Classics Considered

Well, I missed last week, so once again playing catch up with the readalong.  :)  Here are the last two parts - and thanks again to Cleo for hosting this! Week 3: Friendship In this chapter, Lewis talks about what he considers to be the "least natural" of the loves: Friendship.  It is less "organic" than the other loves, because, unlike Affection which nurtures or Eros which propagates, Friendship is, in a sense, superfluous in that it is not necessary to our survival. In fact, it can be viewed with distrust by authorities or groups of humans, because it means at least two people have withdrawn from the group and are connected by something which distinguishes them from the rest. This was the most interesting chapter of the book.  I don't have a wide circle of friends, but I appreciate each one I have (online and offline), and I think Lewis pinpoints why it is so hard to find good friends.  The problem frequently lies with us.  So often we are looki...

It's been about fifteen years since I first read The Time Machine .  It was so unlike anything I'd read before.  Afterwards, I even wrote my own time-travelling story, which was more like fan-fiction than anything else. I don't often reread books, but as I build my H. G. Wells collection, I figured I'd reread each book and see how it held up over time.  (No pun intended!)  The Time Machine was the first book by Wells I'd read and seemed like a natural starting point. The story begins in Victorian England.  A group of friends - a doctor, a journalist, a psychologist, and others - gather at the Time Traveller's house for their customary meal and conversation.  The Time Traveller at this stage has just created a model of his machine which he says he can build at full-scale and use to travel through time.  The demonstration leaves his guests skeptical, but not long after that, the Time Traveller shows up to one of his own dinners, bedraggled and te...

Well...I promise I'm not trying to milk this for all it's worth.  But I realized that after "finishing" the review of 12 Rules for Life , I'd failed to answer my starting questions from Part 1 : What is about [Jordan Peterson] or his message that generates commonality between such disparate groups? What kind of person, with such a prestigious CV, is so willing to go out on a limb [against political correctness]? Is he really courageous, or is there some other reason? I think the answer to #1 is pretty simple.  Peterson's appeal lies in his embrace of core values, like honesty, hard work, integrity, and self-respect.  Any belief systems that value the individual and accountability are going to gravitate towards his message, which puts a big emphasis on you, the individual, taking action - making your life better and making the world better.  So that is what seems to make his following so diverse. To the second question - my takeaway from reading 12 Rul...

I've decided to share these quotes in the order they appear in the book, plus occasional commentary. All quotes are from the 2018 hardcover edition. Key: plaintext - Worthy quotes bold - Favorite quotes italics - Quotes I disliked 12 Rules for Life: Best and Worst Quotes The dominance hierarchy is not capitalism.  It's not communism, either, for that matter . . . We (the sovereign we , the we that has been around since the beginning of life) have lived in a dominance hierarchy for a long, long time. (p. 14) - Agreed, seems pretty self-evident. . . . the familiar Western images of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child and the Pietà both express the female/male dual unity, as does the traditional insistence on the androgyny of Christ.   (p. 42) - "traditional insistence on the androgyny," what is he talking about? You should take care of, help and be good to yourself the same way you would take care of, help and be good to someone you loved and valued. ...

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn by Evstafiev [ CC BY-SA 3.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons "No one could stand up for communism after The Gulag Archipelago - not even the communists themselves." ( 12 Rules for Life , p. 310) I would like to think that's true.  Unfortunately, admiration for Joseph Stalin is, by all appearances, far from dead .  The mass murderer has been rebranded as a WWII hero first and dictator second. While not all Russians subscribe to that narrative , there are some who are nostalgic for the USSR. I once briefly dated someone who felt that way.  It wasn't apparent on first impressions, but, as we got to know each other better, I learned he was an ardent Stalinist, fully heroizing Stalin and believing all the bad to be exaggerations, lies, or American propaganda, or (barring all that) nothing any worse than what U.S. presidents had done.  Though born in a former Soviet republic, he was not really old enough to remember life in the Soviet Union, yet ...

So... I have this get it back to the library ASAP (fines are accruing), but I can't seem to write a short review.  I tried, I really did, but it's hopeless.  Here is Part 1, and I hope to have Part 2 up tomorrow. First, some background... Jordan Peterson Gage Skidmore [ CC BY-SA 3.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons As I mentioned in a previous post, my purpose in reading this book was to see what the fuss was about.  Peterson, a professor at the University of Toronto (and formerly at Harvard and McGill), has become a controversial figure in recent years, for voicing his views on forms of political correctness which he sees as threatening to freedom of speech.  It's a long story which you can read about on Wikipedia , and I only mention it to give some context.  Peterson, whose YouTube lectures attract millions of followers, went on two years after the publicity to publish his 2018 book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos .  This book became a huge...

Chesterton's England, ca. 100 years ago, is home to a de facto group of patriots, a Robin Hood renaissance.  There's the lawyer, Mr. Robert Owen Hood, whose name itself harkens back to the leader of the Merry Men.  His friend Colonel Crane is a quiet soul with a fiery past, plus a penchant for studying indigenous tribes and their religions.  Among the other five members, the aviator Hilary Pierce stands out as a brash aviator, someone full of antics which he carries out with great seriousness. Their goal?  To achieve impossible things, and to save England from despots.  So Mr. Hood sets the Thames on fire, Colonel Crane eats his hat, and Hilary Pierce makes pigs fly, all in the name of rescuing the common man from the evils of either greedy aristocrats or corrupt bureaucrats.  Sly politicians, doctors, and scientists stand in their way, but the League of the Long Bow prevails with one promise: it always does what it says it will do. When I think of ...

We made it!  If you know me from past years, you know I'm terrible at sticking to read-alongs and challenges.  So I have to pat myself on the back for finishing this one.  :) Overall?  I give the Read-Along 5 stars - the pacing and discussion questions have been excellent.  The book itself, I give a solid 3 stars.  Wollstonecraft packed a lot of thoughts into the book, and I agreed with her on many points.  At the same time, there was a lot of needless repetition, which, if I hadn't been on a schedule, might have bogged me down completely.  On to the discussion questions: Do you agree or disagree with Wollstonecraft's arguments about "stupid" romance novels, in which an author presents perfect images of men and women in love and marriage. (We could even apply this to romantic films.) I couldn't tell exactly what kind of novels she dislikes, though it seems to be all of them?? Anyways, I would agree that romantic novels/films can b...

Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty wherever ordered?  Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to any other foreign government, power or organization?   No-No Boy follows the post-war lives of two young Seattleites: Ichiro Yamada and Kenji Kanno.  Published in 1957, John Okada's only novel takes a raw cross section of Japanese-American society and examines it through the eyes of these characters who made very different choices. When called to the draft, Ichiro followed his mother's guidance and answered "no" to both "loyalty questions," resulting in imprisonment.  After two years, he is released from prison to a community which abhors him for his decision, almost as much as he hates himself.  Kenji, on the ...

Dante, lost in a dark forest, is overcome by feelings of fear and loneliness, until he is met by the spirit of Virgil, the Roman poet and author of the Aeneid .  Virgil was sent by Beatrice, Dante's deceased childhood sweetheart, to come to his aid and help him back into the way of light and salvation.  The way back, however, starts as a downward descent into and through the nine circles of Inferno.  The journey becomes a test to Dante's courage as he, led on by Virgil, faces the cries, tortures, and apparitions of sufferers in Hell, some of whom he recognizes.

Traditional setting of the Christmas Eve table in Poland by Przykuta [ GFDL , CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY-SA 2.5 ], from Wikimedia Commons What was life like for the Polish immigrants in Pe Ell, Washington, one hundred years ago? As told in the words of their descendants today, this book preserves their experiences; their joys, their sorrows, and their struggles to make a better life for themselves and their families as they assimilated into a new country and became Americans. I stumbled across this book at the thrift store this past summer: Pe Ell's Polish Pioneers by Leo E. Kowalski.  It seemed really obscure but I decided to give it a try.  Lately I've been hankering to learn more about local history, beyond Lewis & Clark and Captain Cook (though their stories still excite me), and I've been interested in Polish history since encountering pieces of it in college courses.  The lesser known episodes of history are my favorite, so I thought I might like t...

This week, I revisit Rudyard Kipling and his famous feral child Mowgli.  The Jungle Book is one of my favorite Disney stories, but I did not like the book as a child.  How does it read now that I'm older?  (And when is that new movie coming out?!) Sources / Further reading: My Boy Jack (2007) - Biopic "The White Man's Burden" - Kipling's poem "The Black Man's Burden" - H. T. Johnson's response Mowgli (2019) - Trailer

Like many famous characters, Mowgli makes his debut in a different time frame than we are accustomed to seeing him.  "In the Rukh" shows the feral child now grown to be a young man, having some of the same traits as young Mowgli - his distrust of settlements, for one - in addition to a self-confidence and refinement of skill which awe the locals to the point of superstition.  Gisborne, an English ranger, is fascinated by his new acquaintance and is intent on hiring Mowgli on to be his assistant in managing the forest. It's been so long since I read The Jungle Book proper, I wasn't sure what to expect in this short story.  Overall, I found it interesting, yet underdeveloped.  It could be that, being so used to the character of Mowgli as a child, I struggled to accept him as a grown-up man, and what might have made a good sequel instead poses The Jungle Book as a superior prequel (a working hypothesis; I have started rereading it and am enjoying it more, so far)...

Tender Is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald - (no rating) Biggest disappointment of the year so far; did not finish. The Atlas of Beauty - Mihaela Noroc - 3 stars An interesting library book.  Somewhat repetitive; would've  preferred less social-political commentary. Embers - Sándor Márai - 4 stars Surprisingly great!  European history buffs will appreciate  this ruminating novel.  Full review here . Poetry of the First World War - ed. Marcus Clapham - 3 stars Not an easy or pretty read, but a sobering one.  More thoughts here . Moonflower - Jade Nicole Beals - 4 stars   Poems of peace and introspection; this was a refreshing read. Anthem - Ayn Rand - 2 stars Great concept, so-so execution.  Full review here . Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote - 1 star Writing style on point, story not my cuppa.  More thoughts here . This has not been the month for in-depth, written reviews, and I'm feeling a bit sheepish about that.  Work ha...

Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.  Through much of the first half of Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince , I did not understand the reason so much malevolence is associated with the author's name.  The first seventeen chapters come across as a detailed guide or manual to being a successful ruler.  Machiavelli initially comes across as pretty fair-minded for his time; he gives examples of successful princes, discusses soldiering much in the vein of Sun Tzu (he would later write his own The Art of War ), and even...

A very happy new year to you all!  I can hardly believe it's 2018 already.  The number just sounds so... futuristic . Speaking of which, my first review for the year goes back 111 years in order to go forward to about the present day, with John Hugh Benson's futuristic-dystopian novel, Lord of the World .  I feel a little awkward for starting with such a depressing book, but it was one of my recent 2017 reads, so it's high time to review it. The story follows a young, 21st-century Catholic priest, Percy Franklin, who struggles to remain upright amid a volatile scene of political, religious, and social changes.  Through a series of unusual events, Franklin comes into contact with a prominent MP, Oliver Brand; Oliver's wife, Mabel; and Oliver's mother, who wants to return to her faith, against her son and society's wishes.  Things come to a crisis when a mysterious American, Julian Felsenburgh, arrives in London.  His twin-like resemblance to Franklin puzzles...

C. S. Lewis's space trilogy has been on my reading list forever .  Well, at least since I joined Goodreads, which was 2012.  This year I've finally read it, and I posted a podcast review of the first two books over on Classics Considered .  Check it out and let me know what you think!

In my Mount TBR 2016 Recap , I mentioned how much I loved the original Nutcracker and Mouse King , which left me wanting to read more by E. T. A. Hoffmann.  I was excited to find this little collection of some of his other stories waiting under the Christmas tree: The Golden Pot and Other Tales . How can I describe Hoffmann?  His writing - his bizarre, funny, gruesome, sometimes tedious writing - precedes Lewis Carroll in many ways.  Hoffmann likes to bewilder his characters, make them question who they are, and encounter all manner of strange people and anthropomorphic animals.  He has an idea and runs with it wholeheartedly.  In a general sense (and in contrast to Carroll), I would say Hoffmann's stories are fascinating more than they are likeable. My favorite was the first one, "The Golden Pot" (5 stars) .  Anselmus is a young, fanciful calligraphist who gets a job as copyist for a mysterious man, Lindhorst the Archivist.  Lindhorst's beautiful, yet...

Since watching Lawrence of Arabia last year, I've been actively seeking books written by or related to T. E. Lawrence .  The Forest Giant , by Adrien Le Corbeau , is one of the more obscure books. Coast Redwood by Allie_Caulfield [ CC BY 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons Lawrence, for the most part, withdrew from politics after the disappointing Paris Peace Conference.  However, he continued to write books and critique literature - writing was one of the few pieces of his past life that he actually still valued.  His French-to-English translation of a book called Le Gigantesque was published in 1924, and along with Homer's The Odyssey , it is one of the few of his written works that are non-autobiographical. I seem to recall The Forest Giant has been referred to as a "novel," but it is really a philosophical ramble.  The "giant" referred to is the California redwood, and Corbeau explains his thoughts and questions through the journey of the tree's life.  ...

I'm afraid Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Tragedy of the Korosko checks most of the bad boxes on the mainstream reader's list; to name a few: exoticism, imperialism, stereotypical females, and racist language.  I had high hopes, based on some reviews I'd read, but even accounting for the mindset of the times wasn't enough to give it more than 3 out of 5 stars on my scale. Doyle covered a pretty vast range of subjects apart from Sherlock Holmes.  Some of his other topics include medieval knights ( The White Company ), Napoleonic soldiers ( Brigadier Gerard ), Huguenot emigrants ( The Refugees ), and contemporary horror ( Round the Red Lamp , The Captain of the Polestar , etc).  I'd recommend any of those, even if some are dated, simply because they transcend their "datedness" and are good stories even today. I guess that's why Korosko was disappointing - I expected more from Doyle, yet I was under the aching suspicion all the way through that he was...