Why I'm Not a Feminist

Yeah, that's right.  Today I want to talk about feminism and the reasons why I believe it is a harmful ideology.  This is something of a personal treatise, I guess, or rather, that's what I hope it will be.  That said, this could be a long one.

I am not going to talk about or help explain what feminism is or its different waves through history.  There are people and resources that will be much more helpful if you want to do some research.  If you want to learn about it from a Christian perspective, I recommend listening to four episodes of the Sheologians podcast, episodes 26-29.  In those episodes, the hosts take you through all four waves and identify many of the problems with each wave.  Today, I want to dispute feminism as it is in society today.  Because here's the thing.  Early feminism?  The suffrage part?  I am totally on board.  The right for women to vote, the push for equality in the workplace, the effort to change the way society saw women as people who could work outside of the home, etc.  I believe that all of that was great and I am thankful for the women who advocated for these changes.  I am not here today to talk about that part of the women's suffrage movement.  Today I am going to talk about feminism today in our society and why I think that it is a dangerous thing that goes against Scripture and the way God created man and woman.

I am also not going to go into all the technicalities of feminism.  There are lots of trustworthy resources out there about stuff like the "wage gap" and the reasons for it (one of those being the above-mentioned podcast) and I am not qualified to talk about stuff like that here.  With all the disclaimers out of the way, let's get into the meat of this.

First, I'm not a feminist because I don't need to be a feminist.  I don't need feminism.  I don't need to add an ideology to my life or my faith in order to validate who I am as a woman.  There is a book out there called Jesus Feminist by a Christian blogger and that title captures in a nutshell what I mean.  The idea that we have to add feminism to our faith in order to be whole women, or in order to ensure our rights, etc. is not Biblical.  The idea that Jesus needs feminism, or that Jesus is/was a feminist is absurd.  I think this whole concept strays into the territory of adding to Scripture.  Christianity is and has always been the most pro-woman faith the earth has ever seen.  Compared to every other religion at the time (and even now), Christ offers/offered a revolutionary view of the woman: who she is in the eyes of God, what she is capable of, and what He has called her to.  The ideology of feminism does not need to be tacked on to Christianity to make our faith more empowering (ugh).  Everything we need, men and women, is found in the person of Christ and our purpose has never been more beautiful or fulfilling than that found in the Bible.

Second, and this is the best and most compelling argument against feminism that I have ever come across, the ideology is inherently anti-woman.  In Eric Metaxas's book, Seven Women, he quotes Alice Von Hildebrand, whose husband was a Bonhoeffer-like figure in Germany during WWII (!!!).  Hildebrand (she's in her 90s) has written two books that deal with the issue of men and women.  I haven't read them, but they're on my list (find them here: The Privilege of Being a Woman and Man and Woman: A Divine Invention).  I'm quoting from the introduction to Seven Women where Metaxas is relating a conversation with Hildebrand:

As she fiercely declared in my most recent interview with her, she is tremendously pro-woman–and she was that evening we poke–but she also makes it abundantly clear that it is precisely for this reason that she is a devoted and lifelong opponent of feminism.  She firmly believes feminism to be anti-woman because it pressures women to become more like men (Metaxas, xvii).

This is the basic reason I am not a feminist.  As an ideology, it seeks to "empower" women by pitting them against men.  Feminism says that until women are as equal as men, or better than men, or have all the same jobs as men, or are as powerful as men, etc., women are inherently less than and not as important in society.  Side note: this whole conversation about equality stems from a decidedly post-modern worldview in the first place.  The Bible says men and women are created equal.  End of story. Since we live in a society, though, where truth is dead (or at least dying), feminists believe they have to prove that they are equal to men, and they fight for their place in society because they don't have sight of truth that says they are equal and worthy just as they are.  

Now, I hope it is clear from my language above, but so far, I have been referring mostly to feminists who are not Christians.  The reason I decided to write this post, however, is because I have recently seen a surge in Christian women who identify as feminists.  If feminism only meant the belief that men and women are equal and should be treated as such, that would be one thing.  I still don't think it is necessary because remember the thing I said earlier?  The Bible doesn't need feminism.  But, feminism in that sense–its true, unadulterated sense–is fine.  Go nuts.  Today, though, it means a LOT more than that.  The feminist movement today (most of the time) means a grappling between the sexes, it means a woman's right to her body (her body including the body of her baby as well), and it means (with intersectional feminism in particular) that being pro-woman is also being pro-LGBTQ+ and pro-Transgender people who identify as female.  There are two sides to the coin here (and probably more don't @ me).  There are the Christian feminists who have decided that the Bible's stance on issues of sexuality etc. doesn't matter or is otherwise not viable and therefore the modern feminist movement does not in any way contradict their faith.  Then there are other Christian feminists who declare that they are feminist and only feminist–they are pro-women and pro-equality without all the other stuff.  I don't have anything to say to the first group–that is a whole separate post.  But I would urge the second group to search the Word of God and ask if anything is missing.  Does the Bible need feminism?  Is God not already loving and using and upholding and filling women with His Spirit to such a degree that He is all we need?  Also, does society see your feminism as something rooted in the Biblical idea of the equality of the sexes, or does it see your feminism as the thing it has become today–an ideology at odds with the Gospel of Christ?  

I am asking myself these same questions and searching my heart because listen, at the bottom of my heart, in the deep, dark corners, my sin nature grasps for this sort of power.  Feminism looks good to my flesh.  I struggle with the picture of a woman in the Bible–I will be the first to admit that.  I struggle with submission to God, to His Word, to the figures of authority in my life.  I sometimes chafe at the Biblical concept of gender roles and the concept of a woman's submission to her husband, to her Spiritual leaders, etc.  The idea of women running the world and doing everything men can do and more besides is enticing.  Having power over men and over authority was in our hearts from the beginning, when Eve disobeyed God for the chance to be like God herself.  We want power, we grasp at control and achievement and the chance to prove that we are just as great as those around us and above us.  We will exhaust ourselves and run our legs off trying to prove that we're equal and just as strong and just as worthy.  But we don't need to.  Jesus came and died and makes us all His children–equal in His sight.  He calls us worthy and He's the One who give us value.  Not men, not society, not a social movement, not even ourselves.  He can heal our power-hungry hearts and fill our grasping hands.  He is all we need forever.  

As I mentioned in the paragraph above, I sometimes struggle against the Biblical vision for women.  But usually, when I notice this creeping in, I realize how little I actually seek out this vision and try to understand the heart of it.  The Bible's vision for women is amazing.  The women in Scripture are amazing.  All throughout the Bible, God speaks about women, and especially about His bride, the Church, with the most incredible, redemptive language of intimacy and love.  And I don't know about you, but when God speaks about His Church as a woman, a bride, it carries extra weight for me as a woman.  God's vision for us, sisters, is greater than we can know.  It may seem less obvious in the Bible, we may need to hang onto those stories of Esther and Ruth and Mary a little more tightly for their being few, but I don't know how the Bible could be more for women, contain a better purpose or a higher calling.  I simply need to be more diligent in seeking out this truth.  

Finally, I am not here to condemn feminists or Christian women who call themselves feminists.  I don't know their hearts and their intentions or motivations.  It is true that throughout history, women have been disadvantaged and abused and exploited by men and by societies that do not consider them human.  I understand that in America's society, today, there are still instances of misogyny and sexism and places where the equality of women is not respected or understood.  I am not trying to brush all of this under the proverbial rug.  I do believe, however, that these problems will not be solved by trying to make women more like men, or forcing them to compete against men in society.  The only way the issue of men and women will be reconciled is by drawing them upward to a higher standard, measuring their worth not by comparing and contrasting, but by setting our sights on the person of Jesus on the cross.  This world needs the truth of the Gospel in so many areas, and the Bible's view of women is the only one that will bring healing to our hearts and satisfy our power-hungry souls.  

Finally (part 2), I am all for lifting women up and encouraging our sisters in pursuit of calling and purpose and career and platforms all through society.  I think women should be in all of the fields and in all of the places (okay, not all).  I saw a thread on Twitter a few months ago that was started by some of the Christian women I follow that was all about amplifying women.  That is great.  Let's do that more.  But let's never lift a group up by/or while tearing another group down.  That's not the way.  

And that is finally the end.  Go watch Wonder Woman, go search out the Scriptures, go read the story of Esther, go read about women in WWII, go lift up a sister, and let's pray that women find their worth in their Savior.  If you have any thoughts or want to challenge me on any level or point out things I missed, leave a comment or DM me on Twitter (@EllaStettner).  I would love to have a conversation about this.  It is such a large, complex issue, and I am 100% sure that I missed something or got something wrong here.  As always, thanks for reading.

On Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Okay, so I finished this book a couple days ago, and I just need to talk about it real quick.  Excuse the goofy cover.  The book is not goofy.

I'd heard about the novel Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh numerous times, but the reason I finally tracked it down and picked it up was because the Rabbit Room podcast told me to, which is the reason I do many things.  This book was talked about in two old episodes (26 and 27) all about the art of spiritual subtext, in which Lanier Ivester and Sarah Clarkson talk about two books that have illustrated to them how an author's faith underlies their creative work – in this case their fiction.  Lanier's discussion of this novel in particular made me push it to the top of my list.

On a whim, then, this past weekend, I added it to my pile of stuff to read before school starts and got stuck into it.  Today I want to hint at the plot and the spiritual subtext of this novel in a way that won't spoil it or reveal too much of what you really need to discover for yourself, but in a way that will make you want to read it, too.  Also, go listen to those two podcast episodes – though I would probably recommend reading the novel and listening afterward, as the hosts do not shy away from spoiling things.  And as in stories like the Chronicles of Narnia, it is always more powerful to be surprised and moved by themes and whispers of grace on your own than to have everything explained first.

Brideshead Revisited is a quiet story about a bunch of messed up people and how they are pursued by grace throughout their lives: through their sin, through their sorrows, through the people they love.  Evelyn Waugh wrote this novel in 1945 after his conversion to Catholicism and the narrative is thick with the presence of God.  The thread of grace, or rather, the subterranean river of grace that pervades Brideshead is subtle – perhaps so subtle that if one is not attune to it they may easily miss it altogether – but it pervades the story.  Conversations drip with hints and allusions to it; mistakes are redeemed by it; the most stubborn characters are moved by it.  This most ordinary story of human struggle and failure is saturated with grace from beginning to end.  This is not a book you'll see in the "Christian Fiction" section of a bookstore, it doesn't hit you over the head with the Gospel, and the characters who live and love in its pages are not those imaginary creatures who vaguely struggle without God, then find Him, and with Him a perfect life.  The grace of Brideshead Revisited – the subterranean river that barely ever bubbles up to the surface but seeps into the story so that the story of human failings and losses is haunted with the presence of God – reminds the reader of the way grace is at work in his as well.  Brideshead is a story of the way God woos sinners and draws them to Himself, the way He pursues relentlessly and chases after and works through even the worst failings of fallen creatures who refuse to lay down at His feet.

Read Brideshead Revisited to be reminded of the grace of your ever-chasing, unrelenting God – the one who woos and redeems and pursues even me, even you.

Recently Read – Summer 2017 Edition

Hello, hello!  Today I want to talk about three books I've read recently that are just so good I couldn't not go on about them.  I've read much more than these in the last month or so, but only wanted to highlight the best of the best, which are these three right here.  Let's get into it.

I have loved the Anne of Green Gables series forever, but only recently realized there were two books I didn't own and hadn't read.  I picked them up this spring second-hand, and thought they would be great for the summer.  I got to them both in the last couple months and book #7 was about Anne's children when they are young and the many escapades they get up to.  While I enjoyed it, I didn't love it.  Rilla of Ingleside, #8, however, blew me away.  This book primarily focuses on Anne's youngest daughter, Rilla, who we did not meet in book #7.  This book is a coming of age story at its finest.  At the beginning, Rilla is a sixteen year old who cares only about catching the attention of boys in town and wearing new dresses.  She has little ambition, and her only goal is to have fun.  However, when World War I begins and shakes up life in the Manse, extending its fingers into every part of the Blythe family, Rilla grows into a woman softened by sorrow and longing and defined by hope and love and courage.  This book surprised me like crazy.  The best way to describe it is like a coming-of-age more serious than Anne's, with higher stakes and deeper emotion.  It made me laugh and cry, and I don't think I will stop thinking about it soon.  Rilla showed me that Montgomery not only can write fun, light, happy stories like Anne of Green Gables, but poignant, moving stories about love and loss as well.  This book was so so good, and if you love Anne, you will love this, too.

The second book I want to share about could not be more different than the first.  Magpie Murders is a newly released mystery novel by Anthony Horowitz (author and writer and creator of the show Foyle's War, of which I am the biggest fan).  I heard so much about this novel that I made the impetuous decision to buy it, full price, from an actual bookstore.  Oof.  With everything I'd heard about it and the dollars spent, I had high expectations, tempered by the fact that the other Horowitz I've read was not great.  Alas, my expectations were exceeded and the book delighted me.  Magpie Murders contains two mysteries, each with their own page numbering: one, an old-fashioned British detective story (in manuscript form) in the beloved tradition of Agatha Christie herself.  The other part of the novel follows an editor at a small publishing house as she becomes embroiled in a mystery that seems inextricably linked to the manuscript that seems to have consumed her life.  This novel is full of twists and turns and all the trademarks of British detective fiction told in a new context.  This book is brilliant, and I flew through it.  If you, like me, love Christie and that whole genre of fiction, this book is for you.  I loved it and have pledged my affection to Horowitz forever.

The final book I have to talk about is also the one I most recently finished, and wow, was it stunning.  Their Eyes Were Watching God is a 1937 novel by Zora Neale Hurston, and it is considered to be perhaps the greatest work of African-American literature of all time.  I began reading this novel last summer, only got about 50 pages in, and put it down.  It was a slow read because Hurston writes a very thick accent for her characters, and not being quite engaged, I got bored.  I picked it up again this summer, determined to finish it.  This is a beautiful book.  It follows the life of a young black woman, Janie, living in Eaton, Florida, and her three marriages.  Within the context of these relationships, Hurston explores the themes of love, independence, and finding fulfillment in another.  This book is a summertime love story with wit and wisdom and heart.  It made me laugh and cry, and the beauty of Hurston's writing at times took my breath away.  This novel contains some of the most beautiful, striking imagery I have ever read, and for that reason alone, I would absolutely recommend.  Here are a couple examples:

"Janie stood where he left her for unmeasured time and thought.  She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her.  Then she went inside there to see what it was.  It was her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered.  But looking at it she saw that it never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams.  Just something she had grabbed up to drape her dreams over.  In a way she turned her back upon the image where it lay and looked further. (Hurston, 72)"

"He drifted off into sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love.  So her soul crawled out from its hiding place. (128)"

This novel was beautiful and poignant and I won't soon forget it.  I highly encourage you to pick it up.  And, like I found, give it about 60 pages and you'll fly through the rest.

It's been good reading over here lately, and I hope my semi-gushing inspires you to pick up these excellent books!

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Thoughts on Wonder Woman

A few weeks ago, for my sister's birthday, we made an evening of it and went to the theater to see Wonder Woman.  I have thoughts.

Given that it was several weeks ago, the hype has evaporated slightly, and I just want to share a few scattered revelations the film inspired that I jotted down on my phone during the movie.  Yes, I'm that person.  

First, I want to talk about this movie in the context of the conversation around feminism.  (I'm hoping to write a whole, long, researched post about why I'm not a feminist and why I believe it's such a harmful ideology later this summer, so look out for that.)  I was wary about this movie, mostly because feminism is such a huge part of society today, and I could easily see Wonder Woman (Diana) being treated as a female hero who proves men to be stupid weaklings and saves the whole world all by herself.  I feared that this movie would be filled with all of the self-gratifying rhetoric of the feminist movement.  But it wasn't.  This film was done with such grace.  I don't know if it's simply the magic of Gal Gadot (which is very real wow), but Diana herself was a strikingly humble character.  She didn't save the world on her own, not because she couldn't have, but because she recognized the value of each person playing a part.  She is by far the most humble superhero I have ever seen on screen, and the director handled her character with an abundance of grace that was refreshing.  Diana never put down others around her to emphasize her own ability.  She was confident in her power, but not at the expense of others.  

Second, in case you're unfamiliar with the story of WW, like I was, here's what's up.  Diana is part of a group of women called the Amazons (I think) who were set apart by the Greek god Zeus to save the world from the evil god of war, Ares.  That's as much of the plot as I will reveal, again, this is not a review, but yeah, a race of people dedicated to save the world from evil.  If that's not a parallel for something, I'm done here.  Diana is one of the only Amazons who recognizes her role in the world.  When she learns about the war (WWI) taking place beyond their secluded island home, she knows what she has to do immediately.  She keeps this big picture throughout the movie.  She has one job, and she's going to do it if it kills her.  I loved that.  And if all of that is not a parallel to our commission as Christians, I don't know what is.  We are saved to save the world.

There's this moment when Diana and her group of compatriots are hunkered down in the trenches of the Western front during one of the numerous stalemates of the war.  Ignoring the warnings of literally everyone, she climbs out of the bunker and crosses no-man's land.  The movie slows down (as it does many times in a slightly cheesy way when anything suspenseful happens) and she walks across, clearing a path and providing a diversion as the men swarm out after her.  *I cried at this point.*  The thing that kept going through my head (humor me) was that verse in Psalm 46: "God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day" (verse 6).  One thing I am continually aware of is how unconscious I am of the fact that I have the Spirit of God living inside of me.  Like, right now.  And for whatever reason, watching this scene in this movie reminded me of that all over again.  I wrote in my phone: Sisters, we do not know what we are capable of.  And not even just us.  I mean all of us who have the Spirit within us.  We are capable of doing great things, not because we are powerful or wonderful (sorry), but because of Who lives within us.  And yes, yes, I know that's not the point of the film, but I am a firm believer that God works through all mediums and all avenues to teach us and reveal His truth.  

Last but not least, as a woman, I was inspired by Diana's character.  She is the type of character who lifts up everyone around her, regardless of who they are.  When one of the less capable members of her band of soldier/friends almost gives up and goes home, she asks him, "But who will sing for us?" She doesn't put down others because of their weakness, but encourages them in the things they do well.  She has endless empathy for ordinary people.  In fact, there's a scene at the end of the film, when she is battling Ares, and he tries to convince her that the evil, squabbling humans are not worth saving, and she never denies their ugliness or baseness, but she doesn't believe that is a reason not to save them.  Even at the end, she acknowledges that evil is inherent in the human race, but that in the end, Love is the only thing that can save the world.  *Cue opera singing* 

Just see this movie.  The end.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I've been reading a lot.  All I've wanted to do in the evenings is read and read and read.  Part of this is simply due to the fact that with another semester of school looming in the distance, I am all too conscious of the books I want to finish by the end of summer.  But this is not to say that I've been forcing myself to pick up books and read them.  I am enjoying (most of) the books I've decided to read this summer, and my list was such that I could afford to squeeze in other books from the library and my Amazon wishlist (oops).  The book I want to talk about today, though, is one that I had on my summer list from the beginning – it's a novel my aunt gave me last year, and to be honest, I did not have high expectations.  In fact, prior to starting it, I decided that if I was not hooked by page 50, I would quit it.  Spoiler: I was hooked way earlier than that.  Today, I want to talk about a book that surprised me, gripped me, and moved me: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Call it what you like, but I have a thing with/against mainstream or otherwise popular "hyped" books.  I went through a time in my reading a couple years ago when I read lots of those types of books and I was disappointed by most of them.  This experience turned me off to the point of avoiding popular books altogether.  So when my aunt gave me this book, I inwardly groaned because I thought I would be disappointed again.  Alas, my derision has been appropriately chastened and tempered.

Americanah is about a young Nigerian woman named Ifemelu.  The novel follows her move to the  United States for school and her life in the states as she navigates the distinctly foreign racially-charged society she encounters there.  The narrative flips back and forth between her present day life in the states as she prepares to return to Nigeria, and her past, eventually catching the reader up on her life until that point.  Somewhere in the later half of the novel, the perspective switches to that of the man who had been her boyfriend in Nigeria before she left for America and follows his life in the UK and then back in Nigeria.  Ifemelu's story follows each of her relationships in the states as they reveal new things about American society and Ifemelu herself.  The reader also gets relevant and witty articles from her blog on race as they apply to situations.

This book is equal parts entertaining, thought provoking, eye-opening, and just plain interesting.  I learned a lot, not only about Nigerian culture, something I knew next-to-nothing about, but about the way American culture, and particularly our race culture, appears to a non-American black.  I found this perspective fascinating, and admittedly, not one I had ever considered before.  While race wasn't the sole conversation of this book, the topic came up in Ifemelu's relationships in America, not only with the men she was with but also with her friends.  Her blog posts, which were both informative and funny, commented on the differences between race dynamics in the US and in Nigeria.  Ifemelu did not think of herself as black until she came to America.  She had to adjust to the way race is viewed in America as related to class.  The topic of race in this book fascinated me, and Adichie writes about it with wisdom and clarity.  I came away from this book with a new understanding of the racial climate both in and out of the United States and I am grateful for that.

One of the main reasons I picked this book up to begin with, when I frankly didn't want to is because of a TED Talk Adichie gives that I watched in Spanish class last semester.  In the talk, Adichie is talking about the concept of the "single story" and the danger of it.  Here's the video:



I remember being struck by this video when I watched it in class, and it was one of the reasons I decided to actually read Americanah.  In a post a couple months ago, I talked about a book called Secondhand Time, a devastating oral history of Russia post-Sovietism.  I explained that I had read this horrifying account because I believe that it is the responsibility of Christians to try and understand the suffering and grief of the world so that we can both understand God's heart more fully, and be moved to work for the redemption and salvation of our broken world.  I've come to think of this whole concept of the multiple story in the same way.  I think that as Christians, both in order to empathize and better understand the world and people God has made and loved, we have a responsibility to have as generous and accurate knowledge of these things as possible.  Through reading Americanah and thinking about this topic in general, I've decided to make a more concerted effort to learn about places I know little about, or have a single idea of, both through fiction and nonfiction.  I don't know what this looks like, really, and I still will not be reading stuff that I don't want to read just because it's set in a place I am unfamiliar with, or because it's written by a person from a different perspective.  I've simply decided to be more sensitive and open to broadening my understanding of the world in this way.

Finally, to bring it back to this particular novel, I'll quickly talk about the book itself.  I loved the narrative style of this book.  When a story about a single person switches from the past to the present, that works really well for me.  This was one of the reasons this book was so readable.  While the book was over 500 pages long, I didn't want to put it down, which is a major qualification for a summer book.  I loved the main character, Ifemelu, and while I didn't always agree with her decisions or actions, I felt like I got to know and understand her throughout the novel.  I loved the parts of the novel set in Nigeria, and the author does an excellent job of making those parts of the book actually feel different.  Another thing I really loved about the book was the way Ifemelu's blog posts were interspersed at the end of according chapters.  The posts were witty and informative, and helped me gain a better understanding of her perspective.  I can't remember anything about the novel that I didn't like, though it's been a couple weeks since I finished it.

All in all, Americanah is a great novel for the summer, or anytime.  The writing sparkled with wit and wisdom, the characters drew me in, and the narrative pulled me along in the way all good novels do.  I recommend this book if you're curious to learn about this perspective or if you're simply looking for a good summer novel.  You'll be glad you gave it twenty pages.

Reading Americanah made me want to pick up these books:
- Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Coolidge by Amity Shlaes

I found this book a few years ago, in the bargain section at Barnes & Noble, where it was marked down to a startling $7.99 if my memory serves me correctly.  In school, I had just finished studying the period of time between WWI and the Great Depression, and had been fascinated by the brief introduction to Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States, his under-appreciated administration sandwiched between those of Warren Harding and the equally infamous Herbert Hoover.  When I saw a cheap copy of a commanding-looking biography of his life, I picked it up.  Since then, it's sat with my other unread books until I used a credit on the Audible version and listened to it while I mowed this summer.  Today, I want to talk about this stunning biography of a little-known and little-lauded president who deserves more recognition and respect, not least because so many of his qualities reveal the poverty of today's politicians and government leaders (ahem).

This book was fantastic.  I'm not a fan of adjectives, so take that as high praise.  The writing is engaging and held my attention.  This is the sort of nonfiction writing that makes me want to read more of it – accessible and clear yet scholarly and impeccably researched.  Shlaes does an excellent job of treating with fairness every aspect of Coolidge, every seemingly incongruous quirk and habit.  She traces his character growth from his days at Amherst College to his time as president to shed light on his motivations and the solid principles upon which he operated.  She notices the stewardship passed down to him by his father, and how this particular quality enabled him to slash spending and do away with the budget deficit.  His unwavering perseverance even through tragedy and setback meant that his challenges did not stop him, whether that was his struggle with math during his school years, or the stubborn opposition he garnered from Congress during his presidency.  In a way that made him feel utterly human, Shlaes did not shy away from exposing and tracing Coolidge's missteps and flaws, but she ultimately reveals a man with a praiseworthy character that kept him from hypocrisy and selfishness and the petty catering and pandering that often marks politicians.  Coolidge stuck to his guns, even when it would have benefited him politically and personally to give in to pressure from his own party.  While this trademark didn't always make him popular at the time, he was respected for being trustworthy and honest.

Perhaps the greatest thing I took away from this book, apart from the story of a brilliant man, is the example of someone who persevered in doing right regardless of the consequences.  I wish Calvin Coolidge was better known for so many reasons: his brilliance and diligence in managing the federal budget with scrupulous attention, his refusal to back down on his principles or goals, his silence and reticence to speak he is most well known for (and wow, would that be a breath of fresh air today!), and the faithfulness to his family and his marriage.  I was impressed by this biography and Shlaes' execution because this book did what I think all good biographies do – it revealed Coolidge in his complexity and begged that I respect him and appreciate him for who he is.  I totally fell in love with Coolidge and the end of this book made me cry.  Am I the biggest nerd or what?

Quick note on the audiobook: it was excellent and I highly recommend this mode of reading/absorbing.  The version I listened to is narrated by Terence Aselford.  Find it here.

Reading this book made me want to pick up these titles as well:

– The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes

– Herbert Hoover In The White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency by Charles Rappleye

– Herbert Hoover: A Life by Glen Jeansonne

Summer Books!

Ah summer reading.  It's the best.  Today I'm here to talk about books I particularly love reading in the summer in hopes that you'll find one (or five) to read over the ensuing months as well.

I'm just going to start at the bottom of the stack I've accumulated on my bed, so first up: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  A quintessential classic I have re-read countless times and one that never fails to make me all weepy by the end (okay, truthfully, the last time I read it I bawled the whole way through).  Summer is my favorite time to re-read old favorites, and that's why this one makes the list.  It feels like home and for me, there is never a time when I don't want to read Little Women over again.

Another classic summer re-read for me, one that I've managed to squeeze in quite a few summers in a row: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  I actually remember not being crazy about this book the first time I read it in school, but since then, every time I crack it open, I love it more and more.  To me, this is the quintessential summer book - it takes place during summer and Scout and Jem have all kinds of escapades that just smack of kids free of school in the summer.  I love that this classic is so much fun but also deals with heavy issues.  That's a winner in my book (no pun intended.)  One of my favorite quotes that illustrates the way this book makes me feel about summer:

"...summer was Dill by the fishpool smoking string, Dill's eyes alive with complicated plans to make Boo Radley emerge; summer was the swiftness with which Dill would reach up and kiss me when Jem was not looking, the longings we sometimes felt each other feel."

Next on my list: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.  I'm sure I've gone on about the incredible BBC adaptation of this book as a miniseries (it's so so good), but not sure I've really talked about the book.  I read this one a couple years ago over a weekend at the lake, and despite its length - around 500 pages - I remember getting through it quite quickly.  North and South smacks of Pride and Prejudice, with two characters who are evidently in love but unwilling to bend.  As with Pride and Prejudice, the setting and place in this book is significant and plays into the story a lot; the origins of the two main characters has a lot to do with their prejudices against each other.  There's an element of social justice for the mill workers of the English North, which adds an interesting dynamic, and the two characters are fleshed out so well and thoroughly, that the reader is able to connect with them.  I recommend this book for summer because it's one of those rare classics that is actually a quick read, and for me, summer is the time for love stories.  Also, after reading the book, watch the show.


Ugh, this next book is such a great read.  If I had to pick a top five out of all my recommendations in this post, this one would be towards the top.  The book I'm talking about is Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson and oh my goodness, this book is fantastic.  I read it last summer on a whim  – I flew through it, really – and immediately went on to read Simonson's second book, which I won't talk about here.  I described this book on Twitter in the following fashion: "Charming British war vet bookworm slowly falls in love with Pakistani shopkeeper.  Brilliant." And I still feel the same way about it.  That's all the premise I needed to want to read this, and the less you know the more fun it is.  This is the best kind of summer book: tons of fun but also heartwarming.  Also, it was so good to read a romance of a different age group – so often they are about flighty twenty-somethings, but this one is about a couple somewhere in their 60s(?) and it is just the greatest.  I highly recommend this book for your summer list.  Get it here.


The next book I have on my stack is Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.  I'm not recommending this particular book, rather I'm recommending Jane Austen in any capacity.  I love reading Austen during the summer because her books are nostalgic and satisfying and I know the romance will always be just right.  As I've chronicled on this blog, romance and I typically don't get along, so anything by Jane Austen is reliable and never disappointing.  Her last novel, Persuasion, is my favorite, but Sense and Sensibility is great too.

I mentioned The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James recently and talked about my confused relationship with it.  Well I would describe this next book, A Room With A View by E.M. Forster as a more accessible, enjoyable, satisfying, and much much shorter version of that book.  I read a Room With a View soon after the Henry James and I was struck by the books' similarities.  As with The Portrait, A Room With a View is set in Italy and has a great love triangle.  The characters are fully developed and wonderfully eccentric and it's just the most fun summer read.  Bonus: it's less than 300 pages, so it's a fast one, too.  Find it here.

This next book needs no sort of introduction.  The Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery I consider one of the formational series of my childhood, and yet it's a series I can re-read again and again (as evidenced by the beaten up cover).  The later books in the series are especially engaging for non-children readers.  I love the character of Anne and the whole series is just made to be read in the summer.  I actually have the last two books in the series on my list to read this summer, and I am very excited about it.  Just read the whole series - you'll fly through it.  Find the complete boxed set here.



Okay, last three, almost done!  Next up is Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie.  I think any Agatha Christie novel is great for the summer, but Death on the Nile is one of my favorites.  I also love the Tommy and Tuppence mysteries – those are great.  I love mysteries for the summer because they are so much fun and really engaging.  You'll have a hard time pulling away to do something else.  Death on the Nile is a Hercule Point mystery, and it is a brilliant mystery with an impossible-to-guess solution.  Agatha Christie is a master of her genre.  Find it here.

Second to last book is probably also (unintentionally) my second-favorite book here.  Cinnamon and Gunpowder is the ultimate summer read.  I recommend it to EVERYONE.  It is so great.  Here's my abbreviated premise, once again Twitter-style: Female ginger pirate captures gourmet chef and forces him to cook weekly meals in exchange for his life.  If that premise doesn't immediately sound crazy-good, I don't know what would.  I have a thing for pirates, and the ragtag group in this book fearlessly and recklessly lead by a crazy red-head is nothing short of amazing-ly, mind-blowing-ly good.  This book has a great love story, fantastic descriptions of food, and such interesting and complex characters.  It is impossible to put down.  I've re-read this one twice, both times on the pier at the lake, and the second time I read it, it struck me in new ways and made me fall in love even more.  This book is a trip, it's more emotionally potent than you would expect, and ohmygosh it's just so great.  Please read it.  Find it here.

Finally, at long last, a book I've waxed on about continually since I read it.  The only nonfiction book in this list, I'm talking about Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber.  I did a whole long-winded review of this memoir last year, but I'll quickly mention why I am recommending it now, for summer.  This is one of those books that is deep and hard-hitting and emotionally powerful while also being the most engaging and enjoyable.  There are references to literature, there's a love story and a conversion story that made me cry and I fell more in love with God and the way He works and loves in our lives through this book.  This is one of my favorite books of all time, and I recommend that you make it a priority this summer.  It is so so good.  Find it here.

Those are the books I think you should consider adding to your list for this summer.  All of these are appropriate for reading at the lake, on vacation, or laying out in the backyard.  All of them are awesome.  I hope you find some new favorites.
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