Plot Points #70 💌
Good dads, green flags, reading slumps, and Jane Austen galore
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Hello friends and happy Friday!
I know you’re probably SICK of me right now lol. My third post in a week??? This isn’t Instagram. But seriously, with the serial release of The Bluestockings and Plot Points every Friday, I wasn’t sure when to publish my latest essay. Basically, as soon as I finished it, is when. I got a handful of unsubscribes after that one, but what can you do?
Anyway, tomorrow night my little sister and I are going out to dinner and a show. Her city is putting on a production of Pride & Prejudice at a historic downtown theater, and they’re calling it “a bold, surprising, and boisterous adaptation.” Could be great, could be terrible. Either way, it’s JANE! And my sister! At the same time! Hooray.
I’ve had a lot of caffeine this morning.
Thanks for sharing some of your time with me, friends. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Grace + peace,
Wendi
Word of the Week ✍🏻
Sisu: (n.) a special strength and determination to continue on in moments of adversity.
Point #1: JOHHNY CASH ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
The Chosen creators just continue to knock it out of the park. Gah, I can’t wait.
Point #2: “Without good fathers, we all suffer.”
This post had been on my heart for a good long while, and I finally wrote it down last week. What makes a father so important? And why does he leave such a void when he’s gone? Raising children for over a decade now has given me some thoughts I wanted to share.
Point #3: Green Flag Guy is the hero we all need.
The joy I get from watching this guy’s videos, even the ones with red flags, is unmatched. He’s so wholesome and funny. Just go watch him and see how fast “Get Honey Roasted!” becomes a part of your everyday vocabulary.
Point #4: “Public school may not be perfect, but it is certainly better than assuming every child can be taught at home by a parent.”
I am so grateful to for writing this post. As a public-school-kid-turned-homeschool-mom, I couldn’t agree more that we—as the primary educators of our children, no matter what their learning environment—need one another. Public school is a gift for a hundred reasons. So is the ability to homeschool. We lose our focus on what children need to thrive when we forget that.
Reading in The Nook 📚
I’m in a slump, you guys. I’ve tried starting three historical fiction/fantasy/romance novels this past this week, and…I just don’t care? Everything sounds the same, with the same tropes and the same snark and the same overdone sex scenes. Blah.
It’s time to turn to the classics. My literary palette needs cleansing.
First up is Emma by (do you really need me to tell you this?) Jane Austen. It’s the only one of her novels I don’t own, so a trip to the library was required. I’m really excited to get started!
Theo and I are still reading Prince Caspian, too. My opinion going into it was heavily clouded by the not-so-great movie, but we’re enjoying the Pevensie’s trip back to Narnia and are eager to find out where their adventures lead in later books.
A few of the classic novels on my list for this year are Pride & Prejudice, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Till We Have Faces, and Wuthering Heights. I might dip my toe into Tolkien again, too, since I’ve read The Hobbit but none of LOTR. I’m open to suggestions!
What are you reading right now? 👇🏻
(All Bookshop.org links are affiliates. Thank you for supporting The Nook!)
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
—J.R.R. Tolkien—
Follow along as we read my latest novel, The Bluestockings!
Prologue | Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three
I love that "two sisters" painting, lovely! We're still in the stage of will the kids go to private or public? Honestly public school looks quite likely at this point, but we'll see. The Catholic Church in particular emphasizes that home education is UNIVERSAL and important, no matter what other schooling is involved in a kids' life and I really take this to heart, no matter where our schooling journeys lead us. I'm the granddaughter of a public school teacher who had former students showing up at her funeral when she died at 101. I have endless gratitude and appreciation for teachers and know the true value they have in a child's life. A lot of times the people who condemn public schools have 1) never attended one 2) are believing scare mongering myths and 3) do not realize that NO SCHOOL is the same, anywhere and everywhere, so it's impossible to say all public schools are like xyz. So anyway, yes, concur!!!
Fellow public school turned homeschooling mom here! So true. I had a great public school education, and if I lived in a different area/could guarantee my kids would get a similar experience to what I had, I would be much more open to it. As it is, we found a homeschool/in person hybrid that gives the best of both worlds and has the classical/Catholic focus we wanted. But public schools are so necessary, and it’s a shame they have become political punting grounds for extremes on both sides. And I hope you enjoy Emma. I first read it as a freshman in high school and have loved it more and more with each revisit-Emma’s such a complex heroine whose growth in virtue is all to realistic (lots of stops, regressions, and starts)