Reminiscing about Books #3

Continuing my walk down memory lane, these are the classics I tackled for the first time in 2009. Almost every one was a delightful surprise to me.

I certainly didn't expect to love Frankenstein, but the book dealt with issues that the movies never tackle - principally about the potential misuse of science. I am so glad I read it! (Reviewed here.) The Count of Monte Cristo was over a thousand pages and took me a month to complete, but it was definitely worth it. (Reviewed here).  

A modern classic that I read was Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, which stunned me with its quiet beauty. (Reviewed here.) 

These next two titles were not new, but became favorites the second time around. I read Persuasion again and completely changed my mind about it. (Reviewed here.) Watching the 1995 BBC version helped because Amanda Root managed to portray Anne's meekness as strength rather than wishy-washiness. Another Austen re-read was Northanger Abbey, which was redeemed by the audiobook version. I have to admit, when I read it the first time I did not know it poked fun at Gothic novels. In the audiobook, all the spoofiness came through loud and clear, and caused many a chuckle. 

I've read all of Austen now, but Persuasion is the one I re-read most often. Next to Jane Eyre it's my favorite literary "comfort food." 

Blessings,

Reminscing about Books #2

When I started blogging, I had a few classics under my belt (Jane Eyre, Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland, and Persuasion), but I had a long way to go before considering myself "well-read." As I look back at my "Reading Year in Review" posts, it is fun to see the classics that I read for the first time during each year. I also enjoy recalling when I was introduced to new-to-me authors (many who were recommended by readers of the blog).

Here is the list of classics I discovered in 2008. I still love all of them.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (reviewed here)

Middlemarch by George Eliot (reviewed here) 

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (reviewed here) 

Hard Times by Charles Dickens (reviewed here)

China Court by Rumer Godden is not technically a classic because it was written in 1961, but I am happy to have discovered this author through another blogging friend. (reviewed here)

What were some of the first classics you tackled? 

Blessings,

Reminiscing about Books #1

(Charlotte Brontë)

It's hard to believe that my first book blog post was on December 31, 2007 when I shared about my favorites of the year. Librivox was fairly new back then. That was also the year I discovered one of my favorite books of all time, The Giver by Lois Lowry. (But I didn't actually review it till I re-read it 6 years later.) I also read Jane Eyre for the umpteenth time!

I started blogging because my sister-in-law encouraged me to "help people who were scared of the classics to know where to start." It has been wonderful over the years to hear from other book lovers. Considering that most of the books I review are by dead authors, it was thrilling to hear from author Tim Townsend when I reviewed his book Mission at Nuremberg. Twice I've had the grandchildren of an author reach out and thank me for reviewing their grandparents' books. I've even had people ask for recommendations in various genres. I didn't know what to expect when I started, but it has been a rich experience for me in every way. I read more deeply in order to write thorough reviews. And I've "met" a lot of wonderful people who have encouraged me on my literary journey. 

Blessings,

Blogging Break

Due to an unusually heavy teaching schedule over the next few months, I will be taking a break from blogging. I will continue to read books (it is an addiction after all), but probably won't have the mental leisure that is necessary for writing about them. I hope to pop in now and then, but in the mean time I will be republishing some of my favorite posts from my early years of blogging.  

Blessings,

Fairy Tales and the Cosmos - quote by G.K. Chesterton

My last post was about how fairy tales prepared G.K. Chesterton's heart to recieve the gospel. Here is one of the choice quotes: 

Cinderella had a glass slipper, and it cannot be a coincidence that glass is so common a substance in folk-lore. This princess lives in a glass castle, that princess on a glass hill; this one sees all things in a mirror; they may all live in glass houses if they will not throw stones. For this thin glitter of glass everywhere is the expression of the fact that happiness is bright but brittle, like the substance most easily smashed by a housemaid or a cat. And this fairy-tale sentiment also sank into me and became my sentiment towards the whole world. I felt and feel that life itself is as bright as the diamond, but as brittle as the window-pane; and when the heavens were compared to the terrible crystal, I can remember a shudder. I was afraid that God would drop the cosmos with a crash.

(from page 86 of Orthodoxy)

Blessings,

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton

G.K. Chesterton is one of the great thinkers of the 20^th century, but sometimes his brilliance can be blinding, and I struggle to grasp his meanings. That certainly hasn’t kept me from trying (as my book log of 17 of his titles shows!)

Chesterton is best remembered for responding to the famous skeptics of his day (George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and Frederick Nietzsche, to name a few) with his hard-hitting yet witty counter-arguments against their staunch atheism. Orthodoxy, his best-known rebuttal, outlines his reasons for embracing Christian truths. His principal reason was that Christianity is the only religion that gives a sane explanation for this world. But he is quick to say that it is more than a conglomeration of right opinions: I will not call it my philosophy; for I did not make it. God and humanity made it; and it made me.

One quote from the book has stayed with me for many weeks. What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty had moved from the organ of ambition and has settled upon the organ of conviction, where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part that he ought not to assert – himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt – the Divine Reason. This seems to define so much of the thinking I see in our culture (i.e. the triumph of self-delusion over clear biblical precepts).

Chesterton’s sense of wonder and “joie de vivre” keep his writings from being too didactic. I especially loved Chapter 4 on how fairy tales shaped his heart to believe in God. I had always believed that the world involved magic; now I thought that perhaps it involved a magician. Later he remarks, I left the fairy tales on the nursery floor and have not found any books so sensible since. (!)

His closing chapter was on the healthful confines of Christianity. Within its supposedly constricting limits, there is unrestricted joy. He writes, Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls, but they are the walls of a playground. He writes beautifully of the freedom and exhilaration of knowing one’s Creator and of knowing one’s purpose as His creatures (as opposed to the despair of nihilism.)

I’ll leave you with one final quote by G.K. on the Trinity: It is indeed a fathomless mystery of theology. Suffice it to say that this triple enigma is as comforting as wine and as open as an English fireside; this thing that bewilders the intellect utterly quiets the heart.

This was my bedtime book for many months. I read two to three pages per night because that was all my brain could handle. But I think Chesterton is better read in small, well-chewed bites. It doesn’t do to read him in a hurry. 

Blessings,

Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge

Green DolphinStreet is the story of two sisters who live in the Channel Islands in the mid-1800s. Marguerite and Marianne couldn’t be more different. Marguerite (like her name "daisy") is cheerful and carefree, ready to drink in whatever joys life has to offer. Marianne is less beautiful and much less easily pleased. But she has a thirst for knowledge and for experiences that make her sturdier and more dependable in times of trouble.

Her parents were much exercised over this brain of Marianne’s and were doing their best to repress it within ladylike proportions. But Marrianne wouldn’t be interested in sensible things like crewel work and water-color painting and duet playing on the pianoforte with her little sister Marguerite, even though she did all these things superlatively well. That was the trouble with Marianne, she did them too well, and her restless intellect reached out beyond them to things like mathematics and the politics of the Island parliament, farming, fishing, and sailing, knowledge that was neither attractive nor necessary in a woman and would add nothing whatever to her chances of attracting a suitable husband…

Marianne and Marguerite fall in love with the same young man, William Ozanne. I can’t tell you which one he chooses, but I can say that this novel is no fluffy romance. Instead it’s about the high cost of loving. The original title was “Green Dolphin Country,” which was more appropriate because each character in the book is yearning to find their own “country”, the place where they feel most at home. Some look for this in the love of another person. Others seek it in adventurous places. But all of them learn that this longed-for fulfillment comes at a very high price – death to self. Elizabeth Goudge is a master at this type of story. She writes of flawed people who through their disappointments learn to love in richer ways. Self-giving love is the key to finding their “country,” their native soil.

Goudge is not only a master of writing deeply, she also writes beautifully. Here is a description of the Mother Abess’ room in a convent: In spite of its austerity the room was not cold. It was very beautiful in its simplicity, and Marguerite within the flushed white walls felt as though she were inside a mother-of-pearl shell.

And this description of a loving kiss: It neither promised nor gave security, it was rather a dedication of themselves in comradeship to the danger and pain of living.

I started this book carefully noting passages that I wanted to highlight here on my blog, but ditched that as soon as I became engrossed in the story. When I came down to earth near the end of the book, I finally stopped to underline many beautiful paragraphs. By that time, I didn’t care if I ever blogged about this book or not. I was just glad to have experienced it. My copy is almost 500 pages long so it’s not an easy read, but if you like a well-told story, you’ll be glad to make the effort.

 Blessings,