LEAN IN by Sheryl Sandberg

I started reading this book convinced that I would not like it and that I would disagree with everything Sandberg had to say, seeing as how her life choices are about as opposite of mine as you could get!  But, it turns, out I agreed completely with her general thesis, and even a fair amount of her application. Her argument, that women too often sit back and follow or wait for life to happen to them, is one I whole heartedly agree with. It's certainly a tendency I have fought all my life, and her plea that women step up and design and navigate life with purpose is spot on. Her insistence that life works better when we live in smoothly functioning partnerships and families is so obvious it's a shame that we need to be so blatantly reminded of that fact.  For that reason, I think it's a great read, even an important one and a book that I would love all the women and men I love and trust (i.e. you-all) to read, just so we could talk about it!

So, how do I disagree you ask?  Just with her other main assumption:  that true social equality will only be achieved when women fill half of the high-powered careers in business and positions in government.  I don't think that's the real or lasting solution to equality, it's just the obvious one (See Gladwell's David and Goliath.  I do understand that the real lasting solutions, with no fall-out to families, reside somewhere on the same planet has successfully living the Law of Consecration, and so it's tempting to want to agree with Sandberg. But when reading this book the realities of real family life are strangely absent and in their place are descriptions of small families with an excess of money and two parents who both have such high-powered jobs that they are essentially in complete control of their time with money to spare. In this world children generally have either one parent or the other available or, an expensive, best-money-can-buy caretaker, along with every other advantage offered to those in this tip top tier.  Sandberg's chapter on children and working parents uses carefully chosen statistics and studies to justify her position and feels so elitist that even though she acknowledges her advantages her protestations fall flat. In the end I am convinced that, while children are a close close second for her, her career and what it offers is truly the primary motivator and purpose in all she does.

Still, I would say read this book, and ladies, we need to Lean In!

DAVID AND GOLIATH: UNDERDOGS, MISFITS AND THE ART OF FIGHTING GIANTS, by Malcom Gladwell

Another audio book, and my first Malcom Gladwell.  I know several of you have read some of his other books so I can't speak to how this compares, but I quite enjoyed it.  It's not so long that it repeats itself as some self-help books do, but it's long enough to flesh out his point which is that many of life's biggest problems are solved by ignoring the obvious and looking for the "other" solution. He deals with everything from education, money, and war to crime and punishment and careers.  His suggestion that a constant willingness to think outside the box is timely and well framed.  The book is full of very interesting stories with relevant application and was a great juxtaposition to my reading of Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In which I was reading at the same time  See me for further discussion, but help yourself to the audible account and give this book a listen-to!

THE ORCHARDIST by Amanda Colpin

It might be a little early to write about this book, because I suspect that I will still be thinking about it a month from now.  Amanda Coplin is a stunningly good writer for her age.  At 31 she has produced a novel that is rich, complicated, and haunting.  Her ability to craft sentences that pinpoint the deeper emotional experiences that make up life is sometimes breathtaking.  I found myself wanting to underline whole passages, not because I had learned something new, but because she had so precisely captured the layers and meaning of experiences I have had.  I was often so in awe of her writing that it would distract me from the story itself.

Having spent much of my childhood in my family's peach orchard I was captivated by Coplin's setting and the characters she creates.  In Talmage, the orchardist, I saw shades of my dad, and even deeper shades of his mentor, Elmer Smith, who would wander into our farm on a regular basis with quiet, homey and wise advice; it was natural for me to love Talmage from the first page.  Having said that, readings Coplin's story was sometimes exhausting for me, with elements that were so intense they seemed to clash with her setting and gentle writing style. It was often so rich that I couldn't read it before going to bed because it would rev up my brain and make sleeping difficult. But now that I've finished the book I realize that this book is not about the plot, it's simply a beautifully written story about the journey of life, about how one person's life touches others, how some of life's dreams evaporate while others are truly realized and how we are simply the sum-total of all that happens to us and around us.  I was completely entranced through the whole book, and then, in the closing two pages (which, for some unknown reason I thankfully had not yet read!), she took my breath away and I re-grieved and celebrated an important part of my life.

Others have compared Coplin's writing to Marilyn Robinson, Steinbeck and others we have loved.  I would agree, and heartily recommend this book.  I'm anxious for someone to read it so I can talk to you about it!