The following post comes courtesy of “Reformed Reader”, as well as “Reformation21″. This should interest Reformed, confessional Christians, especially our Presbyterian fellow saints.

The Westminster Assembly Project: Announcement

Posted by Reformed Reader on January 29, 2010

This is good news for students of theology and church history, especially those of us with a Presbyterian “bent.”  Reformation Heritage Books (RHB) and The Westminster Assembly Project have teamed up to publish some older documents from the theologically fruitful Westminster Assembly and some of its delegates.

Note: The Westminster Assembly Project website is www.westminsterassembly.org

It was in 1993 that I first set foot in the USA, briefly treading a path through an Atlanta airport being refurbished ready for the forthcoming Olympics before making it to Tampa.

Settling in to a three week vacation the local paper was one of my early purchases and amongst its pages I first read Daniel Ruth. Over the years since his columns have been one of the many joys of my trips to central Florida and now I can read him on line.

Try him yourself here; http://www.tampabay.com/writers/article934435.ece

The title caught my attention first. Then I saw the cover and I was hooked. It’s a little bit fairytale, a little bit cartoon, and that suits the book very well.

The opening sets the scene wonderfully. A Victorian mansion where the gates are always locked. The master shut them when his wife died and nobody goes through them without his permission. And so his twin daughters have been isolated from the world. They have their grandmother and their spinster aunts, but they too are under the master’s thumb.

He is a collector, a traveller, a man of science, a man with a wide range of interests. And, though he doesn’t intend it, that helps his daughters to grow up to be strong, intelligent and independent.

But can they triumph over their circumstances? Lilian has disgraced herself and been swiftly married off to a missionary who takes her to India. Alice has been left behind to care for her father’s vast collections, under the watchful eye of the sinister Doctor Cattermole.

Each woman is at the start of an adventure. As the story alternated between the pair they meet with romance, action adventure and intrigue. They have triumphs, but they have setbacks too. The story is fabulous and, because the girls have grown up away from society, they are oblivious to social strictures and simply use their hearts and minds as they steer their extraordinary courses.

No, of course it isn’t realistic, but it’s an entertaining story very well told. The characters are simply but clearly defined, and they all do their jobs very well. The settings are effective too, and some wonderful scenes are played out, creating more than enough drama to keep the pages turning.

And along the way the author is able to say great deal about the position of women in Victorian England, the Raj, science, collecting, and a few more things that I can’t quite put a name to.

There were moments I worried. When the story seemed to becoming a little bit too cartoon-like, one-dimensional. But, though it rattled a few times, it just about stayed on the tracks. And wound up with a spectacular finale, that saw all the womenfolk, grandmother and aunts included, rise up to seize control of their lives. It was the kind of ending that makes you want to hold your breath and cheer at the same time!

Definitely a book with the wow factor!

NOTE:- The Peachgrowers’ Almanac is the UK title. In the USA, and maybe some other countries the same book goes by A Proper Education for Girls.

This year’s Dickens continues apace. I was aiming for a chapter a day, but after two weeks I’m about to head into chapter twenty-eight. Still enjoying the journey and still looking forward to finding out what’s going to happen next.

I broke off last week with Nell and her grandfather creeping out of his shop, hoping to escape his gambling debts and build a better life. I was on tenterhooks, wondering where they would go and what they would do, but the story paused in the shop.

Messrs Quilp and Brass awoke and a scene and a wonderfully comic scene ensued. Hearing noises outside Mr Quilp assumed that his wife was arriving – but no, it was Mr Swiveller, come to enquire after the old man’s health.

“Now, just as Mr Quilp laid his hand upon the lock, and saw with great astonishment that the fastenings were undone, the knocking came again with the most irritating violence, and the daylight which had been shining through the key-hole was intercepted on the outside by a human eye. The dwarf was very much exasperated, and wanting somebody to wreak his ill-humour upon, determined to dart out suddenly, and favour Mrs Quilp with a gentle acknowledgment of her attention in making that hideous uproar.

With this view, he drew back the lock very silently and softly, and opening the door all at once, pounced out upon the person on the other side, who had at that moment raised the knocker for another application, and at whom the dwarf ran head first: throwing out his hands and feet together, and biting the air in the fulness of his malice.

So far, however, from rushing upon somebody who offered no resistance and implored his mercy, Mr Quilp was no sooner in the arms of the individual whom he had taken for his wife than he found himself complimented with two staggering blows on the head, and two more, of the same quality, in the chest; and closing with his assailant, such a shower of buffets rained down upon his person as sufficed to convince him that he was in skilful and experienced hands. Nothing daunted by this reception, he clung tight to his opponent, and bit and hammered away with such good-will and heartiness, that it was at least a couple of minutes before he was dislodged. Then, and not until then, Daniel Quilp found himself, all flushed and dishevelled, in the middle of the street, with Mr Richard Swiveller performing a kind of dance round him and requiring to know ‘whether he wanted any more?’”

I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a two juxtaposed scenes of emotional drama and high comedy as much as I enjoyed chapters 12 and 13 of The Old Curiosity Shop.

In due course it is established that the old man and his granddaughter have vanished. Mr Quilp wants them found so that he can recover the money he is owed; Mr Swiveller has been convinced by Nell’s brother Fred that he should seek her hand in marriage as she will inherit a fortune. And so the former presses the latter into service to track the pair down.

Meanwhile Jem has lost his friend and lost his job. But sometimes good things do happen to good people. Jem is rewarded with a new job in another part of London.

“It would be difficult to say which party appeared most pleased with this arrangement, the conclusion of which was hailed with nothing but pleasant looks and cheerful smiles on both sides. It was settled that Kit should repair to his new abode on the next day but one, in the morning; and finally, the little old couple, after bestowing a bright half-crown on little Jacob and another on the baby, took their leaves; being escorted as far as the street by their new attendant, who held the obdurate pony by the bridle while they took their seats, and saw them drive away with a lightened heart.”

This sub-plot is nicely done and, for the moment at least, a nice contrast with the other strands of the story.

But of course the question remains – what has happened to Nell and her grandfather. They have set out into the county.

“They were now in the open country; the houses were very few and scattered at long intervals, often miles apart. Occasionally they came upon a cluster of poor cottages, some with a chair or low board put across the open door to keep the scrambling children from the road, others shut up close while all the family were working in the fields. These were often the commencement of a little village: and after an interval came a wheelwright’s shed or perhaps a blacksmith’s forge; then a thriving farm with sleepy cows lying about the yard, and horses peering over the low wall and scampering away when harnessed horses passed upon the road, as though in triumph at their freedom.”

Lovely prose paints some wonderful pictures as Nell and her grandfather move on, spending time with circus folk and at a school, but always moving on in search of a new home. It’s lovely, it’s entertaining, the bond between grandfather and grandchild is movingly portrayed. But I’m starting to feel that maybe I’m being manipulated. The angelic child, always helping, sewing, reading the inscription on a gravestone to a bereaved mother who can no longer make out the letters. It’s laid on just a little bit to thickly. And I don’t like that way that Nell’s grandfather has been left without a name, always refered to as the old man or her grandfather. A little more simplicity, a little less sentiment would have served the story much better.

But I’m still enjoying the journey and the storytelling, still too engaged to want to analyse too much. I wonder what’s going to happen next, how this is all going to come together …

NEWTON READS

BOYS, GIRLS AND OTHER
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
by Rosalind Wiseman
Attend an author led discussion on
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
7:00-8:30 P.M.
Newton Free Library
330 Homer St. Newton, MA 02459
www.newtonfreelibrary.net

The Newton Partnership is holding a weeklong Circle of Respect community campaign from March 14-20 which is designed to promote respect, prevent cyber-bullying, and promote internet safety.

As part of campaign, the Newton Free Library and The Newton Partnership are co-sponsoring a city-wide read of Rosalind Wiseman´s latest book, BOYS, GIRLS AND OTHER HAZARDOUS MATERIALS. The novel is written from Wiseman´s expert perspective with honest prose, capturing the humor, tone and drama of the high school experience.

Community members are invited to read the book (which is available at the Newton Free Library, in school libraries, and in book stores) and attend a special event at the Newton Free Library on March 17 at 7:00 pm when Rosalind Wiseman will lead a discussion, which will be followed by a book signing. Parents are especially encouraged to read the book with their children, ages 12 and up.

Rosalind Wiseman is an internationally recognized author and educator on children, teens, parenting, bullying, social justice and ethical leadership. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Queen Bees & Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World; Queen Bee Moms & Kingpin Dads; and Owning Up Curriculum: Empowering Adolescents to Confront Social Cruelty, Bullying, and Injustice. Wiseman writes a monthly column for Family Circle and is a frequent guest on the Today Show. She has been profiled in The New York Times, People,
Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, USA Today, Oprah,
CNN, Good Morning America, and National Public Radio affiliates throughout the country.

My mom called me all excited about this book. She stumbled across it on the internet and was intrigued by the story, a piece of US history that I’m sure most have never heard. She’d been reading for an hour before she called me and an hour later I was out hunting for it at the local bookstore. (I had to go to two before I found it-always call around first!)

Wench is a fictional account of the happenings at a resort in Ohio. But first, a bit about this resort. According to the author’s note Tawawa Resort opened in 1852 near Xenia, Ohio. She says that Southern slave holders visited the resort and brought along slaves as accompaniment. According to local history many of these slaves were mistresses, hence the name wench, and were a reason for the resort’s decline. Other visitors, including Northern abolitionists were not keen on these openly displayed relationships. Tawawa closed its doors in 1855. The Cincinnati Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church bought the land in 1856 and established the Ohio African University. After the beginning of the Civil War the school closed. The African Methodist Episcopal Church bought the property in 1863 and the school was renamed Wilberforce University. The Historical Marker Database has a bit more information about this site. Mom says she read that Perkins-Valdez imagined what it would be like to be an enslaved woman traveling to this resort.

The story centers around four women-slaves who accompany their masters to Tawawa House each summer for a vacation. They are also their master’s lovers and in some cases the mothers of their children. They have become close friends and each looks forward to this vacation and sprucing up the small cottages, and getting away from drab and dangerous plantation life. The men camp, hunt, fish, dine and smoke cigars while the women meet to share stories, recipes, and serve as a comfort to each other. These are women that can understand and appreciate each other’s circumstance. Initially we get to know each woman and a bit about her life.

Reenie comes to the resort with ‘Sir’ who is her master, brother, and lover. Sweet has multiple children at home and must continue to work in spite of her pregnancy. Glory, a Quaker with anti-slavery sentiments, lives with her husband near Tawawa House. Their farm supplies food to the resort. Described as a “Northern white… who didn’t understand the rules”, she sympathizes with the women and is willing to risk her life if she can help.

Mawu who, in an act of defiance, changed her name from Betsy accompanies Mr. Taylor (‘Tip’) up from Louisiana. She does not like him but he insists on being her lover. She has born him four children three of which he sold, the other suffered brain damage after a fall. Mawu is the newest to the group of women. She comes to Tawawa red hair ablaze; she refuses to have more children and is alive with thoughts of escape and of spells and herbs.

Lizzie (Eliza) belongs to Nathaniel Drayle of Tennessee both emotionally and physically. She has born him two children Nate Jr. his spitting image and Rabbit (May) who looks like a ‘white doll’. His wife Fran is not able to have children and overlooks the fact that her husband is sleeping with Lizzie. Lizzie has lived and worked in the house since she was a young girl. Drayle taught her how to read and favored her over the other slaves. As a young girl she learned early that she could receive things from him if she gave pieces of herself. She struggles with her love and affection for Drayle against the backdrop of realizing that she has no real choice, she is not free and neither are her children. She constantly struggles with the desire to escape but is held back by the fact that to escape would mean risking her children’s lives. Isn’t Drayle good to her? He tells her he loves her and does things for her and her children, her life can’t be so bad enough as to run away. She contemplates Mawu’s question: “Is he God to you?” But Drayle, like the other slave holders, is unpredictable. The life of a slave is unpredictable. As the story progresses, we learn more about Lizzie’s life and the story focuses on her point of view for the duration.

Time passes slowly until the women can make it back to their cottages at the resort. We are able to see what the resort means to each woman. The moral predicament is a delicate and complex one: that of slave and mistress, of love and contempt. At times the women wield amazing power and at others they are painfully reminded of their place in the world.

The servants did not hide their curiosity as the slave women walked through the kitchen. Each woman had experienced a range of reactions from the slaves back home: jealousy, pride, pity. Here in Ohio, they had not spoken much about what the free colored people thought of women like them. This was partly because they did not care. They had each other, unlike down south. There it was a lonely battle.

Wench is Dolen Perkins-Valdez’ debut novel and overall, not bad at all. This is a story I’ve read many times, though it never felt recycled. The inclusion of this piece of history made for an interesting story. The women were all very real to me especially Lizzie. It was obvious that by the end of the novel she’d been changed by her friends, her summers at Tawawa House, and new discoveries. The only thing that I would have wanted a bit more of was description. Sometimes I couldn’t quite imagine the surroundings; the clinking of china at the table, the dust flying in the slave quarters, the flouncing dresses of women in town. But then again, some people feel bogged down by that sort of thing. In historical novels for me it is sometimes the best part.

Off to drop this one in the mail, Ma is eagerly awaiting.

by Keith Donohue

I love this book. Overall it is about coming of age, about finding one’s own identity. For me, it reads mostly like a story about courage. To find an identity, you have to have courage to face the past. Face all the wrong decisions you have made and the consequences they introduce and the effects on where you are at this point of time in life. That is not an easy thing to do. It requires honesty, a complete honesty to oneself.

Back to the holiday season or some usual parties around. We meet people and we tell them something about ourselves. Sometimes trivial things, mostly things that do not matter to anyone. We meet up friends and tell them stories and what happened in life. Sometimes it is not trivial things but still it is a version to tell other people. To say it serves a particular purpose would be exaggerating. In the end we tell because we want to and we need comforts or attention. But are we manipulating the words and sequences and happenings that we tell others so that it can be true in a more preferable way in real life? It is not outright lying. In fact, it is more like wishful thinking. We tell people the things we wish to be true. Sometimes we are so good that we ourselves would start to believe in the version we tell other people.

Sometimes this can do good since we could selectively edit out the parts that we don’t want and only keep the parts that we can accept. It at least helps getting along with the flow. But the truth will catch up in the end. Lying to others is hard and lying to self is even harder. Time reveals. Heart never heals with lies or manipulations. Sometimes we are so steeped in the perception we created that we forget what it is really like. At the moment of introspection, it could be very confusing or very lost.

Then comes courage. Aniday, or Henry Day, they led lives that plagued them and made them always questioning the alternatives, the paths never partook and the lives that were taken away from them by fate. They were normal human boys that were kidnapped by changelings and therefore had to wait for decades for their turn to come back to the human society they so longed for but with a secret to keep for life and heavy emotional luggage to dredge through. In the end, they confronted each other and made decisions to accept. That is the moment when the heart leaps with hope and life opens up, finally. Without the courage to face their past, they would forever cower in a dark corner and long for things that can never be theirs.

One can only applaud such courage and hope it comes when needed.

The years went by, and from being a pupil I passed to being a teacher. Why hurry? Now that I am dead I no longer have to count minutes. My memory is intact; memories are more tangible than reality. My life flashes past in front of me at the speed of light, assails me and then withdraws without warning. All that I could not grasp while still alive comes back to me intermittently. I am a witness to the visible and the invisible: now I can tell the whole story.

We meet Rikkat Kunt just as her life is ending. It is where the story of her life as a calligrapher begins. Calligraphy is a male dominated career, an art form that is highly regarded. We follow her path to practice among the best, to learn from the great masters. Rikkat describes the moments of calligraphy showing that at times her gift travels through her hand and is guided by the spirit of her deceased teacher and at times is influenced by emotion, and at others by a divine presence. She remembers her marriage and it’s end, the birth of her son and their forced separation, their reunion. In addition to working toward recognition as a woman and defending her work against her husband’s ideal of a woman’s place calligraphers in Turkey are threatened by cultural reforms in which the Arabic language and the art form are abolished to be replaced by the Latin alphabet.

The Calligrapher’s Night is Ghata’s fictionalized account of her grandmother’s life, who was a calligrapher.

I found this great little article yesterday through another blog. I pass it on in its entirety – enjoy it and benefit from it!

CJT

Setting a Reading Goal: 100 Books in 2010

Posted By Trevin Wax On February 3, 2010 @ 3:47 am In Reading | 10 Comments

URL to article: http://trevinwax.com/2010/02/03/setting-a-reading-goal-100-books-in-2010/

URLs in this post:

[1] tips on faster reading : http://trevinwax.com/2006/12/19/5-tips-for-faster-reading/

[2] Read widely.: http://trevinwax.com/2007/06/28/on-reading-widely/

It is 1899 and Calpurnia Virginia Tate is braving the Texas summer heat to become a “naturalist” even if young ladies don’t normally do such things. She is fascinated by nature and all of the moving and chirping creatures around her. As the only girl amongst 6 brothers she often wonders why expectations are different for her. She is not interested in knitting, cooking, and housekeeping but wants to romp around outside discovering the next big science thing. Her previously reclusive grandfather takes her under his wing and challenges her to make observations, ask questions, and then answer those questions. In her little red notebook pond water comes to life and a fat hairy caterpillar turns into a large fluttering moth.

At the introduction of each chapter Jacqueline Kelly includes a brief snippet from Darwin’s The Origin of Species which is the book that Calpurnia is reading. Overall the book was enjoyable but as a novel set in 1899 I didn’t always have that historical feeling. I didn’t really believe it was 1899. Mind you, I have no idea what 1899 in Texas looked and smelled like.

The world according to Callie Vee:

My mother had got one girl out of seven tries at it. I guess I wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind, a dainty daughter to help her bail against the rising tide of the rough-and-tumble boyish energy that always threatened to engulf the house. It hadn’t occurred to me that she’d been hoping for an ally and then didn’t get one. So I didn’t like to talk patterns and recipes and pour tea in the parlor. Did that make me selfish or odd? Worst of all, did it make me a disappointment?

Now fainting. That’s a subject I’d always wondered about. The heroines in books seemed to faint a lot, swaying genteelly onto a handy padded couch or into the convenient arms of some concerned suitor. These heroines were always willowy and managed to land in graceful postures of repose, and were revived with the merest passing of a decorated flagon of smelling salts under their noses. I, on the other hand, apparently went over like a felled ox and was lucky to land on the grass and avoid cracking my head open.

Imagine winter, in an isolated small community. Snowbound. You really can feel it.

And imagine two women.

First there is Anna, elderly and living alone in her old family home. She is the creator of a successful series of illustrated books for children. In the winter she stays quietly at home, attending to the correspondence she receives from her young readers. And when spring comes she goes out into the forest and paints pictures of the scenery, adorned with floral rabbits. She is content with her simple quiet life.

But Katri is not content. She lives with her younger brother and their dog and she is an outsider. She is respected, and her neighbours often sought her assistance with forms and paperwork, but they found no warmth and she was not liked.

Katri visits Anna’s “rabbit house” she sets her heart on living there. And she begins to work her way in. She fakes a break-in to convince Anna that she needs somebody to live their with her. She goes through Anna’s chaotic paperwork, and shows her that she is being cheated. By local shopkeepers. By her agent.

Katri is indispensible. Or is she? Katri is in control. Or is she?

True Deceiver is a quiet, subtle story. There is no big drama, but the tension is palpable, through small, telling incidents and changing, evolving relationships. Much more interesting. Fascinating, in fact.

And the story works so well because it is quite perfectly executed. Every word, every sentence is perfect. And Tove Jansson knows just where to leave gaps, to make you think, to let you wonder.

And her understanding of human behaviour, of how we maybe lie even to ourselves is extraordinary.

A small book, but oh so striking.

Translated by Thomas Teal

february 3, 2010. today was a well-balanced mixture of productivity and leisure. and even the productive bits were done in flannel pajama pants and a warm hoodie, so that makes it leisurely, too, no? part of my beginning of the year tidying and organization included cleaning out my crafting supplies, which, if you craft, you know tends to quietly build until you have so much of so many that there is really no way all of it will be used. ever. so i had a good clearing and welcomed myself to circa 1996. in other words, ebay. i photographed and made listings for seventeen of my rarely-used (if ever) stamp sets. it really does feel good to be rid of so much clutter and making a few extra bucks is always welcome.

the leisurely part of my day consisted of devouring a whole book without leaving my bed, drinking hot cups of coffee, and listening to midlake’s new album, the courage of others, on repeat. it feels like such a comforting follow-up to van occupanther. if you head over to their website, you can download the denton sessions (hell yeah for local bands!)

This is definitely a new reading experience. I never really read many comic books growing up. I guess I left that hobby to my many brothers. Despite the fact that it is a comic book, the subject matter is very serious. It is about Marjane’s life growing up in Iran during war, revolts, and shifting leadership. I didn’t know women being required to wear the veil had happened so recently in history. I don’t think this book will take too long to finish. I should be able to easily read 100 pages a day.

I also watched the movie, Twilight, tonight. I wasn’t impressed. As always, the book was much better than the on-screen interpretation. I felt as though so much of the story was left out and that I would be somewhat clueless if I hadn’t read the book. I am not sure I would have enjoyed it at all if I hadn’t read the book.

I crocheted some as a girl. My mom and auntie were very much into crafts, sewing, and the like. (They are both home economics majors) I’d since forgotten how to crochet and wanted to find a way to get back into it so when I stumbled upon this book on a bargain shelf I picked it up along with a set of crochet hooks and some yarn. It looked easy enough with step-by-step instructions and lots of photos. That same night I was able to complete a basic chain stitch and a few rows of single crochet but my work was lopsided and slowly turning in but I couldn’t figure out from the book how to fix it. Mom could tell me over the phone and that same day I finished my yarn and I think I’m making a scarf. I of course haven’t tried any of the patterns-they all seem a bit too hard for a beginner. And I think it would have been nice to have more photos of the stitch instructions. Anyhow online videos have been a great help and I’ve found a place that gives classes in crocheting and knitting. With my first snow of the winter it was a good weekend to crochet, read, and sip tea. Now I just have to get more yarn and I’ll be wearing my scarf to work this week.

Prodigal Summer: Barbara Kingsolver
Up in Honey’s Room: Elmore Leonard
Brooklyn: Colm Toibin
On Writing: Stephen King
The Road: Cormac McCarthy
The Hours: Michael Cunningham
Nothing Special, Living Zen: Charlotte Joko Beck

february 2, 2010. a pride and prejudice graphic novel. i’m on the fence about this one, but i have checked it out, nonetheless, as any true austen fan would. or wouldn’t, actually; austen fans can be quite snobby and puritanical. in other literary news, i’ve finished youth in revolt and have a new fictional character to add to a list of favorites: nick twisp/francois dillinger/carlotta ulansky (you’ll have to read the book to understand that one). so many good lines that would make for hilarious facebook status updates.

From the website www.serioustimes.com (Dr.J.E.White) comes an article today about the value of books and reading, especially for Christians. Here’s a sample; read the rest online.

I loved Keith Donohue’s first novel, The Stolen Child, and so I ordered this, his second, as soon as I knew it existed.

The premise is interesting. Margaret’s daughter ran away and then her beloved husband died, leaving her alone in the world. But then, on a cold winter’s night, she opens the door and finds a child. A little girl. Norah. She claims to belong to no one, and and acquiesces when Margaret takes her in and plans to pass her off as a long-lost grandchild.

It set up some interesting possibilities, But I was concerned that Margaret, a mother who had lost a child, gave not one minute’s thought to the possibility that there was somebody out there missing Norah. And I was concerned that the story wasn’t holding me tightly and that I was asking there was those sort of questions.

There was nothing blatantly wrong, but the story didn’t quite come alive. But I had faith in the author, and in the premise, so on I went.

Norah turned out to be not like other children. Who was she? Where did she come from? Who was the mysterious figure who followed her? What happened to Margaret’s daughter? And how would the answers to all of those questions fit together?

The answers emerge slowly as past and present stories are told and eventually come together.

The story was well constructed and strong enough to keep the pages turning. There were some lovely moments, but there were also a few that just didn’t ring true.

It never did really come alive. The characters, the dialogue, they were all just a little flat – and this was a story, I think, that needed a few quirks, a few twists.

I wasn’t heartbroken, but I was disappointed..

How open are you and your spouse when it comes to household finances? Do you discuss your money past, present and future openly?

What big expenses are you trying to save up for right now? Do you feel like you are on track or just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best?

I recently had the opportunity to read and review this great book on achieving your financial goals and learning to create an open dialogue about money with your spouse or partner. For anyone who is concerned about their financial well being or hasn’t yet taken the time to open up to their partner about their financial history and goals for the future, I think this book would be a great read. After reading through the book with my husband, I was comforted to find out that I was right in believing that we already had a very open dialogue when it comes to our finances and more importantly I was able to look through all the aspects of our finances and feel more confident in where we are and where we are going.

Here’s a description of the book from GoodReads.com:

“You may think that marital bliss means money doesn’t matter, but in today’s troubled economic times, that’s simply false hope. And with layoffs galore and debt mounting, financial stress is through the roof. Think keeping afloat and affectionate is impossible? Think again.

This inspiring, action-oriented guide helps young women in committed relationships understand and manage their money matters. Complete with charts, graphs, case studies, and tip-based advice, this succinct, straightforward guide speaks to worried women in the same way that made On My Own Two Feet a mega-success.

Accessible and easy to follow, the three-part process presented in this book teaches you how to:

• Accurately interpret your current financial condition
• Become truly involved in the costs of the couple
• Move forward using the “three powers steps to financial success” This expert author team is here to help once more. Clearing up confusion, stating the truth, developing a plan—and now, helping create a happy home.”

I recommend this book to any couple looking to better understand their financial goals, history and / or setbacks and to anyone trying to find an easy way to start a financial discussion with their spouse or loved one. By tackling one small chunk at a time, you will quickly be able to see the whole picture of your finances and plan accordingly. After reading this book I feel like I’ve picked up the reigns of my financial standing instead of letting it happen to me while I sit and wonder how we’re doing.

Have you read this book? I’d love to hear your thoughts about it in the comments section below!

…their education had impressed on them the unwisdom of making large judgments from one’s own narrow little segment of experiences.

The Group follows eight graduates of Vassar College’s class of 1933 as they step out into the world after completing their university education. In 1930s New York City (during Roosevelt’s New Deal) “the group” of friends are looking for jobs, for love, and a general place in society (or to maintain that place). Each of their stories is unique and vivid with some women receiving more page time than others. In fact each chapter is devoted to one of the women and we are able to see how each life affects the others. It seems that each chapter unveils a major event in each character’s life-an event that they would possibly wish to remain unknown to the outside world. Dottie Renfrow meets a man who makes it clear he just wants sex and suggests that she be fitted for a cervical cap. Knowing all this she still talks herself into believing that he loves her and is beyond mortified to make her doctor’s appointment. Libby struggles to land a position as a book reviewer and after several practice edits finds herself being let go and must decide if she should say something to defend herself. Kay has married Harold as the book opens-she’s trying to learn how to cook, please her moody husband, and hold a job. Lakey travels abroad most of the novel and returns with more than suveniers. Polly works at the hospital laboratory administering metabolic tests to patients. And there’s Priss who has just had a baby and is trying breastfeeding amid all of the advice and warnings of the hospital staff and her husband. I’m missing somebody but that’s okay.

The common thread among the group (beyond their education) is that they refuse to be like their mothers and fathers meaning that they want to be forward thinking and not stuffy. They truly think they are liberal and for the most part they are headed in that direction. They encounter issues of navigating taboos around sex, relationships or marriage, motherhood, politics and the workplace. Their fight to remain independent and the way they handle these taboos all seem to be credited to their superb education and social standing. What becomes quickly apparent is that McCarthy means to discuss these pressing issues amongst women while also showing that their model education, ideal background and the society in which they live are at times the causes of their conservatism, blunders and occasional dismay. It is beyond interesting to watch as each young woman enters into the world with hopes to work and become independent of their parents, to make decisions, and live the best life. What is depressing is that they never seem to realize this dream- they more and more frequently refuse to make choices for themselves, to speak up and take hold of their lives and their bodies. This is exactly the point (well, I’m not McCarthy but I think it’s the point)-these women aren’t getting any New Deal perks, they don’t have the space to do such things amongst all the moral obligations society puts upon women (even with the education and background). McCarthy provides a well thought out satire of society, this group of elite women, and women like them. She shows that women’s rights are indeed beginning to surface but have far to go. She is extremely blunt and witty and her book was of course controversial at the time. For the time that this novel was published the topics of birth control, sex before marriage, mothering, breastfeeding, homosexuality, and women’s mental health must have been startling (because it is still a cause for commotion and debate today).

The issues that McCarthy addressed are of course relevant to every woman then and are relevant today. But I did find myself wondering about other women while reading this book. Considering the times, these women were extremely privileged and I couldn’t help but wonder about the concerns and day-to-day problems of women of other social classes and races. They would have had to cope with these same things as well as being poor, non-white, or immigrant. These are indeed brave women for questioning and in some occasions acting against the norm, against society’s place for women.

She started to get up then, till it dawned on her that she was just tamely accepting her dismissal without having heard one adequate reason

It was unnatural, she said to herself forlornly. Accidentally, she had put her finger on the truth, like accidentally hitting a scab. She was doing “the most natural thing in the world,” suckling her young, and for some peculiar reason it was completely unnatural, strained, and false, like a posed photograph. Everyone in the hospital knew this, her mother knew it, her visitors knew it; that was why they were all talking about her nursing and pretending that it was exciting, when it was not, except as a thing to talk about. In reality, what she had been doing was horrid, and right now, in the nursery, a baby’s voice was rising to tell her so-the voice, in fact, that she she had been refusing to listen to, though she had heard it for at least a week. It was making a natural request, in this day and age; it was asking for a bottle.

…she had never for a minute been out of her mind. But as she advanced to the dining room, a terrible doubt possessed her. They were using psychology on her: it was not her own choice, and she was not free…

The Group has been recently republished by Virago and is my 4th selection for the Women Unbound challenge. Even though the women do appear to be bound in many ways, I think having the desire to move forward in this respect is commendable. The movement had to start somewhere.