Chess is Life. –Bobby Fischer
Life is a kind of chess –Benjamin Franklin

Bobby and Benjamin both make cameo appearances in this thriller/spy novel set both in the 1970’s and in the time of the French Revolution. But the main characters are a couple of women: a French nun named Mireille and an American computer expert, Catherine Velis. Both of the women become involved with a chess set that dates back to the time of Charlemagne, the set called the Montglane Service. As the story progresses, every historical character you’ve ever heard of (and some you probably haven’t) from the mid to late 1700’s makes at least an appearance from Robespierre to Catherine the Great to Fibonacci the mathemetician. The game of chess plays a prominent role in the story, and the number eight is pivotal. In fact, if I have any complaint about the book it’s that there is altogether too much chess, too many eights, and too many historical figures to keep straight. I think all the loose ends get tied together in the end, but I’m not completely sure.

Even though I’ve never read The Da Vinci Code and don’t plan to do so, The Eight, published in 1989 before Dan Brown’s bestseller, reminds me of what I’ve read about that book. I was also reminded of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, lots of whom-can we-trust kinds of scenes and situations. The MacGuffin, of course, is the fabulous chess set, which happens to conceal a dangerous secret handed down from antiquity. Or does it? The author is able to weave mathematics, history, chemistry, music, chess, characters and plot together to keep the reader guessing until the end of the book.

I enjoyed this novel and found it to be fascinating even though the ending was a bit disappointing. It didn’t seem that the characters had any reason to make the decisions they made in the end. However, the intricacy of the puzzle that sustains the action made up for any letdown at the end. In fact, although good vs. evil is a theme throughout the book, the world of The Eight makes very little reference to God. This world is a world of people who are chess pieces on a game board, and the pieces are playing the game. No one else is in charge. The book has no explicitly Christian themes, except for the generic “love conquers all” ideal, and some of the plot devices are occult in nature, having to do mostly with alchemy. It’s harmless stuff as far as I could judge, and I really doubt anyone would take this book seriously as more than entertainment. (I’ve heard that some people did take the revisionist history and unbelievable theology of The Da Vinci Code seriously.)

Read and enjoy.

Ariel, he of the bittersweet blog, asks readers to elaborate on what makes a classic book “timeless.” What does it mean to say a book stands the test of time?

Exactly what type of test is time dishing out, anyway? Is it a one-time event or an on-going phenomenon? Once a book has stood the test of time, can it later flunk out? What kind of book tends to survive? What qualities have that time-defying element? . . . How does a book stand the test of time? What bookish qualities tend to endure?

First of all, we’re really talking about popularity and influence here–two attributes in literature I tend to disdain. If it’s popular, if it’s sold a million copies, can it really be worth reading? So George W. Bush and Hugh Hewitt and the Pope are all reading the latest bestseller? Does that mean it’s worth my time? Such elitist skepticism may serve us well in the short run, but in the long run, when we talk about a book that “stands the test of time,” we’re lauding a book for its popularity and influence over the course of time; we’re saying that this enduring influence and popularity are proof of the book’s intrinsic worth.

So what keeps a book (or a poem) popular? Many bestselling authors of the Victorian age, Bulwer-Lytton, Harrison Ainsworth and Margaret Oliphant, for example, are forgotten and/or unappreciated nowadays. Others such as Dickens and Thackeray are still read and acclaimed. Many of the books that everybody is reading at the turn of the millennium will be forgotten by 2100 AD while others are still bestsellers that speak and have spoken to many readers. Is there any way to tell now which ones will last? Sadly, I don’t think so. Each age has its own blind spots. Books which are under-appreciated when first published may later turn out to be classics because over the course of the years a large number of people lose their blindness, so to speak, and see the value of a particular author’s writing. Then again, a book that is popular in its own time may be full of the same errors and fallacies that are peculiar to that time period, and people in later times may come to see what a poor specimen of literature it really is.

I think what endures is Truth, trite though it may sound. So insofar as we can recognize and appreciate Truth, we can evaluate literature and perhaps foresee what will stand the test of time. Insofar as we are blinded and have our own pet truths that do not line up with Real Truth, we will praise the poorly written potboiler and scorn the book that reveals our own inadequacies. Falsehood and evil don’t last, even in this sinful world; truth does. Unfortunately, in the meantime, lies are easier on the ears, and even Christians can be deceived.

A case in point: homeschoolers are quite fond of bringing back into publication forgotten “classics”, usually for children, that have been lost to modern readers, again usually because of their Christian content. Sometimes this re-publication is a good idea: G.A. Henty’s fiction is good adventure and history packaged together. Elsie Dinsmore, on the other hand, is an example of untruth packaged up in Christian-sounding ribbons and bows. Will Elsie stand the test of time, even though she’s been revived, poor girl, for a second bout of suffering sainthood? I doubt it, but then again maybe my cultural and chronological biases are showing.

There’s more to say here, but that’s all for now. First and most important in evaluating literature is the question: is it True?

Isabel Dalhousie is the heroine of a new series of mystery stories by Alexander McCall Smith, author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books featuring Mma. Ramotswe and her detective agency in Botswana. The Sunday Philosophy Club is set in Edinburgh, Scotland, McCall Smith’s home.

In this first book of the series, we find out several interesting facts about our protagonist/amateur detective. Isabel Dalhousie is a middle-aged single woman with a failed marriage and a lost love in her distant past. She is independently wealthy, or at least comfortably well-off, and she collects art. She plays the flute and is the part-time editor of an academic journal, The Review of Applied Ethics. Her job and her own personal tendencies lead Isabel to do a lot of philosophical speculation during the course of the story, and her musings tend to be both commonsensical and fascinating. Isabel’s housekeeper, Gracie, is a quick and excellent judge of character, and her niece, Cat, is goodhearted, but rather lacking in discernment, especially when it comes to men. Isabel is a member (maybe the initiator) of The Sunday Philosophy Club, a club that is “not exactly very active.” In fact, despite the title of the book, The Sunday Philosophy Club never mets over the course of the story, and I still don’t even know who the members are.

Notwithstanding the low profile club, Isabel Dalhousie is a philosopher, and the novel is an exercise in applied ethics. Isabel witnesses an accidental death (that, of course, may be murder) at the beginning of the story, and she must decide whether or not to become involved in investigating the circumstances surrounding the death. Later in the story, she must decide how much truth to tell and when a lie is permissible. She must deal with the limits of forgiveness and the demands of justice. However, that description of this mystery, although true, sounds much too heavy. The Sunday Philosophy Club is, first of all, a gentle and entertaining story about people and relationships and, yes, applied ethics.

If you like cozy mysteries or Scotland or if you liked Alexander McCall Smith’s previous books, you should enjoy this one. If you lean more toward thrillers and hard-boiled detectives, The Sunday Philosophy Club probably won’t be your cup of tea. (It does include a whiskey nosing, first one I’ve ever been to or read about.)

The next book in the series, Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, has a great title, which may again have very little to do with the book itself, but I’m ready to read it based on my enjoyment of The Sunday Philosophy Club and the chocolate in the title. A book with chocolate in the title must be worth something.

Bless the Lord; the 103rd Psalm is first of all a beautiful book. The illustrations reminded me immediately of Tasha Tudor, which is high praise indeed. Then I read in the back of the book that the ilustrator was “homeschooled by her parents and is self-taught in art.” All I can say is Ms. Tudor is more or less retired and needs a worthy successor.

The psalm that Miss Bluedorn illustrates is printed a verse or half-verse at a time, each portion embedded in a full color picture of children and parents in a country setting living out the words of the psalm.. The King James version of the words complements the old-fashioned look of the illustrations. However, don’t confuse old-fashioned with irrelevant. The words of Psalm 103 speak clearly of God’s mercy, His power, His blessings, and my responsibility to praise Him with “all that is within me.” The last few pages of the book are made up of Psalm 103 put to music designed to praise God just as the psalmist commands. The music was written by Harvey Bluedorn, Johanna’s father.

According to the Trivium Pursuit website, this book is the second in a series of illustrated psalms by Miss Bluedorn; the first, which I now need to request as a Christmas present, is The Lord Builds the House: Psalm 127.  I can honestly say that this picture book will be a blessing, and an encouragement to bless the Lord, for the whole family.

Ariel at BittersweetLife is making a Master Book List, and he’s asking that age old question: “What makes a book great? What constitutes a classic?”

I started this post in Ariel’s comments by admitting that I’m growing older and older and my rememberer is getting old, too. So, I take my favorite literature professor‘s definition of a classic, ” a piece of literature that stands the test of time,” and add to that my own criterion: a real classic must stand the test of remembrance. In other words, if I still remember the book even though I haven’t read it in years, if I still want to re-read it when I catch a glimpse of it on the shelf, if I still recommend it to others and can tell them something to whet the appetite, then it’s made the cut. It’s a classic.

I’ve been cleaning off my shelves as I catalog my books into Library Thing, and I’ve discovered so many old friends already. I’m going to note a few of them as I go along since this cataloging thing promises to be a long, slow process. In the three shelves I’ve already done, I’ve found the following books that I wish I had time to sit down and revisit::

A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Van Auken Wow! If you’ve never read this one, you must. If you care at all about the meaning of marriage and the meaning of Christian commitment and a true story that gets to the heart of both of those ideals, A Severe Mercy is the book. Although I didn’t read them at the same time, I can see that reading this book alongside A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis would be a valuable study in theodicy. (my new word for the day: A vindication of God’s goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil)

The Peanut Butter Family Homeschool by Bill Butterworth. I think this one is out of print, but it’s worth picking up at a used book sale if you see it lying around. It was published in 1987, not quite the early days of the modern homeschool resurgence, but at least the medium-early days. Anyway, I can’t remember specific stories from the book, but I do know it was funny and encouraging.

Storytelling: Art and Technique by Augusta Baker and Ellin Greene This is an old book from my library school days. I would love to go back and read it again just to remind myself of the storytelling techniques I used to know and of the tremendous art involved in telling stories. I could use a refresher course.

Teach Your Own by John Holt I was actually introduced to the concept of homeschooling by Raymond Moore and John Holt, and I still believe that Mr. Holt had some fine ideas about children although ultimately his Rousseau-type (Rousseauean? No, too many vowels) attitude about the innocence of children just doesn’t work out in real life and isn’t very scriptural either. I especially love the stories in this book where John Holt shares his observations of children and adults and how they learn. Holt was a great observer and a good storyteller. He also had the ability to ask questions and then just sit back and listen to the answers, a trait I could afford to imitate.

Best Friends for Life by Michael and Judy Phillips I remember being intrigued by the ideas in this book. It falls somewhere between courtship and arranged marriage and yet neither of those models is exactly what the book is advocating. The most interesting idea I remember in the book was that of having your child’s prospective spouse live with your family for a period of time before the marriage. If I remember correctly, the idea was for the husband or wife-to-be to each live with or near their in-laws-to-be for a long period of engagement, six months or a year, maybe work on a project together, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law or father-in-law and son-in-law. The families could get to know one another, help prepare the young couple for marriage, counsel with them, let them experience the family dynamics in the family that each spouse is coming from. I don’t know how to work it out, but it is an interesting idea. The stories of courtship, dating, and marriage in the book are good, too. Excellent food for thought.

Vanity Fair by WIlliam Thackeray. I’ve been wanting to re-read this one ever since I saw the movie last year. Maybe someday.

Not all classics, but all worthwhile and well-remembered.