Valjean > Recent Status Updates

Fascinating combination of auto-biography and philosophical rumination. A pilot in the early years of air travel, de Saint Exupery lived an astounding adventure, yet realized his humanity was not rooted in adventure per se, but in the same striving experienced by each person to live free and find meaning. Chapter 9 - Madrid and Barcelona (1936) was worth reading all on its own.

Books find me. During Christmas, I proved most vulnerable. A Barnes & Noble gift card lying dormant demanded to be used. While refining my Alibris.com wish list, 3 works had irresistible pricing. 2 more from the used book section of our local library. A book under the Christmas tree. Then, a bookworm’s dream trip to The Last Bookstore in LA on January 2nd.

All now added to my Goodreads 'want to read'... :-)

The book really ends on 776, followed by almost 300 pages of detailed notes and index. So, not quite as long as War and Peace.

First read Dune 40+ years ago and am excited to be rediscovering a great Sci-Fi novel.

Have finished the section on Japan, and mostly done with the part on Korea, soon I will be starting on China. So far, I am enjoying how the author shows the interplay between the three countries and cultures.

The main character’s search for a meaningful spirituality is in familiar territory for me. She even was in the same Pentecostal denomination as I was when a child!

Only 1,000 more to go...

Sample quote from a book that so far has described my 'thrashing' quite well: "Christianity has felt so lame to me at times because it claims to know, to understand, to have a foolproof formula for a God who won't be held down by such a thing. It threatens to take away the magic."

Am finding this author's experience with faith parallels much of my own. I am marking up a lot of text. Sample: "It's scary to see how much I relied on the voices of other to direct my paths. And now I see the dark silhouettes of the owners of some of these voices, and I realize they weren't for me at all."