June booklist

1. Cary Grant: A Celebration, Richard Schickel

Beautiful life-in-pictures of Cary Grant. The text doesn't go much into his personal life, a nice gesture, I thought, considering how private a man he was. And the pictures were stunning.

2. Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen

I've done a lot of period film watching lately, including S&S and P&P, thus my fiction reading choices this month. They only get better and better!

3. The Hurried Child: Growing up too fast, too soon, David Elkind

Very good at making the case that children are being exposed to too much, too quickly. I can't remember specifics at this point, but although it didn't come from an overtly Christian perspective (nor did it go so far as I myself would), it happily made the case for letting children do things like spend their free time playing and not being rushed from piano lesson to soccer practice to judo class to swim meet to boy scouts. 

4. The Community Kitchen's Complete Guide to Gourmet Coffee, John DeMers

Mmm, I love coffee. This is a good overview on the history of coffee but is a bit too old to accurately relate the current best types and ways of fixing, but it has a whole host of wonderful recipes, borth savory and sweet.

5. Ten Fun Things Do To Before You Die, by nun other than Karol Jackowski

Now, I love to see a nun with a sense of humor! Especially when she writes such things as Seen by some as one of the first signs of mental illness, escaping reality is clearly one of the best things I ever learned to do before I die. However, it's quite jarring to see a Catholic nun speak of "the gods" as well as "God". Is there such a thing as a New Age nun? This was a fluff book, but whimsically inspiring. 

She also quotes a very profound statement from Eli Wiesel (author of Night, among other things): Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. I think that's terribly important to remember.

6. How to Read and Why, Harold Bloom

I'm in the middle of reading his Shakespeare: the invention of the human, but it was interesting to see his thoughts on other books as well. I didn't agree with all of them -- but it's opinion. He provides the answer to "why bother reading?" (Because we cannot know enough people), speculates on the masterpieces we might have today had Jane Austen lived longer (so tragic to think of!), and quotes from one of the most haunting ballads ever -- 

You crave one kiss of my clay-cold lips
But my breath smells earthy strong

(That's The Unquiet Grave; google and read, for it is amazing.)

He also ticked me off good and well once, with his line that "The late C. S. Lewis, revered by many American Fundamentalists as the author of the dogmatic tract Mere Christianity..."

7. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

I feel very sad for those who cannot find pleasure in reading Austen. This book, particularly, gets more and more beautiful each time I read it. I love to see how sweetly Lizzy changes her mind about Darcy. It's such a complete change of heart, but written so as to be totally believable.

8. Magic by the Lake, Edward Eager

I love Eager's books! I picked up three at a booksale recently; this is the first I've had time to read so far. I can't wait for the others. :) 

9. The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature, Elizabeth Kantor

There is so much goodness is this book that if I talk about it, it will have to be in a future post. Read it. Devour it. Apply it. Heap blessings upon the head of ruthette for loaning it to me!