recent acquisition

Ok.  I'm so incredibly excited about this.  

I've always wanted a first edition.  

And I've always wanted something signed by the author.  

At my favorite antique bookstore, yesterday, I found both.  

In one.

Alfred Noyes' The Lord of Misrule and Other Poems.

Feel free to be jealous, thanks.  

Kindle Contention #1

In this series, I will list reasons why I take issue with the e-reader movement.

Notice I didn't use the cutesy alliterative (and heinously ugly and incorrect) title.  

I couldn't abide Kindle Kontention.  Gag me now.  Ok, to the point.

Contention #1

You cannot lend or borrow books.

Or donate to Goodwill or garage sales or write inscriptions in them as gifts.

There is no sense of secondhanding; there is no discernible history.

Here's a paidContent article I used as a resource.

Sold

Sold, by Patricia McCormick

Oy.  This one was a rough read.  Not because it wasn't well written; nor because it wasn't excellently researched.  This is heartbreaking stuff, as you can imagine: Sold tells the story of a young Nepali girl bought by a man from the city who promises her a job as a maid, and in turn sells her to a brothel.  It's easy to forget (or completely overlook the fact) that this story is modern, current, but the sex slave trade is a real and massive problem.

This is book is juvenile fiction, despite the heavy and sometimes graphic content, and it ought to be.  The sooner children learn about the world in which they live (in which young girls are still sold into prostitution, and this goes on largely unchecked), the better.  

The Abolition of Man

The Abolition of Man, by C.S. Lewis

Though this book (or, rather, collection of essays) is a mere eighty seven pages, I think I read it about three times by the end of it.  His mastery of the argument and the English language oftentimes goes right over my head; I had to reread sentences, paragraphs... Jack, I know you're brilliant, but what exactly did you just say?

Once I grasped where he was headed, I became completely enmeshed in his defense of objective morality.  I was not expecting literary criticism in the defense, though that, and his understanding of ethics flouted by technological and scientific advances, certainly makes me wonder what he doesn't understand or what arena does not fall under his umbrella of expertise.  Further, the connection he sees between this worldview and education makes it an essential read for any Christian, sociologist, and educator.

"Only the Tao [Lewis' term for the Way of objective truth] provides a common human law of action which can overarch rulers and ruled alike.  A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery.  I am not here thinking solely, perhaps not even chiefly, of those who are our public enemies at the moment.  The process which, if not checked, will abolish Man, goes on apace among Communists and Democrats no less than among Fascists.  The methods may (at first) differ in brutality.  But many a mild-eyed scientist in a pince-nez, many a popular dramatist, many an amateur philosopher in our midst, means in the long run just the same as the Nazi rulers of Germany.  Traditional values are to be "debunked" and mankind to be cut out into some fresh shape at the will (which must, by hypothesis, be an arbitrary will) of some few lucky people in one lucky generation which has learned how to do it" (81, emphases mine).

Phew.  Will have to read this one again.  You need to, too.  Trust me; it's worth the effort.

C.S. Lewis: Christian and Storyteller

C.S. Lewis: Christian and Storyteller, by Beatrice Gormley

This one was short and to the point.  Ms. Gormley has little of the delightful, clever prose of the man whose life she describes.  I did, however, appreciate the balanced look at every era of Lewis' life, and the photographs.  For a person unfamiliar with Lewis apart from The Chronicles of Narnia, formative 'events' like his mother's death, his friendship with his brother Warren, his adopted mother Mrs. Moore, experiences in the Great War, friendship with JRR Tolkien and the other Inklings, and marriage to divorcee Joy Davidman provide a nice backdrop (and explanation) for the stories Jack needed to tell, and the faith he needed to defend. 

This particular biography is perhaps better suited for younger readers, but I enjoyed it for what it was: a teaser, whetting my appetite for more of Lewis.

The Four Loves

The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis

"If I may dare the biological image, God is a 'host' who deliberately creates His own parasites; causes us to be that we may exploit and 'take advantage of' Him.  Herein is love.  This is the diagram of Love Himself, the inventor of all loves."

Seriously.   The book itself was a slow build, but if the above quote from Lewis' conclusion as the culmination of his sketch on love is any indication... You know you're in for a treat.

Personally, the chapter on Friendship is what did it for me.  Of all the loves, says Jack, Friendship is the least natural, the least biological, the least necessary in the strictest sense of the word.  "'You have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.' The Friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out.  It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others."  These Friends are the ones we find almost by chance, surprised that we "see the same truth".  We meet Friends and think, "What?  You, too?"  I'm currently reading a biography of Lewis, and according to his biographer, this is what he found in his "First Friend", Arthur Greeves, reading Norse mythology - an early, deep love of Jack's.

The Eros chapter went a bit over my head, to be perfectly honest.  I may have to reread that one.  A line I particularly appreciated, though, reads thus: "...The 'headship' of the husband, if only he can sustain it, is most Christ-like.  The sternest feminist need not grudge my sex the crown offered to it either in the Pagan or in the Christian mystery.  For the one is of paper and the other of thorns."

Jack is becoming one of my favorite poets and - easily - philosophers.  He commands such an harmonious understanding of sociology, theology, philosophy and psychology.  Please, please read this one.

The Anglo Files

The Anglo Files, by Sarah Lyall

Oh my goodness, what a delightful read!  The subtitle reads, A field guide to the British, and it is just that: everything you wished someone had told you about the Brits before being immersed in their culture.  Lyall is an American journalist living in London with her Brit husband and two daughters.  Her descriptions are vivid, hilarious, and thought-provoking.

Some topics covered in depth:

• Cricket as metaphor
• Meaning behind the bad food
• Princess Di and the emotional revolution she began
• Loving animals more openly than other people
• The connection between repressed feelings and drinking
• Euphemisms
• Hereditary titles and the House of Lords
• Weather, and speaking about the weather

If you have any interest whatsoever in the British tradition, nation, culture, or identifying yourself as an anglophile, this book is for you!

7.1 [currently reading]

Currently reading:

The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis - still amazed by his brilliance. Reading for fun. 1/2 complete.

The Anglo Files, Sarah Lyall - observations of an American living among Brits, the low-down on the current and traditional society for non-Briton anglophiles like me.  Reading for fun. 1/4 complete.

Why We're Not Emergent, DeYoung and Kluck - arguments against postmodernism in Christianity manifest in churches like Rob Bell's Mars Hill and writers like Brian McLaren.  A call for renewal and revitalization in traditional Christianity.  Reading through with one of our elders and his wife.  1/8 complete.

The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer - a true pastor of the Church and martyr in Nazi Germany.  Reading to discuss with Faith on our weekly coffee dates.  1/32 complete.

The Call, Guinness - a definitive work on a Christian's purpose; a call to a Person rather than a job or place or things.  Reading with Faith.  Just finished.

It's interesting... I hate reading multiple books at once, but such is my schedule.  

Even more interesting, I think, is that they're all nonfiction.  

Rarely, if ever, am I not reading something fictional.  

Especially in the summertime.  

If you have any recommendations for my next fictional read, feel free!