novels, comets, movies
Huck Finn's dilemma: send his friend Jim back to slavery as he has been taught he must do, or go against his church's teaching by helping Jim to escape, and then go to eternal hell as punishment I've started reading David Bentley Hart's "That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell and Universal Salvation." It is … Continue reading That All Shall Be Saved
My son recently told me that Napoleon -- you know, France's short Emperor -- was "poggers." Now, definitions may be in order for those who, unlike my son, are not avid video gamers. Poggers: Originating from an emote on the streaming platform Twitch, poggers or pog is an Internet slang term used to express enthusiasm, … Continue reading Napoleon was poggers, says Le Miz
Only hours after the death of Mikhail Gorbachev yesterday, I came up to these lines in "Les Misérables": Although aware of the corrosive power of the light on privileges, he left his throne exposed to the light. History will recognize him for this honesty. (translation by Christine Donougher) Victor Hugo is referring to Louis Philippe … Continue reading Les Misérables – Mikhail Gorbachev
Back in 2009 Dominic Lieven wrote a book, "Russia Against Napoleon", that challenged Leo Tolstoy's view of history as expressed in "War and Peace." I read it recently and it's excellent, heavy on military analysis but brimming with other kinds of insights as well. The subtitle, "The True Story of the Campaigns of War and … Continue reading Russia Against Napoleon
This is a first-rate work of history due to the book’s annotations and Wilder’s nonfiction voice. The editor, Pamela Smith Hill, highlights the process of turning nonfiction into fiction. There is also analysis of the relationship between memories and writing. Wilder was something of a stickler for accuracy, especially in comparison with her daughter-and-editor, Rose … Continue reading Pioneer Girl
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
I recently read a book that was a delight for me, a lifelong fan of a certain bit of punctuation. It covers a lot of territory, efficiently: the origins of the semicolon; historical debates about the "rules" of grammar and whether such rules even make sense; snobbery in punctuation, and snobbery in general; the critical … Continue reading Semicolon
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
February 1, 2021 Reading “Koheleth” and Tolstoy's “Confession” back-to-back lifts both works for me. Both works struggle with the fact that death is coming for everyone. Both observe constantly how the good and the wicked have random rewards in this life; both hang on to the idea of knowledge/wisdom while questioning both its extent and … Continue reading Koheleth and Tolstoy
January 17, 2021 Raphael Warnock's "Divided Mind of the Black Church" (2013) has a title that may sell the book short. This is a book about the black church, but it is a fine meditation on the meaning of Christianity, the role of the cross in any church, the role of a church in any … Continue reading The Divided Mind of the Black Church