Plot Points #26 💌
Ax throwing, family films, stupidity, and book bathing
Hi everyone and happy Friday!
Last weekend, Pierce and I spent a whole day together, just the two of us, to celebrate our anniversary. We explored the city and found ourselves a delightful new coffee shop (with the most delicious chocolate croissants and pumpkin spice lattes) and then meandered around Barnes & Noble for a while. We didn’t actually buy anything; I might have—dare I say it—too many books at this point, but sometimes it’s nice to just go book bathing, you know what I mean? It’s like forest bathing, but with books. (P.S. Check out our new word of the week 👇🏼.) Later, we had a delicious dinner and went ax-throwing. We were both delighted to discover we have something of an aptitude for throwing sharp weapons at the wall, especially if we can turn the throwing into a competition. Very romantic.
Now that our anniversary is past, it’s time to gear up for Lucy’s 10th birthday sleepover this weekend. Please send earplugs and coffee for the sensory-overloaded and easily sleep-deprived among us. (Me. I mean me.)
Have a beautiful day, friends! Thank you for sharing some of your time here ♥️.
Point #1: “She’s mid-childhood. I’m midlife.”
This gorgeous essay by explores the beauty and strangeness of the middle moments with our kiddos who are not quite little and not quite big, which has been on my mind for weeks as we approach our oldest’s tenth birthday. Just go ahead and grab some tissues.
Point #2: The Godfather movies are excellent family fare.
Anything
writes, I will read. So when she shared a list of eleven great “family” films that are substantial stories without over-the-top kid-friendly schticks, I couldn’t click fast enough. Tsh writes, “I’d rather watch a film that’s a great work of art but with morals that don’t entirely line up with ours over a banal, ridiculous ‘family film’ full of trite nonsense” and I couldn’t agree more! Numbers eight, nine, and ten are always on my list. How about you?Point #3: Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s words are evergreen wisdom.
German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer once penned an incredible essay on stupidity, in which he detailed how and why otherwise intelligent human beings become capable of great evil. When we’ve all become susceptible to slogans without context and bite-size pieces of media that keep us locked in echo chambers, I thought it would be helpful to share Bonhoeffer’s words. May they keep us accountable to ourselves even when it’s easier to just follow the people around us.
Point #4: “Never forgiving yourself (isn’t a virtue).”
Nadia Bolz-Weber is a firestorm of grace and she shoots it straight pretty much every time. This quick essay from her is a big ol’ sigh of relief for all of us who tend to hold ourselves to impossible standards.
Bonus Point:
Word of the Week
Book-Bathing: (v.) To meander amongst the shelves—preferably in an old library or dusty bookstore—and absorb the sights, smells, and sounds; to bathe in the atmospheric warmth of a place full of books.
Reading In The Nook
I gasped when I saw My Friend Anne Frank on the shelf at our local library. This is the long-awaited memoir by Anne’s childhood best friend, Hannah Pick-Goslar, who was the last recorded person to see Anne alive when they found one another in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. Hannah’s intimate relationship with Anne and her own harrowing story of survival is finally shared in this book, mere months after her death in 2022, and I am making my way through it with precision and care. As I’ve shared many times, Anne is the reason I began to write at the age of 11 and her life has influenced mine in countless ways. I’m sure Hannah’s book is going to be just as meaningful.
For fiction, I’m still working on The Wisteria Society for Lady Scoundrels. (So, so fun! Like Enola Holmes but with pirates who sail their houses around instead of ships.) I also picked up Happy Place by Emily Henry of Book Lovers fame. Henry’s novels are genuinely smart, well-written romances and I’ve enjoyed all her work so far.
ALSO…
As we enter into the Advent season, I finally snagged myself the annual She Reads Truth study. I’ve done their book studies on the app many times, but figured it was high time to purchase one in print. This year’s Advent theme is “He Alone Is Worthy” and it’s all about the nature and character of Jesus and how we can honor living in between Advents, so to speak, as we await the second coming of our King. I’m looking forward to spending intentional time in the Word this season.
What books are on your list right now?👇🏼
“I am part of everything that I have read.”
—Theodore Roosevelt—
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I'm doing the She Reads Truth Advent Study too! I've done their studies via the website for years, but back in 2021, I decided to get the physical copy for Advent and I've been doing it annually ever since!