EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club discussion

Welcome to the discussion-based challenge, Themes of Our Lives, an annual open platform for discussing multiple books centered around a common theme. It could be a book you are already reading that month, giving you a chance to reflect on what you’re reading from another angle, or you could pick a book at the start of the month based on the chosen theme. For the whole month of January we’ll be reading and discussing books on Resolutions, Intentions and Commitments.

I'm reading The Mystery of Mrs. Christie which points out the difference between things one commits to out of intrinsic motivation -- in her case, her writing -- and the things one is urged to commit to by others. Her mother had definite ideas about how she should handle her marriage.

I just finished a book that fits in with this theme. I read The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy.

This book very much revolves around questions of intentions and commitments particularly in regard to relationships between characters.

It deals with the question of the different ways people are committed to each other; legally, romantically/emotionally, familiarly and which commitments should be honored when they conflict.

It also deals with characters making various resolutions. Some which are kept and some which are not.

The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness, a biography plus a history of some aspects of 20th-century science, explores this. Price had so many interests that he couldn't commit to any of them... or to his family members or friends, either. He'd resolve to do better, and either beat himself up for set-backs as if they were awful failures, or he'd just get distracted by something 'shinier.' Eventually he committed suicide... a commitment that, by definition, he kept, btw. No note and so they're not sure exactly why, but the way the author told the 'story' it's clear that he has a theory he likes best.

I just finished Lucky by Marissa Stapley and i think it fits this month's theme. The book tells the story of a young woman, "Lucky" (short for Luciana) who was brought up by her father who is definitely a con man. Lucky's childhood involves a number of moves as her father teaches her how to steal, run a scam and take advantage of other people.
The themes of intention and resolution run throughout this story as Lucky yearns for a normal life, where she can live in the same place, have an honest career and have real friends. Her intentions are good yet old habits are hard to break. I don't want to give too much away but there are few twists and turns in this story as Lucky searches for her mother, searches for redemption and vows to pay back the people she has ripped off. It is a pretty light read but very enjoyable.

I Tell a Lie Every So Often is an older book that was marketed to teens, and it's short, but nonetheless I found it enlightening & interesting. It fits because the younger brother makes a commitment to follow his brother on a mad quest, sticking by him even after he realizes that the older one is foolish and has intentions that will likely end in injuries or worse. Good illustration of the 'good intentions' that the 'road to Hell' is 'paved with.'

I just finished The Last Whalers: Three Years in the Far Pacific with a Courageous Tribe and a Vanishing Way of Life.
It was a fascinating glimpse of an indigenous tribe whose future is on the precipice. And here's a group of people constantly facing the decision of whether to retains the Ways of their Ancestors (part of their religious beliefs) and/or choose how much and what aspects of the modern industrialized, teched-up world to adopt.

My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4402693217

Woman Reading wrote: "I just finished The Last Whalers: Three Years in the Far Pacific with a Courageous Tribe and a Vanishing Way of Life.
It was a fascinating glimpse of an indigenous tribe whose futu..."

That does look interesting; I'll investigate.

I'm currently (finally) reading A Wizard of Earthsea for other challenges, and it seems like this might fit. Atm, Ged feels like he's breaking a commitment to his first wizard mentor, but he's a teen, so when he sees a more glorious and faster path to developing his powers, he decides to go there, as his intentions are to be powerful. We'll see if this works out for him....