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Books and Reading / Chapter-a-Day Read-Along

Divine Comedy Read-along Update: Week 3

I’m a few days late with this post, but it’s week three of the 2021 Chapter-a-day Read-along, and we’re twenty-four cantos, or chapters, into Inferno, the first part of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. We’ve only got ten more days in Hell, after which we will accompany Dante into Purgatory. This post gives you an opportunity to share your thoughts, quotes, and questions about the book up to canto twenty-four. Some Quotes from the Past Week “The man who lies asleep will never waken fame, and his desire and...

Books and Reading

Aubrey/Maturin Read-along Update: Master and Commander Chapter 3

Welcome to week three of the  Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Odyssey. This post gives you an opportunity to share your thoughts, quotes, and questions about chapter three of Master and Commander. Quote of the Week “He looked over those miles of sea to windward — perfectly clear. Not a sail, not the slightest break on the tight light of the horizon. The topgallant sail above him was suddenly golden: then two points on the larboard bow, in the mounting blaze of light, the sun thrust up its...

Books and Reading / Chapter-a-Day Read-Along

Divine Comedy Read-along Update: Week 2

It’s week two of the 2021 Chapter-a-day Read-along, and we’re over a third of the way through Inferno, the first part of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. This post gives you an opportunity to share your thoughts, quotes, and questions about the book up to canto thirteen. Some Quotes from the Past Week “Men of sound intellect and probity, weigh with good understanding what lies hidden behind the veil of my strange allegory!” Inferno, Canto IX (Ciardi) “…the aim of malice is to injure others whether by fraud or...

Books and Reading

Aubrey/Maturin Read-along Update: Master and Commander Chapter 2

Welcome to week two of the  Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Odyssey. This post gives you an opportunity to share your thoughts, quotes, and questions about chapter two of Master and Commander. Quote of the Week “This was Jack’s first direct, fully responsible acquaintance with book-keeping, and he did not much relish it.” This quote reminded me of when I first became principal and had to start working on the school budget. Where are Jack and Stephen this week? Jack and Stephen are still in Port Mahon as Jack...

Books and Reading / Chapter-a-Day Read-Along

Divine Comedy Read-along Update: Week 1

Welcome to the first of what I hope will be weekly updates for the 2021 Chapter-a-Day Read-along. The plan is to make a very brief post each Wednesday to give readers a place to post their thoughts, questions, or reactions to the chapters read in the past week. If you’ve read ahead or if you know the story, please refrain from any spoilers. Each week I hope to post some quotes that stood out to me along with a footnote or two that might be helpful. I may...

Books and Reading

Aubrey/Maturin Read-along Update: Master and Commander Chapter 1

Welcome to the first of what I hope will be weekly updates for the Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Odyssey. The plan is to make a very brief post each Sunday or Monday to give readers a place to post their thoughts, questions, or reactions to the chapter just finished. If you’ve read ahead or read the series before, please refrain from any spoilers. Each week I hope to post a quote from the chapter, a description of the current setting, and maybe even a nautical or historical...

Books and Reading

My Favorite Reads of 2020

When 2020 began who could have predicted what we were in for? You might think that in the midst of stay-at-home orders and quarantines I would have had a banner year in reading. The reality is that I had to spend a lot of time working from home and planning for how to reopen our school, so my brain was often too tired to read. However, I still did manage to have a fairly robust year of reading, and I met most of my reading goals. Here are...

Books and Reading / Chapter-a-Day Read-Along

War and Peace Chapter-a-Day Read-along: The Wrap-Up

Congratulations on reading War and Peace, one of the great works of world literature! Whether you finished it early, on time, or not yet, thank you for participating. I hope the read-along was as enriching for you as it was for me. (If you liked the experience of reading classic literature in one chapter a day, please consider joining the 2021 Chapter-a-Day Read-along.) I guess the read-along is technically not over, since the schedule calls for reading one final Tolstoy short story tomorrow, “How Much Land Does a...

Books and Reading

Preparing for the Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week Read-along: Book 1 – Master and Commander

In just a few days the Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Odyssey begins. This post is an introduction mostly for those who are unfamiliar with the series or with books set in the Age of Sail. Now, I am about as far from an expert on this series as you can find, but I have read it a few times, so I’ll share a few things that I think might be helpful for a new reader. If you have prior experience with the books I invite you to...

Books and Reading / Chapter-a-Day Read-Along

Preparing for the 2021 Chapter-a-Day Read-along: The Divine Comedy

The 2021 Chapter-a-Day Read-along begins in a few days and it’s time to get ready for our first book! If you’ve been part of our read-alongs the last few years, you know that we’ve already read some of the greatest novels of all time — works like War and Peace, Don Quixote, and The Count of Monte Cristo. But our first book of 2021 has been called “The Greatest Single Work of Western Literature.” I speak, of course, of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. Dante’s masterpiece has had...

Homily

A Scrooge on Gaudete Sunday – Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Advent

Today we see the beautiful roses and the rose vestments, and the rose colored candle that represent the third Sunday of Advent. These are visible reminders that no matter what we are going through, no matter what is happening around us, as Christians we are always people of Good News. And when we receive good news, how do we react? We rejoice. And that’s why this Sunday is dedicated to rejoicing. Why? Because we now know that the one we long for, the one our soul longs to...

Books and Reading / Chapter-a-Day Read-Along

Announcing the Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Odyssey

This is the official sign-up post for the Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Odyssey. Yes, you read that right. This is a four year challenge to read what some call the greatest historical fiction series ever written, the Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin nautical series by Patrick O’Brian. Join me in a long, slow read of this masterful account of life at sea (and on land) during the Napoleonic era. This reading odyssey will require a heart of oak but the journey will be well worth the effort. Why These...