A Well Trained Wife - Tia Levings

 

I thought I would finally use Hoopla and downloaded an audio book from the library.  This was a hard book to listen to.  It's the memoir of Tia, a young woman raised in the fundamental Christian movement that practices the Quiverfull movement (the belief in no birth control and large families as a biblical requirement) and the Institute in Basic Life Principles, an organization founded by Bill Gothard and practiced by the Jacksonville Baptist church.  It promotes strict patriarchal authority and female subservience. It is the extreme version of belief that follows legalism and top down authority in the Southern Baptist branch of Christianity.

Tia became a member of the Jacksonville Baptist church as a child in Florida, married young and had 5 children in about 8 years while married to an abusive, disturbed husband.  For years she felt and was taught it was her fault their marriage was struggling.  She read her own book for the audio book. 

I was struck again at how a person can stay in a manipulative, self-destructive environment although I understand how its different living inside a situation instead of looking on from the outside. A depressing read on top of not liking the audio book experience.

Published:    Read: October 2026  Genre: Memoir

We're First In! - Jim Hawkins

 

A dear, old friend from high school reached out recently and shared he had published this book back during the pandemic.  It tells his stories from during his time as a fireman.  I had known him as a college kid working in the Arizona forest as a fireman and he made it a career. I laughed out loud about the tale of getting an iguana from someone's porch by freezing it with a fire extinguisher so it could be moved and then thaw out later!  There's a glossary of firefighter slang too. Entertaining insight into a different occupation.

Published: 2020  Read: October 2026 Genre: Memoir

Women of the Asylum - Jeffrey Geller and Maxine Harris

 Sub-title: Voices from Behind the Walls 1840 - 1945

One of my great-grandmothers was put in an institution in the 1900's and died there 30 years later.  I ordered and read this book to learn what life would have been like during her time there.  Horrific and inhuman in short.  I have very limited records from her stay at a place called Retreat Hospital in Pennsylvania.  

This book is a compilation of the personal stories of many women who experienced incarceration against their will in a mental institution aka an asylum.  The book begins before the Civil War and concludes with the story of Fannie Farmer, the actress, after WWII.  A tragic, disheartening portrait of the treatment of women and mental illness.

Quotes:

"When will married women be safe from their husband's power?"

"Failing to fulfill the roles of wife and mother and following occupations and professions for which they 'are not suited' were listed as a cause of insanity for women.[in late 19th century

"Let no one believe that any person, except a demented one, would chose the life of the asylum."

"INSANE ASYLUM - a place where insanity is made."

"'Night medicine' is a preparation of chloral [hydrate] and it was given to me the first night I spent in this place."

"By 1918, two million women belonged to the National American Woman Suffrage Association, making it the largest volunteer organization in the country".

"What the [asylum physician] finally succeeded in doing -in a word- was to make me feel with my mind rather than think with my feelings." 

Note: Clarissa Lathrop has a story in book, she is 3rd cousin 4 times removed

Published:  1994  Read: Summer 2026  Genre: non-fiction

It's Easier Than You Think - Sylvia Boorstein

 Subtitle: The Buddhist way to happiness

This is a book that introduces the philosophy of Buddhism.  I'll keep it for reference as the ideas and principles resonated with me a lot.  I can pick this up and find thoughtful practices and insights that ease my mind.

Quotes:

"Gossiping is talking about someone who is not present. Talking disparagingly about a third person is inviting the listener to share your grumbly mind space."

"Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of present experience."

"Friendliness is not hard.  We don't need to learn to be friendly.  We need to remember to be friendly."

Published: 1995  Read: September 2026  Genre: Philosophy