Mission

Bibliophiliac is the space where one passionate, voracious reader reflects on books and the reading life. You will find reviews, analysis, links, and reflections on poetry and prose both in and out of the mainstream.

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. Franz Kafka

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Sunday Coffee

It's getting late and the rest of the world seems to be watching the Golden Globes.  I'm having a late edition of Sunday coffee, and thinking about school.  Grades are due on Tuesday, so I'll be grading and wrapping things up tomorrow.  It seems I have a lot on my plate just this minute, and I'll be posting some new reviews in the next few days.  

As a new year begins I see many bloggers posting about challenges.  I still haven't signed up for any, although I've seen a couple I thought about.  What do you think, gentle readers--do you do challenges, or do they make you feel pressured?  Or maybe you don't see the point?

The shootings in Arizona have me thinking:  about the terrible loss, about the beauty and grace of nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green, about Gabrielle Giffords and the long recovery she faces.  I was struck by the courage shown by ordinary people, the sixty-one-year-old woman who wrestled ammunition away from the gunman, the seventy-two-year-old man who tackled Jared Loughner, the bystanders who offered comfort and aid.

This seems like a good place to remember this:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.  Martin Luther King, Jr.



11 comments:

Unknown said...

Your posts always leave me with something to think about. I actually shared your Mark Twain post with my library science class yesterday morning!

Thank you for putting so much thought into your writing. Happy MLK Day tomorrow!

bibliophiliac said...

@Katie-Wow, I'm honored! Thanks for being a loyal reader.

Anonymous said...

That's a perfect quote for today, thanks for sharing it.

I usually don't do challenges, just the occasional read-along. (And if you'd like to join me, I'm hosting a Great Expectations read-along next month!) That said, I did sign up for the TBR Dare, the Chunkster Challenge (because one of my goals this year was to read some of the longer books on my shelves), and the Bronte Challenge, because I'd already planned to re-read Jane Eyre before the movie comes out and read the Barker bio, a chunkster itself. So--I guess if the challenge fits with what I want to do anyway, I'll sign up. Otherwise, not so much.
www.newcenturyreading.com

Kerry said...

Great quote, very fitting for the current state of affairs.

I've never participated in a challenge, though I am often tempted. Then I decide to just give myself general reading goals/guidelines, and I find that that works much better for my own reading habits. Otherwise I rush and don't appreciate the book for what it is, just for the fact that it's one step closer to completing a list, or a challenge, or an assignment, etc.

Sam (Tiny Library) said...

That quote can be so hard to live by and for a lot of reasons. I definitely need reminding of it every now and again.

I don't do challenges because I can be indecisive about what I read and don't like the pressure of having to read x number of a certain type of book in x time. It makes reading feel a bit like work, rather than fun.

Good luck with the grading!

Judith said...

A challenge would tempt me, but, honestly, I haven't seen any for this year. What am I missing? If you see a good one, please post about it!

BookQuoter said...

What a wonderful quote for MLK today. Isn't it so true, only love can push the hate?

I joined some challenges for fun. But I picked out the real easy ones for me, so maybe they are not really a challenge?

Robyn Ryle said...

Thanks for stopping by. Nice to see someone else honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

I've seen a lot of challenges out there but I just don't think it's me. For me, it would seem to turn reading into a chore or something to check off on a to-do list, rather than something I do for pleasure. I feel like I don't really need to motivate myself to read, and I like the kind of random, here, there and everywhere nature of my reading. I don't know how that would fit with a challenge. But I can see how the kind of collectivity of the challenge could be fun.

Ann Summerville said...

I stopped by your blog today. I had to laugh at the typewriter. I learned to type on one of those many eons ago when I lived in London. Thank goodness someone invented computers.
Ann

Hannah said...

Beautiful quote at this moment in our lives. Thank you.

Lisa said...

Wonderful quote! I am doing challenges this year but fewer than half the number I did last year. It did add too much stress to my reading and I really want to be able to read based on a whim more often.