This is an interesting conversation—and, yes, uncomfortable. But it is enlightening to see how conversations late at night can get, where you ask the hard questions and the other person lets down their social shield and purely expresses what we all really want to know but are afraid to ask.
Emmanuel Acho has written other books, including Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, and he has a podcast similarly named. But with what happened in the East on October 7th, many of us are confused about the whole thing. We think we understand Israel’s stand and possibly Palastine’s, but what was the third people, Hamas? And what was all of that?
I thought I needed to hear it from someone close to the source, Noa Tishby, rather than the opinions of the crowd. This book explores this topic and many of the misconceptions about the Jewish people.
I was fortunate enough to pick this up on Libby. I highly suggest the audio version, as it gives you the full experience of Noa and Emmanuel’s conversation. I will be looking up more by both authors. It’s quite interesting!
This series is so sweet. It isn’t a mushy romance, but romance is there. It satisfies my travel bug, and I get to play with a little of my mini French-speaking. This series is the only one I am taking my time to actually read and not listen to. I have it on my old phone in the Kindle. It is a slower read than the Audiobooks, but I can stay with it as I love the characters and the story. Laura Bradbury writes her story well.
In this story, after a year in Quebec, Canada, Laura and her boyfriend return to France to visit his family for Christmas. It is a shorter book than others, but it made me love the family more.
By the way, if you know absolutely no French, you will not be lost in these books, as the little bits are used in context with the English. This series takes you from when Laura does an exchange year in France for high school through her adult life in France. I have already started the next book, in which the couple gets to go back to France for a college exchange program.
Thanks to Libby Audio, I was able to listen to Rainn Wilson narrate his book.
First of all, I am going to give a spoiler. This book isn’t a religious or spiritual guide. It was to teach us tolerance and kindness. If you want to learn more I think it best to read/listen for yourself. I see so many differing reviews that I think have a lot to do with where a person is in their life or how they were taught or ingrained. Drop that and be open to see what is there for you to learn of what may seem other than your way. If you gain a mustard seed of faith or understanding, that may be enough to be worth the read, don’t you think?
Maybe you will be greatly enhanced. What a shame if you didn’t try if you were to be that lucky/blessed.
I never watched The Office. I never thought much of Rainn Wilson. But I always love something that makes me think. Mr. Wilson gave me that. I do feel I gained a few new bits of enlightenment.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “move.” Use it as a verb or a noun; write the first thing that comes to mind. Have fun!
Moving was the title I gave to the memoir I wrote a couple of NaNoWriMos ago. The name started revealing itself to me right away. At first, it was that even though I was in two houses for my first twenty-one years, they kept building schools for our grade level, and we were the newbies to settle each new school. After marriage, my husband’s job moved us around the state.
My story then ran in how my mental attitude moved from one thinking to another. Music played a part in the many mental states I phased through. And since I have been reentering the music world for a while, movement is a prominent word in that realm.
Each piece was a movement from one symphony or another. As a music major whose professor was the conductor of the college orchestra, I sat in on a lot of concerts. But I couldn’t sit still. My teacher saw that I needed to be a part of the music, so she made sure I had the orchestral score to follow along with. My aim in music in college was voice, not piano. There was too much psychology attached to that big, beautiful machine.
In the next few days, I plan to break it all down. Needless to say, I need to move from the depth of stagefright that even played a part in yesterday’s practices to phone calls or being with more than people I know very, very well.
Now I need to move, to Duo, then uke, then recorder, then bed. Get up and MOVE!
Remember way back when I mentioned I might start a podcast? I can’t remember what I thought I’d call it, but a new title comes to mind as I started day # 3 of piano reawakening. “Warts and All”
We are so used to seeing the end result of endless practice. That makes sitting in front or with your art impossible. “I’ll never be that good. Why try?” So many negative things we tell ourselves, and because of that, we will never know what enjoyment we might bring ourselves or others while waiting for perfection. Follow your passions. God, muses, whatever you may call it, gets the credit for your curiosity drive. Do we dare let our defeatism lead the way? So I’m taking you on the ride. I took piano lessons since I was 5. I rebelled my way out around 16. After marriage at 21, I had to wait a while to get my old piano. My second son was teething when I got my piano back. I was rusty but could still enjoy the below pieces and much more, nearly totally memorized. I would play so hyperfocused that that piano had teething marks as the poor baby begged for my attention. So, I had to keep the practice to light bits.
When we moved to my first desert, Antelope Valley, the house was so small I had to keep the piano in a chicken coop. It was an old upright grand. It looked quite at home there. I would get up and go out in my heavy coat and gloves, scarf, and cap. As I did the scales and warm-ups, layers were released. I was starting to fall in love with my kidnapper. Stockholm Syndrome? There was a lot of angst from the psychological damage that practicing piano imposed on me.
A few decades later, after letting myself enjoy other music, singing, playing the recorder, and playing the ukulele, I felt like I wanted to try to bring it all back. Three days ago, I figured out a time of the day I could schedule my piano time. My first day was a lot of cleaning my baby. We get a lot of dust out here. And the darned mice. Lots of cleaning. But hey, that old piano in the chicken coop was pretty bad, too. And I love this piano. How I got it is another story. So cleaning it was, is now, a work of love. I did start playing that day for a few minutes. It went well. I kept it to 15 minutes. For some reason, yesterday’s practice made me want to cry. Today I decided to start recording myself and sharing the mess and progress with you. You are not required to listen to these as if they were elevator music. It is merely how it is when you try.
Solfeggietto by Carl Philipp Emanuel BachSarabande and Variations from Suite no. 4 in D minor George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)Prelude No. 1 from Well-tempered Clavichord by J. S. BachSix Variations by L. van Beethoven
I did play this a bit, but I want to start fresh on it. I love this piece.
Enough of music. I’ll share the uke and recorder progress later.
I’m nearly halfway through the Dock diamond painting. The light behind shows the need to use a straightener. Wow!
I got a few more rows. I love the watermelon socks! MINE!
I thought I was on the decreasing part of the heel when I realized that these won’t fit my son; they are almost too small for me. Mismeasuring happens to me sometimes. I can measure my own feet, but other feet are in other cities! So, it’s time to frog back to the beginning of the heel. Still, I love this yarn so much that I ordered more. I love my own slippers from this peacock yarn.
This is another fun book club book with vampires, witches, and ghosts who are both witches and ghosts. Again, there are murders not caused by the paranormal but by grudge-holding humans. I’m almost finished with book three and trying to remember book two. I can’t stop. I love these as my bedtime stories! This was quite the adventure between Nancy Warren’s writing and Hollis McCarthy’s narration.
Again, I must mention my only aversion is the actual need for murder. Can’t mysteries be less lethal? I find the mystery of where I left my brush as exciting, especially when you have a large family.
Still, the fun of a bookstore and now a new house to look at with unknown antiques is fun. I love the cats, witches, and vampires, the non-bitey types.
My husband and I have been having a lot of discussions about music, practice time and spaces. At the end of our discussion we agreed on the above bit of mutual quote as our different drum we’re beating.
Our discussion from last night and this morning found my piano time. And I had fun. I can’t wait to play again, tomorrow.
Oh, boy. Do I need a 12-step program for Nancy Warren’s books? I can’t stop! I’m already two books out from this one and haven’t written the review for this one yet.
May I stop for a moment? EVERYTHING about these books is fun, except the murder parts. And don’t blame the witches (at least the good ones) or the vampires. It is always a human with a grudge or two.
Reading is one of my favorite hobbies. In the olden days, I wouldn’t be caught without a book in my purse. A purse should always be big enough to carry a book or two. That way, I could read while sitting and waiting in the car for kids or long lights or even in an unmoving traffic jam. Standing in line at the DMV or at the Theater, out came the book, even if I merely got a paragraph.
Now, I have a different book on old cell phones tucked away in the bathroom or next to my bed; two different Fires hold different books or types of books. One Fire has games that don’t require much thought while listening to a book on the other Fire. The audiobook is my favorite venue now, but I do read the occasional paper book or Kindle on the phones.
I have books that require a lot of thought. I save those for daytime or waiting times. At nighttime, fantasy and lighter Sci-fi play with me.
So you know these are my nighttime pleasures. The dream of the last series was a yarn story in my house, where the knitting club met. This series, though having the occasional visit from the knitting vampires, is in the home above the bookstore the main character owns. This is my other dream life.
My husband and I met, dreaming of owning the noisiest bookstore ever. I planned to have a music area. If you want quiet, you go somewhere else. I wonder if the vampires bookclub would still meet in my imaginary bookstore?
This yarn is so much fun, visually I worked far more than I should have. Shoulder and hands are crying. But aren’t they adorable?
These haven’t progressed but maybe a row or two. The watermelons were much more fun!
Same with these. They are closer to the heel now.
The dock is coming along.
This is a ukulele chord trainer. Just for practicing without disturbing the household. I still need the ear training but my fingers need more touching. This I can do while watching TV.
This two sided poster helps with positioning and the second side helps with composition, harmony, and scales, etc. It’s been a long time since music theory classes
So these are the things in the making here. Hope you had a marvelous Monday.
After reading the Vampire Knitting Club series, I couldn’t stop. I ordered and started immediately on this one.
Whoa! Wait! New narrator. What a shock. I got used to the other one. But after I got used to her, Piper Goodeve (Narrator) is a good choice for a new witch. Best friends with our former series star, Lucy, Jennifer proves to be a fun character to hang out with. And she can hold her own.
This new place gives that bit of travel I like in a good book. And more knitting, more competent knitting.
I haven’t mentioned this in any of the series’ reviews, but I wish we could do a cozy mystery without a murder. But that seems to be how it is. Oh, well. It is still fun.
And guess what! I’ve already started and finished the next book. On to my next review.
Working on my series: Haven.
Doodler (zendoodle.com)
Music major: voice and piano
Mom of four great adults
Reiki II practitioner
I have been on disability/retired for 10 years now from depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia.
Books, games, music, and life — filtered through the mind of a writer, drummer, and philosopher who thinks too deeply about all of it. If it moves something in your chest, I'm interested.
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew by Emmanuel Acho
Darswords 
You must be logged in to post a comment.