Reading Year in Review - 2022

Happily I am well out of the slump that I had during the pandemic and read quite a bit this year. Here are the highlights...

Best Contemporary Fiction: Gentleman in Moscow. I usually ignore popular books, so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this wonderfully told story (reviewed here). 

Best Devotional Classic: A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law (reviewed here).

Favorite Vintage Fiction: The last two Lord Peter and Harriet Vane books by Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon. (reviewed here and here)

Favorite New Author: Ngaio Marsh. I've only read the first six, and while I did not always enjoy the mystery, I always grew in appreciation for the Shakespeare quoting detective, Roderick Alleyn, and his two sidekicks, Inspector Fox and Nigel Bathgate. A potential romance gets off to a rocky start in Artists in Crime, which I enjoyed very much because it had some Pride and Prejudice vibes.

The Audiobook that Knocked My Socks Off: Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson (review still to come)

Best Non-fiction (and FAVORITE of the year): You Are Not Your Own by Alan Noble (reviewed here).

The other 81 books I read are listed at Goodreads.

What about you? Have you read any of these? What were your favorite books of 2022?

Blessings, 

The One Year Book of Poetry by Philip Comfort

What normally passes for Christian poetry is often syrupy and singsong-y, but The One Year Book of Poetry is a wonderful exception. Its editors have done an excellent job of compiling devotional poems with hardly a touch of saccharine, and their  choices reflect a wonderful variety of styles from various centuries and Christian traditions. The well-known metaphysical poets are included such as John Donne and George Herbert, but there were many new-to-me poets such as Richard Crashaw and Thomas Traherne. The real strength of this book is its poetry for Advent and Lent, which greatly enhanced my thinking and praying during those seasons.

Each daily reading is two pages. One one side is the poem and the other side is a helpful explanation. Some longer poems are broken up into several readings, which is a painless way to learn to appreciate more complex poetry. This approach, however, is what bothered me this time through. Since I'd read this book twice before, I thought I would try to forgo the explanations and just enjoy the poetry. But I quickly noticed that most of the readings could not be understood without additional help. I'm not against helpful commentary, but I realized that this particular book is not an appropriate recommendation for someone who is looking for an introduction to meatier poetry. It requires too much effort.

Earlier this year I read two other poetry compilations: Six Centuries of Great Poetry and Great Poems of the English Language (1936, OoP). Even though I did not understand all the nuances of every poem, I was able to appreciate the rich language and beautiful imagery of most of them without additional commentary. For me, this is the best way to learn to love poetry.

Do you have a poetry book that you love and can recommend? 

Blessings,

Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards

It is not uncommon in anthologies for one or two stories to fall flat, but Silent Night: Christmas Mysteries had good variety and good quality throughout. In addition to well-known authors such as Dorothy Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, and Margery Allingham, there are lesser-known writers such as Marjorie Bowen and Leo Bruce. Edgar Wallace is an author I’ve often seen mentioned, but had never read before. H.C. Bailey, too, has fallen from favor, but Agatha Christie was a big fan of his.

All of the story choices were quite good and most were more suspenseful than I was expecting. Because of my enormous love for all things related to John and Charles Wesley, I got a huge kick out of the mention of their family ghost in Edmund Crispin’s story.

In spite of the title, I would not classify this as a cozy read. I can only remember one story that was light-hearted. An example of the general tone of the stories can be found in this paragraph from “Cambric Tea.” Bevis Holroyd went angrily upstairs; he felt as if an invisible net was being dragged closely round him, something which, from being a cobweb, would become a cable; this air of mystery, of horror in the big house, this sly secretary, these watchful servants, the nervous village doctor ready to credit anything, the lovely agitated woman and the sinister sick man with his diabolic accusations, - a man Bevis had, from the first moment, hated – all these people in these dark surroundings affected the young man with a miasma of apprehension, gloom and dread.

This collection is part of the British Library Crime Classics. Some writers from the golden age of detective fiction have not held up well, but after this anthology I’d be willing to trust any book put together by Martin Edwards.

Blessings,

Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers

I don’t know the last time I’ve enjoyed a book this much. I read the whole thing with an impish grin on my face and a constant chuckle in my throat. 

At the end of the last book (Gaudy Night), Harriet Vane finally accepts Peter’s proposal of marriage. Busman’s Honeymoon begins with various letters expressing opinions on the match, which are delightful in their cattiness. Then there were darling extracts from the Duchess of Denver’s (Lord Peter’s mother) diary, which primed the pump for my continued enjoyment of the book.

If you are looking for a cracking good mystery, you may be disappointed with all the dialogue about marriage, but for me those conversations were what made the book my favorite of all the Lord Peter novels. Sayers herself described it as “a love story with detective interruptions.”

Sayer’s novel are loaded with scrumptious literary references. Lord Peter and Inspector Kirk cheerfully exchange quotes from the Bible, Shakespeare, Tennyson, Browning, Keats, etc. I wish I could find an annotated version of this novel to save me time from looking up translations of the Latin and French, but as it was, I looked up about half the references and was richly rewarded in discovering their meaning. Frankly, most of them were discreet reference to sexuality that would have made me blush considerably in my younger years.

There is a lot of (discreet) talk about previous liaisons, expectations for the wedding night, etc., which I could appreciate after my three decades of marriage because they showed Peter and Harriet wrestling with every aspect of their marriage, not sugar-coating the past, but showing their growth in understanding of what true love entails. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them come to grips with the tough realities and indescribable joys of marital commitment.

In spite of all the fancy quotes, Lord Peter finally concludes: And what do all the great words come to in the end, but that? – I love you – I am at rest with you – I have come home.

As if the love story weren’t enough, the mystery is quite good. AND BUNTER GETS HIS DUE as the devoted, unruffled servant - so much so that Harriet jokes that maybe she should have married him instead of Lord Peter. I don’t know a thing about wine, but the care with which Bunter handled the liquor in this book was laugh-out-loud hilarious.

A delightful read from start to finish. This is not a stand-alone novel. It is necessary to read the previous novels to get the full impact of how Harriet and Lord Peter are piecing their new lives together. Bravo to Dorothy Sayers for showing the beauty and complexity of it. 

Blessings,

Anthony Esolen on the Importance of Memorizing Poetry

Although I am not a Catholic, I am a fan of Anthony Esolen's insightful articles in Crisis Magazine. I recently discovered his more lighthearted weekly newsletter “Word and Song,” which is dedicated to the promotion and preservation of truth, goodness and beauty. Three times a week he writes out his thoughts on various poems, songs or movies. 

He began a recent post with this verse from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat:

A book of VERSES underneath the bough,

A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou

Beside me singing in the wilderness –

That wilderness were paradise enow!

He then goes on to elaborate on the meaning of the word “verses” and how poetry and song have been an integral part of previous civilizations because they were the best way to hide the stories & poetry & truths in one’s heart. He regrets that our present generation “no longer has the VERSES in our soul.”

He adds, “People nowadays often scoff at this sort of thing, calling it “rote memorization,” but that misses the heart of the matter entirely.  You can’t really “own” a song unless you hear it sung and you can sing it yourself, and poetry is essentially song.  When you commit a poem to heart, when you get the VERSES within you, you must engage your imagination; you see and hear things that make the VERSES fully present; you exert your voice, and you hear your voice; your body moves, and the movements have meaning; all kinds of memories, actions, emotions, thoughts, and feelings come into play and involve themselves with the poem.” (from Oct 24, 2022)

I highly recommend this brief and delightful newsletter.  

Blessings

The Valley of Vision by Arthur Bennett

The Valley of Vision is a powerful antidote to the popular teaching that Christianity is primarily about personal success and happiness. My husband and I have been reading a prayer a day for the past year and have often been overwhelmed with the beauty and clarity of each one. 

The focus is always on Christ rather than self. An example from the prayer on repose: Thou art so good, wise, just, holy, that no mistake is possible to thee... I yield to thy sovereignty all that I am and have; do thou with me as thou wilt. Thou has given me silence in my heart in place of murmurings and complaints. Keep my wishes from growing into willings, my willings from becoming fault-finding with thy providences, and have mercy on me.

I loved the book so much that I hate to mention my one quibble with it: the occasional emphasis on self-loathing. A humble recognition of our unworthiness to receive God's grace is everywhere in Scripture. Self-hatred is not. Many verses remind us that God has blotted out our transgressions to remember them no more. Who are we to undo what God has done?

That was a minor complaint. Overall, The Valley of Vision is a rich resource for godly, heartfelt prayers that point us to our heavenly Father in trust and worship. A final quote that I loved was, Give me knowledge of thy goodness that I might not be over-awed by thy greatness; give me Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God, that I might not be terrified, but be drawn near with filial love and holy boldness. 

The Gospel Coalition has an interesting post on the origin of these prayers, which were written by Arthur Bennett (1915-1994). Because Bennett uses the beautiful language of the original prayers (adapting them very slightly), it is hard to believe that this classic was first published in 1975. 

Blessings

A Small Tribute to Angela Lansbury

I have very little regard for Hollywood stars and their sordid lives, but Angela Lansbury was in a class by herself. My father loved mysteries and my mom liked good, clean entertainment so Murder, She Wrote was a staple in our home. When it would come on, my mom would call out, "Jessica's on!" and everyone would head to the living room. 

Only later did I realize she had been a successful movie actress when I saw glimpses of her in two favorite movies: The Court Jester and Dear Heart. (Both of these links have brief clips of her.)

Nostalgia led my husband and me to watch one of her films last night. The three that are on YouTube are based on books that I have read and enjoyed. I'll link to the films and to my reviews of the books in case your are interested. 

The Love She Sought is based on the book A Green Journey by John Hassler, which I reviewed here. Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris is based on Paul Gallico's novel of the same name (reviewed here) and has only a few minor changes. Because of one of those changes, though, the book comes off as less saccharine. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax is a mystery based on the novel by Dorothy Gilman.

In every case the book is better than the movie, but it was still a joy to watch these delightful performances by Lansbury. 

Any other Lansbury fans among us?

Blessings,

Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy Sayers

I loved Gaudy Night and couldn’t wait to read the next installment (Busman’s Honeymoon) in the Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane novels. Then I saw that I’d missed a book in the sequence and “had” to go back and read it, living up to my box-ticking “J” status in the Myers-Briggs world.

No one can quibble with the fact that Sayers is a master storyteller. All of the stories in Hangman's Holiday had me on the edge of my seat and quite a few were creepier than I’m used to.

It was fun to be introduced to the new-to-me protagonist of Montague Egg. He is a wine salesman who stumbles onto several crime scenes and freely shares his wisdom with the investigators. Just so you don’t take him too seriously, he often throws in some adages from the Salesman’s Handbook such as, “Whether you’re wrong or whether you’re right, it’s always better to be polite.” (These are even funnier when you remember that Dorothy Sayers worked in the advertising business and had a knack for coming up with these ditties.)

As always, I love any references to Wimsey’s love of books so I was not disappointed when in the very first chapter, a man picks up the novel that Wimsey had been reading and Wimsey waits patiently for it. When the man realizes what he has done and offers it back… “It doesn’t matter at all,” said Wimsey graciously, “I know it by heart. I only brought it along with me because its’s handy for reading a few pages when you are stuck in a place like this for the night. You can always take it up and find something entertaining.” How charming to have a book that you know so well that opening it up to random pages will always give you pleasure.

Another winner from Dorothy Sayers.

Blessings,

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law

After 30 years of teaching Theology of John Wesley, I finally decided to read A Serious Call because apart from the Bible it was one of the books that most formed Wesley’s thinking about Christianity. Law begins this devotional classic by defining the nature and extent of Christian devotion, which holds little resemblance to what passes for Christianity today. He reminds us that it is a “serious call” after all, and requires every ounce of our being.

The first chapter goes straight to the sticky issue of how Christians should spend their money.  Using our money in any way we please, says Law, shows we lack intention to please God in all our actions. (Wesley followed Law’s advice to the letter by living frugally all of his life and giving money away as fast as possible. He felt that accumulating wealth was equivalent to holding on to hot coals.)

The next chapters encourage a wholehearted pursuit of God by rising early, reading the Scriptures and singing the Psalms. He writes: Prayer is the nearest approach to God, and the highest enjoyment of Him that we are capable of in this life. It is the noblest exercise of the soul, the most exalted use of our best faculties and the highest imitation of the blessed inhabitants of heaven.

Starting with Chapter 16 he adds suggestions for how to take advantage of certain hours of the day for specific prayers. At 9 a.m., for example, a Christian should spend a few minutes focusing on his need for humility. (He follows with a whole chapter on what true humility entails.) In Chapter 20 he recommends using the noon hour to pray for more love toward others, and follows this up with a clear explanation of  the high cost of real love. (This was my favorite chapter in the whole book and I felt it could easily have been re-titled: "How to pray for those whom you despise and learn to love them in the process.")

Chapter 22 advocates stopping at 3 p.m. to pray prayers of consecration and resignation to God’s will. The whole nature of virtue consists in conforming to, and the whole nature of vice in declining from, the will of God…. Whenever you find yourself disposed to uneasiness or murmuring at anything that is the effect of God’s providence over you, you must look upon yourself as denying either the wisdom or goodness of God. For every complaint necessarily supposes ill usage. (Ouch!)

In Chapter 23 he suggests stopping at 6 p.m. to review the day and confess any sins that were committed. Oddly, the updated version of this book removes all mentions of specific times of day (to avoid sounding too Catholic?) and thus robs the reader of a simple method for remembering when and how to pray for these needs. Tripp’s version was also jarringly anachronistic. The language was not updated very much, but the examples were, which resulted in old-fashioned English phrases next to illustrations about people playing video games, wearing yoga pants and watching movies. Halfway through the Tripp version, I switched to the original version and had no problem with the language or the original examples. And the Dover version came with very helpful footnotes.

Once I got hold of a good version (free download from my library), I couldn’t believe how much I loved this book. It is a book to be read slowly and prayerfully that will comfort and strengthen the heart of any earnest seeker.

Blessings,

You Are Not Your Own by Alan Noble

Weeks after finishing You are Not Your Own, its ideas continue to resonate with me. Noble sets out to explain how we Americans have come to the place where hyper individualism is killing us rather than fulfilling us.

He writes, If I am my own and belong to myself, then I must define who I am…. And the terrifying thing is that everyone else in society is doing the exact same thing. Everyone is on their own private journey of self-discovery and self-expression, so that at times, modern life feels like billions of people in the same room shouting their own name so that everyone else knows they exist and who they are – which is a fairly accurate description of social media.

The irony of a culture that promises that you “can be all you can be” without reference to any higher good or higher power is that no plateau is high enough. There’s always some level of perfection or self-actualization just out of reach. The freedom of sovereign individualism comes at a great price. Once I am liberated from all social, moral, natural, and religious values, I become responsible for the meaning of my own life. Hence the lie: If I am completely responsible for my life, then the greatest moral failure would be for me to fail to pursue what I desire most. I owe it to myself to be happy. The only problem with this is that unlimited desire and consumption always leave us exhausted and empty.

But there is good news, says Noble. Christ frees us from the unbearable burden of self-belonging.

An anthropology defined by our belonging to God is diametrically opposed to the contemporary belief that we are autonomous, free, atomistic individuals who find our greatest fulfillment in breaking free from all external norms. Our selves belong to God, and we are joyfully limited and restrained by the obligations, virtues, and love that naturally come from this belonging. This living before God is not easy. It requires sacrifice and humility, perpetual repentance and dependence upon Christ. In a secular age such as our own, it requires an intentional effort to remember that we belong to Christ, and that belonging is not merely a doctrine, but a reality that touches every aspect of our lives.

This is a tremendous book if you are feeling overwhelmed by breath-takingly rapid changes in our society and want to step back and see how it all happened. It is also a wonderful reminder to vigilantly resist the false promises the world offers for self-fulfillment.

Interestingly, I was primed for this book by, first, experiencing ministry burnout and, second, by reading A Gentleman in Moscow. Both experiences caused me to question the frenzy of always doing more, and to ponder ways to live more humanly within our God-given limits. 

Blessings,

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers

"Do you find it easy to get drunk on words?"

"So easy that, to tell you the truth, I am seldom perfectly sober." 

This is just one example of the rich dialogue between Lord Peter and Harriet Vane in their third novel together, Gaudy Night, which I enjoyed immensely.

A "Gaudy Night" is a kind of college reunion at the University of Oxford. While attending her ten year reunion, Harriet stumbles upon an obscene drawing and flushes it down the toilet in disgust. Later she learns that there have been a spate of similar incidents and is asked by the dean to stay on and help discover the culprit. 

In some ways the mystery is secondary to the main theme, which is the role of women in modern society. The story takes place in an environment where women have purposely chosen the single life in order to focus on academic pursuits, but within that environment, there are women who would rather be married. Sayers is definitely not advocating a "one size fits all" for women's roles. Harriet's own struggle with accepting Peter's proposals has to do with her fear of not being able to be fully herself while "tied down" to domestic life.  

Sayer's novels are not easy reads because of her frequent references to mythology, Shakespeare, etc. (A handy guide to many of them is found here.)  The closing lines are in Latin and I had to quickly google them to find out what had actually happened! There are several bewildering references to "Mr Jones of Jesus," who turned out to be a hypothetical rival to Wimsey's affections (a man from Jesus College in Wales). In spite of the befuddling quotations, Sayers is definitely worth the effort for her well-drawn characters and her thorough exploration of societal issues. 

Plus she's funny! I laughed out loud when one of her characters said, "It would have been such a bore to be the mother of morons." And again when Lord Peter was waxing eloquent on "How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks." After reading the lines Lord Peter added to her sonnet, Harriet, "went to bed thinking more about another person than about herself. This goes to prove that even minor poetry may have its practical uses." Ha!

This is the longest (and the most full of swearing) of the Wimsey novels I have read, but has by far the best dialogue and most endearing scenes. While I thoroughly enjoyed this book without the help of outside commentary, I greatly appreciated the insights shared on the Literary Life podcast (three episodes) that I listened to afterwards. Angelina and Cindy clarified a lot of details that I had not rightly understood, and showed what a genius Sayers was in weaving together every detail of the story. Angelina mentions that Sayer's essay "Are Women Human?" is the non-fiction version of this novel so now I need to get my hands on that.

Have you read Gaudy Night or Are Women Human? Any thoughts?

Blessings,

Be Holy by Warren Wiersbe

"What health is to the body, holiness is to the soul."

I always appreciate Warren Wiersbe for putting theology into layman’s terms without dumbing it down. Of the almost twenty “Be” studies that I have done, Be Holy may be one of the most helpful so far.

Leviticus is a daunting book to modern readers, but Wiersbe does a wonderful job of showing its relevance to our faith.

Almost everything in Leviticus anticipates the life and death of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The sacrifices, festivals, rituals, and laws foreshadow God’s redemptive plan. Jesus becomes the means to remove the guilt and penalty for sin through his substitutionary death on the cross. His death provides the final atonement for all sin. (p. 8)

Wiersbe is quick to point out that this is not just positional holiness (what God does for us) but practical as well (what God does in us): “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” (1 Thess 4:7, p. 9) He laments that the chief pursuit of most people today (including Christians) is happiness, not holiness. They want Jesus to solve their problems and carry their burdens, but they don’t want Him to control their lives and change their character.

Much confusion surrounds the idea of “law-keeping” for the redeemed Christian and Wiersbe responds: While obedience to the the law isn’t God’s way of salvation (see Romans 3:19-20, Galatians 3:21-29), a love for holiness and a desire to obey and please God are certainly evidences that we are the children of God. After we are saved, our obedience to the will of God, as revealed in the Word of God, is the basis for fellowshipping with God and enjoying the abundant life He wants us to have. (p. 15)

He concludes the book with the reminder that “Eight times in Scripture, God said, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.'  Since God’s commandments are God’s enablements, this commandment assures us that it is possible to live a holy life.

I highly recommend this accessible, insightful commentary on a frequently avoided book of the Bible.

Blessings, 

What I Read and Watched in July

I'm toiling through four heavy-ish books (You are Not Your Own by Alan Noble, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by Law, Middlemarch by Eliot, and Gentle and Lowly by Ortlund) so I didn't finish many books this month. 

Of the three lighter books I read Death in Ecstasy and Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh were books #4 and #5 in the Roderick Alleyn detective series and didn't come up to the standard of the first three in my opinion. Kate Hardy was a light romance by D. E. Stevenson. 

Replenish by Lance Witt was about self-care, which is a subject I have to re-visit regularly since I am a people pleaser and need to be reminded of the physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits of saying an occasional "no."

Several good movies came across our radar. We had seen the 2011 Jane Eyre before, but I had forgotten how beautiful the language was. The Kid (2002) with Bruce Willis is always fun. I'm 60 and happily married, but Willis' goofy grin charms my socks off. And the message that you are not really a successful adult until you are pouring out your life for others was astonishingly refreshing. Last of all, we watched The Impossible Dream (part of the Signed, Sealed, Delivered series), which was surprisingly patriotic. My husband and I are Bible geeks so we loved it that some of the clues to the mystery revolved around Bible verses. 

I found the 1971 version of Sense and Sensibility on YouTube and watched it in anticipation of an upcoming Lit Life podcast.  It was a great month for feeding my heart and mind. What about you? Any books or movies to recommend?

Blessings,

Quote on the Glories of Fresh-Ground Coffee - Amor Towles

An example of the beautiful writing in Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow:

Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov stirred at half past eight to the sound of rain on the eaves. With a half-opened eye, he pulled back his covers and climbed from bed. He donned his robe and slipped on his slippers. He took up the tin from the bureau, spooned a spoonful of beans into the Apparatus, and began to crank the crank.

Even as he turned the little handle round and round, the room remained under the tenuous authority of sleep. As yet unchallenged, somnolence continued to cast its shadow.... But when the Count opened the small wooden drawer of the grinder, the world and all it contained were transformed by that envy of the alchemists – the aroma of freshly ground coffee. In that instant, darkness was separated from light, the waters from the lands, and the heavens from the earth. The trees bore fruit and the woods rustled with the movement of birds and beasts and all manner of creeping things. (p. 171)

Blessings,

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

I came to A Gentleman in Moscow with all the misgivings I usually have for modern fiction, but was pleasantly surprised with this beautifully told story.

Count Alexander Rostov is a political prisoner in Russia during the first half of the 20th century. His “prison” is the Metropol hotel in Moscow where he lives in a tiny attic room. In spite of his limitations, he develops many rich friendships (one with an actress who becomes his mistress, but thankfully their liaisons are never detailed).  

The gentle philosophizing was a delight:

I’ll tell you what is convenient,” he said after a moment. “To sleep until noon and have someone bring you your breakfast on a tray. To cancel an appointment at the very last minute. To keep a carriage waiting at the door of one party, so that on a moment’s notice it can whisk you away to another. To sidestep marriage in your youth and put off having children altogether. These are the greatest of conveniences, Anushka, and at one time, I had them all. But in the end, it has been the inconveniences that have mattered most to me. (p. 352)

When the Count was a young man, he prided himself on the fact that he was unmoved by the ticking of the clock…. There were those of his acquaintance who brought a new sense of urgency to their slightest endeavor. They timed the consumption of their breakfast, the walk to their office, and the hanging of their hat on its hook with as much precision as if they were preparing for a military campaign. They answered the phone on the first ring, scanned the headlines, limited their conversations to whatever was most germane, and generally spent their days in pursuit of the second hand. God bless them. For his part, the Count had opted for the life of the purposely unrushed. (p. 390)

In addition to the literary references (from Anna Karenina to Robinson Crusoe to Dante to Odysseus to the Count of Monte Cristo to Don Quixote!) and the good writing, the story is compelling. How do you thrive and continue to make a difference in other people’s lives when confined to a small space? The conclusions that Towles makes are simply astonishing.

Blessings,

What I Read in June

This may have been the best reading month I've had so far this year: two good murder mysteries, a children's classic, a lovely Bible commentary and a modern novel that I actually liked!

The murder mysteries were from the Golden Age of Detective fiction. The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers was a bit difficult because a key component of the crime had to do with the art of change-ringing (which I knew nothing about), but I'm glad I persevered to the (surprising) end. The other mystery was The Nursing Home Murder by Ngaio Marsh, another fun entry in the Roderick Alleyn series.

It was a joy to re-read Wind in the Willows with the Literary Life podcast group. I listened to the Librivox version by Adrian Praetzellis. Warren Wiersbe's commentary on Leviticus, Be Holy, was a wonderfully helpful tool for understanding a difficult book of the Bible.

Finally, I read A Gentleman in Moscow. I came to the story with a lot of misgivings, but was pleasantly surprised at the great storytelling. The author masterfully describes the lives a small group of people who live and work in a Russian hotel during Stalin's regime. It made me want to learn more about that time in Russian history.

I will be posting more detailed reviews on some of these books soon. Unfortunately, the links to these books are pricey. I got all of them for free from my library or when they were on sale for Kindle. 

Have you read any of these? Any thoughts?

Blessings,

Quotes on Poetry

People who are knowledgeable about poetry sometimes discuss it in that knowing, rather hateful way in which oenophiles talk about wine: robust, delicate, muscular. This has nothing to do with how most of us experience it, the heart coming around the corner and unexpectedly running into the mind. - Anna Quindlen

Most entertainment dulls our senses. Poetry sharpens them. - Joseph Pearce

Do you have a favorite poet? I like the metaphysical poems of John Donne and Richard Crashaw, but admit that it takes effort to understand them. For sheer joy of serendipitous language, I love Emily Dickinson. And Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verse never ceases to bring a smile to my heart.

Blessings,

Lord Peter Wimsey Novels 6 -10 by Dorothy Sayers

I continue to work my way through the Lord Peter novels. (The first five were read in 2021 and reviewed here.) The fun begins in earnest with Strong Poison when Harriet Vane is introduced.

6. Strong Poison - Darling Miss Climpson (from book 3) makes a reappearance. Lord Peter falls in love. The banter is delightful throughout. Although I've read this twice before, I only vaguely remembered how the murder was committed and my enjoyment of the novel was not diminished in the least.

7. Five Red Herrings - An artist is murdered and six other artists have good motives (and lousy alibis) for doing it. Painstaking detail is given to train routes and timetables, which made it very hard to follow at times. This was my least favorite in the series so far. Too many red herrings and not enough Lord Peter. 

8. Have His Carcase - I love books that make me chortle and Wimsey's continued proposals of marriage to Harriet Vane delighted me every time. You sense Harriet weakening a little near the end of the book when Lord Peter forgets to ask her the all-important question and she feels let-down. The mystery was complicated. Still, I'd gladly re-read this for the lovely repartee. 

10. (I accidently skipped #9 and will review it in my next Wimsey post.) Murder Must Advertise - Lord Peter goes undercover in an advertising agency to investigate the suspicious death of a former employee. A very unique crime, but not a very satisfying ending to my thinking. 

11. The Nine Tailors - This was a little hard to enjoy at first because it deals with the complicated art of change-ringing. But once the mysterious dead body was found, it was fun to see Lord Peter figure out who it was and why/how he was killed. No Harriet Vane in this one.  

(The next in the series is Gaudy Night, which is almost everyone's favorite, so I'm looking forward to digging in!)

Anyone else partial to the Vane/Wimsey romance?

Blessings,

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

I'm re-reading Wind in the Willows with the Lit Life podcast group and am especially enjoying the Librivox version by Adrian Praetzellis. If it is a book you haven't liked or understood, I recommend the podcast discussions. I also recommend listening to it the first time around. 

I wouldn't change a thing from my review of ten years ago, but I'd like to add a link to a wonderful article I read recently. It is called "What the Wind Goes Whispering" and is about the book's dual themes of longing for adventure and of the joys of staying at home.

Finally, I'll include a quote on the glories of Badger's home: Rows of spotless plates winked from the shelves of the dresser at the far end of the room, and from the rafters overhead hung hams, bundles of dried herbs, nets of onions, and baskets of eggs. It seemed a place where heroes could fitly feast after victory, where weary harvesters could line up in scores along the table and keep their Harvest Home with mirth and song, or where two or three friends of simple tastes could sit about as they pleased and eat and smoke and talk in comfort and contentment. The ruddy brick floor smiled up at the smoky ceiling; the oaken settles, shiny with long wear, exchanged cheerful glances with each other; plates on the dresser grinned at pots on the shelf, and the merry firelight flickered and played over every thing.

Is this on anyone else's favorites list?

Blessings,

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh (1895-1982) is considered one of the queens of the golden age of detective fiction. Born in New Zealand, she passed her time between NZ and England. She was interested in the arts, especially theater, and helped run a handicraft store in London in the 1930’s. Around this time she wrote her first murder mystery, A Man Lay Dead, the first of 32 books including Inspector Roderick Alleyn.

Honestly, the book did not grab me at first. The murder takes place at a country house party and it was difficult keeping all the guests straight, particularly when they are sometimes referred to by their surnames (Mrs. Wilde) and at other times by their first names (Marjorie). But once the murder occurred, I was invested enough to sort them all out and enjoy Alleyn’s careful detective work. The real culprit took me by surprise which is always a sign of good detective fiction.  

I enjoy British novels for their literary references and Alleyn throws out random quotes that had me scurrying to find their source (Julius Caesar and Just So Stories!) Then there is the dry humor that creeps up on you unaware like the first sentence of chapter four: Nobody got up very early at Frantock on Sunday mornings. Nigel, wandering down to breakfast at half-past nine, found himself alone with the sausages.

I paid special attention to descriptions of the inspector knowing that Marsh would continue to develop his persona in the following novels. He was very tall and lean, his hair was dark, and his eyes grey with corners that turned down. They looked as if they would smile easily, but his mouth didn’t. Later there is a hint that he comes from a wealthy background and that he began in the Diplomatic Service and for private reasons became a policeman. I can’t wait to find out more about him. Marsh looked back on this novel as one of her worst, which can only mean that the sequels will be better. (I actually liked it just fine, although there is mild swearing throughout.)

Anybody else familiar with this author?

Blessings,

What I Read and Watched in April

We've had some busy months and I miss writing leisurely blog posts. In spite of the busyness, I've been able to read a lot on busses and in cars as we've zipped around. Much of what I read was for the Literary Life 2022 challenge:

I read three fiction titles: The Enchanted April was fun though I had a few reservations about it (reviewed here). The Fair Miss Fortune by D. E. Stevenson was also a nice break from some of the heavier books I'm reading (reviewed here). Lastly, I finished Paradiso as part of the 100 Days of Dante challenge. I barely scratched the surface of this classic and hope to revisit it now that I've gotten over my trauma about reading it. 

My three non-fiction titles were: Israel, Palestine and Peace by Amos Oz (reviewed here), Key Principles of Biblical Fasting by Kay Arthur (reviewed here), and The Narnian by Alan Jacobs (reviewed here). 

We didn't have a lot of time for TV or movies, but we watched one episode of The Chosen each week leading up to Easter. My husband hates rom-coms, but I convinced him to watch Finding Normal because Candace Cameron Bure always makes a fluffy movie better. Our son showed us the first three episodes of Hawkeye (a new Marvel series), which would have been wonderfully family friendly except for all the swearing. If you watch a lot of TV it won't bother you, but somehow I don't think that is true for most of my readers. Last of all, I found the movie version of The Enchanted April on YouTube, but did not love it as much as the book.

What about you? Did you read or watch anything you can recommend?

Blessings,

April 23 - World Book Day

On April 23 (St. George’s Day), 1616, Miguel de Cervantes breathed his last, on exactly the same day as the death of William Shakespeare. It was singularly and surely providentially appropriate that the brightest jewels in the golden ages of Spanish and English literature should have taken their respective last bows together. It was also singularly appropriate that these slayers of dragons should have died on the Feast of St. George, true knights as they were, who had wielded their pens like lances in the service of the good, the true, and the beautiful.  

Quoted from Joseph Pearce in Crisis Magazine 1/1/22

(Another reason I like to celebrate World Book Day is that two of my favorite authors were born this week. Charlotte Brontë on the 21st and Elizabeth Goudge on the 24th. Lots of reasons to eat cake!!)

Blessings,

The Narnian by Alan Jacobs

"Without self-forgetfulness there can be no delight."

Alan Jacob's thesis for his biography of  C. S. Lewis, The Narnian.  is, Lewis's mind was above all characterized by a willingness to be enchanted and that it was this openness to enchantment that held together the various strands of his life - his delight in laughter, his willingness to accept a world made by a good and loving God, and his willingness to submit to the charms of a wonderful story... to the point of self-abandonment.

He goes on to show how this theme resonated in all of Lewis's writings, even his non-fiction (such as The Abolition of Man) where Lewis convincingly shows the failure of modern education to reach children's hearts and imaginations.  

Jacobs quotes a 1935 letter from Lewis to Arthur Greeves in which he describes a pampered little boy who nevertheless had been neglected: I often wonder what the present generation of children will grow up like. They have been treated with so much indulgence yet so little affection, with so much science and so little mother-wit. Not a fairy tale nor a nursery rhyme. 

I appreciated Jacobs' thorough overview of Lewis' life and his obvious love for the Lewis canon. I loved little tidbits of information like the fact that Warnie was at Dunkirk and that Jacob's thinks that Lewis's greatest book is English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (a book that hardly anyone has ever heard of.) And I enjoyed his careful explanation of Till We Have Faces, since that is a book that I find intimidating. Lastly, I got a kick out of his connection between the ending of The Last Battle and Dante's Paradiso because I hope to read both of those books this year.  

My biggest quibbles with the book came in chapter 11 where he chides Lewis for not being feminist enough and where he also looked down his nose at several previous biographers. He also assumes a lot about Lewis's relationships that Lewis (and those closest to him) never corroborated.

Still, it was a good book to read on the heels of Volume 2 of Lewis's letters because many of his correspondents came to life in the biography.

If you've read this, what did you think of it? Do you have a favorite C.S. Lewis biography to recommend?

Blessings

The Betsy-Tacy Books by Maud Hart Lovelace

I started the Betsy-Tacy series in 2014, but stopped with the fourth book. I adored these stories about three little girls at the turn of the 20th century. In Book One (Betsy-Tacy), the two friends meet at a birthday party. In Betsy-Tacy and Tib, they incorporate a new friend into their circle. Betsy and Tacy are the dreamers and Tib is the practical one who good-naturedly goes along with their shenanigans. In Book Three, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill and befriend a Syrian girl; they learn about prejudice, patriotism and religious persecution (a lovely, painless way to introduce these subjects to young children.) Book Four, Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, was a delight with its literary references and parental wisdom. Betsy is an aspiring writer, but is writing trash (modeled after Victorian sensation novels). Instead of condemning her, her father gives her a library card and lunch money so that she can spend all day Saturday in town, reading the classics. Her trips to town open up a new world to her.

One of my goals for 2022 was to finish the series and I was glad to be able to get the books via digital download from my library. Books Four to Eight (Heaven to Betsy, Betsy in Spite of Herself, Betsy was a Junior, and Betsy and Joe) cover each year of high school. I have to admit, I did not enjoy them as much as the first four because Betsy was so boy crazy. This spills over into Book Nine, Betsy and the Great World. Happily, she comes to her senses in Book Ten, Betsy's Wedding, which was a fantastic conclusion to the series.

Throughout the series, Lovelace draws a lovely picture of small-town girls, the simple pleasures they pursue, their growing pains and, above all, their enduring friendship. I especially appreciate how Lovelace portrayed the girls as normal (not sickeningly sweet) and how she incorporated their hard-earned life lessons without ever being preachy. 

Highly recommended. (Even with the high school episodes!)

Blessings,