Longbourn

This lusciously imagined novel by Jo Baker is a literary spin-off of Pride and Prejudice. Longbourn is the manor of the Bennet family; and the book focuses on the world of the servants. The novel begins with the central character, Sarah, a housemaid, getting on with the business of washday. Simply gruelling. A startling insight into servanthood in regency England. Sarah is beginning to find service restrictive; she's young, she wants to see the world. Then a new footman hires on, and begins to turn the servants' world upside down, especially Sarah's. James Smith has secrets, though, and what he does to keep those secrets distresses everyone below stairs. A good read.

The Saint Vs. the Scholar:

The Fight Between Faith and Reason. Jon M. Sweeney wrote this as a historical account of the clash between Bernard of Clairvaux (now recognized as Saint) and Peter Abelard. Unfortunately, the book often descends into a screed against Bernard. Sweeney represents the clash as one between faith and reason, two different ways of thinking about revelation and tradition (also, Tradition) that continue to this day. Yet his obvious bias against "faith" makes it difficult to accept anything he says as objective or accurate. His solution to the dilemma,  "let's just agree to disagree" is untenable when one considers the questions the Church faces today.

I found this an unsatisfactory read. I read it for my church book club, and barely finished it. (We discuss it this evening.) I'm sure our next book won't be such a slog.

The Forever Summer

A novel by Jamie Brenner, it's a bit convoluted, reminding that people and the choices they make often leave life messy, and hard, and unspeakably beautiful. Marin Bishop seems to have it all: a burgeoning career as a Manhattan lawyer, a handsome banker fiancée who works as hard as she does, parents who've been married thirty years as the perfect role models. Then she's involved in an office scandal, finding herself unemployed and alone. Enter Rachel, a stranger from Los Angeles, who insists Marin is her half - sister. Suddenly she and Rachel are off to Provincetown to meet family they didn't know they had, along with Marin's mother, who has just unleashed a secret that makes Marin question her entire life. They find refuge with Amelia, the young women's paternal grandmother, in a beach side inn. More secrets are divulged and much love is shared. Family is created.

A Bridge Across the Ocean

This is a novel by Susan Meissner. I didn't particularly care for it; one of the reasons is it skips time frames, eras, and years seemingly at random, and if you miss the heading, you are lost. And, as an HSP, the paranormal is one of the things I generally avoid. Meissner relates the horrors of WW II for Simone Devereux and Annaliese Lange. Finally, in February 1946 these two women are joining hundreds of other European war brides aboard the RMS Queen Mary (a character in her own right) to cross the Atlantic and be reunited with their American husbands. But at New York Harbor, only one of these two will disembark....In the present day, Brette Caslake visits the famously haunted Queen Mary at the request of a friend. This visit sends her investigating a 70-year-old mystery, as well as sets her out on a voyage of self-discovery.

Silent in the Grave

A debut novel by Deanna Rayburn, this is a fascinating Victorian era period mystery. Sir Edward Grey has been receiving threats and has quietly engaged the services of Nicholas Brisbane, a private inquiry agent. Sir Edward collapses and dies in front of his wife, Lady Julia, and several dinner guests. Sir Edward has long had a heart condition, so Lady Julia is angered when Brisbane suggests he was murdered. Much, much later she discovers one of the threatening letters and engages Brisbane's services herself to bring the murderer to justice. Through the investigation she uncovers some unpleasant truths and finds herself.

A Homemade Life

Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table. By Molly Wizenberg, this is a personable book telling of her life centered around the kitchen. I was not familiar with Molly's blog Orangette, however, it seems to have international acclaim. Most of her recipes are accessible for plain old cooks like me; and all of her stories are relatable to anyone. A great read.

Reading People

How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything.  This is a delightful overview of some of the most common personality frameworks by Anne Bogel, best known (so far) for her fabulous blog Modern Mrs. Darcy and her interesting podcast What Should I Read Next . I was selected to be on the launch team for this debut work; as such I was given an advance copy of the book by the publisher. If you pre-order this book at https://www.readingpeoplebook.com/ before its release date of September 19, you'll get some fun bonuses: a FREE download of the audiobook (which Anne recorded) and a class to dive deeper into the 9 reading personalities based on the quiz found on ReadingPeopleBook.com. (I'm an explorer.) The class comes with book recommendations for each type!

Okay. With all the business out of the way, let's talk about the book! I am a personality framework junkie, however, even if you're not, this book is incredibly helpful. We can all benefit from understanding ourselves better and, once we get to know ourselves, we can begin to know others; especially their motives. When typing yourself, in whatever framework, be sure to see yourself as you are, not as you want to be.

Anne begins with a discussion of introverts (that's me!) and extroverts. I learned some things; for instance, extroverts process information in less time than introverts. The reason is fascinating to me. Anne then has a chapter on those with high sensitivity (yep, HSP here!). This was a chapter I had intuitively grasped but cognitively knew nothing about. Since I am also raising highly sensitive children, I will make use of the wonderful bibliography to research this topic more thoroughly.

The next chapter is an overview of the framework found in Please Understand Me II, by David Kiersey. This one was a new one for me and a little difficult to grasp. I believe I am an Idealist (NF), with cooperative tools and abstract words. I will have to read this overview several more times, then read the book referenced to fully understand.

She then goes on to address the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This is perhaps the most well-known framework and maybe the most difficult for some because it breaks down into four dichotomies; thus sixteen possible combinations. I am INFP; introversion, iNtuition, feeling, perceiving. The next chapter continues MBTI with a discussion of the functions (another I'll have to read again).

Chapter 8 was about the Clifton Strengthsfinder, which focuses on what's already working. There are 34 themes in 4 loose categories to find the top 5 themes. This one was brand new to me; just eyeing the themes I came up with belief, communication, empathy, input, and intellection. Next, Anne addresses the Enneagram (I'm a 1, the Reformer, with a need to be perfect). Whoops! Somewhere in here she talked about the five love languages... I seem to have skipped over them. My primary language is quality time.

Anne, of course, explains each framework, tells some of the science behind each, and gives anecdotes from her life as to how each one has helped. This is a gentle introduction to personality frameworks and leaves the reader wanting to study more for himself. Recommended.