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Mai
Mai is starting The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto
This going to be a slow read because I’m stopping every other page to say “go off Leah” and send quotations to friends
Dec 25, 2025 05:07AM Add a comment
The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto

Mai
Mai is 20% done with Robinson Crusoe
Finding this more engaging than expected. There really is a part of the human brain that just loves the idea of building tree houses I guess.
Jul 26, 2025 02:26AM Add a comment
Robinson Crusoe

Mai
Mai is finished with Black Narcissus
So far this is ... uh ... not what I expected. I guess not every book can be In This House of Brede??
Jul 28, 2022 02:56PM Add a comment
Black Narcissus

Mai
Mai is 11% done with Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion
I'm a simple woman: I feel bad, I buy a conversion story on Kindle.
Apr 18, 2020 09:25AM Add a comment
Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion

Mai
Mai is on page 10 of 176 of The Problem of Pain
I'm really not sure why, but I wasn't expecting this book to get so deeply theological so quickly. In hindsight it makes perfect sense. Our uncertainty in relation to suffering stems from confusion about the nature of God and His creation, so of course, any discussion of the problem of pain is going to have to be a discussion about the nature of God.
Feb 06, 2020 04:42AM Add a comment
The Problem of Pain

Mai
Mai is on page 30 of 256 of Crossing the Threshold of Hope
Re-reading 'cause my man JPII knows what's up. And because there was too much good stuff here to process it all fully the first time around.
Feb 03, 2020 07:57AM Add a comment
Crossing the Threshold of Hope

Mai
Mai is on page 349 of 667 of The Idiot
Aug 07, 2019 01:54PM Add a comment
The Idiot

Mai
Mai is on page 89 of 1392 of Europe: A History
Back to the meat of the thing, and confronted with one of the pitfalls of ‘descriptive’ history. Our intrepid historian has just described the cannibalistic ritual practices of the ancient Minoan religion, and then gone on to observe that this religion helped to hold a “peaceable society” together for centuries. ‘Scuse me, since when is cannibalism “peaceable”?
Aug 07, 2019 01:44PM Add a comment
Europe: A History

Mai
Mai is on page 46 of 1392 of Europe: A History
Well, I’m glad that I did read the intro, because otherwise I’d have missed some good lines: “It is the same with European history as with a camel. The practical approach is not to try and define it, but to describe it.”
Aug 07, 2019 01:38PM Add a comment
Europe: A History

Mai
Mai is on page 46 of 623 of Foucault’s Pendulum
I’m glad that I
Aug 07, 2019 01:27PM Add a comment
Foucault’s Pendulum

Mai
Mai is on page 36 of 623 of Foucault’s Pendulum
Davies really loves the phrase “virulent brew” for describing ideologies. Tbf, it’s an apt phrase for Stalinism and Nazism
Aug 07, 2019 01:16PM Add a comment
Foucault’s Pendulum

Mai
Mai is on page 30 of 1392 of Europe: A History
My habit of skipping introductions works well for novels, less so for history books... have had to go back to read the introductory chapter (which is actually quite an interesting reflection on how any history ought to be written).
Aug 07, 2019 07:05AM Add a comment
Europe: A History

Mai
Mai is on page 20 of 304 of After Virtue
Fifth time’s the charm I guess...
Jun 23, 2019 06:11AM Add a comment
After Virtue

Mai
Mai is 80% done with The Wife (Kristin Lavransdatter, #2)
Every time I'm like "huh this book is slowing down a bit, I'm getting bored" Undset absolutely floors me with some intense spiritual/emotional melodrama and it is GREAT.
Jun 07, 2019 04:18AM Add a comment
The Wife (Kristin Lavransdatter, #2)

Mai
Mai is finished with Black Narcissus
So far this is ... uh ... not what I expected. I guess not every book can be In This House of Brede??
May 27, 2019 02:37PM Add a comment
Black Narcissus

Mai
Mai is starting Europe: A History
So far I've discovered that if I rest this behemoth on my stomach to read while lying down, it takes about 5 minutes for me to start experiencing back pain. Unclear whether my core muscles are just that weak or this book is just that heavy.
Apr 24, 2019 06:25AM Add a comment
Europe: A History

Mai
Mai is on page 81 of 170 of The Four Loves
Some sparkling moments of insight, but many of the observations (particularly on Friendship) are too tightly bound to Lewis' social/historical milieu to achieve that timeless applicability of some of his other work, like The Screwtape Letters, for example.
Feb 25, 2019 06:29AM Add a comment
The Four Loves

Mai
Mai is on page 28 of 170 of The Four Loves
The passage on nature-lovers was great, but the next one, on patriotism, was So, so cringe. There are some areas where my Irish Catholic ass is just never going to see eye-to-eye with an Ulster Protestant of the early 20th century
Feb 13, 2019 11:57AM Add a comment
The Four Loves

Mai
Mai is on page 4 of 170 of The Four Loves
This book finally came in the post (thanks Sen!) so I’m abandoning everything else on my ‘currently reading’ shelf ‘cause I’ve been waiting for The Four Loves f o r e v e r
Feb 12, 2019 01:56PM Add a comment
The Four Loves

Mai
Mai is on page 232 of 305 of The Wreath (Kristin Lavransdatter, #1)
Still really enjoying this but good grief Erlend is (at best) a hot-headed idiot. Still bemused by the fact that the blurb of the book goes on about the "power and passion" of Kristin's love as though it were a good thing when that relationship is already so destructive. And yet, I'm still excited to see where the story goes.
Jan 29, 2019 05:56AM Add a comment
The Wreath (Kristin Lavransdatter, #1)

Mai
Mai is on page 116 of 305 of The Wreath (Kristin Lavransdatter, #1)
Pet peeve: the way literally every book written more than 50 years ago has GOT to have some dumb-ass blurb claiming that the book is "modern" and "still relevant", as if human nature had dramatically changed within the last century.

In other news, I'm really enjoying this book.
Jan 21, 2019 02:55AM Add a comment
The Wreath (Kristin Lavransdatter, #1)

Mai
Mai is 78% done with In This House of Brede
This book has already made me cry multiple times, so it's gonna be hard to top as a first read of 2019...
Jan 04, 2019 03:53AM Add a comment
In This House of Brede

Mai
Mai is on page 45 of 313 of Till We Have Faces
At long last I’m reading this book (a Christmas gift) and so far it’s just as good as the summaries and sundry quotes I’ve come across made it sound!
Dec 25, 2018 09:48AM Add a comment
Till We Have Faces

Mai
Mai is 86% done with The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Must admit, I'm flagging a little. JRRT's increasing fame seems to have been a frustrating experience for the poor man, and in the last 20 or 30 letters that I've read, he seems mostly to be dealing with repetitive issues of irritating fans, press disasters, poor health and his struggle to get the time to finish the Silmarillion. It's a little distressing actually.
Dec 12, 2018 03:33AM Add a comment
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

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