The Resolute Woman

Category: book

  • Bookworms?

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    resolutewoman
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    Fayteen and I both are bookworms. At least, we considered ourselves to be bookworms until we read this quote and thought about all of the books that have made a difference in our lives. “People who love reading are often called bookworms, but that’s the wrong way around. It’s not you who worm into a…

  • A healthy portion of insanity

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    resolutewoman
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    I heard Jessical Jackley speak several years ago at a San Antonio Women’s Foundation luncheon and was impressed by her enthusiasm and intelligence. Jackley, a Stanford business school graduate, co-founded Kiva.org, a website that uses microloans to channel millions of dollars to the world’s poor. She is a Resolute Woman—and the author of a new…

  • No pat solutions

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    resolutewoman
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    Fayteen and I agree that there are no simple solutions to life’s complex problems. There are solutions. But, generally, finding them requires time and work. That’s why we like Jessica Lamb-Shapiro’s book Promise Land—My Journey Through America’s Self-Help Culture. Lamb-Shapiro observes: “No pat solutions can resolve, or even address, the complex challenges of life. “Self-help…

  • Better yourself or accept yourself?

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    resolutewoman
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    “All of us would probably like to be slimmer, smarter, richer, more popular, more successful,” says Jessica Lamb-Shapiro in her book Promise Land—My Journey Through America’s Self-Help Culture. “To what extent should you accept yourself for who you are, and to what extent should you attempt to better yourself?” Fayteen and I think that this…

  • Part rock and part flower petal

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    resolutewoman
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    Kala Shaima, the wise aunt in Nadia Hashimi’s book, says, “The human spirit…is harder than a rock and more delicate than a flower petal.” The aunt reminds her niece Rahima, “Don’t forget that you are part flower petal and part rock, too.” Shaima’s book is The Pearl That Broke Its Shell.

  • A Thousand Lives

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    resolutewoman
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    Some good friends gave me a Spiritile—a magnificent tile made of copper, glass and wood. Mine glimmers with a picture of a stack of colorful books. Along the side of the books is this quote: “A reader lives a thousand lives.”—George R.R. Martin –Joy

  • Letting go of books

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    resolutewoman
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    While my shattered femur has been healing, I have been inspired to do a little cleaning. I’ve been sorting through old business and personal papers—and even getting rid of some of the books that I’ve accumulated through the years. I was comforted when I found an article that I had saved from 2006. “Letting go…

  • A good book awaiting me

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    resolutewoman
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    “Just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes the day happier,” said Kathleen Norris. And this has been especially true when I’ve been home for days with a broken leg. I found Kathleen Norris’ quote on stationery for book lovers. –Joy

  • Endless forgiveness

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    resolutewoman
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    I read Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago, all about the horrors of World War I, the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War. By the time I finished the book, I was feeling a little down, but I found a good remedy to cheer me up. I spent a few days in Mitford with Father Tim…

  • Books and music

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    resolutewoman
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    What will Mrs. Dashwood and her daughter Margaret do when her two older daughters go on a trip? “We shall go on so quietly and happily together with our books and our music,” Mrs. Dashwood stresses in Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility. I am sure that I wouldn’t want to live in England in the…