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.
I was browsing through Borders Books the other day and came across a new book called The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together by Ty Burr. Old movies are an interest of mine, and I have struggled with trying to get my kids to watch them, so I picked this book up hoping to get some help. Burr, the film critic for The Boston Globe, does a great job listing movies from the golden age of cinema that kids of different ages will appreciate....
Do you know someone who is joining the Catholic Church this Easter? Maybe you’re enrolled in RCIA classes yourself. The following books are what I consider to be the best books for newcomers to the Catholic Church, and would be especially appropriate to read during Lent, as preparation for Easter Vigil (assuming one already has a Bible). With exception of the first two titles, they are not listed in any particular order: The Catechism of the Catholic Church: next to the Bible, probably the most indispensable book for...
Today is the anniversary of the death of John Keats, one of the major poets of the Romantic era. He died of tuberculosis on this day in 1821 at the age of 25. In his brief life he wrote several poems that are considered major works in English literature such as “La Belle Dame Sans Merci,” “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “Ode to Psyche,” and “Endymion.” Here is one of my favorites: On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer Much have I travel’d in the realms of gold, And...
If you’re giving up something for Lent that frees up some time (i.e. TV, video games, surfing the web), one great way to use that extra time is by reading spiritually enriching books. Here are a few suggestions: The Bible (of course) especially the gospels, or the books of Jeremiah and Exodus: you could buy a book that contains the daily Mass readings and read along with the Church The Divine Comedy – Dante Alighieri: use this great book to begin your meditations on the afterlife The Confessions...
Classics Club #32: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevesky
January 20, 2020
Classics Club #21: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
December 28, 2018
Classics Club #20: She by H. Rider Haggard
May 17, 2018
Notes from the Upside Down by Guy Adams
April 4, 2018
Cries from the Earth by Terry C. Johnston
March 20, 2018
Books and Reading / Chapter-a-Day Read-Along
A New Home for the Chapter-a-Day Read-Along
November 28, 2024
Books and Reading / Chapter-a-Day Read-Along
Announcing the 2019 Chapter-a-Day Read-Along
December 26, 2018
