Author: Deacon Nick

Classics

Books and Reading

Humiliation through Rereading

This quote by Joseph Epstein rings true with me: Rereading can be…a humility-inducing activity, when, on rereading, one learns that the first time around with a book, one’s politics or fantasies or personal anxieties were in fact doing most of the work. Rereading books first read when young, one is inclined to weep for the naif one not so long ago was. And while at it one discovers, if one gets to reread the same book twenty years hence, one is even one now. I can think of...

Babette's Feast

Movies

45 Important Movies as Chosen by the Vatican

In 1995, to commemorate 100 years of film-making, the Vatican made a list of what it called “Some Important Films.” The list was divided into three areas–Religion, Values and Art. I’ve been gradually acquiring them and watching them. What I particularly like about the list are the international titles. Here’s the list with a few comments of my own thrown in: Religion: Andrei Rublev Babette’s Feast – I really enjoyed this slow-moving but tender film. Ben-Hur – The four-disc edition also includes the original silent film–an excellent dvd...

Don Quixote

Books and Reading

The Knight of the Sorrowful Face Will Put a Smile on Yours

I finally finished listening to the Don Quixote audiobook narrated by George Guidall, and it remains my favorite book of all time. It took almost five months to listen to (I have a very short commute to work), but it was worth the time. Guidall is deservedly known as the king of audiobooks, and his reading was masterful. In a book full of dozens of characters, he managed to give each one a separate personality and voice. I don’t want to say too much about the story itself,...

books

Books and Reading / Humor / Poetry

When I Loaned This Book I Deemed It as Lost

The Book-Lender’s Soliloquy by Nick Senger (with apologies to Shakespeare) To lend or not to lend, that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of a book lost forever, Or to hoard books against a sea of troubles, And by keeping them hide them? To read: to lend; No more. And by hoarding to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That the librarian is heir to, ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To read, to...

Books and Reading / Family

Harry Dresden – For Teenagers?

I’m about a quarter of the way into Storm Front, book one of the Harry Dresden Files, and I wanted to answer a question posed by Maureen, who wants to know about its suitability for junior high/high school readers. It didn’t take long to get the answer to that question. Keep in mind that I believe in each parent deciding what their kids can read or watch, so don’t take my comments as gospel truth on this. Here we go: I’m really enjoying the book so far as...

The Sound of Music

Books and Reading / Family / Movies / Music

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

My wife and I celebrated our seventeenth anniversary two nights ago by attending the Spokane Civic Theater’s performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. The show was fantastic–elaborate sets, wonderful singing–a real treat. There were even a couple of songs that we had never heard before. It was also very special to see one of my former students in the role of Louisa Von Trapp. My wife loves The Sound of Music, so one Christmas I bought her the movie, the soundtrack and the original book....

castle

Books and Reading

Camelot – ‘Tis a Silly Place

My boys and I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail a few days ago and that got me thinking about Arthurian novels. Here are a few of my favorites: The Once and Future King by T.H. White – A terrific book, but unfortunately I can’t get the Disney movie The Sword in the Stone out of my head when I read the first part. The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, and The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart – This was my first introduction to...

Field of Dreams

Books and Reading / Movies

The 15 Greatest Movies with Novels as Source Material

Not only are these great movies, but the novels on which they are based are classics, too. If you’re in a reading group, why not read the book, then watch the movie? I only chose novels, no non-fiction (i.e., A Beautiful Mind) or drama (i.e., Much Ado About Nothing). Movies are listed alphabetically. Ben-Hur – Novel by Lew Wallace The Bridge on the River Kwai – Novel by Pierre Boulle Field of Dreams – Based on Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella The Godfather – Novel by Mario Puzo...

Foulis

Books and Reading / Humor

The Perfect Book?

Are you a bibliophile in search of the perfect book? Are you a perfectionist like I am? Then read on. The following excerpt is taken from a fantasic book for readers called A Passion for Books: A Book Lover’s Treasury, edited by Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan (Times Books, 1999). The Perfect Book William Keddie The Foulis’s edition of classical works were much praised by scholars and collectors in the nineteenth century. The celebrated Glasgow publishers once attempted to issue a book which should be perfect specimen of...

Henry Fielding

Books and Reading

What Is Reading For?

I saw this comment on a post in someone else’s blog the other day: My theory is, at least they’re reading. Who cares what they read? Just read, damn it. If the discussion were about kids who were just learning to read, I’d be inclined to agree–there is a point in everyone’s life when the best way to improve as a reader is to read as much as you can, regardless of the content (mostly–I hate Captain Underpants!). But the blog post was about reading in general, and...

Cannery Row

Books and Reading / Travel

Enhance Your Summer Travel with Novels

A few summers ago I drove my family down the west coast of the US to visit friends in San Luis Obispo, California. I don’t travel much, but when I do I like to read novels that take place in the places I visit. Since I knew we were going to stop in Monterey, I read Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Not the most exotic novel or locale, but reading the book did add another layer of enjoyment to the trip. Those of you with more ambitious travel...

Mount Doom

Books and Reading / Music / Poetry

What if Tolkien Wrote Stairway to Heaven?

I was purging some computer files the other day when I ran across these song lyrics I wrote a few years ago after Peter Jackson’s Fellowship of the Ring had just been released. It was something I did just for fun to show to my eighth grade students when we were studying The Hobbit. I forgot about until I found it the other day. I thought some of you might find it amusing. The song is about Aragorn and his role in the Fellowship and Middle-earth. It’s meant...