Recent Reads

There are 102 non-fiction books in New Hampshire Downloads' ebook category. So, while my choices are limited, I'm experiencing the joy of reading books that I never would have read--simply because they are there and they look interesting!

Two recently discovered gems are Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart and The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. The former is a light and charming tale of two Iowa girls who traipse off to New York City one summer during college to find work. It's a little like Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, but with less gut-wrenching humor. It captures some of what NYC was like back in the early 40s, so it's an indirect history lesson. One of my favorite things about it is that it was written by a no-name lady later in life, just because she decided that she had a story to tell. I'm glad she decided to tell it!

The Tipping Point explores how little things can set off trends of epidemic proportions. Okay, maybe it's some pop psychology, but Gladwell cites a wealth of fascinating studies to prove his points, studies that are worth reading about in themselves. It provides a lot of food for thought, and I was so intrigued that I read it through in less than 24 hours (before it could expire from my eReader). It doesn't credit the supernatural for anything, which is one weak point, but it affirms the reality that major supernatural occurrences can be set off by very small events. So if you read the book through eyes of faith, it can be rather encouraging! It reminds me of one of my all-time favorite George MacDonald quotes, from his book There and Back:

"So long as evil comes to the front, it appears an interminable, unconquerable thing. But all the time there may be a change, positive as inexplicable, at the very door. How is it that a child begins to be good? Upon what fulcrum rests the knife-edge of alteration? As undistinguishable is the moment in which the turn takes place; equally perplexing to keenest investigation the part of the being in which the renovation commences. Who shall analyze repentance, as a force, or as a phenomenon! You cannot see it coming! Before you know, there it is, and the man is no more what he was; his life is upon other lines! The wind hath blown."