I feel a little funny writing this about a week into October, but oh well, I haven’t had time to write this long a post in the last week or so, thanks to school, work, and my own laziness (if we’re being honest), among other things. Anyway, here I am now, recapping the first month of senior year. (Senior year!!!) And my goodness – it was quite the month, my life hasn’t seen this much change in a concentrated amount of time since… since… well I don’t know, but since something I suppose.

Books 

A Severe Mercy – To do true justice to this book I feel I must write a full review of it. But I will say that Vanauken’s observations about faith, love, grief, and the complexities of life are some of the most candid and intimate I’ve read. It’s rare to find such devotion to unflinching honesty with no rosy tint in an exploration of faith in Jesus  (at least in my experience).

Notes From the Tilt-a-Whirl – My review for this gem you can find here.

A Legacy of Mercy – Not to be confused with A Severe Mercy, A Legacy of Mercy is the sequel to Lynn Austen’s Waves of Mercy (I can’t say that title without having flashbacks to second grade Sunday school – anyone else remember that song?). Sometimes I pick up something light in between the more thoughtful books, and this one was my easy read for the month. I don’t want to reduce Lynn Austen to “easy reading;” although her stories are not quite as hard to swallow as most, they still are thoughtful and satisfying. This one was most definitely a nice tie up of the loose threads at the end of Waves of Mercy, although I have to admit, I liked the first book slightly better.

Sunflowers – Overall an enjoyable “what if” take on Van Gogh’s life. I’m not sure what the nature of Van Gogh’s relationship was with the woman he gave his ear too (that was such a weird sentence to write) but this novel portrays them as lovers. While I didn’t necessarily appreciate the profession of the main character (if you catch my drift), I did find this perspective of Vincent very fascinating, especially since it came from someone who (potentially) knew him well.

Reading Lolita in Tehran – I love reading people’s thoughts about books, and memoirs are always fascinating, so to put those two together in one book was really quite remarkable. I’ve never read about the kind of oppression Nafisi spoke of thus her writing really opened my eyes in a way I haven’t experienced before. There were parts that genuinely made my heart ache for the people of Iran. Nafisi truly has a talent when it comes to applying literary observations to life.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is this:

“When I left the class that day, I did not tell them what I myself was just beginning to discover: how similar our fate was to Gatsby’s. He wanted to fulfill his dream by repeating the past, and in the end he discovered that the past was dead, the present a sham, and there was no future. Was this not similar to our revolution, which had come in the name of our collective past and had wrecked our lives in the name of a dream?” 

Beowulf – This I read for school, and I’m not quite sure I gleaned as much as I could from it, but I did find it a fascinating window into the values of Anglo-Saxon society. Also, I never realized how different English was that long ago. The different literary devices of the poem were really quite interesting (to a nerd like me at least).

Movies

Bridge of Spies – For some reason I expected this to be more of a thriller than a drama, but this one was more story driven than action driven and I very much appreciated that. There was quite a bit to be pulled from the story thematically as well, especially surrounding the treatment of Rudolf Abel (the suspected spy). Someone does not cease to be human because they are believed to be the enemy. Definitely a thought provoking movie and very well done.

Pride and Prejudice – Always a good rewatch, especially on one’s birthday. I know the 2005 version isn’t quite as detailed as the mini-series, but it’s very pretty and well acted and gives me that cozy feeling when watching it. (And I definitely don’t still swoon at the very romantic, albeit inaccurate, dawn scene at the end of the movie when Mr. Darcy says, “I love… I love… I love you.” AHHHHHHH. Definitely not.)

Scribblings – This month I worked a bit more on my novel, wrote some poem like musings, and journaled. I’d like my writing habits to become stronger still, but I’m not entirely dissatisfied with what I’ve written this month.

Adventures – The adventures of September, aren’t the grandest to recount. But that being said, all of my little outings to thrift shops and coffee shops were very much enjoyed. I suppose the biggest adventures (although they don’t involve much milage in the physical sense) as of late were my 18th birthday and my new job. It’s a rather uncanny feeling to realize that you’re not a child anymore (at least legally haha), but all the emotions that came with that really belong in their own post.

And then my job! I’m can officially claim the title of the Bookshop Barista now as I’ve worked in a bookshop and most recently at a coffee shop. So there you go. The barista work has been fun, I’m still training and learning all the drink recipes and the register and such, but it’s good. Everyone, both customers and coworkers, are really friendly and that makes all the difference in a job.

That’s all for September folks! Tell me about yours!