tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19938567816489607472024-03-13T13:24:06.685-07:00Catholic BibliophagistThe adventures of a Catholic reader with a catholic library.Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-23134780705958368642013-03-31T06:53:00.002-07:002013-03-31T06:53:47.797-07:00Easter Encore<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"><i>Here is a repost from 2011. </i></span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">Cheer up, friends and neighbors,</span></h3>
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Now it's Eastertide.</div>
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Stop from endless labours,</div>
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Worries put aside:</div>
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Men should rise from sadness,</div>
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Evil, folly, strife,</div>
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When God's mighty gladness</div>
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Brings the earth to life.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Out from snow drifts chilly,</div>
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Roused from drowsy hours,</div>
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Bluebell wakes, and lily:</div>
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God calls up the flowers!</div>
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Into life he raises</div>
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All the sleeping buds;</div>
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Meadows weave his praises,</div>
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And the spangled woods.</div>
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<br /></div>
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All his truth and beauty,</div>
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All his righteousness,</div>
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Are our joy and duty,</div>
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Bearing his impress:</div>
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Look! the earth waits breathless</div>
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After winter's strife:</div>
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Easter shows man deathless,</div>
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Spring leads death to life.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Ours the more and less is;</div>
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But changeless all the days,</div>
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God revives and blesses,</div>
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Like the sunlight rays.</div>
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'All mankind is risen,'</div>
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The Easter bells do ring,</div>
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While from out their prison</div>
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Creep the flowers of spring!</div>
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<br /></div>
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--#147 from the <i>Oxford Book of Carols</i></div>
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This particular song took the children's fancy when they were quite small. They dug it out of the Oxford Book of Carols and, being unable to read music, sang it to the tune of a Christmas carol. In the last line of the second verse, in order to preserve the rhyme, they used to pronounce "splangled wood" as "spangléd wud," a usage which passed into family vocabulary. Fillius gave me a rousing rendition of it as we drove home from Mass this morning, bringing a nostalgic tear to his mother's eye.</div>
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<i>2013 Update: Fillius came caroling down the stairs this morning lifting my heart which had been rather low last night: lo, the power of words, music, and memory. </i></div>
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<i>A blessed Easter to one and all!</i></div>
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Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-70642020058883108952012-01-24T00:59:00.000-08:002012-01-24T00:59:26.223-08:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTq4roAL6hJKYhliwVcBEqBw4wxRfhuDnxBJfkQWUgHoy4FO0X34Yxopz8vkOgg_sVc6PGfIOH5wiotMMjcvw2xtoRnQW9rCueUM-QazPUHHhTuzbZZlkszZX3wPSj_t1k152BtbOoffg/s1600/cover.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTq4roAL6hJKYhliwVcBEqBw4wxRfhuDnxBJfkQWUgHoy4FO0X34Yxopz8vkOgg_sVc6PGfIOH5wiotMMjcvw2xtoRnQW9rCueUM-QazPUHHhTuzbZZlkszZX3wPSj_t1k152BtbOoffg/s320/cover.gif" width="243" /></a><br />
"Katy was naturally fond of reading. Papa encouraged it, He kept a few books locked up, and then turned her loose in the Library. She read all sorts of things: travels, and sermons, and old magazines. Nothing was so dull that she couldn't get through with it. Anything really interesting absorbed her so that she never knew what was going on about her. The little girls to whose houses she went visiting had found this out, and always hid away their story-books when she was expected to tea. If they didn't do this, she was sure to pick one up and plunge in, and then it was no use to call her, or tug at her dress, for she neither saw nor heard anything more, till it was time to go home."<br />
<br />
--<i>What Katy Did</i> by Susan Coolidge, 1872.<br />
<br />
I always enjoy meeting kindred spirits, even when it's only between the pages of a book.Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-12021699268075573172011-08-22T04:13:00.001-07:002011-08-22T04:30:32.287-07:00A Really Weird Summer<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI1lrzHrMBefOFIds0kRC3oLJqMkUYazO1FtyFrdYas4iXeGo02Bwbs7aPft8q6EVL8CUvv-PpE4KRmdiF8lGrStP3UaGjehfc-awdpVVOSZrFPSG7aR2FgMwMJ7y1W35QopFMbb4ZLFw/s1600/51TOzRYeYqL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI1lrzHrMBefOFIds0kRC3oLJqMkUYazO1FtyFrdYas4iXeGo02Bwbs7aPft8q6EVL8CUvv-PpE4KRmdiF8lGrStP3UaGjehfc-awdpVVOSZrFPSG7aR2FgMwMJ7y1W35QopFMbb4ZLFw/s200/51TOzRYeYqL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643639654462668066" /></a><div><i>A Really Weird Summer</i> by Eloise Jarvis McGraw</div><div>
<br /></div><div>I found this book on the "For Sale" rack at the public library, and I snatched it up because I've loved every other book by this author which I've ever read. </div><div>
<br />It's a story about four siblings who have been sent to spend the summer with a great aunt and uncle while their parents are working out the details of their divorce. All of the kids are miserable at being removed from their home, friends, and neighborhood. And they are sooo bored. And then certain elements creep into the story which seem to indicate that this will either be a fantasy or a book with supernatural bits. But alas! It all turns out to be merely psychological. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>The eldest, Nels, is coping with the pressures of having to parent the younger children while himself grieving over his parents' abandonment. And he's secretly worrying about where and with whom they'll all be living after the summer ends. Unbenownst to his siblings, their father has privately proposed that Nels go to live with him in Alaska after the divorce. Nels doesn't know what he wants to do, and as the summer progresses, withdraws further and further from his brothers and sister. Then he discovers a wonderful secret and a perfect friend. Or has he?</div><div>
<br /></div><div>I think the book would have been much improved if it had been more ambiguous about whether Nels' adventures with Alan had really taken place. But to be baldly informed at the very end that it was "all in his head" was deeply disappointing and far too didactic for my taste.</div><div>
<br />And I was kind of repulsed by the book's "lesson" which was that kids must stick together because adults cannot be depended on for anything. Family identity has shrunk to include kids only. As Nels tells his younger brother on the last page, "All us kids have to to <em>stay together</em>, that's the big thing. We've got to <em>promise</em> each other. If we stick together, then whatever happens outside -- whatever the grown-ups do -- it won't matter so much D'you see? We'll still be us<em>."</em></div><em><div>
<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Perhaps this was not a surprising conclusion for the children to have come to since their parents had shuttled them off to spend their summer in a holding pattern. (And by the way, I wondered why the children had to be sent away just because their mother was now working. Nels was 12, an age at which I was already looking after my siblings, and their mother had planned that during the school year he'd take care of the other children after they got home from school. So why couldn't they have spent the summer in the security of their own home? I'm sure there were latch-key children back in 1977. I felt that the whole dislocation thing was just a clumsy device by the author to set her characters up for the particular psychological response she had in mind.</span></div><div>
<br /></div></em>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-84722967968609561662011-05-14T13:52:00.000-07:002011-05-24T15:11:16.624-07:00May-Every-Day: UpdateI'm not doing very well at meeting my self-imposed challenge to blog every day during the month of May. Part of the blame may be attributed to Blogger which has been doing Weird Things to its clientele. And now my modem is malfunctioning. Verizon says that the modem is communicating with <i>them</i> but ignoring my computer. They promised to ship me a new modem, but in the meantime I no longer have Internet access at home. <div><br /></div><div>Yesterday I dragged my laptop to the public library so that I could use their free Wi-Fi to read my backlog of email. Today I brought my computer to Borders (while Fillius spends his gift card) in hopes that I could do a little blogging. </div><div><br /></div><div>Administrative Details: Since I'm dating my posts as if they were written consecutively, this one is dated May 14th even though it's actually May 24th. And my daily blog posts are split between my two blogs, this one and <a href="http://quiltingbibliophagist.blogspot.com/">Quilting Bibliophagist</a>. </div><div><br /></div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-60278675134402701662011-05-13T22:45:00.000-07:002011-05-18T23:24:54.455-07:00Friday Frivolity: The Self Arranging BookshelfI was thumbing through Sunset Magazine the other day during my break at work when I saw something that caused me to squawk in dismay. It was an artsy home decorating article featuring clever storage ideas. I love that sort of thing -- especially when it involves bookshelves. But what raised my ire was the author's suggestion that the client arrange his books by color. How could you find anything with that sort of system? I may not have a degree in library science, but I must have a librarian's soul as evidenced by the fact that in our home library the fiction is arranged by author and title and the nonfiction is arranged by subject. (I have not, however, gone to the lengths of marking their spines with Dewey decimal numbers.)<div><br /></div><div>Nevertheless, I did enjoy this whimsical video featuring a self-arranging bookshelf in which the books sort themselves by color.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/F4eVmH_9C-0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-42625084399189191872011-05-11T07:14:00.000-07:002011-05-18T00:54:55.023-07:00For Where Your Treasure Is . . .<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk_av94vvyIk1d9v21FjATS-EW0GBe-ONVVMe11rfqBAu7-deP-LvH6iOdeZqdvxILVd7q6iNhXOP7Q5bbhCEVIkc7ZH1OKgTRWEqu0C-mJuYUlEH7BvkjQHsf0JUkqOUNcYtEa8NisFM/s1600/637px-Quentin_Massys_001.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 301px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk_av94vvyIk1d9v21FjATS-EW0GBe-ONVVMe11rfqBAu7-deP-LvH6iOdeZqdvxILVd7q6iNhXOP7Q5bbhCEVIkc7ZH1OKgTRWEqu0C-mJuYUlEH7BvkjQHsf0JUkqOUNcYtEa8NisFM/s320/637px-Quentin_Massys_001.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5607928434816786242" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">'"Wicked people never have time for reading,' Dewey said. 'It's one of the reasons for their wickedness.'" --</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Penultimate Peril </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">by Lemony Snicket.</span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">However much we biblio-geeks might like to think so, people who do not read are not actually wicked. Yet I can't help being charmed by the above quote even though I hold it to be untrue. I think it must have something to do with the all too human tendency to divide the world into "us" vs. "them," whether it's sorcerers vs. muggles, fans vs. mundanes, or readers vs. nonreaders. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Still, people who don't care much for reading never </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">do</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> seem to have time for it. And those of us who </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">do</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> love reading seem to have no trouble squeezing it in. As I often tell my mom, when she marvels at the amount of time I spend reading or quilting, "We all make time for what we love." (Personally, I marvel at how much time she spends working in her garden and sweeping her patio.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So here's a question for those of you who did </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">not</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> grow up in a family of readers: </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Do you feel that your ability to enjoy reading, or just the fact that you spent so much time doing it, was prized or looked down upon by your family?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I'll go first:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">When we were young, my brother and I were the only readers in our extended family. And although there was a general feeling that children ought to be outdoors doing something healthy, such as getting hit on the head with volley balls, there was still a grudging admiration for our ability to spend our free time doing something that everyone else perceived as a chore to be done only under duress. As for our immediate family, I think that our love of reading, a love that was not shared by our siblings, was prized because my non-reading parents had a high regard for education. And the fact that I could read quickly was also seen as evidence of a high intelligence, an assumption which was probably responsible for my having had such a good opinion of myself when I was young. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I think that I was also fortunate in that my parents practiced a benign neglect when it came to supervising my reading material. My mother didn't feel qualified to do so, and both parents had the perhaps naive belief that only good books would be found in our public or school libraries. (And perhaps in the '50s that was not far from true.)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So although I was aware of the negative stereotype that readers had in the culture at large, in my family at least I was more than merely tolerated. I may have been an oddity, but I was </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">their</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> oddity, and they were proud of me though probably glad that they themselves were "normal." </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">On my part, I don't think I looked down on non-readers, but I'm afraid I did feel a tiny bit superior to them -- at least in the sense of being glad I wasn't one of them. To the classmate who announced, as we stood in line for a mandetory pep rally, that there was more to life than books, I replied, "There's more to life </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">with</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> books!" And therein, I think, lies the source of my sneaking sympathy with the quote from Lemony Snicket. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"></span>It's so easy to slip into a sense of superiority about personal gifts that are yours through no personal merit. I read voraciously because God made me a reader. That I find time read is hardly a personal virtue, though it is cheering to reflect that when I exercise my gift and do it well, I give glory to God by simply being what he made me to be. Sort of the way that cats or microbes give glory to God just by being cats or microbes.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Yet I also can't help remembering that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"m</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">uch will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more," and I am neither a cat nor a microbe.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Times;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">As a widow making her way through the final years of middle age, it is not surprising that I should have a sharpened sense of mortality and Last Things or I find myself reflecting more often on the question of what I'm supposed to be doing with what I've been given, even the relatively modest gift of being a reader.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">***</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Times;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">(Well, I seem to have strayed rather off topic, but I'm still curious about the experiences of other readers who grew up in families of nonreaders. So please comment.)</span></div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-41237759993716661472011-05-09T21:46:00.000-07:002011-05-16T02:13:44.085-07:00On The Road With L.M. Montgomery<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoH0Je7PiYL0kRepZXytcoR1oBiVJ2ZKtPNFuOhKCFTMGGcGLo0CwYHBhUokowOXS5_ev8FN758hlOzngJN0ZX3wJYzX_x1oz0vFR7kC6_-YRhKj5y8RHnizfeexKo6EcEhsnCMq4Ekuw/s1600/200px-TheBlythesAreQuoted.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 303px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoH0Je7PiYL0kRepZXytcoR1oBiVJ2ZKtPNFuOhKCFTMGGcGLo0CwYHBhUokowOXS5_ev8FN758hlOzngJN0ZX3wJYzX_x1oz0vFR7kC6_-YRhKj5y8RHnizfeexKo6EcEhsnCMq4Ekuw/s320/200px-TheBlythesAreQuoted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5607233002186370594" /></a>This week I've been on an L.M. Montgomery binge, thanks to my recent trip to Ohio. <div><br /></div><div>The most pressing concern I have when traveling is not security restrictions or the high price of airport food or even how to squeeze into a restroom stall with all of my luggage. No, it's how to carry enough reading material for the trip without straining my back.</div><div><br /></div><div> The last time I flew, I brought my laptop with me figuring that I could download enough e-books to keep me occupied even if the plane got rerouted to Australia. The problem is, there's at least a half hour at the beginning and end of each flight when you're not allowed to use any electronic devices -- not to mention the possibility of being stuck on the runway for extended periods -- which are all times when I'd want to be reading. And as I discovered, a laptop is a bit heavy and clunky, and you have to worry about Things Happening To It. Supposing a patch of turbulence sloshes tomato juice all over my keyboard? Supposing I drop it? And on this particular trip my carry-on included a large gift box with my granddaughter's First Communion dress, a bubble-wrapped icon which my sister had asked me to hand deliver, my purse, and enough food to sustain me through an eight hour journey. No way could I add a lap top without either going over my carry-on limit or hurting myself! </div><div><br /></div><div>So I decided I'd better take lightweight paperback books, two in my carry-on for the trip there and two in my checked luggage for the trip back. The library where I work sells any donations they can't use, and I was lucky enough to find three of the "Anne" books and a novel by Madeleine L'Engle. (They were only 25 cents each, so I didn't mind buying traveling copies of books I already own in hardcover.) So I read <i>Anne of Avonlea</i>, <i>Anne of Windy Poplars</i>, and <i>Anne's House of Dreams</i> that weekend. By the time I got home, I was on a roll. So I went on to read <i>Anne of the Island</i> and <i>Chronicles of Avonlea</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>I don't mind reading books out of order like this when I've read the whole series before. And Montgomery didn't write them in chronological order anyway. Anne of Windy Poplars (1936) is a "sequel" to Anne of the Island (1915) and the events of <i>Anne of Ingleside</i> (1939) take place before <i>Rainbow Valley</i> (1919). I looked them up because I thought that I'd read the rest of the Anne books in publication order so as to get a feel for how Anne's world developed for people who read them as they came out. And while I was on Wikipedia, I discovered that a new edition of Rilla of <i>Inglesid</i>e was published in 2010.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;"><blockquote><a href="http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol17/no20/rillaofingleside.html">This attractive re-issue, edited so ably by Benjamin Lefebvre and Andrea McKenzie, restores and corrects the full text of the original Canadian version that was abridged in 1976 removing over 4500 words. Lefebvre and McKenzie have added fresh and intriguing perceptions through the inclusion of scholarly articles on biographical and historical contexts, the origins of the First World War with maps, a detailed glossary and contemporary Canadian women's war poems.</a></blockquote></span></div><div>My own copy is a 1985 paperback published by Bantam. Although the copyright page states that, "it contains the complete text of the original hardcover edition," I'm not sure whether the notice refers to an abridged hardcover or not.</div><div><br /></div><div>In 2009, Viking Canada also published <i>The Blythes Are Quoted</i>, a sequel to <i>Rilla of Ingleside</i>. This was something I had never heard of before. Apparently, it's a mixture of short stories, poems and vignettes. Most of the stories previously appeared in magazines, and Montgomery rewrote them to include cameos of or references to Anne and her family. (Something which, as I recall, she also did in <i>Chronicles of Avonlea</i>.) The poems are attributed to Anne and her son Walter. A significantly abridged version of the book was published in 1974 as <i>The Road to Yesterday</i> which I have never read. </div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, back in the olden days, we were limited to books we could find in our local libraries and bookstores. But now that I'm living in the "technological vastness of the future," I've ordered both books online. (Hint: it's cheaper to order through Amazon Canada -- even with international shipping.) </div><div><br /></div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-83117902124705293222011-05-06T20:17:00.000-07:002011-05-11T02:54:46.318-07:00Lepanto: The Musical<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOdnOxfkcfWk8H6ZX6zAIlt-M6uZhkPq48UKNf3POdG8h8bz9l6J87aOxHZq-a-cAINP8lMujt7yHpncG0Ren1I05fngQpq4DuhdnF8E2iShkTYDE37KMr76_NSHdE0En8IfXPRpxJRVE/s1600/41USJXL4fCL._BO2%252C204%252C203%252C200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click%252CTopRight%252C35%252C-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; ">Well, it's not <i>really</i> a musical.</span><br /></a><div><br /><object width="640" height="26" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"><param value="true" name="allowfullscreen"><param value="always" name="allowscriptaccess"><param value="high" name="quality"><param value="true" name="cachebusting"><param value="#000000" name="bgcolor"><param name="movie" value="http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.1.swf"><param value="config={'key':'#$aa4baff94a9bdcafce8','playlist':[{'url':'lepanto_64kb.mp3','autoPlay':false}],'clip':{'autoPlay':true,'baseUrl':'http://www.archive.org/download/Lepanto/'},'canvas':{'backgroundColor':'#000000','backgroundGradient':'none'},'plugins':{'audio':{'url':'http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.audio-3.2.1-dev.swf'},'controls':{'playlist':false,'fullscreen':false,'height':26,'backgroundColor':'#000000','autoHide':{'fullscreenOnly':true},'scrubberHeightRatio':0.6,'timeFontSize':9,'mute':false,'top':0}},'contextMenu':[{},'-','Flowplayer v3.2.1']}" name="flashvars"><embed src="http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.1.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="26" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" cachebusting="true" bgcolor="#000000" quality="high" flashvars="config={'key':'#$aa4baff94a9bdcafce8','playlist':[{'url':'lepanto_64kb.mp3','autoPlay':false}],'clip':{'autoPlay':true,'baseUrl':'http://www.archive.org/download/Lepanto/'},'canvas':{'backgroundColor':'#000000','backgroundGradient':'none'},'plugins':{'audio':{'url':'http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.audio-3.2.1-dev.swf'},'controls':{'playlist':false,'fullscreen':false,'height':26,'backgroundColor':'#000000','autoHide':{'fullscreenOnly':true},'scrubberHeightRatio':0.6,'timeFontSize':9,'mute':false,'top':0}},'contextMenu':[{},'-','Flowplayer v3.2.1']}"></embed> </object><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>It is, however, a sung version of G.K. Chesterton's poem <a href="http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lepanto"><i>Lepanto</i></a>, performed and <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/Lepanto">put into the public domain</a> by Maureen O'Brien whose audiobook podcast, <a href="http://marialectrix.wordpress.com/">Maria Lectrix</a>, features public domain works "for people with catholic tastes." As such, she features fantasy, poetry, science fiction, mystery, adventure, prayer, devotion, and early Christian literature. In other words, all the good stuff. </div><div><br /></div><div>The battle of Lepanto was fought on October 7, 1571 by a fleet of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_League_(Mediterranean)">Holy League</a> against the main fleet of the Ottoman empire. At that time, Islamic forces controlled the Mediterranean and were threatening to attack Venice and Rome which could have led to the collapse of Christian Europe. Despite overwhelming odds, the European forces, led by Don John of Austria, won a decisive victory. The victory was attributed to the intersession of Our Lady, Pope Pius V having called for the recitation of the rosary for that intention, and October 7th became the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, later known as the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. </div><div><br /></div><div>Chesterton's poem has a marital, drum-beat rhythm which is enhanced by Maureen O'Brien's recording. (I love Chesterton's poetry, but I sometimes stumble over his meter when I read his poems silently.) A copy of the text can be found <a href="http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lepanto">here</a>, but if you want to buy a copy, I would suggest the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lepanto-G-K-Chesterton/dp/1586170309/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1305105864&sr=1-1">annotated edition</a> published by Ignatius Press which has an introduction by Dale Ahlquist, the president of the American Chesterton Society. Besides notes, the book also includes an essay on the historical background of the battle, an account of the battle itself, an essay on the effect of the battle on world history, a bit of literary criticism, and two essays by Chesterton on related subjects. This book, especially when paired with the above recording, would be a good addition to the high school curriculum of Catholic homeschooling families.</div><div><br /></div><div>(I don't suppose we ever will see <i>Lepanto</i> as a musical, but what about as a Gilbert & Sullivan style operetta?)</div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-20898398276872656362011-05-05T02:02:00.000-07:002011-05-10T02:05:02.472-07:00May-Every-Day -- A Month's Worth of PostsThe post for <a href="http://catholicbibliophagist.blogspot.com/2011/05/for-us-living.html">May 5th</a> , "Funny, You Don't Look Catholic," is on my other blog.Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-60721876858431516312011-05-04T23:21:00.000-07:002011-05-10T01:56:31.909-07:00For Us, the Living<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixmp3tuVgnxxCgGMldJVQzaHYGL15AGKXsXXVwjYdMSMNJU5WqzhO8Iq4I-oJ5T3que3m5oPX3vmNk8VCMz3TttaPcWYMXfMNBF7v2iNVOD3egai2bBWZI_tuT0epXTCwcFnSLRl9bzCA/s1600/For+Us+The+Living.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixmp3tuVgnxxCgGMldJVQzaHYGL15AGKXsXXVwjYdMSMNJU5WqzhO8Iq4I-oJ5T3que3m5oPX3vmNk8VCMz3TttaPcWYMXfMNBF7v2iNVOD3egai2bBWZI_tuT0epXTCwcFnSLRl9bzCA/s320/For+Us+The+Living.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602617046206729314" /></a><i>For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs</i> by Robert A. Heinlein.<div><br /></div><div>This is Heinlein's unpublished first novel, written between 1938 and 1939. It was published in 2004 with an introduction by Spider Robinson and an afterward by Robert James. As a novel, it is simply dreadful. But that's because it isn't actually a novel. It's a lecture about a Henleinesque utopia with only the thinnest veneer of fiction to lubricate its passage down the reader's throat.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some will say that's an accurate description of most of Heinlein's novels, especially the later ones. To which I would reply, "Yes, but <i>For Us, the Living</i> is even more so."</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's the set-up. On July 12, 1939, Perry Nelson, an engineer, is forced off the road by an oncoming car. Thrown clear from his car toward the beach below, Perry smacks into a rock and loses consciousness. When he comes to, he finds himself in the middle of a snow storm being rescued by a gorgeous woman in a parka. And it's now January 2086. It sounds like the beginning of a decent story -- I don't really mind that the hero's time travel is accomplished pretty much the same way that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carter_(character)">John Carter</a> got to Mars. But after that there's really no plot.</div><div><br /></div><div>When not smoking, eating, or ogling his naked hostess (people in 2086 don't wear clothes indoors), our hero spends his time catching up on 150 years of history either by viewing historical recordings or listening as other characters lecture him about how the world has improved since 1939, thanks to changes in the political and economic system. (The economics is explained in <i>exhaustive</i> detail.) Religion has been pretty much stamped out, and behavior is governed by a code of customs which pretty much boils down to citizens being free to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't hurt other citizens. (There is also a strict taboo against breaching personal privacy.)</div><div><br /></div><div> Naturally, our hero and his hostess, Diana, fall in love and marry, though Perry must first be cured of his primitive sexual jealousy (more lectures!) before they can live happily ever after in a more or less open marriage. Oh, and then he gets to pilot the first rocket launch to orbit the moon and take pictures of its far side. Why? Because it's there. The End.</div><div><br /><div>During the the Golden Age of Science Fiction (which, as we all know, is around 14), I read and enjoyed many of Heinlein's novels. (In fact, I still reread them fondly today.) But they were his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein_bibliography#Early_Heinlein_novels">early novels</a>, the ones aimed at a largely juvenile audience, in which storytelling was the predominant element and philosophizing was a minor component which, at least to a youngster's mind, added a bit of depth to the author's world-building .</div><div><br /></div><div>Not so, the later novels, not so! I will always regret that I read <i>Stranger in a Strange Land</i> all the way through. I kept hoping that somehow it would all come right in the end and that the final payoff would make everything else worthwhile. I never made <i>that</i> mistake again. Though I sampled some of his later novels, I never felt obliged to finish them and promptly bailed out at the first sign of heavy-handedness and structural ineptitude.</div><div><br /></div><div>So why did I read <i>For Us, the Living</i>? Well, I was interested in it as an historical artifact, a sort of archaeological dig into the prehistory of the Heinlein universe. It was fun to see how many elements in this early work turned up in his later novels and short stories: rolling roads; self-lighting cigarettes; alternate forms of marriage; a strong individualism; banishing lawbreakers to "Coventry;" gorgeous, intelligent females who nonetheless obligingly fall for the not overly bright hero; and the wise old man who pontificates on how the universe really works, to name a few.</div><div><br /></div><div>I had always assumed that the things I disliked about the later novels (such as long didactic screeds on government, religion, philosophy, and sex) were a later development resulting from the author's downhill slide into ill health and a subsequent loss of writing ability. But it seems that Heinlein had them in mind from the beginning, and I assume that they simply didn't make it into his earlier works (especially the juveniles) because of editorial restrictions from his publishers.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>So, worth a read if you've read Heinlein in the past and are interested in roots and origins. Otherwise, give it a miss.</div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-65235034778594914922011-05-03T01:56:00.000-07:002011-05-10T02:01:08.491-07:00May-Every-Day -- A Month's Worth of PostsThe posts for <a href="http://quiltingbibliophagist.blogspot.com/2011/05/its-learning-process-right-side-or.html">May 2nd</a> & <a href="http://quiltingbibliophagist.blogspot.com/2011/05/silk-or-not.html">May 3rd</a> are at my other blog.Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-38255634653980062272011-05-01T22:09:00.000-07:002011-05-10T01:55:58.212-07:00May-Every-Day -- A Month's Worth of PostsI've decided to imitate Rebekah at <a href="http://www.artandneedlework.blogspot.com/">St. Gemma's Art & Needlework</a>: I have recklessly resolved to post every day in May. In her April 30th post Rebekah writes, <div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 19px; font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;"><blockquote><a href="http://artandneedlework.blogspot.com/2011/04/43011-may-every-day-months-worth-of.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">So far I've been one spontaneous blogger, posting maybe once or twice a week. Finding things to post about has never been a problem for me; searching and finding the </span></span></a><i><a href="http://artandneedlework.blogspot.com/2011/04/43011-may-every-day-months-worth-of.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">time</span></span></a></i><a href="http://artandneedlework.blogspot.com/2011/04/43011-may-every-day-months-worth-of.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> is where the trouble lies. But I am going to give it my best shot anyway and I have a long list of topics I will be covering.</span></span></a></blockquote></span></div><div>I wish I could say that <i>I'd</i> been only posting once or twice a week -- or that I had a long list of topics to write about. As my blogging has become more and more sporadic, that portion of my brain that governs writing has become increasingly wizened. I think I need to exercise that mental muscle before it becomes completely atrophied.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Rules:</div><div><br /></div><div>1) Because I have two blogs, I'm allowing a post to either one of them to "count" as my post for the day. If you have never visited it, <a href="http://quiltingbibliophagist.blogspot.com/">Quilting Bibliophagist</a> is where I write about quilting and other sewing projects. </div><div><br /></div><div>2) Because I've started a couple of days late, I'm allowing myself to play catch-up. (So I'm actually posting this May 1st post on the 2nd.) But I'm not going to beat myself up if I miss a couple of posts this weekend because I'm flying east this weekend for a granddaughter's First Communion.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-2381179787251343342011-04-24T13:24:00.000-07:002011-04-24T20:06:23.315-07:00An Easter Carol<div>Cheer up, friends and neighbors, </div><div>Now it's Eastertide.</div><div>Stop from endless labours,</div><div>Worries put aside:</div><div>Men should rise from sadness,</div><div>Evil, folly, strife,</div><div>When God's mighty gladness</div><div>Brings the earth to life.</div><div><br /></div><div>Out from snow drifts chilly,</div><div>Roused from drowsy hours,</div><div>Bluebell wakes, and lily:</div><div>God calls up the flowers!</div><div>Into life he raises</div><div>All the sleeping buds;</div><div>Meadows weave his praises,</div><div>And the spangled woods.</div><div><br /></div><div>All his truth and beauty,</div><div>All his righteousness,</div><div>Are our joy and duty,</div><div>Bearing his impress:</div><div>Look! the earth waits breathless</div><div>After winter's strife:</div><div>Easter shows man deathless,</div><div>Spring leads death to life.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ours the more and less is;</div><div>But changeless all the days,</div><div>God revives and blesses,</div><div>Like the sunlight rays.</div><div>'All mankind is risen,'</div><div>The Easter bells do ring,</div><div>While from out their prison</div><div>Creep the flowers of spring!</div><div><br /></div><div>--#147 from the <i>Oxford Book of Carols</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>This particular song took the children's fancy when they were quite small. They dug it out of the Oxford Book of Carols and, being unable to read music, sang it to the tune of a Christmas carol. In the last line of the second verse, in order to preserve the rhyme, they used to pronounce "splangled wood" as "spangléd wud," a usage which passed into family vocabulary. Fillius gave me a rousing rendition of it as we drove home from Mass this morning, bringing a nostalgic tear to his mother's eye.</div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-37706439719561642692010-12-11T23:25:00.000-08:002010-12-11T23:26:26.133-08:00Start 'Em YoungWhether you work in a bookstore, a library, or are simply a parent of small children, if you are familiar with children's literature, you'll be chortling when you read <i><a href="http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1811404">Five Sci-Fi Children's Books</a></i> by Caldwell Tanner.Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-16310767277708292832010-11-15T07:08:00.000-08:002010-12-11T23:16:58.078-08:00Star of Wonder<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVNP2e_CsRJ_HPOPCsYc2z85ZjsOQ3emRLrZsIgpkHYq8dlmxCw7jy7hW8o090IehjD7nFglOxk-p5cAhD3X2VIHEDtuRI9Bpg0TL84sbCguL8LYFs_MzIcXqt6oGvkb655mKpXjNJ7Q8/s1600/card.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVNP2e_CsRJ_HPOPCsYc2z85ZjsOQ3emRLrZsIgpkHYq8dlmxCw7jy7hW8o090IehjD7nFglOxk-p5cAhD3X2VIHEDtuRI9Bpg0TL84sbCguL8LYFs_MzIcXqt6oGvkb655mKpXjNJ7Q8/s200/card.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539901916533721746" /></a>I just got an email from <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/star_of_wonder_card-137796603380143758">Zazzle</a> that they are having a one day sale on greeting cards: 50% off and free shipping! Fillius, my son, is selling <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/timothy+hodge+gifts">his Christmas card</a> there. He did the artwork on his computer and the verse inside is from G.K. Chesterton's <i>The House of Christmas</i>. I think they're rather nice, but I'm his mother so I may be just a teensy bit biased. Here's the <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/timothy+hodge+gifts">link</a>, and the discount code is ZAZZLECARD50. The sale ends at 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) tonight.Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-39507053287135275862010-10-17T11:24:00.000-07:002010-10-17T11:50:48.000-07:00Elizabeth Bennet's Email, Etc.Sherwood Smith posted a link to <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Ab-LepwVuSSvJP2_57QE-1ovKp6Vv3BIW6h_3_ZIYB_RLzNIPljbUoBkcL32H-FEgjUxj8zdDRbb9miaTWcHh0yclGWQT_QBDxF3bxTC7rS3HMYICf1ivyo-z9Pa304DZbS_A4hq9gw/s1600/email_elizabeth_Bennet.jpg">Lizzy Bennet's Inbox</a> this morning. Having just also read <a href="http://www.much-ado.net/austenbook/">Austenbook</a> (Pride & Prejudice via Facebook), I am excessively diverted.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-70202813421869431172010-09-25T00:01:00.000-07:002010-09-25T01:08:09.325-07:00The Hobbit -- Happy Anniversary!September 21st was the 73rd anniversary of the publication of <i>The Hobbit</i> by JRR Tolkien. <div><div><br /></div><div>You'd think I would have remembered such an important date. For had <i>The Hobbit</i> not been a financial success, <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> might never have been written. And if it hadn't, the <a href="http://www.mythsoc.org/">Mythopoeic Society</a> would never have existed. My husband I would never have met; our children would never have existed. (This is beginning to sound like a Twilight Zone episode.) Needless to say, I would never have become acquainted with most of my oldest and closest friends, and the great flowering of fantasy fiction in the late 20th century might not have taken place.</div><div><br /></div><div>So in belated honor of the day, here is a link to a site with <a href="http://www.ringgame.net/riddles.html">a side by side comparison</a> of the two versions of "Riddles in the Dark," the crucial chapter in The Hobbit in which Biblbo Baggins acquires Gollum's magic ring. (The differences between the two are helpfully marked in blue.)</div><div><br /></div><div>The Riddle chapter was my first encounter with Tolkien's work. I read it in the early '60s when I was just a kid reading my way through the Azusa public library. It appeared in <i>Just For Fun: Humorous Stories and Poems</i>, edited by Elva Sophronia Smith and Alice Isabel Hazeltine Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Company, 1948. Although it was very odd coming into the story <i>in media res (</i>I had no idea what a hobbit was or how Mr. Baggins had gotten into such a tight place), I enjoyed the chapter so much that I tracked down the original book and devoured the whole thing. Of course, I was a bit puzzled by the differences between the version in the anthology and the one in <i>The Hobbit</i>. At the time, I didn't know that Tolkien had made revisions between the first and second editions of <a href="http://www.mythsoc.org/">The Hobbit</a> in order to make it more consistent with <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>By the way, I'm not usually keen on audio recordings of my favorite books because they never match the cadence of my mind's internal voice which I hear when I read. But Nicol Williamson did a skillfully abridged recording of <i>The Hobbit</i> in the '70s which is brilliant. He gives each character a distinct voice with accents from different parts of the British Isles. A friend gave us a copy when our children were young and they never tired of listening to it. Unfortunately, it has never been released on CD, and our cassette copies of the LP degenerated long ago. So you can imagine how pleased I was to discover a <a href="http://www.nicolwilliamson.com/?p=125">recording</a> posted on the Nicol Williamson website.</div></div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-74574569373160472352010-09-19T00:01:00.000-07:002010-09-19T00:01:01.029-07:00Finding God in the Everyday<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidNP5rvLjJRv3i6N-jdJ1YKhidqFEm7H_IODDspefhOY3P0jG34hDC_qDUUMNCG6HsW2ad0GEtxfD78EtVFuCExODDKZlMyxOG-i8SyPbzBlug9jUyDJ9rc4LExITA7o6N-4u2PCnH3r8/s1600/cover.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 218px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidNP5rvLjJRv3i6N-jdJ1YKhidqFEm7H_IODDspefhOY3P0jG34hDC_qDUUMNCG6HsW2ad0GEtxfD78EtVFuCExODDKZlMyxOG-i8SyPbzBlug9jUyDJ9rc4LExITA7o6N-4u2PCnH3r8/s320/cover.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518427724708925410" /></a><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0982256531?ie=UTF8&tag=tributebooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0982256531">Why God Matters: How to Recognize Him in Daily Life</a></i> by Karina Lumbert Fabian & Deacon Steven Lumbert, Tribute Books, 2010.<div><br /></div><div>Long ago I read a book written by a well known Catholic convert* who said that one of the things that most surprised him about becoming a Catholic was that everyday life had become suffused with the supernatural, and that the supernatural was now everyday. </div><div><br /></div><div>Being a sacramental religion, Catholicism does use ordinary, physical things -- oil, water, bread, wine, the marital embrace -- as conduits for God's life giving grace. And simple, tangible items, such as a humble string of beads or two bits of cloth joined by a cord, can actually become a powerful spiritual weapon or a protective shield. Tempted by demons, guarded by angels, and given an occasional assist by the saints, ordinary life is a deceptively disguised battle-field adventure that rivals any fantasy or science fiction epic. </div><div><br /></div><div>The problem is, it can look so <i>ordinary</i>. God may whap a few of us upside the head with a spiritual two by four, but the vast majority of us will only come to a radical conversion of mind, heart, and spirit through the small, everyday choices we make in classroom, kitchen, or cubicle.</div><div><br /></div><div>This idea is the major thrust of <i>Why God Matters: How to Recognize Him in Daily Life</i>. This is not a book about figuring out what to believe -- though both authors had to do that at different points in their lives. (Deacon Steven Lumbert is a convert; Karina Fabian is a cradle Catholic who made a full commitment to the Faith as an adult. ) Instead it's about how God led them to a deeper faith through seemingly ordinary incidents in their everyday lives. </div><div><br /></div><div>Writing alternate chapters, Lumbert and Fabian recount personal stories with elements as disparate as a Puerto Rican chicken and rice dish, a barefoot stranger at Mass, an unexpected flower delivery, an incense-triggered acid reflux attack, and an armed auto thief who couldn't manage to get his gun out of his pocket. Each is followed by a "Life Lesson" meditating on what the author brought away from the experience, how it contributed to his or her relationship with God, and the possible application it might have to the reader's own life. (I could particularly identify with Fabian's chapter about her disorganized approach to housekeeping and how it paralleled her spiritual life. I have <i>so</i> done that deranged drill sergeant thing to my own kids during the rush to clear things up before guests arrive!) </div><div><br /></div><div>A related scriptural quotation and an extract from the Catholic Catechism rounds off each chapter. And at the end of the book is a list of resources for further reading which may also be seen <a href="http://www.tribute-books.com/whygodmatters/for_further_reading.html">here</a>. In the mood for a sample? You can read an excerpt of Chapter 2 on the sidebar of <a href="http://tribute-books.com/whygodmatters/share_your_story.html">this page</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>By the way, Karina Fabian is also the author of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Mensa-Mayhem-Karina-Fabian/dp/1934041785/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284878144&sr=1-1">Magic, Mensa & Mayhem</a></i> a fantasy novel about Vern, a dragon detective, and his partner Sister Grace, a high mage of the Faerie Catholic Church, as they shepherd a Faerie contingent to a Mensa convention in the mundane world. Fabian is also the editor of and a contributor to <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Leaps-Faith-Karina-Fabian/dp/1934284106/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284878213&sr=1-1">Leaps of Faith</a></i>, an anthology of Christian science fiction and <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Karina-Robert-Fabian-editors/dp/1933353627/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284878285&sr=1-1">Infinite Space, Infinite God</a></i>, a collection of Catholic science fiction stories. (Having read all three of these is what made me interested in reviewing <i>Why God Matters</i>.)</div><div><br /></div><div>[Disclosure: The publisher sent me a free PDF copy of this book.]</div><div><br /></div><div>==============</div><div>*And my middle-aged brain can't remember his name.</div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-25641575806102175952010-09-18T10:50:00.000-07:002010-09-18T11:10:52.341-07:00Blog Tour AnnouncementHey, there's a blog tour for <i>Why God Matters: How to Recognize Him in Daily Life</i> by father and daughter team, Steven Lumbert and Karina Lumbert Fabian. Karina is also the author of<i> Magic, Mensa & Mayhem</i>, a fantasy novel, and the editor of (and a contributor to) <i>Leaps of Faith, </i>an anthology of Christian science fiction, and <i>Infinite Space, Infinite God</i>, a collection of <i>Catholic</i> science fiction. (Woo-hoo! How cool is that?) So you can see why I'd have a more than ordinary interest in her new nonfiction title. And that's also why I agreed to write a review for for her blog tour. <div><br /></div><div>You can see the other tour bloggers <a href="http://www.tribute-books.com/whygodmatters/news.html">here</a>. And please come back tomorrow to read my review.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-76022316023214122302010-09-08T00:01:00.000-07:002010-09-08T01:23:10.012-07:00Chinese Fortune Cookie<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh4FohSMCWtJ19JQB4KWOM5_-yTXKwyJxPy85DoLCLR7d37X_1QDyNu1-wldSBjEPw-58d4tvb2Py6LUWlY3T6Rv6afOyXMK5j7HT51DsIW1E5cPk36AQuks-xDwqQwZ_pig9x0a-eRoc/s1600/IMG_8557_2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh4FohSMCWtJ19JQB4KWOM5_-yTXKwyJxPy85DoLCLR7d37X_1QDyNu1-wldSBjEPw-58d4tvb2Py6LUWlY3T6Rv6afOyXMK5j7HT51DsIW1E5cPk36AQuks-xDwqQwZ_pig9x0a-eRoc/s400/IMG_8557_2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5514413539869457506" /></a><br /><div>Yesterday my mother took my daughter Fillia and me out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Look what came out of one of the fortune cookies! (Had this occurred in a novel, I would have thought it too unbelievable. But real life is not restricted to what is probable.) If the words on this little slip of paper are true, I must live in a house almost completely made of window glass. Except for the bathrooms, I don't think we have a single room without bookcases.</div><div><br /></div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-48451905123662305442010-08-28T10:57:00.000-07:002010-08-28T11:30:04.216-07:00More Catholic FictionOnly a few days left to enter <a href="http://new.catholicmom.com/2010/08/01/the-dog-days-of-summer-catholic-fiction-giveaway/">The Dog Days of Summer Catholic Fiction Giveaway</a> at CatholicMom.com. The deadline is 12:00 midnight Pacific Time. To enter just click on their link above and leave a comment. They have 28 books to give away and will be selecting the winners randomly. <div><br /></div><div>I was surprised to see so many titles, only two of which I had previously read. (They were <i>Bleeder</i> and <i>Awakening</i>, in case you were wondering. And I can recommend both.) So I'm kind of wondering if all of them are Catholic fiction as such or just fiction which Catholic readers like and recommend. Either way I'm looking forward to searching for these titles. </div><div><br /></div><div>I have a special collection of Catholic fiction housed in a separate bookcase in my bedroom. Since my definition of Catholic fiction is "a work which takes place in a universe in which Catholicism is true," it's a motley collection ranging from <i>Declare</i> by Tim Powers to <i>Catholic Tales for Boys & Girls</i> by Caryll Houselander. And I'm always looking for new books to add. So if you have any titles to recommend (or can tell me anything about the books in the give-away), please speak up in the comments box. </div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-19948271622476965102010-08-16T12:09:00.000-07:002010-08-16T12:23:33.432-07:00Introducing Youngsters to the Bronte SistersNo matter what's going on in my life, I never stop reading. In fact, I may find myself reading more than usual because my need for escape is greater. Unfortunately, writing is not as easy as reading, so blogging becomes sparser as real life becomes more . . . um . . . real. However, I am hoping that everything will soon be under control. (Now, if I can just find the off switch for the trash compactor!) <div><br /></div><div>In the meantime, here's a biblio-themed video featuring the Bronte sisters as action figures:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-NKXNThJ610?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-NKXNThJ610?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-56879471885206883372010-08-05T00:00:00.000-07:002010-08-05T02:52:42.641-07:00Catholic Book SalesAquinas & More is having an <a href="http://www.aquinasandmore.com/fuseaction/Store.saleSpecificSearchResults/productsperpage/20/layout/grid/currentpage/1/sale/27">Inventory Reduction Sale</a> right now -- 40% off lots of good stuff! Mostly books, of course, but also some gift items. <div><br /></div><div>Father Dwight Longenecker is having a S<a href="http://gkupsidedown.blogspot.com/2010/08/summer-book-sale.html">ummer Book Sale</a> until August 15th -- $5.00 off all of his books (except <i>More Christianity</i> which is being reprinted by Ignatius Press this fall.) I particularly recommend <i><a href="http://www.dwightlongenecker.com/Content/Pages/Books/TheGargoyleCode.asp">The Gargoyle Code</a></i>, his take-off on C.S. Lewis's <i>The </i><i>Screwtape Letters</i>. It's much better than anyone else's attempts at this genre. Fr. Longenecker extends Lewis's sketchy world building and gives a good sense of the deception and betrayal that is inevitable among Satan's troops.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.sophiainstitute.com/">Sophia Institute Press</a> could use some business right now. (They recently sent out an email to their mailing list pleading for donations or orders.) Although I'm not usually sympathetic to that sort of appeal, I always like to promote Sophia Institute Press because they are one of the few Catholic publishers that print fiction. And so far, every novel I've ordered from them has been pretty good -- which, sad to say, is not often the case with religious fiction. </div><div><br /></div><div>A few of the titles I've bought and enjoyed: </div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.sophiainstitute.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=404">Bleeder</a></i> by John J. Desjarlais. Classics professor Reed Stubblefield retreated to rural Illinois to write a book on Aristole while recovering from a disabling injury. Though religiously skeptical, he makes friends with the local Catholic priest, an Aquinas expert with an excellent library who is reputed to be a stigmatic and a healer. When the priest bleeds to death during the Good Friday liturgy, Stubblefield finds that he's the chief suspect. Can he find the real killer before he himself is arrested or killed?</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.sophiainstitute.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=339">The Tripods Attack!</a></i> by John McNichol. A young G.K. Chesterton and H.G. Wells join forces with Father Brown and a mysterious man known only as "The Doctor" (but not the one you're thinking of) when the Martians invade England in this steam-punk novel for kids.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://www.sophiainstitute.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=334">The Blood-Red Crescent</a></i> by Henry Garnett. This novel about the Battle of Lepanto, originally published in 1960, is just the sort of thing I loved reading when I was a kid. The protagonist is a sixteen year-old boy from Venice who takes part in the historic naval battle and learns important lessons about manhood from Miguel de Cervantes. Homeschooling parents of boys might use this book as an intro to Chesterton's poem, "Lepanto."</div><div><br /></div><div>Ignatius Press is having a <a href="http://www.ignatius.com/Specials/SaleItems.aspx">Summer Super Sale</a> which ends on August 31st with some books marked down as low as $3.00. </div><div><br /></div><div>I recommend <i><a href="http://www.ignatius.com/Products/D-P/dayspring.aspx">Dayspring</a></i> by Harry Sylvester, a novel originally published in the 1945 which has been marked down to $5.00 ( a real bargain -- especially since Ignatius paperbacks are signature sewn and printed on very good paper). The book is about Spencer Bain, an anthropologist who is studying the Penitentes, a brotherhood of men in New Mexico who practice severe religious penances. Spencer feigns a conversion to Catholicism in hopes of obtaining first hand observations of them. But he gets much more than he bargained for. This book is a little modern for my taste, but the writing is very good. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'd also recommend <a href="http://www.ignatius.com/Products/LEE-P/lord-of-the-elves-and-eldils.aspx">Lord of the Elves and Eldils: Fantasy and Philosophy in the works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien</a> by Richard Purtill. Originally published in 1974, this revised edition contains two additional essays on Lewis and some new notes on the Silmarillion in Chapter Six. And it's only $3.00!</div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-45380000424380616942010-07-03T21:59:00.000-07:002010-07-03T22:55:38.739-07:00It's a Book!Video trailers for books -- it's a concept I can't quite wrap my head around. (Yes, I know I'm a bit of a dinosaur.) I haven't seen the book which this one advertises, but I love the sentiment it expresses.<div><br /><div><object width="395" height="247"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y4U8jlhcHr0&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y4U8jlhcHr0&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="395" height="247"></embed></object></div></div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993856781648960747.post-18945653124524775612010-06-05T19:29:00.000-07:002010-06-05T19:39:26.190-07:00Two Books"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> and <i>Atlas Shrugged</i>. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/03/ephemera-2009-7.html">--Kung Fu Monkey</a></div><div><br /></div><div>(Shamelessly swiped from <a href="http://happycatholic.blogspot.com/">Happy Catholic</a> who posted it on her blog <a href="http://happycatholic.blogspot.com/2009/12/well-said_04.html">last year</a>.)</div>Catholic Bibliophagisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.com2