Year of the Father

Finding Hope in Tragedy: Lessons from Virgil’s Aeneid

By Well-Read Mom / November 1, 2024 / Comments Off on Finding Hope in Tragedy: Lessons from Virgil’s Aeneid

I was hardly surprised to find a class on Virgil’s The Aeneid as a core requirement for the degree. Yet, I must admit that I approached the epic with some level of hesitancy. In my mind, it was one thing to study Plato and Aristotle, yet Virgil and Homer?  The looming question was always, what could one hope to gain by studying them? Should a Christian even read pagan classics? The answer is obvious when considered in light of their historical and, arguably, eschatological significance.

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A Story Reminiscent of Home

By Well-Read Mom / October 25, 2024 / Comments Off on A Story Reminiscent of Home

A Story Reminiscent of Home Written by Susan Severson Over the past several months, I completely immersed myself in the very medieval, very Norwegian world of Sigrid Undset. First, I completely devoured the new translation of Olav Audunssøn (previously titled The Master of Hestviken). I then turned to Kristin Lavransdatter for my fourth time (with…

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Reading Slumps & Femininity in Support of Fatherhood

By Well-Read Mom / October 11, 2024 / Comments Off on Reading Slumps & Femininity in Support of Fatherhood

Femininity in Support of Fatherhood Written by Nicki Johnston Toward the end of the summer, I found myself in a reading slump. And as we all know from Dr. Seuss, “When you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.” Over the years, I have discovered a reliable…

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Fatherhood and the Human Heart

By Well-Read Mom / October 4, 2024 / Comments Off on Fatherhood and the Human Heart

Fatherhood and the Human Heart Written by Megan Keyser A reflection on a past WRM read, To Kill a Mockingbird, in honor of the Well-Read Mom Year of the Father theme. Fatherhood is crucial to the development of the human heart. The strength and uprightness of fathers, or alternatively, their weakness and vice, is reflected…

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Hunting Season and Book Club

By Well-Read Mom / September 27, 2024 / Comments Off on Hunting Season and Book Club

I was ecstatic, and I do love Well Read Mom. It’s as closest as I’ve gotten to college since college, and I mean the sit-in-a-room-and-talk-about-soaring-ideas part of college. Last year, we read a 16th century monk and T.S. Eliot. This year we’re doing Virgil and Pinocchio. Each year’s list has books you’ve heard of, new releases, and works you were probably assigned to read at some point but didn’t. The conversation, joy, challenge, and sisterhood this sparks is unmatched. It forces you out of the whirlwind of your day and into thinking about art, beauty, goodness, truth.

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Tips for Finding Time to Read

By Well-Read Mom / September 20, 2024 / Comments Off on Tips for Finding Time to Read

Tips for Finding Time to Read Written by Marcie Stokman, Well-Read Mom Founder and President The following blog is adapted from Well-Read Mom Founder Marcie Stokman’s book, The Well-Read Mom: Read More. Read Well. Copyright © 2019 by Marcie Stokman, used with permission. The number one reason women give for not reading is lack of…

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Poetry: An Invitation to Pay Attention

By Well-Read Mom / September 12, 2024 / Comments Off on Poetry: An Invitation to Pay Attention

I am so very grateful that the Well-Read Mom Year of the Father begins with poetry. I do realize that poetry is not everyone’s jam. And I’m not grateful in the sense that I gain some weird didactic pleasure from others’ discomfort (as my students sometimes posit). I’m grateful because I need all of the help I can get. I need help in paying attention to my life.

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