Kruse's Keys: Read "Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools" to (re) Connect with the Creator Calling You

 

Author and Pastor Tyler Staton (of Bridgetown Church in Portland) lays out a persuasive call for the church broadly, and the believer personally, to return to the prayer practices of the early church and Jesus.  Specifically, he notes the early church community came together 3 times a day to pray as a matter of practice (as noted in the Didache).  While he doesn't advocate for the the idea of physically gathering together as a church body 3 times a day which would prove difficult for most--he does urge for the idea of praying corporately in our own homes and/or workplaces 3 times a day.

Specifically, he suggests framing the 3 prayers as follows (like the monks, try to picture Jesus' face while you pray):

1.   Morning.  Use the Lord's prayer as an entry point to a conversation where you join God in what he's doing already in the world and in your life.  Habit:  Before you reach for your phone when you wake up--breathe in and out the Lord's prayer.  Especially frame your day with the mantra: "I am your servant, may your word to me be fulfilled"

2.   Midday.  Praying for the "lost."  This is a deliberate shift in the middle of your day from all self focus and noise--to others.  This is an acknowledgement that our work, our busyness is not what stands--it's the eternal things.  Habit: take a 5 minute walk before or after you eat lunch and prayer for your circle of family and friends who may not yet know and follow Jesus.  

3.   Evening.  Recounting the day's bounty and goodness.  For 99.99% of us no matter how bad our day was--we can find plenty to be grateful for.  This practice of again shifting the focus off ourselves and expressing gratitude is a powerful way to "cleanse" your day and soul.  There's a song sung during Passover called "dayenu" which means "it would have been enough"--Staton mentions a Christian pastor's translation of it as: Thank You God for Overdoing It!  Habit:  Incorporate dayenu into grace at dinner time to reflect on your day as a family.  Incidentally, when I googled dayenu to learn more about it I came across a VERY entertaining dayenu video by the Maccabeats: Dayenu for multiple generations

Additionally, Staton delves deeply into prayer in general but also in the specific--as in why doesn't God answer our prayers, or Why do we have to pray if God knows our thoughts.  Broadly, his observation is that prayer comes down to relationship.  God wants a relationship with us and prayer is the primary medium through which that occur.  And in asking God we bring our focus to the relationship and expose our own vulnerability.  An aspect I enjoyed most in this book (and in Staton's Sunday teaching) is the way he examines the text of the bible in its original language to expose where our own blind spots are.  Matthew 7:7 is a great example of this--this is the often quote passage of asking and receiving, seeking and finding etc.  The author notes that the best translation from the Greek is actually this: "Keep on asking and you will receive, keep on seeking and you will find, keep on knocking and the door will be opened for you."

Finally, he extols Mary's example to the news she received from the angel: Yes, have your way Lord"--that's a powerful prayer.   And it's a prayer that Jesus repeated as the hour approached: "your will be done." I especially loved author David Brooks observation from his book Second Mountain that he shares as Staton notes: "Commitments, not feelings, are how we show our love."  David Brooks further observes that a commitment is "falling in love with something and then building a structure of behavior around it for those moments when our love falters."  That building a practice of prayer in a nutshell and it's why 

"Prayer is a journey that starts in need and ends in relationship."

Looking for book ideas? Check out our 2024,  2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 reading lists!

Kruse's Keys:

4        The 'whys' of prayer when it doesn't go our way outlined here    

6        This book is about establishing practices

14      Prayer isn't about resolving our anxiety.  Don't be anxious but pray about everything isn't necessary a causal linkage.

14-16    4 reasons we don't pray: 

                1. Fear of being naive. "Prayer always means submission". this vulnerability is somethign we                         have to embrace.

                2. Fear of silence

                3. Fear of selfish motives

                4. Fear of doing it wrong

35       "Prayer is the act of seeing reality from God's point of view." Phillip Yancey

37        Spiritual health means not being hurried

38        The modern spiritual disease today is "efficiency" Merton

40        "Be still" comes from latin 'vacate'--prayer is a vacation from the control we think we have over 

             our own lives.

44        "Stillness is the quiet space where God migrates from the periphery back to the center, and prayers              pour forth from the life that has God at its center."

50        In our stillness we demonstrate consent.  Consent to the work of the Holy Spirit.

51        Practicing silence is a sacrificial gift to God--not something that we are meant to 'get' something                 out of.

56        Foundation of prayer (according to Jesus is this):     REMEMBER

                    Remember who God is

                    Remember who you are

                    Remember who we are to each other

57        #1 obstacle to prayer is our inability to receive the love of God

58        Catholics frame the Lord's prayer by the moniker "Our Father" which is apt since it frames for us                  who exactly we are talking to

59         use of the term saints for Christians makes sense because it doesn't meant they are good but they                 have received the goodness of God.  You can't become a saint yourself--someone else (that is 

            God) makes you one.

60        As we pray "Our Father" this is really about us asking him to remind us of his love for us.  the love             of a father.

76        Sin = I try to meet my most primal need without God

79        God sympathizes with our sin struggles--that means he co-suffers with us.  

123        Why do we have to ask God for something if he already knows what will happen?  Namely     

                because prayer is about relationship and vulnerability.  

126        God is a relational being to know, not a formula to master--thus we get verses that say God 

                doesn't change juxtaposed with ones that talk about his heart changing.

127        Sometimes God uses prolonged waiting in prayer to form something in our inner being.

134           Prayer in the middle voice means we are joining God--we are active participants in a story                 began by someone else (God)

138        "Yes, have your way Lord" is a powerful prayer.  It's the prayer of Jesus' Mom Mary and it's the                 prayer of Jesus in the Lord's prayer.

140        Intimacy with God yields fruitfulness (not the other way around)--this comes through:

                    - Prayer as a reflex throughout the day

                    - Prayer as a practice in the form of disciplined contemplation

                    - Fiery please of intercession

140        tsedaqah--Hebrew for personal righteousness -- it's the same word for outward justice

140        "private spiritual practice without equal devotion to costly public compassion [is] not only                         dysfunctional but oxymoronic"

142          "prayer is the furnace that fuels mission."  

142         "I am your servant, may your word to me be fulfilled"

144           The above is a prayer of consent--join God and asking Him to complete that work in you

146        Moody prayed for the lost by beging God to reveal himself to those people in a way that they 

              could perceive and receive eternal love.

158        Prayer that births new life is slow--requires dedication

170        "Prayer is a journey that starts in need and ends in relationship."

175        Most literal translation of Matthew 7:7 is "Keep on asking and you will receive, keep on seeking 

               and you will find, keep on knocking and the door will be o  you can dealt to Satan as C.S. Lewis notes in the Screwtape Letters

196        didache early church routines

199        "Commitments, not feelings are how we show our love."  David Brooks: a commitment is "falling                 in love with something and then building a structure of behavior around it for those moments                    when our love falters."  Second Mountain

214        The 33 years of David's reign as king are the only time before Jesus rose again that everyone 

               could access God's presence there in the city center where he placed the ark of the covenant                        before the temple was built.

228        yada is Hebrew for knowledge.  It's also used to denote sex.  Knowledge is something intimate, 

               learned in relationship not a book

230        Monks pictures the face of Jesus as they pray.  This serves to anchor their prayers

233-4     4 categories through which you can practice confession:

                1. Blatant (lust, rage)

                2. Deliberate (church sins not societal ones)

                3. Unconscious (deeper thought patterns that lead to sin)

                4. Inner Orientations (most hidden, where and in whom am I placing my trust).

                    

Kruse's Keys: Read "The Life Impossible" to Escape Into Magic Realism in Ibiza

The Life Impossible. In the vein of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Matt Haig's latest tale is magical realist amble into the intersection of mathematics, environmentalism, science, philosophy, extraterrestrial life, loss, and grief--and the fact that it all takes place in Ibiza makes this story shine.  While Haig's third novel doesn't rise to the level of his Midnight Library, it still stood out as a guilty pleasure of a read--one that doesn't demand too much of the reader (most chapters are only a page or two) while delivering beautiful writing at the same time.  Unfortunately, much like in his previous novel "How to Stop Time," it fizzles at the end as the environmentalist meanderings come off as overwrought in its emotionalism.  

My 2025 reading list is here.

Looking for book ideas? Check out our 2024,  2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 reading lists!

Kruse's Keys

19    "I was watching myself in the third person."  on the term 'beside myself'

33    "Maybe it was the islands.  Maybe they sent people insane."  Love the idea of being sent insane instead of driven insane. 

91    "To see everyone on Earth as someone's grief waiting to happen."  Beautiful way to capture the psyche in how Grace Winters sees the world.

133     Authors comments that love is not the rare thing in life, rather it's being understood by someone and understanding them.

172    "I suppose that is one of the purposes of all reading. It helps you live lives beyond the one you are inside.  It turns out single-room mental shack into a mansion."

188    "duende" in Spanish describes the feeling of truly connecting with the essence of life in some way--popularized by the Poet Lorca.

247    "chiaroscuro" the method in Italian art of having so much darkness in a painting so that the light around someone like John the Baptist takes on a holy appearance

259    Great example of author's prowess in describing people and setting

270    "Maybe that was what madness was: the loneliness of understanding what others can't."  Interesting notion.

2025 Reading list

Looking for book ideas?  Check out our 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014  reading lists!

Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer.  Incredible--review pending.

Cutting for Stone (Libby).  This has been on my reading list since it's publication in 2009.  Listening to it over the course of 20 hours completely pulled me back into Ethiopia where we lived for over 2 years--it also made me wish I'd read it while I lived there.  The author creates a world so immersive that it inhabits your thoughts to the point that you find yourself pausing unexpectedly during the day to consider Shivah's plights or Genet's betrayal.  Verghese's ability here brought echoes of Mafouz's mastery in creating an entire world across generations in the Cairo trilogy.  The unique aspect of this novel is the way in which the the author can present fascinating surgical details in a manner the average lay person can at least pretend to understand--all the while weaving a tale with multiple layers of betrayal, intrigue and redemption.

The Life Impossible. In the vein of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Matt Haig's latest tale is magical realist amble into the intersection of mathematics, environmentalism, science, philosophy, extraterrestrial life, loss, and grief--and the fact that it all takes place in Ibiza makes this story shine.  While Haig's third novel doesn't rise to the level of his Midnight Library, it still stood out as a guilty pleasure of a read--one that doesn't demand too much of the reader (most chapters are only a page or two) while delivering beautiful writing at the same time.

A Death in Brazil.  Currently reading once I found out where my kids put it:) Brasil read.

TBR (To be ready in 2025)

The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky

Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good.

Elizabeth Ritchie and the Kingdom of Whatnots.  My 12 year old daughter Betty's next book to be self-published.

May the Wolf Die. 

The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother

Embarrassing List of Books I've said I'm going to finish for several years:

Tribe of Mentors.  Currently reading for the last four years. My full review will be here...one day

The Italians. Was reading but misplaced the book.  If I find it I will finish it.

Kruse's Key: Read Deere's "Surprised by the Spirit" to Learn About Healing Today

Jack’s Deere’s “Why I Am Still Surprised by the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today” walks the fine line of personal testimony and historical/theological analysis as he tackles the subject of the Holy Spirit, “signs and wonders”, and healing in today’s church. At one time Deere was an avid naysayer of healing in the modern church–as a seminary professor he scoffed at what he viewed as snake oil salesmen purporting to heal amidst overwrought theatrics and questionable motives. All that changed when a pastor named Dr. John White led a prayer service at his church that culminated in a miraculous event after which Deere clearly heard God’s voice call him to repentance for his arrogance and lack of faith. Shortly thereafter he was introduced to John Wimber and “praying for the sick became a permanent part of [his] life.”

As someone who has spent several years in Africa and befriended many missionaries, I’ve never doubted that God still heals today but I’ve never considered it as something attainable in my own life or for my own loved ones. Deere’s story has changed my mind because he doesn’t focus on healing or miracles except in the context of an intimacy with God the creator. These things should glorify God–should focus people’s eyes upward–never on the person or on self-gratification

Looking for book ideas? Check out our 2024,  2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 reading lists!

Notes

98 Rebuttal against Hebrews 2: 3-4 used by cessationists.

114 Scriptural reasons that God heals:

Because he is asked

Because he has compassion and mercy on the sick

To bring glory to himself

In response to his promise to the elders

In response to faith

To lead people to repentance and open doors to the gospel

To remove hindrances to ministry and service

To reach us about himself and his kingdom

To demonstrate the presence of his kingdom

For sovereign purposes known only to himself


120-121 We tend to doubt God’s goodness, especially when we are asking for something big. We believe Satan’s lies that God only heals us or heals people when we/they are good. “We overcome the accuser by placing our confidence in the blood of Christ.


143 N.T. mentioned 7 specific demonic inroads:

Anger and unforgiveness

Sexual immorality

Violence

Hatred (envy, jealousy, & selfish ambition)

Occult practices

Long term idolatry

Blasphemy (attributing evil to God)


172 Part of his daily prayer:

Now Lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.


173 1949 Scottish Hebrides revival


182 Every day I pray to be like Barnabas: “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith” through whom “a great number of people were brought to the Lord.” (Acts 11:24)


205 A spiritual gift: an endowment of grace empowered by the Holy Spirit to build up the people to God


215 Best translation of the bible: “The one that says to love your enemies.” …”we don’t fail because we can’t defend our view of the millennium, we fail because we want some things more than we want a friendship with God.”


216 Pray Psalm 119: 18

Pray for God to open your eyes.

“Open my eyes so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”

AsK God to dazzle me with his beauty (Psalm 27:4)

Ask the Father to grant me a work of the Holy Spirit to love his Son like he loves his Son.

Ask God to grant me grace to one of his friends

Ask God to let me be one of his best friends

The goal is is to enjoy God, not endure Him.


217 Before he preaches any command, he gives them a person to enjoy.


222 Christians are to focus on three things:

Prayer

Love

Spiritual gifts


227 Leaders in the church today are burning out because they are crushed by the bulk of the ministry of the church, a ministry that the church members are supposed to be doing.

2024 Reading List

Looking for book ideas?  Check out our 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014  reading lists!

The Extraordinary Mountain Creatures of North America.  My 12 year old daughter Betty's first (self) published novel.  

Brazil: A Biography (Audible).  Just finished listening to this 28 hour history of the country. I can't imagine living or working in Brazil and not having read this comprehensive history that dates back to Brazil's "discovery" in the 1500s.  I plan to read the book itself over the next few months and take copious notes! Essential Brasil read.

The Collector of Leftover Souls: Field Notes on Brazil's Everyday Insurrections.  This book is a collection of essays by reporter Eliane Brum.  In it she sheds light on different facets of Brasilian society normally buried in darkness: Os povos indígenas, minorias sociais, os povos que vivem à margem da sociedade, longe dos núcleos de poder.  Essential Brasil read.

Why I am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today.  Great read--my full review is here. 

Beartown. Recommended to me as "Friday Night Lights" except with hockey.  That's a pretty fair description for this fast-paced read.  Set in the backwoods of a dying hockey town in Sweden--it's got sports, betrayal, and possibly murder--sports noir at its finest.  And it's a trilogy!

Clandestine in Chile.  Don't recommend.  I really looked forward to reading this novel since I've always loved the magical realism of author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  To be clear, Marquez has some beautiful writing but this journalistic retelling of filmmaker Littins secret mission to film inside Chile and expose the brutality and horror of life under Pinochet reads less like a spy novel and more like an ambling fait accompli/much ado about nearly nothing.  

Brazillionaires (Audible).  Incredible Michael Lewis-style tale of the rise of the 21st century rise (and fall for some) of a billionaire class in Brazil told against the backdrop of corruption, favelas, soccer stadiums, kidnappings and Miami real estate. This book offers keen insight into the Brazilian psyche and society writ large.  Essential Brasil read.

Greenlights (Audible).  Don't read this, I repeat, don't read this.  LISTEN TO IT! The audible version is narrated by author Matthew McConaughey and he's phenomenal: vulnerable, funny, self-deprecating, raw, and at times outrageous!  The book is partly autobiographical and partly self-help as he shares his struggles, failures, triumphs and lessons for the reader. 

How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Seen (Audible). A phenomenal and important read.  I listened to it on Audible and about 1/3 of the way through I found it so incredible that I ordered a physical copy so I could reread it make extensive notes.  Author David Brooks offers a framework by which one could be not a better leader but a more caring and empathetic friend and person in general.  I particularly enjoyed some of the questions he uses to better understand where people come from.  One example: In your family what was one thing you could never do?

How to Stop Time (Libby).  By the author of Midnight Library (my review here).  Author Matt Haig is a gifted storyteller and I loved his tale of this secret society of quasi-immortals who through a genetic anomaly age only 1 year for every 14 years on earth.  It contains all the best elements of historical fiction as the main character's life span centuries, as well as love and loss, and humor.  But what it as good as Midnight Libary?  Not quite.  Toward the novel's end if fizzles a bit, almost as if the author had grown weary--along with the main character--of living and loving across centuries.  

Dancing with the Devil in the City of God: Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic Dream (Brazil book).  Prodigal daughter/Journalist Julianna Barbassa returns to her home city after a childhood spent largely abroad.  Part memoir, part expose, part investigative journalism that covers the national and city politician's ill considered efforts to prepare the city and populace to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. Her thorough reporting brings the reader behind the fabric of Brazilian government and societal machinations, triumphs, and dysfunction. Essential Brasil read.

A Promised Land (Libby).  It's riveting. This 700 page (29 hours!) memoir was recommended by a high school classmate of mine in his bi-monthly book newsletter: Mountain Prairie.  Here's a quote from his writeup: 

What I look for in a memoir: Fun-to-read writing; laugh-out-loud humor; deep dives into the “why” of pivotal decisions; a detailed understanding of the people/places/experiences/cultures that shaped the author’s worldview; enlightening historical context; the author’s most brutal challenges and how they were overcome; opportunities to evolve my thinking on a few topics; humility; passion; purpose; commitment; optimism; self-doubt; extreme hard work; and crazy behind-the-scenes stories. What I don’t look for in a memoir: To have my preexisting opinions confirmed; to agree in lockstep with the author’s ideas/choices/worldview; surface-level boringness; or prose obviously written by a team of insufferable PR suits. Conclusion: This book met and/or exceeded all of my criteria and now sits alongside Acid for the Children and Shoe Dog as an all-time favorite memoir.

This memoir delivers--engrossing and full of insights into what a president goes through on a daily basis--from thought process, to congressional politics to family dynamics.  No matter your politics you'll enjoy this humble and thoughtful retrospective.  It ends right after they kill Osama so I cant wait for the next book!

The Invisibles (Brazil book).  Came across this book on a colleague's bookshelf and he kindly let me borrow it.  I liked it so much that I ordered a copy of my own!  A British woman and a Brazilian man fall in love in the 70's and have a child.  Unfortunately, he falls on hard times and ends up jailed under the military dictatorship.  His wife and child flee to England and never return believing him dead...until some 30 years later when a news clip give his son hope his father might still be alive in Rio.  Thus begins a journey for one man's father but also his long lost country--all against the backdrop of a class/tranche of society that often feels invisible--hence the name.   Brasil read.

Demon Copperhead (Libby).  My friend who pastors at Doxology Church in Arlington (amazing place by the way) mentioned this book during a sermon in which he was talking about timeless stories.  He discussed this novel in the context of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield as a story that tells a story and a struggle that transcends time periods and locales.  This Pullitzer prize winning tale is a HARD read that lays bare the realities of the foster system, rural America, the opiod crisit and growing up as a teen today.  The narrated version is INCREDIBLE to listen to--HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

A City in Ruins (Libby).  This is the third in the Danny Ryan trilogy by crime writer Don Winslow.  Racing narrative--great beach read/listen.

Because of Winter. Amazing debut novel by author Nikki Brochetti.  

Kruse's Keys: Read (don't listen) to "Uncertain Ground" to Better Understand What it Means to be an American Citizen

I regret ever listening to Phil Klay’s 2022 collection of essays Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War–I should have read it instead. As I listened to his 20 essays (divided into 4 sections: Soldiers, Citizen, Writing, and Faith) driving back and forth from the Licola suburbs to the U.S. Naval Base at Capodichino, I muttered countless complaints that there’s no way to take notes or make highlights in the Libby or Audible app! If I’d had a paperback version its margins would be scribbled with notes, quotes, and highlights…and this review would be a much stronger one.

For the uninitiated, Phil Klay is part of a slim company of writers (e.g., Ben Fountain, Atticus Lish, Roxana Robinson, Nate Fick, Andrew Exum, Gavin Kovite, Christopher Robinson, Elliot Ackerman) who grapple with America’s invisible conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and places most Americans don’t even realize we’re fighting. When I read his two earlier novels, Redeployment and Missionaries, I remember thinking every American needs to read these books. My hope being that his stories might wear away the calluses of an American public largely ignorant of the military service members’ sacrifices and scars. I observed that reading Redeployment could serve as a cathartic communion of sorts for the reader, a chance for those who haven't served to break bread with those who have sacrificed so much.

As I read Uncertain Ground, however, I continuously thought every service member needs to read this book. Klay’s essays focus on yes, what it means to serve, but more so what it means to be an American citizen. Quick note: It's to Klay’s credit that the author makes it quite clear that he never saw combat as a Marine Corps public affairs officer–he must have mentioned this fact some twenty times in the book. Countless other service members obfuscate their historical service leaving the public to guess or infer the nature of it. Klay’s clarity lends credibility to his writing as he is at times a marine once removed, an outsider listening and digesting all of his fellow marines’ combat trauma to shake the military reader awake to her responsibilities to be an active citizen engaged in the political process. One point he made that struck me, in particular, was the way he highlighted the knee-jerk military reaction that devalues anyone’s opinion on war who hasn’t served. I’m guilty of this. Klay makes a strong argument that the constitutional call for every American is to grapple with and hold our legislative and executive branches accountable for the lives of our soldiers, sailors, and airmen.

This is a book that I’ll order a paper copy of–I’d like the chance to read it again and mark it up, and discuss it with colleagues. He shares so many phenomenal insights (e.g., his approach to writing, his Catholic faith), that I want to be sure to capture them to refer to in future writing and conversations.

My 2015 review of Redeployment is here.
My 2021 review of Missionaries is here.

Looking for book ideas? Check out our 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 reading lists!

Kruse's Keys: Don't Read "The Passenger"--You'll Thank Me For Saving You the Time

If you loved McCarthy’s writing in All the Pretty Horses, well, you won’t encounter it here.  This is less a novel and more of a scientific, philosophical thought experiment put to paper.  Buoyed by only the scarcest of plotlines we follow the wonderings of main character Bobby Western, an increasingly paranoid salvage diver plagued by a familial guilt over his father’s central role in the creation of the atom bomb.  The Bobby chapters are interspersed with italicized encounters between Bobby’s sister and an hallucinatory array of mishapen, circus-like characters.  Unfortunately, the conversations are so non-sensical that I skimmed through them after their third appearance. In Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing he advises writers to “try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.”  McCarthy fails to heed any such advice and stocks this novel full of skippable pages.

To top it all off, there’s a weird quasi-incestual relationship implied between Bobby Western and his decade younger sister.  From what I could tell, it doesn’t represent anything–it’s not a metaphor for some lofty idea–it’s just weird and sick and makes me question McCarthy all together.  

Of course, I’m just a clanging cymbal since the novel continues to receive accolades from most critics.  Reader beware.

Looking for book ideas? Check out our 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 reading lists!

Key Quotes: 

69  I knew that freedom was just lke it says in speeches. It's worth whaetever you have to pay to get it.

93  Tugs don't break up.  Tugs are forever.

137  Coming upon a certain book in the library and clutching it to you.  Carrying it home.  Some perfect place to to read it.  Under a tree perhaps...And of course it's true that any number of these books were penned in lieu of burning down the world--which was the author's true desire.  

141  What a man seeks is beauty, plain and simple.  No other way to put it.  The rustle of her clothes, her scent.  The sweep of her hair across his naked stomach.  

143  Having read even a few dozen books in common is a force more binding than blood. 

180  Beauty makes promises that beauty can't keep.