Archive | November 2005

Little House on the Prairie

Nov2

I’m reading through the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder with my six year old, Betsy-Bee. I found this great website with lists of all the books and all the spin-off books and teaching resources and other educational helps. Right now we’re just reading, but we may use some of the materials available on the web. We just finished Farmer Boy, about the childhood of Almanzo, Laura’s future husband, and now we’re going to start reading By the Shores of Silver Lake.. See you later.

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Oh, my, I didn’t remember it, but By the Shores of Silver Lake begins with tragedy and difficulties for the Wilder family. Mary is blind as a result of scarlet fever, and their old bulldog Jack dies of old age. Karate Kid asked sadly, “Why did they have to make him die?”

Dancer Daughter Writes

Nov1

Dancer Daughter reviews Madeleine L’Engle’s Walking on Water, a book of essays on living and working as a Christian artist. DD and I share a love for Madeleine L’Engle’s books. I especially recommend two works of fiction: A Severed Wasp and A Ring of Endless Light. A Circle of Quiet and Summer of the Great-Grandfather are two nonfiction, autobiographical books that give a lot of food for thought.

Dancer Daughter also reviews Switchfoot’s latest album, Nothing Is Sound, not my cup of tea, but it may be yours.

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here

Nov1

From an interview with Harold Bloom, author of The Closing of the American Mind and other (Thanks, Melissa) works of literary and cultural criticism:

IL: Do you have any relationship with God, be it intimate or not?

HB: A Christian has to believe that something is so, that Jesus of Nazareth was the son of God, a Muslim is asked to submit to the law of Yahwah – and the submision is the actual translation of the Arabic “Islam” – a Jew is not asked to believe that something is so and neither is he asked to submit to anything. He is asked to trust in the covenants between Yahwah and his people. Since it does not seem to me that Yahwah, historically speaking, has trusted in the covenant or observed the terms of the covenant – otherwise how could there have been Auschwitz? How could there be schizophrenia? How could there be cancer? – I do not accept. Oh, dear child, it is very complicated, I am in a difficult situation – I do not trust in the covenants, and I believe that Yahwah is in exile, that he has deserted us. On the other hand, the Kabbalah seems to me the truth. . . .

. . . my interests are far from what would be called religious, or rather I do not distinguish them from what I find in Shakespeare. So I find your question about my relationship with God almost imposible to answer. It’s like with that question about the Hamlet book: I feel that my consciousness breaks and I cannot get past a certain point. So I can just wave at you some quotes. For instance, if you, my dear, would cling to me in desperation and plead: “Is there really no hope at all?” I could cheer you up: Oh, yes, lots of hope – plenty of hope for God, just none for us.

He certainly is in a ” a very difficult situation.” And I don’t think “waving some quotes” is going to help him or anyone else. Say a prayer for Mr. Bloom; he sounds like a good man (in spite of his misguided political views).