March and April 2019 Book Reports

The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century by David Salsburg - link to my post (library copy).

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - I have a goal to read a book by Dickens every year. In late 2018, I realized I wouldn't have time to read The Pickwick Papers but found an inexpensive audiobook. I've learned I have more time to listen than to read on an average week, putting on bluetooth headphones while I cook, wash dishes, and fold laundry. (Note that my youngest is eight and unlikely to wreck the house like a toddler.) This book is not my favorite Dickens; it's a bit disjointed (because it's actually a collection of stories Dickens wrote without regard for continuity) and sometimes the stories are less interesting than others. But when it's good, it's hilarious. I did have a problem with the audiobook. The last page or two of one of the chapters was missing. I happened to have a copy of the book and was able to look it up. I don't think it was a purposeful abridgment as the missing pages contained significant events and the audiobook is labeled "unabridged." I suppose it's possible there were other parts missing that I didn't notice. (purchased Audible book)

Dave Ramsey's Complete Guide to Money by Dave Ramsey - link to my post. (library copy)

A Path through Genesis by Bruce Vawter - link to my post. (purchased copy)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - I adore this book. Just recently I had the opportunity to listen to an audio version of it. Delightful! (purchased Audible book)

Summer of Little Rain by Aileen Fisher - link to my post. (PaperBackSwap.com)

Small Is Still Beautiful: Economics As If Families Mattered by Joseph Pearce - link to my post. (purchased copy)

Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time by Mark Adams - link to my post. (library copy)

The Iliad by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles, and The Iliad of Homer, one of the Great Courses, by Elizabeth Vandiver - link to post. (purchased copy)

I have received nothing in exchange for these posts. All opinions are my own. Links to Amazon, RC History, and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

January 2018 Book Reports

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - I read this book many years ago, while in high school, and decided I didn't like Charles Dickens. Now I know better, having rediscovered Dickens and enjoying his books immensely. I thought it appropriate to return to this book to see if maturity improved it. It did, though it is not my favorite Dickens novel. It's quite long with most of the "action" taking place in just a few chapters near the end. It did give me a chance to ponder how education separates us from those we love, though Pip's separation begins not with education but with embarrassment and covetousness. One thing I don't like about the Audible books is how much more difficult it is than in print or even an e-book to mark passages. I tried with the bookmarking, but it's just not the same. So I don't have nice passages for a post or for my commonplace book. I did, however, get to listen to the book when I didn't have time to read it. (purchased Audible audiobook, though I think it's quite inexpensive if you have the Kindle version)

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by H. T. Willetts - link to my post (purchased used copy)

The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries (The Great Courses) by Professor Neil deGrasse Tyson - I'm sure I picked this out during one of the many Great Courses sales Audible has. I listened to it recently when I wanted something short between novels. This course is six lectures of about thirty minutes each, during which the professor chats about mysteries of the universe particularly focused on quantum physics and astronomy. Though he wasn't always entirely respectful of a belief in God (or any higher power), the lectures themselves were interesting. I haven't had any real physics since high school, so much of the material was new to me. I learned more about quarks, anti-matter, and black holes than I knew before and was pleased. (purchased during an Audible sale)

The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells - The actual science of Dr. Moreau is impossible, but the prospects for blending the human and the animal are more possible than ever with modern science. The tendency of scientists to continue along a line of inquiry without contemplating the consequences in a moral sense is also present. While the book is a kind of horror adventure story, the depictions of animals a little like humans and humans a little like animals hover in the thoughts much longer. (found on my shelves, maybe from a book sale?)

Hide the Children: A Story of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux by Brother Roberto, C.S.C. - link to my post (purchased new)

Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner - link to my post (received from a member at PaperBackSwap.com)

The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski - This is a fantasy book of short stories by a Polish author. It's for mature audiences and involves plenty of magic, but I thought it was fun. (library copy)

Report from Calabria by A Priest - 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 Complete Ramona books by Beverly Cleary (July 2017), listening with the kids
• The Power of Silence by Robert Cardinal Sarah (December 2017)
• Tremendous Trifles by G.K. Chesterton (December 2017)
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (January 2018), listening on my own
• To Light a Fire on the Earth by Robert Barron with John L. Allen Jr. (January 2018)
• The White Stag by Kate Seredy (January 2018)
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (January 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.com are also affiliate links to their respective stores. Other links (like those to Bethlehem Books) are not affiliate links.

These reports are my honest opinions.

Book Review: Bleak House

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

I read Great Expectations in high school and thought I hated it. Upon further reflection, I think I did not understand it. I then mistakenly avoided reading anything else by Dickens for decades. In 2008, I read A Tale of Two Cities and absolutely loved it. Shortly thereafter, I read A Christmas Carol and was delighted. Then for some reason, I neglected to read anything by Dickens for years. What a shame!

Kansas Dad doesn't care to read Dickens, something about the detriment of reading a book by someone who was paid by the word, but I love the language of Bleak House.

She stands looking at him as he writes on, all unconscious and only her fluttering hands give utterance to her emotions. But they are very eloquent; very, very eloquent. Mrs Bagnet understands them. They speak of gratitude, of joy, of grief, of hope; of inextinguishable affection, cherished with no return since this stalwart man was a stripling...

The novel attacks treatment of the poor, ridiculous enthrallment with charity work for the benefit of the servant rather than the poor, and most of all Chancery, where court cases drag on for years, draining people of estates and hope. It's interesting how often these same issues remain prominent a hundred and fifty years later. How little society learns!

Education is not a major theme of the book, mentioned only peripherally, but of course those are mentions I notice particularly.

He had been eight years at a public school, and had learnt, I understood, to make Latin Verses of several sorts, in the most admirable manner. But I never heard that it had been anybody's business to find out what his natural bent was, or where his failings lay, or to adapt any kind of knowledge to him. He had been adapted to the Verses, and had learnt the art of making them to such perfection, that if he had remained at school until he was of age, I suppose he could only have gone on making them over and over again, unless he had enlarged his education by forgetting how to do it. Still, although I had no doubt that they were very beautiful, and very improving, and very sufficient for a great many purposes of life, and always remembered all through life, I did doubt whether Richard would not have profited by some one studying him a little, instead of his studying them quite so much.

A ready-made introduction to a discussion of Charlotte Mason's first principle of education!

I borrowed this book from the library and loved the Penguin Classics hardcover edition. It is beautifully bound.

Advent and Christmas Family Read-Alouds

Hopefully you won't mind a few Advent and Christmas posts even though we're back in Ordinary Time. I didn't get much posted this year and I don't want to neglect it.

This school year, I've been reading aloud during breakfast from a classic book (classic by my definition). During Advent and Christmas, I put our classic book on hold so I could read from a classic Christmas story each day. Here's a list of what we read during Advent 2012 and a few I've put on the list for 2013. (By the way, I think you could easily continue such reading through the Christmas season, but we tend to travel and put almost all school on hold through Epiphany and then start right back to our "normal" studies.)

Books we read in 2012

The Little Juggler retold and illustrated by Barbara Cooney is one of my favorite books. I've written about it before. This is probably more of a picture book, but I read it during our read-aloud time instead of wrapping it for our picture-book-a-day.

The Story of the Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke - I wrote about this book just before Christmas.

The Lion in the Box by Marguerite De Angeli is the story of one very special Christmas of one of her close friends. I loved reading how this poor family (but rich in love) worked together to serve each other. It's a sweet story and the children loved listening to it.

Books for 2013

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - I had planned to read this book (finally!) to the children, but I read from it one day and met with glazed looks from both First Son and First Daughter even though they already know the plot from Jim Weiss's A Christmas Carol and Other Favorites. It was right before Christmas and I knew we'd be leaving soon for my parent's house so I sadly decided to set it aside. We will start with it next year, though, and read through the whole thing because the original is truly wonderful.

Kirsten's Surprise by Janet Shaw is one of the American Girl books. I don't know much about the dolls, but this story is a nice one to read for St. Lucy's feast day on December 13th. I look forward to sharing it, especially with my girls.

The Trees Kneel at Christmas by Maud Hart Lovelace is the story of the two children in a Lebanese family set in Brooklyn in 1950, right in Park Slope, the wonderful neighborhood Kansas Dad and I called home when we lived in New York City. Afify and her brother, Hanna, set out on Christmas Eve to see if the trees kneel just as they do in Lebanon, to honor the Christ child's birth. It's full of wonderful details about life in New York for Lebanese immigrants, a heart-warming tale of faith. Do pre-read it as there are references to Mary and the Mass that seemed explicitly Catholic to me. Also there are quite a few adults who smoke, which isn't something we find often in contemporary children's literature.

The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin - I read this many years ago and decided against sharing it with the children because the end of the book is a little sad, but I recently received a wonderful old copy of it from another member of PaperBackSwap and think I'll read it with the children next year if we have time. If not, it'll be first on our list for Advent 2014.

Classic for a Reason

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

I am always refreshed when I pick up and read a classic. A book that's been treasured for a hundred years or more is almost always of value. I made the mistake of reading Great Expectations when I was not ready for it and I think it soured me on Dickens for far too long. I am so thankful I decided to give him another chance because this book was magnificent. The prose was wonderful, the action was riveting and the depiction of the French Revolution (though horrible) was a wonderful example of a living book. I won't bother giving a proper review (though it would be good for my "narration" skills) because you can find thousands of them on your own. Instead, I will let G. K. Chesterton speak (from the Introduction reprinted at the back of my copy from the library):

Yet with everything against him [Dickens] he did this astonishing thing. He wrote a book about two cities, one of which he understood; the other he did not understand. And his description of the city he did not know is almost better than his description of the city he did know. This is the entrance of the unquestionable thing about Dickens; the thing called genius; the thing which every one has to talk about directly and distinctly because no one knows what it is.

So, anyone have a favorite Dickens book they recommend I read next?