I've been reading this summer
2021 will be the year I picked up regular reading again. I guess the arrival of Rodin stopped my puzzling habit and I got it replaced by reading time. Most of these books have been read during our vacation in France.
A randomly picked library book.
It started with a thrilling start that looked very promising. A young women gets into a car accident and in the hospital claims to be a missing girl from 3 decades ago. The book later on loses a bit of its rhythm in the combination of viewpoints (nurses, police agents, the parents, ...) and flashbacks combined with the current time.
Nevertheless you are dragged into the story to find out what happend with the missing sisters and what is the role of this young women that showed up.
It started with a thrilling start that looked very promising. A young women gets into a car accident and in the hospital claims to be a missing girl from 3 decades ago. The book later on loses a bit of its rhythm in the combination of viewpoints (nurses, police agents, the parents, ...) and flashbacks combined with the current time.
Nevertheless you are dragged into the story to find out what happend with the missing sisters and what is the role of this young women that showed up.
The story of the friendship of 2 children in Nazi occupied Paris...2 children with an entire different background for whome the consequences in the war are totally different.
In a way I was unsatisfied by the "friendship" and also the ending didn't seem too credible to me. But what struck me was the indictment of the French population of seeing what was happening under their eyes and not stopping it. Their implicit lack of protest enabled the holocaust, while French history in the media is all about Charles De Gaules and the resistance etc. Very provoking reading all this at the Normandy invasion beaches. But probably as relevant to think about for Belgium and the Netherlands as well.
In a way I was unsatisfied by the "friendship" and also the ending didn't seem too credible to me. But what struck me was the indictment of the French population of seeing what was happening under their eyes and not stopping it. Their implicit lack of protest enabled the holocaust, while French history in the media is all about Charles De Gaules and the resistance etc. Very provoking reading all this at the Normandy invasion beaches. But probably as relevant to think about for Belgium and the Netherlands as well.
Excellent vacation literature... A love story in apparently a gorgeous area. While reading I found myself googling a lot about Cornwall as it sure seems like an intriguing beautiful vacation destination too.
I love Brené Brown and when I saw this book title, I ordered it right away. I took a picture of the cover and mailed it right away to my coach "this is thé book for me, I believe..looking forward to reading it". Indeed, it was the first book I read on vacation.
And as some of her other speeches I've watched, this was both tought provoking, warming and comforting as frustrating as it leaves so many unanswered questions. As she states herselve: she doesn't give fit for you answer or to do lists. She is as a scholar very theoretical sometimes while playing with terms and definitions and referring to models she clearly masters but that are too far to elaborate in her book. And as the perfectionist that I can be, I tried to grasp the models in my head, desect the definitions of terms she used and got stuck in wondering what they meant for me. I had so many unanswered questions when I finished the small and easy book: when am I authentic? What does that mean to me? What is usefull work to me? Is my job usefull? Am I using my talents? Do I have courage? Do I have that couple of friends to whom I can be my true self and discuss in depth anything with love and mildness? ... And I didn't find the answers (or I feared it would be an answer "no" so often) which was in a way upsetting.
I decided that I was on vacation and that it was ok not to have the answers, that it was time to let it rest and just hope that the book planted some seeds in my mind. And I do intend to read it all over again a few times in the future as it is an easy book to read. And maybe that is some courage I had: admitting I didn't have the answers just yet and deciding to let it go and go build some sandcastles and read a romantic book afterwards.
And as some of her other speeches I've watched, this was both tought provoking, warming and comforting as frustrating as it leaves so many unanswered questions. As she states herselve: she doesn't give fit for you answer or to do lists. She is as a scholar very theoretical sometimes while playing with terms and definitions and referring to models she clearly masters but that are too far to elaborate in her book. And as the perfectionist that I can be, I tried to grasp the models in my head, desect the definitions of terms she used and got stuck in wondering what they meant for me. I had so many unanswered questions when I finished the small and easy book: when am I authentic? What does that mean to me? What is usefull work to me? Is my job usefull? Am I using my talents? Do I have courage? Do I have that couple of friends to whom I can be my true self and discuss in depth anything with love and mildness? ... And I didn't find the answers (or I feared it would be an answer "no" so often) which was in a way upsetting.
I decided that I was on vacation and that it was ok not to have the answers, that it was time to let it rest and just hope that the book planted some seeds in my mind. And I do intend to read it all over again a few times in the future as it is an easy book to read. And maybe that is some courage I had: admitting I didn't have the answers just yet and deciding to let it go and go build some sandcastles and read a romantic book afterwards.
I didn't make it to read Jo Claes anymore in August and was so busy in September that I only finished the Missing Sisters. But now I got a brand new stack of books from the library so looking forward to being able to post a 3rd book post this year by the end of this year.
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