Erica ♡'s Updates

Erica ♡ wants to read 'House of Memory: Essays'

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 19:57:26 -0700

Erica ♡ wants to read House of Memory: Essays by Resil B. Mojares

Erica ♡ wants to read 'Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives'

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 04:27:35 -0700

Erica ♡ wants to read Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives by Louise DeSalvo

Erica ♡ wants to read 'Room for Good Things to Run Wild: How Ordinary People Become Every Day Saints'

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 18:37:52 -0700

Erica ♡ wants to read Room for Good Things to Run Wild: How Ordinary People Become Every Day Saints by Josh Nadeau

Erica ♡ wants to read 'The Red Tent'

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 08:26:27 -0700

Erica ♡ wants to read The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Erica ♡ liked a quote by Jacqueline Harpman

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 01:41:49 -0700

Erica ♡ liked a quote

“ I was forced to acknowledge too late, much too late, that I too had loved, that I was capable of suffering, and that I was human after all. ” — Jacqueline Harpman

Erica ♡ started reading 'I Who Have Never Known Men'

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 01:41:47 -0700

Erica ♡ started reading I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

Erica ♡ started reading 'Gilead'

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:53:05 -0700

Erica ♡ started reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Erica ♡ wants to read 'Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament'

Sun, 09 Aug 2026 02:58:18 -0700

Erica ♡ wants to read Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament by Mark Vroegop

Erica ♡ added 'Martin Eden'

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 05:32:25 -0700

Erica ♡ gave 4 stars to Martin Eden (Paperback) by Jack London
bookshelves: classics
A tale of disillusionment.

I... have so many thoughts!

"'It is life,' he said, 'and life is not always beautiful. And yet, perhaps because I am strangely made, I find something beautiful there. It seems to me that the beauty is tenfold enhanced because it is there...'

But he knew life, its foulness as well as its fairness, its greatness in spite of the slime that infested it, and by God he was going to have his say on it to the world. Saints in heaven—how could they be anything but fair and pure? No praise to them. But saints in slime—ah, that was the everlasting wonder! That was what made life worthwhile..."

Also, this conversation in particular was interesting:

"'It is not in what you succeed in doing that you get your joy, but in the doing of it... Beauty hurts you. It is an everlasting pain in you, a wound that does not heal, a knife of flame... Let beauty be your end. Why should you mint beauty into gold?'"

versus

"'Not for fame, but for love,' Martin laughed. 'Love seems to have no place in your Cosmos; in mine, Beauty is the handmaiden of Love.'"

Another interesting quote:

"...Love was beyond reason; it was superrational. He could not belittle love. He worshipped it... he reached the conclusion that the human organism achieved its highest purpose in love, that love must not be questioned, but must be accepted as the highest guerdon of life. Thus, he considered the lover blessed over all creatures, and it was a delight to him to think of 'God's own mad lover,' rising above the things of earth, above wealth and judgment, public opinion and applause, rising above life itself and 'dying on a kiss.'"

"[He was] merely one of God's mad lovers."

I think this summarizes Martin Eden as a character. Oh, Martin Eden :')

[spoilers removed]

Erica ♡ is 23% done with Martin Eden

Sat, 25 Jul 2026 04:29:03 -0700

Erica ♡ is 23% done with Martin Eden.
Erica ♡ wrote: “He was a lover first and always. All other things he subordinated to love.”