1. What book are you reading now?
Hollow and Home: A History of Self and Place, by E. Fred Carlisle
I picked this up in the architecture section of the library, which has been my current kick, and it turns out that the author spent his boyhood in my own town and lived on the next block over. The local history is interesting, but overall the author seems to have come to some basic insights rather late in life.
1 Corinthians
I've been reading two chapters of the New Testament each evening before bed. The first chapter is the previous evening's second chapter. It's a rich way to meditate on scripture and make new connections.
1a. Readaloud
Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien
On a whim, I started The Hobbit as a bedtime readaloud, and it migrated to our main daytime reading session. Now we're working through Lord of the Rings, which I've never read aloud, believe it or not.
2. What book did you just finish?
3. What do you plan to read next?
Queen Lucia, by E.F. Benson
I'm amused while I'm reading it, but it's been sitting on my nightstand forever.
I'm sure there's something out there I'm supposed to start, but nothing's leaping to mind right now.
all by Witold Rybcynski
A friend shared a quote from Witold Rybcynski's Home, and the next thing I knew I had a stack of books on architecture and household, a pairing of ideas that always interests me.
3. What do you plan to read next?
Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville
I recently read a striking quote from Moby-Dick, and thought that maybe I'd give it another go-round after my one college slog.
Dare We Hope that All Men Be Saved?, by Hans Urs von Balthasar
Balthasar's name has come up to me lately from a variety of sources, and this particular topic is one that I've been pondering for a while. I thought it was time to encounter him in his own words and not just through other people's articles.
Major Butler's Legacy: Five Generations of a Slaveholding Family, by Malcolm Bell Jr.
This was on the same library shelf as Hollow and Home, and it looked interesting. I read The Weeping Time, about the largest slave auction in American history, held at the Butler plantation. British actress Fanny Kemble married into the family before visiting the plantation (and later divorced out of it). Her horrified diary and letters and memoir give a window into the appalling culture of the plantation.
4. What book do you keep meaning to finish?
Queen Lucia, by E.F. Benson
I'm amused while I'm reading it, but it's been sitting on my nightstand forever.
The Broken Road, by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Why is this taking me so long? I love it while I'm reading it, but once I put it down...
Black Lamb and Gray Falcon, by Rebecca West
See above. I will never finish this book.
5. What book do you keep meaning to start?
I'm sure there's something out there I'm supposed to start, but nothing's leaping to mind right now.
6. What is your current reading trend?
Home architecture.
Home architecture.
I just listened to Moby Dick the second time through. It certainly bears re-reading. (there's a good audio version read by Doug Brown — search archive.org or in your podcast client)
ReplyDeletethe two NT chapters, with overlap, is a great idea!