I’ve heard of Mr. Wright, but I don’t really know much about him. Nevertheless, this brief talk on Bible reading is inspirational:
And it’s a lovely addendum to this post: 52 Ways to Read and Study the Bible in 2011.
Archives
Setting: Turn of the Century, 1900-1909
Historical fiction is a great way to learn about history. In fact, I learned a lot of my history facts from novels. I’m often moved by a fiction book to go look up the story behind the story, to see if the author got her facts right. Here are a few adult fiction titles set in or around the turn of the century—nineteenth to twentieth, that is. No, I haven’t read all of these, but I have tried to give you a link to a review written by someone who has for each book listed. If you have reviewed any of these, leave a link in the comments, and I’ll add your review to the list. Or if you have read another book set in the early 1900’s that you liked, please share.
The Tale of Hilltop Farm by Susan Wittig Albert. Author Beatrix Potter solves mysteries in this book and the ones the follow in the series when she moves to Hill Top Farm after the death of her fiance. Reviewed by Allison at On My Bookshelf.
City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell. Highly recommended. A young Mennonite missionary in China meets and marries a fellow missionary and lives through the turmoil of civil war. Semicolon review here.
Anna’s Book by Barbara Vine. Mystery and suspense in early twentieth century London. Reviewed by Superfast Reader.
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle attempts to exonerate a falsely imprisoned man named George.
Beautiful Dreamer by Joan Naper. Chicago, 1900. Reviewed by Sarah Johnson at Reading the Past.
The Birth House by Ami McKay. A midwife in a Nova Scotia fishing village. Reviewed at Maw Books Blog..
Empire by Gore Vidal. Caroline Sanford runs a newspaper dynasty during the years 1898-1907–with insights into the Spanish-American War, the Hearst newspaper conglomerate, and the presidencies of William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, among other historical events and persons.
A Flickering Light by Jane Kirkpatrick. In 1907, a fifteen year old girl dreams of a career in photography, a dangerous job reserved for men. Reviewd by Tracy at Relz Reviewz.
Jack London: Sailor on Horseback by Irving Stone. Biographical novel about the eponymous author.
Lake of Fire by Linda Jacobs. Romance blossoms in Yellowstone National Park, June, 1900. Reviewed by Sarah Johnson at Reading the Past.
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. Highly recommended. Will’s grandfather elopes with a woman half his age three weeks after his wife dies in 1906, causing a scandal in their small Georgia town. Cold Sassy Tree is on my list of the 100 Best Novels of All Time.
City of Light by Lauren Belfer. 1901 in Buffalo, New York as Niagara Falls is being harnessed for electricity.
The Outlander by Gil Adamson. Idaho and Montana, 1903. A nineteen year old woman murders her abusive husband and then runs away from his brothers who are thirsty for revenge.
The Quickening by Michelle Hoover. American Midwest in the early 1900’s. Reviewed by Caribousmom.
Painted Ladies by Siobhan Parkinson. A community of artists in Skagen, a fishing village in the north of Denmark, live a Bohemian lifestyle while producing great works of art. Reviewed by Sarah Johnson at Reading the Past.
For more historical novels of the twentieth century, look at HistoricalNovels.info.
Wednesday’s Word of the Week: Apophenia
First, I read this post at Ace of Spades about how climate change may lead to an increase in mental illness because, as far as I can tell, schoolchildren tend to get depressed at a greater rate after experiencing a hurricane or cyclone. The post ends with the word “apophenia”. Isn’t that a lovely word? But I had no idea what it meant.
So, I went to my all-purpose, handy dandy, reference tool: Wikipedia. Yes, I use Wikipedia frequently to look up the stuff that I want to know, and so far I haven’t experienced any life-altering inaccuracies. Apophenia, quoth Wikipedia, is the experience of seeing meaningful patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. Ah, what a useful word in a world where conspiracy theories and seemingly random phenomena abound.
But is it apophenia or the hand of God when I see answers to prayer, and meaningful encouragement in Scripture that speaks to my immediate needs? And what about this statement at the end of the Wikipedia article: “The popular TV show, Lost, involves extensive use of apophenia in its storyline, including Biblical and numerological patterns, mis-identified faces, intentional use of pareidolia, and more.” Were the writers of Lost saying that the numbers and the patterns and the way people came together and crossed paths was randomness perceived to have meaning, apophenia? Or was there really within the Lost world supposed to be a meaning behind the island and all the things that happened on and off-island? Or were some things “apophenia”, like Hugo’s fear of of the numbers and his perception that he was cursed, and other patterns and coincidences meaningful, such as the idea that certain people were “brought” to the island to work out their salvation in fear and trembling?
I think the world is like Lost island: there are true incidences of apophenia, such as gamblers who think they have lucky numbers, people who see climate change-related calamities in every change in the weather, and even Christians who believe they hear the voice of God in events that are simply serendipitous happenings with no special message from God embedded in them. However, we should be very careful about crying “apophenia” when God may very well be at work orchestrating events and people to do His will. Was it apophenia when Esther found herself in exactly the right place and time to save her people from annihilation? Or was it apophenia that Jesus came to a world that was prepared to deal with him in a way that would fulfill prophecy and work out God’s plan of salvation prepared from the foundation of the world? There may be such a thing as too much ascribing of all fortuitous events to God at work, but there is also the danger of being blind to the wonderful ways in which the God of the Universe designs each detail of His world to work out His purposes.
1909: Books and Literature
Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter was published in August, 1909. It tells the story of Elnora Comstock who lives with her widowed mother Katherine on the edge of the Limberlost, a marshland in Indiana where Elnora plans to catch moths and other nature specimens to sell to collectors to finance her continued high school education.
Elnora and her mother have a troubled relationship. Katherine Comstock blames Elnora for the death of her husband, Elnora’s father, in the swamp many years before. A young man, Phillip, comes to the Limberlost, and he and Elnora become friends and work together to explore and to gather Elnora’s moths.
Nature lovers should enjoy this lovely story in spite of the somewhat high-flown and archaic language. In fact, what with the modern environmental movement, I would think A Girl of the Limberlost is poised to make a comeback. Maybe as a movie or a simplified or updated ebook? It’s in the public domain, and you can download it to your favorite ereader here. The movie’s been done a few times, but I’ve not seen any of the versions. Any recommendations?
Selma Lagerlof, a Swedish novelist, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1909. Her most famous novel, Jerusalem, tells the story of a group of Swedish Christians who went to Jerusalem to join The American Colony, a Christian religious community whose members believed that if they were to do acts of service to humanity (feeding the hungry, caring for orphans, etc.) in Jerusalem it would hasten the day of Christ’s return. The leader of this community (before the Swedish Christians came to join) was Horation Spafford, the man who wrote the much beloved hymn, It Is Well with My Soul.
Preschool at Home
Since it’s that time of year, going back to school and all that jazz, I thought it might be a good idea to feature a post with a little information on my book, Picture Book Preschool. Also, it seems to me that Picture Book Preschool would be a good resource for all of you parents of preschoolers, homeschoolers or not.
Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase an updated, downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.
The book mainly consists of these lists, one for each week of the year. You should be able to find most of the picture books listed in Picture Book Preschool at your local library. If you can only find five out of the seven or six out of the seven for a given week, that should be enough to keep you busy. I have collected many of the picture books listed in Picture Book Preschool for my own children by browsing used bookstores. So when I read these books to Z-baby, I read some that we owned and some that I got from the library.
As far as comparisons go, I am familiar with the curriculum Five in a Row, and I like it very much. In Five in a Row you are encouraged to read one picture book, such as Lentil by Robert McCloskey, for five days in a row. (Children generally love to read favorite picture books over and over again.) For each day of the week this curriculum gives lesson plans related to the books of the week covering science, mathematics, history and geography, and language arts. Five in a Row is a fully developed curriculum with loads of activities to keep your homeschooled preschooler or kindergartner busy and happy.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) for my last preschooler (she’s ten years old now), I was also homeschooling six older children. I didn’t have time to do all the activities in Five in a Row, and I liked the variety of picture books we read with Picture Book Preschool. Picture Book Preschool introduces your child to the best of children’s picture books, and it takes only a few minutes each day to read the book for that day, talk about it, and see where it leads you. Maybe you’ll pretend to run away from home with Frances or stack caps like the peddler in Caps for Sale or make up a poem of your own after reading The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown. I suggest a few activities in Picture Book Preschool, but it’s left up to you and your child how far you want to go with each book and with the theme for each week.
1908: Music and Art
Sergei Rachmaninoff composed his Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 in 1906–07. The premiere was conducted by the composer himself in St. Petersburg on 8 February 1908.
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? was a popular hymn, published in 1908, writen by Ada R. Habershon and Charles H. Gabriel.
And here’s an entire playlist of popular music from the first decade of the twentieth century. Please listen, especially if you’re in my class, and tell me what you think. Any favorites? (You may have to have a free Spotify account to listen, but I have Spotify invitations to give away if you want one.)
What about the art? Favorites, anyone? Or comments?
1908: Books and Literature
The Nobel Prize for Literature in 1908 was awarded to Rudolf Eucken, a German idealist philosopher.
Two children’s classics were published in 1908: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery and The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Anne of Green Gables is THE classic girls’ fiction book, along with Little Women. I can’t imagine any girl growing up without reading or listening to or, at the very least, watching, Anne’s adventures on Prince Edward Island at Green Gables.
A.A. Milne said of Grahame’s book:
“For the last ten or twelve years I have been recommending it. Usually I speak about at my first meeting with a stranger. It is my opening remark, just as yours is something futile about the weather. If I don’t get it in at the beginning, I squeeze it in at the end. The stranger has got to have it sometime. One does not argue about The Wind in the Willows. The young man gives it to the girl with whom he is in love, and, if she does not like it, asks her to return his letters. The older man tries it on his nephew, and alters his will accordingly. The book is a test of character. We can’t criticize it, because it is criticizing us. But I must give you one word of warning. When you sit down to it, don’t be so ridiculous as to suppose that you are sitting in judgment on my taste, or on the art of Kenneth Grahame. You are merely sitting in judgment on yourself. You may be worthy: I don’t know, But it is you who are on trial.â€
I think I pass the test. I love Toad’s antics and Mole’s homely good natured love of all things domestic. And Rat’s “messing about in boats.”
Other Books Critically Acclaimed and Historically significant:
Vladimir Lenin, Materialism and Empirico-Criticism
E. M. Forster, A Room with a View
Mohandas Gandhi, Hind Swaraj
G.K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday. Chesterton takes on anarchy and wins with humor.
Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Circular Staircase. Read more about Ms. Rinehart’s early attempt at murder mystery.
Maurice Maeterlinck, The Bluebird.
1907: Music and Art
Mariachi is a style of Mexican music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Western Mexico. The story is that in 1907 General Porfirio Diaz ordered a mariachi band to play for visiting U.S. Secretary of State Elihu Root, and the general told them to wear charro suits, which became the traditional dress of the mariachi bands. After the Revolution of 1910 mariachi music became more and more identified with Mexican nationalism and patriotism.
With his painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso shocks the Paris art scene in 1907. The painting was presented on an eight foot square canvas at his studio. The painter Derain said “One day we shall find Pablo has hanged himself behind his great canvas.” Matisse was outraged by the painting because he thought it was a joke, an attempt to make fun of the Fauvists and of his paintings in particular. You can read more about this revolutionary work of art at Wikipedia.
Scholastic free art lesson in the style of Picasso (cubism).
1907: Events and Inventions
January, 1907. At a lavish ceremony, Mohammed Ali Mirza is crowned Shah of Persia in the Royal Palace of Tehran.
February 13, 1907. Suffragettes storm the Houses of Parliament in London to hand a petition to the British government asking them to extend the right to vote to women. Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WPSU), and her four daughters are leaders in the women’s suffrage movement in Britain.
March 22, 1907. Indian-born lawyer Mohandas Ghandi begins protest movement in South Africa against the Transvaal government’s Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance Bill, a law which would require all Indian resident in South Africa register with the police and get a certificate that would have to be carried with them at all times.
June 1907. The Lumiere brothers in Paris, France claim a breakthrough in developing color photography.
June, 1907. In Russia, the Czar dissolves the second Duma or parliament, accusing some representatives of treason.
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June-October, 1907. The Second Hague Peace Conference meets to try to limit arms and establish rules for just warfare.
July 19, 1907. Riots break out in Seoul, Korea when the Japanese, who call Korea their “Protectorate”, force Korean Emperor Gojong to give up his imperial authority and appoint the Crown Prince as regent. The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1907, signed on July 24, 1907, forces Korea and its government to obey the appointed Japanese resident general.
July 29, 1907. Boer War veteran Sir Robert Baden-Powell officially sets up the Boy Scout organization in London for the purpose of introducing British boys to the disciplines and skill that he learned in the army.
September 6, 1907. The British ocean liner, Lusitania, makes her maiden voyage from Ireland to New Jersey, the fastest ever crossing of the Atlantic in five days and fifty-four minutes.
September 26, 1907. New Zealand becomes an independent Dominion within the British Empire. In 1893, while still under British rule, New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote.
1907: Books and Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1907 was awarded to Rudyard Kipling “in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author.”
I love Kipling. I’ve posted poems by Kipling: Recessional, By Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, L’envoi (When Earth’s Last Picture Is Painted). And, of course, Kipling’s Jungle Book is a lovely set of stories about Mowgli and Bagheera and Shere Khan and the other inhabitants of the Indian jungle. “If” is probably Kipling’s most famous poem:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
The Shepherd of the Hills is a book written in 1907 by author Harold Bell Wright. The setting is the Ozark mountains of Missouri, and the book was one of those that appeared on a list of required reading for my Advanced Reading Survey class in college. It’s fairly old-fashioned and sentimental, but not a bad read.
Songs of a Sourdough is a book of poetry published in 1907 by Canadian poet Robert W. Service. Two particularly popular ballads in the collection are “The Shooting of Dan McGrew” and “The Cremation of Sam McGee.” (Click on the title to either poem to read or listen to the story.)