What I Read and Watched in September

I read a nice variety of books this month. I'm enjoying the 100 days of Dante challenge more than I thought I would. It is not easy reading, but the short teaching videos put out by Baylor have been outstanding. Two audiobooks that I enjoyed were Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Pied Piper by Nevil Shute (reviewed here)

The rest of my fiction was pretty light. Least favorite was One Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury (reviewed here). I also read a WWII mystery called Proceed at Will (reviewed here), A Man Called Trent by Louis L'amour (reviewed here), Sarah's Cottage by D. E. Stevenson, and The Proper Place by O. Douglas. (I bought it for $1.99 for Kindle, but can only find the link to the overpriced hard copy.) 

Two non-fiction titles were Matthew Henry's commentary on Song of Solomon (review here) and an abridged Journal of John Wesley (reviewed here) 

My favorite book of the month was All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot, reviewed here.

I found several Hallmark mysteries on YouTube. Sweet Revenge is the latest in the Hannah Swenson "Murder, She Baked" mysteries and is definitely the funniest of them all. Mystery 101: Deadly History and two Aurora Teagarden mysteries rounded up the list. 

Blessings,

Pied Piper by Nevil Shute

John Howard is a 70 year old Englishman in need of a rest. He travels to a village in France, never dreaming that war would soon be arriving at his doorstep. As he seeks to return to England, he is asked by another couple in the inn to take their two children with him. He reluctantly agrees, knowing he is too old for the task, but not willing to leave the children where they will be in any danger. Like the Pied Piper of the original story, Howard accumulates other needy children along the way. 

How he gets them through Nazi-occupied France makes Pied Piper a hair-raising tale, but what struck me most about the story was the small graces that were extended to him and the children along the way. Along with incidents of sickness, hunger, and  stolen luggage, there are also moments when they were given a meal, a hayloft to sleep in, or a broken down pram in which to carry their few belongings. Just as the responsibility of caring for all these children of various ages and nationalities becomes overwhelming, Howard encounters a young woman who insists on coming with him to help. 

The story of his faithful, honorable, self-giving love for the children would have been a good enough story in itself, but the addition of Nicole, adds a beautiful element to the story. Not only does she help with the children, the two of them help each other grieve various losses. 

This is a lovely, lovely story that I look forward to revisiting in the future. My experience was greatly enhanced by the narrator of my audio book, David Rintoul, who not only spoke French beautifully, but also did a bang-up job with voices of the women and children.  

This is my first Nevile Shute novel and I'm a bit afraid to try another since his other books have very mixed reviews (except for A Town Like Alice, which appears to be a classic). Have you read him? Do you have a favorite?

P.S. I found two movie versions on YouTube but neither do the book justice. The 1942 version makes John out to be a buffoon (which he definitely is not), but the other actors were very good; the Peter O'Toole version was better, but not great. Read the book!

Blessings,

How to Get Started Reading Dante

When I heard about the 100 Days of Dante challenge, I knew it would give me the motivation to approach his daunting classic, The Divine Comedy. I read three books beforehand to provide background, but without having read the actual text, they were not as helpful as I had hoped. I still felt lost as I began reading The Inferno (book one of three). Since I pride myself in having developed literary muscle through the years, I was dismayed that it was still a struggle to understand what was happening. 

At first I listened to the short lectures given by Dante scholars from Baylor before reading each canto, but realized that I had no idea what they were talking about. I floundered a bit before deciding to read the assigned (short) canto before AND after listening to the teaching video. That meant that I had to spend 20 to 30 minutes on each canto (just three times a a week if you are following the 100 Days with Dante schedule). Searching and comparing translations, and finding one that worked for me, also made a huge difference. Listening while reading was also helpful. (There are many free audio versions on YouTube.)

I will not say that I am still understanding everything perfectly, but I'm glad for all the resources available that act as training wheels for the uninitiated like me. The passion that the Baylor profs have for Dante is contagious. 

Regarding translations... Because I live in Brazil, I could only do comparisons using Kindle samples. That eliminated some respected translations such as Dorothy Sayers' and Anthony Esolen's because no Kindle samples were available. The most readable classic translation was by poet John Ciardi, but I thought it odd that he did not include the best line from Canto 1 (line 39 about God's Divine Love being the creative force of the universe). He left out that idea all together even though it is clearly there in the Italian. (I only know that because it is similar to Portuguese!)

The digital versions I liked the most (clear without dumbed-down language) were by Clive James, Robert Durling, and Gerald J. Davis. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow has a version that's free, which isn't too difficult if you are used to King James' English. Ironically, I ended up using Ciardi because I found an inexpensive set of his Comedia in English here in Brazil. His introductory commentary and footnotes have been extremely helpful.

Anyone else read Dante? Are you reading along with the 100 Days challenge? Any more tips?

Blessings,

What I Read and Watched in August

As I look back at the month, I can hardly believe how much I read. Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope was my "Obscure Book Mentioned by Thomas Banks" for the Lit Life 2021 Reading Challenge. I didn't love it. I read "The Rocking Horse Winner" (short story by D. H. Lawrence) along with the podcast group. Just for fun I also read three novels by D. E. Stevenson: First was Smouldering Fire (which may be my least favorite of her titles so far); then I read The Blue Sapphire, which I enjoyed very much - even though it was a little high on the fluff meter. Sarah Morris Remembers was delightful in its portrayal of a British family trying to make the best of their world-turned-upside-down during WWII. Unfortunately, one event in the book soured the book for me. Lastly, I re-read a favorite poetry anthology for children called Silver Pennies.

I'm taking daily sips from three other books: Dom Casmurro is a Brazilian classic that I'm reading slowly because of the archaic Portuguese. I'm reading 4 to 5 letters a day from Letters of C.S. Lewis (Vol. 2). The abridged Journal of John Wesley is my bed-time book.

I listened to three delightful audiobooks: Anthony Esolen's lectures on The Roots of Western Civilization, (via Hoopla) WWII middle grade novel A Place to Hang the Moon by Albus, (via Hoopla) and J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan (re-read)

I enjoyed a movie on YouTube, Adventures in Manhattan, starring my favorite old-time actress, Jean Arthur. My husband and I watched Marvel's The Black Panther (2018), which we had heard was quite good, but I thought the storyline wasn't that strong and the violence was stressful (I don't watch enough TV to get used to watching women beating up men.) I received the Signed, Sealed, Delivered series for my birthday and chuckled through the first two episodes.

It was a good month for reading. Do you have an opinion on any of these books or movies? Did you read or watch anything you'd recommend?

Blessings,