Plot Points #2 💌
Chemistry lessons, traveling pants, and kids theology books
Happy Friday! I hope you’ve all had a lovely week and that all of the moms felt deeply appreciated (and relaxed 🤞🏼) on Mother’s Day! After church, we spent the whole day outside puttering in the back yard—Pierce mowing, me reading, the kids playing—and it was nice to enjoy what will likely be the last of the mild weather before hell (aka summer in the South) arrives in full force.
Speaking of summer, I’m very much looking forward to launching the Summer Book Club with y’all, beginning on June 1st! For our first selection, we will be reading Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Here’s a little blurb about it to whet your whistle:
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
Lessons in Chemistry is a NY Times bestseller, a GMA Book Club pick, and was selected as a favorite by numerous other publications and critics. Sounds like the perfect start to summer, doesn’t it?
If you’re a subscriber, you’re all set to join! All you have to do to be a part of book club discussions is download the Substack app so you can participate in the chat feature. I’ll also be posting thoughts here throughout the month of June.
You can read at whatever pace you want, but I’ll be posting along with this reading plan:
Chapters 1-12: Week of June 2-9
Chapters 13-24: Week of June 12-16
Chapters 25-35: Week of June 19-23
Chapters 35-45: Week of June 26-30
Go ahead and download the app and introduce yourself in the group chat! I can’t wait to read and talk books with you guys 🤟🏼.
And, now, to this week’s Plot Points!
Point #1: “Mothers (and fathers), whose caregiving labors make possible all other goods, are barely given thanks…
It’s time to resurrect the soldier-mother analogy and provide caregiving parents their just due.”
Point #2: I need my passport updated.
Have you been to any of the world’s greatest places?
Point #3: Most mainstream contemporary Christian music is meh,
but this woman—whose new self-titled album is *chef’s kiss*—never lets me down 😍.
Point #4: Who gives a shit about yoga pants?
Point #5: Kids need rich theology, too.
Here are some great book options for the littles in your life.
Bonus Point: Apparently, working out doesn’t have to be terrible.
Try this fun Swiftie-inspired dance workout if you want your legs to be jello the next morning. (And the next 😂.)
“A good answer for provision doesn’t mean freedom from heartache or loss.”
—Tsh Oxenreider, speaking directly to my soul this week—
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