February 2020 Book Reports

Mother Teresa: An Authorized Biography by Kathryn Spink - link to my post (from PaperBackSwap.com)

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - This is a beautifully written book with a dissatisfying ending. I felt only sadness for the characters at the end. Endings don't have to be happy, but if unhappy, they must be meaningful. I suppose it might work as a commentary on war, but I felt only disappointment. (library copy)

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer - I was considering adding this to our health reading for high school, which First Son is doing right now in tenth grade. It covers some useful information about how emotions and intuition can be beneficial when making decisions and when to set them aside and focus instead on more mathematical or logical considerations. The later chapter on morality was more problematic, mainly by discounting the possibility of natural law and an absolute truth. While not unexpected, it makes the book incomplete. Much of the earlier information is covered by other books and readings I have already scheduled, so we'll skip this one for school. (library copy)

The Merchant of Venice (No Fear Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare - First Daughter is reading this play now (seventh grade) and I wanted to refresh my memory by reading it again, if I ever read the whole thing. I do remember seeing it performed when I was in middle school. I think First Daughter will (mostly) love Portia. Shylock remains a baffling character. (purchased copy)

To Say Nothing of the Dog: Or How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last by Connie Willis - This may be my favorite audiobook of all time. I enjoyed every single minute of it, invented chores so I could listen to it, and was both delighted with the ending and sorry it was over. It's a quirky tale of time-travel, Victorian England, the Blitz, and romance, "to say nothing of the dog" (and cat). (purchased from Audible during a sale)

A Mind of Her Own by Paula McLain - This was one of those free audiobooks Audible offers to members each month. It is the fictionalized tale of Marie Curie as a struggling student in Paris. Frankly, I found it frustrating to listen to the narrator tell me how Marie Curie was feeling rather than showing me through action. I have no idea what it was really like for Curie in Paris as she met and finally married her husband, but I rather hope it wasn't like this book describes it. (free Audible book in March 2019)

Come and See: A Photojournalist's Journey into the World of Mother Teresa by Linda Schaefer - This photographer is more talented at photography than writing. While the pictures are a fascinating peek into Mother Teresa's work in India, the book overall falls short of what I would want to give my children for the Level 4 twentieth century biography. (library copy)

West with the Night by Beryl Markham - link to my post (library copy, then requested from PaperBackSwap.com)

I have received nothing for this post. All opinions are honest and my own. Links to Amazon or PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

History, Geography, Culture...Life: Food: A Cultural Culinary History

Food: A Cultural Culinary History (The Great Courses)

by Ken Albala

Professor Albala attempts to cover all of human history through food. His focus is Western culture and Europe, but there are survey lectures for areas in Asia and Africa as well. In the later lectures, there is a definite bias toward local food and the kind of farm and table philosophy espoused by Wendell Berry and others, a bias that happens to coincide with my own. The last lecture, where Professor Albala predicts future movements in food, was my least favorite. Perhaps that's just because I don't want all his predictions to come to fruition.

In the video version of this series, he makes a few recipes. These are less interesting on audio, though they tended to be small parts of the lectures. I think all of the recipes are included in the PDF of the course guidebook. (These seem to be available on only some phones or apps, but they should always show up in your library on the actual Audible website.)

As I was listening, I found many connections and relationships with the high school coursework we are using, including that from Mater Amabilis™. I think a high school student (there are some references to mature themes, though none I remember being central to the ideas) could listen to this course from beginning to end as part of a high school course. It's a little short by itself to be an elective, not quite enough hours even for a quarter-credit.

Many of the lectures, however, would be a fun addition or supplement to other courses. Here are some ideas I had while listening.

European History - Many of these would be enjoyable and give a welcome respite from the heavy reading of Europe: A History.

• LECTURE 2: What Early Agriculturalists Ate
• LECTURE 3: Egypt and the Gift of the Nile
• LECTURE 5: Classical Greece—Wine, Olive Oil, and Trade
• LECTURE 6: The Alexandrian Exchange and the Four Humors
• LECTURE 9: Dining in Republican and Imperial Rome
• LECTURE 11: Europe’s Dark Ages and Charlemagne
• LECTURE 13: Carnival in the High Middle Ages
• LECTURE 15: A Renaissance in the Kitchen
• LECTURE 17: 1492—Globalization and Fusion Cuisines
• LECTURE 18: 16th-Century Manners and Reformation Diets
• LECTURE 19: Papal Rome and the Spanish Golden Age
• LECTURE 20: The Birth of French Haute Cuisine
• LECTURE 21: Elizabethan England, Puritans, Country Food
• LECTURE 22: Dutch Treat—Coffee, Tea, Sugar, Tobacco
• LECTURE 26: Eating in the Early Industrial Revolution

British History

• LECTURE 21: Elizabethan England, Puritans, Country Food
• LECTURE 25: Colonial Cookery in North America (or American History)
• LECTURE 26: Eating in the Early Industrial Revolution
• LECTURE 30: Food Imperialism around the World

Geography of Africa

• LECTURE 3: Egypt and the Gift of the Nile
• LECTURE 23: African and Aboriginal Cuisines

Geography of Asia

• LECTURE 4: Ancient Judea—From Eden to Kosher Laws
• LECTURE 7: Ancient India—Sacred Cows and Ayurveda
• LECTURE 8: Yin and Yang of Classical Chinese Cuisine
• LECTURE 12: Islam—A Thousand and One Nights of Cooking
• LECTURE 24: Edo, Japan—Samurai Dining and Zen Aesthetics

Geography of the Americas

• LECTURE 16: Aztecs and the Roots of Mexican Cooking
• LECTURE 25: Colonial Cookery in North America

Geography of Australasia

• LECTURE 23: African and Aboriginal Cuisines

Health

• LECTURE 27: Romantics, Vegetarians, Utopians
• LECTURE 29: Big Business and the Homogenization of Food
• LECTURE 32: War, Nutritionism, and the Great Depression
• LECTURE 33: World War II and the Advent of Fast Food

Economics

• LECTURE 29: Big Business and the Homogenization of Food
• LECTURE 32: War, Nutritionism, and the Great Depression

I have received nothing in exchange for this post of my honest opinions. Links to Amazon are affiliate links. I purchased this audiobook from Audible.

Paradise Lost and Milton in Tenth Grade: The Life and Writings of John Milton

The Life and Writings of John Milton

by Seth Lerer

I selected this audiobook as a supplement to First Son's tenth grade English course. The Mater Amabilis™ beta high school plans recommend Paradise Lost as the second of three epics for English. I tried to read Paradise Lost when I was in college and failed. I was hoping to find something that would help put Milton in context for First Son (and myself) without putting too much strain on our schedule with a bunch of lectures.

This is a reasonably short series of lectures, six hours in total. There are a few that cover Milton in general but most focus on one or more of his works, or part of a work in the case of Paradise Lost. I listened to the whole series without reading any of Milton's works and was able to follow along, though I think it would be better to read the work in question and then listen. Milton is still not my favorite writer, but I think I will be able to grapple better with Paradise Lost after listening to these lectures.

I do think these will be helpful for First Son, so I included some of them in his assignments. I have decided to use the online edition of Paradise Lost found at the Dartmouth College website, The John Milton Reading Room. I appreciate being able to click on words for additional information.

Our schedule takes more than twelve weeks, so we will have to move through The Song of Roland and Idylls of the King a little faster. I have a sense that Paradise Lost might be the most difficult of the three and therefore worth the additional time, but I haven't read any of these three epics so we'll have to see how it goes. Here's what we have scheduled for the second term of epics.

Week 1

1. The Life and Writings of John Milton Lecture 5: Paradise Lost--An Introduction - listen and narrate (Note: we skipped lectures 1-4)

2. Book 1 lines 1-399 - narrate.


Week 2

1. Book 1 lines 400-798 - narrate.

2. The Life and Writings of John Milton Lecture 6: Paradise Lost, Book 1 - listen and narrate


Week 3

1. Book 2 lines 1-527 - narrate.

2. Book 2 lines 528-1055 - narrate.


Week 4

1. The Life and Writings of John Milton Lecture 7: Paradise Lost, Book II - listen and narrate.

2. Book 3 lines 1-371 - narrate.


Week 5

1. Book 3 lines 372-742 - narrate.

2. The Life and Writings of John Milton Lecture 8: Paradise Lost, Book III - listen and narrate


Week 6

1. Book 4 lines 1-504 - narrate.

2. Book 4 lines 505-1015 - narrate.


Week 7

1. The Life and Writings of John Milton Lecture 9: Book IV—Theatrical Milton - listen and narrate

2. Book 5 lines 1-460 - narrate.


Week 8

1. Book 5 lines 461-907 - narrate.

2. Book 6 lines 1-445 - narrate.


Week 9

1. Book 6 lines 446-912 - narrate.

2. Book 7 lines 1-338 - narrate.


Week 10

1. Book 7 lines 339-640 - narrate.

2. Book 8 lines 1-337 - narrate.


Week 11

1. Book 8 lines 338-640 - narrate.

2. Book 9 lines 1-612 - narrate.


Week 12

1. Book 9 lines 613-1189 - narrate.

2. The Life and Writings of John Milton Lecture 10: Book IX—The Fall - listen and narrate


Week 13

1. Book 10 lines 1-590 - narrate.

2. Book 10 lines 591-1104 - narrate.


Week 14

1. Book 11 lines 1-452 - narrate.

2. Book 11 lines 453-901 - narrate.


Week 15

1. Book 12 lines 1-334 - narrate.

2. Book 12 lines 335-649 - narrate.


Week 16

1. The Life and Writings of John Milton Lecture 12: Milton's Living Influence - listen and narrate (Note: we skipped lecture 11)

2. Test on Paradise Lost (not yet written)



I purchased this audiobook. I have received nothing for this post which only shares my honest opinions. I did attend Dartmouth College but had nothing to do with the creation of the website devoted to John Milton. The links to Amazon are affiliate links.

Laughing at Thor: Norse Mythology

Norse Mythology

by Neil Gaiman

Kansas Dad listened to this on CD from the library and recommended it to me. When it showed up on an Audible sale, I bought it.

It's magnificent.

Gaiman recorded the book himself and, unlike other authors, has a wonderful reading voice. His immense enjoyment of the myths shows in his reading. The myths are exciting and engaging, but more than anything else they are humorous. I think Kansas Dad may have cried he laughed so hard in a few parts.

The myths themselves are not appropriate for children. Gaiman isn't afraid to include all the shenanigans and violence, but mainly it's the romantic entanglements of the characters that makes it for mature audiences only. We loved it so much, I imagine we'd let our older high schoolers listen to it, but it's definitely not one we'd just turn on in the van while the eight year old was riding along.

Listen to the audiobook or read the book. Even if you never read anything else by Neil Gaiman.

I received nothing in exchange for this brief blog post. All opinions are my own. I purchased this book with an Audible credit. Links above to Amazon are affiliate links.

November and December 2018 Book Reports

Lots of reading, not lots of time at the computer when I can write about what I've read. Here's a quick look at November and December, not including all the school pre-reading I'm trying to juggle in between getting kids to their activities and appointments.

Ship's Boy with Magellan by Milton Lomask - link to my post (purchased copy)

On Blue's Waters, In Green's Jungles, and Return to the Whorl by Gene Wolfe - These three books make up the Short Sun trilogy, which follow the Book of the Long Sun (mentioned in the last book report). Overall, I enjoyed the trilogy more. If I had more time, I'd write an entire post about some of my thoughts on the series. Wolfe's story is enjoyable, but also dabbles in ideas of what it means to be human, how to worship that which is superior, and how to be good and loving when so much of existence is not. Ultimately, I think he fails to describe the complete answer, but I suppose he might point in the right direction. (As much as books "say" what an author "wants" them to say, that is.) (two books from our local library, one from inter-library loan)

History's Great Military Blunders and the Lessons They Teach (from The Great Courses) by Gregory S. Aldrete - I listened to this course with the children in the van (ages 14, 12, 10, and 8). There were a few references to adult themes, but mostly this went over the younger one's heads and were few in number. There is, of course, a great deal of death, much of it unnecessary and therefore more tragic. The professor had an annoying habit of over-emphasizing every third of fourth word for no explicable reason. My children never complained about that, but I found it distracting. I was surprised at how interested the kids were, even the younger ones, and at how much they picked up. After one lecture, my 8 year old asked me to get out an atlas and show him the former boundaries of Prussia as the Russian army would have encountered them in the battle described. My 12 year old enjoyed them so much, she has listened to the entire series again.  As with many of The Great Courses, there is a PDF with lecture notes. It has some illustrations, but I wish it included some maps. (purchased with an Audible credit)

One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler - I bought this Kindle book during a sale and then let it sit on my Kindle until I suggested it to my book club. At first I wasn't sure how this book reflected my own life, but after contemplating it for a while, I came to a new understanding about my life as a homeschooling mom: I love planning and organizing our homeschool lessons. It is unfortunate I cannot monetize it as Fulwiler has her writing (or, perhaps I could, but I'm not willing to take those steps). I also haven't managed to balance my desire to plan our lessons with the way those lessons play out in real life, but at least I have an idea of how I might be able to prioritize my focus to be more balanced in the future. I figure I'll hit that stride right about the time Second Son, my youngest, graduates from high school. Ha! (purchased Kindle copy at a sale price)

Nature's Everyday Mysteries by Sy Montgomery - link to my post (purchased copy)

How to Read and Understand Shakespeare (from The Great Courses) by Professor Marc C. Conner - link to my post (purchased with an Audible credit)

Hi Bob! by Bob Newhart and friends - This is a kind of series of podcasts by Bob Newhart during which he interviews a bunch of famous comedians. It was one of the free books offered to Audible members in recent months and I picked it thinking I might be able to share it with First Son, who appreciates humor more than any other medium. I'm not sure how much he'd enjoy it, given the number of references to older movies and shows, without more context. There were many references I didn't quite catch myself. It was an entertaining book, though, and I often laughed to myself while listening (and folding laundry or washing dishes). (one of the free monthly selections with Audible membership)

Black Panther: The Young Prince by Ronald L. Smith - I purchased this during an Audible sale for a deep discount because I thought the kids would enjoy it. They did! It was a middle-grade kind of fan fiction novel full of inconsistencies. Sometimes I couldn't stop myself from pausing the playback to tell them about how school would really work (being homeschooled they wouldn't have known) and I was gratified to hear them counseling T'Challa to tell his father all or talk to another responsible adult. Even with all its problems, they all enjoyed it and would probably gladly listen again. (Audible, purchased during a sale)

Links to Amazon are affiliate links. As an affiliate with Amazon, I receive a small commission if you follow one of my links, add something to your cart, and complete the purchase (in that order). Links to RC History and PaperBackSwap.com are affiliate links. Any other links (like those to Bethlehem Books) are not affiliate links.

These reports are my honest opinions.

Shakespeare for Everyone: How to Read and Understand Shakespeare

How to Read and Understand Shakespeare, one of the Great Courses audiobooks, with Professor Marc C. Conner

Over the past few years, I have been purposefully reading and studying Shakespeare, both as an aid to teaching my children and for my own personal enjoyment. We've been reading and memorizing using How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare (highly recommended) and I've read many plays directly using editions like Shakespeare Made Easy and No Fear Shakespeare. I listened to Peter Saccio's course, "William Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies," (mentioned here) and found it helpful.

My sixth grader and my ninth grader are both reading three plays each this year and I've read them all myself in preparation. (Realizing I never studied any Shakespeare in college, I decided to expose my children to as large a number of his plays as I can before they leave home just in case it's all they get.)

I picked up this course, How to Read and Understand Shakespeare, in order to continue my Shakespearean education, especially as my oldest started high school. Now that my children are older, I listen to audiobooks using bluetooth headphones while I'm washing dishes and folding laundry and they've practically changed my life. I love doing chores!

In this course, Professor Conner, explores the themes of twelve of Shakespeare's plays over a series of 24 lectures.

• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Romeo and Juliet
• Twelfth Night
• Richard II
• Henry IV, Part I
• Henry IV, Part II
• Henry V
• Macbeth
• Hamlet
• The Merchant of Venice
• Measure for Measure
• The Tempest

As he introduces each play, he teaches "tools" for understanding Shakespeare like the order characters are introduced or the contrasts between characters or places in the plays. These tools can be applied to many different plays and he showed connections between them I had not recognized before.

The PDF included with the audiobook contains all the tools and extensive notes on the lectures.

Despite the tools being introduced and explained in a particular order, I do think a student could listen to just the lectures on a particular play. Be aware that some of the lectures touch on mature themes. One of the Macbeth lectures in particular, if I remember correctly, touched on events in Othello I would not want my young children to hear.

Of all the books, plays, and lectures I've listened to in the past few years, this one was the most helpful. If I could recommend just one resource for a homeschooling mother hesitant to read and assign Shakespeare, this would be it. (Followed closely by How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, which you'll need once you've listened to this course and are looking for a place to begin.) One of the best aspects of this course is how it's focused not on the specialized Shakespearean student, but on showing how anyone can read and enjoy Shakespeare. Professor Conner wants to encourage everyone to read more Shakespeare and it shows in his lectures.

I would really like to assign this course to my high school student, but I think I may wait until junior or senior year, mostly because some of the mature content that is touched upon. There's nothing that's not also in the plays, but I don't intend to assign Othello (for example) for the same reason.

I purchased this course, probably during a 2-for-1 Great Courses sale, as a member of Audible. Links above are affiliate links. I did not receive anything for writing this honest review.

June 2018 Book Reports

Our Lady's Feasts by Sister Mary Jean Dorcy - link to my post (own copy, probably purchased used)

Animal Farm by George Orwell - link to my post (own copy, probably received from my mom)

Know and Tell by Karen Glass - link to my post (purchased copy)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Over the Moon by Frank Cottrell Boyce - This is the third of a recent trilogy about the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It was fun, and delightfully read by David Tennant, but I think Kansas Dad and I were happy when it was over. The very best part of the audiobook was the censored bit. (purchased Audible book)

Middlemarch by George Eliot - link to my post (library copy)

The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge - The children loved this book which is kind of like a fairy tale. It bothered me how often they criticized the main character for being curious and talked about how it was a common fault of girls and women. There are also a couple of adults in the town who ask Maria to keep secrets from her guardian and her governess; that sort of thing always makes me feel uncomfortable, even when the secrets are innocuous. Also, the heroine is thirteen years old but marries her cousin at the end of the book (maybe a year older?), which was weird. The book we owned also ruined the surprise of the white horse by putting a unicorn on the cover. I would say it's an acceptable book, but I wouldn't read it aloud again. (purchased used)

Litany of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe - I took this book on vacation with us and was dismayed to realized I'd already read it. However, I had nothing else to read and, once I started, was entertained enough to finish it. (Kansas Dad's copy)

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman - link to my post (library copy)

Books in Progress (and date started)

• Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. 2 (sixth edition) (August 2014) 
• A Century of Sonnets edited by Feldman and Robinson (May 2017) 
• The Power of Silence by Robert Cardinal Sarah (December 2017) 
• In the Steps of the Master by H.V. Morton (February 2018) 
• History's Great Military Blunders and the Lessons they Teach from The Great Courses (February 2018, listening with the older two or three) 
• Ember Rising by S.D. Smith (March 2018, listening with the kids) 
• Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe by Robert Matzen (May 2018)
• Beauty for Truth's Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education by Stratford Caldecott (May 2018)
• Echoes: Poems Left Behind by John Ciardi (June 2018)

The italic print: Links to Amazon are affiliate links. As an affiliate with Amazon, I receive a small commission if you follow one of my links, add something to your cart, and complete the purchase (in that order). Links to RC History and PaperBackSwap.comare also affiliate links to their respective stores. Other links (like those to Bethlehem Books) are not affiliate links.

These reports are my honest opinions.

How Explorers Created Our World: History's Greatest Voyages of Exploration

History's Greatest Voyages of Exploration (Great Courses)
by Professor Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius

This is one of the Great Courses, a series of recorded lectures. In this course, Professor Liulevicius describes explorers from antiquity to modern times and our quest to land a man on the moon in the 1960s.

There are 24 lectures of about thirty minutes each, so a total of about twelve hours. Each lecture is presented as a story in rich language not without bits of humor. The lectures focus on explorers everyone knows like Marco Polo but also some less-well-known figures like Xuanzang (at least not as well-known in the United States) and Ida Pfeiffer. Here are some of the explorers included:

• Pythias the Greek
• St. Brendan
• Xuanzang
• Leif Eriksson
• Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville
• Ibn Battuta
• Christopher Columbus 
• Magellan
• Conquistadors - This lecture mentions how Catholic missionaries in the Americas often struggled against those who enslaved and murdered indigenous populations in the Americas.
• Henry Hudson
• The Jesuits - There's only one sentence near the end of this lecture in which the professor indicates he doesn't subscribe to the faith of the Jesuits and (maybe) doesn't exactly approve of their evangelization efforts. Overall, this is a surprisingly favorable view of the Church and the Jesuits' efforts to protect and aid those they encountered on their missionary journeys.
• Captain Cook
• Alexander von Humboldt - The last five minutes of this lecture included a brief discussion of Humboldt's possible homosexuality. One of my daughter's asked a question about it, which I answered, and then we moved on. I don't think it added much to the lecture and you could easily just skip ahead a few sentences if you're prepared.
• Lewis and Clark
• Sir John Franklin
• Ida Pfeiffer
• Dr. Livingston and Mary Kingsley
• A few at the end looking at the exploring extreme environments: Arctic, Antarctic, ocean depths, and space

Some of these are nice introductions to the corresponding descriptions in A Book of Discovery, providing some modern context and framing. (A Book of Discovery is recommended at Mater Amabilis™ ™for Level 3.) Shackleton's ill-fated expedition to cross Antarctica is also included, which is described so vividly in Endurance in Level 4.

The professor also makes the voyages relevant - how these explorations changed the world and helped create the one we live in today.

I listened to this course along with my children without listening to it ahead of time. As I mentioned above, there were really just a few sentences I wish I could have avoided. Though they weren't always entirely excited by the lectures, they mostly enjoyed them. First Son even remembered stories of Maui from an early lecture months later when we saw Moana. I didn't, but he did.

This is an excellent choice if you have an extra Audible credit or if you come across one of the Great Courses sale when you can get two courses for one credit.

I purchased this course using a credit, which I had received as a paying member of Audible.com, an Amazon company. The links in this post are affiliate links, but the content is my honest opinion.