December 27, 2006
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A Bookish Life
I’m quite excited about A Natural History of Latin. It seems an essential book for a homeschool parent wanting to know more about Latin. The intended audience is those not familiar with Latin; it’s very accessible. I’ll read more soon and give y’all some quotes.
The upright book to the left is Andrée Seu’s latest book, Normal Kingdom Business. If you’ve read her incredible writing in World magazine, you will enjoy Mindy Withrow’s interview of Andrée here. The upright book to the right is an unparalleled delight, Quotable Quotes,The Book Lover. At the lower bottom is Cordelia Underwood by Van Reid. If ever there was a modern day Charles Dickens with more humor than pathos, it would be Van Reid. I consider him one of the best kept secrets in modern fiction. The two oversized books, Italy, A Beautiful Cookbook and France, A Beautiful Cookbook are part of the “Beautiful Cookbook” series put out by Borders. These books are just stunning. I must show you more:
My husband is just like Alsace-Lorraine: solid, rugged, joyful!
There’s a good selection of Wendell Berry and Anthony Trollope. Scarlet Music is a historical novel about Hildegard of Blingen. George Grant wrote one line about Isaac and His Devils and that was incentive enough for me to order it! Tucked next to Wendell Berry is Dorothy Sayer’s The Mind of the Maker. Out in front is Kristin Lanvansdatter, George MacDonald’s Phantastes and two Dover books full of quotations.
The photo of my grandson Gavin deserves a close-up don’t ya think? It was a Christmas gift from my dear friend Katie.
These are garage sale bargains. My daughter in-law spied them, nudged me and pointed. There was no price indicated. I asked the owner and tears came to her eyes. ”If you would like them, you can have them. None of my children wants them.” I gave her a token bill and took them. The blue set is the works of Dumas; the green set is Dickens. They aren’t the complete works but the type is readable and large enough for my eyes.
Finally, discoveries from our small, rural, local library. An unabridged reading of Jane Austen’s Emma on CD. And a lovely book discovered while walking the stacks. I’m a sucker for any book that begins with “Oxford Book of”. The Oxford Book of Ages is a collection of quotes for all the ages of our life. It would be a marvelous resource to have close by when you are sending birthday greetings.
I’m ready to start putting together my reading list for 2007 which I’ll post in the next few days.
I’d rather be shut up in a very modest cottage,
with my books,my family and a few old friends,
dining on simple bacon,
and letting the world roll on as it liked,
than to occupy the most splendid post which any human power can give.
Thomas Jefferson
Comments (2)
This entry is chock full of good suggestions….but I’ll have to come back later when my brain is not quite so addled.
Dana in GA
Her kids didn’t WANT any of them?!! I have decided that library loaning will have to wait until my kids are older. After many fines of 20-30$ I have decided it is more cost effecient to just buy the book! My last endevor was “Anna Karenina” and because of the time factor placed on the book (and the fact that I paid almost 30$ in fines) I found myself skimming. I have read many good books when pregnant, somehow my appetite for classics soars during this time. But having 2 under 3 I have found that with this pregnancy I have only been able to read Dickens. I find him an easy read. Enjoyable, but easy enough to put down and come back to whereas Tolestoy takes a bit more for me to get into) I’m very interested in hearing more about the Latin book.
God Bless!
Kcaarin