Tag: bookish

Memoir & Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ Leave a comment

Said to be the calming pastoral voice for Robert Louis Stevenson, The Rev. Robert Murray M’Cheyne was a Presbyterian minister in Edinburgh, Scotland in the early 1800s. Although very passionate in his vocation to ‘Save’ individuals and bring them to Christ, almost obnoxiously so, M’Cheyne’s writing is beautiful and his love & passion for his “flock” is felt throughout his work. One thing he writes that stuck out to me was that we should not just read scripture but try to FEEL the words we are reading. I thought this was very good advice. This work is edited by his good friend Andrew Bonar.

The entire work is a compilation of letters, full sermons, his memoir and his ‘Daily Bread’ calendar, which gives a bit of scripture to read everyday. Some quotes of his I have collected are below…

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“One gem from that ocean [the gospel] is worth all the pebbles of earthly streams.”

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“You know that a lighted lamp is a very small thing, and it burns calmly and without noise; yet “it giveth light to all that are within the house.”

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“Pray that you may pray to God, and not for the ears of man. Feel His presence more than man’s.”

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#bookish #preacher #robertlouisstevenson #edinburgh #history #memoir #bookstagram #bookstagramer #bookshelf #library #religion #inspiration #advice #writing #readersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #bookishescape #christianity #bible #bookphotography #bibliophile #booknerd #bookgeek

The book of Joshua

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ Leave a comment

I have no authority to teach you about these stories, you might disagree with me and that’s OK! 👇👇👇

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I enjoyed reading Joshua. It’s filled with action, and I especially loved the story about Rehab the prostitute, an unexpected hero in worldly terms.

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In this book, Joshua takes the reins after Moses dies and leads the Israelites on the rest of the journey to conquer the promise land. They are able to do this if they keep God close. He will help them achieve their freedom. Much like what I spoke about last week in freedom from whatever may be oppressive in our lives, but now Joshua must finish the job Moses started. We are called to teach our children (younger generations) well to remain always with a sense of what freedom means and how it can be achieved: with God’s help or living in the Spirit of Love and mercy. We do not need to lean on our “parents” forever as someday we will have to be responsible for our own beliefs and actions and discern whether or not what we’ve been taught is even good or right.

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#bible #biblejournaling #christianity #bookshelf #library #booknerdigans #readersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #religion #jesus #catholic #episcopalian #episcopalchurch

Paul’s Letter to the Colossians

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ Leave a comment

Let your conversation be always full of grace, ‘seasoned with salt’,
so that you may know how to answer everyone.” -Colossians 4:6

‘Salt’ is one of the most significant words in the whole Bible. We usually hear it in reference to God’s people – ‘salt of the earth’. Because of salt’s preservative nature, Christians, generation after
generation, preserve His name. Also, salt was hard to come by and expensive; Christ’s followers are rare and priceless to Him as He is to us. The words of God give us balance and purify our life as does
salt, as it balances the taste of food, bringing out all the subtle elements which make a flavor more delicate, synchronized, and desirable. Salt is also a necessary nutritional element to life itself; God is also—if only to enjoy in full capacity your life here on earth. Paul is saying here that when we speak, we should have a
little of this good salt on our lips or at least peace, love, and understanding, a balance, a purity. It will make difficult things
easier to say, and it will give mundane conversations life. Because I think to ‘live’ is to recognize that every day is a significant opportunity to cultivate a greater understanding of life, and share
the conundrum of its complexities with one another using the salt on our lips to do so. And in that, even discussing the weather will have as much significance as giving birth to life itself.

The Book of Numbers

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ 12 Comments

*I have no authority to teach you lessons from the Bible, I only hope you will find something useful. You might disagree with my interpretation and that’s OK!

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“When you cross the Jordan in to Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places.” –Numbers 33:51

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OK verses such as the above are what gives God a bad rap. It sounds violent and scary and seems to advertise war. But I will tell you that you must not look at the surface for the meaning in scripture, people that do often miss the truth and can interpret wrongly. Go deeper and this verse takes on a different shape entirely: Before your spirit can settle in peace with God and with yourself, drive out all things that are holding you back from a true and pure existence—all that you consider an ‘idol’ should be destroyed. For me, for a long time, my ‘idol’ getting traditionally published. I prayed and prayed for this to happen. But it wasn’t until I read this verse and saw my own folly in holding that goal on a pedestal of importance over many other things, and asking myself exactly WHY I wanted my books out there (was it for selfish reasons, or was my goal to help people?), that I was able to give up the idea and decide instead to be happy no matter what happened to all my books, poems, essays and dedicate my writing to the purpose of GOOD. Once I did this I found a publisher. Call that whatever you like, but I know where this gift came from. Have faith and hope that God will show you the way, but we must be patient and trust Him with all our hearts. That’s what I think anyway.

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#bookish #bible #christianity #religion #church #episcopal #episcopalchurch #catholic #jewish #moses #bookshelf #biblejournaling #journaling #booknerd #bookgeek #booknerdigans #bookphotography #bibliophile #library

St. Teresa de Avila by Herself

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ Leave a comment

Finished this over the weekend. I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to entrench themselves in faith reading. At times it was frightening, especially when she talks about seeing visions of the devil. Those were times I wanted to put it down, because that does scare me, and I don’t even believe in such a thing but rather an evil presence in the ether around us. But she also saved me from ever being afraid if I did think otherwise. ‘It’ can’t harm us, she says, because ‘it’ can’t do anything without God’s permission and if we keep God near what can ‘it’ do? With this happy thought I carry on. .

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“Then I snap my fingers at all the devils; they shall be afraid of me. I do not understand these fears which make us cry, ‘The devil, the devil!’ When we might be saying, ‘God! God!’ and make all the devils tremble.” —St. Teresa de Avila

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#bookish #bible #christianity #religion #bibliophile #bookshelf #library #booknerd #bookgeek #bookphotography #catholic #episcopal #episcopalchurch #nun #saints #church #reading #bookstagram #writersofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagramer #booknerdigans #booklover

For the Bride: Today is our Wedding Anniversary

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ 5 Comments

For The Bride: A scrapbook for brides from 1920’s. My mother gave me this as a sort of joke on my anniversary one year along with a book called, The Silent Hostess, also another inside joke. .

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My husband and I were married 14 years ago today. I was 22 years old. It was 70 degrees in Michigan, and the leaves were still brilliantly colored on all the trees. We were indeed blessed. It was before everyone got really creative with wedding pics. Ours are very standard and professionally posed. Nothing fancy like people all jumping at the same time or pictures of shoes and rings, etc. Some details I remember: Our photographer had been hit by a car that day and had managed to limp his way to our wedding despite this. There were ladybugs flying all over the place, got themselves caught in my veil, on my gown, in the hair of bridesmaids and groomsmen. My uncle Jack flew in from California to surprise me on this day, and my dad asked if I was nervous before he walked me down the aisle. I denied being nervous but hummed Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture because I WAS nervous (and because I’m a weirdo). I couldn’t find Bryan for most of the event, and everyone kept asking if I was pregnant. 😂 .

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Here’s to all the brides out there!

Cheers 🥂 .

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#bridesmaids #bride #wedding #celebration #weddingparty #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #booknerdigans #bookshelf #library #bookphotography #reading #bibliophile #mansion #booksofinstagram #booknerd #bookgeek #cheers #party #writersofinstagram #writingcommunity #readingcommunity

Desert Islands by Walter de la Mare

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ Leave a comment

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If any of you would like to read an interesting book (which I’m sure you do), please try Walter de la Mare’s Desert Islands. I have a rule to buy any work of Walter de la Mare’s that I don’t already have; I like him a lot.

Desert Islands is sort of a collection of essays (that’s what I would call it because no two chapters seem to flow together) that not only examine themes of isolation in stories like Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe, but also Mare documents accounts of isolation in stages of Morphine-induced hallucinations from famous writers and letters written by scholars on the subject. It was a wonderful discovery. Every page was like a candle lit in some dark corner of a history forgotten. I can’t imagine there is another book quite like it out there.

This hard cover copy is a 1930 illustrated edition set against an old 1909 postcard and some shells and sand from California.

Proper Mourning by Brianne Turczynski

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ 2 Comments

I can’t do a book review today, but I wanted to share my little work of fiction is up on amazon and Barnes and Noble. http://bit.ly/ProperMourning

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I continue to pursue an agent and publishers for my other fiction and poetry, but a few years ago I felt my first novel should get off my flash drive and come alive on the market, because I come alive every time someone reads it—and I need to be alive!! Self publishing is no joke. It is hard work—you have to learn many new skills—and to be successful you must go all the way with it.

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LOST STORY: 🤫 There were so many grammatical errors that it was impossible to find them all. In my last round, the computer read it aloud to me, but I kept falling asleep—not because I was bored but because I have read it 1,000,000 times!! So if you find a little error it is because I dozed off right there, which makes for a more intimate reading experience for you because you know this fact, don’t you think? Now don’t tell anyone I told you that! Mum’s the word! 🤭😉

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Many authors are ashamed of their first novel, including Stephen King. W. Somerset Maugham actually tried to sue his publisher because he wouldn’t take his first novel off the market. 😂 So, am I ashamed? No. Although my art and skill has advanced, of course, and will continue to do so, this work is very precious to me, because it is where I found myself and my life renewed. I could curl up with this book and sleep with it every night I love it so much!

.Plus—my husband drew the owl and he’s so cute!

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#selfpublish #bookstagram #book #reading #readersofinstagram #booknerdigans #booknerds #bookgeek #writers #writersofinstagram #writingcommunity #amazon #barnesandnoble #literature #literaryfiction #fiction #historicalfiction #writer #amreading #amwriting #literaryagent @ Michigan

The Return by Walter de la Mare

~ Brianne Turczynski ~ Leave a comment

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I love Walter de la Mare! Although I gave this a three, it is only because his other work is so fabulous that this one failed to thrill by comparison. Much of his work carries the theme of isolation. In The Return, although not his best work, the protagonist gets possessed by a dead man after falling asleep on his grave. But De la Mare doesn’t seem to know what to do next with this, so the character is caught in a tangle of estrangement with friends, family, and even himself throughout the story. But perhaps that was the point all along—a point which begs one to ask: who are we anyway? .

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This copy is from @aaknopf a 1922 edition. .

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#bibliophile #library #bookshelf #bookstagram #books #bookstagrammer #reading #readersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #writer #read #bookphotography #death #halloween #fall #leaves #flowers #graveyard #dead #alive #booknerd #booknerdigans #bookgeek #isolation #nerd #geek #alfredaknopf