It’s been so long since I’ve checked in here that I can’t remember what updates I have shared and what I haven’t.
Quick summer recap: I was nervous about Sweet Girl having few structured summer plans, but it worked out great. She stayed busy with a mini-job, seeing friends, a few new television series, and babysitting. We took several trips as a family – to Austin, a surprise detour from Hawaii to the Bahamas when our plane didn’t make the proper connecting flight and we had to switch destinations last minute, a few days at a nearby lakehouse, and a family trip to Breckenridge. Mr. B and I also had a couples trip with two other long-time friends to Cabo to celebrate that this year they turn 50, which was so much fun. Also lots of Taylor Swift concert fun and friendship bracelet making.
I took my final two courses at Gratz for my Masters in Jewish Studies: The Book of Samuel and Modern Jewish Thought, both of which were excellent. I also completed my fourth 30-week course in a Biblical Hebrew series. And at AJR, I took the next Hebrew class in the progression of requirements. I graduated from the MAJS program last Sunday. I’m happy that I undertook the program and I truly learned so much from the 12 courses and my thesis in just under three years. I’ve been attending both programs for 9 months and I’m quite happy to narrow that down to one. This trimester, I’m taking Hebrew and a theology course. I also get to meet everyone in person in November.
Currently, I’m reading too many books at once, but loving American Prometheus (about Oppenheimer and far too long) and my teacher Aryeh ben David’s new book, The Secret of Love: A Glimpse into the Mystical Wisdom of Rav Kook.
I am trusting my Goodreads account list to report that these are the books that I read in June, July, and August. I hate to say it but I’m terrible at remembering plot lines for most of them. Upon review, I can say that my faves were Hello Beautiful; Love, Theoretically; Modern Girls; The Messy Lives of Book People; and The Sun is Also a Star. I’m sorry that I haven’t put links this time!
Apparently this brings me to 66 books toward of my goal of reading 100 books. If I finish all the ones I’m currently reading, that’s 76. Can I read the rest in 3 months? I need to pick up some light fiction and speed through some entertaining stories. Any recommendations???
The David Story: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter
Modern Girls by Jennifer Brown
After Goliath: A Novel by R.V. Cassill
Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Eliott Friedman
Sister Stardust by Jane Green
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
Happy Place by Emily Henry
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption by Kate Kelleher
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age by Katherine May
The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People by Walter Russell Mead
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
