Archive | December 2006

The Books I Didn’t Finish in 2006

Dec31

Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Grace—Norris I don’t know why I didn’t finish this one; I’d like to try it again. I think there were just too many interruptions.

Bark of the Bog Owl—Rogers I just couldn’t get interested in this children’s fantasy.

Child from the Sea—Goudge Again, I couldn’t get interested.

Christianity for Modern Pagans—Kreeft I dipped into this one here and there in a rather desultory manner. I’ll make a better attempt this next year.

Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius—Eggers And I probably won’t ever read it. Too crude, rude and socially unacceptable.

Lonesome Dove—McMurtry Same song, second verse. I thought it might get better, but it just got worse.

Moby Dick–Melville A I’ll get back to Melville again someday.

Ragtime—Doctorow Crude and not my cuppa tea.

Silence—Shukasu Endo I had to return it to the library. I’ll get it again and finish it.

Story—McKee I skimmed through parts of this how-to-write book.

Either my attention span is getting shorter (hope not) or I’m a lot more willing to give up on a book, maybe come back to it later, than I used to be. I think I’ve decided that at my age I’m never going to be able to read all the books that interest me anyway. So why waste time and energy on one that doesn’t capture my imagination? Unless I’ve been told by people I trust that there’s something there worth working at, I don’t read books anymore that I don’t like within a chapter or two.

So many books, so little time.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born December 30th

Dec30


Rudyard Kipling, b. 1865, d. January 18, 1936.

Kipling was wildly popular in his time; he’s now condemned as a moralist, a racist, and and imperialist. Nevertheless, his poetry and his stories are a delight, even if it’s sometimes necessary to suspend one’s cultural assumptions and attitudes. Eldest Daughter took a Victorian fantasty class last semester, and the class read Puck of Pook’s Hill, a tale of Puck, the Last of the Little People, who takes two children, Dan and Una, on a journey through a fantastical version of ancint British history. They hear stories from Puck and see the adventures of Picts and Danes, knights and Romans, and other more fairy-like folk.

THe following poem is from the book Puck of Pook’s Hill by Rudyard Kipling:

Of all the trees that grow so fair,
Old England to adorn,
Greater are none beneath the Sun,
Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.
Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs,
(All of a Midsummer morn!)
Surely we sing no little thing,
In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Oak of the Clay lived many a day,
Or ever AEneas began.
Ash of the Loam was a lady at home,
When Brut was an outlaw man.
Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town
(From which was London born);
Witness hereby the ancientry
Of Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Yew that is old in churchyard-mould,
He breedeth a mighty bow.
Alder for shoes do wise men choose,
And beech for cups also.
But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled,
And your shoes are clean outworn,
Back ye must speed for all that ye need,
To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Ellum she hateth mankind, and waiteth
Till every gust be laid,
To drop a limb on the head of him
That anyway trusts her shade:
But whether a lad be sober or sad,
Or mellow with ale from the horn,
He will take no wrong when he lieth along
‘Neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,
Or he would call it a sin;
But–we have been out in the woods all night,
A-conjuring Summer in!
And we bring you news by word of mouth-
Good news for cattle and corn–
Now is the Sun come up from the South,
With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs
(All of a Midsummer morn):
England shall bide till Judgment Tide,
By Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

In the story Puck swears “by Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.” If I were going to swear an oath by anything, I would enjoy that one. I do like the Victorians and Edwardians. There’s something solid and comforting and indestructible about even the most doubting and wavering of the Victorians, not that Kipling falls into the latter category. I’m sure that Tolkien and Lewis read their Kipling and were influenced by him. Doesn’t the tree poem remind you of Tolkien’s love of trees?

If you can get your hands on a copy, I would recommend a romp through Puck of Pook’s Hill. In the same class on Victorian fantasy, Eldest Daughter also enjoyed Thackeray’s The Ring and the Rose, also worth searching out.

Complete Collection of Poems by Rudyard Kipling.

Kipling’s Birthday, December 2004: “When Earth’s Picture Is Painted.”

Poetry Friday: You by Edgar Guest

Dec29

You are the fellow that has to decide
Whether you’ll do it or toss it aside.
You are the fellow who makes up your mind
Whether you’ll lead or will linger behind
Whether you’ll try for the goal that’s afar
Or just be contented to stay where you are.
Take it or leave it. Here’s something to do!
Just think it over — It’s all up to you!

What do you wish? To be known as a shirk,
Known as a good man who’s willing to work,
Scorned for a loafer or praised by your chief,
Rich man or poor man or beggar or thief?
Eager or earnest or dull through the day,
Honest or crooked? It’s you who must say!
You must decide in the face of the test
Whether you’ll shirk it or give it your best.

Nobody here will compel you to rise;
No one will force you to open your eyes;
No one will answer for you yes or no,
Whether to stay there or whether to go.
Life is a game, but it’s you who must say,
Whether as cheat or as sportsman you’ll play.
Fate may betray you, but you settle first
Whether to live to your best or your worst.

So, whatever it is you are wanting to be,
Remember, to fashion the choice you are free.
Kindly or selfish, or gentle or strong,
Keeping the right way or taking the wrong,
Careless of honor or guarding your pride,
All these are questions which you must decide.
Yours the selection, whichever you do;
The thing men call character’s all up to you!

The poetry of Edgar Guest is out of fashion in our sophisticated age; it’s unambiguous, unsubtle, too moralizing, not enough vivid images and fine-drawn metaphors and understated suggestions. Guest’s too preachy for lots of people, but sometimes I find that I need, even enjoy, the bracing, cold slap of a challenge put into plain terms that can’t be misinterpreted or evaded.

No, I don’t actually believe that it’s all up to me. But I do believe that it’s a good idea to act as if it were. “Life is a game, but it’s you who must say whether as cheat or as sportsman you’ll play.”

Take it or leave it.

Friday’s Center of the Blogosphere: Be It Therefore Resolved

Dec29

Cindy has some great advice for addled moms. I like her idea about New Year’s resolutions and winter cleaning and organizing. Throw it all out!

Mental Multivitamin also has some resolutions to avoid, those involving a Nordic track or counting calories, and some to enjoy, the read, think, learn kind.

On a more serious note, I copied this list from Ian’s Messy Desk into a document so that we can use the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards for writing practice and for discussion. I may or may not agree with all his resolutions, but I think they might instigate some fruitful discussions with the urchins.

Heat by Mike Lupica and Alabama Moon by Watt Key

Dec28

Michael Arroyo, age twelve, and Moon Blake, age ten, both have the same problem. Each of their fathers has died and left them without a parent to take care of them. And neither of them wants to go into foster care. Mike’s brother, Carlos, calls government people “Official Persons” and distrusts and avoids them. He and Mike manage, with the help of a friend, to hide their father’s death from NYC Officialdom and live on their own, sort of successfully. Moon Blake, down in the backwoods of Alabama, also distrusts the government and tries to hide the death of his father.

Heat by Mike Lupica and Alabama Moon by Watt Key do share a similar plot device: a young boy who has reasons to distrust the representatives of the state must figure out how to continue life on his own terms while navigating the adult world and avoiding both the well-meaning and the badly-intentioned interference of grown-ups. Finally, both boys must decide whom to trust and how much trust they can afford and how much help they need.

But there are some differences in the two books. Heat is set in New York City, and Michael’s father was a good man who died of a heart attack, unexpectedly leaving his boys fatherless. Michael does have his brother, Carlos, to take care of him, but Carlos is a minor, too, almost eighteen. The two boys are from Cuba, hence their lack of turst in the government, and they try to live in New York’s inner city on their own. But the adult world won’t leave them alone, and Michael finds out that even Little League baseball is played by rules that adults make and that kids need help to play the game. Michael know how to play baseball, but he doesn’t know how to take care of himself in New York City and neither does Carlos, really.

Moon of Alabama Moon, on the other hand, is much more prepared to take care of himself in some ways. His father is a survivalist, a believer in government conspiracies and in coming world war, and he’s taught Moon how to take care of himself in the woods. Moon knows how to hunt and fish, and build a shelter, and survive in the wilderness. He’s doesn’t determined to live free, just as he and his father did, but he doesn’t know what to do about all the people who won’t allow him to be on his own. And he doesn’t know how to cope with his own loneliness and isolation. Moon makes some friends after his father’s death, but having friends means living by society’s rules. Moon’s not so good at following rules made by other people.

Heat would be great book to recommend to baseball fans or kids who are interested in immigration issues or kids who read sports fiction in general. There’s lots of baseball description, but I found it fascinating rather than dry and technical. Michael’s difficult life and his father’s death are handled with sympathy, but nothing’s too dark or gruesome. Michael has friends and an interest in life (baseball) to keep him going. Even when Michael’s brother, Carlos, flirts with a life of crime in order to support himself and Michael, nothing too grim or dangerous happens. Carlos gets off with a warning, and the boys end up surrounded by love and support from friends.

Moon, the character, ends up OK, but the book Alabama Moon is much darker and more frightening than Heat. I liked Alabama Moon very much, but I wouldn’t recommend it for middle grade (3rd-6th) readers. It does feature a ten year old protagonist, but the subject matter and tone of the novel would be more appropriate for young adult and even adult readers. Moon’s father is mentally disturbed, and Moon must come to terms with the rest of the world after living his first ten years in isolation with only his eccentric father to teach him. The book also has a villain, a redneck Alabama constable who is just as mentally unbalanced as Moon’s father was. Alabama Moon is a dark and violent story in spite of its happy ending, and it raises questions that would be difficult to answer at the level of ten, eleven, or even twelve year old child. I know that Karate Kid (age 9) and even Brown Bear Daughter (age 12 today) would have trouble understanding why the father in the story was so distrustful and even mean to his own son and why the constable is so violently determined to capture Moon.

So, here are two great books with similar themes, one appropriate for boys (and girls) up to age twelve or thirteen, and the other for mature young adults who are beginning to understand that parents aren’t perfect and that some have serious problems. I was quite impressed with both books, and I’ll be looking for more from each of these talented authors. Both of these books were nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.

New Year’s Blogging Resolutions

Dec27

In no particular order:

1. Participate in Poetry Friday. I’ve been reading other people’s poetry posts, but I’d like to share more of my favorites.

2. Participate more often in carnivals, especially The Carnival of Homeschooling and the Christian Carnival. That means I must write posts that fit into those carnivals.

3. Don’t be a Lazy Linker; do be a Frequent Friend. (Shades of Romper Room!) I like pointing out the good stuff I read on the web, and I enjoy giving credit where credt is due. But sometime I get lazy.

4. Publicize the Saturday Review of Books even more because I really do enjoy reading other people’s book reviews.

5. Continue writing about books and authors, but write more about my own thoughts on whatever I think about. Write more essay-type posts.

6. Use more pictures. I could use my own photos or appropriate pictures from allposters.com.

7. Get Computer-Guru Son to re-design the blog template. It’s time to redecorate.

8. Comment more on other people’s blogs. This one is related to #3. I would like to be an encourager and a stimulator-of-great-thoughts.

9. Encourage others I know in “real life” to start a blog. I know some profound thinkers and writers who could blog great things.

10. Just keep blogging. I’ve found my niche, for now anyway.

The Books I Read in 2006

Dec26

I broke this list in half with an update on the books I’d read in the first six months of 2006 in early July. There were thirty-six books on that list. Now here are the titles of the sixty-seven books I’ve read in the last six months of 2006 —with links to my reviews of many of them.

Alabama Moon–Key A- Cybil Award nominee 2006.
All of the Above–Pearsall B+ Cybil Award nominee 2006.
American Bee: The National Spelling Bee and the Culture of Word Nerds–Maguire B+ Semicolon review here.

Among the Hidden–Haddix B+ Semicolon review here.
Among the Imposters–Haddix B+
Among the Brave–Haddix B+
Among the Barons–Haddix B+
Among the Betrayed–Haddix B+
Among the Enemy–Haddix B+
Blue–Hostetter B+ Cybil Award nominee 2006. Semicolon review here.
Book Thief—Zusak B+ Cybil Award nominee 2006.Recommended by Jen Robinson and others. Semicolon review here.
Brideshead Revisited—Waugh B+ Semicolon review here.
Clementine–Pennypacker A- Cybil Award nominee 2006. Semicolon review here.
Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen–Anderson B- Cybil Award nominee 2006. Semicolon review here.
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time—Haddon A- Semicolon review here.
Dante Club—Pearl C+ Semicolon review here.
Double Identity—Haddix B Semicolon review here.
End of the Affair—Greene B- Recommended by Jared at Thinklings
Escape from Memory—Haddix B Semicolon review here.
Fighting for Dear Life—Gibbs B Semicolon review here.
Flashman—Fraser B-
Fly By Night–Hardinge B+ Cybil Award nominee 2006. Semicolon review here.
Framed–Boyce B Cybil Award nominee 2006. Semicolon review here.
Framley Parsonage—Trollope B+ Semicolon review here.
Girl-Son–Neuberger B Semicolon review here.
Glamorous Powers—Howatch B Recommended at Breakpoint.
Glittering Images—Howatch B+ Recommended at Breakpoint. Semicolon review here.

Heat–Lupica Cybil Award nominee 2006.
Hood—Lawhead B+
House on the Gulf—Haddix B Semicolon review here.
In a Sunburned Country—Bryson B
In This House of Brede—Godden A
It’s Too Late Now: Autobiography–AA Milne B Semicolon review here.
Julia’s Kitchen–Ferber B+ Cybil Award nominee 2006. Brown Bear review here.
Kingdom of Children—Stevens Semicolon review here.

Kristen Lavransdatter—Undset A Semicolon review here.
Leaving Fishers—Haddix B Semicolon review here.
Mission to Cathay—Polland B Semicolon review here.
Monsoon Summer—Perkins Semicolon review here.
Mountains Beyond Mountains—Kidder
Never Let Me Go—Ishiguro A- Semicolon review here.
On the Beach—Shute B+ Semicolon review here.
Out of Patience–Meehl B+ Cybil Award nominee 2006. Semicolon review here.
Pippa Passes—Godden B Semicolon review here.
Portuguese Irregular Verbs—Smith A Semicolon review here.
Possession: A Romance—Byatt A- Semicolon review here.
Princess Academy—Hale A- Semicolon review here.
Professor and the Madman—Winchester B Semicolon review here.
Rules–Lord A-Cybil Award nominee 2006. Semicolon review here.
Sarah’s Ground–Rinaldi B+
Secret River—Grenville B+ Semicolon review here.
Shakespeare’s Secret–Broach B+ Semicolon review here.
Shug–Han C Cybil Award nominee 2006. Semicolon review here.
Sights Unseen—Gibbons B+ Semicolon review here.
Single Shard–Park A- Semicolon review here.
Snow–Calvin Miller. C
Thirteenth Tale–Setterfield A- Recommended by Laura at Lines in Pleasant Places. And by Mental Multivitamin. And by just about everyone else who’s read it.
Town Like Alice—Shute B+ Semicolon review here.
Tree of Hands—Rendell B Recommended by Cathy at PoohSticks.
Victory–Cooper B Cybil Award nominee 2006. Semicolon review here.
Weedflower–Kadohata A- Cybil Award nominee 2006. Semicolon review here.
When We Were Orphans–Ishiguro B Semicolon review here.
Wind, Sand and Stars—Saint Exupery A- Semicolon review here.
Winter Birds–Turner A- Semicolon review here.
Woman in White–Collins B+ Semicolon review here.
Year of Impossible Good-byes–Choi B Semicolon review here.
Year of the Dog–Lin B Cybil Award nominee 2006. Semicolon review here.
Yellow Star—Roy A Recommended by Fuse 8. Cybil Award nominee 2006. Semicolon review here.

Favorite nonfiction books read in 2006: Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner and Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour.

Favorite Cybil Award nominee so far: Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy.

Favorite adult fiction books read in 2006: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, River Rising by Athol Dickson, and Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset.

Favorite children’s fiction read in 2006: The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

Best book re-read in 2006: In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden.

So that’s 103 books read in 2006. Of those 103, seventeen were Cybil Award nominees, children’s fiction. Twenty of the books I read this year were nonfiction; the rest were fiction, no books of poetry or essays. I’m looking forward to reading in 2007 a lot more children’s literature, biography and autobiography, and just whatever suits my fancy. It’s not as if I don’t have some ideas.

While Shepherds Wait: Merry Christmas

Dec24

The Annunciation to the Shepherds



While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around,
And glory shone around.

“Fear not!” said he, for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind.
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind
To you and all mankind.

“To you, in David’s town, this day
Is born of David’s line
A Savior, who is Christ the Lord,
And this shall be the sign,
And this shall be the sign.

“The heavenly Babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands,
And in a manger laid,
And in a manger laid.”

Thus spake the seraph and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels praising God on high,
Who thus addressed their song,
Who thus addressed their song:

“All glory be to God on high,
And to the Earth be peace;
Good will henceforth from Heaven to men
Begin and never cease,
Begin and never cease!”

We sang this carol in church this morning, and I started thinking about the shepherds. Seeing the angels and the baby and hearing the promise of a saviour was probably the pivotal event of their lives. I doubt if anything so exciting and awe-inspiring had ever happened to them before, nor probably would it again. The Bible saysthat after seeing the baby the shepherds “returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.”

And then? The shepherds went home or back to the fields to check on the sheep. They told some people, family and friends, what they had seen and experienced. Some people believed them; others thought they were drunk or participants in a mass hallucination of insane proportions. And then? Nothing. Nothing else happened. The angels promised that a Saviour had been born, The Annointed One (Christ), Adonai (the Lord). They sang about God’s favor resting on men. But after all the hoopla was over with, what really happened? Nothing happened . . . for thirty years. (Other than a massacre of young boys —Matthew 2:16-18— hardly a sign of God’s favor!) The baby and his parents left Bethlehem, and the shepherds went back to their sheep.

We can read what happened next in the next few chapters of Luke or Matthew and get the impression that the angels said it and God immediately did it. But there were approximately thirty years between the birth of Jesus and the beginning of his ministry. The shepherds were all grown men with beards by the time they heard anything about that baby, now a grown man too, and some of them probably died while waiting for the fulfillment of the angels’ promise. The Romans still ruled; the tax collectors still collected the taxes; the Law was still an impossible burden to fulfill.

Isn’t that the way it is for us, too? We experience an epiphany, a connection with God himself. We get a message or a promise. We glorify and praise God for the great things He has done. And then . . . . nothing. It’s back to the sheep, back to the laundry, back to the quotidian tasks of an average life. We thought everything would be different now, after such an experience, but it all looks and feels about the same. Maybe our responses to situations are different, but hardly anyone notices. And as time goes on, we can feel ourselves settling back into the familiar patterns of daily life, wondering if anything that spectacular really did happen. Maybe we did just imagine it all.

But the angels were real. The baby was a real baby who grew into a real Saviour, Christ the Lord. Yes, things didn’t look much different after the birth of the Christ Child, but underneath the surface everything had changed. We live in the waiting time, between the promise and the fulfillment. And the time between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of the story feels like a long wait. We’re tempted to doubt the Word, even to despair in the face of continued evil and suffering and waiting. But the Bible says, “Don’t give up!” “Unto us a Child is born, and unto us a Son is given.”

Advent has been a time of waiting for the coming of the Christ Child, and each year we reenact that time of preparation. Then Christmas comes, and what’s really changed? The world revolves, and we go on waiting. It’s tempting to give up, to think that God’s promises will be held in abeyance forever. But even if death overtakes each one of us before the Time is fulfilled and Evil is defeated forever, it’s only the time between the ending of one chapter and the beginning of the next. Such a short time really.

1 Peter 1:3-8: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Merry Christmas to all pass through here as you wait on the revelation of the promise of God. May your New Year be filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy even as you wait and hope for the final goal of peace on earth, good will to men on whom God’s favor rests!

Impossible

Dec23

I haven’t seen The Nativity movie yet, although I plan to see it. Maybe that movie brings home the truth of this essay for some of you this Christmas.

Re-posted from Christmas Eve, 2005:

I was thinking this afternoon about nursing, as in breastfeeding, as in feeding a baby. And I had the startling (to me) thought that Mary actually put Baby Jesus, not a doll, to her breast and fed him, fed him milk. Then I remembered that before she did that, she delivered him in the normal, messy, bloody way in a stable without a doctor or an epidural or even a nurse holding her hand and reminding her to push. She wrapped the God-baby in clothes and laid him in a feedbox and sat down or lay down in the hay on the floor beside him to rest. Joseph probably cleaned up, swept, maybe tried to find some water to wash things up a little.

It’s all a little too . . . physical, isn’t it? The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The “Word” part gives me a little distance, a little spirituality, but the rest of the verse gets all fleshy again. Dwelt among us implies He lived a typically human life, ate and drank, bled when he cut himself, relieved himself, itched, scratched, slept, maybe snored. What an impossible thing to believe in. I actually believe that the God of the Universe, the God who created the Universe, who rules it, confined himself first to a human womb, then to a human body, then to death and a tomb. At least I believe it when I don’t think about it too much. When I do ponder the physicality of it all, it seems impossible.

I saw the Narnia movie this afternoon, and I noticed that twice the characters used the word “impossible.” As the children enter Narnia together, Susan experiences the coldness of the snow and the branches scratching her and breathes, “Impossible!” It’s so real, so physical, so undeniable, but “impossible.” Then later the White Witch looks up to see the True King of Narnia confronting her, the king she thought she had murdered, and she exclaims, “Impossible!’ He is so real, so physical, so undeniable, yet impossible.

Impossible that He should entrust Himself to the womb of a young country girl from the hick-town of Nazareth.
Impossible that He should travel through the birth canal and place himself in a body, helpless to walk or communicate or even care for his own physical needs.
Impossible that He should suck at his mother’s breast to sustain the life of that very needy body.
Impossible that He should grow in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Impossible that He should laugh and cry and feel love and joy and anger and despair.
Impossible that He should share food and conversation and hugs and kisses with a group of human friends, one of whom turned out to be an enemy.
Impossible that He should die.
Even more impossible that He should die and then live–forever.

So real, so physical, so undeniable, so impossible. Only the God of the Impossible could inhabit such a story and make it a physical reality, and only by doing so could He intersect my very physical life and make me believe, know in my bones, the Reality of His love and joy and forgiveness and healing.

I pray for you this Christmas that the Impossible becomes Truth in your physical life where you are sitting and reading these words now.

May you have an Impossible Christmas.