Lenten book & movie blogorama

So many posts rattling my head, so many topics (Lent, adoption, adjustment, family life, art, cooking) so little time. So I'm keeping it kinda thematic today. Because, of course, Lent is on our doorstep and we are paused,  about to step through the threshold.

In that vein, while I'm still finalizing my Lenten observances and plans....I thought I'd toss up some of the possibles in the media realm.  Take a look and see if any catch  your eye.  Yeah, I know, there are those of you out there who do the whole ascetic Lent thing.  But I'm a media gal in so many ways and I LOVE books and I LOVE movies...so I'm gonna make a short list here (So that I remember it and so that you might see some new treasures too).

Books first, in no particular order:

 

 This is my most scholarly attempt for Lent.  It's been getting great reviews and I think it might be good to deepen my understanding and appreciation of the Eucharist; because it can never be enough, that appreciation, even when it feels like it's all. 

 These are my own personal Triduum, of sorts!  Yeah, it's Flannery.  I've always had a very very hard time w/ Flannery O' Connor's stories.  They have always been lauded as one of our country's great southern writers, one of the great great Catholic writers, etc etc.  I have read some, not all of her stories, long ago and a while ago, trying again and again....but each time I vow to "never again" because they are SO hard.  I feel like disemboweling myself in my living room might be less painful.  Really.  

But I suspect, now, that, once again, it's my own shortcomings....that I'm just not getting it.  I've been reading a bit of her Spiritual Writings (up there to the left) and her faith and intellect is impressive.  Profound.  Which is guess what everybody's been talking about for oh these past many decades.  So...for lent, I want to finish her Spiritual Writings book, try to  make it much of the way through Habit of Being, and then take a deep breath and reread her classic short stories with a new appreciation (I hope) of what she was getting at in her hard, often brutal stories.  Rereading them is penitential for me, but hopefully it will also be a way to deepen and enrich my faith as well.  

Besides all that: she has cool glasses..

What is Lent without the Stations of the Cross? It's not Lent for me, that's for sure.  This is the classic version, one you are probably familiar with if you've one who prays the Stations regularly, or, erm, Lenten-ly.  I might do Stations posts...or I might not, depends on the busy factor, as usual.

And for you really plugged in types (me too), here is an Iphone app for the Stations of the Cross, written by the late Michael Dubruiel and his wife, Amy Welborn and illustrated by the very cool artist Michael O'Brien.  These stations are not the traditional Liguori version, above, but rather based on Pope John Paul II's biblical Stations of the Cross, and more modern lingo and prayer rhythm.  So, it's another option based on taste and time.  Even better, it's free! Definitely worth a look for those of us on the go, even during lent.

And, last for this round up, but not least, what is this blog or my musings without consideration of food!? Nothing! And yeah, Lent has all that food - to eat or not to eat - element to it.  So, Father Leo might just be the ticket.  He's great faithful priest, fun, cheery, and a good cook to boot.  Plus I'm a big believer in the whole "family dinner" gig.  I'm gonna look at this book, new to me, and see if I can get inspired for some Lenten mindfulness regarding the family Lenten table.  I'm also planning on cooking down the pantry, keeping it leaner, more soup {I can hear the groans of the kids now, but I love soup - so no penitential effort there for me, but still all good}.

Ok, enough books.  Now to Movies! Why movies during Lent you say? Well, first, because I LOOVE movies.  Second, because, let's face it, we live in a mass media age and movies are a big deal and a way to tell great stories and also, when they are done very well, help us expand our horizons, thoughts, minds and hearts.  So, with that, here are a few to consider, or that I'm considering:

Of course there are the obvious ones, certainly:

 This is the most obvious one, I tend to watch it sometime in Holy Week, usually during the Triduum - Holy Thursday or Friday.  It tears me up, every time.  You all know it's hard.  It is.  But, well, apropos of the season, of course. 

This is the one I watched every year as a kid. Robert Powell as Jesus and Olivia  Hussey as Mary become pretty much iconographic to me as a kid.  Now supplanted by James Caviezel and Maia Morgenstern, but still.  A classic for Lent, really. 

There are also some that are worth thinking about, not so obvious, that I've been meaning to see, but I haven't seen them all.  So, let's be clear.  This isn't a "must do" list, it's an I'm looking into these list.  Andiamo:

Tom and Marta watched this one yesterday afternoon, while I was cooking.  It's in Russian but  has subtitles.  That didn't seem to bother either one and Tom said it was very interesting and very much worth watching.  So, I'm putting it up. 

This also is a great film. Hard to watch if you tend to fall asleep, as I do, because of course, it is largely silent. But it is beautiful and compelling at the same time.  If you are in the doldrums or feel like throwing yourself a pity party due to the difficulty of Lent, pop this in the dvd or netflix que and get a reality check on what living a more austere life really can be.  Then look around you and see how attached you really are to material goods.....ok, ME.  Sigh.  Good film though!

I think this is an oddball charming film about faith and life and do we, can we, really believe in miracles?  Can or do they happen in our own little mundane cookie cutter lives?  I really enjoyed this movie, fun and good for lent perhaps even more because it's cheery. 

Oh, I love this book and I love the movie. I think I love the book more than the movie but most of you won't ever even try the book but you might the movie, so here it is.  And Dianna Rigg is always lovely to watch anyhow.  But this is a great story of trying to live in faith, how that plays out, the challenges and beauty.  It's layered and it stays with you.  Get the book, or the movie....it's worth the time.

This was an odd, popular, quirky movie that I liked.  And I'm putting it in  here because it ultimately calls us to think about our lives and what defines them, who we are living for and how.  And it's just a fun way to put those ideas out there, with a terrific fun turn by Emma Thompson.  You've probably seen it, but we aren't supposed to be dreary all through Lent, the best approach is to smile through it.  Not always easy, that, so this might be a  help. 


And also these three from the terrific "Happy Catholic" blog (I trust her recommends and I have many overlaps):

 Haven't see it yet, because I know it's violent and hard. But she says it's most excellent so I think I'll que it up for this season.  Here is her one take on it: "Redemption, sacrifice, humanity in it's worst and best are all mingled and shown here." Sounds like it should be on the short list for Lent. 

Also, this one. On my list to see for years, literally. We Catholics love a feast and a fast both, which sums up Lent nicely.  So, too, I've read does this film.  So, in our time of fasting this film of feasting abundance might be a good reminder on how that works when it's at it's best.

This is a film that "got away." I always meant to see it and I didn't, and now I think I'm lining it up for Lent. Obviously, this one hits very close to home.  Direct hit.  It's about living for another, instead of ourselves.  Which really, is the uber message of Lent, no? Of course it is.  And on this blog, in my head, that's what I have to learn to do better and better every day.  Happily, this season of 40 days is an intensive inservice in that one.  Hence, I'm watching this movie!

That's it for now.  Let me know what  you think or add any other ideas, books or films, in the comments box!!

Mamalita

I was recently sent this book to read and review, go figure, and yeah it surprised me too that they approached me.  I guess they figured that we adoptive mom's can relate...and we can; although we don't always agree of course.
I think I was supposed to pound out this review in a much more timely manner, sorry Ms. O'Dwyer and publicist.  Life got in the way.  As a mom, much less an adoptive mom, I know you understand that.
However, in the spirit of 'better late than never," here it is:

I got the book in the mail, after promptly forgetting that they were sending it to me:
Mamalita, An Adoption Memoir, by Jessica O'Dwyer.

So, when I opened the mailer, it was a happy surprise; who wouldn't be happy with a new book in the mail?  I got the pleasure of anticipating sitting down to read and hopefully savor this book.  Here is the jacket description:

"Mamalita is the true story of an ordinary American woman’s quest to adopt a baby girl against almost insurmountable odds in Guatemala."   

Now, to be honest, I wasn't sure about this book to start.  Obviously, I am an adoptive mom and have adopted here in the states as well as internationally, from Ethiopia.  That makes my family a multiracial, multicultural blended up  mix of people.  It also makes me place adoption and adoption issues pretty high on my personal radar.  All this is to say that I had kind of tangentially followed the roller coaster of the adoption world in Guatemala over the  years, but from afar (no pun intended), and I was a little hesitant to read this memoir.  I feared a skewed perspective or an unfair or romanticized treatment of what was and is still an extremely complicated, layered, and challenging topic.  International adoption is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for the unscrupulous.   You must have hard eyes to see and hold a steady gaze at the roller coaster of process; making sure along the way that your desires are jiving with foundational ethics, preferably those laid out by the Hague Convention.

So, with that disclaimer and mindset, I began.  I found this book honest and compelling.  I didn't find it a read that I wanted to shout to all my friends to go pick up, quick.  Because I was and still am kind of conflicted about it, the whole seamy side of adoption and the pervasiveness of it in Guatemala.  It took me a bit to come to a kind of reading rapport for the author, largely due to my aforementioned guard regarding Guatemalan adoptions.  However, as the story continued I found myself appreciating her honesty and the clear eyes she used to see and describe both the beauty and the hardships in Guatemalan adoption. 

Many of her feelings and lurches and loops are common ground within the adoption world; they mirror my own and most other mom's passion and desperate need for information, control, and the worry as well as the exhilaration.  What I found most compelling was Ms O'Dwyer's choice to move to Guatemala, to stay with her daughter and  make sure the process not only proceeded rather than stalled, but to find the cracks in the process, to get the paperwork done through the ever-changing officials, to track down her daughter's birthmom.

Adoption is a system that can lend towards corruption; it only takes a few greedy unscrupulous souls to get involved.  This book exposes that seamy side and, as well, exposes how near we all can come to it, even unwittingly, if we but close our eyes with fatigue and temptation. O'Dwyer was willing to dump her facilitator, ask hard questions about her daughter's story, and learn how to finish the job through the shifting channels, willing to live in country and care for her daughter as long as it took.  She didn't live completely immersed in the culture, she was part of an oddball subculture of PAP's, potential adoptive parents.  I'm not sure how she, as a white female foreigner, could have done anything different.  It's not possible to blend in,  and O'Dwyer's navigation of these tricky cross cultural waters are some of the most interesting parts of this book.  She came to a depth of appreciation for her daughter's country and culture that few adoptive parents actually do; even as she missed her  home and life in the States and endured frustration and difficulties as a foreign woman, living alone. 

Mamalita is an honest, frank retelling of the Guatemalan adoption process: the good, the bad, the ugly. It is a book that might well engender some controversy in this heated climate of international adoption.  If only because of that, it is worth a read.   It shows us the near precipice where desire, desperation, and truth stand and take stock of each other. I still think about this book because it reveals the complexities of this difficult process, adoption, and it's not a comfortable thing; nor should it be.  O'Dwyer shows us the heart of a mother, in this case, an adoptive mother and how she will literally go the distance and move the map of her home to go get her child.

Books, Books, Books!

Just finished this book, by one of my favorite bloggers, Mary Ostyn, aka "Owlhaven." This book, "A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family" is like a cross between a long conversation with her and an in depth extension of her blog.

Mary has long been one of the women/blogs I check in with, daily, if possible. Her family is a great example of a successful large household. Even better, they are a family built by birth as well as adoption and she too has a love for Ethiopia. So, no surprise, great connections for me there. But the bigger picture is that Mary is a real mom. One who has the normal ups and downs and successes and failings, one who I can relate to. She says she's not a "supermom" in the usual tabloid sense of the term. And maybe she's not. She's better. She's a real mom, who is in the trenches, trying her best and has been for a good while....and therein lies the charm.

This book is an easy breezy read. It is not fluff though, it is full of good ideas, many I hadn't thought of before. Yes, she is extra good at putting in a huge garden (Which both inspires me to find my spade and also to a bit of jealousy) and then canning it all up. So, maybe a bit of that is just not gonna happen here in my house.... However, the low key practical, thoughtful ways of running her home and caring for, loving and living with her big family is very much an inspiration for me. I am thinking about good new solutions around here in our busy house as well.

The book is organized into easy to find chapters, you could skip around if you prefer that mode. But I read the book straight through in a day (ok, I'm a pretty darn fast reader). It is not only tips and tricks, it is also thoughtful reasoning behind her stances on issues and ways of doing things. Helpfully, she admits that she is not an uber organized gal by nature, which makes me like her all the more. I tend to drop books by uber organized gals by nature, since I am alien to them and will never be that. But she has found a middle ground and that is where the treasure lies in this book. It's for real moms. And not only real moms of very large families (And I admit, I am sliding into that category, but still, I remember the smaller days), any size family can find some connection moments in this book.

It's an easy happy read for the start of spring. Pick it up, be inspired, get a deeper glimpse into a popular blog mom's real life: the how's and why's, the what worked, what didn'ts. It might inspire you to try something new....for me, I think I might need to learn a few new card games. And this might just be the year to really put in a garden, I've been dreaming about one....
She says she is no "Supermom"...but I suspect she's got at least a cape in her closet somewhere!