Book Trek 2018 - 01

 

I read this book again in 2022.  I've added additional comments in purple.

Book:  The Turquoise Table.

Author: Kristin Schell

Info:  Copyright 2017: Nashville:  Thomas Nelson

Rating (on a scale of 1-4 stars):  ✮✮✮✮

Where Acquired:  Borrowed from a friend.   2022:  Borrowed from the library.

Category:  Impulse Reads.  2022: Glorious Rereads, Potty Books

What it's about:  A calling, a deep desire for community, and a Lowe's picnic table; these are the ingredients for a renewed commitment to show the love of Christ to a neighborhood.  Kristin Schell, a busy wife and mother, shares the story of building friendships and renewing the lost art of hospitality through a simple turquoise-colored wooden table.  She offers stories, advice, scriptures, and recipes to encourage us all to become "front yard people."

Favorite Quote(s): 

We've all felt the sting of not being included, the yearning to belong.  Whether the pain of the circumstance is short-lived or long suffered, the loneliness of exclusion is hard to shake.  Community is a basic need of humanity and the table--all tables--should be a place of inclusion. - pp. 115-116.

Before we can be a good host, we must experience being a welcomed guest, and before we can create a place of belonging for others, we must believe we belong.  For that, we must first know to whom we belong.  We are able to love because we were first loved. - p. 121

What I liked:

• The author kept it simple and far from perfect.  The goal is hospitality, not entertaining.  She didn't give us a list of chores and prep work to rival Martha Stewart or Southern Living magazine (to which I subscribe and thoroughly enjoy, by the way).  In fact, she emphasized that the simpler we keep our efforts, the more the focus will be on the visitor rather than on us as the host. 
• Though she is a wife and mom, Schell didn't turn this into a Mommies-only club.  Ideas from the book can be used by anyone.
• The photos were a refreshing surprise...and in color to boot.
• I find it funny that I thought there was going to be some esoteric, ethereal meaning behind the color turquoise.  Nope, the author just liked the color. 2022:  I don't know how I missed this the first time, but on page 52, Schell  says "In many cultures turquoise symbolizes friendship."
  

What I didn’t like: 

• The publisher's use of the aside box, aside page, and repeat bar.  Yes, I know I gripe about this in every book I review that contains them.  But this was the most disruptive use of these I've seen in a while.  I'd be in the middle of a sentence at the bottom of the page, have to flip over a couple of pages to finish the sentence, and then, flip back to see what was written in the box.  I wish I could understand the purpose for this mess.  All it does is disrupt the flow of reading and annoy the stew out of me.  Surely I'm not the only one.

Takeaway:

The Turquoise Table was a fun read full of encouragement and good stories.  It reminded me of how my neighborhood was growing up; all the neighbors knew each other and most spent time together over a simple table.  There was no Pinterest we needed to consult or social media comparisons with which to be concerned.  We were just giving the gift of gracious hospitality and making friends.  Quite frankly, I miss that.  This book has sparked many ideas of how to go back to being a "front yard person." (And I don't even have a yard).

2022:  After reading this for the second time, my opinion about this book hasn't changed.  In fact, I've gotten even more ideas for being more hospitable to my neighbors.  And no, I still don't have a yard.