horrified at such a definition; fellow Christ-followers might be equally horrified if they picked up his book and saw drinking-to-excess and mind-altering-drug-use <wink>
Here are some totally random thoughts from the book that I’ll be mulling over in the next few days:
- the problem with modern families is that they are too small (heehee) Let’s see if he adds to his three-so-far children!
- career does not deliver the freedom and fulfilment promised to women as they “escaped” the confines of homes filled with children
- collecting water from a well is ultimately simpler than turning on a tap
(having just done this for a week, initially I thought he was just being romantically idealistic – but I ended up agreeing with his bigger-picture argument) - shovelling your own sh*t is not so bad
(we’ve been doing that too – and cow dung as well – and I agree wholeheartedly) - the phrase “work-life balance” is philosophically flawed – HEARTY AMEN!
- boycott supermarkets (he has compelling reasons to do so)
- be a creator
- work in community
- reject waste
- choose natural renewable resources over plastic
- use your hands, choose your tools, be wary of machines – he even has a horse
- grow (some of) your own vegetables
- choose beauty and courtesy
(OK so I’m condensing his ideas considerably – he devotes two entire chapters to these concepts) - value co-operation over competition
- practise hospitality
- get rid of your excuses
- forget the government
(so he’s more anarchistic than I am, but I share his sentiments about government over-involvement in our lives) - and I really like this chapter title: fleeing the prison of consumer desire
So while us big folks have been reading, the little kids have had a Lego catalogue and a supermarket chain brochure to pore over (ironical given the last sentence), but they have also been opening books and running their fingers along the words – no pictures, no English, but satisfaction!
(And still the motorhome saga continues….unresolved…..definitely impossible for us to do, but *may* be possible to put it into someone else’s name, and we met Someone Else three days ago, so we might take the risk and sign our purchases over to him – just so long as it is not a problem to The Authorities that he doesn’t have a driver’s license and happens to be Canadian….we’ll find out tomorrow afternoon)
Tags: book, children, learning, postcard: Germany, recreation
rayres
must check it out!