Tag: reading

An image of a forest and the following words in white text: May + June 2024 The Summer Reading List + Why I Still Love 'The Lord of the Rings'

May + June 2024: The Summer Reading List + Why I Still Love ‘The Lord of the Rings’

Posted on by Kelvey Vander Hart in L I F E

It’s been a while since we’ve done a double edition. Let’s get to it: 

The Summer Reading List

I usually recommend books I’ve already read. To switch things up, I’m going to share a few books that are on my summer reading list that you may want to add to your list too. If you have read any of these and have thoughts to share (or if you have a book you think I should read this summer), feel free to drop me a note or a comment! 

Best Article I’ve Read Recently

Jesus followers are called to love immigrants. No exceptions. Whatever you think our border policy should be, we are called to love the immigrant among us and treat them with dignity. The fact that we are arguing over this in the American church is horrifying. 

Anti-immigrant rhetoric in America is nothing new—the attitude is always there, but there are seasons where it is shown in full force and seasons where it lurks in the shadows. But Jesus followers should always treat immigrants with love and compassion regardless of the culture around us, and many faith-based groups are organizing to do so. But these same organizations are now under attack and having their staff, the immigrants they serve, and their very mission threatened by fiercely anti-immigrant individuals.

The New York Times recently shared the stories of what some groups are enduring to serve immigrants in their community. Certainly an article worth reading, and you can find it here. If you are a Jesus follower, I encourage you to read the article with a self-reflection question at the front of your mind: Do I love immigrants like Jesus does?

A Tip for All Obsessed With The Lord of the Rings 

If you love all things Lord of the Rings like I do, you need to know that the Sir Peter Jackson movies (extended editions, of course, and excluding The Hobbit films) are back in theaters for a limited time! I was only five when The Fellowship of the Ring was first released, so seeing it in theaters was amazing (and you better believe I have tickets to see The Two Towers and The Return of the King as well). You can find showtimes near you here. 

Quote of the Month

“‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.

‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’”

―J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Why I Still Love The Lord of the Rings 

I have returned to Middle Earth time and time again over the past 15 years. Other stories and worlds capture my mind for a season, but I always come back to J.R.R. Tolkien’s world. And I’m not the only one—Tolkien’s books and Sir Peter Jackson’s movies are still extremely popular (with the movies in particular growing in popularity among women as ‘comfort watches’).

I’m sure there are plenty of lists out there from cultural commentators and literary experts with more academic takes on why Tolkien’s work has persisted. But here are three reasons why I find myself drawn back to Middle Earth again and again: 

1. War is not idolized or made out to be a noble thing. Courage and bravery are commended, and so is fighting for what is right, but never war, death, or destruction itself. 

2. The men are the very definition of healthy masculinity. You see Tolkien’s male characters express a full range of emotion, treat women with dignity, and love their male friends well without any of these characteristics being mocked or considered weak. And Tolkien does not write anti-heroes—Aragorn, Frodo, Sam, and others deal with the evil around them by heading firmly toward what is good, even though they may stumble on the path to getting there. 

3. Tolkien highlights the beauty in ordinary life. His world is where gardeners are held in high esteem and where little is as wonderful as good food and drink around a table with friends. It is a world where the trees are revered, where people love deeply, where songs and poems are important.

Human formation comes through the stories we tell ourselves, whether fiction or reality. It’s how we were designed, and it’s why Jesus leaned so heavily on parables. If the stories we listen to matter, we should be listening to good stories. The Lord of the Rings tell stories that make me want to see beauty in the ordinary and never treat evil as good. Which stories do the same for you? 

I’ll catch you next month, friends. 

P.S. If you want to see my name in your inbox more frequently, I have another publication, The Saltwater Chronicles, where I publish a newsletter called ‘Making Waves Weekly’ on Fridays. If you want to know more about the ocean and marine creatures (or just want more fun facts to pull out at parties), this newsletter is for you. You can subscribe here. 

A photo of a woman sitting on a cliff with a taupe box that has in white words December 2023: 'Better Than Before' + An Argument for Excessive Data Tracking

December 2023: ‘Better Than Before’ + An Argument for Excessive Data Tracking

Posted on by Kelvey Vander Hart in L I F E

Happy New Year! I’m looking forward to seeing what 2024 holds, but have some rewinding to do to December 2023. 

Here’s your monthly recap: 

Best Book I Read This Month 

Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin is a great read on habits and behavioral change. While I love books like Atomic Habits, I think this book better highlights personality differences that impact our daily lives and ability to change behaviors. You can find it here. 

Best Article I Read This Month

“In Godzilla Minus One, Government Won’t Save Anyone When the Crisis Comes” is a movie review from the magazine I work for, Reason, that I can wholeheartedly endorse. I don’t typically watch movies in the theater multiple times, but I saw this film and immediately took my sister with me to see it again. I’ve loved Godzilla movies since I was a kid, but this one was perhaps the best monster movie I have ever seen, capturing the idea of Godzilla being a representation of Japan’s national trauma in the aftermath of World War II. 

Tip + Trick of the Month

January is the time for new goals and resolutions, and tracking helps support these endeavors. I’m a fan of data tracking (and I’ll talk more about it later on in this recap) and have found two apps to be extremely useful: 

Tally is excellent for numerical goals. Here are a few examples of things I track: 

  • How many times I walk the dog in a month 
  • The number of hours I spend outside
  • Any sort of weightlifting goal 
  • Number of miles I walk in a year 

Streaks is great for consistency and frequency goals. Here are a couple of things I track: 

  • Did I get 7 hours of sleep last night? 
  • Did I meet my protein goal for the day? 
  • Did I read that day? 
  • Did I close my Apple Watch exercise ring? 

I track a few things throughout the day if it’s simpler for me to reference it in the moment instead of looking up a data point later, but I typically keep things simple and just track everything quickly when I go to turn my phone off every night. Easy! 

Quote of the Month

“Because what you give your attention to is the person you become. Put another way: the mind is the portal to the soul, and what you fill your mind with will shape the trajectory of your character. In the end, your life is no more than the sum of what you gave your attention to. That bodes well for those apprentices of Jesus who give the bulk of their attention to him and to all that is good, beautiful, and true in his world. But not for those who give their attention to the 24-7 news cycle of outrage and anxiety and emotion-charged drama or the nonstop feed of celebrity gossip, titillation, and cultural drivel.” -John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

Thought for the Month

I track so many data points in my life: my macros, number of hours slept, books I’m reading, workouts—the list goes on and on. As an extremely type A person, I love being able to have data to reference. But not everyone thinks tracking is a good idea. 

Many roll their eyes at data tracking, especially when you are tracking something you already like to do. “Why not just enjoy it?” “Why stress yourself out?” 

There are three reasons why I think data tracking is amazing, even if you enjoy the task you’re tracking (or hate tracking): 

1. It is simple to default to comfort, and on hard days it’s easier to stream Netflix and hang out on the couch than it is to pick up a challenging book, get a walk in, or cook an actual meal…goals serve as behavior prompts and tracking is the daily reminder of these goals. 

2. On the days when I don’t believe I’ve accomplished anything I set out to do, actual data reveals that I am casting votes for who I want to be.

3. Data tells us the truth. It’s easy to convince ourselves we’re getting enough sleep or working out every day. Tracking our actions can either prove us right or expose where we’re fooling ourselves. 

If you have never tracked a goal before, I encourage you to try it. You may find data tracking to be a useful tool. 

Good luck with sticking to your goals to start the year—I believe in you! I’ll catch you next month. 

Kelvey's book picks from quarter three of 2020.

The Quarterly Reading Roundup: 2020 Q3

Posted on by Kelvey Vander Hart in P A R A D I G M

2020 is somehow both crawling and flying by. I think I blinked and the last three months elapsed. But that means that it is time for my quarterly reading roundup! 

Here are my picks from quarter three of 2020: 

CRAZY RICH ASIANS TRILOGY BY KEVIN KWAN

I was skeptical before I started the first book in this trilogy, but they ended up being fantastic. Kwan transports you into a different culture, one that rattles all our American assumptions about the rich and powerful. Packed with cultural insight, witty commentary, plenty of detail, and eye-rolling dialogue, these fast-paced books are some of the best fiction I’ve read all year. 

ORTHODOXY BY G.K. CHESTERTON

I like the way Chesterton’s mind works. This beautiful, imaginative work paints Christianity in a way that makes the heart, mind, and soul run wild. Below is a quote I loved from the book, one that summarizes the grand perspective Chesterton held: 

“That a good man may have his back to the wall is no more than we knew already, but that God could have His back to the wall is a boast for all insurgents forever. Christianity is the only religion on earth that has felt that omnipotence made God incomplete. Christianity alone felt that God, to be wholly God, must have been a rebel as well as a king. Alone of all creeds, Christianity has added courage to the virtues of the Creator. For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul passes a breaking point – and does not break.”

SEVEN WOMEN BY ERIC METAXAS 

Metaxas is one of my favorite biographers, and his Seven Women did not disappoint. These seven, chapter-length biographies cover everyone from Joan of Arc to Rosa Parks. I finished the book inspired and having learned a lot about these seven remarkable women. 

What is the best book you’ve read lately?