Sola Christus

Books Read in 2011

This is a little later than past years, but here are the books I read in 2011, all 26 of them.

Some of the early reads seem like so long ago. Years ago. A lot of things have happened this year. I've lost some and found some. I've closed the chapter on some things, and turned the pages to reveal new chapters. So, here is the account of my words in 2011 (in chronological order).

1. I Sold my Soul on Ebay by: Hemant Mehta (spiritual memoir, nonfiction)

This was an interesting read, if at times a bit gimmicky. It's an aitheist's report on Christian churches.

2. The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis (young adult, fantasy)

I had intended to re-read the Chronicles this year, but it just didn't happen.

3. Children of Men by PD James (dystopian fiction)

This was a fascinating book. PD imagines a world where women can no longer have children. Interestingly, there's lots of sacramental imagery in this book that was quite beautiful and moving.

4. Peter Pan by JM Barrie (not really young adult, fiction, fantasy)

Much darker than Disney's tinker-belled version, this book is an interesting, short read nonetheless.

5. The Great Divorce by CS Lewis (spiritual biograph/fantasy/fiction, all at once)

One of my favorites by Jack, I found this one just as life-changing as when I first read it.

6. Churched, One Kid's Journey Towards God, Despite a Holy Mess by Matthew Paul Turner (spiritual memoir)

An interesting account of a man's journey out of fundamentalism. My year was marked with lots of thinking about this topic and reflecting on my own roots and baggage from fundie land.

7. Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? by Neil Gaiman (comic, fantasy)

I finally broke down and bought this from Forbidden Planet. I read it twice this year (so I am counting it twice), and wrote an article on it, for the Transpositions blog.

8. The Town Below the Ground: Edinburgh's Legendary Underground by Jan-Andrew Henderson (history)

I love Edinburgh. It is one of my favorite cites, and due to its unusual building history, it has lots of underground secrets. This little book tells some of them. Not the most well-written, but quite conversational.

9. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer (fantasy, young adult)

I was reading this in anticipation of the movie. I had only read it twice before (as opposed to the others), but in the end, I didn't have any money to see the movie in the cinema. DVD it is then. This was, I think, my last time for Meyer's world of Cullens. I'm kind of tired of them.

10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by Rowling (fantasy)

I re-read the series in anticipation of the last film installment.

11. Momo by Michael Ende (fantasy, young adult)

This was a book club selection, and I found it a bit pedantic and unrealistic. Boring even. I wouldn't reccomend it.

12. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (fiction)

This book was suggested by my fiancé. An amazing and beautiful book, this epistolary novel is simplay breath-taking.

13. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by Rowling

14. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by Rowling

15. Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie fox and the Rise of Spiritualism by Barabra Weisberg (spiritual memoir, history)

I had higher hopes for this book. In the end it just dragged and was not as interesting as Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death by Deborah Blum, that I read a few years ago.

16. Saints at the River by Ron Rash (Southern fiction)

Rash has an amazing talent for depicting the area he is writing about. This novel is about the little corner of South Carolina where I grew up, near the foot of the mountain range.

17. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by Rowling (fiction)

18. The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenger (fiction, fantasy, comic)

Yes, you see that right. This is a graphic novel by the author of The Time Traveler's Wife. Interesting, but a bit disturbing as it seems to praise suicide.

19. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by Rowling

I think this is my favorite Harry Potter book.

20. The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia by Philip Sidney (prose)

A complicated proto-novel with lovers and connections worthy of any soap opera

21. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (not young adult, fiction)

This is another one I read with my fiancé, It was a favorite from when I read it as a young teen.

22. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (fiction)

I read this one a second time, and suggested it to my fiancé for our bookclub. A hard, but moving read.

23. A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsyth Haley (fiction)

An epistolary novel, that's interesting at first, but then drags on and on. The main character at first seems sympathetic, but then, by the end, she turns out to be a conniving and manipulating woman.

24. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by Rowling

25. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Rowling

Now, for the 2012's reading. . . .

 

 

Cheers, Jack!

Happy birthday to you, who are now under Aslan's mane. Let's have a pint when I get there.

(On a recent road trip with my fiancé, we turned the corner and found this Golden Valley. I post it here in Jack's honor.)

Booklove

Looking for a present to get your English PhD pursuing friend with a name that begins with K and ends with e and she happens to have a blog named "Sola Christus"? She would be willing to thank you with amazing fried chicken, or sinfully decadent brownies, or Southern pecan pie....

This book is precisely what should get:

 

Makoto Fujimura - The Art of "The Four Holy Gospels" from Crossway on Vimeo.

All this

Through a friend's recommendation, I discovered a new writer last year, Rainer Maria Rilke. The first two lines of this poem describe precisely how I have felt this week. I love this poem and all its intense complexity. Maybe you will to. 

 

The Grownup
All this stood upon her and was the world
and stood upon her with all its fear and grace
as trees stand, growing straight up, imageless
yet wholly image, like the Ark of God,
and solemn, as if imposed upon a race.

As she endured it all: bore up under
the swift-as-flight, the fleeting, the far-gone,
the inconceivably vast, the still-to-learn,
serenely as a woman carrying water
moves with a full jug. Till in the midst of play,
transfiguring and preparing for the future,
the first white veil descended, gliding softly

over her opened face, almost opaque there,
never to be lifted off again, and somehow
giving to all her questions just one answer:
In you, who were a child once-in you.

Why I do what I do

For moments like today when I was reading 16th century poetry through a jet-lagged, caffeine clouded haze and I stumble upon this lovely phrasing that feels like a beam of sunlight breaking through the haar.

 

"I shall," quoth I, "against myself confess

Unto thee, Lord, all my sinful plight:"       

And thou forthwith didst wash the wickedness

Of mine offence. Of truth right thus it is,

Wherefore they, that have tasted thy goodness,

At me shall take example as of this,

And pray, and seek in time for time of grace.      

Then shall the storms and floods of harm him miss,

And him to reach shall never have the space.

Thou art my refuge, and only safeguard

From the troubles that compass me the place.

 

 

~ lines 254-264 from Sir Thomas Wyatt's Paraphrase of the Penitential Psalms

 

Books to Start a Decade

At the end of every year, I look back over my list, recounting the pages I turned in the previous year.

This is the fifth year I have posted my reading selections on my blog. Traditions can be good things; the are an anchor set down in the stream of life that allow a person to hook memories to it, to come back to it again and again, marking the changes in life. Books are an integral part of my life, like my family, they have always been a presence in my life. I don't remember a time before them, and I hope I will never outlast them.

Sometimes the reading choices I make are a reflection of what I am feeling, but often it is a way that I experience a different life. Sometimes that life is better and makes me feel the holes in my own life more deeply. Other times the different lives make me thankful for my own. 

My goal for this year was 50 books. I didn't quite make it.

Here are the choices I picked to start off the decade:

Burning to Read: English Fundamentalism and its Reformation Opponents by: James Simpson (PhD)

Cloud Atlas by: David Mitchell

Renaissance Self-Fashioning from More to Shakespeare by: Stephen Greenblatt (PhD)

American Gods by: Neil Gaiman

Letters to a Young Poet by: Rainer Rilke

The Devil's Charter by: Barnaby Barnes

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by: Rick Riordan

Fires of Faith: Catholic England Under Mary Tudor by: Eamon Duffy (PhD)

Prison Meditations on Psalm 51 and 31 by: Girolamo Savonarola (PhD)

The Sparrow by: Maria Doria Russell (bookclub)

Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe by: Brad Gregory (PhD)

Sacred Hearts by: Sarah Dunant

The Sandman, vol. 1 by: Neil Gaiman

Neverwhere by: Neil Gaiman

Go Tell it on the Mountain by: James Baldwin (bookclub)

Art of Death: Visual Culture in the English Death Ritual c.1500 - c.1800 by: Nigel Llewellyn (PhD)

1602 by: Neil Gaiman

To The Lighthouse by: Virginia Woolf (bookclub)

Dissolution by: CJ Sansom

The Traveler by: John Twelve Hawks

A Pithie and Pleasant Comodie of the Three Ladies of London by: Robert Wilson

Hamlet by: William Shakespeare

The Mummy by: Anne Rice

Eclipse by: Stephanie Meyer

Midnight Sun by: Stephanie Meyer

The Sea of Monsters by: Rick Riordan

The Titan's Curse by: Rick Riordan

The Battle of the Labyrinth by: Rick Riordan

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by: Barrows and Shaffer

The Last Olympian by: Rick Riordan

Neverwhere by: Neil Gaiman (yes, twice)

The Red Pyramid by: Rick Riordan

The Sherwood Ring by: Elizabeth Pope

The Hunger Games by: Suzanne Collins

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by: Rhoda James

The Lost Hero by: Rick Riordan

Closet Devotions by: Richard Rambuss (PhD)

Catching Fire by: Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by: Suzanne Collins

The Help by: Kathryn Stockett

 

Often I find that at the end of the year I have read quite a few books by a certain author. This year their were two main ones: Neil Gaiman and Rick Riordan. I even read one Gaiman book twice. I just couldn't wait any longer. This was the first year since I have been keeping track that I did not read a book by CS Lewis; however, I am already making up for this by starting the Chronicles again.

My recommended books all have something in common this year: characters that stick with you. These are the characters that you will find yourself thinking about in the shower. You'll be driving to work, and one of the characters will run through your head, and you'll will wonder, what are they going to do next? These are the characters that will make you re-read the book and make you terribly sorry to turn that last page.

Books that belong on your "To Read" list:

1. Neverwhere

A fantasy epic that criss-crosses in and out of London Above and London Below. London Below is full of mythical creatures, historical ripples and an epic adventure. One reviewer called this "the Punk Fairy Queen." Characters you will miss: Door and Richard Mayhew.

2. The Sparrow

Life is discovered on a far away planet and while the governments of earth argue about explorations, the Vatican sends the first outer space missionaries. This is a difficult book to read, but very, very worth it. You will find yourself remembering Emilio for months after.

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

An epistolary novel about the British Island, occupied by the Germans. You will follow Juliet as she meets other characters you won't want to say goodbye to. This books is the perfect novel for a dreary and sad weekend. I picked it up after a disappointing experience and Dawsey made my life a brighter place.

4. The Hunger Games

A dystopian novel about a far flung future America where there is no United States and reality shows have taken a sinister, though realistic turn. You'll find yourself in Katniss but you will want to be like Peeta.

5. The Help

1960's Mississippi where the pavement sizzles and white women's smiles can be deadly. Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter walked through the last days of 2010 in my mind, and they won't leave it soon. This book brought tears and laughter. It helped me to see just how strong and brave humans can be and just how destructive and petty we so often are. Read this, you won't be sorry.

 

Books I wish I had skipped:

1. The Mummy

I am really not even sure now why I kept reading. It must have been the heat of the DC sun.

2. Sacred Hearts

A bit too predictable with flat characters and too long.

 

Here's to many more books in 2011.

 

Getting them to read....

I don't have kids, but I have kids in my life that I love: friends' kids, a godson, neices and nephews. And I love my neices and the other little girls that are in my life, but little boys always have my heart. I love the way they get dirty and don't mind. I love looking at bugs with them. I love the sound effects they seem to be born with. I love overalls, and flannel shirts. I love red wagons, GI Joes, and shooting aliens around the corner. An afternoon spent hunting "bad guys" and drawing war plans is a wonderful afternoon.

I confess: I love little boys.

When I was teaching full-time at a university, I often got male students from the various sports teams. It concerned me that so many of them, mostly football players, seemed to struggle with basic skills like reading comprehension. I would contentiously try to involve these students more in class, and try to appeal to their strengths: kinestetic learning and allowing them to pick paper topics. I found it diheartening and sad that many of these students had been left behind merely because they were boys. One football player told me "Why didn't they ever teach me how fun this writing thing could be?" I sadly confessed that I didn't know, but I knew that one of the reasons this student didn't know how to write was because he didn't read as much as he should.

Now that more women are in college then men, and boys are reading less and less, it is time that parents (and godparents) start focusing on how to get little boys reading so that they can succeed.

Some try to get them to read anything, but this article argues that reading just anything isn't the way to succeed. He points to the ramifications of young readers' choices.

One obvious problem with the SweetFarts philosophy of education is that it is more suited to producing a generation of barbarians and morons than to raising the sort of men who make good husbands, fathers and professionals. If you keep meeting a boy where he is, he doesn't go very far.

Read the article; it even has a quote from someone who was probably a splendid little boy, C. S. Lewis.

Celebrate your right

...to read!

This week is Banned Books Week created to celebrate the First Ammendement. You have probably already read some of the banned books, but my pick for this week (if I had my books in storage) would be To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Happy Reading!

A library on wheels

Listen or read this wonderful article about a writer's love of reading, born out of a bookmobile.

An excerpt:

"When I feel the summer heat steaming from the pavement, my childhood memories of the bookmobile provide a cooling sensation to my spirit. This feeling came back last summer on a visit to Chicago when I happened upon a parade of bookmobiles of various ages. There it was: an old Ford grille with big, round headlights that was a dead ringer for the bookmobile that stopped at my house as a child"

Familiar words

On Tuesday I requested access to the 1540 Great Bible, the first authorized version of the English Bible. The 1540 copy was the second printing, and I was transcribing a passage from it for my dissertation. I had  worked earlier with a microfilm copy, which was very hard to read.  The actual copy of the Bible is quite large and heavy, but much easier to read than the microfilm version. I examined it closely, looking for marginalia and illustrations. Quite a few Early Modern books would use illustrations as a part of the paratext, not just to communicate to the unlearned, which is the way our culture tends to view them.

But, beyond the academic thrill of holding and examining this copy, for an unlimited period of time, was the spiritual connection that comes with holding and reading something that so many other people have read, loved and die for.

So, I decided to look at one of my favorite passages in the Bible, the end of Revelation. Here is the way the verses read:

The xxi Chapter

And I herde a greate voyce out of heaven, sayinge: beholde, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he wyll dwell wyth them. And they shall be hys people, And God hym selfe shal be wyth them, and be theyr God.

And he that sate upo the seate sayde: Beholde, I make all thynges newe.

And I sawe no temple therein. For the Lorde God almighty and the lambe are the temple of it. And the cytie hath no nede of ye sonne, nether of ye mone to lighten it. For the brightnes of God dyd lyght it, and the lambe was the lyght of it.

The xxii Chapter

And ther shal be no more cursee, but the seate of God and the lambe shal be in it and hys servaunts shall serve hym. And they shal se hys face, and hys name shal be in their forheddes. And there shall be no nyght ther & they nede no candle nether light of the sunne: for the Lorde God geveth the lyght, and they shall raygne for ever more.