Turkish Literature Students, Jane Eyre, and the Joys of Teaching

  Teaching - especially teaching adults - is, or should be, a process of learning. Sometimes a teacher learns content more deeply or fully; other times, they learn to express ideas or thoughts more clearly or accurately, or they may even learn to know humanity better through true encounters with their students and their students' needs. Then there's the more incidental learning due to hearing and reading about students' interests. (Virtually all the K-Pop I've listened to has been from students' homework-based recommendations. It's not my thing unless it's theirs.)

  Here's a brief philosophy of teaching, particularly language teaching and more particularly writing skills teaching. 

   Premise #1 - Students learn better when they are personally interested in the subject. 

    Premise #2 -Teachers are paid and expected to help students learn something better, faster, or more comprehensively. 

     Premise #3 - Learning is relational (or social). 

   Based on these beliefs, I design my classes to let the students have maximum choice of content as well as some choice in curricular goals and hopefully a meaningful voice, even in a large class. This means that students often choose the topics of the lessons which we use to practice skills. It also means that they choose the topics which they will be writing about in their homework, and sometimes even for their exams. My role is to help them to learn the needed academic language and writing skills while they explore their chosen topics. In other words, they get to learn some of what interests them while learning what they are 'supposed to'. Naturally the details are different from class to class, but my guiding philosophy has held pretty consistent for about a decade now. It's an attempt to balance standardization and personalization; it's an attempt to give each learner a meaningful pathway to engagement and growth no matter their starting point; it's an attempt to lure each learner into joy in their learning.

  All of this has a HUGE side benefit: students have a massive range of interests, which makes grading assignments far more enjoyable as a teacher! I consistently get to be a learner in my own classroom. This brings us to the Turkish Language and Literature students whom I've gotten to teach Critical Reading and Writing to for the last two years. They don't get a lot of classes in English, but most of them truly love literature. So, they introduce me to great books and make them sound fascinating. My students have helped to make books like Orwell's 1984 and Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Charlotte Brönte's Jane Eyre sound worth reading. 

  So, after a variety of promptings including from students, I have just completed Jane Eyre. I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially since my wife and one daughter read it at the same time, and we talked about it as we read. It has high-quality writing, unexpected plot twists, and so much vocabulary that was new to me. I have no doubt that I'll re-read it. Not being as good at writing book reviews as some of my students, I will leave you with a few quotes instead of a synopsis of the book. These samples are ones that I feel can be snatched out of context without losing most of their meaning; there are many other powerful sections which did not seem as meaningful extracted from their place.  

 As Jane must make a difficult choice filled with moral implications...

"Still indomitable was the reply—“I care for myself.  The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.  I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man.  I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—as I am now.  Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be.  If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?  They have a worth—so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane—quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs.  Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.” (pp. 221-222).  

 As Jane becomes a teacher...

"I must not forget that these coarsely-clad little peasants are of flesh and blood as good as the scions of gentlest genealogy; and that the germs of native excellence, refinement, intelligence, kind feeling, are as likely to exist in their hearts as in those of the best-born.  My duty will be to develop these germs: surely I shall find some happiness in discharging that office.  Much enjoyment I do not expect in the life opening before me: yet it will, doubtless, if I regulate my mind, and exert my powers as I ought, yield me enough to live on from day to day. 

...  I was weakly dismayed at the ignorance, the poverty, the coarseness of all I heard and saw round me.  But let me not hate and despise myself too much for these feelings; I know them to be wrong—that is a great step gained; I shall strive to overcome them.  To-morrow, I trust, I shall get the better of them partially; and in a few weeks, perhaps, they will be quite subdued.  In a few months, it is possible, the happiness of seeing progress, and a change for the better in my scholars may substitute gratification for disgust." (p. 253). 

Reserved people often really need the frank discussion of their sentiments and griefs more than the expansive. (p. 262).   

  Before quitting, I'd add a couple caveats. Without knowing what Brönte herself believed, I'd mention that her openly religious characters often talk in dualistic, 'escapist' terms that suggest that this world is not valuable and that only the next world is worth living for. The Bible would not agree. Secondly, it seems unfortunate that the only two characters who are non-European in the text are the two chosen to be (or expected to become) insane, with one of them being evil and the other weak in character. This typing and the dialogue surrounding it should offend us today even if it was standard two hundred years ago.

2025 Reading - 15th Annual Reading List

  Children, book club, and PhD preparation reading drove a lot of my choices this year. The reading with the kids was often re-reads of old favorites for me. Book club offered a variety that pushed me into categories I usually wouldn't read. And PhD prep offered stuff that was interesting and beneficial for my work. (However, for a variety of reasons, mostly bureacratic, it does not look like I will be doing a PhD after all... or at least not here and now.) Mostly I included books on the list that I'd recommend, but there is at least one non-recommendation.

FICTION

Making Money (Terry Pratchett) - Another Pratchett favorite discovered.  (Feet of Clay, A Hatful of Sky...)

1984 (Orwell) - This did not fall under the category of 'enjoyable' reading, but it was certainly valuable. It was another book for book club (considering the category of 'propaganda' in relation to knowledge). However, I found the book to be really thought-provoking.

Watership Down (Adams) -  My favorite comment on this book was in commentary at the beginning of the book which said, "[Adams] pulls off the trick of never letting us forget that they are rabbits... while also creating characters with a very human psychology." That rings true. It's a rabbit book, but it's also very relatable. (related post)

 The Hunger Games trilogy (Suzanne Collins) - Quite enjoyable, quite thought provoking, and not as needlessly grotesque or disturbing as it sounds in a brief description. 

The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco) - my extended post on it

Innocents Abroad (Mark Twain) - I read bits of this as a schoolchild. Twain has a certain brilliance and humor to his writing so many years later, and yet there's also aspects of what he says that are patronizing (apparently to everyone), so maybe it's just seeing everything sarcastically. And he can get a bit tedious, but the writing has a quality in it that is attractive, and now I've been to some of the places he describes.  

Old-favorites that I read aloud: A Wrinkle in Time series; Homer Price

and LOTR, still working on finishing some appendices that apparently I've never read... hadn't read Aragorn and Arwen's love story before. 

NONFICTION

Metaphors We Live By (Lakoff & Johnson, upd. ed.) - This edition with its recent epilogue is really helpful for thinking through metaphorical thought and its centrality in our language and lives. I'd highly recommend it! (blog post)

How Languages are Learned (Lightbown & Spada, 4th ed) - This was a really valuable addition to my reading list. I'd interacted with some of the book before, and it'd actually helped me think through how to help my kids by fully bilingual as much as possible. However, reading through it carefully was valuable for getting a clear overview of the process of language learning and the state of research into it. Definitely recommend.

Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War (Peter Maas) - post here with my thoughts about a visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina 

Filling up the Afflictions of Christ (Piper) - a consideration of three Christians' stories of suffering

The Everlasting Man (Chesterton) - Christmas meditations and much more, well worth reading and thinking about.

The Gospel Primer (Vincent) - a devotional worth reading periodically. With a very few exceptions, what is present is really valuably stirring. The exceptions would mostly be spaces for additional, though the view given of the gospel's relationship to 'the poor' is entirely negative quite unlike that given in the New Testament. 

Paths to Power (Tozer) - more a booklet than a book, I inherited this book from someone leaving the country. So many decades after his death, Tozer's words still ring clearly and relevantly. The details and some of the perspectives may reflect another era, but the belivers he addressed seemingly wrestled with many of the same issues that believers face today. 

Delighting in the Trinity (Reeves) - The most disappointing book I read this year... or at least the most disappointing book I meant to and tried to and began to and continued to read and then quit reading about halfway through this year. Well recommended book by multiple friends... and it was extremely disappointing. The part that was directly about Christian theology was mostly fine although it still had some strange weaknesses. The part that (attempted to) speak to opposing worldviews seemed incredibly weak and misrepresentative. This was true whether engaging non-Trinitarian views of God in general or (supposedly) Muslim ones in specific. I find myself wondering who were the multiple people who recommended the book. One good side of all this is that it made me think and develop my own thoughts to supplement the weaknesses I see in Reeves' argumentation and representation.  

Polycarp: The Crown of Fire (William Chad Newsom) - This was a fascinating historical fiction imagining of the life of Polycarp that included other Apostolic Fathers and figures of the early churches (Papias, Ignatius of Antioch, Marcion, Iraneus, Hippolytus). Kids can enjoy it, though young ones may need a bit of guidance among the names, but it'd also be informative for most adults. 

 William Tyndale (David Daniell) - An excellent biography with a ton of historical information about the era in which Tyndale lived as well as the later effect that his (partial) Bible translation had, especially on the KJV. That was what led me to it in the first place as I was researching for a seminar I was asked to do on the sociocultural impact of the KJV, but needed to explore its history. The King James Version's New Testament was approximately 83% Tyndale's translation! 

Recommendations from years past: 2024,  2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

A book about rabbits... Watership Down

  I remember the book with a rabbit on the cover on my dad's shelf when I was a kid, Richard Adams' Watership Down. But it was long. It still is. But I don't really remember it ever being recommended to me. Now it was. A very nice book, very definitely about rabbits. 

A couples of highlights... one bit of wisdom and one bit of beautiful insight.

"A thing can be true and still be desperate folly, Hazel." (pg 138)

"We do not usually envisage the downs without daylight, even though the light is not a part of the down itself as the hide is part of the horse itself. We take daylight for granted. But moonlight is another matter. It is inconstant. The full moon wanes and returns again. Clouds may obscure it to an extent to which they cannot obscure daylight. Water is necessary to us, but a waterfall is not. Where it is to be found is ti something extra, a beautiful ornament. We need daylight and to that extent it is utilitarian, but moonlight we do not need. When it comes, it serves no necessity. It transforms." (pg 215) 

Rutledge's "The Crucifixion" - quotations

  I've been reading Fleming Rutledge's The Crucifixion for a while now, and I continue to benefit. Her earlier section on the irreligious and godless nature of the crucifixion as seen in its original cultural context was really helpful. Following that, her insights on forgiveness and the fact that real forgiveness cannot be easy or automatic is really valuable. Now, her discussion on Anselm has been insightful. I hadn't realized how controversial Anselm is though it makes sense as I read about it. She shows how in many ways Anselm is not understood well across the centuries, for reasons both understandable and not. So I'm including a series of quotations below. They are in three groupings, on three tracks. Each a peak into her thought. I highly recommend the book!

"'Honor' in Anselm's thought stands not for some imagined hypersensitivity by the Creator to his own dignity, but is a metaphor for the deep logic of reality, in which the balance of a universe is disrupted by the fact of death and by human alienation from others and from God, a situation which could only be rectifies by divine action."  ~ Eamon Duffy, as cited in Rutledge

~~~~~

In an important sense, the Bible is art rather than science or philosophy, and theology is a sort of art too, since it is largely based upon the narrative form of the Scriptures. (pp. 146-147).  

~~~~~

The wrath of God falls upon God himself, by God’s own choice, out of God’s own love. The “justice connection” may not be clear to those who are accustomed to privilege, but to oppressed and suffering Christians in the troubled places of the earth, there is no need to spell it out. God in Christ on the cross has become one with those who are despised and outcast in the world. (p. 143).

God’s righteousness leads him to all lengths to oppose what will destroy what he loves, and that means declaring enmity against everything that resists his redemptive purpose. This is the aggressive principle in God’s justice.  (p. 136).

The pervasive and monstrous nature of injustice around the world forces us to acknowledge that forgiveness alone does not give a true picture of God’s purpose. (p. 142).

If, when we see an injustice, our blood does not boil at some point, we have not yet understood the depths of God. It depends, though, on what outrages us. To be outraged on behalf of oneself or one’s own group alone is to be human, but it is not to participate in Christ. To be outraged and to take action on behalf of the voiceless and oppressed, however, is to do the work of God. (p. 143).

  From the standpoint of the gospel, however, every single one of us, rich or poor, is a complex mixture; we are all capable of injustice and we are all living on the edge of neediness at any time. (p. 150).

It is in the very nature of God, “the Holy One in your midst,” to step down from the bench and pour himself out in unquenchable compassion. (p. 136).

14th Annual Reading Recommendations (2024 Version)

As usual, this year's reading was a collection of books guided by whimsy, recommendations and gifts, chance pick-ups, classroom-related needs, and Book Club. Book Club led to such diverse reading as Chesterton's Heretics, Wodehouse's Pigs Have Wings, and Pratchett's Mort. I sat out Book Club's reading of The Master and Margarita, as I have rarely if ever enjoyed a Russian novelist, but that may have been what caused the guilt that means I am currently working my halfway through Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. I am also part way through a book of G. M. Hopkin's poems, which I have found to be very meaningful. Apparently my taste in literature is improving slightly, or age may be a factor. 

Fiction

To Sir with Love (Braithwaite) - a great, short novel about teaching. The fact that the author was Guyanese (next door to Suriname) was of special interest to me. I haven't gotten to watch the related movie yet.

The End of the Magi by Patrick Carr - This was an a very well written historical novel, placed around the time of Christ. It is interesting especially for its focus on the lands and kingdoms east of Palestine with only minimal interaction with the Roman Empire.

Hallowe'en Party and The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie - a new read and a re-read by Christie; I got to begin sharing this old joy with my oldest kiddo. Poirot as well as as Tommy and Tuppence!

Fear is the Key by Alistair MacLean -  Unexpectedly I found another MacLean that I hadn't read. Not his greatness, and I don't enjoy reading about cold as much as other extreme environments, but it was still nice to find a new one.

Pigs Have Wings by P. D. Wodehouse - Wodehouse, as my wife helped me realize is a kind of British aristocratic Patrick McManus - ridiculous humor.

Peaceweaver by Savannah Jezowski - a lovely fantasy novel with depth and joy

Terry Pratchett's Mort, The Truth & others - I'd missed Pratchett till now, though I'd heard of him, of course. Now in the last 2-3 months I've suddenly read little other than him for my pleasure reading (until Dostoevsky). He's got a real way with words, and a way of taking very serious topics (like DEATH or the Press) very seriously indeed by cynically examining them. I don't know that I would have benefited from his books as a young adult, but I've had a grand time reading them now.

 Martin Eden by Jack London - Reading Martin Eden was basically an accident; it was in my 'to read' collection, and I wanted it out of the collection. So I started it for the sake of ending it. I never put it down (metaphorically speaking). I don't enjoy London's depressing view of reality most of the time, but this book had gripping character development. It was well worth the time.

Children's Fiction - These were the classics that I read with my children; I hadn't read a full Eager novel previously. Excellent. 

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White 

Half Magic and Magic by the Lake by Edward Eager

 The Three Investigators and the Case of the Stuttering Parrot - Since my uncle gifted me this book about 30 years ago, the mysteries in this series have been favorites, easily as good as the Hardy Boys, whom I also loved.

Religious nonfiction

Heretics by G. K. Chesterton - The insights Chesterton offers while engaged with the intellectual thought of his day often felt as relevant to today's intellectual thought as most of what I've seen that's written today.

Muhammad and the Christian by Kenneth Cragg (related post) - I read this for a class I took with ISRME, and it was a really helpful consideration of how Christians can think through the question of who Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, is from the many perspectives that might be needed/helpful. 

Hearing God by Dallas Willard - There's a lot in this book to think about; given the topic, I guess anyone might find areas where they think differently, but it was a book worth taking seriously.

The Crucifixion by Fleming Rutledge - I'm still early in this book, so it might not be fair to add it here. Yet it's been such a valuable read so far. Rutledge has focused on the shame and 'godlessness' (crass non-religiousness) that was associated with crucifixion. Her words are powerful in challenging any sort of lighthearted approach to the cross.

Apostolics Fathers (multiple related posts earlier in the year)

RE-READS: The Pursuit of God (Tozer) & The Return of the Prodigal (again)

Other Nonfiction

Exploring Second Language Reading by Neil Anderson - I've had it and referenced it for years, but it's been extremely helpful navigating two high-level readings skills classes that I was teaching this year. It has a good mix of theory and practical suggestions, and it is concise.

Reflective Teaching: An Introduction by Zeichner and Liston - This is a book that has been recommended to me a couple times now. First, it was recommended reading for my MA which I never got around to reading; now it's recommended for PhD prep reading. So, I've gotten around to it. It's solid and yet not overly complex.

 Recommendations from years past: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

Hopkins' 'Peace' - "That piecemeal peace is poor peace!"

  I was introduced to lots of poetry when I was young, and I memorized a good bit of it too, both by choice and due to curricular requirements. However, it's only been in the last few years that I have begun to appreciate more complex verse. Bits of T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets wooed me (Trying to learn to use words, and every attempt... OR The wounded surgeon plies the steel...) and drew me into that set of poems. Now a book of Gerard Manley Hopkins' work has been [kindly] thrust upon me. It's often complex to the point of feeling incomprehensible at first, and yet... there's something there. This one, 'Peace' felt meaningful today, both personally and globally.

Peace

When will you ever, Peace, wild wooddove, shy wings shut,

Your round me roaming end, and under be my boughs?

When, when, Peace, will you, Peace? I'll not play hypocrite

 

To own my heart: I yield you do come sometimes; but

That piecemeal peace is poor peace. What pure peace allows

Alarms of wars, the daunting wars, the death of it?

 

O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu

Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite, 

That plumes to Peace thereafter. And when Peace here does house

He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo,

He comes to brood and sit.

Trabzon, Rize, Batumi (Georgia) - a celebratory trip with friends

  I'm close to turning 40, and since I didn't want a big party, my wife suggested that I take a trip with close friends and celebrate that way. So we did. We visited Trabzon, Rize, and Batumi. Sumela Monastery was definitely a highlight of the trip. Excellent food was also important. Most important was the fellowship of friendship which allowed us to share things temporal and eternal.

SUMELA MONASTERY and its environs

The view from the trail to the monastery

Outside the entry to the monastery

The monastery buildings

View from a distance (by the church)

Melchizedek and Abram fresco

St. George and the Dragon (I think)

The walls were covered with the biblical narrative, starting with the creation at the top. The monastery seems to have functioned as a school of biblical training to some extent. The frescoes do not seem to be standard icons, to my uneducated eye.

More of the biblical narrative in frescoes

The view from the parking lot. Technically you can walk to the monastery from there, but it was apparently 4 kilometers, most of which was at a steep angle. We paid the $1.50 to ride the bus; the driver kept it interesting.

A stream near the parking lot

TRABZON

The view from a beautiful breakfast restaurant

Gravestone headpiece explanations for Ottoman-era tombstones, which often include the headgear of the deceased on top to indicate the deceased social status

The seraphim and the four beasts around the Throne. This is the central ceiling fresco in Trabzon's Hagia Sofia church building, converted to a mosque, converted to a museum, now converted to a mosque again.

Historically the four beasts before the Throne are linked to the four gospel accounts (Matthew with the man, Luke with the bull, John with the eagle, and Mark with the lion.) 

Jesus teaching at the Temple as a youth

exterior of the Hagia Sofia (Trabzon)

column designs still fascinate me 2 decades after World History 101

The Last Supper fresco - the use and non-use of halos was interesting to me.

Christ as Judge (Pantokrator)

Trabzon city walls / fortress

Trabzon city walls / fortress from a distance

RIZE

 

Rize panorama

Rize at night, notice the massive tea cup on the left

BATUMI

 

Georgian side of the border

delicious Georgian food

 Panorama of Batumi

The Grand Gloria Hotel looked very impressive, at least from the outside.

a small, quite new church building by the border

2023 Reading (13th annual edition)

  The year 2023 likely equaled 2022 in being basically unprecedented in my life for breadth and extent of reading. The combination of access to a great library system with fabulous inter-library loan opportunities and taking sabbatical time gave both time and space for constant reading, especially early in the year. I have highlighted a few particular recommendations, but the only ones that I would not suggest have been clearly labeled as such. I've weeded out the ones that I didn't care to bring up.

NON-FICTION

Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle - Recommended to me by Andrew Peterson's Adorning the Dark, this is another beautiful reflection on godly work. Like Peterson's book it masquerades as a book on art and faith. Really all work done well seems to be a combination of 'science' and 'art'; writing, or art, is no exception. L'Engle argues that all good art is good religion, bad art is bad religion. A profound book. 

First I checked it out of the library; but about a chapter in, I bought it so that I could mark it up. I read it in parallel with Wrinkle in Time series, including Many Waters and An Acceptable Time, each of which I enjoyed for the first time.

Manana by Justo Gonzalez - a commentary and critique not only of "Western" (actually, "Northern") theology but also of its culture from through a Hispanic lens. This is an older work now but maybe even more insightful because the issues he mentions have in many cases grown clearer over time. (earlier post on the book)

Return of the Prodigal by Henri Nouwen - It'd be hard to express the impact of this book on me. It was beautifully expressive of the Good News of Jesus; it was deeply thought-provoking. When good friends give you good books as gifts, it's always best to read the... but at the right time. This one had to wait for about 4 years, and then it was the right book this past spring. 

Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne a book I definitely intend to complete someday, but I found out I could loan it from Turkey, so I returned it to finish later. As far as I got was riveting! I also found

Mother of Royalty: An Exposition of the Book of Ruth in the Light of the Sources by Yehoshua Bachrach - a post with my thoughts

A Call to Istanbul by Constance Padwick - This is a lovely biography of a Canadian man born and raised in the Ottoman Empire who later returned and led the work of the Bible Society in Turkey and Lebanon. I'd never heard of him, but he lived and loved many of the same places that I do. His love for all people, but especially those of Turkey, was beautiful to read about.

Becoming Brave: Finding the Courage to Pursue Racial Justice Now by Brenda Salter McNeil - I previously posted some excerpts from this, and it was a beautiful read, simple in some ways and rich in others.

The Prophecy of Isaiah by Alec Motyer - This has been a great resource as I studied in Isaiah!

Fly by Wire by William Langewiesche a quite good, but not great, book about 'the Miracle on the Hudson' as well as a consideration of a lot of different aspects of the airline business and lifestyle

A Habitual Sight of Him: The Christ-Centered Piety of Thomas Goodwin (edited by Beeke) - This was a really nice little book that is easy to use as a daily devotional (35 readings).

I'm Still Here by Austin Channing Brown, Pollution and the Death of Man by Schaeffer (previous post); The Call of the Minaret by Kenneth Cragg (previous post); The Teacher by Augustine (previous post); Birlikte Yaşam / Life Together by Bonhoeffer; 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership; Troubled by Truth by Kenneth Cragg; The Master: A Life of Jesus by John Pollock; Sacred Companions by David Benner; Jesus' Sermon on the Mount by D. A. Carson

FICTION

Shane by Jack Shaeffer - I enjoy Westerns. This one became an instant favorite. It's well-told; it's got a unique perspective. It was both gripping and left an element of mystery. 

Daddy by Loup Durand - oops, lost a library book!

Harry Potter - One of the joys of fathering is sharing the joy of reading and being shared with. My oldest daughter and I are each making our way through Hogwarts for the very first time. We're doing it together.

A Cast of Stones and sequels by Patrick Carr - I enjoyed it and will eventually re-read it. Sadly my least favorite part was probably the last chapter.

Goodbye Mr. Chip by James Hilton - When I went looking for a short novel about teaching for my Reading Skills I class, this is what I came up with. It had some challenges, but overall we enjoyed it.

Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

The Golden Rendevous by Alistair MacLean - How was there a book by one of my favorite older authors that I had never read?!?! Anyways, it ws typical MacLean; if you've read enough of his works, there was nothing shocking even if there was a bit of variety.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - I couldn't love it, but it was interesting and well-written. It's just not my preferred genre.

Serpent of Moses by Don Hoese - a sequel to an interesting Christian fiction book I read years ago. Another Indiana Jones-style book...

Recommendations from years past: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

A Recommendation, a Waxwing, and a... well, one more surprise

  The smallest graces and beauties in life often arrive quite unexpectedly. I truly love birds and seeing a variety of them. One result of this is that my current favorite game is Wingspan, a beautifully drawn and well-designed board game which a friend gifted us a few months ago. Somehow competition is combined with beauty and a pinch of education to make a thoroughly enjoyable game experience, although it's too complex for the kids still. But I digress...

  Last week on a walk along a bike trail I saw a flock of Bohemian waxwings. I wouldn't have known their name if I hadn't happened to see this article about it in the Denver Post a few days before, "A rare and beautiful bird is turning up all over Denver this winter." Apparently these waxwings haven't been to Denver since I was a toddler. They were far more beautiful than the rather distant picture below suggests. The two colorings, presumably male and female, were both lovely; and the dozens of waxwings were in no rush to go anywhere else. But this morning...!

Bohemian waxwing

 Driving down Holly Street to drop kids off for school, I saw a bald eagle! I have loved eagles since I was very young, and they always make me think of my granddad because he had a house full of bald eagles (pictures, sculptures, and whatnot). Again, the picture quality below is lacking, but the gift of seeing beautiful birds wherever I'm at was not lacking in any way. Thankfully, we had a couple minutes to get out and take pictures of the bird before I dropped the kids off. Then I went back to look at it again in quietness.

A bald eagle, in Park Hill, Denver

 I said 'quietness', but actually you may notice in the video below that the crows and magpies were thoroughly disturbed that the eagle had entered their normal space. That's what the racket is, but the eagle seems unconcerned with it. And well he should!

 Actually this is the second time in the last several months that we've seen eagles. In November, driving back from Thanksgiving, we saw some bald eagles in Kansas, but they were away across a field. So even though we trespassed into a corn field, we still couldn't get particularly close.

 

Luthuli - Bound by Faith to struggle against apartheid

 I don't remember who recommended Albert Luthuli's biography to me, but it was eye-opening and instructive across a variety of fronts. It seems like he could fairly be described as South Africa's MLK or Gandhi, a leader of a great struggle who consistently applied the principles of non-violence despite tremendous pressure to do otherwise.

 In Albert Luthuli: Bound by Faith, Scott Couper details the life of Albert Luthuli, the long-time leader of the ANC who led the resistance against apartheid in South Africa on non-violent terms and was the first African to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. 

 

Albert Luthuli, 1961 (britannica)

 The political aspects of his life were somewhat interesting, though he died decades before apartheid was broken down. However, the background of his life and family, along with his thoughts and commitment to a genuine biblical faith in the public square and while seeking both peace and justice, were more interesting to me. The biographer quotes him in various places, and it is beautiful to see how Luthuli's understanding of Scripture both catalyzed, organized, and 'bounded' his public work. His 'social activism' sprang from his beliefs about the divine-image-bearing of all the humans around him. On the one hand, it caused him to pursue comprehensive change in the way that non-Europeans were treated in South African society. Yet, on the other hand, it stopped him from pursuing violence as a means to achieve that good end. Others decided to use violence and sought his support, but his record stands remarkably clearly about his own convictions. (You can read some of Nelson Mandela's defense of the use of violent sabotage here as recorded at his trial in 1963-1964.) 

 Couper quotes from Luthuli's autobiography, Let My People Go, regarding Christian living, being part of society, and work:

Adams [College] taught me what Edendale did not, that I had to do something about being a Christian, and that this something must identify me with my neighbor, not dissociate me from him. Adams taught me more. It inculcated, by example rather than precept, a specifically Christian mode of going about work in a society, and I had frequent reason to be grateful for this later in life. [italics original, bold mine]

Elsewhere, Luthuli spoke of the fact that living as a Christian was 'not a private affair without relevance to society'...

It was, rather, a belief which equipped us in a unique way to meet the challenges of our society... which had to be applied to the conditions of our lives; and our many works - they ranged from Sunday School teaching to road-building - became meaningful as the outflow of Christian belief.

 

 Listen to these powerful lines from his Nobel Peace Prize speech in 1961.

I also, as a Christian and patriot, could not look on while systematic attempts were made, almost in every department of life, to debase the God-factor in man or to set a limit beyond which the human being in his black form might not strive to serve his Creator to the best of his ability. To remain neutral in a situation where the laws of the land virtually criticized God for having created men of color was the sort of thing I could not, as a Christian, tolerate. (Source)

Children of the Alley - thoughts and quotes

  In our ISRME book club, we just finished discussing Naguib Mahfouz's Children of the Alley this week. It's an interesting book, and it might help you to know that it is an allegory before it starts. I didn't figure that out for over 150 pages. Then things started making more sense. 

 

 The book  considers a variety of themes related to life and religions (and their similarities and differences). These include our human addiction to numbing ourselves against reality and a regular returns to the question of injustice and why the Almighty does not intervene with it more directly. As well, the book seems to me to have a special focus on the human desire to 'return to Eden', though of course that's not the way it's labeled. In the quotation below, 'the mansion' is that allegorical equivalent for an Edenic closeness to beauty, rest, and the divine.

 If the past could be forgotten, the present would be wonderful, but we will keep on staring at that mansion, which gives us the only glory we can claim, and causes all the misery we know.

There is also an interesting progression of thoughts about the nature and place of work in human life:

Working to eat is the worst curse of all.
...

Then [Adham] yawned more deeply. “Work is a curse!” 

“Maybe so,” whispered Umaima, “but it is a curse that can only be defeated by more work!”

...

Arafa’s eyes were bright and he spoke intensely. “But leisure isn’t the ultimate goal! Imagine spending your life free and at leisure. It’s a beautiful dream, but it’s so ludicrous, Hanash. It would be so much better to be freed from work so that we could work marvels.”
...

“So why are you so hard at work?” 

“Because work is all I have,” Arafa sighed.

One final tidbit...

"But every tragedy, however great, eventually becomes a mere fact of life."

2021 Reading

 In this -the eleventh- annual edition of my significant reading list,  I present my normal, eclectic approach to gathering learning and joy from the thoughts of others. Two pieces of advice come to mind as a look at this list and consider my reading.

1. Be careful of your friends... over half of these books that I am recommending were recommended to me by friends, typically quite close ones. If you don't like what someone reads, don't get too close to them! They'll try to get you to love what they love. I say that a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I suppose it is actually quite true.
   
2. Be careful about foreign bookshops... a surprising feature of a well-stocked bookshop in a foreign land is that its English language section is likely to be loaded with high quality reading material, much of which you might not have noticed in a bookstore stocked with old favorites. Only one of the books on this list (Prisoners of Geography) actually came from such a shop, but this evening I also just finished a different book (The Sultan of Byzantium) which I came across at said bookstore and was given for Christmas. Thus, a foreign bookshop - with its books that are mostly more difficult to read due to being in a less familiar language - can be just as dangerous a place as an American bookshop filled with more flotsam and jetsam.
   

Biography and Autobiography

Scotch and Holy Water by John D. Trumpane is an enjoyable and insightful read about Turkey in the late 1950s into the 1960s. Trumpane has a way of describing circumstances and events that is at once both humorous and relatable. He shines a light on aspects of culture (Turkish and foreign) that brings clarity to the confusion that happens when people from far apart meet each other. The book is good for a laugh, but just as often, it is thought-provoking. If you've never encountered Turkish culture, you'll likely enjoy it; but if you have experienced Turkish culture, you'll enjoy it even more.

Love Stories by Belle Brain (edited by David Hosaflook) - a collection of stories of many who served God and loved His name. It is about how their Lord provided for them with and without spouses. It makes excellent reading around Valentine's Day or an anniversary.

Raymund Lull by Samuel Zwemer - Lull was a significant figure in a variety of ways, and Zwemer shows much of that variety in this relatively brief treatment of his life.

Exiled: The Story of John Lathrop by Helene Holt - Originally, I wanted to read this due to my interest in family history. John Lathrop was one of my ancestors, but the book (a novelized biography) was much more interesting than expected. The struggles of the 'English Reformation', the fight for freedom of conscience and expression, the difficulties of worshiping in ways that were unaccepted, and the willingness to suffer for ones principles or beliefs - these are all displayed clearly in this biography. While much of it takes place in England before Lathrop's exile and emigration to the American colony that became Massachusetts, it is quite instructive as well about the pressures which shaped early American beliefs about democracy as seen in a particular set of lives.

The Triumph of an Indian Widow by Mary Lucia Bierce Fuller - This short book was written by my great-grandmother's cousin about Pandita Ramabai, whom the author had known well. Thus, I also came across it through my interest in family history. It was a worthwhile sketch of the remarkable life of a reformer in India.

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester - Telling a part of the story of The Oxford English Dictionary, this narrative is captivating. It includes murder, an attempt at the impossible, and a certain romanticism in parts that make it quite compelling.

Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson (post 1 & post 2) - A philosophy of living by an artist, autobiographical ponderings that are thoroughly relatable. (This one muddles the boundary between autobiography and nonfiction; it was an excellent, counter-point to Keller's Every Good Endeavor, which I finished shortly before reading it.

Nonfiction

Pedagogy of Freedom by Paulo Freire (post) - A book to love and, as I mentioned in my post on it, one that immediately joined my favorites about education and learning and 'teaching.'

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall (post) - How geography shapes events, especially long-term and on a large skill is a fascinating study. Read my post for more of my thoughts.

Putting Off Anger by John Coblentz - This book, which I read along with others in Turkish was immensely practical and far more wide-ranging than the title makes it sounds. It seems to me like very practical book for engaging and 'putting off' more than just anger although it deals most directly with that topic.

The Bible Made Impossible (Christian Smith) - I read parts of this book with a friend who was interested in it. I wouldn't particularly recommend it although the author makes some legitimate critiques of biblicism. On the one hand, it seems to me that the biblicism being critiqued is one that has been subjected to very little thought or teaching. On the other hand, some of the ways Smith suggested thinking about the Bible seemed valuable and well considered even without agreeing with his whole argument or all his views. This one falls into the category of "it's important to read people whom you're not sure you'll agree with and actually try to listen to them whether you end up agreeing with them or not in the end."

Fiction

Oroonoko by Aphra Behn - A novel from the late 1600s, about Suriname, by "the first Englishwoman known to earn her living by writing" (source)! This was a tale that reminded me more of classical tales than of modern ones. The story discusses heroism and slavery and nobility. It's a fascinating glimpse into how art can be made to speak to an issue: it is not explicitly anti-slavery, yet it shows the cruelties and twisted thinking which spawned chattel slavery. On the other hand, there are still places in the book where Behn seems to endorse the prejudices of her day. As with so much of life, it seems to be a mixture of truth and error. It is a sobering reminder that even when we are clear-minded, we are often still muddled in other areas. At the personal level, it was interesting to learn more about the history of the words and culture that I grew up in.

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga - A beautiful story of immigration, TCKs, learning culture, and courage. It's listed as being for ages 8-12, and my 10-year old enjoyed it. But, so did I! It's 'an easy read' that can be hard to read. The author expressed (revealed?) the inner lives of a cultural nomad in really striking ways. It's also peppered with a series of insights about American culture as it is perceived by those just meeting it. 

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson - This book was a surprise and joy; it was stirring and deep. Mostly, I'd say it resonated with reality. The characters felt true - this inner life of a country preacher in a small town... I haven't gotten up the courage to go on to the next stories in the series, and, yes, I think it feels like it can take a certain courage to look into the mirror of well-expressed inner worlds.

The Adventures of Sally by P. G. Wodehouse - (post) - Wodehouse is always good for a smile and for insight into human nature; the fact that this one encounters the 'Spanish flu' of a century ago adds an interesting dynamic to it.

Wolf Brother by Jim Kjelgaard - A young adult novel by an author I've always loved though I hadn't heard of this particular story. It tells of the last days of the free-roving Apache bands presenting many of the perspectives and realities of the time.

When Ravens Fall & The Innkeeper's Wife by Savannah Jezowski - These shorter stories drew me in to unexpected depths. They're worth their price.

The Spoken Mage series by Melanie Cellier - As foreshadowed in last year's list, I ended up in this series in 2021. It's quite enjoyable.

By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie - This is one of the Tommy & Tuppence series. They have always been some of my favorite of her characters, and this was a lovely read. I hadn't read it before, and it didn't disappoint. I didn't get the inkling of whom the murderer was till slightly before it was revealed, as normal. (Plus, I read other Christie works when I remember how much I enjoyed her writing: The Labors of Hercules is the only book of hers that I know of that's in the 'short story' format. It was quite enjoyable.)

A re-read worth mentioning: The Hobbit & LOTR by JRR Tolkien - My latest re-reading of these was in tandem with with my oldest daughter! It is a joy long-anticipated to begin sharing my favorite old book-companions with one of my children.

 

Recommendations from years past: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011