Currently Reading

I have a book list as long as can be, and I have never been able to start one and finish it without trying to read 3 more at the same time. A recent turn in events and some wise words from a friend have finally been enough to make me resist the urge to multi task my reading and stick with one.

I am currently reading a book called Captivating. I will post this disclaimer that the book is not exclusively Catholic, but until I find something that totally contradicts the faith, I cannot dismiss it.

Captivating is a piece to invite women to see the true beauty within them because they are daughters of God. To sum it up all too quickly, the author and her husband talk about the 3 inherent desires of woman: to take part in romance, to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure, and to have her beauty unveiled.

I haven't finished yet, in fact I am not even half way through, so I cannot give you a summary or a book review, but I can tell you that this book is filled with little nuggets for you to think about. Here is one of the many nuggets I have had to stop and contemplate for:

"I know I am not alone in this nagging sense of failure to measure up, a feeling of not being good enough as a woman. Every woman I've ever met feels it- something deeper than just the sense of failing at what she does. An underlying gut feeling of failing at who she is. I am not enough, and, I am too much at the same time. Not pretty enough, not thin enough, not kind enough, not gracious enough, not disciplined enough. But too emotional, too needy, too sensitive, too strong, too opinionated, too messy. The result is Shame, the universal companion of women."

Before I scare the men off with a quote like this, I must say, one of the first thoughts that struck me upon reading this was how I wish that the men in my life would read this book. If it is eye opening for me as a woman, I can't imagine what a useful tool it can be for men to understand their creational counterpart.

Captivating is a follow up to Wild at Heart, which is sort of like the male version of this book. I hope to read that too, and maybe I can learn more about the wonderful men in my life, and be better able to help them on their paths to heaven.