Ex Libris Kirkland

Ex Libris Kirkland is my entirely self-centered way to keep track of what I read, what I like, and what I want to remember.


Recently Quoted

  • Therefore keep me, above all things, from sin. Keep me from the death of deadly sin which puts hell in my soul. Keep me from the murder of lust that blinds and poisons my heart. Keep me from the sins that eat a man's flesh with irresistible fire until he is devoured. Keep me from loving money in which is hatred, from avarice and ambition that suffocate my life. Keep me from the dead works of vanity and the thankless labor in which artists destroy themselves for pride and money and reputation, and saints are smothered under the avalanche of their own importunate zeal. Stanch in me the rank wound of covetousness and the hungers that exhaust my nature with their bleeding. Stamp out the serpent envy that stings love with poison and kills all joy.

    Untie my hands and deliver my heart from sloth. Set me free from the laziness that goes about disguised as activity when activity is not required of me, and from the cowardice that does what is not demanded, in order to escape sacrifice.

    an excerpt from New Seeds of Contemplation, written by Thomas Merton in 1949

  • A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying Him. It "consents," so to speak, to His creative love. It is expressing an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree.

    The more a tree is like itself, the more it is like Him. If it tried to be like something else which it was never intended to be, it would be less like God and therefore it would give Him less glory.

    No two created beings are exactly alike. And their individuality is no imperfection. On the contrary, the perfection of each created thing is not merely in its conformity to an abstract type but in its own individual identity with itself.

    an excerpt from New Seeds of Contemplation, written by Thomas Merton in 1949

  • And I wind experiences around myself and cover myself with pleasures and glory like bandages in order to make myself perceptible to myself and to the world, as if I were an invisible body that could only become visible when something visible covered its surface.

    an excerpt from New Seeds of Contemplation, written by Thomas Merton in 1949

Recently Noted

  • Thomas Merton writes about meditation and contemplative prayer, as a catholic. I still find it incredible how little the overlap between Zen Buddhism's mediation and just regular-old Christian prayer is discussed - at least in the church. This seems really clear to me. I'm only 20% of the way through this book though, so I'm excited to see what Merton says here. Especially knowing he got into zen later in his career.

    an note about New Seeds of Contemplation, written by Thomas Merton in 1949

  • This was interesting at first - I like the idea of the overlapping worlds that all connect through London, I was delighted by the coat that has seven sides - but I couldn't hang with this, and gave up partway through. I have no notes, just a blank space in my brain where an opinion should be.

    an note about A Darker Shade of Magic, written by V. E. Schwab in 2015

  • To my ongoing chagrin, I'm enjoying each book in this series more than the last. This one started slow (the dragons are getting sick!) but was a page turner from the second act onwards.

    Our heroes go to South Africa to search for a cure, and have a detour through a King Solomon's Mines level Lost Kingdom. It was so fun! If this series turns out to be just a world tour of the early 1800s (but with dragons) I will be 110% satisfied.

    an note about Empire of Ivory, written by Naomi Novik in 2008

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Ex Libris Kirkland is a super-self-absorbed reading journal made by Matt Kirkland. Copyright © 2001 - .
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