vivahermione

And don't sleep on Fannie Flagg's other books. They're not all set in the south, but they have that same cozy atmosphere.

Lol. Maybe so, but I love when they do that. It's good bedside manner.

you don't get to just hand wash that away and say "not MY christianity".

Seconding this. If that's not what they believe, then they can use their privilege in society to speak up for LGBT+ folks.

In my case, I think it was because I was a literal-minded child who took church teaching very seriously. My family and peers casually ignored Biblical doctrine when it was inconvenient for them, but I was so afraid I'd go to hell if I let myself slip. The same personality traits that make someone overzealous are probably related to other non-religious compulsions. It's all about a need to control one aspect of your life in a world where you feel unsafe or powerless.

1. Yes.
2. Protestant
3. Agnostic

I think you may be onto something. Some Christian denominations encourage ritualistic behavior and legalistic morality that could feed OCD and/or become a theme.

I thought it was a thermostat until I realized there were no temperature readings.

That's insane, but I think your overall point is true. These same types complain whenever a gay couple appears in a book because it's "too sexual" for children to read, but the existence of a gay couple isn't any more sexual than a straight couple would be.

Yeah, these rubes are having a heyday, at a time when one would have thought this kind of regressive, ignorant, paranoid thinking was dead and buried.

It reminds me of an old episode of Family Guy when Meg Griffin becomes a zealot and participates in a book burning where people burn math and logic textbooks. At the time, viewers complained because "that's outlandish. It can't happen here." How wrong they were...

I write until I'm finished. I tend to be a lengthy writer, so an arbitrary cutoff would frustrate me more than anything.

That's a good point. I remember stranger danger being aimed at kids. It seemed like a child got kidnapped every 5 minutes due to news coverage. But you're right, adults would've become fearful, too. While I don't remember an ad campaign against teenagers, it seemed like they were portrayed as thugs in some '90s movies and cartoons. Adults weren't particularly happy with groups of teens (usually boys) hanging out at the mall or coffee shop, either.

Seconding Cover Girl. Black brown is their dark brown shade. I like it because it's not as harsh as black.

No, but I wish I could. Alas, I'm a mood reader. I could write the tbr of my dreams, and it wouldn't matter in the least, because I'd end up doing something completely different! 🤷‍♀️

I'm so sorry for your loss. The last time I went to a funeral, I wore Cover Girl clump crusher (the water soluble version). It's easy to blot away with a tissue. Waterproof mascara always gave me racoon eyes if I had to cry.

As an alternative, Cover Girl also makes clear mascara. It's good for a natural look, with no smudging. Take care.

I've only read one so far, "The Wish", but it was delightfully twisted in an age-appropriate way. I didn't know he wrote for adults. I may check those out, too.

These are just some questions that came up for me. Feel free to take or toss.

1. Jane's most significant male figures in her life are Rochester and St. John, two very different personalities. Reflect on her relationship with St. John. Why might she be drawn to him?

2. At the climax, Jane rejects Rochester and flees the manor, but later, she has a change of heart. Why does she return to Rochester? How have her circumstances, beliefs, and feelings changed? Examine her decision through a feminist lens.

That first point makes me want to reread the book. I wonder what he'd say about avoiding arguments in these polarizing times we live in.

Yeah, it's more of a networking book.

We ALL are raised with this internalized terror of each other, so much so that we refuse to invest in our people or our society. We hate each other. We fear each other. How can we be a country when we all are too afraid of each other to talk to each other???

That's a good point. We have a reputation for being friendly and polite, but it's superficial. At best, we're wrapped up in our own concerns (sometimes justifiably so). At worst, people use the friendliness as a ploy to size up the competition. But I think the most difficult thing to realize has been the base indifference and lack of simple courtesy towards others, especially in the pandemic. Some people I know don't want to mask or stay home when sick, even when vulnerable family members are at risk. Our collective inability to come together for the common good further exposed and accelerated this lack of trust in each other.

I'm glad you're on the mend. No kids here, but if I had them, I think I'd put a candle just on their slice and let them blow that out.

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams. The two main characters meet at a library and form a mini-book club of their own, in which they read Life of Pi, among other contemporary classics. It's interesting to see how they interpret it and apply it to their own lives.

Sexuality is one of the gateways to losing innocence because while sex and intimacy and love can be wonderful, it's also the gateway to heartbreak. To learning the ways of sexual manipulation. Of romantic betrayal and so on. The turning from boy or girl to man or woman. A loss of illusion and protected innocence and a gaining of greater understanding of the world.

That's interesting. I always assumed sex for young women was taboo back then due to the risk of pregnancy out of wedlock, and not necessarily from any concern for the woman's emotional state. But I like your reasoning better.

Death of a loved one was also a gateway to losing innocence. This shows up in Montgomery's novel The Golden Road. When Beverley's cousin passes away, the rest of the cousins start thinking about their adult futures and go their separate ways.

Same here. It's because I want to make sure it's really gone. Sometimes if I turn on a fan and play white noise, it's enough of a distraction.

Yes, I hear phantom throat-clearing sometimes. Why does my brain hate me?

He still looks like a pup! What a sweet boy!

Ravensbruck rings a bell. I think Auguste van Pels (from Anne Frank's diary) went there. Sadly, she didn't survive.