Alban Krailsheimer once wrote that Christianity was oddly missing as a subject in Victor Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris (aka, The Hunchback of Notre Dame). And I agree: that novel can seem like a merely secular story about a Christian cathedral. Les Misérables, by contrast, opens immediately with Christianity as a subject: its entire first … Continue reading Les Misérables – atheism and faith
My son recently read a kids' edition of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine," and our house has been busy with this story in various forms. I read the novel some 15 years ago and it remains a favorite. I've also seen both of the major adaptations, from 1960 and 2002, and my son and I … Continue reading The Time Machine
The following things about Louisa May Alcott's “Little Women” have surprised me: it’s a very Christian work; it’s ridiculously funny; and tremendously erudite. The movies of “Little Women” that I’ve seen don’t give a sense of the following things: it’s a very Christian work; it’s ridiculously funny; and tremendously erudite. (To be more precise, it’s … Continue reading Little Women
I knew nothing about this story going in. I thought it was going to be some sober, artsy-fartsy thing. It’s actually filled with sex, much of it surprisingly explicit and even erotic. The sex is painted real, meaning it’s only occasionally a joyful thing and more often: sad, boring, painful, calculating, stolen, paid for, animalistic … Continue reading The Last Picture Show
The first half of this book, covering Laura’s first teaching assignment, is just about the best sustained writing I’ve found in the all the Little House books: it has unity, not just episodes. The second half loses this unity but overall it remains a great book, one of my favorites of the series. It seems … Continue reading These Happy Golden Years
This book is filled with wonderful episodes and, in my opinion, the best writing this late in the Little House series. Mary going blind, and the death of Jack, are well-known episodes; I had read them last year without continuing in the book, and their simple power holds you on second reading. Continuing into the … Continue reading By the Shores of Silver Lake
Kim and Penn Holderness have had us laughing all throughout quarantine, and God bless them. If you know their videos, you know that their first book just came out: "Everybody Fights: So Why Not Get Better At It?" I enjoyed it from start to finish, just gobbled it up. It starts off like a conventional … Continue reading Everybody Fights
A few years after finishing “Anna Karenina,” Tolstoy sank into a spiritual funk or crisis that resulted in his work, “A Confession.” In the latter work, he shares the following recollection from his formative years: The kind aunt with whom I lived, herself the purest of beings, always told me that there was nothing she … Continue reading Anna Karenina – Parts 1 and 2 (of 8)
I've finished Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations." Daily Stoic has a terrific review (see end of post) which is a meditation, in its own right, on what this Roman Emperor jotted down in notes that were never intended to be seen by anyone other than himself. Reading the private thoughts of an actual Emperor of Rome is … Continue reading Meditations
December 15, 2020 I'm reading this now for the first time. What stands out most for me may be the swiftly changing Spirit of Christmas Past. It's like an anomaly-entity from modern sci-fi, but soft-voiced and ominous like the representation of Satan in The Last Temptation of Christ movie. (Overly Sarcastic Productions was reminded of … Continue reading A Christmas Carol
