Category: Books and Reading
I’ve had very little time to read lately, but I have been able to snatch a few pages here and there of Henry Petroski’s The Book on the Bookshelf. Here are a few interesting things I’ve learned so far: Early writers did not put spaces in between their words. Word separation became common only after printing was invented. I knew that the word Bible came from the Greek word for book, biblion, but I did not know that biblion came from byblos, from the Phoenician city that was...
Today in 1760 the first two volumes of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy were published. I read it three years ago and remember smiling through much of it. Here are the notes I wrote to myself at the time I finished it: What a pleasant book. Tristram Shandy takes its own sweet time to be told, really goes nowhere, but manages to be engaging in spite of itself. I love the narrator’s personality and the wonderful depictions of Uncle Toby and Trim. Sterne reminds me somewhat...
For some reason there are a lot of Catholic detectives on the mystery shelves. I’m sure there are amateur detectives from other faiths (Rabbi Small, for instance), but Catholic priests and nuns seem to form their own sub-genre. Here are a few examples: Father Brown – The greatest of all ecclesial sleuths, G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown belongs in the ranks of the great detectives with Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Miss Marple. Chesterton’s stories are witty and clever, and very satisfying. All of his stories are collected in...
(Updated May 5, 2007) You’ve heard the saying, “So many books, so little time.” It’s also true of book resources on the internet: “So many websites, so little time.” To help you navigate through them all I’ve put together this list of essential web resources for readers. This list reflects my own tastes, so no doubt I’ve left some of your favorites off the list, or put some on that you find fault with. Leave a comment and tell me where I’ve done you wrong, or tell me...
One of the most important skills in reading well is marking the text. Mortimer Adler gives an excellent introduction to writing in books in his essay “How to Mark a Book.” Here are a few quotes, followed by my thoughts: You know you have to read “between the lines” to get the most out of anything. I want to persuade you to do something equally important in the course of your reading. I want to persuade you to write between the lines. Unless you do, you are not...
Naxos Audiobooks has released a video trailer of Neville Jason recording War and Peace. It’s fascinating to watch him act out the book as he reads. I never realized that audio book narrators actually read from books. I always thought the book was made into a script before recording. But you can see for yourself that he’s using a hardcover copy of the book, and has even dog-eared some of the pages: I read War and Peace once, but I have to admit that I went through the...
A book doesn’t have to be long to have long-reaching effects. Here are 9 books that can profoundly change you, in order from shortest to longest: The Practice of the Presence of God – Brother Lawrence (96 pp.): Brother Lawrence was a humble monk who cooked for the monastery, but found God in the daily chores of his life. This book contains the lessons he learned about experiencing God’s presence throughout his entire day. The Rule of St. Benedict (112 pp.): St. Benedict wrote this to regulate the...
One of the biggest risks facing readers today is the danger of falling prey to Manchegan Madness. Manchegan Madness is an obsessive compulsive desire to act out the events of a fictional story and/or become a fictional character. The first known manifestation of Manchegan Madness was documented by Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote. If you are a habitual reader, you should learn to recognize these early signs of the onset of the disease: Naming your pets after literary characters: Our dog’s name is Pippin, and we constantly...
A beautiful poem from an Irish poet for this St. Patrick’s Day: Sailing to Byzantium by William Butler Yeats THAT is no country for old men. The young In one another’s arms, birds in the trees – Those dying generations – at their song, The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas, Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long Whatever is begotten, born, and dies. Caught in that sensual music all neglect Monuments of unageing intellect. An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick,...
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow, here is a list of 10 Irish authors and their most famous works: Samuel Beckett – Waiting for Godot Oliver Goldsmith – The Vicar of Wakefield Seamus Heaney – Beowulf (as translator) James Joyce – Ulysses George Bernard Shaw – Pygmalion Laurence Sterne – The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Bram Stoker – Dracula Jonathan Swift – Gulliver’s Travels Oscar Wilde – The Picture of Dorian Gray William Butler Yeats – Collected Poems I can’t comment on too many...
I’m currently reading “The Problem of Cell 13” by Jacques Futrelle to my eighth grade students. Futrelle is probably the best mystery writer you’ve never heard of. He could have been the next Arthur Conan Doyle except for one tragic event in his life: he bought a ticket to sail on the Titanic. He and his wife were in Europe and decided to return to American on the Titanic, cutting their vacation short. When the ship began sinking his wife May boarded a lifeboat and survived, but Futrelle...
I’m experimenting with Windows Movie Maker and have created this video illustrating John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields.” The audio comes from Librivox.org and the photos come from the Wikimedia Commons Project. Let me know what you think.
