What are you reading?
Tuesday June 13, 2006
It's summertime, and some people -- not Your Working Boy, alas -- have more free time for reading. Beach reading, whatever. I was thinking about whether or not there are any books I'm planning to read this summer, and the...
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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I just finished Look Homeward, America, and am awaiting my copy of Kauffman's Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette: A Mostly Affectionate Account of a Small Town s Fight to Survive.>
For pleasure, I've finally started Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series, with Master & Commander; and I have a few comic book collections and Star Trek books I'd like to get to.
On a more serious note, I'll probably (finally) start your book this week.
I've been rereading John Stott's commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, which focuses on what he calls the "Christian counterculture" that Christ preached and practiced. I suspect that, like Stott's book, yours addresses the need for some sort of rejection of the mainstream culture.
I'm curious to see how the agrarianism you document lines up with the kingdom Stott comments up. It seems to me that the hardline agrarians believe that their lifestyle is a necessary consequence of Christianity. While I see nothing intrinsically wrong with the agrarian life, I suspect that the "-ism" that praises it so is overly concerned with material questions of food and clothing, in defiance of Matthew 6.
I suspect, but I do not know, so I'm giving your book the benefit of the doubt.>
I finished "The Miracle of St. Anthony's" yesterday and read "Annapolis Autumn" last week. I have thought about reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma," I confess, but only because I saw last week that my father, now in his 70's and anything but a "foodie," was reading it.
You should know that the author is supposed to now regret his unkind comments about Whole Foods. See the WFM CEO's blog and open letter to him at http://www.wholefoods.com/blogs/jm/archives/2006/05/an_open_letter.html#comments
I suspect my next book will be one of the two that my daughter is reading about the San Francisco earthquake 100 years ago ("Crack at the Edge of the World" and "SF is Burning"). Then the rest of the summer will be reading and writing about Harry Potter.>
I can recommend this ideal summer book - "An Instance of the Fingerpost" by Ian Pears. A historic mystery set in Restoration England, narrated by four different characters, all of whom "finger" a different person as the murderer.
And Pears (sp?) is a terrific writer -- the only problem with the book is that it's so layered with clues that I had to keep going back to previous sections to check things out. Fun!
I've been reading way too much religion, politics and current events lately (especially about radical Islam). In this vein, I recommend "The Two Faces of Islam," by Stephen Schwartz and "While Europe Slept" by Bruce Bawer. I'm leavening these with "A History of God" by Karen Armstrong.
I just finished Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones," and her memoir, "Lucky." Both very good books, but very heavy subject matter.
If anyone has a recommendation for some good escapist fiction, or a good psychology book (preferrably something in between a serious psychology book and a self help book would be ideal, if anyone has a recommendtion) I would be grateful.>
On your recommendation, I've been taking a bit of a look at "Milestones" by Sayid Qutb. Also, I've been reading Bishop Ware's classic history, "The Orthodox Church." Also on my list is some Aquinas, St. John of the Cross, and the rest of CS Lewis' "Space Trilogy," which I started last summer. Lastly, some people at my church are talking about putting together a reading group to tackle the Fathers, so we'll see where that goes.>
Rod,
Have you tried audiobooks, perhaps during your commute? I have been tackling works I never had time (or attention span) for with my iPod and a subscription to audible.com, including those of Dostoevsky. Crime & Punishment was remarkably well done by the reader George Guidall. I am currently working through The Brothers Karamazov, enjoying it in ~25 minute chunks to and from work.
I understand what you mean by Dostoevsky in the summertime, especially in Arizona in 110+ heat. But if you wear dark shades and turn the air conditioning way up, you can just about pull off the feeling of winter. :-)>
Finishing up G. K. Chesteron's _The Everlasting Man_. After that, the summer reading list looks something like...
_The Conservative Mind_--Russell Kirk
_The Mountain of Silence_--Kyriacos Markides
_The Silmarillion_--J. R. R. Tolkien
_Essays of a Catholic_--Hilaire Belloc
_God's Revelation to the Human Heart_--Fr. Seraphim Rose
_Vita Patrum: The Life of the Fathers_--Fr. Seraphim Rose
_The Eucharist_--Fr. Alexander Schmemann
_The Journals of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, 1973-1983_
_Introduction to Liturgical Theology_--Fr. Alexander Schmemann
_Introduction to Early Medieval Notation_--Constantin Floros
And who knows what else. My wife is in Germany for two months, so this will be how I keep from climbing the walls.
Richard>
Richard, I'm glad you mentioned The Silmarillion--I've been meaning to read that for years, but keep forgetting to pick up a copy. Thanks for the reminder--I'm adding it to my list!
After reading the thread on Ann Coulter below, I'm thinking I need to reacquaint myself with some of the political and literary satire of the past; John Dryden's MacFlecknoe and Alexander Pope's The Dunciad come to mind. I keep wondering what all the commenters who find Coulter too "mean" or too "mean-spirited" would do with the likes of Dryden and Pope...>
Currently, I'm 3/4 of the way through Crunchy Cons. ;)
Next up will be a 'Like Life' - a collection of short stories by Lorrie Moore, which a friend lent to me recently.
On the list of 'will probably read' for the next few months are:
'Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business' by Neil Postman(recommended several months ago by my mother)
'Up and Down in the Dales' by Gervase Phinn (I loved his previous 3 books, so am really looking forward to this one)
'Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate' by Steven Johnson (I came across it awhile back, when searching for something else entirely, and it sounded interesting)
'When Prophecy Still Had a Voice: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Robert Lax' (I've read quite a bit of Merton, and I've read one book of Lax's poetry, so I thought it would be nice to read their correspondence.)
I also have 2 issues of Glimmer Train (a short story quarterly) to catch up on.>
Currently reading:
Flannery O'Connor - The Violent Bear It Away
Wendell Berry - The Art of the Common Place
N.T. Wright - The Challenge of Jesus
Just finished reading Dennis Covington's Salvation on Sand Mountain.
Always perusing through some Tolkien and WFB. About to start working on Allen Barra's biography of Bear Bryant and some Henry James.>
I've recently finished reading David Hart's The Beauty of the Infinite. I have nearly finished Sheldon Wolin's Politics and Vision, and have progressed about one-quarter of the way through MacIntyre's Whose Justice? Which Rationality?
I'm planning to re-read The Brothers Karamazov and The Conservative Mind, and to tackle de Maistre's critique of Bacon, Evdokimov's Ages of the Spiritual Life, Gomery and Baumol's Global Trade and Conflicting National Interests, Ryn's A Common Human Ground, Oderberg's Applied Ethics, and anything else that might happen to elicit my interest.>
Pollan is excellent. So is O'Brian. On my summer list are Kauffman's Look Homeward America and Oriana Fallacci's The Force of Reason. If you want a paleocon- consevationist's view of the American West -- a very "crunchy" book-- check out Chilton Williamson's The Hundredth Meridian.>
To paraphrase talk radio - - long time reader, first time poster.
Funny you should mention Dostoyevsky. I'm about halfway through The Brothers Karamazov. I'm surprised how easy it's been to keep all of the characters and events straight, even during the occasionally nonlinear chronology. It's usually pretty hard to put down, actually. The version I'm reading is Constance Garnett's translation, in the Signet Classics series.
On deck is the late Jaroslav Pelikan's new commentary on the Acts of the Apostles and Vladimir Lossky's The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church.>
"If anyone has a recommendation for some good escapist fiction"
A book I'd highly recommend, though not an oft-read one, is William Godwin's "Caleb Williams." It's a late-1700s psycho-thriller about a servant who uncovers a dark secret in his master's past, which leads to great adventures and intrigue. The ending still has my head in a spin whenever I think of it, and I finished the book nearly a year ago. I've widely recommended it, but I have yet to get any takers. Perhaps someone on this board will be the first. :)
On another note, while having never read any Dostoyevsky, his "Brother's Karamazov" contains one of my favourite quotes ever:
"love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams">
Stuart Kauffman's "At Home In The Universe"
Pollan's book is next on the list :).>
Tony,
This is probably a cruel thing to say since your half way into the book, but here goes anyway:-)
After reading all of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy in high school and college and now re-reading them in the new translations I highly recommend the new versions. They are so much richer.>
That's cool, I don't imagine this will be my only reading of BK...thanks for the tip!>
I agree about Brothers Karamazov in the Pevear-Volokhonsky translation being wonderful. Their translation of Gogol's Dead Souls is one of the funniest books I have read (I refer to Part I; haven't read the unfinished second part). Urgently recommended (though not perhaps for summer reading).
I read some, at least, of The Faerie Queene every year about now. C. S. Lewis said that to read Edmund Spenser is to grow in mental health.
Someone asked about escape reading. Have you tried John Buchan (best known for The Thirty-Nine Steps)? Sure he's dated; and good. Maybe start, out of "sequence," with The Three Hostages. But C. S. Lewis liked Buchan's historical novel Witch Wood so much that he wrote Buchan a fan letter.
Lewis also liked Rider Haggard. If you want real escape reading, an "Allan Quatermain" yarn such as The Holy Flower can be a good choice. (The book called Allan Quatermain was the first one of about a dozen that Haggard wrote, but chronologically comes last and, to my thinking, is not always satisfactory.) Read Haggard's She and discover a novel that Tolkien admitted made a deep impression on him - - and that is still alive.
Not to run on too long, let me also recommend to conservative Christians looking for fantasy-adventure the novels of Lars Walker. You can read one of them, Wolf Time, online for free. You didn't know there was anyone out there writing like books like this.>
In my previous message, when I said "first of about a dozen that Haggard wrote," I meant about a dozen Quatermain books! He wrote I suppose around 50 books.
Incidentally, if you like reading lively letters full of references to what he's reading, his walks in the English countryside, etc., the letters of C. S. Lewis are delightful. There are several editions available. For a lot of book- and walk-talk, the out of print collection of letters to Lewis's old friend Arthur Greeves, called They Stand Together, is the one to go with. The book just called Letters of C. S. Lewis has wise and kindly letters. Two of three very big Collected Letters of Lewis volumes have been published, too.>
What am I reading?
Not enough!
Not by a long shot.>
"The Lovely Bones" was great. I read it with a book club.
Ligher reading: "The Life of Pi" (well not really light, but a good read).
"Skinny Dip" (Carl Hiaasen) is a good, fast, light summer read. I read it on a cruise - you'll get the irony if you read the book.
Now reading "Vanishing Acts" by Jody Picoult. Also a good read.
If you want to laugh out loud, read "Marley and Me". A lot of fun, especially if you've ever owned a somewhat mentally challenged dog.>
I greatly appreciate (and printed) the above suggestions for lighter reading, and am particularly intrigued by rjak134's recommendation of "Caleb Williams." Thanks, I will check that out.
Fiction oldies but goodies that I would recommend are "A River Town," by Thomas Kenneally and "My Antonia," by Willa Cather. If you have a taste for "pioneer" stories you will love these.
For guilty pleasure reading, I also recommend my favorite historical romances (up there with "Gone With the Wind,") which are the Angelique books, by Sergeanne Golon (the alias of Anne and Serge Golon).
Set in France during the era of Louis the Fourteenth, these books are well- researched, fascinating, and very romantic and adventurous. They are out of print, but I was able to get every one that has been published in the U.S. by visiting used bookstores and going online to Abebooks and Amazon.>
Quite by accident, as a follow-up to your book, I'm reading "This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader" by Joan Dye Gussow.
She hits on some of the food themes you do, and her book is both educational and very personal. It is an excellent read, and makes you feel like you can do it also.>
Rod,
Let me recommend "Our School" by Joanne Jacobs to you again. It is the true story of two idealists who created a charter high school from nothing for would-be dropouts in San Jose, CA. It is a gritty story of real-life determination and realistic success. It involves early support from a near saint, the late Fr. Mateo Sheedy (find out how an Irishman becomes Mateo) and the Mexican Catholic community in San Jose.
It shows how the leaders in a community can be inspired to come together for a noble purpose against all normal preconceptions and how two tough-minded idealists can bend reality to change the lives young people. The school is about a mile from my house and my kids attend a Catholic school a couple of blocks away. Folks from our parish have sent their children there to wonderful results. It is the real deal.
I think it would be a good contrast to your view of N. California as a place where the hedonistic wealthy live on mountain tops, sipping cabernet, and eating artisan cheese.>
I strongly recommend "Angels in Iron" by Nicholas C. Prata. This a superb book on the Knights Hospitaler and the defense of Malta. Every Catholic male should read it. I suspect most will want to reread it. There is a reason why the capital of Malta is Valletta.
This is the best book read in many a year.>
I just finished The Omnivore's Dilemma. What an excellent book! Now, I have moved onto "Life in Community" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I have Pilgrim at Tinker Creek sitting on my table as well.>
A History of the Byzantine State and Society by Warren Treadgold. Probably the best one-volume history of Byzantium in print, it covers the religious controversies that plagued New Rome from the beginning a very deft and sympathetic touch.
Byzantium and the Crusades by Jonathan Phillips. It is a very interesting and (I think) convincing assessment of the basis for the clash between the West and Byzantium over the Crusades, culminating in the unholy Fourth Crusade.
I'm also reading other books about the Byzantine Empire, but I think I've sufficiently telegraphed my mental illness for the moment. :)
The Last Ship by William Brinkley. A post-nuclear war novel about the crew of an American guided missile destroyer and their quest for a safe haven. A little verbose about men (and women) versus the sea, but a good read.>
"Never Say 'NO COMMENT' - How Spin Doctors Answer Questions", by Ian Taylor and George Olds. Funny and filled with real advice on how to get your message across through a sometimes-hostile media.
Valuable skills for anyone who has or will be required to speak on behalf of a community, cause or corporation.>
I finished The Da Vinci Code in time to see the movie, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys puzzles and riddles, especially word games.
After seeing Mirror Mask, and on the continuing harass... recommendation of friends, I also recently finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman. The author has some fresh ideas about some very old archtypes.
I'm still sloggin through The Left Hand of God by Michael Lerner. His ideas are intriguing and thought provoking, but he tends to say things four and five times over. I don't promise it won't cause some yawning, but as a contribution to the interface between faith and politics it is important.
I have my eye on American Theocracy, I have a copy of The Truth by Al Franken I keep meaning to get to (my son has read it twice already!), and the Soapbox Cards division at Hallmark recently published a book of their best cards, including ones that never got printed. They were interviewed yesterday on NPR. Sounded very good.>
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