At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon (Mitford #1)

I devoured all the Mitford books years ago. According to my book log, I read this first one in 1998. Oddly, I only blogged about one of them (book 12 of 14). I haven't read the last two, so I'm looking forward to that AS SOON AS I re-read the first dozen. 

It was lovely to visit Mitford again this week. In At Home in Mitford, Jan Karon writes charmingly of the trials and tribulations of the folks in a small imaginary town in North Carolina. I wouldn't denigrate it by calling it Christian fiction. Yes, it's clean, and includes talk about God and prayer, but there are no syrupy sweet characters and no easy answers. The main character, Father Timothy, is an Episcopal pastor who has a vibrant faith, but who often struggles with burnout and insecurity. 

And in spite of the light tone (often conveyed through dialogue with hilarious townspeople), Karon manages to pack a lot of suffering into her books. In this one, there is a drug-addicted mom, a woman dying of a heart condition, thwarted love, a prison sentence and a diabetes diagnosis. Yet Karon still manages to deftly weave hope and laughter into each chapter.  

The quirky characters are fleshed out in such a way as to keep them from being caricatures. Take Miss Rose for example. She's a cantankerous nut job who wears a mixture of army surplus and rummage sale clothing and lives in a huge, crumbling house with her husband, Uncle Billy. As the story progresses, we discover that she is bi-polar and makes life miserable for Billy. But he is determined to protect her and love her because "that's what he promised to do." 

It's a lovely book and I can't wait to start the sequel!

P.S. I am stunned at how expensive these are Amazon. Thankfully, I picked up all my copies at thrift stores.

Blessings,

What I Read and Watched in February 2023

I read a mixture of theology, light fiction and ancient classics this month. 

Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh is a fun mystery and In the Teeth of the Evidence by Dorothy Sayers is a pleasant set of short stories. I read Aristotle's Poetics for the Lit Life podcast and also a children's version of the Iliad by Jeannie Lang. Light fiction included O. Douglas' A House that is Our Own, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also read The Awakening of Miss Prim and the delightful At Home in Mitford. (review forthcoming) Once a year I try to read a title on John Wesley so I read John Wesley and William Law by Green. I liked it, but think it would be boring to any but an avid Wesley fan.  

As far as movies go, we had our yearly viewing of Kenneth Branagh's Henry V. I enjoyed the novel Busman's Honeymoon last year so I watched the black and white movie on YouTube. Lord Peter was played by an American so you can imagine what a desecration it was! I watched it anyway. But worse disappointments were on the way. On the Wings of Eagles is a sequel to Chariots of Fire that barely mentions Liddell's faith and the final episode of season 3 of The Chosen fell flat for me. Is it just me or are seasons 2 and 3 just a shadow of the fine productions we saw in season 1? 

Have you read any of these books? Watched anything that you can recommend? Thoughts on The Chosen?

Blessings,

How to Read A Devotional Classic According to John Wesley

(Photo by Aaron Owens at Unsplash)

It is well known that John Wesley, the 18th century revivalist, was an avid reader. Although a self-proclaimed man of "one book," he read hundreds of others and often edited and condensed Christian classics for the common man. 

In his introduction to Thomas à Kempis' The Imitation of Christ, he gives "a few plain directions on how to read this (or any other religious book) with an eye to growing spiritually."

First, assign yourself a specific time each day.... We give ourselves plenty of opportunity for eating, why not adequate time for spiritual reading to improve our soul?

Second, prepare yourself for reading by purity of intention, aiming to improve yourself. Ask God to enlighten your understanding and open your heart for receiving what you read, so you can know what God requires of you and then do what He says to do.

Third, do not read out of mere curiosity or too quickly; rather, read unhurriedly, seriously, and with careful attention. Stop now and then to process fresh insights.... Read some passages over and again, especially those that deeply concern you yourself; then ponder how to put them into practice.

Fourth, work at putting yourself in a frame of mind that corresponds with what you read. Otherwise, it will prove empty and unprofitable, while it only enlightens your understanding, but fails to influence your will or emotions. Therefore, lift up petitions now and again for God's grace. Write down quotable sayings; treasure them in your memory bank so that when temptations come, you have a quiver full of arrows against sins you may be addicted to. 

Fifth, conclude your reading time with a short prayer to God, asking Him to preserve and prosper the good seed sown in your heart, so it will yield fruit in its season.

Blessings,

The Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson

Published in 1907, The Lord of the World was one of the first dystopian novels. The action takes place in the early 21^st century where established religion has all but been abolished. Catholicism has been confined to the Vatican and its surrounding cities, but by the novel’s end, faith of any kind has been outlawed. Two young priests, Father Franklin and Father Francis, play key roles as these changes take place.

 I was fascinated by Benson’s prescience about the devastating effects that socialism and communism would have on societies that embraced them. He mentions Karl Marx and Gustave Hervé (still living at the time Benson wrote) as key influencers. In the book, Esperanto is the main language and Euthanasia is widely accepted as a way to escape physical and emotional pain. Humanitarianism (as expressed through the teachings of freemasonry) is the new world religion since superstition and progress were irreconcilable enemies.

Oliver Brand, a leading figure in this future society is happy in the knowledge that men and women had learnt at least the primary lesson of the gospel, that there was no God but man, no priest but the politician, no prophet but the schoolmaster. He explains to his wife that the precepts of Christianity were nice, but not true… My dear girl, if I had told you in your cradle that the moon was green cheese, and had hammered at you ever since, every day and all day, you’d very nearly believe it by now.

In spite of the government’s best efforts to abolish Christianity, people must worship something and a messiah figure comes on the scene. I can’t tell much more without spoilers. Needless to say, the premise of the book is fascinating and many quotes are a hundred years ahead of their time. Sometimes the writing was uneven, but when the story dragged, I could count on the audio version by the excellent Simon Vance to keep me going.

This novel should not be avoided because it is “too Catholic.” There is a lot of rich food for thought in its pages.

Blessings,

What I Read and Watched in January 2023

I read a variety of books this month: The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer (sophisticated fluff), Beauty in the Word by Stratford Caldecott (on what makes for true education), Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (suspenseful audiobook that I ended up disliking intensely, reviewed here), and Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie. 

I enjoyed several classic movies. It Happened One Night (1934) is a wonderful screwball comedy (with a little too much drinking) starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. It is one of only three movies to win the five major Oscars (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Writing). The Whole Town's Talking (1935) had Edward G. Robinson, usually a tough-talking gangster, playing a mousy roll in a case of mistaken identities. It co-stars Jean Arthur who is always delightful. The Human Comedy (1943) was one of the hundreds of films produced during WWII to encourage those on the home front. Sappy by modern standards, it has good acting and storytelling; it was fascinating to see many major actors in minor roles except for Mickey Rooney who was at the height of his career as America's favorite adolescent. (Donna Reed would shoot to stardom three years later in It's a Wonderful Life.) This link leads to the library scene, "The Wonder of Books," which is a favorite. In the Good Old Summertime (1949) is a musical version of Shop Around the Corner. (All the songs were vehicles for Judy Garland and had very little to do with the story.) By the title you'd never know it was a Christmas movie. A must-see for all fans of You've Got Mail. I watched all of these on YouTube except for It Happened One Night, which I have on DVD.

Read anything good in January? Any other classic movie fans out there? 

Blessings,

Artists in Crime by Ngaio Marsh

I generally don't like romance novels, but I thoroughly enjoyed the introduction of a love interest for Detective Roderick Alleyn in this sixth Ngaio Marsh novel, Artists in Crime. Returning from New Zealand where he went for rest and ended up crime-solving (see Vintage Murder), Alleyn meets artist Agatha Troy on board ship. Their relationship gets off to a rocky start (of course!). Conveniently, the murder happens in Troy's art studio back in England and our protagonist has an opportunity to redeem himself.

I enjoy the literary allusions and Alleyn's ability to quote poetry, Shakespeare, French, etc. Not only did this book have Pride and Prejudice vibes, but it also reminded me of the Lord Peter Wimsey novels I read recently. Like Wimsey, Alleyn is a genteel detective who enjoys solving the mystery, but suffers from remorse at finding the guilty party. And like Wimsey, he also has a wonderfully charming mother in Lady Alleyn. There are nods to other fictional detectives such as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Thorndyke. And some hilarious jabs at D.H. Lawrence. 

The writing is getting better with each novel: Up and down the passages the silence was broken only by the secret sound made by an old house at night, small expanding noises, furtive little creaks, and an occasional slow whisper as though the house sighed at the iniquity of living men. (p. 210)

Though not as lurid as modern mysteries, Artists in Crime has a little too much swearing, philandering, drugs, and grisly deaths to be in the "cozy" category. Oddly, I read these stories more for the charms of Detective Alleyn than for the mysteries.

Blessings,

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,