Earlier this year I read John Steinbeck's "East of Eden," so I was very motivated to read his earlier classic, "The Grapes of Wrath." I've finished it now, and I hardly know how to say what a great novel it is, or what to say that has not already been said. I did see the … Continue reading The Grapes of Wrath
John 20:17 -- Jesus said to [Mary Magdalene], "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Ecclesiastes 3:1, 5 -- To every thing there is a … Continue reading Happy Easter
In a previous post I shared what it was like to read David Ferry's version of the Epic of Gilgamesh twenty years ago. I've just read Stephen Mitchell's version, from 2004. Both versions render the Epic as English free verse. They're similar in that sense: they're English poems that read like complete stories, meaning they … Continue reading Gilgamesh, Smaug and Krishna
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
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 31, 2021 I keep running back into "War and Peace", in my re-read of Reinhold Niebuhr's "Moral Man and Immoral Society". This is from chapter 1: The growing intelligence of mankind and the increased responsibility of monarchs to their people have placed a check upon the caprice, but not upon the self-interest, of the … Continue reading Niebuhr and Tolstoy
