tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83018533761843126072024-03-28T20:28:35.583-07:00with freedom, books, flowers, & the moon ... Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.comBlogger266125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-80292834206701225182024-03-28T07:43:00.000-07:002024-03-28T07:46:25.009-07:00Popov: Tortured for His Faith<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitC7_Mf_WQ9-FsQEVpHMrCqIjfFyeDeUPh41-VEFOVJgWKPIslvcRmlJWk8xOnkerISyn4FbvxYrrvcG7BZXBvljCI13c75XmUyq61qb4wMGMg8L0l7BCiecoRHcxfMpeVWnYeOp_8c5uVVN1fNd_ocYJQQUn7w9EFjz7fudpK-YdqFmthgxDxxrJEJSA/s624/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2011.05.37%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="368" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitC7_Mf_WQ9-FsQEVpHMrCqIjfFyeDeUPh41-VEFOVJgWKPIslvcRmlJWk8xOnkerISyn4FbvxYrrvcG7BZXBvljCI13c75XmUyq61qb4wMGMg8L0l7BCiecoRHcxfMpeVWnYeOp_8c5uVVN1fNd_ocYJQQUn7w9EFjz7fudpK-YdqFmthgxDxxrJEJSA/w236-h400/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2011.05.37%20AM.png" width="236" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Tortured for His Faith</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Haralan Popov</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Published 1970</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">reread</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">A lie is always a lie. Neither Marxists nor Leninists </span></i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><b style="text-align: left;"><i>w</i></b><b style="text-align: left;"><i>ill ever succeed </i></b><b style="text-align: left;"><i>in building an earthly paradise upon a lie.</i></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Haralan Popov (1907-1988), a Bulgarian Christian pastor, was arrested in 1948 for "treason" (ie. being Christian) by the communist state government. [Recall: following WWII, Eastern Europe fell under the authority and influence of the Soviet Union.] In prison, Popov survived thirteen years of unimaginable hard labor, starvation, isolation, separation from loved ones, and barbaric mental and physical torture. He did not see his wife and children for at least eleven years. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is a startling, shocking, and yet, inspiring story about perseverance through persecution; by God's grace, Haralan Popov lived to tell it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>COMMUNISM REQUIRES BRAINLESSNESS </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, why did the communist government arrest pastors? Because communism (like most tyrannical governments) cannot compete with religion, particularly Christianity, especially because Satan knows that God's Word demands that we use our mind to think about why we believe. Communism cannot afford for people to think. It requires absolute empty-headedness, that one would be ripe for brainwashing. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As Popov explained in the breaking of one's will and brainwashing, one meant imprisonment, the other freedom...</div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">Let me point out again the difference between breaking our will and brainwashing us. My will was broken after six months of being beaten into helplessness, until my human body reached its very limits and physically crumbled. It was temporary. </span></i></b></div></blockquote><p>Breaking the will led to imprisonment, starvation, and suffering. </p><blockquote><p><b><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">Brainwashing is permanently convincing someone communism is good. They could break my will, but they could never brainwash me! </span></i></b></p></blockquote><p>Successful brainwashing brought the false sense of freedom. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>UNDERSTANDING COMMUNISM, IN POPOV'S WORDS:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Popov saw a sign posted on [the guard house] that read * </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Man is something to be proud of</i><span style="text-align: justify;">, a Maxim Gorki quote. Popov found this ironic considering they were treated like animals. He thought about how "God's Word teaches that man is the crown of creation," and that "nothing on the face of the earth is greater than man." And yet, how odd that commies who refuse to receive Christ and do not value human life would post such a quote for all to read. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="text-align: justify;">He said,</span></div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">This is the difference between communism in theory and communism in reality...four or five thousand men had been gathered inside the barbed wire enclosure. We were called enemies, because we hadn't surrendered and hadn't permitted the communists' ideals to triumph over our minds and hearts. Communism demands complete conformity and subservience. We had refused to conform and were the vilest enemy. According to the words* on the guard house, these men, at one time, had been something to be proud of. In reality the quotation is a good argument against communism. It hurt us that only we, the enemies of communism, could read them. </span></b></i></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>WHILE IN PRISON</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Popov courageously rose to the occasion and continued preaching the gospel to his fellow prisoners, and with God's help, he did move mountains. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><blockquote><p><b><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">We have faced not men, but Satan himself. Though he has done his work well, I for one am more determined than ever that in the end God will triumph. Brethren remember, 'He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world.' they have won the battle, but with God's help we will win the war.</span></i></b></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><b><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">I remind my readers, when man is without God there is no limit to his depravity or to the depths to which he will sink. These guards descended the ladder of humanity step by step until they had no humanity or kindness left. </span></i></b></p></blockquote></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Popov admitted that "men in prison are at the end of themselves." Their normal lives consist of a family and a job, as well as material things, "which can dull a man's need for God." In prison, "all this was taken away. Men had time to think. Their values became clear in prison and many genuinely realized their need of God." Hence, Popov found great demand for a prison pastor. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Once a Bible was found tucked away in the prison library. (How that escaped the noses of the commies, only God knows.) From it, Popov memorize 47 chapters before it was discovered and confiscated. Popov also taught Scripture while pretending to teach English to other prisoners. The guards did not know or understand English, and therefore were ignorant of these truth-sharing opportunities.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As more men wanted to hear the truth, they learned a kind of morse code and tapped it out on the prison walls to one another. This way the gospel spread and prisoners were saved. Popov praised God: "Thank you, Lord, for the new congregation you sent me."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>HIS RELEASE!</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Finally, after thirteen years of witnessing and experiencing savage horror, Popov was released from his prison sentence. He admitted this:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><blockquote><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">I could honestly and truthfully say that it was worth those 13 years of torture, beatings, starvation, suffering and separation from loved ones to be a pastor to the thousands of communist prisoners my path had crossed. </span></i></blockquote></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Outside of prison he prayed that "he could faithfully serve God in freedom as he tried to do in prison." Since he was prevented from traveling outside of Bulgaria, much time would pass before he would be reunited with his wife, who was living in Sweden, and his grown children. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Therefore, he made himself useful to God. His next mission was to help the local churches. He found that the commies took over the Churches and destroyed them. Uncooperative pastors were replaced with malleable types. Attendance had fallen from two and three hundred to under twenty. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>HOW TO BEAT A COMMIE</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As Winston learned in <i>1984, </i>you cannot overcome the communists; the best you can do is break their rules. Therefore, the underground Secret Church was formed. People started to meet in homes for faux funerals and birthday parties. Lots of birthday parties. People had multiple birthdays all year long. </div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">A beautiful thing began to happen in the Secret Church. As the fires of persecution grew, they burned away the chaff and stubble and left only the golden wheat. The suffering purified the Church and united the believers in a wonderful spirit of brotherly love such as must have existed in the Early Church. Petty differences were put aside. Brethren loved and cared for one another and carried one another's burdens. There were no "lukewarm" believers. It made no sense to be a halfhearted Christian when the price for faith was so great. </span></i></b></div></blockquote><blockquote><p><b><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">And to the Commies great regret, this was the healthiest thing they could have done for the church, for the insincere gave up but the true Christian became aware of what Christ meant to them...</span></i></b></p></blockquote><p>But there was one more obstacle. Bibles were very difficult to find. People started handwriting their own Bibles from a lone Bible, which was a lengthy and arduous project. Popov realized that someone needed to get word out to the Church and "awaken fellow Christians living in the free world," to find a way to get Bibles to the persecuted Christians. Then by God's will, Popov was granted a passport, and on New Year's Eve 1962, he made his way Stockholm to reunite with his wife. He would be the one to carry the message to the free world.</p><p>Some years later, he founded a mission, <a href="https://www.dohi.org/" target="_blank">Door of Hope International</a>, to help persecuted and imprisoned Christians all over the world. And today that mission is still doing a good work all because of the love of Christ by one man, Haralan Popov, and his wife, Ruth. </p><blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><b> * * * </b></p></blockquote><p>First review can be read <b><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2022/09/tortured-for-his-faith-by-haralan-popov.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></b>. </p><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyliu7bDHyA6QcNpYDFB5ZK6gibcWzXliyM0GbeCNCymuJPNqdL09ag-oNqqtKCCfHtFn9ecO15cZKWz70jPlBdCG5cZdkQJOXwNUJb_7tTxpP0ZWWbpAgoPWCauUHlIWIIWZceVHok9BrhvWBeHp5oK2OuipJkxqSxRXpGa5QudpI_KNAWg8d3uKQqlE/s976/Screenshot%202024-03-27%20at%203.37.30%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="882" data-original-width="976" height="578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyliu7bDHyA6QcNpYDFB5ZK6gibcWzXliyM0GbeCNCymuJPNqdL09ag-oNqqtKCCfHtFn9ecO15cZKWz70jPlBdCG5cZdkQJOXwNUJb_7tTxpP0ZWWbpAgoPWCauUHlIWIIWZceVHok9BrhvWBeHp5oK2OuipJkxqSxRXpGa5QudpI_KNAWg8d3uKQqlE/w640-h578/Screenshot%202024-03-27%20at%203.37.30%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p></blockquote><p></p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-58526063768692972942024-03-27T12:09:00.000-07:002024-03-27T12:09:45.002-07:00Buck: Sons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR00O05mDiuzPxtfUcZ-tlPkox2-KW-nzGvlN40kTgctb7K7fo3WYb5T004-xHGsrnS3tLQlAr0WSx3UMGIxNggd9RSQxRZeSTPsddhuYr9rivtsSoO5aYU5mwbj3XG0rsjdejUs4dWp2VJtkKLcjy98xlmm7dH9rFdBRTF5J_HCy-Yq0YhG2_18cl2fI/s826/Screenshot%202024-03-27%20at%203.07.18%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="826" data-original-width="522" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR00O05mDiuzPxtfUcZ-tlPkox2-KW-nzGvlN40kTgctb7K7fo3WYb5T004-xHGsrnS3tLQlAr0WSx3UMGIxNggd9RSQxRZeSTPsddhuYr9rivtsSoO5aYU5mwbj3XG0rsjdejUs4dWp2VJtkKLcjy98xlmm7dH9rFdBRTF5J_HCy-Yq0YhG2_18cl2fI/w253-h400/Screenshot%202024-03-27%20at%203.07.18%20PM.png" width="253" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Sons</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Pearl S. Buck</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Published 1932</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><br /><p></p><div>This was one of my more challenging books to read aloud. Not for context's sake, but because the words did not glide off my tongue as easily. I had this same issue with <i>The Good Earth</i>, the first book in the Good Earth Trilogy. I have not researched Buck's writing style, if it was intentional to the story; it did not read smoothly like butter but more like refrigerated whipped unsalted butter in a tub, which is supposed to be fluffy and smooth and easy to spread, but is actually coarse and rugged. I know...all that to describe how I struggled with reading aloud. </div><div><br /></div><div>But on to the context.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Sons</i> continues where <i>The Good Earth</i> ended. The patriarch, Wang Lung, dies, and his three sons prepare his funeral and divide his property. Each son, who is referred by family name, Wang, and his placement at birth, or later, by a personal characteristic, is unique in his ideals, individuality, and interests. </div><div><br /></div><div>Wang the Eldest is an avaricious, overweight, indolent husband and father who prefers women and idleness. He is known as Wang the Landlord. Wang the Second is business keen and does not complicate his life with wastefulness or extra wives. He is known as Wang the Merchant. But the third brother, Wang the Tiger, who rebelled against his father's will in <i>The Good Earth, </i>has returned briefly for the funeral, and he has been expanding his ambition to build and lead his own military. </div><div><br /></div><div>He realizes he has no son to train up as a soldier to pass on his army of warriors, and he convinces his two older brothers to spare one of their sons each, which they agree. One proves to be fit to serve, but the other fails. Guess which one failed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Meanwhile, the majority of the story focuses on Wang the Tiger's successful schemes to take over existing armies and regions of land. He expands his military and extends his small empire. But what he desires more than anything in the world is a son of his own. He later contradicts his own principles on women and takes two wives in the hope that one of them will give him a son, which does happen. And it is his greatest pride, to the point of worship. </div><div><br /></div><div>Wang the Tiger conditions his son for the military, but as is common, his son does not share his father's desire. He does not want to be a warrior or lead his father's army. For whatever reason, he is more interested in the farmer, agriculture, and the land. It is as if the story has come full circle, back to Wang Lung, the Patriarch.</div><div><br /></div><div>As the story closes, Wang the Tiger's son has returned from "military school" in a new uniform. His father asked, </div><blockquote><div>What strange garb is that you wear?</div></blockquote><p>To which his son replied,</p><blockquote><p>It is the garb of the new army of the revolution.</p></blockquote><p>Wang the Tiger shouted:</p><blockquote><p>It is the army of my enemy! You are my enemy -- I ought to kill you, my son!</p></blockquote><p>The story ends, but it is not final. There is one more in the trilogy: <i>A House Divided.</i> </p><p>Overall, <i>Sons</i> reads like a soap opera. Though I did not include the details of every character in this little blurb, Pearl Buck does not forget about anyone. There is old age and tragedy and death, and plenty of growing up and marriage. The times of China are changing, too. So, we shall see what will become of the House of Wang.</p><blockquote><p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1He3k2zWo7AlwmGr4LSQdPuCH0FPnrlaUCoq68ZsEiG4rW4k3rTAn2_dMTlkQ5ycQRBJ6pHHO4350058cS9ZSnd3izQaSr3bYTioiWtEGblZXc5hCPgUKMxtQf9HXzLpA45NRlERY28B0Hjj8eGj8L9apfDCGv6qgX_ru34osHL9p3TMDzgx4ZdDhgZs/s928/Screenshot%202024-03-27%20at%203.00.34%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="618" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1He3k2zWo7AlwmGr4LSQdPuCH0FPnrlaUCoq68ZsEiG4rW4k3rTAn2_dMTlkQ5ycQRBJ6pHHO4350058cS9ZSnd3izQaSr3bYTioiWtEGblZXc5hCPgUKMxtQf9HXzLpA45NRlERY28B0Hjj8eGj8L9apfDCGv6qgX_ru34osHL9p3TMDzgx4ZdDhgZs/w266-h400/Screenshot%202024-03-27%20at%203.00.34%20PM.png" width="266" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pearl S. Buck (1892 - 1973) </td></tr></tbody></table><p></p></blockquote><blockquote style="text-align: center;">* * * </blockquote>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-30840758651750894302024-03-22T11:41:00.000-07:002024-03-26T05:55:32.988-07:00Hautzig: The Endless Steppe<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6fZwki1zzgxidMO1CvsHGmZ-0-aEmIN0qOYgUk_a9teEyuaQ3Y9TFCdnJg2XZaHqyA3zaotMw8dUdFt8NeoZy2Jy2nZuoZxt9pl-BQ4X7pmKgHIGeqSXIFMZ5kjNEc-CUJeh4hD6ILL93qa-QJpqPQlBYDQdm3s70HUcIZHzzvCHFQFkQvEXMetfXbrY/s1000/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%208.35.21%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="670" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6fZwki1zzgxidMO1CvsHGmZ-0-aEmIN0qOYgUk_a9teEyuaQ3Y9TFCdnJg2XZaHqyA3zaotMw8dUdFt8NeoZy2Jy2nZuoZxt9pl-BQ4X7pmKgHIGeqSXIFMZ5kjNEc-CUJeh4hD6ILL93qa-QJpqPQlBYDQdm3s70HUcIZHzzvCHFQFkQvEXMetfXbrY/w268-h400/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%208.35.21%20PM.png" width="268" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The Endless Steppe</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Esther Hautzig</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Published 1968</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><blockquote><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><i>And I think that someplace inside of me there was something else -- some little pleasurable pride that the little rich girl of Vilna had endured poverty just as well as anyone else. </i></span></blockquote><div style="text-align: right;"><br style="text-align: left;" /></div></div><i><div><i>The Endless Steppe</i> is a true story, a memoir about young Esther Hautzig and her immediate family living in exile on the steppes of Siberia during WWII. During the war, life was comfy and privileged in Poland until Esther and her family were arrested by the Soviet government, accused of being "capitalists," -- what a crime! It took two months by crowded cattle car to arrive in Siberia, where they were assigned to hard labor camps and had little access to food or clothing to sustain themselves through winter.</div></i><div><p></p></div><div>However, thanks to the intervention of Britain, Esther's family was released from their initial assignments and permitted to live in a village where they shared a home with other poor villagers. Esther's parents found menial work in order to survive, and Esther was allowed to go to school. </div><div><br /></div><div>For the next five years, Esther grew up assimilating to the Russian language, the culture, and Soviet nationalism. She made friends and even had a crush. Life was typical for this young teenager; all she desired was to be liked by others and to make friendships. Absolute poverty and near starvation could not suppress her coming-of-age experience. Even a lack of school books and supplies did not prevent her from studying, learning, and excelling.</div><div><br /></div><div>When Esther's father was ordered to the front lines of Russia, Esther, her mother, and grandmother had to be extra resourceful to find food. Esther did her part and learned how to sew to make clothes for others in exchange for milk and potatoes. She also collected food that fell from passing trains, which she did apprehensively because she believed it was theft. </div><div><br /></div><div>At the end of the war, Esther's father returned to Poland, and he wrote to his wife to come home. Esther protested because she felt connected to the steppe -- she had fallen in love with it.</div><blockquote><div><i><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d;">I had come to love the steppe, the huge space, and the solitude. Living in the crowded little huts, the steepe had become the place where a person could think her thoughts, sort out her feelings, and do her dreaming. </span></b></i></div></blockquote><div>But obviously, she must return to Poland. Unfortunately, someone else was living in their home now, and all of their belongings were gone, including the photo albums that Esther had wanted to take when they were arrested. It was a "crushing blow," Esther remembers, that nothing of their past remained.</div><div><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><i><blockquote>And then came the most terrible news of all. It came from survivors of the concentration camps,...all the members of my father's family -- not one of them had survived the German massacre of the Jews. Of my mother's family...My mother's brother, sister, her mother, her aunts and uncles, my beloved cousins, all were dead. </blockquote></i></span></div><div>Here they discovered that their own deportation to Siberia had saved their lives. "Hunger, cold, and misery were nothing; life had been granted" to them. They thanked God. </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">* * *</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I am thankful to have found this little gem because it is a history I knew nothing about. Esther was just a sweet girl full of love for family with an encouraging and joyful spirit. Under such hardship, she rose to the occasion, demonstrating resourcefulness, perseverance, and courage. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It was only after an American presidential candidate had encouraged Esther to write about her personal experiences that she did so. She wrote this autobiographical story as if she were that young girl reliving her days in Siberia again, though over twenty years had passed. Now, gratefully, we have her story forever.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivYF2s_ge0wnRIxX6eIN4kryfPUdUuzWCypTQ03qSIyjJxRHVRQUlLyxRJkDI_xXaQxJyPlLx74x7i2KnNUgAVYdbLni9oan9FRNEcD6JZDKwbeCefJaejUTO5CCSkbqRWaM7F1oKBFXYLLOmZFFNAcXvc1H3oEf1JxiSsk-GBpocSW9GmXBG9BPBHvP0/s350/AVT_Esther-Hautzig_7392.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="345" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivYF2s_ge0wnRIxX6eIN4kryfPUdUuzWCypTQ03qSIyjJxRHVRQUlLyxRJkDI_xXaQxJyPlLx74x7i2KnNUgAVYdbLni9oan9FRNEcD6JZDKwbeCefJaejUTO5CCSkbqRWaM7F1oKBFXYLLOmZFFNAcXvc1H3oEf1JxiSsk-GBpocSW9GmXBG9BPBHvP0/s320/AVT_Esther-Hautzig_7392.webp" width="315" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Esther (Rudomin) Hautzig</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">1930 - 2009</div>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-34609357239603546182024-03-20T07:24:00.000-07:002024-03-21T07:35:15.224-07:00Top Ten Tuesday (late edition): ten books on my spring tbr list<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpeeTpEoBs9VjTCSDnVDvCa4fcrDFx-PgkDQ2UAy3eUo0OWpQ2Iu36mstC2yeBvuyW7BMIxJTQr70J-Wx7hVxK3-tfBNimMoGunAX0L7WrmkwDAMUiFGU2Wb6kZQElUI7tslXfSbUPHEwutz4ezaAIXzuFbALy_dcHqcUrGWiJXETONVw6JM6AYIIWxhA/s778/Screenshot%202024-01-23%20at%209.53.15%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="778" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpeeTpEoBs9VjTCSDnVDvCa4fcrDFx-PgkDQ2UAy3eUo0OWpQ2Iu36mstC2yeBvuyW7BMIxJTQr70J-Wx7hVxK3-tfBNimMoGunAX0L7WrmkwDAMUiFGU2Wb6kZQElUI7tslXfSbUPHEwutz4ezaAIXzuFbALy_dcHqcUrGWiJXETONVw6JM6AYIIWxhA/w400-h183/Screenshot%202024-01-23%20at%209.53.15%20AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If it is at all possible for me to have a seasonal reading list, then this is what it would look like:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These are a given because I mean to read them with my kids as we finish up our school year before June:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Buck: A House Divided</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgArON3nVOlTuOkX8a4Z6dUJs8RrKkfuGOO5WvUZUhoRKPjwhe_8rxVnfg2zHE9pRN6gjm8e4SbgcyeV-vpuv576mg2HntnrhDHEy4h2nfBMMu72TAb0iLv3bpczQi6JF-XqkJUpL_KDP_38k0IUvykA-2GacvxLOdqpGG3ECe8VI6NRrR2AhF7uwXCOkc/s994/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.13.36%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="664" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgArON3nVOlTuOkX8a4Z6dUJs8RrKkfuGOO5WvUZUhoRKPjwhe_8rxVnfg2zHE9pRN6gjm8e4SbgcyeV-vpuv576mg2HntnrhDHEy4h2nfBMMu72TAb0iLv3bpczQi6JF-XqkJUpL_KDP_38k0IUvykA-2GacvxLOdqpGG3ECe8VI6NRrR2AhF7uwXCOkc/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.13.36%20AM.png" width="214" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Park: In Order to Live (reread)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwK8tWY0UsLU41g_PKAaDu7bnTu8-ucu1OKwpMuDRbFVYotJEnYWGnQUAejEKnsS4QVL_61-_GnoeEgh5LGfpMEcn8ocpIQJrO6CegsBixFbzSOTdMXspPdDK-KKV0fjiV91T_M61285zDI_d7aUELY47s7o3uO7Gr49ZmS3xd8slZJrlQpzQX9A2qkE/s934/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.14.33%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="934" data-original-width="602" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwK8tWY0UsLU41g_PKAaDu7bnTu8-ucu1OKwpMuDRbFVYotJEnYWGnQUAejEKnsS4QVL_61-_GnoeEgh5LGfpMEcn8ocpIQJrO6CegsBixFbzSOTdMXspPdDK-KKV0fjiV91T_M61285zDI_d7aUELY47s7o3uO7Gr49ZmS3xd8slZJrlQpzQX9A2qkE/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.14.33%20AM.png" width="206" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Wartski: Boat to Nowhere</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWX3oC4X5mGAHEUk81svRE9YyRlW_pw09do68Sogl4rqslPbutRhC_JvjyV4pKnoSkWcDxjDbkvDktWBeBRmiggX0fqfIbNfd0L7nP41hkREVpP5b1SV3RFfDE7tMADQYweQmV_ngGhLUGIPvJ2xt148oORceJ-c989Zuix45ifZNppHam58SU3Yz5CN8/s916/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.15.24%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="544" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWX3oC4X5mGAHEUk81svRE9YyRlW_pw09do68Sogl4rqslPbutRhC_JvjyV4pKnoSkWcDxjDbkvDktWBeBRmiggX0fqfIbNfd0L7nP41hkREVpP5b1SV3RFfDE7tMADQYweQmV_ngGhLUGIPvJ2xt148oORceJ-c989Zuix45ifZNppHam58SU3Yz5CN8/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.15.24%20AM.png" width="190" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;">Ji-li Jang: Red Scarf Girl</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuUksHgZ_tByfI97XoyojUTGgP1zARKB82wir05ECua_1ZOXW7wx3yW5yuhgnATvgMqH-MVRpoHY9sp7H0G6v3yi05Di_1MRXMgDwnLpW8ebjPdh-3YbMxhRlciD7-BxKzFkWUBSk3eg3_ftUhr8jYJOd3C2J4H4E2HFomkEFZLLOqDdlWJe-iUZevoik/s828/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.16.07%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="554" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuUksHgZ_tByfI97XoyojUTGgP1zARKB82wir05ECua_1ZOXW7wx3yW5yuhgnATvgMqH-MVRpoHY9sp7H0G6v3yi05Di_1MRXMgDwnLpW8ebjPdh-3YbMxhRlciD7-BxKzFkWUBSk3eg3_ftUhr8jYJOd3C2J4H4E2HFomkEFZLLOqDdlWJe-iUZevoik/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.16.07%20AM.png" width="214" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;">And the next books are personal choices. I am slogging through<i> Les Mis</i> right now and am longing for more enjoyable reads, which these would be. So, as soon as I finish LM...:</span></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;">Kovaciny: One Bad Apple</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI30Dwg-1vJJKKaEv1SGTTpElqPY3hCR8Jvc9ZJNs8ypItsuocdehyphenhyphenC2oQ_nRvJW2z_elfSpFWX42MvwCWh-8YRBesFjzr-AF8K8itn5QftQh9wHUllVkt_T66HR0WVDbbKmhEKSvr33-K3ubXeeMuIFRBhvrI4U6tdploIhmBPEo2zejClwtA33G6ue4/s846/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.17.39%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="522" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI30Dwg-1vJJKKaEv1SGTTpElqPY3hCR8Jvc9ZJNs8ypItsuocdehyphenhyphenC2oQ_nRvJW2z_elfSpFWX42MvwCWh-8YRBesFjzr-AF8K8itn5QftQh9wHUllVkt_T66HR0WVDbbKmhEKSvr33-K3ubXeeMuIFRBhvrI4U6tdploIhmBPEo2zejClwtA33G6ue4/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.17.39%20AM.png" width="197" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;">Williams: selected poetry (WEM)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqggYL9g-nyAj4Qq1tGlJapQwb2RNhkZDTy8y8-p8K71IzS2VWHcXVXdxZx8gPjOKz_tIbJZZlYbPIT_pC4hBDS37m3d71aN4GRhF68e9pZAqeQszQYn7CtMQEbQLRsa_xQ_X5HyYmo3qdv1U2X8P1vmB6VAf5cB47jnOHs0Q7qH8vakdTJZ94u9Msdiw/s896/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.18.31%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="612" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqggYL9g-nyAj4Qq1tGlJapQwb2RNhkZDTy8y8-p8K71IzS2VWHcXVXdxZx8gPjOKz_tIbJZZlYbPIT_pC4hBDS37m3d71aN4GRhF68e9pZAqeQszQYn7CtMQEbQLRsa_xQ_X5HyYmo3qdv1U2X8P1vmB6VAf5cB47jnOHs0Q7qH8vakdTJZ94u9Msdiw/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.18.31%20AM.png" width="219" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div>Pound: selected poetry (WEM)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjjQ-fMMTUdsFjYmPqejrYqxjVsQPgbdmaTd9MTYgN-Drs3hGSx5YyyZfoKTJdU5ZXlQWWPVxdRTYQC_loLrDHR_oeBCDKcYRGi-eSHs-FFMzBUknkaYEMjs99SzzWcikyrVsf25todEk4Yf8FlanJbi54jMSLa5et-oTtOPV-0BYQ6XAPln63C_sjAo0/s858/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.20.03%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="558" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjjQ-fMMTUdsFjYmPqejrYqxjVsQPgbdmaTd9MTYgN-Drs3hGSx5YyyZfoKTJdU5ZXlQWWPVxdRTYQC_loLrDHR_oeBCDKcYRGi-eSHs-FFMzBUknkaYEMjs99SzzWcikyrVsf25todEk4Yf8FlanJbi54jMSLa5et-oTtOPV-0BYQ6XAPln63C_sjAo0/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.20.03%20AM.png" width="208" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div>Stewart: Letters of a Woman Homesteader (reread)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNw288MpzDk-EmpfgwVey_QUsDhihHnZRP8k_wfIcTJA04xsiPmJZ6kdAMQo9E8yeLVAB6M4ygdHXEgbtcnhzLbfbd3664zEuJ9I0L3Y2tG3N3vk8oaV2jQJCFuipcfXvihHTLmtO-xN1eM0J93ZB-J0OTM6tm6kh1fC7fPKLCR3KGwdZENVPSCLtKJRU/s944/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.21.00%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="944" data-original-width="586" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNw288MpzDk-EmpfgwVey_QUsDhihHnZRP8k_wfIcTJA04xsiPmJZ6kdAMQo9E8yeLVAB6M4ygdHXEgbtcnhzLbfbd3664zEuJ9I0L3Y2tG3N3vk8oaV2jQJCFuipcfXvihHTLmtO-xN1eM0J93ZB-J0OTM6tm6kh1fC7fPKLCR3KGwdZENVPSCLtKJRU/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.21.00%20AM.png" width="199" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div>Lewis: The Four Loves</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcT8I1R6JhgINhb8_2Xx90umaFXg7uLlMjHwcGVBQAzt1_SBrIN05d8gXfpVPhaAvub8OOMEyaWCL3QMzHN8S5Qrec0IPhL1VGzJmb7PfJMa1DKgTFfsdP8ND6YZXmIvGCwDpbs5DPZlxYyw9SIsZQOyNv6Sh2xt04ygkl_Hu16GTrFZC6VoEMQoLC2us/s816/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.21.34%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="548" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcT8I1R6JhgINhb8_2Xx90umaFXg7uLlMjHwcGVBQAzt1_SBrIN05d8gXfpVPhaAvub8OOMEyaWCL3QMzHN8S5Qrec0IPhL1VGzJmb7PfJMa1DKgTFfsdP8ND6YZXmIvGCwDpbs5DPZlxYyw9SIsZQOyNv6Sh2xt04ygkl_Hu16GTrFZC6VoEMQoLC2us/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.21.34%20AM.png" width="215" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div>Rand: Anthem</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2imdNPQ-ZjEXutv1TuXPuDOfi5glsS29QEbYtg3ooj46o3JHrsnUItIInKBqhE-t8jqHMHCzevQVmK-AAkitBxWkmqlpA0rP_C7ewkAO9EJ6c48oIDlkIm1u4j02Dlrmz3BRRz4pm8dEhjo61Eaj6E5EMP9snmGnauwlgAc8t9p9xfYrdwzBmKaCs2_E/s820/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.22.24%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="544" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2imdNPQ-ZjEXutv1TuXPuDOfi5glsS29QEbYtg3ooj46o3JHrsnUItIInKBqhE-t8jqHMHCzevQVmK-AAkitBxWkmqlpA0rP_C7ewkAO9EJ6c48oIDlkIm1u4j02Dlrmz3BRRz4pm8dEhjo61Eaj6E5EMP9snmGnauwlgAc8t9p9xfYrdwzBmKaCs2_E/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-20%20at%2010.22.24%20AM.png" width="212" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 16.5px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">By the way, I am still reading and will continue to read these through the spring...</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;">Fraser (ed): The Little House Books </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">McGee: Through the Bible (Vol. 1 - V)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">...and a few others.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">🙄</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-62672886420179976182024-03-19T18:59:00.000-07:002024-03-19T19:29:24.851-07:00Well-Educated Mind Poetry: Carl Sandburg<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MWcjJhDr_RnD_M0WkoYD9O8z6xxcq5iWPJdEWoiOdMjAq7QxTWIEhB47gaCmN7PSCuzhpDQujNGbOh-C8pOVuHwCPLRzl2kCJYQG3FUOMWGisyz5mIicDqyXtOn74V1bjVBs7yN-RrjEIEjE4pODwy1pa1Tf9i97aFKag1QuHcgBzNxci-jP2zTdsUI/s1412/Screenshot%202024-03-19%20at%208.03.46%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1412" data-original-width="1194" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MWcjJhDr_RnD_M0WkoYD9O8z6xxcq5iWPJdEWoiOdMjAq7QxTWIEhB47gaCmN7PSCuzhpDQujNGbOh-C8pOVuHwCPLRzl2kCJYQG3FUOMWGisyz5mIicDqyXtOn74V1bjVBs7yN-RrjEIEjE4pODwy1pa1Tf9i97aFKag1QuHcgBzNxci-jP2zTdsUI/w339-h400/Screenshot%202024-03-19%20at%208.03.46%20PM.png" width="339" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Carl Sandburg</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">American Poet</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">1878 - 1967</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-well-educated-mind-booklist.html" target="_blank">Well-Educated Mind Poetry</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐</div><p>American poet Carl Sandburg had a fascinating life. Born in Illinois, in 1878, to immigrant parents, he dropped out of school at age thirteen to work and support his family. At nineteen, he took a train west and worked as a laborer. Then he enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private in the Spanish-American War. After the war, he attended college, though he did not graduate. Nonetheless, he was already writing poetry and even publishing some of his works. </p><p></p><p>Next, he worked as a traveling salesman and then a party organizer for the Social Democrats. And finally, he performed a variety of jobs in the newspaper industry as a journalist, reporter, war correspondent, movie critic, and columnist. </p><p>But it was his wife, Lilian Steichen, who encouraged him to write more poetry -- and seriously. In his lifetime, he had produced over 1600 poems, writing in free verse about social ills, the human spirit, cultures, adventures, the American nation, heroes, corruption, obstacles, nature, and obviously much more. </p><p>In 1964, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon Johnson. And, of course, he was given awards and prizes for his poetry, as well. But he won a Pulitzer Prize for his historical biography of Abraham Lincoln, which I am interested in reading, if I make time for it, particularly because I own it -- yay!! </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDGVZkfVRHaBeXhEDKDN_W9G6RIU4aPt2qd29nJ3qGdFBG47xbzyn3GeCNYD54MyOTgB2CWtKxhIto1Qxi3WEv8qZxH-9c6NqhmbX9bFdX0e00C14-DCMi9xmj7R6CImggufR7s957tFhDZ0ahX81Y4KsTptjumMGiMvmkBMyOIBc6l21F-mXCZS6hLoA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2684" data-original-width="2684" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDGVZkfVRHaBeXhEDKDN_W9G6RIU4aPt2qd29nJ3qGdFBG47xbzyn3GeCNYD54MyOTgB2CWtKxhIto1Qxi3WEv8qZxH-9c6NqhmbX9bFdX0e00C14-DCMi9xmj7R6CImggufR7s957tFhDZ0ahX81Y4KsTptjumMGiMvmkBMyOIBc6l21F-mXCZS6hLoA=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Abraham Lincoln</i> - Carl Sandburg</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>Following are the suggested poems I read for The Well-Educated Mind Poetry list:</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Chicago</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Cool Tombs</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Elizabeth Umpstead</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Fog</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Grass</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">I am the People, the Mob</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Nocturne in a Desert Brickyard</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">The People, Yes</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Planked Whitefish</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Skyscraper</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Smoke and Steel</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Window</span></span></p><p>Some of these I found clever and intriguing, but I was not as inspired or moved like I was with Robert Frost or Paul Laurence Dunbar. The poems by Sandburg were more political or socialist in thought or difficult topics in general, not warm and fuzzy or pleasant. Many of the aforementioned poems were odd and left me speechless in a empty way. I did not have anything to say about them on GoodReads. I read them and said, "Ooookaaay." Then I moved on. </p><p>But I understand he wrote directly from his personal experiences and observations, and these were things that needed to be said in his time. So, he spoke them in prose.</p><p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-26626345161640582662024-02-21T12:27:00.000-08:002024-03-18T16:21:08.494-07:00Bob Laurent: Watchman Nee: Sufferer for China<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgND52on8-5NMDdW82PGiamVWSlBcDEaOYRG6mAGfeyH-KukpB0JdLuJL0I89FsgIYR-DktzsNq7NA3zWRMwxTi_6TM552DvFWRUdP8AaZTYPjObmFkQIgAbLjZ1R2zb6k7qckjHhBkTPFy5BZ4wX-nITdDuAa6RojkrldZbpUHP2982wC7z9Y4kHn-xE/s992/Screenshot%202024-02-13%20at%206.42.06%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="638" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgND52on8-5NMDdW82PGiamVWSlBcDEaOYRG6mAGfeyH-KukpB0JdLuJL0I89FsgIYR-DktzsNq7NA3zWRMwxTi_6TM552DvFWRUdP8AaZTYPjObmFkQIgAbLjZ1R2zb6k7qckjHhBkTPFy5BZ4wX-nITdDuAa6RojkrldZbpUHP2982wC7z9Y4kHn-xE/w258-h400/Screenshot%202024-02-13%20at%206.42.06%20PM.png" width="258" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Watchman Nee: Sufferer for China</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Bob Laurent</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐ </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>To start, this is a juvenile read, and it is perfect for youth; therefore, my rating is based on my overall personal reading experience. However, the biographical story of Nee T'o-sheng, or Watchman Nee, is no less impactful. <div><br /></div><div>Christianity took a thousand years to reach the Eastern world, and by then China was fixed in superstition, legalism, and the teachings of Buddha and Confucius. When England declared war on China in the early 1800s, it opened the doorway for Protestant Christians to start schools and missions. In the 1850s, Nee's grandfather became a believer and broke the pagan practices in his family, becoming the first Chinese evangelist of Foochow, China. </div><div><br /></div><div>In his young adulthood, Nee T'o-sheng recognized his own sin and need for the Savior. He saw what Christ had done for him on the cross and immediately wept, repented, and experienced joy and peace. To mark this milestone in his life, T'o-sheng changed his name to Watchman Nee.</div><div><br /></div><div>While Mao Tse-tung was converting to the atheistic religion of Karl Marx, Nee was laying the foundation for the Christian church in China. It was a woman, Margaret Barber, who was his mentor, and helped him in his Christian mission. She taught him to remain humble and "stay broken." It was through this ideal that Nee never defended himself, especially when falsely accused. He explained, "Brothers, if people trust us, there is no need to explain; if people do not trust us, there is no use in explaining." </div><div><br /></div><div>He also learned the lesson of the cross. He taught that if one "cannot stand the trials of the cross, [one] cannot become a useful instrument [of God]. It was from Barber that he developed his lifelong motto:</div><blockquote><div><b><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">I want nothing for myself: I want everything for the Lord.</span></i></b></div></blockquote><div>And Nee lived exactly this way for the remainder of his life. Though he experienced poor health, he continued steadfast in his ministry, writing and teaching and leading believers and laying the foundation for churches throughout China. He worked hard to keep the Chinese church humble and true, grounded in the word of God, during a time when "...lukewarm religious secularism, denominational jealousies and prideful, compromised ecclesiastes had paralyzed the movement..." Corruption had found its way into the church, and he was determined to eradicate it.</div><div><br /></div><div>But another conflict was brewing, as China was engaged in a civil war between the Nationalists and Marxists. "[Nee] understood the consequences to Christianity if a government founded on the hostile atheism of Marxist ideology came to power." While Nee was hopeful, understanding that "...the end of this world is the start of a better one," he held fast and recited a fellow believer:</div><blockquote><div><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><b><i>The Lord sat as King at the Flood; He sits as King forever!</i></b></span></div></blockquote><p>After prayer and patience, knowing there was not much time left to act, Nee and his fellow workers moved to spread the gospel like never before. </p><p>On New Year's Day, 1951, Watchman Nee preached his final recorded sermon, encouraging believers to count on the Lord, trust Him, and seek His blessings because the only guarantee "...is that you will be persecuted for living a godly life in Christ Jesus."</p><p>On April 10, 1952, Nee was arrested and charged as a "lawless capitalist." He remained imprisoned for twenty years. Even after his initial fifteen-year term was up, he was denied release; while not much is known of his time in prison, it was apparent that he refused to convert to the religion of Communism. He entered his eternal rest on June 1, 1972.</p><p>He once said, </p><blockquote><p><b><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">to what are we committed? Not to Christian work, but to the will of God, to be and to do whatever He pleases. The path of every Christian has been already marked out by God. If at the close of a life we can say with Paul, 'I have finished my course,' then we are blessed indeed. the Old Testament saints served their own generation and passed on. Men go, but the Lord remains. God Himself takes away His workers, but He gives others. Our work suffers, but never His. He is still God. </span></i></b></p></blockquote><p> </p><div><div><div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIZHMQ_uJe4vJQXa7NACPIo1U_V3CyHByqTHfeJG0d_fDevEIj0TYxwzsntc6x5-3rMNJVTUQdJRzLLKiBpD7wtbuU_5OkBNZ0JJld0xOCqjWSvIyGEGn3jPSdIjIgmDsuG0b0azHe3n-TARRke8ZXMguLos-KXO1L91S2NPFM6uldnN0UqejGj0wM-Vo/s550/watchman%20nee.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="550" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIZHMQ_uJe4vJQXa7NACPIo1U_V3CyHByqTHfeJG0d_fDevEIj0TYxwzsntc6x5-3rMNJVTUQdJRzLLKiBpD7wtbuU_5OkBNZ0JJld0xOCqjWSvIyGEGn3jPSdIjIgmDsuG0b0azHe3n-TARRke8ZXMguLos-KXO1L91S2NPFM6uldnN0UqejGj0wM-Vo/w400-h400/watchman%20nee.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #040c28; font-size: 20px; text-align: left;">Nee T'o-sheng ~ 1903 - 1972</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;">* * *</div></div></div></div></div>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-371728031357038652024-02-20T16:09:00.000-08:002024-03-18T16:21:25.956-07:00Well-Educated Mind Poetry: Robert Frost<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhitrIfbLInRbJLEOHu6Q2nKz8BRF49Uhr8ny_KOCMO2GbIrnAwlXnCOg9vQgEqcn_8wDGtcGBweEctIZNV0-JuOROmGhqCALW3p5H8kCyCmwE3LmQiA9aJu1dsDJoywXCE0azdgf2fG3qPch42xcDcdFRaNfCw8RYkQOksjrnTdvQgzgcjj_aedmUSpUw/s698/Screenshot%202024-02-20%20at%209.27.42%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="658" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhitrIfbLInRbJLEOHu6Q2nKz8BRF49Uhr8ny_KOCMO2GbIrnAwlXnCOg9vQgEqcn_8wDGtcGBweEctIZNV0-JuOROmGhqCALW3p5H8kCyCmwE3LmQiA9aJu1dsDJoywXCE0azdgf2fG3qPch42xcDcdFRaNfCw8RYkQOksjrnTdvQgzgcjj_aedmUSpUw/w378-h400/Screenshot%202024-02-20%20at%209.27.42%20AM.png" width="378" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Robert Frost</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">American Poet</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">1874 - 1963</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-well-educated-mind-booklist.html" target="_blank">Well-Educated Mind Poetry</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐⭐ </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The next poet on the WEM poetry list was Robert Frost, one of America's most notable poets. Frost was born and grew up in San Francisco, California, in 1874, until his father passed away, when he and his mother moved to Massachusetts. In adulthood, he and his wife had six children, two who died in infancy. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He worked odd jobs much of his life, before he became recognized as a poet, which happened while he and his family were staying in the United Kingdom, in 1912. He was directly impacted by rural living; in fact, many of his poems reflect his love and connection with the country life.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After returning to the United States, he bought farmland in New Hampshire, where he continued writing realistic poetry about nature, social and philosophical issues, personal loss, life choices, and New England country life. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It may be evident from his poetry that he suffered many disappointments throughout his long life, including depression and mental illness in his family. He lost his parents to illness, his sister to cancer, and a daughter to mental illness. He himself suffered with bouts of depression. Maybe it was his ability to express himself through poetry that enabled him to overcome. Maybe writing prepared him to work through his loss. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Frost is a cultural icon, and my little blurb about him is a trifle compared to what can be said about his literary achievements. I can mention this fact: he won numerous awards in poetry, including four Pulitzer Prizes. But the memorable of all, I think, is that he was invited to read his poetry -- the first time in U.S. presidential inaugural history -- by President John Kennedy during his inauguration on January 20, 1961. He was expected to read his poem "Dedication," but the glare of the sun and blowing of the wind prevented him from reading from his paper; hence, he recited from memory, "The Gift Outright." In the end, God preferred the later and directed history.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">The land was ours before we were the land’s </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">She was our land more than a hundred years </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Before we were her people. She was ours </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">In Massachusetts, in Virginia, </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">But we were England’s, still colonials, </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Possessing what we still were unpossessed by, </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Possessed by what we now no more possessed. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Something we were withholding made us weak </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Until we found out that it was ourselves </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">We were withholding from our land of living, </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">And forthwith found salvation in surrender. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Such as we were we gave ourselves outright </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">(The deed of gift was many deeds of war) </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">To the land vaguely realizing westward, </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced, </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; text-align: start;" /><span face="lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Such as she was, such as she will become.</span></span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8lpQA4zF0yUo1WpDNlXRa4CgZGd2QEf4AlJFvWIINvyLc8tmE-0guPyNEhbn7yAUWVZ4-Osu17JlfKaHSOaJjQkImXKTq2HCiSNDii3styLW_q7QueqH4DPQ37MpddSqvkYTvPzpAJegflWe_pCgQeRtrWFMkdtGNovtRhagLN9H6gI3PGmkQxGWkVvk/s600/frostjfk1.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="600" height="526" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8lpQA4zF0yUo1WpDNlXRa4CgZGd2QEf4AlJFvWIINvyLc8tmE-0guPyNEhbn7yAUWVZ4-Osu17JlfKaHSOaJjQkImXKTq2HCiSNDii3styLW_q7QueqH4DPQ37MpddSqvkYTvPzpAJegflWe_pCgQeRtrWFMkdtGNovtRhagLN9H6gI3PGmkQxGWkVvk/w640-h526/frostjfk1.webp" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frost reciting his poem @ JFK Inauguration</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here are the selected poems I read. Favorites are in blue.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #45818e;">After Apple Picking</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #45818e;">Birches</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Death of the Hired Man</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Departmental</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Design</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Fire and Ice</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Home Burial</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #45818e;">Mending Wall</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Mowing</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Need of Being Versed in Country Things</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #45818e;">Nothing Gold Can Stay</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Pasture</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #45818e;">Putting in the Seed</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #45818e;">The Road Not Taken </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #45818e;">Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To Earthward</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Trespass</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Wood-Pile</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">* * *</div><p></p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-29805960833992248932024-02-15T14:28:00.000-08:002024-03-18T16:21:40.340-07:00F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdskZfgRNLhfOP8xD_HukIz_oL9I2wrSQakbWzdd7kkeSZdp_Y1oBYSPLnFKZ-FUEHpIsM7Y-hYHGPkn3OZ6aPkr5vUGDv1P2Tw4R18Y_I0KJdqXloqfXu3WvHwV30B0qbxWHOePuf1TH0xs-wKdOuAHpSw10xuzGDZGwZYQ85ao8hi8d7zgraZjlDWqs/s1188/Screenshot%202024-02-13%20at%206.37.01%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1188" data-original-width="808" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdskZfgRNLhfOP8xD_HukIz_oL9I2wrSQakbWzdd7kkeSZdp_Y1oBYSPLnFKZ-FUEHpIsM7Y-hYHGPkn3OZ6aPkr5vUGDv1P2Tw4R18Y_I0KJdqXloqfXu3WvHwV30B0qbxWHOePuf1TH0xs-wKdOuAHpSw10xuzGDZGwZYQ85ao8hi8d7zgraZjlDWqs/w273-h400/Screenshot%202024-02-13%20at%206.37.01%20PM.png" width="273" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The Great Gatsby</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">F. Scott Fitzgerald</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Published 1925</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">reread</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-great-gatsby-by-f-scott-fitzgerald.html" target="_blank">first read <i>The Great Gatsby</i></a> for <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-well-educated-mind-booklist.html" target="_blank">The Well-Educated Mind reading challenge</a> in 2013; it was unforgettable then and still is this second time. It has been (almost) a century since this tragic story had first been shared. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>The Great Gatsby </i>is quintessentially American literature, particularly because it highlights the "American Dream," the unique ideal that with hard work, determination, and ambition, anyone, regardless of status, can succeed. At the time of publication, some in America were experiencing great wealth, and the variance between rich and poor was considerable. Seemingly, the American Dream appeared unreachable for many. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This was a very personal story for Fitzgerald, almost autobiographical; but when I think of one of the important statements made by Nick, our narrator (our eyes), I feel like this story is more universal than personal or just American. The statement is this: </div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><b>They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up their mess they had made...</b></span></i></div></blockquote><p><b>A LITTLE STORY FIRST</b></p><p>Tom and Daisy were a married couple living in the opulent end of a fictional town on Long Island. They lived idle lives, lounging away their days. Nick, the narrator, was an essential character who moved into the lower (though still wealthy) end of the area, next door to a self-made man named Jay Gatsby. </p><p>Mr. Gatsby had a romantic past with the aforementioned Daisy; though she was wealthy -- and he not -- I think she still loved him as he was, albeit for his great ideas and ambitions. Nonetheless, he was off to the Great War, and by the time he returned to Daisy, she had already married Tom, unwilling to wait for Gatsby. He still believed he could attract her, if he could build up and grow his status in order to sustain her with material goods and wealth -- after all, she loved money.</p><p>That was why he purchased property across the Bay from where Daisy lived with Tom. Nick narrated the story as Gatsby's new neighbor, but Nick also knew Tom and Daisy, and it is through Nick that Gatsby arranged for Daisy to come back into his life. She was star struck by his wealth. To some degree. </p><p>Those substantial parties that occurred at his mansion were opportunities to draw and capture Daisy. However, for a time, they attracted hordes of boorish, negligent, rich strangers who spread rumors about the host of the residence. Although everyone knew of him and enjoyed his grand premises and material abundance, no one really knew the truth about who Jay Gatsby was. Even Nick struggled with the truth.</p><p><b>SPOILERS:</b></p><p>The tragic turning point in the story materialized when Nick, Gatsby, Tom, Daisy, and Jordan rode into the city with nothing better to do than drink, complain, and argue. Afterward, Daisy and Gatsby returned to Long Island in Gatsby's car. Then, following some moments behind, Nick, Jordan, and Tom, in Tom's car, stopped to see an incident that had occurred near a gas station owned by Wilson, a man Tom knew. The man's wife, Myrtle, had just been struck by a fancy speeding car, killing her instantly. She was Tom's mistress! </p><p>Immediately, due to the description of the vehicle, it was determined that it was Gatsby's car which struck and killed the woman. It was only a matter of hours before Tom had told Wilson whom the vehicle belonged to; but Tom never learned (at least that we can tell) what Gatsby had told Nick: that it was Daisy who had been driving. </p><p>You can guess what happened next: revenge, murder, and suicide. </p><p>Finally, it disgusted Nick that those who recklessly frequented Gatsby's parties and those who considered themselves business partners and the like, now had or wanted nothing to do with Gatsby. No one cared enough to attend the funeral. They abused his mansion, took advantage of his liberality, and walked away without any accountability or care for his life.</p><p><b>SPOILERS ENDED</b></p><p>In the end, Nick had developed a respectable understanding of who Gatsby was. Gatsby set high standards for himself and he worked hard; but he also participated in illegal activity to achieve his new economic status. And while Daisy was his ideal of the American Dream -- after all, he did all this for her -- she chose to stay married to Tom. She eluded Gatsby, just like all the rich party-goers had abandoned him at his death; and Wilson who had a rough time getting ahead (who could not even keep his wife satisfied); and the many others in the City who worked and worked and got nowhere; so too, the American Dream seemed to elude them. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Z-m_wlG__lgk3JXUvukbRZaAWPYacHvAHDHKxGFAYAVdnWlOOOokOyGqpSWKMb09opA9oGef82zGi-dYrwCp5dlm-Vu2i5JwZ3eHJMCKqFOHDp4HLWcYTdGYJeSRYmACWD0IV9pZSgxtsO7KXm0rdqKOJbhIu7uKfMG5yLcrvkCIw59r1QylZPDnngc/s1256/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%205.26.26%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="1256" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Z-m_wlG__lgk3JXUvukbRZaAWPYacHvAHDHKxGFAYAVdnWlOOOokOyGqpSWKMb09opA9oGef82zGi-dYrwCp5dlm-Vu2i5JwZ3eHJMCKqFOHDp4HLWcYTdGYJeSRYmACWD0IV9pZSgxtsO7KXm0rdqKOJbhIu7uKfMG5yLcrvkCIw59r1QylZPDnngc/w640-h426/Screenshot%202024-02-15%20at%205.26.26%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/1920s-art" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><b>BUT IS THIS TRUTH?</b></p><p>Interestingly, the American Dream was not for people like Tom and Daisy because they were born into wealth and status. Instead, they carelessly made messes of other lives -- in this case, Gatsby, Wilson, and Myrtle -- and then they walked away, without conscience, from the lives they ruined. People were disposable to the Toms and Daisies of the world. The same can be said about the rich party-goers since they did not care about what had happened to Gatsby. They just moved on. </p><p>This disregard for human life is a bad universal human trait and does not matter if you are wealthy or poor. People are selfish and they use and discard others after they have no more need of them. Other than that, Fitzgerald argued that the American Dream was difficult to attain (period). For Gatsby, his American Dream was behind him, unable to ever reach it. And since his Dream was Daisy, an idol, he set himself up to fail.</p><p>The American Dream is subjective because if a people are free, they will form their own absolute of what success looks like, and they will determine the goal. There are many roads to similar goals, too. In addition, one's morality or lack thereof, as well as personal circumstances, abilities, and talents will affect one's outcome. Gatsby, Wilson, and Myrtle did not exactly make right choices, either. And while we only think Tom and Daisy evaded consequences, in reality, destructive decisions catch up to you sooner or later, no matter your status. The truth always is exposed.</p><p>Yes, I think there is some truth to Fitzgerald's idea that the American Dream may be enigmatic and becoming more fleeting. Innumerable obstacles and challenges exist for all people. And in the 1920s, there were intentional obstacles to different people groups as well. But I believe those barriers have since been lifted, and frankly, the greatest hindrance to upward mobility today is government, if upward mobility is your Dream. However, as long as one has liberty and independence, he can choose his path, head straight, and at least strive and persevere, God willing. And Nick understood this and was encouraged to know that at least people still believed in the </p><blockquote><p><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><i>green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther....And one fine morning...</i></span></b></p></blockquote><p></p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-12468130299066503982024-01-31T19:59:00.000-08:002024-03-18T16:21:55.477-07:00Edith Wharton: The House of Mirth<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJIz0TtcQx-z7dpgsJlX7c3v1gZOaLaL_GovejpijWfacyiJjMbK9SS6Kwfc-dLwfJJWdYhZ43JjwEOHkWqldDy-ufhDpgD92V8OgzS5RRsBUUZ_Fv-Ner8RReZSVJzSA0GCxgioctqlUcknPGqG-DkHO8gh9rl458rv9UgRCHNag-DWHnJHuAHhp2JM/s2626/IMG_7393.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2626" data-original-width="2626" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJIz0TtcQx-z7dpgsJlX7c3v1gZOaLaL_GovejpijWfacyiJjMbK9SS6Kwfc-dLwfJJWdYhZ43JjwEOHkWqldDy-ufhDpgD92V8OgzS5RRsBUUZ_Fv-Ner8RReZSVJzSA0GCxgioctqlUcknPGqG-DkHO8gh9rl458rv9UgRCHNag-DWHnJHuAHhp2JM/w400-h400/IMG_7393.jpeg" width="400" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><b>The House of Mirth</b></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Edith Wharton</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Published 1905</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A woman in Lily Bart's world had only two options: marriage or death. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lily was special -- primed to marry well, to be "decorative" and "ornamental," particularly for her exquisite beauty, and conditioned to avoid a "dingy" life. Except, Lily struggled to make decisions and had missed a few earlier opportunities to marry well. Now she was closer to being beyond marriageable age. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unfortunately, Lily had expensive taste and was obsessed with money; and she was poor, sustained only by the pity of a wealthy aunt. She complained that men had a choice to marry or remain single, but women did not. If women were to appear successful and rich, they must marry into "partnership" with a successful man. Therefore, Lily was holding out for that unique man who was successful, well-off, and could also bring her happiness. But who?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Selden was a good friend to Lily, but he was not wealthy, and Lily knew he could never financially satisfy her thirst to keep up with high society. And yet, she considered him the "richest man she had ever met." He was free from the restraints of society. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Regrettably, high society was exhausting because there were so many rules that women had to obey, and many rules were hypocritical. Lily also felt the pressure to gamble because that is what women in her circle were expected to do. Lily's gambling addiction later cost her everything. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">Lily frustrated me</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Up to this point, Lily had frustrated me. She was malleable, indecisive, and foolish. And while I added up all of the lies she had told to cover her wretched lifestyle or to save herself from mortification, she showed a glimmer of noble character. Lily had received evidence that a married woman in her circle of acquaintances had pursued a romantic affair with Selden through letters. But instead of confronting either party, she kept the information to herself, specifically to protect her good friend; however, it could have been used to blackmail the wicked married woman who intentionally singled out Lily, took advantage of her, and finally, out of jealousy, sabotaged her reputation with rumors and, thus, isolated her from society. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It seemed everyone and everything had turned against Lily. She did not belong to that harsh "other world." Selden saw this clearly. He loved her and wanted to rescue her from it, but he could not help her. She was all alone. </div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><i>That's Lily all over, you know: she works like a slave preparing the ground and sowing her seed; but the day she ought to be reaping the harvest she oversleeps herself or goes off on a picnic. </i></span></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One of my own marginal notes stated: Lily would have married a rich prince, but <u>self-sabotage is always her end</u>. I don't think Lily wants to be married after all. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This story was hardly over when Lily's worldly aunt died of humiliation. She was outraged with her niece because of the rumors she had heard about Lily's "folly" and, therefore, decreased her legacy, leaving her in an extremely precarious circumstance. Lily had expected to pay off her debt with the inheritance, but now it could hardly be enough.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lily was desperate and thought about a prosperous man who once admired and sought to marry her. She had declined because she knew she would have settled. Since circumstances had changed, she reconsidered marriage with him; however, he was no longer interested because her reputation had been tarnished. Yet, he knew about the damaging letters and the affairs of that particular woman who had ruined Lily, and he encouraged Lily to come out with the truth -- repairing her own reputation and "making her marriageable again." But because of her noble courage, she would not drag Selden's name through the mud. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">Lily salvages my opinion of herself</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">By Book Two, Chapter Eight, I wrote: "Lily is a bigger person (even flawed) than all of us." She had declined in society, and yet, she refused to compromise her convictions. Not only was she alone -- she was invisible.</div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><i>Hitherto her intermittent impulses of resistance had sufficed to maintain her self-respect.</i></span></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lily eventually resided at a boarding house and worked as a laborer, until that ended. And like <i>Madame Bovary</i>, she resorted to drugs to help her sleeplessness. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgbZ-t2iJdhNwKphCBIixewllcYvcewBinkUyFUSc8GrKv3qsbcx6LkiknAGVoVwC0rVFJE4ijWlbDPa2QuZLm5UJv6kGq_pqBU-2lZrH0Ajv5ifgGbs1tU5ct71t4DMS0WNLpoSqDAaNr3UkFFbHzppbwYNENQ-8wUsa0fi_vLlaT_BRnUEAYini-yjTU" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1434" data-original-width="868" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgbZ-t2iJdhNwKphCBIixewllcYvcewBinkUyFUSc8GrKv3qsbcx6LkiknAGVoVwC0rVFJE4ijWlbDPa2QuZLm5UJv6kGq_pqBU-2lZrH0Ajv5ifgGbs1tU5ct71t4DMS0WNLpoSqDAaNr3UkFFbHzppbwYNENQ-8wUsa0fi_vLlaT_BRnUEAYini-yjTU=w241-h400" width="241" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reynolds: Mrs. Lloyd, 1775-76</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span></b><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">Lily learned a lesson too late</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the final pages, Lily learned one simple lesson. She met a young working-girl whom she had once helped. The girl had married now and was a mother, and Lily had the opportunity to witness the "central truth of existence:" this young family was built in poverty, with faith and courage. They did not have the financial security of high society, but they were free to love each other and be happy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the end, she remained true to her word, and when her aunt's cheque arrived, she paid off all of her debts. She could have been happy with Selden, but she made her choice. This was the end for Lily. She will never have her life back. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><b>A little soapbox</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Though the demise of Lily is tragic, much of it was self-imposed. She complained about what it cost for [her] "to live <i>on</i> the rich":</div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">--it's a privilege we have to pay for! We eat their dinners and drink their wine, and smoke their cigarettes, and use their carriages and their opera-boxes and their private cares -- yes, but there's a tax to pay on every one of those luxuries...the girl pays it by tips and cards too -- oh, yes, I've had to take up bridge again -- and by going to the best dress-makers, and having just the right dress for every occasion, and always keeping herself fresh and exquisite and amusing!</span></i></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For Lily, her greatest fear was poverty; <u>but</u> it should have been fear of facing an angry God. I know that was not the point of the story, but I see it this way: man's problems are not caused by the discrepancy between rich and poor; man's problems are caused by his disobedience toward God and doing everything his own way. And that is why Lily was lost, indecisive, and obsessed with wealth. All of those people were lost because they lived life their way -- with gossip, adultery, covetousness, self-preservation, greed, materialism, lying, slothfulness, self-worship -- we know our ways are self-destructive; but there is a better way. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">Nonetheless...</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>The House of Mirth</i> is an intriguing and calculating story - never a dull chapter. The characters are believable, even as caricatures of society. And Edith Wharton is an exceptionally mature writer. She knows the human heart thoroughly and, I'm afraid, does not exaggerate or hide any rotten detail at all. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is my second read of <i>House of Mirth</i>, and on some pages, I ran out of room in the margins to add any new notes. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you have only considered reading <i>House of Mirth</i> or any other Edith Wharton, what are you waiting for? Do it now. You will not regret it.</div><p></p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-85016881764774514532024-01-23T07:18:00.000-08:002024-01-23T07:18:46.690-08:00Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Meant to Read in 2023, but...<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="778" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgxV3SUyg0nsCEYEAhqDZC2qISD8fyv1LubACVwTgxjgMO3HwW7XWaQEJnEYkH4nktbe97O2_acvgcPoQzBBuOlmuH9V9csoNavsY-3w82jmY25-iEzsnvgjsMr-zdgpFICUwZ3cGqBYj2MiXevwotvZsriVKx_sSoMEzQxyMRBunzyCclVEQPIIOuY7E0" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>These were the books I <i>planned</i> to read in 2023, but...I did not get to them. There were more than ten, but these are the TOP ten books that I wish I did, should have, and probably will later this year. (Right.)<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXBfriQKqhQqj5qgYcS6wm7VcuLednhmprj7hwQCZslvQd5RxdmTbD7kTnYgj9qgHT8to9V2Mzk7Ue_0tUuDPYVH4mHFmNkhcjVwQ3j56af0lH_b3AGeFbKfiwbK2mqKheG5aHXRARbickCBZ-o6k5omXX4ctB4EY5kLZZgdhUy627etJwbEzLbImRnSc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="948" data-original-width="628" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXBfriQKqhQqj5qgYcS6wm7VcuLednhmprj7hwQCZslvQd5RxdmTbD7kTnYgj9qgHT8to9V2Mzk7Ue_0tUuDPYVH4mHFmNkhcjVwQ3j56af0lH_b3AGeFbKfiwbK2mqKheG5aHXRARbickCBZ-o6k5omXX4ctB4EY5kLZZgdhUy627etJwbEzLbImRnSc" width="159" /></a></div><p></p><p>1. Lewis: The Four Loves - Planning to read this year, for certain.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhabcrTYKfhl56EyRElQkDAivOJoN-x4uFfIUK5V-cbPFbK9i7x2OV0kH_JyW6n5Y8NqmLe0ZUsxOAWUyOjt-FVkLweqmjXcCJPRI5hw50SDzSbQntIJqFgTc1ND9jmq0uHNGRu5zOZeaqOh7L0hM7eh_89y47oarEZVA18Cvv6g_7gwGsQVGdSdUYHah4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="574" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhabcrTYKfhl56EyRElQkDAivOJoN-x4uFfIUK5V-cbPFbK9i7x2OV0kH_JyW6n5Y8NqmLe0ZUsxOAWUyOjt-FVkLweqmjXcCJPRI5hw50SDzSbQntIJqFgTc1ND9jmq0uHNGRu5zOZeaqOh7L0hM7eh_89y47oarEZVA18Cvv6g_7gwGsQVGdSdUYHah4" width="159" /></a></div><br />2. Goldman: The Princess Bride - But I still don't feel like reading this. I'm very mixed.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1YJoHi_eCRBu-v_WbrsgcuPG360k0e66EvW6Nov8WQ0Oc_xbXhncOx8p6S-ToBXtqIe9sP5Mhuk0ZL-Zsbl4sBmEW_cvWFTjT1sF6cKYwjMQ2QCO8hZv9aHLGiymBnk3WrNUm_I17dwcTuQv8Pz6XcuQpLcf4QcnxbC3DdYtXQNkJEPQqU9wbEX2HLHI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="476" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1YJoHi_eCRBu-v_WbrsgcuPG360k0e66EvW6Nov8WQ0Oc_xbXhncOx8p6S-ToBXtqIe9sP5Mhuk0ZL-Zsbl4sBmEW_cvWFTjT1sF6cKYwjMQ2QCO8hZv9aHLGiymBnk3WrNUm_I17dwcTuQv8Pz6XcuQpLcf4QcnxbC3DdYtXQNkJEPQqU9wbEX2HLHI" width="147" /></a></div><p></p><p>3. Rand: Anthem - I may try this this year.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVsPeIJud9fx-2hn9qQc_cnWNM9xrlI11GPOPLtjTRTSuSjToNNRyChZ1Hp6hXLK0674RH87TyEZ8nc2cFFe4Ogi04SkKLwi-BmWcFEfCq70lRBx2hBz4FTKBEIsKH3LBYcq6W-HyMOQ5PRQp0MZG8Al9mp5U7IUbzF9D6iTLun1HFiaD35WCEiusr3WI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="410" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVsPeIJud9fx-2hn9qQc_cnWNM9xrlI11GPOPLtjTRTSuSjToNNRyChZ1Hp6hXLK0674RH87TyEZ8nc2cFFe4Ogi04SkKLwi-BmWcFEfCq70lRBx2hBz4FTKBEIsKH3LBYcq6W-HyMOQ5PRQp0MZG8Al9mp5U7IUbzF9D6iTLun1HFiaD35WCEiusr3WI" width="165" /></a></div><p></p><p>4. Rand: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal - But I may wait on this one. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXziWcgjt37ahLUEmvjMCJoYFnkVDvKCCpLvCzWTyb2wu9aRrESYQIbfBBY5dJHnZ1ne4odcD5KFL1wvthsSytEFMd97ia_9Ku0YY09fr5y0yAhOTtKnru-leVfBewz51tWRncwaSVYsfWl07PT_5PaOSezg4Dkifi8Qdqd5eY6hjAGLLOZCW1LkW3zkQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="940" data-original-width="614" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXziWcgjt37ahLUEmvjMCJoYFnkVDvKCCpLvCzWTyb2wu9aRrESYQIbfBBY5dJHnZ1ne4odcD5KFL1wvthsSytEFMd97ia_9Ku0YY09fr5y0yAhOTtKnru-leVfBewz51tWRncwaSVYsfWl07PT_5PaOSezg4Dkifi8Qdqd5eY6hjAGLLOZCW1LkW3zkQ" width="157" /></a></div><br />5. McCullough: 1776 - I will probably skip this one this year.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgP5VBbS5TM4fJZSSCwHU18f3oPolKkLS_cMZ4-912eWs1_8AgjYPCEDCr0c82tUSp3kF107PE6kdA7V1sIV1FsusPVls0ItkNwgTCg9T06cIXaosPg_tXC1lpDe3HkrX1zJx3PLqvCxbw759_6r1I8kNJOwuZP4uDxqq0eBhq-0OFX7ncEOGsRUBGd358" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="946" data-original-width="628" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgP5VBbS5TM4fJZSSCwHU18f3oPolKkLS_cMZ4-912eWs1_8AgjYPCEDCr0c82tUSp3kF107PE6kdA7V1sIV1FsusPVls0ItkNwgTCg9T06cIXaosPg_tXC1lpDe3HkrX1zJx3PLqvCxbw759_6r1I8kNJOwuZP4uDxqq0eBhq-0OFX7ncEOGsRUBGd358" width="159" /></a></div><br />6. McCullough: John Adams - But I think I'm going to read this one this year.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4iHIffBnKYmlpo3yTO9t-cdZ6yrHlFb5fa00xQZ1rFT6IPCG8kit5PTV7G5oe8nqrNFy3J8m-wL9yIZHSlo4fZKfXtyFzpUtDKjQeuWXmfjsAvAofqX4zZ4JHXlLXkHHNDcx2gMMLU_JUWCfEzSRcT1mZooCiDX7VqbILcvFe_7Gabwf_dJMBlka_Tns" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="434" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4iHIffBnKYmlpo3yTO9t-cdZ6yrHlFb5fa00xQZ1rFT6IPCG8kit5PTV7G5oe8nqrNFy3J8m-wL9yIZHSlo4fZKfXtyFzpUtDKjQeuWXmfjsAvAofqX4zZ4JHXlLXkHHNDcx2gMMLU_JUWCfEzSRcT1mZooCiDX7VqbILcvFe_7Gabwf_dJMBlka_Tns" width="162" /></a></div><br />7. McCullough: The Pioneers - And this one. More than anything, I want to read this one.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiL4v5uJYjsUXe-n6PPLDQF3ZvB-txUBiZPIFBUhT8tdWTWH-1BE33cRjLwPRi95-ttj5q5fyRwQ55DlZAO5PQQJcb7cFb8mYWt8i5SF69yuHefd1H3oyH2mimB9XhItriZgqe_ML1FsIs6YzTN62omqtJopScjm9ZS1v2mXq-a4SAPI1BMoVw_reBNd-E" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="464" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiL4v5uJYjsUXe-n6PPLDQF3ZvB-txUBiZPIFBUhT8tdWTWH-1BE33cRjLwPRi95-ttj5q5fyRwQ55DlZAO5PQQJcb7cFb8mYWt8i5SF69yuHefd1H3oyH2mimB9XhItriZgqe_ML1FsIs6YzTN62omqtJopScjm9ZS1v2mXq-a4SAPI1BMoVw_reBNd-E" width="156" /></a></div><br />8. Wharton: The House of Mirth - Guess what! I'm already reading this now. This is a second read for me, and I am enjoying it even more. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjeIxQv7YyGSVNEUQDk78IBooW8wxsYOljVn0-eSkXQfwHqv4BvaE92t7I9k-uiEqt6RbNAzWvpsxPWMaIt1uPzfJTdm9jPMuXB99TdOYeTd76v_gCEqUrhGHqYtQZwsOdSsUT9-7HEiFmJiMYhjqjRoKSaCkaEvejuGHaOZORuWFB47DR4DIaCfUab_yM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="570" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjeIxQv7YyGSVNEUQDk78IBooW8wxsYOljVn0-eSkXQfwHqv4BvaE92t7I9k-uiEqt6RbNAzWvpsxPWMaIt1uPzfJTdm9jPMuXB99TdOYeTd76v_gCEqUrhGHqYtQZwsOdSsUT9-7HEiFmJiMYhjqjRoKSaCkaEvejuGHaOZORuWFB47DR4DIaCfUab_yM" width="160" /></a></div><br />9. Fitzgerald: Great Gatsby - Definitely planning to read this again.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTfC_jCgCKsUKQcxNOkoWFcglq1v1-vQlIxxBRIi8sVtRkQw0mhpT2t3oSUTSq_0va5M6vHFAKfoNDrJ-_p7Jz3wY__MB7_MWWfs-vzXLL1rzUnjOcHEe6tSEVGS_4bR0QTR-6-z5AuXX32AIZ8MNK9rIQEn1UCGExMKdU8ImvH-SqDOn_T6LcpXIGMr0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="374" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTfC_jCgCKsUKQcxNOkoWFcglq1v1-vQlIxxBRIi8sVtRkQw0mhpT2t3oSUTSq_0va5M6vHFAKfoNDrJ-_p7Jz3wY__MB7_MWWfs-vzXLL1rzUnjOcHEe6tSEVGS_4bR0QTR-6-z5AuXX32AIZ8MNK9rIQEn1UCGExMKdU8ImvH-SqDOn_T6LcpXIGMr0" width="148" /></a></div><br />10. Orwell: 1984 - Definitely planning to re-read this later in 2024. I joined <a href="https://bronasbooks.com/2024/01/02/reading-orwell-2024-masterpost/comment-page-1/?unapproved=22180&moderation-hash=30a055bae5d8d488842bd3269744c537#respond" target="_blank">Brona's Reading Orwell 2024</a> event. <p></p><p><br /></p><p>Visit <a href="https://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/" target="_blank">That Artsy Reader Girl</a> to join this week's Top Ten Tuesday.</p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-31786456132210631052024-01-22T16:53:00.000-08:002024-03-18T16:22:20.173-07:00DeJong: The House of Sixty Fathers<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzG2wmH2YtwWeQhYhXEy3jX7sIsogR53wnjeXo4abY7CegFt61kXPkwce620YV9b8C8lgWsoO13DqJBS10RUibABdDhEcVxtYvQo2_5S8QmDXuLvAA0XJoaj0z2GjRcsvXgs18b-LajC2EsPHZmM3y8PllrPMqcIHoci6o6X5stTtRMNfhyPWufKJT3I/s806/Screenshot%202024-01-22%20at%206.58.13%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="548" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzG2wmH2YtwWeQhYhXEy3jX7sIsogR53wnjeXo4abY7CegFt61kXPkwce620YV9b8C8lgWsoO13DqJBS10RUibABdDhEcVxtYvQo2_5S8QmDXuLvAA0XJoaj0z2GjRcsvXgs18b-LajC2EsPHZmM3y8PllrPMqcIHoci6o6X5stTtRMNfhyPWufKJT3I/w273-h400/Screenshot%202024-01-22%20at%206.58.13%20PM.png" width="273" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The House of Sixty Fathers</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Meindert DeJong</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Published 1956</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐</div><p>Based on true events during the Sino-Japanese War, a young Chinese boy, Tien Pao, and his piglet were separated from his parents and baby sister. The Japanese had burned and occupied their village, and they were forced to flee. One day the family sampan -- carrying Tien Pao and his pig -- accidentally floated back into enemy territory. After making his way to shore, he sought to find his way back to his family through treacherous mountainous trails. Starving and exhausted, he and his pig slept in caves by day, and travelled by night. </p><p></p><p>One of those days he witnessed the Japanese shoot down an American military plane. Tien Pao rescued the injured pilot, and with the aid of a group of Chinese guerrillas, they carried him back to his unit. And when Tien Pao arrived at the village where his parents had last been seen, the people were already fleeing because of the Japanese invasion. Tien Pao searched relentlessly until he was found by a couple of American pilots and taken to the barracks where they looked after and cared for him. All sixty pilots did. Hence the name House of Sixty Fathers. </p><p>Meanwhile, the injured pilot whom he had met in the mountains was part of this unit, and he took Tien Pao to search for his parents. Of course, the young boy recognized his mother while she was working at a nearby airfield, and finally the family was reunited. </p><p>This juvenile story has won many awards: Newberry Honor, Han Christian Andersen, and ALA Notable Children's Book. The author wrote this story based on his experiences as a pilot in China during WWII. </p><p>I read this to my kids for school because we are studying China during the 1900s to current times. It was somewhat juvenile for them, but it gave them a sense of China during WWII, and when the U.S. and China were allies. Now not so much. I also gave the book two stars because it was "agreeable" and we liked it.</p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-32253362736354823942024-01-21T10:09:00.000-08:002024-03-18T16:22:33.137-07:00Well-Educated Mind Poetry: Paul Laurence Dunbar<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjHfmOvq9WYjfQxZMEqAPePOF3hBfB7QcWAMuu2BXxsQMpRaxBNI1AZLLMFBA08UWqdsG4t5GPUa6UW4evWq6ex2ysBz8uxv_ByVhjCx6IDyUofZ_byorxo8h_O9hywCeLXEEwsdno_4Af-bMzKDA9VWDd003BWr34rlCJ2rLRWw_xRZAojJ64ZDNW3JMo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1400" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjHfmOvq9WYjfQxZMEqAPePOF3hBfB7QcWAMuu2BXxsQMpRaxBNI1AZLLMFBA08UWqdsG4t5GPUa6UW4evWq6ex2ysBz8uxv_ByVhjCx6IDyUofZ_byorxo8h_O9hywCeLXEEwsdno_4Af-bMzKDA9VWDd003BWr34rlCJ2rLRWw_xRZAojJ64ZDNW3JMo=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Paul Laurence Dunbar</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">American poet</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">June 27, 1872 - February 9, 1906</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-well-educated-mind-booklist.html" target="_blank">Well-Educated Mind Poetry</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Before I resumed reading poetry from The Well-Educated Mind list, I had not heard of Paul Laurence Dunbar. But now, I consider him one of my favorite poets. Why? Because every single poem I read from the selected list produced a similar satisfaction. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">His topics ranged from life, love, joy, hardship, family, race, traditions, progress, and triumph. He wrote impartially and honestly about African American experiences and traditions of the late 1800s. But the tone was all very kindred. His poems were pragmatic, true, and often cheerful. And best of all, they were musical.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Dunbar wrote many of these poems in the African American dialect, and I found it even more pleasant to hear someone else read them than for me to read them myself. In that way, they become like songs. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">His life was fascinating. Born in Ohio, to two former slaves (from Kentucky), he took an interest in writing from his youth. He was the only black student of his high school class and became president of the school literary society, editor of the school newspaper, and the class poet. Orville Wright was his classmate, and helped him print a separate publication, in which Dunbar also contributed poems.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After graduation, and due to the praise from teachers and newspaper editors, Dunbar gained access to the literary world and had some of his work published. Even Orville Wright later helped finance his friend. An admiring attorney offered to pay for his college, but Dunbar rejected the offer to pursue his writing career. Thus, the attorney helped Dunbar publish a second collection of poems. (That's how promising he was. Everyone who knew his work wanted him to succeed.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Dunbar became America's first prominent African American poet and was an international sensation. His verse dialect was actually preferred by white audiences. In other words: <i>they liked it!</i> He also wrote short stories, novels, and essays, which I would be interested in reading, as well.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unfortunately, Dunbar suffered from health complications and died at the young age of 33. Gratefully, today, we still have his works, which have only gained in popularity over time. If you are interested, read a poem or two from Paul Laurence Dunbar. You will not be disappointed.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These are the selected poems I read. Favored favorites are in blue:</span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">A Negro love Song</span><br style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #45818e; font-size: 14px;"><b>An Ante-Bellum Sermon</b></span><br style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">At the Tavern</span><br style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #45818e;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><b>Colored Band</b></span><br style="font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><b>The Debt</b></span><br style="font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><b>Douglass</b></span><br style="font-size: 14px;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">Little Brown Baby</span><br style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #45818e; font-size: 14px;"><b>Ode to Ethiopia</b></span><br style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">The Old Front Gate</span><br style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #45818e;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><b>The Poet and His Song</b></span><br style="font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><b>The Seedling</b></span><br style="font-size: 14px;" /><b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Signs of the Times</span><br style="font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Sympathy</span><br style="font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">We Wear the Mask</span></b><br style="font-size: 14px;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">When Malindy Sings</span><br style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">When de Co'n Pone's Hot</span><br style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px;" /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><b>When Dey 'Listed Colored Soldiers</b></span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">* * *</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-well-educated-mind-booklist.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1SyC011bus_7QZtU6XABgV-HYkXCCljyAdZA2uyfbVF1LsJNak5XXDGWJbSkCtj7F7c2-MSnloFto6zlVrFMtqN_ifU6sWPrtJQ3o18qQo-KQS-uihtmS3CU5J_qv1Uah7KAQh9-76t0pxxZWEicNIOghWFWfohx73cPtquI3WLqH1wzwj4itKseUPVk" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></div><p></p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-18520724750682637292024-01-15T02:00:00.000-08:002024-01-15T07:18:19.700-08:00January: How it's going.<p>According to GoodReads, I am already a book behind schedule. I hate when that happens. Nonetheless, I have no shortage of reading material. This is how it is going.</p><p><b><u>Daily study</u>: </b></p><p><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">My Utmost for His Highest</span></i> by Oswald Chambers</p><p><span> I use this for my devotional every day, and it is only a five-minute read at most, unless I have to re-read it because I need better understanding.</span><br /></p><p><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><i>Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee, </i>Vol. I-V</span> (in conjunction with John MacArthur Study Bible)</p><p> Joseph @ <a href="https://100greatestnovelsofalltimequest.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">The Once Lost Wanderer</a> had an extra copy of this excellent commentary and offered to send it to me when I had expressed an interest in reading through it; and (WOW!), am I ever grateful. I have read through Revelation and Acts, and now I am reading Romans. McGee is consistent, comprehensive (I need that), concise, with a twist of sarcasm. As I read through my Bible, I read corresponding chapters from McGee's commentary, which makes for a deeply satisfying Bible study each morning.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>During school w/ the kids</u></b>:</p><p><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><i>The House of Sixty Fathers</i></span> by Meindert Dejong</p><p><span> This is a short juvenile book about a little Chinese boy who became separated from his parents while fleeing the Japanese occupation during WWII. We're half way through the story.</span></p><p><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><i>Sons</i></span> by Pearl S. Buck</p><p> This is the second book in the <i>Good Earth</i> series. Last fall, we finished the first book, and I thought it was top rate in writing style, story structure, and interest. It was an excellent study on human nature and sin, and since beginning <i>Sons</i>, I don't see it dropping off. I would definitely suggest reading the first book before starting this one, which is a continuation of the story, although it is readable even if you do not start with <i>The Good Earth.</i></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhX9IRvsCbba7XaGl8euiQWdOTPo5wu9R88X2VofKir_tqw_FP4dZCK3A1xoW8vuhg2nv3g9gJHmgbcxRBFMRs_aPnOEs0wJ628rpJG4_0JGHkVwwLnjyX22Sy4XGte9JFAYyIPXWtB8tn03gTT_7XS59zeqDvRUStXqSZ6jgJqgXwF0MNjmk5fXknzevI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="694" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhX9IRvsCbba7XaGl8euiQWdOTPo5wu9R88X2VofKir_tqw_FP4dZCK3A1xoW8vuhg2nv3g9gJHmgbcxRBFMRs_aPnOEs0wJ628rpJG4_0JGHkVwwLnjyX22Sy4XGte9JFAYyIPXWtB8tn03gTT_7XS59zeqDvRUStXqSZ6jgJqgXwF0MNjmk5fXknzevI=w278-h400" width="278" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>With my family on Sunday nights</u></b>:</p><p><span style="color: #0b9c7d; font-style: italic;">Tortured for His Faith </span><span>by Harlan Popov</span></p><p><span><span> A re-read for me, and so intense that I wanted my husband and kids to hear it. Set in post-WWII, while Eastern Europe was controlled by Communist Russia, this is the story of how Popov survived thirteen years in Bulgarian prison camps and under hard labor because he refused to be brainwashed or renounce his Christian faith. </span><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjj-eGqnRyQFGhlTB0V6hXWtUIkcP2g4KayKhN_ep3MH0DA_hRtD7BqM1zduo5SZB4lMTl2Ffu6riWotxNLFrg7folc7Jd_F0raxEsACW4lr8bJTWPKtHamqPHwFqZ89PcdlJi0Zm1NEOhRU1-OJQsLP4S56orwycqR_2Lm1CE2-7hgGiwIhukfGo7H9Js" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="892" data-original-width="724" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjj-eGqnRyQFGhlTB0V6hXWtUIkcP2g4KayKhN_ep3MH0DA_hRtD7BqM1zduo5SZB4lMTl2Ffu6riWotxNLFrg7folc7Jd_F0raxEsACW4lr8bJTWPKtHamqPHwFqZ89PcdlJi0Zm1NEOhRU1-OJQsLP4S56orwycqR_2Lm1CE2-7hgGiwIhukfGo7H9Js=w325-h400" width="325" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><b><u>For WEM poetry challenge, one a day</u></b>:</p><p>Selected poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar</p><p><span> So far, I have read ten + poems by Dunbar, and he is truly delightful, cheering, and honest. His poems are far more enjoyable than those who only focused on death and dying. Maybe we are kin because we share the same birthday. </span><br /></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVUxkvL3SnfY-ATXKLuBdAraREQC55HPNhytGZ4PjQmd8X6y9HiN50Dn1txvddCVjCU2SBsq8-XvcsnWy5LD6OCfkO43sbpX-6nq2aFJXNAOsH1vUJsELv8x1l8IZhfPhwHRlyjBCzpLiH_nPxvJoPTwaL8alRWgNDwGzMc-nIHtZ-f9TJV7STHHMR9c/s1400/paul.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1400" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVUxkvL3SnfY-ATXKLuBdAraREQC55HPNhytGZ4PjQmd8X6y9HiN50Dn1txvddCVjCU2SBsq8-XvcsnWy5LD6OCfkO43sbpX-6nq2aFJXNAOsH1vUJsELv8x1l8IZhfPhwHRlyjBCzpLiH_nPxvJoPTwaL8alRWgNDwGzMc-nIHtZ-f9TJV7STHHMR9c/s320/paul.webp" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul Laurence Dunbar</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span><br /></span></p><p><b><u>For ladies group, one chapter a month</u></b>:</p><p><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><i>Unmet Expectations</i></span> by Lisa Hughes</p><p><span> This is a short Christian study on the biblical way to understand and live with disappointment and discontentment. </span><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>From my unread books</u></b>:</p><p><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">Les Misérables</span></i> by Victor Hugo</p><p><span> I have avoided this tome like the plague. However, since I started, it has been good. I know the bones of the story, but there is so much filler. Not sure I need all of that. Meanwhile, I found a group doing a read-along and decided to join. Most people are reading the unabridged, but I am going to stick with my abridged version.</span><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicwMLZOZ6Ee2nwcbGmWhovIjZmGIGQ3JyJBx52jo_0aYDihYv8dGzIxjInKP1qOR9XlMEQNtkutkwQlLdBFi39g0XVcl3YkYnVmOfsKhkYT8upxZuX5tegj4Xqs2tgWfbRwfmlWIwruW2N4WAvVlNzxnLIZaPe1x-VzUveaGtAow_odzImTwNTPb1995I" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="1234" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicwMLZOZ6Ee2nwcbGmWhovIjZmGIGQ3JyJBx52jo_0aYDihYv8dGzIxjInKP1qOR9XlMEQNtkutkwQlLdBFi39g0XVcl3YkYnVmOfsKhkYT8upxZuX5tegj4Xqs2tgWfbRwfmlWIwruW2N4WAvVlNzxnLIZaPe1x-VzUveaGtAow_odzImTwNTPb1995I=w382-h400" width="382" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><b><u>A reread</u></b>:</p><p><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><i>The House of Mirth</i></span> by Edith Wharton</p><p><span> I love this frustrating story, but I forgot why. Wharton is an exquisite writer, but Lily is a foolish woman and I am struggling for patience. </span><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>For absolute pleasure</u></b>:</p><p><i><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">The Little House Books </span></i>by Laura Ingalls Wilder, ed. Caroline Fraser</p><p><span> And, of course, this is perfect reading for me, especially when I need to take my mind off of burdens. I love to escape into the pioneer days, into the world of Laura's childhood. This version is a two volume set minus the famous illustrations, and includes other commentary. </span><br /></p><p><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIXJGIeGfm30E3-4Eek_q3rV1P2oazZjl0mNZKYwY-HjKjzJQfEsQMRl3w-bFRJyNVQ9yzMLQ3nv0cngMymGFsWaVglEjjnoGbuWi0akF0ODVITr7tVdPQoKYTR0ocmIn4HflSrSAbT_bgviVh3why281HM58v5wlcQR0Lh-7UZSu33JnWdihBL92UINo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1190" data-original-width="1180" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIXJGIeGfm30E3-4Eek_q3rV1P2oazZjl0mNZKYwY-HjKjzJQfEsQMRl3w-bFRJyNVQ9yzMLQ3nv0cngMymGFsWaVglEjjnoGbuWi0akF0ODVITr7tVdPQoKYTR0ocmIn4HflSrSAbT_bgviVh3why281HM58v5wlcQR0Lh-7UZSu33JnWdihBL92UINo=w397-h400" width="397" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-26171161286580132882024-01-01T05:00:00.000-08:002024-03-28T04:56:09.505-07:00What I want to read in 2024<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix8olO9Mjp-6aoPHfr3vJAgYl7KnUBQNJHrWlp4txPCUEOQ2tShTmQ8x1gw8LozUtgnmK57vYcZm-temiVc85n6x6Dr4_tfnVdtSw5zMq3UaFraufkVqj_rajFqutLqIj235ptbc4bL6HmmdQZXAqJbuNNAx52f5DmKA4jkAgswgGtlKhafV_dblSKBgg/s1010/Screenshot%202023-12-26%20at%206.02.55%20PM%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1010" data-original-width="754" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix8olO9Mjp-6aoPHfr3vJAgYl7KnUBQNJHrWlp4txPCUEOQ2tShTmQ8x1gw8LozUtgnmK57vYcZm-temiVc85n6x6Dr4_tfnVdtSw5zMq3UaFraufkVqj_rajFqutLqIj235ptbc4bL6HmmdQZXAqJbuNNAx52f5DmKA4jkAgswgGtlKhafV_dblSKBgg/w299-h400/Screenshot%202023-12-26%20at%206.02.55%20PM%202.png" width="299" /></a></div><br /><b style="text-align: left;"><u style="text-decoration-line: underline;">GOAL</u>: </b><span style="color: #f1c232; text-align: left;">50 books</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Here are some of the books I want to read in 2024:</span></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p><u><b>Unreads</b></u><b>: <span style="color: #f1c232;">15 - 20 books</span></b></p><p>For several years I have been reading through my <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8301853376184312607/3582657508111573482">unread books</a>. It may have been close to 175 when I began, but now I am down to 61. (Many I donated because I knew I would never read them.) My goal is to read 10 - 15 this year. I did a little poll on social media of my top unread intimidating tomes, and more voters suggested I read <i>Les Mis</i>, <i>Middlemarch</i>, and <i>John Adams</i>, which is what I put at the top of my TBR.</p><p>1. Hugo: Les Misérables</p><p>2. Eliot: Middlemarch</p><p>3. - 4. McCullough: John Adams / The Pioneers </p><p>5. Lewis: The Four Loves</p><p>6. Hardy: The Woodlanders (trying again)</p><p>7. Rand: Anthem</p><p>8. Smith: The Wealth of Nations, Vol. I - III</p><p>9. Oursler / Armstrong: The Greatest Faith Ever Known</p><p>10. Marshall / Manuel: The Light and the Glory</p><p>11. McGee: Through the Bible, Vol. I - V (continue reading)</p><p>12. Hughes: Unmet Expectations (continue reading)</p><p>13. - 14. <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2024/03/buck-sons.html" target="_blank">Buck: Sons</a> ✅ / A House Divided (also w/ the kids)</p><p>15. </p><p>16. </p><p>17.</p><p>18.</p><p>19.</p><p>20.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Rereads</u>: <span style="color: #f1c232;">5 - 10 books</span></b></p><p>It is a joy to revisit my favorite books, and this year I am returning to these: </p><p>1. <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/edith-wharton-house-of-mirth.html" target="_blank">Wharton: House of Mirth</a> ✅</p><p>2. <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2024/02/f-scott-fitzgerald-great-gatsby.html" target="_blank">Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby</a> ✅</p><p>3. Orwell: 1984</p><p>4. Stewart: Letters of a Woman Homesteader</p><p>5. - 6. Fraser (editor): The Little House Books, Vol. I & II </p><p>7. Park: In Order to Live (also w/ the kids)</p><p>8. </p><p>9.</p><p>10.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>WEM Poetry</u></b>: <b><span style="color: #f1c232;">8 poets</span></b></p><p>If all goes as planned, I will complete the poetry section of <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-well-educated-mind-booklist.html" target="_blank">The Well-Educated Mind Reading Challenge</a>; however, I am not completing all suggested poets because I plan to skip the modernists, an additional list of poets. Technically, there are only eight poets left, and then, in 2025 through 2026, I can finish up the entire project (which began in 2012) with the playwrights. </p><p>1. <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/well-educated-mind-poetry-paul-laurence.html" target="_blank">Dunbar, Paul Laurence</a> ✅</p><p>2. <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2024/02/well-educated-mind-poetry-robert-frost.html" target="_blank">Frost, Robert</a> ✅</p><p>3. <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2024/03/well-educated-mind-poetry-carl-sandburg.html" target="_blank">Sandburg, Carl</a> ✅</p><p>4. Williams, William Carlos</p><p>5. Pound, Ezra </p><p>6. Eliot, T. S.</p><p>7. Hughes, Langston</p><p>8. Auden, W. H. </p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Kindle</u>: <span style="color: #f1c232;">at least 2, but maybe more?</span></b></p><p>Often I add unplanned books to my Kindle, but this year I plan to continue through Rachel's <a href="https://theedgeoftheprecipice.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html" target="_blank">Once Upon a Western series</a>. And if I finish OBA, I will read <i>My Rock and My Refuge</i>, which I am looking forward to very much. </p><p>1. - 2. Kovaciny: One Bad Apple / My Rock and My Refuge</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>School books (w/ the kids)</u>: <span style="color: #f1c232;">8 books</span></b></p><p>Reading aloud to my kids for school helps me read through books that I wouldn't normally read. This school year we have been studying Asia, particularly China and Russia.</p><p>1. <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2024/02/bob-laurent-watchman-nee-sufferer-for.html" target="_blank">Laurent: Watchman Nee</a> ✅</p><p>2. <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/dejong-house-of-sixty-fathers.html" target="_blank">DeJong: House of Sixty Fathers</a> ✅</p><p>3. <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2024/03/hautzig-endless-steppe.html" target="_blank">Hautzig: Endless Steppe</a> ✅</p><p>4. Wartski: Boat to Nowhere</p><p>5. Ji-li Jang: Red Scarf Girl</p><p>6. <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2024/03/buck-sons.html" target="_blank">Buck: Sons</a> (unread) ✅</p><p>7. Buck: A House Divided (unread) </p><p>8. Park: In Order to Live (reread)</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Christmas Reads</u>: <span style="color: #f1c232;">at least 2 books</span></b></p><p>Every year I like to read my favorite Christmas reads, like <i>A Christmas Carol</i> and <i>Holly & Ivy</i>, but I need new reading habits; therefore, I may try one or two of these: </p><p>1. Tolkien: Letters from Father Christmas</p><p>2. Beck: Immortal Nicholas (finish reading)</p><p>3. Van Dyke: The Other Wise Man</p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d; font-size: x-large;"><b>* * * </b></span></p><p>I'm so excited to read so many of these. Which books are you excited about reading in 2024??</p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-89442142740220410982023-12-29T10:29:00.000-08:002023-12-29T10:58:56.131-08:002023 Year-End Recap<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLIatTKf9e0yALDV-aJZui9I_198ua8e166vm6ds70Ds713OPsBmh4vR7-fM0K35zeRHaFaGMM5Z7JyW6BMKE9OMYtVAd2fAeb8SwPCURapxgPQF5UuNNnaqNreLRRhRhehQf8Ydvr5jCOZfLM2r63U3kvVPU8kAFqClejTYl9VwS9dfvKsLVGvSxRI70" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1026" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLIatTKf9e0yALDV-aJZui9I_198ua8e166vm6ds70Ds713OPsBmh4vR7-fM0K35zeRHaFaGMM5Z7JyW6BMKE9OMYtVAd2fAeb8SwPCURapxgPQF5UuNNnaqNreLRRhRhehQf8Ydvr5jCOZfLM2r63U3kvVPU8kAFqClejTYl9VwS9dfvKsLVGvSxRI70=w320-h320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /></div>I have not been on my blog since March! <span style="text-align: center;">My reading dropped off, r</span><span style="text-align: center;">eviews became non-existent, b</span><span style="text-align: center;">ook club was impossible, and I</span><span style="text-align: center;"> did not find or make time to blog. Yet, </span>I did finish stronger than expected, thanks to reading with the kids for school and a determined spirit to read towards the end. I did a few short reviews on social media, and I finished one other book for book club on time, for once, and joined in on the discussion. While I fell short of my annual goal of fifty books, I do have a recap and this is what it looks like:<p></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;">January</span></h1><p>Did not finish any books.</p><h1><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;">February</span></h1><p>Flaubert: <b><i>Madame Bovary</i></b> [reread]</p><p>Dodds: <b><i>Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards</i></b> [unread book]</p><p>selected poetry by Samuel Taylor Coleridge [WEM poetry]</p><h1><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;">March</span></h1><p>Tolstoy: <b><i>Anna Karenina</i></b> [reread] [bookclub]</p><p>Hanff: <i><b>84 Charing Cross Road</b> </i>[bookclub] [unread book]</p><p>Melchiore: <b><i>The Self-Sufficient Backyard</i></b> [unread book]</p><h1><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;">April</span></h1><p>selected poetry by John Keats [WEM poetry]</p><p>Applebaum: <b><i>Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine</i></b> [bailed @ 12%] [bookclub]</p><p>Schweikart: <b><i>A Patriot's History of the United States</i></b> [unread book]</p><p>Achebe: <b><i>Things Fall Apart </i></b>[unread book]</p><h1><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;">May</span></h1><p>selected poetry by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [WEM poetry] [unread]</p><p>Rand: <b><i>The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism</i></b> [unread book]</p><p>selected poetry by Alfred Lloyd Tennyson [WEM poetry]</p><p>Malone: <b><i>Lies My Government Told Me: And the Better Future Coming</i></b> [Kindle]</p><p>Wilde: <b><i>The Importance of Being Earnes</i>t</b> [reread]</p><h1><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;">June</span></h1><p>MacArthur: <b><i>Freedom From Sin</i></b> [unread book]</p><p>Hardy: <b><i>The Return of the Native</i></b> [reread]</p><h1><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;">July</span><b> </b></h1><p>Whitman: <b><i>Leaves of Grass</i></b> [unread book] [WEM poetry]</p><p>Lewis: <b><i>The Great Divorce </i></b>[unread book] [bookclub]</p><p>Newton: <b><i>Out of the Depths</i></b> [unread book]</p><p>Rand: <b><i>The Romantic Manifesto</i></b> [unread book]</p><p>selected poetry by Emily Dickinson [WEM poetry]</p><p>Calvin: <b><i>The Institutes of Christian Religion</i> </b>[reread]</p><p>MacArthur: <b><i>Because the Time is Near: The Book of Revelation</i></b> [reread]</p><h1><span style="color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;"><span style="background-color: white;">August</span></span></h1><p>Did not finish any books.</p><h1><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;">September</span></h1><p>Hardy: <b><i>The Woodlanders</i> </b>[bailed @ 11%] [unread]</p><p>James: <b><i>The Portrait of a Lady</i></b> [reread] [bailed @ 15%]</p><p>Rand: <b><i>Atlas Shrugged</i> </b>[unread book] [bailed @ 9%] [bookclub]</p><p>Kent: <b><i>He Went With Marco Polo</i></b> [read w/ the kids] </p><h1><span style="color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;"><span style="background-color: white;">October</span></span></h1><p><i><b>The MacArthur Old Testament Commentary on the Book of Zechariah</b> </i>[unread book]</p><p>Apsler: <b><i>The Prophet of Revolution: Karl Marx</i></b> [read w/ the kids]</p><p>Leake: <b><i>The Courage to Face Covid 19: Preventing Hospitalization and Death While Battling the Pharmaceutical Complex</i></b> [Kindle]</p><p>selected poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins [WEM poetry]</p><h1><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;">November</span></h1><p>Buck: <b><i>The Good Earth</i></b> [unread] [read w/ the kids]</p><p>Benge: <b><i>Hudson Taylor: Deep in the Heart of China</i></b> [read w/ the kids]</p><p>Kovaciny: <b><i>Dancing and Donuts</i></b> [Kindle]</p><p>Mason: <b><i>The 10-minute Bible Journey</i></b> [read w/ the kids]</p><p>West: <b><i>Adam Smith: The Man and His Works</i></b> [unread book]</p><p>Zusak: <b><i>The Book Thief </i></b>[unread book] [bookclub]</p><p>Benge: <b><i>Jonathan Goforth: An Open Door in China </i></b>[read w/ the kids]</p><p>Goodman: <b><i>The Russian Revolution Explained for Kids</i></b> [read w/ the kids]</p><h1><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;">December</span></h1><p>selected poems by W. B. Yeats [WEM poetry]</p><p>Davin: <b><i>Mao Zedong</i></b> [read w/ the kids]</p><p>Dickens: <b><i>A Christmas Carol</i></b> [reread]</p><p>Godden: <b><i>Holly and Ivy</i></b> [reread]</p><p>Begg:<b> <i>Truth for Life Vol. II</i></b> [unread]</p><p>Trifkovic: <b><i>The Sword of the Prophet: Islam - History, Theology, and Impact on the World</i></b> [reread]</p><p>Stockett: <b><i>The Help</i> </b>[unread] </p><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">* * *</span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">The 2023 Totals:</span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><span style="background-color: white;">read (incl bails):</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d;">47</span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><span>reread: </span><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">10</span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><span>bailed:</span><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"> </span><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">4</span><span> </span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><span>WEM poetry: </span><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">9</span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><span style="background-color: white;">books donated:</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d;">-8</span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span>new books added: </span><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">+</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d;">11</span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><span><span>unread books read: </span><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">-</span></span><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">18</span></span></h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><b><span>unread books remaining: <span style="color: #0b9c7d;">61</span></span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><b>(I removed my kids' school books that I want to read from my unread pile.)</b></span></span></div><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">* * *</span></h1><div><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">The 2023 Winners:</span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">* unforgettable fiction/novel:</span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><b>Anna Karenina</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Poiret One"; font-size: x-large;"><b>* best new-to-me classic:</b></span></div><h1><span style="color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;">The Good Earth</span></span></h1><h1><span style="font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">* <span style="background-color: white;">best revived reread:</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></h1><h1><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">Madame Bovary</span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><h1><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">* memorable biography/memoir:</span></h1></div><h1 style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: both;"></div></h1><h1 style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">Out of the Depths</span></h1><h1 style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">* charming epistolary non-fiction:</span></h1><h1 style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">84 Charing Cross Road</span></h1><h1 style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">* excellent biblical non-fiction:</span></h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><b>Zechariah</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><b>* best historical fiction: (tie)</b></span></div><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">Things Fall Apart</span></h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><b>The Book Thief</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Poiret One"; font-size: x-large;"><b>* other (honorable mention) fiction:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><b>The Great Divorce</b></span></span></div><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">* pleasantest poetry:</span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">Leaves of Grass</span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">* treasured juvenile read: </span></h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><span style="font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><b>Holly and Ivy</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><span style="font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><b>forever a favorite: </b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><span style="font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;"><b>A Christmas Carol</b></span></span></div><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b9c7d; font-family: Poiret One; font-size: x-large;">* * *</span></h1></div><p>Not sure if I will be around in 2024, but I hope to get back into the groove of reading, writing, and reviewing, as well as visiting other bookish blogs. I certainly miss it. I already have a goal of books I hope to read in the new year, which I will post in a few days. In the meanwhile...</p><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ffd966; font-family: Great Vibes; font-size: x-large;">Happy New Year!</span></span></h1>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-41613721907951076582023-03-31T02:00:00.021-07:002023-03-31T02:00:00.190-07:00Monthly Recap: March 2023<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5WN72pnksNssWNLOZ-eikxGbZ5BUVWXXnE47WSIZum50yvNRiVhMxPOUyaXtG5VNPHtv4CAReSyKRO1rdR-Z-Me1PlX8Kj2tBDSXGRjoOuZ1MuPzd21e_llUCIV-4ZhiZldg8owBUQIwud6j2GATZTFLz7ir3wbxBo7ZfgrKUHT_f_U3-6A5OFgtT" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1358" data-original-width="1360" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5WN72pnksNssWNLOZ-eikxGbZ5BUVWXXnE47WSIZum50yvNRiVhMxPOUyaXtG5VNPHtv4CAReSyKRO1rdR-Z-Me1PlX8Kj2tBDSXGRjoOuZ1MuPzd21e_llUCIV-4ZhiZldg8owBUQIwud6j2GATZTFLz7ir3wbxBo7ZfgrKUHT_f_U3-6A5OFgtT=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I decided to bail on <i>The Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine</i> after a few chapters because I found it overwhelming, and I was not fully invested. It is almost 400 pages and I was reading it for book club, but I knew I was not going to finish it in time next month. I started to speed read through it, which I thought was silly and wasteful. So I stopped before I wasted anymore time. I am already struggling to find time to read. </div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><u>Unread Books Beginning in March: 81</u></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><u><br /></u></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><u>What I finished reading: 3 books and selected poems</u></b></p><p style="text-align: center;">Tolstoy: Anna Karenina (TWEM re-read, book club) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="text-align: center;">Hanff: 84, Charing Cross Road (book club) <b><u>(unread -1)</u></b> ⭐⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="text-align: center;">Melchiore: The Self-Sufficient Backyard <b><u>(unread -1)</u></b> ⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="text-align: center;">Keats: selected poetry (TWEM) ⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><u><br /></u></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><u>What I am still reading:</u></b></p><p style="text-align: center;">Begg: Truth for Life</p><p style="text-align: center;">Hardy: Return of the Native (TWEM re-read)</p><p style="text-align: center;">MacArthur: Because the Time is Near (re-read)</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><u><br /></u></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><u>What I just started reading:</u></b></p><p style="text-align: center;">MacArthur: Freedom from Sin (unread)</p><p style="text-align: center;">Rand: The Virtue of Selfishness (unread)</p><p style="text-align: center;">Achebe: Things Fall Apart (unread)</p><p style="text-align: center;">Schweikart: A Patriot's History (unread/continued from 2021)</p><p style="text-align: center;">Malone: Lies My Gov't Told Me: and the Better Future Coming (Kindle)</p><p style="text-align: center;"><u><b><br /></b></u></p><p style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Bails:</b> 1</u></p><p style="text-align: center;">Applebalm: The Red Famine [book club] (library book)</p><p style="text-align: center;"><u><b><br /></b></u></p><p style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Unshelved:</b> 1</u></p><p style="text-align: center;">Married to a Difficult Man</p><p style="text-align: center;"><u><b><br /></b></u></p><p style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Added:</b> <b>+ 1</b></u></p><p style="text-align: center;">Freedom from Sin</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><u><br /></u></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><u>Unreads Remaining: 80</u></b></p><p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p><p><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2023/02/january-recap-2023.html" target="_blank">January Recap</a></p><p><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2023/03/february-recap-2023.html" target="_blank">February Recap</a></p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-42525580677462262632023-03-29T12:35:00.001-07:002023-03-30T03:58:56.171-07:00The Well-Educated Mind Poetry: Samuel Taylor Coleridge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbTHGMgcXuv0YZWG8vBfeo5JnCxBMi793yAJWO0HtWD0gh7Y0YpaY_ABEtLHD3_hn5y2vFYlcGQSXgGZWXhNzKsqUBWXZmVtZftZPjeVH0EBvK2orsVIsJq6MVB1TDFUEWX_tYpoCuXPjjC2fxUedt2iYpINWqRaPvqS5T3UQ0hn7D2LMtSgPQzQcM/s518/464DE162-70F1-4410-9C86-AD68BA98B7C9.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="408" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbTHGMgcXuv0YZWG8vBfeo5JnCxBMi793yAJWO0HtWD0gh7Y0YpaY_ABEtLHD3_hn5y2vFYlcGQSXgGZWXhNzKsqUBWXZmVtZftZPjeVH0EBvK2orsVIsJq6MVB1TDFUEWX_tYpoCuXPjjC2fxUedt2iYpINWqRaPvqS5T3UQ0hn7D2LMtSgPQzQcM/s320/464DE162-70F1-4410-9C86-AD68BA98B7C9.png" width="252" /></a></div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Samuel Taylor Coleridge</b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">1772-1834</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">English, Romantic Poet</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-well-educated-mind-booklist.html" target="_blank">Well-Educated Mind: Poetry</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Selected Poetry:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"Christabel"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"Kubla Khan"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"Rime of the Ancient Mariner"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"Dejection: An Ode"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"The Eolian Harp"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"The Lime-Tree Bower My Prison"<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">WHO WAS COLERIDGE?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">From an early age, Samuel Taylor Coleridge was fascinated by the stories he read in books, including Shakespeare, <i>Arabian Nights</i>, and <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>. He was taught that poetry was as "severe as science" -- even more so because it was "more difficult, more subtle, and more complex." I personally agree!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">While at college to become a clergyman, as his father had desired, his own views about religion were challenged. He left school and met a friend whom he planned to start a utopian commune in Pennsylvania, where government would be equally run by all, which was kind of redundant since early America was already a place for government "of..., for..., and by the people." </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Coleridge also married a woman he did not love as part of the commune plan; but he was miserable because he actually loved a different woman, who was engaged to another man. Meanwhile, Coleridge's utopia-planning partner switched gears and left Coleridge high and dry. Therefore, he had nothing more to do but start writing poetry. That is usually how these things happen.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But it was just as well because he met William Wordsworth, who greatly influenced him, and from there his poetry flowed into a very natural style. The two poets worked so closely together that it is said they are the beginning of the Romantic period in poetry. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Coleridge also had interests in philosophy, politics, and religion, some of which had found its way into his writings and poetry. Unfortunately, he was of poor health and sadly became addicted to opium. He also struggled with debt. He died at the age of 62 in London. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">MY BRIEF OPINE</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As part of <i>The Well-Educated Mind</i> Poetry section, Susan Wise Bauer suggested selections to read, which I completed. I took notes while I read, and I have since lost those notes. I tend to write on scrap paper and then leave it on my desk. But this was over six weeks ago or more, and I no longer know where that scrap paper is. My guess is it is in a recycle bin somewhere in Hillsborough County. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So...I will try to remember something. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The ones I liked to read were "Kubla Khan," and "Dejection." I mostly had no idea what he was saying, but the language was very beautiful. I only read them once through, and some of them I looked at analysis because I was really lost -- like with "Christabel" and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner."</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">With poetry, it is necessary to read through poems numerous times and do get analysis, if one is stuck. But I have two issues: one, is time, and I am just reading them once to expose myself; and two, I am eager to get to more current poets, like Longfellow, Tennyson, and Whitman. I may encounter the same problem with them, but I do not know. Poetry is my least favorite of TWEM genre, besides science. It is like reading a foreign language, and it can be very frustrating. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The next poet to review: John Keats.</div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBq_qmu1NbQY98ohoPz0PfQ5YjaVzK-C1l97k5vKi49w1xPR-AHLgFDo_4S99zhLrhLzSlEUy63TsglDtNDKafLDbqI7FC9FH70qW2JAY_diOSYSgiZZYjwYN4MAMuWMzl0BXHfk5cfurB3SDh-sq8HI1pkEyL9DYZV5dqnvHUiBmMIEF92OsAl9xF/s640/twem.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBq_qmu1NbQY98ohoPz0PfQ5YjaVzK-C1l97k5vKi49w1xPR-AHLgFDo_4S99zhLrhLzSlEUy63TsglDtNDKafLDbqI7FC9FH70qW2JAY_diOSYSgiZZYjwYN4MAMuWMzl0BXHfk5cfurB3SDh-sq8HI1pkEyL9DYZV5dqnvHUiBmMIEF92OsAl9xF/s320/twem.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-9258309552254905562023-03-12T18:00:00.003-07:002023-03-13T02:30:36.561-07:0084, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2xT-uLYIcj0ZirEW-AxVWvbc5eTm5NjkQpA4K1zpRLmT6joGEw00Atq950LSEmM1XHjXbCbjxZbaPxR-W4YKbUArXe5g7ekKI2QYVZWY9AWkQ8TJ_ifcU3uzG2KXWWrSp6Bp1vZSmpm2N4uMRHcP5tqSnt0YAHS9QNJ-xOSlNXtf9NQM7khFO9gqz/s1380/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-06%20at%208.33.40%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1380" data-original-width="1308" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2xT-uLYIcj0ZirEW-AxVWvbc5eTm5NjkQpA4K1zpRLmT6joGEw00Atq950LSEmM1XHjXbCbjxZbaPxR-W4YKbUArXe5g7ekKI2QYVZWY9AWkQ8TJ_ifcU3uzG2KXWWrSp6Bp1vZSmpm2N4uMRHcP5tqSnt0YAHS9QNJ-xOSlNXtf9NQM7khFO9gqz/w379-h400/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-06%20at%208.33.40%20AM.png" width="379" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i>84, Charing Cross Road</i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Helene Hanff</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Published 1970</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Epistolary Memoir</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Book Club</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> In one word: CHARMING! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It is only a shame that this was not longer, which is odd to say because it covered twenty years of correspondence. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>84, Charing Cross Road</i> is a short, but sweet, epistolary work that captures the evolution of a long distance friendship between a freelance writer living in New York City and a used bookstore owner in London. The author, Helene Hanff, was desperately searching for antiquated or out-of-print books of the British persuasion and was frustrated by the lack of options available to her in NYC. She discovered an ad for a used book seller in London - Marks & Co. - and decided to write an inquiry. She included a list of her "most pressing problems." That very first letter was dated October 5, 1949. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The main person Ms. Hanff directed her letters was Frank Doel, as he initially answered her requests. Because of Ms. Hanff's personable, easy-going, and sarcastic disposition, the letters quickly became good-natured and friendly, so much so that she addressed him as "Frankie." And Mr. Doel did all he could to find excellent second-hand copies of the books she requested. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Soon after learning that England experienced rationing of food and supplies during and after WWII, Ms. Hanff purchased food packages and items from Denmark and had them delivered to Marks & Co. for the employees and their families. This touched so many lives beyond the bookstore that soon she began receiving letters from them, including Mr. Doel's wife, Nora. And so began Ms. Hanff's many long distance friendships.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimkNYDn4rVwCalYOxlV6cTnzRixAvSbSWy_T9iAobDWXWQWzMq6vlu5JqctRYboE_AiISQPXA7DsBhwnYVa5Ns3K6cexd6pKTsVe6RSlsZQofHmCExBtrxloB2Koyjq9vU6V_6rSjBPRLZ1mXT0sfKQm8xmQMp2X8rqrE2rhKkuQVQ5CX0bhE9PR4n" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="898" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimkNYDn4rVwCalYOxlV6cTnzRixAvSbSWy_T9iAobDWXWQWzMq6vlu5JqctRYboE_AiISQPXA7DsBhwnYVa5Ns3K6cexd6pKTsVe6RSlsZQofHmCExBtrxloB2Koyjq9vU6V_6rSjBPRLZ1mXT0sfKQm8xmQMp2X8rqrE2rhKkuQVQ5CX0bhE9PR4n=w640-h448" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I expected Ms. Hanff to make a trip to London, to meet her fans. Many of her correspondents encouraged and begged her to do so; however, within the timeframe of the letters, it was not to happen. That's all I am going to say, or I shall include spoilers.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">A PERSONAL STORY ABOUT ANTIQUARIANISM </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I will add this: until this story, I had never heard the word <i>antiquarian </i>or <i>antiquated</i>. I assumed it was in the antique family and figured out what it meant. Then, this past weekend, I happened upon the Antiquarian Book Fair in Tampa. I gleefully dragged my entire family into St. Petersburg and brought a huge bag with me to do my shopping. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Well...how silly was I? The first book of interest -- <i>The Boyhood of John Muir </i>-- I put it under my arm and continued browsing the booth. After several minutes I walked up to the cashier to ask how much, but she and a gentleman were speaking to an official looking gentleman, and they were spelling for him an author's name: M. U. I. R. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Me, thinking I was clever, held up the book to show them they spelled that name correctly. And just then both the woman and gentleman let out such a sign of relief, I thought they would hug me. Apparently, they were reporting the book missing from their collection, and here I was perusing with it in the crook of my arm. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After apologizing a dozen times, I asked the price of the book and almost choked. And it went downhill from there. Needless to say, I never did fill my book bag. I couldn't justify buying books for $100s and $1000s. Yes, they were beautiful. Absolutely beautiful antique books. But they were books for collecting, not reading. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, Helene was reading antique books before they were just collectors items. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsntIXvVzidU4zpDMFTurXAS4ZPLIouCMBUXcIbWrvC_wxCYFIqyuAq_q6-Z5mXjipwuWs5xxOKZorVXkvnMKXKr4p9_0AO2LXH3bOH_cu2q5KEz9J194oMIl8Y5c0RlU9HWnV9aK94vYaAL5Xd2AG9SujzQkLCMnvOeuMu8WXI_EVmaWQzU8XJEXM" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsntIXvVzidU4zpDMFTurXAS4ZPLIouCMBUXcIbWrvC_wxCYFIqyuAq_q6-Z5mXjipwuWs5xxOKZorVXkvnMKXKr4p9_0AO2LXH3bOH_cu2q5KEz9J194oMIl8Y5c0RlU9HWnV9aK94vYaAL5Xd2AG9SujzQkLCMnvOeuMu8WXI_EVmaWQzU8XJEXM=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before I realized how much being an antiquarian would cost me. (That's my big empty bookbag.)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b style="color: #0b9c7d;">THE BOOKLOVER</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My favorite moments are when Ms. Hanff speaks genuinely off the top of her bookish head; </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For example, Helene tells Frank that she gets to keep her books until the day she dies -- </div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">and die happy in the knowledge that I'm leaving it behind for someone else to love. I shall sprinkle pale pencil marks through it pointing out the best passages to some booklover yet unborn. </div></blockquote><p>And her justification for throwing out (or donating) bad books is this:</p><blockquote><p>I personally can't think of anything less sacrosanct than a bad book or even mediocre book. </p></blockquote><p>Helene had this to say about fiction:</p><blockquote><p>I never can get interested in things that didn't happen to people who never lived. </p></blockquote><blockquote><p>I'm a great lover of I-was-there-books. </p></blockquote><p>Then she read Austen's <i>Pride and Prejudice, </i>and wouldn't return it to the library until Mr. Doel sent her her own copy. </p><p>And Helene's opinion about writing in books: </p><blockquote><p>I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comrade-ly sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages some one long gone has called my attention too. 💛</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYAQkw7g93FlYpoRPB1V9Zf_SucF2DeiDmiSJrTBqTdHsTU7iekNfFYNHqaDdHdaJhFBMnK5I2ipGBw4huRDaOvfs2kZmoeuPs4y8IVpYKuM09rCsme7oxiIBjJjsqWewSfViy0NV0ngw-6ka9FDdJl3Pyv7fXM9yRCrqHqdl4AdrnnfD_RuU_ORj4/s502/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-09%20at%204.19.26%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="404" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYAQkw7g93FlYpoRPB1V9Zf_SucF2DeiDmiSJrTBqTdHsTU7iekNfFYNHqaDdHdaJhFBMnK5I2ipGBw4huRDaOvfs2kZmoeuPs4y8IVpYKuM09rCsme7oxiIBjJjsqWewSfViy0NV0ngw-6ka9FDdJl3Pyv7fXM9yRCrqHqdl4AdrnnfD_RuU_ORj4/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-09%20at%204.19.26%20PM.png" width="258" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Helene Hanff (GoodReads)</td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><b>SHOULD YOU READ THIS?</b></span></p><p>Yes, you should. </p><p>Especially if you like short and sweet true epistolary memoirs, with a bit of 20th century American/English history and culture, humor, friendship, books, reading, and inspiration. </p><p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p><p>P.S. There is a film version starring Anne Bancroft as Hanff, Anthony Hopkins as Frankie, and Judi Dench as Nora. It follows the book very nicely.</p><p></p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-47394112959775865832023-03-09T10:01:00.001-08:002023-03-30T08:50:01.068-07:00Marriage to a Difficult Man by Elisabeth Dodds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMcS51x89zZDKJq-JbZUueCPgqcgjUiRe0eV3i6dh2kJFB4DkJLieqADovxhw-32NgsI6y2o2LkyG9OW8QQNFy2gtK70XCq63CA37h2oIOFwWhymu1fZYKT5LmgFfffFRZGEbsLBgbGcLpLUpFwM6I6jSt6zB_o4Eot-KIeBI6N1l93vrjyeBk7yNH" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMcS51x89zZDKJq-JbZUueCPgqcgjUiRe0eV3i6dh2kJFB4DkJLieqADovxhw-32NgsI6y2o2LkyG9OW8QQNFy2gtK70XCq63CA37h2oIOFwWhymu1fZYKT5LmgFfffFRZGEbsLBgbGcLpLUpFwM6I6jSt6zB_o4Eot-KIeBI6N1l93vrjyeBk7yNH=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">Marriage to a Difficult Man</span></b></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">The Uncommon Union of Jonathan & Sarah Edwards</span></b></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Elisabeth Dodds</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Published 1971</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Married to a Difficult Man</i> is a comprehensive history/biography about the Colonial American Puritan pastor, Jonathan Edwards, his wife, Sarah, their children, and the times and places they lived. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">THE UNION</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The story began with the union of Jonathan and Sarah. Edwards was bookish and studious, and while women were not expected to be educated in the 1700's Puritan world, "Sarah had the best training a girl was allowed to have then." She was a "young lady of quality," and was trained well in many skills. She even practiced good posture for many hours - a lost art. Jonathan may have met his match in Sarah's mind, but he was terribly awkward in the area of social graces. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Nonetheless they discovered their shared love for nature and books, which could be enough to keep any union vigorous; but of course there was more to their union. Sarah would be marrying a minister, and with that came unique obligations and responsibilities. It takes an exceptional woman to wed and stay married to a man of the pulpit, particularly a man who disappeared for long periods of time reading, researching, writing, and traveling. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In addition to his "horrendous" working hours, she had to contend with her husband's not uncommon communications and connections with other women in the church, as "the majority of members in the New England church were women."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To be sure, the author makes a major portion of the book about their love and faithfulness to each other. A family friend recalled how Edwards </div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>could trust everything...to the care of Mrs. Edwards with entire safety and undoubting confidence. She was most judicious and faithful mistress, habitually industrious, a sound economist, managing her household affairs with diligence and discretion. </i></div></blockquote><blockquote><p><i>She uniformly paid a becoming deerence to her husband and treated him with entire respect, conforming to his inclination and rendering everything in the family agreeable and pleasant. She accounted it her greatest glory and there wherein she could best serve God and her generation, to be the means of promoting his usefulness and happiness. </i></p></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In return, Edwards "treated her as a fully mature being (as a person whose conversations entertained him, whose spirit nourished his own religious life, whose presence gave him repose).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><b>RAISING UP CHILDREN</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Sarah and Jonathan were blessed with eleven children. Jonathan believed that </div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">as innocent as children seem to be to us, yet...they are naturally very senseless and stupid, being born as the wild ass's colt and need much to awaken them. </div></blockquote><p>At the end of each day, Jonathan dedicated an hour to his family. He educated his children in church history, Latin, Greek, rhetoric, and penmanship. He listened to their lessons and expected them to compose their own prayers. But it was Sarah who trained them up in godly character and self-discipline. </p><p>It is impressive to consider what the sole union of Sarah and Jonathan produced. By 1900, the Edwards family could boast (though they probably wouldn't):</p><p style="text-align: center;">13 college presidents</p><p style="text-align: center;">65 professors</p><p style="text-align: center;">100 lawyers</p><p style="text-align: center;">1 dean of a law school</p><p style="text-align: center;">30 judges</p><p style="text-align: center;">66 physicians </p><p style="text-align: center;">1 dean of a medical school</p><p style="text-align: center;">80 holders of public office</p><p style="text-align: center;">3 U.S. senators</p><p style="text-align: center;">3 mayors </p><p style="text-align: center;">3 governors</p><p style="text-align: center;">1 U.S. Treasury Controller</p><p style="text-align: center;">1 U. S. Vice President</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjP9yPiHqjnJByL1C2aXtlCWXnYO3V-fN0M7zHaEy60qEuLB0ebLBTuwPDQqZQeIyUOFZgmSKLHLW8f1URS_HgT8GsSQruQU2xT85ZOvO5e3T6oZ0DMQqisyo1plY-R-FTLwLnoO3Snv7HI-DbVQX3u6yVoryLH28OL65lhIDbIEql45D128Rk77UUB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="886" data-original-width="886" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjP9yPiHqjnJByL1C2aXtlCWXnYO3V-fN0M7zHaEy60qEuLB0ebLBTuwPDQqZQeIyUOFZgmSKLHLW8f1URS_HgT8GsSQruQU2xT85ZOvO5e3T6oZ0DMQqisyo1plY-R-FTLwLnoO3Snv7HI-DbVQX3u6yVoryLH28OL65lhIDbIEql45D128Rk77UUB=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;"><br /><br /></span></b></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">THE REVIVAL</span></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">There were two religious revivals under Jonathan Edwards, called The Great Awakenings. The colonial settlements of America had quieted into a lull, bored with religion and suspicious of church structure. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The beginnings of the first Great Awakening, in 1734, had fractured and weakened many churches. There was an emotional fervor taking over the town, and Edwards sought to channel it into sensible discernment. He wrote biblical directions to test if conviction was true or empty emotion. When the effect swung in the opposite course, and people wearied in "despair... [with] a terrifying sense of God's anger," Edwards worked to keep the movement well-grounded in truth. He focused their faith into action. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The second revival in 1740-41, occurred when George Whitefield, the English evangelist, visited America. It was also the same time that Edwards wrote his sermon: <i>Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. </i>It fell on deaf ears when he read it to his own congregation; however, some months later as a guest pastor , he read the same sermon, and there it made history. That sermon may well have changed the face of New England. </p><p style="text-align: left;">But with religious revivals, there was a counter: churches further splintered and "religious experience [was] grotesquely distorted by emotionalism." And with it, a host of false teachers led false converts away. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">BACK TO SARAH</span></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">The most interesting chapter was on Sarah and her nervous breakdown, which led to either her true "conversion" or further growth in her walk with Christ. Sarah struggled internally, particularly after childbirth. "Her disproportionate responsibilities began to overtax her." She was tempted to think the worst of her husband, her children and herself, and she fought to not reveal: </p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">I'm not as endlessly giving as I appear to be, and this is an impossibly difficult man. </p></blockquote><p>As her husband was frequently away, she carried the management of their large household solely on her own, without relief for her own fears or anxieties. She was crushed by the opinions of others in the congregation, of not only herself but also for her husband. The burdens became heavier. She eventually felt she was wrestling with God. </p><p>For Sarah, it was a personal Great Awakening, and when she literally came to, she </p><blockquote><p>stopped straining to please God (and man) and began to live in the assurance of a salvation she didn't have to try to deserve. She stopped pushing herself to be worthy of Edwards' love and from then on had his unreserved admiration. </p></blockquote><p>She recalled how she awoke and:</p><blockquote><p>...was led to reflect on God's mercy to me in giving me, for many years, a willingness to die, and after that...in making me willing to live. </p></blockquote><p><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">BACK TO JONATHAN</span></b></p><p>Edwards took on the sinfulness of the community, becoming very liberal in his opinions about trivial matters while stepping on some consciences along the way. He commented on his congregations' owning too few books - evidence for a lack of reading. (I mean, truly reprehensible!) The people were tired of Edward's lectures on his angry God. Sarah came to the defense of her husband by writing a long letter to the church membership, but this mattered not. Edwards wore out his welcome. It was 1750. The colonies were in a bad mood, and Edwards was voted out of his congregation and sent packing. </p><p>He was relegated to a missionary of the Mohican Nation, where he preached the gospel and taught the people. He maintained good relations with the Indians and also defended their rights to their homeland. This was the time of the French and Indian War, where the Edwardses were very much on the frontline. </p><p><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">UNFORTUNATELY...</span></b></p><p>There is much more to the story, but I will cut to the end of Jonathan and Sarah. In 1758, a smallpox epidemic was spreading, and Edwards decided to take a chance on the new inoculation. Jonathan and daughter Esther and her children were agreed to be part of the experiment. Unfortunately, they all contracted smallpox from the medical procedure, and Jonathan succumbed to the disease after all.</p><p>Sarah "tried to be prepared or any testing that life might require of her." She found ways to cling to and trust in God. While Esther suffered with the pox, Sarah wrote to her daughter about the loss of Mr. Edwards:</p><blockquote><p>A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. He has made me adore his goodness, that we had [Jonathan] so long. But my God lives; and he has my heart. O what a legacy my husband and your father has left us! We are given to God; and there I am and love to be. </p></blockquote><p>Two weeks later, Esther died.</p><p>Not long after, Sarah lost the will to live without her life partner and she died of a broken heart.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhCTxYiDUrCTA9x4Gz0ORw6vgkWTAeACziEqSYdttKBaTWB7-IAq6hPq_C5n5VeA1Uc7nIgAzVqGtYrIUD5SKKeSlxkjG2qo2XI7jXs5VW87F6yrV31BFUvCwEWJqy7qs0CUK08iPA7_PflvPONytWaWBdzHwhNvq-ZKpGG14STGuTf-yCVGIWtENhf" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="474" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhCTxYiDUrCTA9x4Gz0ORw6vgkWTAeACziEqSYdttKBaTWB7-IAq6hPq_C5n5VeA1Uc7nIgAzVqGtYrIUD5SKKeSlxkjG2qo2XI7jXs5VW87F6yrV31BFUvCwEWJqy7qs0CUK08iPA7_PflvPONytWaWBdzHwhNvq-ZKpGG14STGuTf-yCVGIWtENhf=w640-h400" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">FINAL WORDS</span></b></p><p>While reading, I did not fully appreciate the scope of this work until I started to write a review. I left out so much information. There are several more chapters after Sarah's death covering the Edwardses' legacy, which continued for over a century and is amazing when you consider how much an individual and family can do to alter a nation. Even with their failings and blunders, they affected history, a nation and its people for good. If it wasn't for <strike>Pfizer</strike> the smallpox experiment, how much more would they have accomplished?</p><p>I only gave it three stars because I thought the writing could have been better. That was my only pet peeve. </p><p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-56801431752042727902023-03-05T19:55:00.009-08:002023-03-06T04:11:34.775-08:00The Bookworm Tag<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjr15GHPmGEmtTFyriQazLh9hS41Lb8S4RJ0iEsWu5X7cumj5EzPbNedNHzmvKymG6uUazKkB4QP2eEJ_l87rUZcD9ZHogxwBwlcx2t4lK9seqkVIilW9H2Fi_Zme1BpTgyRiCPeyA05mLuRB-NEsEBzXe4oDUuj-XJPM_bTMK2HRcie1ckBnx-2Fxn" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="320" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjr15GHPmGEmtTFyriQazLh9hS41Lb8S4RJ0iEsWu5X7cumj5EzPbNedNHzmvKymG6uUazKkB4QP2eEJ_l87rUZcD9ZHogxwBwlcx2t4lK9seqkVIilW9H2Fi_Zme1BpTgyRiCPeyA05mLuRB-NEsEBzXe4oDUuj-XJPM_bTMK2HRcie1ckBnx-2Fxn" width="297" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><b><u><span style="font-size: large;">The (very simple) Rules:</span></u></b></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">-answer the questions </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">-make up new ones </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">-tag people</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Rachel @ <a href="https://theedgeoftheprecipice.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Edge of the Precipice</a> tagged me for this Bookworm Tag. Thanks, Rachel. These were fun to go through after my long weekend.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Rachel's questions:</span></b></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text";"><br /></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1. If you had to go into the witness protection program, and they gave you the option of moving inside a book, where would you like to go?</b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is such a happy question, and I wish it were true. If I didn't have to go on an adventure, I'd like to stay at Bilbo's in <i>The Hobbit</i>; however, if I would have to live out the story, then I would rather play it safe and hideaway in <i>The Wind in the Willows</i>!!! I'm crashing at Mole's. </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>2. Have you ever claimed to have read a book you actually hadn't read?</b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I sure hope I never did that. If I did, I had mistaken book identity.</span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>3. What author have you read the most books by? </b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">No surprise here: Laura Ingalls Wilder ~ 12 books; </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">second place: Thomas Hardy ~ 8 books; </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">runners up: Shakespeare, C. S. Lewis, and Austen ~ 7 books; </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Howard Pyle ~ 6 books; </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Steinbeck and Jean Fritz ~ 5 books; </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">and beyond that, Cather, Dickens, Hemingway, and Suzanne Collins ~ 4 books. </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>4. Do you ever buy fun bookish merch like mugs, shirts, artwork, etc?</b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yes. But it is more special when my husband does it for me. He once went to Spain and brought home a hand-painted mug of Don Quixote, and he didn't even know it was my favorite novel at the time. 😳</span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgo8lswyObBZoswYQrDxKjpBuDWQDTu5WPTwnI-uBuGCyD1Fa7R7gwMpbBD46lIGwgMoqXwNPMlp9aRgQWxIrmaPT2IJKoPGsRH82lw1GR8RB9PTvgUQP0FjaBqsrFSRpvV41rRVBcNxwHyqT4LSKuJ5m05ZYYvk6K6aPhOj_tH6y9mDagH0bZDRfOv" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgo8lswyObBZoswYQrDxKjpBuDWQDTu5WPTwnI-uBuGCyD1Fa7R7gwMpbBD46lIGwgMoqXwNPMlp9aRgQWxIrmaPT2IJKoPGsRH82lw1GR8RB9PTvgUQP0FjaBqsrFSRpvV41rRVBcNxwHyqT4LSKuJ5m05ZYYvk6K6aPhOj_tH6y9mDagH0bZDRfOv=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /><b>5. Do you usually read only one book at a time, or do you have several going at once?</b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">No, I'm crazy. I have at least five books going simultaneously. </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>6. Are you a mood reader, or do you plan out your reads?</b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Both. I always plan out my books for the year, and then scratch out half of them and add new ones. I'm a mess. </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>7. If you could meet the author of your favorite book and ask them one question, what would you ask them?</b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is really hard for me. I'm stumped. </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>8. Have you ever tried a new food or drink because you read about it in a book or story?</b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text";"><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, I made clam chowder because of <i>Moby Dick.</i> It was delicious! I also made a homemade pound cake because I read about it in <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin. </i>Also delicious. </span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>9. Have you ever named a pet after a book character? </b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text";"><span style="font-size: large;">No, but my daughter and I have discussed owning several goats named after major characters from <i>Jane Austen</i>. Can you imagine calling after your goats with an English accent, "Mr. Bingley! Mr. Darcy! Miss Bennet!"</span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>10. What book are you reading right now?</b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="background-color: #fffaf7; font-family: "Crimson Text"; font-size: 15.4px;"><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Return of the Native</i> by Thomas Hardy; </span></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Self-Sufficient Backyard</i> by Melchoire; </span></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Truth for Life </i>by Alister Begg; </span></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">and I expect to begin poetry by Keats tomorrow. </span></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">And I have already ordered my next book for book club: Red Famine, by Applebaum. That's five. </span></div></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">* * *</div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>I'm supposed to make up questions and invite others to answer, but I don't know enough bloggers to tag who haven't already been tagged. I'll invite you to answer Rachel's questions, instead, if you would like to join. </b></span></div>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-55236813846015853902023-03-03T07:52:00.000-08:002023-03-03T07:52:20.997-08:00The Well-Educated Mind Histories: from least to most memorable(s)<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhx__KnL3T2M106IMQQJymRs9J_Aykg2KqtsbtyxvDwTJWRtROQBzDE61PwVT8tBTEeRrvcc74Q_6HdpUHQNSMfC2dAJ4ugd5j5GMVsNPxrFMqZPxfKbjCLSCRpfRj5-5mk5zXuLulGzMnTsrUmOhVYrD90JXfD0-si7HdQoj1izxXEqkhSDFnVuCmg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhx__KnL3T2M106IMQQJymRs9J_Aykg2KqtsbtyxvDwTJWRtROQBzDE61PwVT8tBTEeRrvcc74Q_6HdpUHQNSMfC2dAJ4ugd5j5GMVsNPxrFMqZPxfKbjCLSCRpfRj5-5mk5zXuLulGzMnTsrUmOhVYrD90JXfD0-si7HdQoj1izxXEqkhSDFnVuCmg=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>What remains of my WEM histories stack, minus </i>Lewis and Clark<i>.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />This is a very weird situation: history is also one of my favorite genres; however, I truly struggled with <i>The Well-Educated Mind</i> history list. As you can see, I DNF-ed eight of these, and I speed-read through many others. I only had one five star; however, I could choose not one single favorite. I had more memorable reads than a particular favorite (so that is somewhat encouraging). <p></p><p>This is the last genre I have completed from <i>TWEM. </i>Currently I am reading through the poetry list. And when I complete that, I will read through plays. Susan Wise-Bauer has since added a list of science books to read, but I have zero plans to ever read them. </p><p>Following, the histories in order from least to most memorable:</p><p> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>NO STARS [DNF]</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">Plato: The Republic (c. 375 BC) </span><span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">[read 100 pages]</span></p><div style="text-align: left;">Hume: The History of England, Vol. V (1754) <span style="color: #ffd966;">[DNF]</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">Burckhardt: The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860) <span style="color: #f1c232;">[read a few chapters]</span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Miller: The New England Mind (1939) <span style="color: #f1c232;">[I started this, but don't remember what happened]</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: left;">Tuchman: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century (1978) <span style="color: #f1c232;">[read 22%]</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988) <span style="color: #f1c232;">[did not attempt]</span></div><div><p style="text-align: left;">Ulrich: A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary (1990) <span style="color: #f1c232;">[</span><span style="color: #f1c232;">read 30%]</span></p><p style="text-align: left;">Fukuyama: The End of History and the Last Man (1992) <span style="color: #f1c232;">[read 30%]</span></p></div></div><p style="text-align: center;"><b>ONE STAR ⭐</b></p><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">Marx / Engels: The Communist Manifesto and Other Writings (1848)</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;"> <i>I loathe Communism. It was my second time reading, and it will always be an evil, divisive, slave-inducing ideology to me.</i></div><p style="text-align: center;"><b>TWO STARS ⭐⭐</b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">Thucydides: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-peloponnesian-war-by-thucydides.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Peloponnesian War</a> (c. 400 BC)</p><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">More: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2018/07/utopia-by-sir-thomas-more.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Utopia </a>(1516)</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Bernstein / Woodward: All The President's Men (1087)</div><div style="text-align: left;"> <i>A lot of arrogance, but what impressed me here</i><i> was the level of journalism. You don't see that anymore. Today, journalists are spoon-fed from one source, and it's not even the truth. </i></div></div><p style="text-align: center;"><b>THREE STARS ⭐⭐⭐</b></p><div style="text-align: center;">(These three-star reads were somewhat dull to me, except Herodotus and Galbraith; nonetheless, difficult to get through.)</div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">Bede: The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731)</p><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">Locke: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-true-end-of-civil-government-by.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The True End of Civil Government </a>(1690)</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: left;">Rousseau: The Social Contract (1762)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: left;">Weber: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Herodotus: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-histories-by-herodotus.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Histories </a>(441 BC)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: left;">Galbraith: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-great-crash-1929-by-kenneth.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Great Crash 1929</a> (1955)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: transparent;">FOUR STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐</b></div></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></b></div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">Plutarch: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2017/12/lives-of-noble-greeks-roman-lives-by.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Lives </a>(AD 100-125) [read selections]</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: transparent;">FIVE STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</b></div></div></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">Machiavelli: The Prince (1513)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;"> <i>I was obviously in absolute agreement with this work because it was the only </i>WEM<i> history that received five stars. And yet, it was not my most memorable. </i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>🌟 MOST MEMORABLE(S) </b><b>🌟</b></p><p style="text-align: center;">(BTW, <u>all</u> of these received four stars, but I could not choose just one; however, if I had to order them from memorable to most memorable, it may look this way:)</p><div style="background-color: white;"><div style="font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div>Du Bois: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-souls-of-black-folk-by-w-e-b-du-bois.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Souls of Black Folk</a> (1903)</div><div> <i>Wasn't fond of Du Bois' social arguments, especially against Booker T. Washington, but it was intriguing enough to give four stars and call it memorable. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Friedan: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/feminine-mystique-by-betty-friedan.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Feminine Mystique</a> (1963)</div></div><div> <i>Entertainingly weird. For sure. </i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div>Genovese: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2021/02/roll-jordan-roll-world-slaves-made-by.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made</a> (1974)<br /></div><div> <i>This was a massive undertaking and well done. </i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>Gibbon: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-history-of-decline-and-fall-of.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire</a> (1776-1788)</div><div> <i>Another impressive work. Huge!</i></div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>Wollstonecraft: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-vindication-of-rights-of-woman-by.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">A Vindication of the Rights of Woman</a> (1792)</div><div> <i>I hosted a read-along for this book and it caused me to read more deeply, and therefore, it was quite memorable. Wollstonecraft was one of the first feminists leading to modern-day feminism, and I dare say, she would be flabbergasted if she saw what modern-day feminism looked like: men surpassing women again, as...women? Sad.</i></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Augustine: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2018/10/city-of-god-by-augustine.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">City of God</a> (426)</div><div style="text-align: left;"> <i>Impressive. I think I was even more impressed that I read it. </i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div></div><div><div style="font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;"><div>Orwell: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-road-to-wigan-pier-by-george-orwell.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Road to Wigan Pier </a>(1937)</div><div> <i>Love Orwell, and this was great investigative work!</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div></div><div style="font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">Paine: Common Sense, The Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings (1776)</div><div style="font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;"> <i>I only read CS, which was a re-read for me. I love Paine's</i><i> courageous spirit for liberty. </i></div><div><div style="font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div style="font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">Tocqueville: Democracy in America (1835-40)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Nobile;"><span style="font-size: 17.6px;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Nobile;"><span style="font-size: 17.6px;">An honest and hopeful observation of a young America through the eyes of a Frenchman. Tocqueville would probably weep if he visited America today. </span></span></i></div><div style="font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div><div><div style="text-align: left;">Ryan:<a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-longest-day-by-cornelius-ryan.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> The Longest Day</a> (1959)</div><div style="text-align: left;"> <i>This was also very memorable because of the subject matter. I finished reading it on June 6th. What a DAY!</i></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: left;">Strachey: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/02/queen-victoria-by-lytton-strachey.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Queen Victoria</a> (1921)</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;"><div><i> I just loved this story about Queen Victoria. Well-written and fascinating. I'd either like to read more about Queen Victoria or another history/biography by Strachey. Well-done. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>* * *</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">For other lists:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-well-educated-mind-novels-in-order.html" target="_blank">The Well-Educated Mind Novels</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-well-educated-mind.html" target="_blank">The Well-Educated Mind Autobiographies/Memoirs</a></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: center;">Or for the complete TWEM booklist:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-well-educated-mind-booklist.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYOjyTP7znxBd0uNtJAtfU583W96livnvQsOtvg5WYcb64UYq8OJpmwvlOr7kKQ5xyOO9DVSTN184sXdhbp9kEf2ORxA1pIFr7qch4zWa9du0Ut8oxpzZVAFMNcLFKpTsr7rA4rqvgad4t56NV1h15P3eJ59DU4VhyALc0NuiqH2yNjDaZOLj_TjW7/s320/the%20well-educated%20mind%20reading%20challenge.png" width="320" /></a></div>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-63908312599597598722023-03-01T03:04:00.001-08:002023-03-01T03:04:29.973-08:00February Recap 2023<p>Another dismal month of finishing books, but at least better than January: three books and one whopping book review, which I enjoyed writing. I have two more book reviews to write (soon -- no excuses!), and I expect to finish reading at least three books in March, unless life happens. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Unread Books Beginning in February: </b>80</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>What I finished reading:</b></p><p style="text-align: center;">Flaubert: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2023/02/do-you-know-someone-suffering-from.html" target="_blank">Madame Bovary</a> (re-read) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="text-align: center;">Dodd: Marriage to a Difficult Man (unread -1) ⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="text-align: center;">Colderidge: selected poetry (TWEM) ⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>What I am still reading:</b></p><p style="text-align: center;">Tolstoy: Anna Karenina (re-read, book club)</p><p style="text-align: center;">Melchiore: The Self-sufficient Backyard</p><p style="text-align: center;">Begg: Truth for Life</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>What I just started reading:</b></p><p style="text-align: center;">Hardy: Return of the Native (re-read)</p><p style="text-align: center;">Hanff: 84, Charing Cross Road (book club)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjAcFOx2u0RtZFU0j0rdvqCvZP0jyRpfJXGY8VmffVav1vJWrJP_3kYSOP29rViJ0ta07Racxu2TzWeFI3bJMJwqyNZveOwXoBWD54C0BdlcapBNnwfCiOFxeXL6SrFZxy51Scxnp9lWGhLiCCFp19psf7DPj5gSVEuEVAZogi2r30RUN13w-LH0mI/s1374/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-01%20at%205.55.24%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1374" data-original-width="1322" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjAcFOx2u0RtZFU0j0rdvqCvZP0jyRpfJXGY8VmffVav1vJWrJP_3kYSOP29rViJ0ta07Racxu2TzWeFI3bJMJwqyNZveOwXoBWD54C0BdlcapBNnwfCiOFxeXL6SrFZxy51Scxnp9lWGhLiCCFp19psf7DPj5gSVEuEVAZogi2r30RUN13w-LH0mI/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-01%20at%205.55.24%20AM.png" width="308" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Bails:</b> 0</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Unshelved:</b> -1</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Added:</b> +2</p><p style="text-align: center;">Hardy: The Woodlanders</p><p style="text-align: center;">Hannff: 84, Charing Cross Road</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Unreads Remaining: </b>81</p><p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2023/02/january-recap-2023.html" target="_blank">January Recap</a></p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-91098597807680751192023-02-23T02:00:00.208-08:002023-02-23T06:06:32.226-08:00The Well-Educated Mind Autobiographies/Memoirs: from least to most favorite<p>I have been putting the <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-well-educated-mind-booklist.html" target="_blank">Well-Educated Mind book list</a> in order from my least favorite to most favorite. Last week I ordered the <b>NOVELS</b> <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-well-educated-mind-novels-in-order.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>. This week I am going through the autobiography/memoir list. If I remember correctly, all of the books were autobiographies or memoirs. </p><p>My favorite genre is biographies because they cover several genres at once: it is a STORY [a nonfiction] about someone's LIFE that includes a period of HISTORY. Not surprisingly, I finished every book on this list. </p><p>By the way, what made reading through these books even more fun was that Cleo from <a href="https://classicalcarousel.com/" target="_blank">Classical Carousel</a> joined me. Which reminds me, when I first began TWEM journey, I connected with six other bloggers who were also reading through the novels. I had to catch up to them. But other than Fanda @ <a href="https://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">ClassicLit</a> they have since disappeared from the blogosphere. : ( Anyway, it was a lot of fun to have buddies to read with and discuss these books. </p><p>OK, here are the autobiographies: </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN15wBqa6m0A6_HVc1FYrqe2vJDG9lsd1X6-PcTasLLhs5ccVps8VODInmDs9WIwYyx_O2lGnO7HRB3M7UO5HdyrVzpCWR06o90lq1vNFBwf65vGxJ_kszHyeQb3wDnbpbXUCo7035gmoE3BovyZqAhM9PLTfVUNd9N_XC5yFnrTeXThH5QmJ2UA5Z/s2479/5113BA0B-E3E0-40FA-B90E-2EA1474D0B11.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2479" data-original-width="2479" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN15wBqa6m0A6_HVc1FYrqe2vJDG9lsd1X6-PcTasLLhs5ccVps8VODInmDs9WIwYyx_O2lGnO7HRB3M7UO5HdyrVzpCWR06o90lq1vNFBwf65vGxJ_kszHyeQb3wDnbpbXUCo7035gmoE3BovyZqAhM9PLTfVUNd9N_XC5yFnrTeXThH5QmJ2UA5Z/w640-h640/5113BA0B-E3E0-40FA-B90E-2EA1474D0B11.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What remains of my WEM biographies.</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>NO STARS [DNF]</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">(none)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>ONE STAR</b></span></div><p></p><p>Kempe: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-book-of-margery-kempe.html" target="_blank">The Book of Margery Kempe</a> (c. 1430)</p><p><i> Maybe I was harsh, but I had a difficult time being sympathetic with Kempe.</i></p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>TWO STARS</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span>Montaigne: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-complete-essays-by-michael-de.html" target="_blank">The Complete Essays</a><b> (1580) </b></span>⭐⭐</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div><br /></div></div><div><div><div><div><div>Descartes: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2014/12/meditations-on-first-philosophy-by-rene.html" target="_blank">Meditations and Other Metaphysical Writings</a> (1641) ⭐⭐</div></div><div><br /></div></div><div>Nietzsche: Ecce Homo (1908) ⭐⭐</div></div><div><i> I only enjoyed this enough to argue with Nietzsche. He really should have gotten one star. </i></div><div><br /></div></div><div>Saint Teresa: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-life-of-saint-teresa-of-availa-by.html" target="_blank">The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself</a> (1588) ⭐⭐</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Stein: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-autobiography-of-alice-b-toklas-by.html" target="_blank">The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas</a> (1933) ⭐⭐</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THREE STARS</b></span></div></div><p></p><div>Hitler: Mein Kampf (1925) ⭐⭐⭐</div><div><i> Again, this only received three stars because I enjoyed writing a rebuttal. </i></div><div><br /></div><div>Rousseau: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-confessions-by-jean-jacques-rousseau.html" target="_blank">Confessions </a>(1781) ⭐⭐⭐</div><div> <i>I actually enjoyed reading about Rousseau's whiney life, which is why I placed it here; but he is responsible for spreading so much disinformation that has contributed to so many lies today. He should have gotten one star.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Lewis: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2016/03/surprised-by-joy-by-c-s-lewis.html" target="_blank">Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life</a> (1955) ⭐⭐⭐</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Colson: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2016/08/born-again-by-charles-colson.html" target="_blank">Born Again </a>(1977) ⭐⭐⭐</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">FOUR STARS</span></b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b style="text-align: center;"> </b><span style="text-align: center;"><i>Overall, I enjoyed every one of these four-stars equally, and it was difficult to place them in some kind of order, but I did my best.</i></span></div><div><b style="font-size: large; text-align: center;"><br /></b></div><div><span style="text-align: center;">Wiesel: </span><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2016/12/memoirs-all-rivers-run-to-sea-by-elie.html" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank">All Rivers Run to the Sea</a><span style="text-align: center;"> (1995) </span>⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><br /></div></div></div><div><div><div>Merton: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-seven-storey-mountain-by-thomas.html" target="_blank">The Seven Story Mountain</a> (1948) ⭐⭐⭐⭐</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div><div>Franklin: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-autobiography-of-benjamin-franklin.html" target="_blank">The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin </a> (1791) ⭐⭐⭐⭐</div></div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">Rowlandson: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2015/02/narrative-of-captivity-and-restoration.html" target="_blank">Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson</a> (1682) ⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><div><div>Gandhi: An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth (1929) ⭐⭐⭐⭐</div></div><div><br /></div></div><div>Bunyan: Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666) ⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div><br /></div></div></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-autobiography-of-malcolm-x.html" target="_blank">The Autobiography of Malcolm X </a> (1965) ⭐⭐⭐⭐</div></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Sarton: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2016/05/journal-of-solitude-by-may-sarton.html" target="_blank">Journal of a Solitude</a> (1973) ⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-size: large;">FIVE STARS</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div>Rodriguez: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2016/09/hunger-of-memory-by-richard-rodriguez.html" target="_blank">Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez</a> (1982) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div><br /></div><div>Augustine: Confessions (AD c. 400) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div><i> This was really complex, but I had a good translator and found it easy to read.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Thoreau: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2015/06/walden-by-henry-david-thoreau.html" target="_blank">Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience</a> (1854) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div><i> This is one of my favorite books of all time, but I could not put it before the next five books because of their topics or subject matter, which is important to me. Thoreau was (to use today's terminology) privileged. He was an activist who tried living off the grid for awhile and then journaled about it. But the next books are more about overcoming adversity, for lack of a better word. </i></div><div><br /></div><div>Washington: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2015/07/up-from-slavery-by-booker-t-washington.html" target="_blank">Up From Slavery </a>(1901) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div><i> Washington told his story from slavery to the founding of education for newly freed slaves. No excuses. </i></div><div><div><p>Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</p><p><i> Jacobs told her horrific story of slavery from a mother's and woman's perspective. </i></p><div></div></div></div><div><div>Douglass: Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</div></div><div> <i>Anything from Douglass, for me, is superb. </i></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Solzhenitsyn: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2017/11/crime-and-punishment-by-fyodor.html" target="_blank">The Gulag Archipelago </a>(1973) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div><i> And if Solzhenitsyn's words aren't essential today, then liberty and freedom be damned. </i></div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>ALL-TIME FAVORITE</b></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Conway: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-road-from-coorain-by-jill-ker-conway.html" target="_blank">The Road from Coorain</a> (1989) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div><i> Conway's personal story beautifully covered all of the genres I mentioned: a great story about her difficult life during a time of major social change and how she conquered it all.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLhW7BOg9q9qnd-EsuMp9IT7LLeCxywLmEJv0XL5I4Ka3Oj_zmsbYTZtt3HTwEuUagzDMunvfUBAaKrquoRZ1oq93kvbEJYeFrWIFlLvwX61EOgo6a-rSlNh5TMOI0vyZS216y6xX1fH9g-7GjUVh4CiZdXtDwXCiDT53_4ZeiVLFc-aMbH8MYXIT2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLhW7BOg9q9qnd-EsuMp9IT7LLeCxywLmEJv0XL5I4Ka3Oj_zmsbYTZtt3HTwEuUagzDMunvfUBAaKrquoRZ1oq93kvbEJYeFrWIFlLvwX61EOgo6a-rSlNh5TMOI0vyZS216y6xX1fH9g-7GjUVh4CiZdXtDwXCiDT53_4ZeiVLFc-aMbH8MYXIT2" width="240" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><b>* * *</b></p><p>For more on <b><span style="color: #0b9c7d;">The Well-Educated Mind Reading Challenge</span></b>, click the image:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-well-educated-mind-booklist.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgerHw3y9Z2b91sLzgT5l8do4ZbUGBVzPrl0aNx5KEiVb-mkjLGum7EPPJPawDaBDVARGEHtcg0Xh6sLYsAHFLU90wR5DEd5P86S-76VrdiNNp_tjqlcB0ksQWkhoM_qoIO9gCQytTmeFwWtXIvCi-9CYqirZQK_Z6P9Hq92WF9I8syQGl77pbHWG3R" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-49979214819783535172023-02-16T16:56:00.001-08:002024-01-24T10:45:50.230-08:00The Well-Educated Mind Novels in Order: from least to all-time favorite<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyMiTAdiKIiGEtUlfL2BUQNMS_e1Zc8RSmJQn_pmewPybmtZ-iWyQ6caYuNgt3cE4cGar9z5J7EEJnNl1LpeyDdNzwwjTZxltJf-nMtrCNsXxvvBdDY9vpNhO5ymkMm2OXR0r4QEdk6HJpmTQHefTVQVvI13nblRjLxYhNHNxSlHDwKo6H6iZtLejo/s2525/60DB0B65-41BD-43B7-AB66-2AD517457DC4_1_201_a.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2525" data-original-width="2525" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyMiTAdiKIiGEtUlfL2BUQNMS_e1Zc8RSmJQn_pmewPybmtZ-iWyQ6caYuNgt3cE4cGar9z5J7EEJnNl1LpeyDdNzwwjTZxltJf-nMtrCNsXxvvBdDY9vpNhO5ymkMm2OXR0r4QEdk6HJpmTQHefTVQVvI13nblRjLxYhNHNxSlHDwKo6H6iZtLejo/w400-h400/60DB0B65-41BD-43B7-AB66-2AD517457DC4_1_201_a.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>The Well-educated Mind </i>(TWEM)<i> </i>by Susan Wise Bauer was first published in 2003, but I did not know about it until after I had read <i>The Well-trained Mind</i>, Bauer's classical education "bible" for homeschoolers. The promising subtitle of TWEM - <i>A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had</i> - caused me to consider the deficiencies in my education; acknowledge my intimidation of classic literature; and the need for me to know something about a classical education since this is what we were doing at home.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In December of 2011, I bought a copy of TWEM and finished it in January 2012. The first novel on the list was <i>Don Quixote. </i>Years before I had picked up a brand new, untouched "used" copy for sale at my library, as if I was going to read it; but I was terrified. However, now I had no excuses. I even began a blog to record my chapter narrations and keep myself accountable. My blog was called "An Experiment With the Well-educated Mind." (Later it was renamed "A Great Book Study.")</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Bauer suggests to read slowly and in short increments, and to write one to two sentence narrations per chapter. Of course, a classical education consists of reading a book numerous times, though not everyone can do that. And I find the short narration after each chapter really helpful for comprehension.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Immediately, I loved reading again, and my intimidation of great works subsided. I was comprehending classic literature that I thought was impossible. In a couple of years, I had completed the list of novels, then the biographies, and recently, histories. Now I am on to poetry. And ten years later, I am re-reading many of the novels again. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Today, I thought it would be interesting to order the books from the lists that I have completed, from least favorite to absolute favorite, if possible. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Following are the <b>NOVELS</b>:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwsNyxYP84RzHFf9zuMd2pTOnzGhwYNSpAPDMAbj74Z5M4igqMQqLbYhiLlzU5dQS-vh93_eIxOhNGsuLQ20smJ0FKPXbOx6n4mgy1gyVvIh6J080jWAdxdSOGHgGEh9L-pA_dfjbR5k-RGn90kOHHEj21E3Nwu0kT_ZGsxBVQdl6KH5M47-J0NBmZ/s2859/D836C3AA-ADC9-475C-9253-AFF76978C298_1_201_a.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1256" data-original-width="2859" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwsNyxYP84RzHFf9zuMd2pTOnzGhwYNSpAPDMAbj74Z5M4igqMQqLbYhiLlzU5dQS-vh93_eIxOhNGsuLQ20smJ0FKPXbOx6n4mgy1gyVvIh6J080jWAdxdSOGHgGEh9L-pA_dfjbR5k-RGn90kOHHEj21E3Nwu0kT_ZGsxBVQdl6KH5M47-J0NBmZ/w640-h282/D836C3AA-ADC9-475C-9253-AFF76978C298_1_201_a.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These are the novels on TWEM list that I kept; the rest I donated.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">NO STARS</span></b></div></div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px;">Morrison: Song of Solomon (1977) <span style="color: #f1c232;">[DNF - read one chapter]</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px;"><i> From the first chapter, I was not impressed with the language or concept. I was relieved to trash it. That's all I'm going to say.</i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: center;"><b>ONE STAR</b></p><div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"></div><p></p></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;">Conrad: Heart of Darkness (1902) ⭐</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> I absolutely hated this one, but it would be interesting to see what I think about it if I did give it a second chance. Many readers love this one. I just could not comprehend it.</i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: center;"><b>TWO STARS</b></p><div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"></p><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></div><p></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Cavino: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (1972) ⭐⭐<i> </i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">James: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-portrait-of-lady-by-henry-james.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Portrait of a Lady</a> (1881) ⭐⭐</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><i> To be fair, I was very angry with James at the time for writing this story. However, I plan to reread it, and I will make a fair attempt to better understand it. I have since forgiven James. </i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Nobile; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THREE STARS</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Bellow: Seize the Day (1956) ⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Camus: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-stranger-by-albert-camus.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Stranger</a> (1942) ⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><i><span style="font-family: Nobile;"><span style="font-size: 17.6px;"> Oh, I was really disgusted with Camus regarding this one. And it has drawn the most hostile readers who disagreed with me. Some people are really protective of Camus' philosophy of Absurdism. Yuck!</span></span></i></p></div><div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Woolf: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2013/07/mrs-dalloway-by-virginia-woolf.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Mrs. Dalloway</a> (1925) ⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> This was a really difficult one to get through. I am surprised I gave it three stars. </i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Byatt: Possession (1990) ⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> This was a really interesting concept, but I was a little bored by it, too. </i></p></div><div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">DeLillo: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2015/11/white-noise-by-don-delillo.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">White Noise</a> (1985) ⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Swift: Gulliver's Travels (1726) ⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>FOUR STARS</b></span></p></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Kafka: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-trial-by-franz-kafka.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Trial</a> (1925) ⭐⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Ellison: Invisible Man (1952) ⭐⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Dickens: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2012/06/oliver-twist-by-charles-dickens.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Oliver Twist</a> (1838) ⭐⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> I think I liked the happy ending most of all because I am not a big fan of Dickens.</i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Hardy: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-return-of-native-by-thomas-hardy.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Return of the Native</a> (1878) ⭐⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> This was my first Hardy, and I struggled in the first chapter. However, I wonder if it will get even more stars once I reread it? I have since fallen in love with Hardy. </i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: center;"><b>FIVE STARS</b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Wright: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2013/08/native-son-by-richard-wright.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Native Son</a> (1940) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> I was gripped by Native Son; however, I'm a little apprehensive to go through it again because it was a haunting. </i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Melville: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/moby-dick-by-herman-melville.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Moby-Dick</a> (1851) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (re-read)</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> An impressive work, but it takes commitment to stick with it. </i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Marquez: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/one-hundred-years-of-solitude-by.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">One Hundred Years of Solitude</a> (1967) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (re-read)</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> I disliked OHYOS the first time, but the reread opened my eyes to its magic. I love it!</i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Crane: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2018/11/red-badge-of-courage-by-stephen-crane.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Red Badge of Courage</a> (1895) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (re-read) </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> I struggled to place this one ahead of OHYOS because this is a serious work, but tedious, too. Not as interesting as mystical realism. So...</i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Wharton: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-house-of-mirth-by-edith-wharton.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The House of Mirth</a> (1905) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</p><div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Bunyan: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2012/04/the-pilgrims-progress-by-john-bunyan.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Pilgrim's Progress in Modern English</a> (1679) re-read <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-pilgrims-progress-by-john-bunyan.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">review</a> ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</p></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Cervantes: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2012/03/don-quixote-by-cervantes.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Don Quixote </a> (1605) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (partial re-read)</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> Some people dislike DQ. How cruel he is! But I find Cervantes hysterical. I can't help it.</i></p></div><div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Twain: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-adventurers-of-huckleberry-finn-by.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</a> (1884) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (re-read)</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> I love Twain's dig at civilization and slavery. </i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Brontë: Jane Eyre (1847) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (re-read)</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> I mean, this is epic writing. So, it counts for something even if the story is odd and Mr. What's-his-face is a weirdo. </i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Flaubert: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2012/08/madame-bovary-by-gustave-flaubert.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Madame Bovary</a> (1857) <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2023/02/do-you-know-someone-suffering-from.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">re-read</a> ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> I just finished re-reading this, and it was really eye-opening! </i></p><div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Hawthorne: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-scarlet-letter-by-nathaniel.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Scarlet Letter</a> (1850) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (re-read)</p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><i><span style="font-family: Nobile;"><span style="font-size: 17.6px;"> The first couple of times I read this, I disliked Hawthorne's attack on the Puritans. Everyone likes to dump on the Puritans. Well, this third read I really dug deeper and came to actually appreciate this work. </span></span></i></p></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Dostoyevsky: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2017/11/crime-and-punishment-by-fyodor.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Crime and Punishment </a>(1866) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (re-read)</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> The Russian authors are impressive. What can I say?</i></p></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Austen: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2012/05/pride-and-prejudice-by-jane-austen.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Pride and Prejudice</a> (1815) re-read <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2022/06/pride-and-prejudice-by-jane-austen.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">review</a> ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> This is one of the cleverest of stories around the classic world. You go, Jane!</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Tolstoy: Anna Karenina (1877) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (rereading now)</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> Another major impressive work and story, full of noble ideas. </i></p></div></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Orwell: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2013/10/1984-by-george-orwell.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">1984</a> (1949) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (re-read multiple times)</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> Only radicals read this and hold fast to its truths. </i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Fitzgerald: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-great-gatsby-by-f-scott-fitzgerald.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Great Gatsby</a> (1925) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (re-read)</p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><i><span style="font-family: Nobile;"><span style="font-size: 17.6px;"> One of the most eccentric, memorable, and quintessential American works. Like a speeding car struck you down in the middle of the night...and kept going. (I don't know why it makes me feel like that.)</span></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>ALL-TIME FAVORITE</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;">Stowe: <a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2015/11/uncle-toms-cabin-by-harriet-beecher.html" style="color: #0b9c7d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Uncle Tom's Cabin: Or, Life Among the Lowly</a> (1851) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (re-read multiple times)</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> UTC is not a popular book, it seems. Possibly no one is interested in another book about American slavery as it was. But this is a good place to start if you do want to know something. Stowe's writing style is superb, her words are commanding and compassionate. Many characters are beautiful and good. It is a hopeful story at a time when a nation was at a crossroads. </i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> What impresses me most is Stowe's courage to write such a book at that time. Today she would have been censored by the powers that control the narrative. She took on an entire nation - yes, both North and South, pro-slavery and anti-slavery, including the Christian Church - with her pen. </i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: start;"><i> Reading this inspires me and makes this book my most favorite novel from The Well-educated Mind. </i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: center;"><i>* * *</i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Nobile; font-size: 17.6px; text-align: left;"><i><b>Do you have any favorites from this list? </b></i><i><b>Which ones and why? </b></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-well-educated-mind-booklist.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6F0f7gIa3oqr6vtqCzR9dcwNTuQuXN9PS5so6UaRQ4Cf432dqByJxFwdg6w_4_umN8beBc4JDDxHMEc3gb_cmrdxJ0L59l3jyxqGc523oFGY5JWuyV3H_YyFeK1zhFeEQwP7HtfTK-q9gtrkulBUrdbY28tDA_HLlXdtvPzIyidQ_H4gTXm4bFZ1U/w400-h300/twem.png" width="400" /></a></div></div>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301853376184312607.post-54765163123982893812023-02-12T18:35:00.003-08:002023-02-13T05:42:55.831-08:00Do you know someone suffering from Madame Bovary Syndrome? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wBM8WrmeJSHkfYoZ99oMjRASG9u2x5nLRgt0W-uYIAfctEn3FlCz3HmX9CFX25C4W3G8a1PwkhDis5CVk707AEPslSRaVkSUbrcMKhP0JzfvpxfBhTOrkvZgzqKiYwEXQEfdnwxAMnHuFkBmZcM7_W3NriE0nUt7EyBKQFeMn1Sw3mXZJeSa4IXS/s1412/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-07%20at%2010.16.51%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1412" data-original-width="1352" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wBM8WrmeJSHkfYoZ99oMjRASG9u2x5nLRgt0W-uYIAfctEn3FlCz3HmX9CFX25C4W3G8a1PwkhDis5CVk707AEPslSRaVkSUbrcMKhP0JzfvpxfBhTOrkvZgzqKiYwEXQEfdnwxAMnHuFkBmZcM7_W3NriE0nUt7EyBKQFeMn1Sw3mXZJeSa4IXS/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-07%20at%2010.16.51%20AM.png" width="306" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Madame Bovary</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Gustave Flaubert</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">published 1856</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">French classic novel</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">re-read WEM</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What is Madame Bovary Syndrome? It is a psychological condition named after the female protagonist in <i>Madame Bovary</i>. Philosopher Jules De Gaultier described it as a "chronic dissatisfaction with one's life." Another definition described it as a "shopping disorder." As to the behaviors displayed by Emma Bovary, both descriptions fit. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But there is more: Madame Bovary syndrome involves escaping reality - a typical coping mechanism - through idealism of religion, memories, reading, music, dreams, passion, romantic love, shopping, and even living through the achievements of others (like one's spouse or child). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This behavior was commonly present in nineteenth century novels, in which female protagonists suffered from an inability to achieve their coveted desires and were either driven to madness or suicide because there was no solution or a way out of the syndrome. In fact, I am reading <i>Anna Karenina </i>right now, and there are so many similarities to <i>Madame Bovary.</i> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But, hold on...men are not entirely exempt from Madame Bovary Syndrome.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaT5tdwJw45Omp0DRMnoRc2GYyjHWSvon6HKeICxKGKD-s6lG95dB0XYQNRnmdtmHama3a-OjFM48wfHOnhPRMQP_B2fn0gzl27kTjWd_QstiQepxfrDLcj7WegGpjdtidX4VscQG9bkYNGrMTgj1NOo3Q07w5ho3iHUCsf_WuUUKn_XKJ9LsAVqHy/s618/9A3A4897-9150-4B46-A41B-AA3777D0B2FA.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="488" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaT5tdwJw45Omp0DRMnoRc2GYyjHWSvon6HKeICxKGKD-s6lG95dB0XYQNRnmdtmHama3a-OjFM48wfHOnhPRMQP_B2fn0gzl27kTjWd_QstiQepxfrDLcj7WegGpjdtidX4VscQG9bkYNGrMTgj1NOo3Q07w5ho3iHUCsf_WuUUKn_XKJ9LsAVqHy/w316-h400/9A3A4897-9150-4B46-A41B-AA3777D0B2FA.png" width="316" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>A short summary (with spoiler)</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the novel, Emma is a young country girl who was married off to a good, kind-hearted widower, Charles Bovary, who genuinely loved Emma very much. He is a mediocre doctor and not well off; also he is rather dull. Emma had expectations that marriage would bring excitement, but Charles was <i>blah</i> and Emma's life felt boring.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When Charles aided an elite patient, the gentleman invited Charles and Emma to his ball to show his gratitude, sort of. For the first time, Emma witnessed how the other half of society lived and imagined <i>it </i>was the world she had been destined, not the passion-less life she was living with Charles. Her disillusions pushed her into depression. Her caring husband thought a change of environment would improve her health, and they moved into town. </div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdXZ0j6mEFfY6GzdMHg9FOZLYMVZBDPEaBZ1aZ3yh9uF_53Qgc6Osyk6p88iM1fMCVtnnSjtOlqTpPLupa7HkqeV2hj01p1TXI0l60qMOyFZhJ9MAA72hHO238KjT1SczuAJMpZZckLb_2ZNsU2boWwfR4fAipNoieHNM6H1N4HRGuxp3xmr14Xy4N/s1184/4325F0F9-E133-4156-8A8F-944F415FAE43.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1184" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdXZ0j6mEFfY6GzdMHg9FOZLYMVZBDPEaBZ1aZ3yh9uF_53Qgc6Osyk6p88iM1fMCVtnnSjtOlqTpPLupa7HkqeV2hj01p1TXI0l60qMOyFZhJ9MAA72hHO238KjT1SczuAJMpZZckLb_2ZNsU2boWwfR4fAipNoieHNM6H1N4HRGuxp3xmr14Xy4N/w400-h290/4325F0F9-E133-4156-8A8F-944F415FAE43.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Young Lady in a Boat</i> - Tissot, 1870</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Town was no better, but Emma befriended a young clerk, Leon, who shared her passions: music, poetry, art, love -- they had much in common. Leon wanted to pursue a relationship, but Emma restrained herself. She desperately sought assistance through the church, but the priest was useless. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Emma grew possessive of Leon, eventually chasing him away; he left town to escape her obsessiveness. Needless to say, she was shattered. By this time, Emma and Charles had a daughter. Unfortunately, she neglected her, never truly bonding. (Emma had hoped for a boy because she believed only boys could achieve their dreams and live as they chose.) Unfortunately, like marriage, motherhood was unfulfilling.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Ako42E1LnMw4nlmKWgiPCxGJUUV8a1-yWqu09hq-zpkm54gQDBlrmED4_P-jkYBdn0pmp5qITI6Ln053JhOlsBlWev25NZU6aO56Jq4T0atR60ECW65Bc3rThmFGEkf6RCrSoznGpZr6OpRkzHLfsUPYwoZm15AOUgivsrQZDfUMrKq5DUzbfBLg/s1502/C5737472-1F93-4793-8270-6BE7BFED2BF2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1502" data-original-width="924" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Ako42E1LnMw4nlmKWgiPCxGJUUV8a1-yWqu09hq-zpkm54gQDBlrmED4_P-jkYBdn0pmp5qITI6Ln053JhOlsBlWev25NZU6aO56Jq4T0atR60ECW65Bc3rThmFGEkf6RCrSoznGpZr6OpRkzHLfsUPYwoZm15AOUgivsrQZDfUMrKq5DUzbfBLg/w246-h400/C5737472-1F93-4793-8270-6BE7BFED2BF2.png" width="246" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But then...enter Rodolphe, a wealthy socialite who set his target on Emma and pursued her. It was not too difficult. He was a smooth talker, and she was hooked. The connection immediately developed into a physical affair, and he eventually became bored of Emma. Their steamy relationship heavily clouded her opinion of her husband and marriage; she disliked everything about Charles. She plotted to run away with Rodolphe, and he pretended to agree; but he left a <i>Dear John</i> letter instead and skipped out of town as quickly as he could. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Naturally, Emma was devastated and became deeply depressed. To lift her spirits, Charles took Emma to the opera where they ran into...Leon! Charles was either oblivious to Emma's emotional and physical affairs or he encouraged them. He suggested she remain in Rouen to see the opera the following night. Instead she reignited her connection with Leon. For a long time, she lied to maintain their time together and lived like an unpaid prostitute. She also became obsessive and controlling. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixaM6DcrNUxXM92GmAp1FOjxlK5XqFE1WUBsYlekc34SFSwszLM9tBXzonlzJZkZ5u-vhJgyW4qfr3lXBSM0p1sG-tL7y7UxYq_yAQpPkOJ3GXg_AF6L3rOZlDPr3SefczLtvHMWjBamwbQkppfBnBNVq0rq9yWRZ0-Ok1bIkQhgd4z0uIHwnQKBM3/s562/C7320055-D7B0-4790-BA9F-B056923C710E.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="562" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixaM6DcrNUxXM92GmAp1FOjxlK5XqFE1WUBsYlekc34SFSwszLM9tBXzonlzJZkZ5u-vhJgyW4qfr3lXBSM0p1sG-tL7y7UxYq_yAQpPkOJ3GXg_AF6L3rOZlDPr3SefczLtvHMWjBamwbQkppfBnBNVq0rq9yWRZ0-Ok1bIkQhgd4z0uIHwnQKBM3/w400-h299/C7320055-D7B0-4790-BA9F-B056923C710E.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In addition to the affair, Emma's behavior had become more reckless, like a drug addict. She spent money on credit to buy frivolous things that she thought would bring her happiness and contentment. She plunged her husband into debt, with no way to pay it off unless she turned herself into a prostitute, as her lawyer had suggested. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Since she could not pay off her financial debt -- nor would her unsuspecting husband be able to save her once he found out -- she decided death was the only way out. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtY-jxhGpwFtqNLbKQqV_U8q1qt63c3FyrSrWmmCvKTcu35ZYu4p05N4uOkTkh_Z4gsfb_Ov-LLDLCsupiAziAicEeecVnsC0yy2qsPJr4YTQtjo_wJPQ-8wlsga_pcRqjGWXeAyCNrvxe0EK9yat03pSBLw2vPd4NwwFL43MazQfGHrHbUFe2JpnB/s1064/D4A23EEC-9F11-4EAF-A6CF-5C0C4E7DC504.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1064" data-original-width="534" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtY-jxhGpwFtqNLbKQqV_U8q1qt63c3FyrSrWmmCvKTcu35ZYu4p05N4uOkTkh_Z4gsfb_Ov-LLDLCsupiAziAicEeecVnsC0yy2qsPJr4YTQtjo_wJPQ-8wlsga_pcRqjGWXeAyCNrvxe0EK9yat03pSBLw2vPd4NwwFL43MazQfGHrHbUFe2JpnB/w201-h400/D4A23EEC-9F11-4EAF-A6CF-5C0C4E7DC504.png" width="201" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>No more spoilers</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now, this may seem very one-sided, but it is not. The men in this story have their own issues. For one, while Charles was a good, kind man who did love Emma, he was quite ignorant of her needs and he did not understand her. Or he was too stupid to comprehend. In Scripture, a husband is supposed to know his wife in an understanding way. That means he needs to make time and an effort to figure her out, know her desires and feelings, and never quit until it is clear. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Either he was truly blind about her affairs or he knew he was incompetent as Emma's husband and, therefore, encouraged her to maintain the illicit relationships because he could not make her happy. But probably it was the first idea. He was a LAZY husband who did not rise to the occasion to be a capable husband. While her affairs were forbidden, so too, he did not keep his vows. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I do not want to get into how constricted Emma's life was because she was a 19th century woman. At one point she had a child, and that was not enough for her. She was still chasing what was not her reality. She was in the wrong, Charles was wrong; in fact, every character in <i>Madame Bovary </i>was wrong. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Also, as I suggested, Madame Bovary syndrome is not just for women. Charles suffered from his own desire to escape reality. Before Emma, he had developed obsessions for pleasure. And maybe marrying Emma was also part of his seeking happiness through his attractive young wife. He couldn't wait to get rid of his late-wife's wedding bouquet to make room for Emma. Even after Emma's death, he developed interests in all pursuits Emma was interested, albeit too late. He also initially avoided reading the love letters from her lovers. He preferred to keep a particular image of Emma -- the ideal image he had created in his mind. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTB1qyURd2kcQOCWNkx5IAT3kyPaD-bIfEidVyvpzNPfDHygn3kw4nfaaABKFxJqeIZNLh-BcqOr-MqsHeMGspW2NbqO_pVWvPFix1wis8gJymODasiqvWK_0iKSFYMjY3tGW-mhgR1h0-87hx_QgjymHM3dFKN4VEMV_-8q5UEnZsfNSvr3nilPlH/s628/E18DDD3D-4F50-4786-97EF-32C48F3C80EE.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="438" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTB1qyURd2kcQOCWNkx5IAT3kyPaD-bIfEidVyvpzNPfDHygn3kw4nfaaABKFxJqeIZNLh-BcqOr-MqsHeMGspW2NbqO_pVWvPFix1wis8gJymODasiqvWK_0iKSFYMjY3tGW-mhgR1h0-87hx_QgjymHM3dFKN4VEMV_-8q5UEnZsfNSvr3nilPlH/w279-h400/E18DDD3D-4F50-4786-97EF-32C48F3C80EE.png" width="279" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Finally, there was another man who suffered from Madame Bovary syndrome before it had a name: Gustave Flaubert. Yep! According to the author, he was the inspiration for Emma, having experienced disillusions of life, love, romance, happiness, relationships, and the like. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">None of this is surprising to me, and I bet everyone experiences some disillusionment of life in some way or at some point. I know I have. A lot! True -- books, movies, music, idols, even pride, and self-importance can mislead us into false expectations. We create romantic illusions and passions which reality cannot compare, setting ourselves up for disappointment and failure. We falsely believe others have it better than us, and we covet their lives. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>The only remedy for MB syndrome</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The only solution, the only remedy for Madame Bovary syndrome is the gospel. Yep!! Bottom line! There is no other reality cleanser better than knowing who Christ is and where you stand in relation to Him. There are no disillusions with Him. And most of all, our desires for something better stem from a missing relationship with Him. He fulfills that longing. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Knowing where you came from, where you are going when you die, and that Jesus Christ died for you is a life changer. I always think about how a relationship with Christ would have changed the characters in the books I read. Surely, Charles would have been a present and attentive husband; Emma would have spared her marriage, her daughter, and her own life by finding contentment in her relationship in Christ, regardless how incompetent her husband was; Rodolphe and Leon would respected women; the priest would have been of better service to others; the pharmacist would have been an honest man, etc. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Final parting words</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is an excellent novel, well written, never boring. Flaubert's characters are comical in a serious way, like caricatures. This may not be a plot many can relate, thankfully, but it certainly is a relatable issue. Flaubert used a woman as his example to demonstrate social inequalities (of his time), but what Emma Bovary suffered from is the human heart defect that both men and women experience even today when they pursue fleeting happiness in all the wrong people, places, and material things. Until they find the Truth, they will always end up disappointed and disillusioned in life. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">* * * </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://withfreedomandbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-well-educated-mind-booklist.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEOfkBMJd-3NACS8K1ZuWZl9143maQuH5nA6Ht3Eszf02qFca2oof0PucmgqyYIXQ3ysw4PoEPCxdzksOqozLROzhbcMBN4mM3dO5LzCJV5X3j-lhA3JHCUjP87FHG7BbtEms-37Hn593HnbRMa71j0ienTEXaXbq2Eo_4T8QmRgo7sQEAliENtkJ7" width="320" /></a></div></div></div></div><p></p>Ruth @ with freedom and bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531827758868215023noreply@blogger.com11