Jessica Snell's Blog, page 56

Book Notes: Brother William's Year, by Jan Pancheri

Brother William's Year: A Monk at Westminster Abbey by Jan Pancheri
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book takes you through a year in the life of a medieval monk living in Westminster Abbey. There's a heavy emphasis on seasonal work and food, rather than on the meanings of the feasts and fasts of the church year. It's also (appropriately, for children) a pretty sanitized portrayal of medieval life.

But oh, the pictures are gorgeous. I love them. This is just a beautiful book. And I actually like it very much as an introduction for children to the idea of monastic life, and also the idea of seasonal living. It's just a pleasant, interesting, visual feast of a read. Recommended.

View all my reviews


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Yarnalong: "Steelheart", by Brandon Sanderson, and a Viajante

Yarnalong time! As Ginny says, "Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading?"

New Brandon Sanderson book! yippee!
"Steelheart" is - at least so far - quite good, and quite fun. The question of the novel is, "What if superheroes existed, but they weren't super men?" That is, what if men got super-powers and they acted like, you know, ordinary, greedy, selfish human beings?  Oppression, that's what. Destruction of society as we know it. Darkness and pain and chaos.
Which would be thoroughly depressing, if Sanderson didn't give us hope at very beginning that maybe the superheroes have a flaw, and maybe they can be beaten.
Woo-hoo! Get the bad guys! Go, dude, go! 
Yeah, I'm totally along for the ride.
And the knitting? Is a Viajante. Hours and hours of lovely mindless knitting. And I'm making it out of some silk thread I recycled by unraveling a thrift-store sweater. I have over 2000 yards of it, and I had no idea what to do with it, so I was really happy to find this pattern, and I hope to have a lovely wrap in time for . . . Pentecost? maybe? The color's certainly right!
(Did I mention I have over 2000 yards of it? Oy. It did not look like that much when it was still in sweater form in the thrift store.)
More yarn-y goodness over Ginny's!
Peace of Christ to you,Jessica Snell

Interview with Rachel Telander

Hi folks! Today I have a treat - I got to sit down and talk to Rachel Telander, one of the contributors to Let Us Keep the Feast. 




Me:Hi Rachel - it's so good to have you here today! You’re the author of the Advent chapter in "Let Us Keep the Feast", so I wanted to start by asking you: what’s your strongest Advent memory, good or bad?
Rachel:My strongest Advent memory...that's a tough one. It's not very specific, but I'd have to say it's that very first week in December, when we take down the dusty storage containers from the garage and start to put up all the Christmas decorations. Just thinking about it, I can smell the cinnamon mixed with pine and see the empty Nativity set, waiting for the Christ Child. It always captured the spirit of Advent for me, and really drove home the excitement Advent should have.
Me: Now that paints a picture! And it leads well into my next question: What do you think the heart of the Advent season is?
Rachel:The heart of Advent season is expectation. Every year at this time, we prepare for Christmas - the coming of Christ. Advent is the time we remember that sense of expectation and waiting. It's like that moment when we hold our breath before someone unveils a masterpiece -  a breathless excitement as we wait for something incredible that is to come.
Me: That really resonates with me. It reminds me of my favorite part of your chapter, where you were talking about how we often skip over the important job of preparing for Christmas. You said:

“You wouldn’t throw a party without preparing the food and drinks; you wouldn’t visit a friend without getting ready. We are about to remember the most awe-inspiring thing that happened in the whole of history: God becoming man in the glory and mystery of the incarnation. We need to set aside time to prepare ourselves for this – internally and externally.”

I love how you put that – the way you juxtaposed this most magnificent event, the Incarnation, with a homely experience we’ve all had: preparing for the visit of a friend. It just really struck the meaning of Advent home to me.
And it’s about the writing of your chapter that I want to ask next: what surprised you most as you did your research into the season of Advent?
Rachel:Thank you! What surprised me the most as I researched was the symbolism that's infused into the simplest things, such as the Advent wreath. Before, I couldn't have told you about the symbolism of the colors or the shapes. Now I know there is so much more behind the simplicity - a depth that I hadn't seen before. And to me, that's intriguing.
Me: I love learning more about the symbolism of the church year! And you explain it all really well in your chapter. Okay, last question: which section of your chapter was the most fun to write?
Rachel: I enjoyed writing the Traditions section the most. I loved learning about all the different traditions that have been incorporated into this Church season - they really add life and bring out the best of the season.
Me: Thanks, Rachel! It’s been wonderful having you here today!

More Advent Links!

I'm sorry, I can't help myself, they're everywhere!

"How the Liturgical Calendar Keeps Me Sane":

And this is why the liturgical calendar helps keep me sane. Because it reminds us that there can be no celebration without preparation. It keeps us from cheaply proclaiming hope before we’ve adequately waited, mourned, and sat in the ache of longing. We aren’t ready to celebrate until we acknowledge over time through ritual and worship that we and this world are not yet right and whole.

"The Advent that Almost Wasn't":

That is one thing I adore about the Liturgical year - when it becomes a part of your family culture, it can have a stabilizing affect. As life swirls around us, we have the familiarity of the same activities, traditions, smells, sounds, words to keep us anchored. And what better to be anchored to than the Church - the Bride of Christ and, as the Bride of Christ, Christ himself?

"Advent Vespers" - an Advent series from the excellent blog "Lent and Beyond", this features a reflection or prayer to go along with the day's reading. A great resource for your devotions this month.

"The Advent Project" - an Advent calendar for grown-ups! This one has a short devotional, along with a piece of art - visual or musical - for each day of Advent and Christmas. I'm excited about this one!

The Gifts of Christmas - Sherry at Semicolon is blogging through Advent with reviews of Christmas books - or Christmas scenes from non-Christmas-themed books - so cool! (Also? a great place to get ideas for your gift list - what better gift than a book?)

Book Notes: The Little Leaf, by Adam B. Shaeffer

The Little Leaf by Adam B. Shaeffer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a short little parable for kids about spiritual formation.

I know that's a bit of an odd sentence - the book has a bit of an odd, unexpected subject. But, as Dallas Willard says, "Everyone has a spiritual formation". The question is, what kind?

And this book, in its simple little story, talks about the best kind: the kind where you put yourself in the presence of God, and let Him grow you. It's a bit of a lesson in what doesn't work, too: neither sloth nor self-driven effort are going to lead to maturity.

And points for the story never actually coming out and saying what it's about. It leaves room for the parent to ask the child, "What do you think that means?" and having the conversation that follows. (I do think, however, that you DO want to have that conversation with your kids after you read it, because kids still in that very literal-and-concrete stage are not going to get it on their own.)

In the end, this isn't a big story, but it's the kind of simple little tale that might end up sticking, and meaning something important to your kids later, when they're old enough to have personal experience to add strength to its simple metaphor.


View all my reviews

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

From the Archives: children, Advent, and bad television shows

Here are some posts from Novembers past, for your reading pleasure:

-"Wanted Children":

Isn't it, cruelly, peer pressure at its earliest, its foulest? Don't we always tell our children not to base their self-worth on what other people think of them? Yet this bases their very reason for being on whether or not someone thought they were worth it. Wanted? Wanted by whom, why, for how long?

-"Nursing Mother Sculpture": I still love this picture of a beautiful work of art celebrating the bond between mother and child.

-"We Do What We Can":

I’m facing writing the chapter in my book that terrifies me to write, because I’m not equal to it. It’s the heart of the story, and I’m so scared I’m going to get it wrong. It is, in fact, not the place where the gospel is told, but where it is shown, and I'm scared I'm going to get it wrong.

- "24 Days Before Christmas":

The key to doing something every day of Advent, I've found, is to be both prepared and flexible. Have a list of things you want to do, and even have an idea of the order in which you want to do them - perhaps even the day on which you want to do each - but be prepared to change that order and those days. If someone gets sick, it's not the day to try to get all the Christmas packages mailed. It might, instead, be the day to sit on the couch together and read all the Christmas books, one by one.

"Keeping Advent: the week before the fast":

And I want the good stuff to crowd out all the bad. Sometimes the best way to flee temptation, to banish evil thoughts and sinful tendencies, isn't to fight them head on. It's just to fill your heart so full of good things that there's no room for the bad.

"Revolution on NBC - how can such a good show be so bad?":

And . . . the thing is, you could have a character like this and use her well. Self-righteous teenagers are pretty common in real life, after all. But instead of letting her be disillusioned and learn from it, or court disaster and learn wisdom, or anything like that, the narrative seems to insist that we admire her for her pluck.

And, argh. I just can't.

 

Happy feast of St. Andrew, folks!

Weekend Links: Advent, Book-Binding, the Name of Jesus, and more!

I'm posting this weekend's links early because, well, it's Thanksgiving! :D  And I intend to spend the rest of the weekend drinking coffee, eating pie, and playing with Legos.  I hope you're doing something similarly relaxing with people you love. Happy Thanksgiving, wonderful people! I'm thankful for you.

And now, links!

"Advent: why it matters (and how to do it sanely)": I was excited to see "Let Us Keep the Feast" mentioned here (thanks, Tsh!), but also excited to see a lot of other awesome-looking resources. If you're looking for ideas for celebrating Advent, this post is a great resource.

"This is How Huge Door-stopper Fantasy Novels Get Made": If you've never seen the process of book printing and book-binding, this is a great photo essay on the subject. I thought it was fascinating!

Most fruit seems like a gift, but a pomegranate is the most extravagant. The seeds burgeon under the skin, and when you tear it open with a tart ripping sound, the byzantine arrangement within tells you that here, there is both order and design, and an unaccountable exuberance. The seeds shine. They glow like rubies, and you crunch them with your teeth and lick the blood of rubies off your lips.

Well, that's how I feel about pomegranates. 

wordy wednesday: because if I had had a camera, it would have been a great picture:
a few weeks ago, I linked to a post by Sandra Taylor, saying, "this is why I love Sandra's blog: because she's always writing stuff like this." Well, the above-linked post is why I love Anne Kennedy's blog: because she's always writing stuff like this. (And this.)

Crossroads Kids' Club: looks like a neat activity-a-day Advent program!

"Let Us Keep the Feast: a Book Recommendation":

. . . because what I really wanted wasn’t an abstract identity, but something that I could touch: I wanted Shabaat meals by candlelight, and long, restful Sabaath days; I wanted mezuzahs and prayer shawls, feasting and fasting; I wanted to dance with the scrolls on Simchat Torah, and eat the bitter herbs of Egypt on Passover.

"What Steven Moffat Doesn’t Understand About Grief, And Why It’s Killing Doctor Who":

Then Moffat, of course, took over the show as show runner. And once again, people just seem to keep… not dying. Part of the problem is that Moffat’s a big fan of the Giant Reset Button — so much so that he literally wrote in a Giant Reset Button into the episode Journey to the Center of the TARDIS. One step above the “It was all a dream” plot, the Giant Reset Button absolves the characters and the writers of any repercussions and they can carry on as they were, even though we, the audience, saw a “major event” that is evidently no longer relevant. You can have your fun and adventure, but you need not learn or grow or change from it.

Clutter Interrupted Interview!

As I noted here, I love the Clutter Interrupted podcast. Chelle and Tracy, the hosts of Clutter Interrupted always post great shows - motivating and fun stuff about organizing not just your home, but also your finances and health. Love it!

And this week, I had the honor of being interviewed by Chelle and Tracy for the podcast! We talked about getting ready for Advent and celebrating Christmas. I got to share some of the traditions and ideas from Let Us Keep the Feast.

You can listen to the podcast here on the Clutter Interrupted website, or you can subscribe via iTunes.

My thanks to Tracy and Chelle for a really fun interview - they're amazing ladies! :)

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Book Notes: "Shadows" by Robin McKinley

Shadows by Robin McKinley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, how I wish this book had been longer. Not because it felt unfinished or because it ended in an unsatisfying place, but just because I was enjoying it so much, and I wanted to stay in the world a little longer. I was loathe to leave it.

The best part of Shadows is the voice. I instantly believed the narrator was the smart, somewhat grouchy teenage girl she said she was, and her matter-of-fact explanations about her odd world and her normal self felt very real. And because of that very real narrator, McKinley was able to pull of one of the neatest characterization tricks I've ever seen. I don't want to go into detail, because it would spoil it, but someone turns out to be someone different than you thought he was, and because of the viewpoint (and limitations of viewpoint) of the narrator, I was totally able to buy him both as the person the narrator first thinks he is, and as the person he actually turned out to be. It was a lovely suspense, and then a lovely surprise, both.

I admit that I almost didn't read this one, because the gloomy cover and gloomy title put me off. But it's not gloomy at all, even if it is a bit mysterious and sometimes scary. Instead, it's a slow-building fairy tale with familiar characters and fantastical details. Loved it!

And really, really, truly? I did not want it to end.

View all my reviews

Celebrating the Church Year: Christ the King Sunday

-something to ponder:

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

-Luke 21:25-28 (emphasis mine).

-something to read:  "The World's Last Night" by John Donne, and . . . "The World's Last Night", by C. S. Lewis.

-something to listen to: "Dust Bowl Dance" (just for the apocalyptic overtones)

-something to sing:  "Lo, He Comes In Clouds Descending"

-something to do: This is the church's New Year's Eve: next Sunday is Advent, which is the beginning of the Christian year. Use this time to look back on the past year, a month before the rest of the world will be doing it. Remember God's mercies. Ask for His grace and guidance in the year to come. Prepare your heart for the repentance and fasting of Advent. Thank the Lord for His constant dear presence. And maybe raise a toast to the turning of the year. :)

But still remember the seriousness of this feast:

We believe that thou shalt come : to be our Judge.

 We therefore pray thee, help thy servants . . .

Amen, Lord Jesus, come quickly.


(For more ideas on celebrating the church year, pick up a copy of "Let Us Keep the Feast: Living the Church Year at Home".)