Still Reading

So, even if these little posts about books I'm reading are annoying for other people, I have to say that I'm kind of loving it. I think it will be super fun to go over all the books I've read at the end of the year. Does that make me kind of weird? Probably. Oh well.

This past week I finished The Miracle of Forgiveness. It's an LDS classic written by President Spencer W. Kimball, but I had never read the whole thing cover to cover before. Out of everything in the book, I think there is one concept that I will always keep with me. President Kimball more than once refers to human beings as "gods in embryo." I love that. Maybe it's because Greg and I currently have 16 embryos in storage, but that metaphor seemed so apt to me. An embryo is partially formed, so undeveloped, so small. The difference between a six cell embryo and a fully grown adult who has experiences and ideas is monumental. And yet...embryos are just throbbing with potential. They are so vulnerable, but they are so endowed with power and possibility. I mean, just look at Brynn. Understanding all of this about embryos makes the concept of us being "gods in embryo" so beautiful. We are so small, and yet so precious.

I also finished The Boys in the Boat this past week. I loved it. It's about a college rowing team that took the gold medal in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Again, I have a real soft spot for anything related to American social history, especially during WWII. I liked how the author framed his story. He focused on one of the rowers, but he didn't shy away from recounting the larger context of Berlin in the pre-war years. It made the story more powerful because the author clearly had a deep respect for the people in the book, and he demonstrated that respect without glorifying the war era. Also, it's so interesting to learn about things that I'm so unfamiliar with...like rowing. The cool thing is, Philadelphia is a huge rowing city, and Greg and I are always admire Boathouse Row whenever we go downtown. So it was fun to learn about that while we were here. 

Brynn and I went to the library yesterday and I'm already working my way through a delightful and slightly morbid memoir. Coming soon!