The Message of Uncle Tom's Cabin

Anne is a Man has been reviewing Uncle Tom's Cabin as we have been reading it on the podcast (I say "we" ... I'm reading, he's listening). As each episode calls for comment, he's been posting it. It has provided a very fruitful conversation about racism to say the least.

Today he posts a commentary, as we draw close to the end of the book, which makes me very happy because he says the book has been recovered for him to a larger view of being a fine drama. I'm tellin' y'all ... best soap opera ever. Ever.

However, he expands with insightful upon a remark I made in the last episode.

In the latest episode, where Julie reads chapters 35 through 37 of Uncle Tom's Cabin, she makes a remark that can be expanded upon. She says of the character Cassy, that she represents the worst of the plight of being a slave. It did not help her she grew up as the woman of an estate; she was sold as a slave after all. And it did not help her to have good masters along the way; she ended up with Simon Legree and the hellish existence that went with that.

This is not just true for Cassy, it is true for all characters in the book, even those that end up well, or are not slaves at all. The brilliance of Uncle Tom's Cabin, I would argue, turns out to be that Stowe has succeeded in building a multi-charactered drama in which being a slave or a slave-holder for that matter is corrupting in the end. No good intentions and humane treatment can help the ever present danger of deliverance to the downside of slavery, to the excesses. For those who are not slaves, it presents too big a responsibility. For those who are slaves, it proves an unjust fate necessarily intertwined with their bounds. This, possibly, explains why the book was such a tremendous success even to the extent it can be argued it helped abolition come about. Stowe showed the American society there was no good way around slavery.

Apart from that being a drama that is extremely well crafted, it can easily be taken into a wider social context of subservience. How is the slavery of Uncle Tom's Cabin fundamentally different from segregation, low-wage countries, poverty and other social circumstances that render parts of society or the wider world powerless and another part in comfortable denial they can alleviate the powerlessness by their humanity.

In fact, in earlier chapters, Stowe does comment upon how other countries, notably England, have their own version of the slave system. It is just under a different name.

Now, this all took me back to the comparison that is very often made in this country in comparing the fight against slavery to the modern day struggle against abortion. This probably is not what Anne had in mind, but it is what came to my mind ... all the arguments and wiggling around the "elephant in the room" that is done to avoid the ultimate reality of killing human beings at will.

As well, what is little discussed is the great damage that is being done to the pro-abortion people every time they pull blinders over their eyes by focusing how to make their arguments more palatable ... just as we see in Uncle Tom's Cabin. As we see all levels and degrees of cooperation with slavery in UTC, there are likewise those same levels and degrees within those who cooperate with abortion. It is very sad to me.

Although not exactly on the same wavelength with this Uncle Tom's Cabin connection, anyone who is interested in further reading may be interested in this post from 2008, which includes the entirety of an earlier post I did in 2004 comparing slavery with abortion.

All the Things I Never Knew About Uncle Tom's Cabin

This is the original review from when I first read Uncle Tom's Cabin, way back in 2006. Since then I've read it several more times, even going so far as to narrate it with commentary on my Forgotten Classics podcast.

I'm a little more than halfway through yet another time and have been struck anew by how many psychological types Stowe worked into this exciting cliffhanger. It is also my current inspirational reading as you are never going to get more discussion of Christianity in a novel than in this one.

As always, I want to share something that's brought me so much pleasure, so I'm rerunning my original review below.

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

I never knew that it was such a page turner! About halfway through the pace picked up so that I was avidly reading whenever I had a chance to see if George and Eliza would shake off their trackers, Uncle Tom would make it back to his family, what it would take to make Topsy reform and much more. How about that crazy Cassy, hmm? And poor Emmaline ... would someone save her before Simon Legree got his filthy hands on her? Wow!

I never knew that Uncle Tom actually was a Christ-figure, a living saint. No wonder he is misunderstood by so many. They are not getting the whole picture.

I never knew that so many sorts of people were represented throughout the book. The language can be rather stilted due to the style of the times but Stowe did a good job showing many different attitudes toward slavery and how people excused themselves under the flimsiest of excuses. One expects the broadly painted very good and very evil owners but not the more shaded in-between characters.

It was fascinating toward the end of the book to see where many of the slaves wound up. One could discern what Stowe's ideas of a solution for the slavery problem were and, indeed, it was even more interesting to read her afterward where she discusses it specifically.

I thought that Stowe included herself in the book as the maiden aunt from New England who thought she understood the problem until she came up against Topsy who demanded that she put her whole heart and soul into realizing that the slaves were real people. Rose saw her as Mrs. Shelby, the kindly wife of Uncle Tom's original owner, who as soon as she got a chance absolutely did the right thing.

I am quite grateful that Rose read this book and pushed it on me. Highly recommended.

The 10 Books That Have Influenced Me Most

The Christian Century magazine asked a lot of famous people "What books did most to shape your vocational attitude and your philosophy of life?"

Here is C.S. Lewis's list, which he didn't explain.

Of course, being a list-loving gal, I wrote down my own, which I will explain. (In order of how they occurred to me.)

1. The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
   The story of Bilbo trying to pick the troll's pocket directly influenced me going to read aloud to my mother-in-law. (It's a long story, but that example made me realize that bravery is learned and you have to begin with small efforts.)
   
2. The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
   The fact that it is a rattling good yarn is, of course, the first attraction. I've never read such a work on the power of mercy, love, and justice. Ever. I never used to be able to pick a favorite book. Now I can and this is it.
   
3. Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)
   A fantastic soap opera, full of cliff hangers, and with a wonderful Christ figure. I reluctantly read this at my daughter Rose's urging. I'd thought of classics as being boring (with the notable exception of Jane Eyre). Afterward, I thought that if this classic was so good perhaps I should try another. So I picked A Tale of Two Cities up and found ... a love of Charles Dickens and the classics awaiting me. I haven't looked back. All thanks to Uncle Tom's Cabin.
   
4. A Father Who Keeps His Promises (Scott Hahn)
   The first serious theology book I read after my conversion. It taught me how to see below the surface of Scripture to the different levels of meaning. This changed not only how I read Scripture but how I watched movies and read books. It opened my mind to greater possibilities in each story.
   
5. Catholic Christianity (Peter Kreeft)
   When I'd joined the Church I had serious reservations about Catholic teachings on many social issues, among them abortion, gay marriage, and the death penalty. When I figured I'd better learn why the Church taught what she did, this book was just being published. Divine Providence? Possibly. Kreeft's inescapable logic is what reconciled me to those teachings, which I eventually was able to embrace.
   
6. The Hiding Place (Corrie Ten Boom)
   This may be the most inspirational book I've ever read. Every time I read it I come away resolving to be a better Christian, a better person.
   
7. The Great Divorce (C.S. Lewis)
   The newest addition to my list. I just read this a few weeks ago. I've never read anything that so vividly made me understand how necessary it is to make daily sacrifices to toughen myself up in order to make it to Heaven. Also, it gives a wonderful interpretation of Purgatory which has greatly inspired me.
   
8. Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton)
   The book that taught me to look critically at the "truths" business and science tell us. And a rattling good yarn. If you've only seen the movie, you're missing the whole story. The book is much better. I reread this often just for the fun of it.
   
9. The Stand (Stephen King)
   Good and evil are real and here is how they manifest themselves in the world. As with so many others, a rattling good yarn that I've reread many times for the sheer pleasure of it.
   
10. In Conversation with God (Francis Fernandez)
    This is more properly a series of seven devotionals, with entries for every day of the liturgical year as well as two volumes devoted to special feast days. I discovered these soon after I converted and reading them daily for at least four years was deeply formational. I cannot recommend these books too highly. The one most people have tried is the Lent/Easter book but the one I began with was for this time of year. I soon bought all the others.

Note that this is different than top 10 favorite books. That list will be coming soon!

I don't need an excuse to make a list, but that's a good 'un!

What I've Been Reading ...

... catching up ... on this list of what I've read this year.

• Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch**** ... the sequel to The Lies of Locke Lamora which was like Indiana Jones goes to sci-fi adventure land. The Booklist review of "Lies" describes the series best:

  On a distant world, orphan Locke Lamora is sold into a crew of thieves and con artists. Soon his natural gifts make him an underworld celebrity, leader of the flamboyantly larcenous Gentleman Bandits. But there is someone who covets Locke's talents, his success, his very life, forcing him to put everything on the line to protect himself. With a world so vividly realized that it's positively tactile, and characters so richly drawn that they threaten to walk right off the page, this is one of those novels that reaches out and grabs readers, pulling us into the middle of the action. With this debut novel, Lynch immediately establishes himself as a gifted and fearless storyteller, unafraid of comparisons to Silverberg and Jordan, not to mention David Liss and even Dickens (the parallels to Oliver Twist offer an appealing extra dimension to the story, although the novel is no mere reimagining of that Victorian classic). Fans of lavishly appointed fantasy will be in seventh heaven here, but it will be nearly as popular with readers of literary crime fiction. This is a true genre bender, at home on almost any kind of fiction shelf.

  This is a worthy successor, set in another part of Locke Lamora's world and Lynch pulls it off again. A series to treasure, but be sure to begin with the first one or you will be hopelessly lost.
  
  
• Police Operation by H. Beam Piper, read by Mark Nelson *** ... novella-length story about the agent who is to clean up the problems a criminal caused when he went on the lam to another dimension. I don't think I really like Piper's style as this is the third or fourth of his works I have sampled and found uninspiring in general. However, Mark Nelson does a very good job reading the story.
  
  
• White Night by Jim Butcher***** (reread) ... just as good the second time around. It looks as if a group of magic practitioners is committing suicide one by one but Harry can tell it is actually murder, and possibly being committed by a member of the Council. Naturally, that's just the tip of the iceberg. A good hard-boiled detective novel as usual.
  
  
• Magic Street by Orson Scott Card***** (reread) ... also good the second time around. Probably the most creative connection I've ever seen of Shakespeare to our modern world. My previous quick review is here.
  
  
• St. Dale by Sharon McCrumb*** ... an intriguing concept for looking at modern pop culture, McCrumb's story has a tour bus on a modern day pilgrimage of the "sainted" seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt. It is very clear that McCrumb is not only interested in racing and pop culture but pilgrimages from all times as the priest on the tour can only relate to the entire experience by relating similar pilgrimage experiences from history. Interesting and one certainly learns a lot about racing ...
  
  
• Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely*** - I have enjoyed Neely's previous Blanche mysteries but this one grated on me. As the last book in the series, Blanche's personal issues with her mother and men get sorted out here. However, what I found annoying was her quick and unrelenting charges of racism based simply on a person's appearance, whether black or white. It is tough to meet Blanche's standards and this is the one are where she is apparently blind.
  
  
• Jerome and the Seraph*** - I read a rave review of this somewhere which I am now scratching my head over after having read this book. It is delightful as far as it goes. Brother Jerome dies and then discovers that he is not in heaven or hell but in a midway ground as a sort of a ghost. Advised and guided by the monastery's cat, who has amazing abilities to bend time and space, Jerome goes on to solve an extremely minor mystery (which I figured out very early on in the book). The big mystery is barely touched upon which I found extremely annoying, especially for a $15 price tag. Clearly this is half of an entire book and the second half was later published a year or so later. I don't mind that as a general rule, as witness my extreme fondness for Pamela Dean's Secret Country trilogy, but at least Dean gave us something of depth and complexity. This book, I find, is lacking in both.
  
  
• Uncle Tom's Cabin--A Reader's Companion to the Novel***** - a wonderful resource that answers various objections, both old and new, to Uncle Tom's Cabin as great literature as well as explicating the novel itself.
  
  
• The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb***** - McCrumb has a series of mysteries set in the Appalachians which are titled after old folk ballads. The book generally follows the idea of the song in some way but this one is superior as it tells the story of Frankie Silver and also gives a parallel in modern times which is being investigated. Recommended both to mystery lovers and those with an appreciation for Appalachian folk culture in modern times.
  
  
• Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books by Maureen Corrigan***-fun to read as Corrigan's looks back at the books she's read throughout her life elicits similar reviews from the reader. However, I would have found it more interesting if woman-centric political subjects weren't so much to the forefront all the time.
  
  
  
• Castleview by Gene Wolfe**** - the town of Castleview gets its name from the apparition of a castle that occasionally is sighted by locals. A group of townspeople get caught up in the affairs of Faery on a particular fateful evening and adventure follows. Wolfe tells this story with a minimum of explanation and the reader must be ready to make mental leaps and hold on for dear life as the tale takes up wild momentum. I quite enjoyed it although am going to have to read it multiple times to really understand just what was going on in the middle of the book.
  
  
• Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe*** ... intriguing concept. A soldier, Latros, in ancient Greek times has had a head injury that causes him to have extreme short term memory loss. Every morning he must read what he wrote the night before to know what has happened to him lately. He also can see and interact with local gods and goddesses as he attempts to work his way home, if only he could remember where that was. A good book but not intriguing enough to make me want to read the sequels.
  
  
• Small Favor (The Dresden Files, Book 10)***** - ten books into the series and Jim Butcher is still coming up with fresh and interesting challenges for Harry Dresden, hard-boiled Chicago detective and wizard. It begins with underworld boss Johnny Marcone being kidnapped, ostensibly to gain control of him as he is a member of the Accords (trust me, start at the beginning of the series if you're a newcomer to these books). Harry is dragooned into tracking him down by Mab as one of the two remaining favors he owes her. As with most Dresden books, just when you think you know where you're going, the plot takes an abrupt left turn into new territory. Most interesting to me is Nicodemus' interest in recruiting Harry and Harry's new revelations about relationship with God.

Read reviews of food-ish books here.

Lenten Reading: The Big List of Fiction

This is a huge list to be sure. But it has some of the most thought provoking books I know They both entertain and inspire. It ranges from science fiction to mystery to Uncle Tom's Cabin. I've run the list before but have updated it.

Last year I read The Lord of the Rings beginning on Ash Wednesday and finishing on Holy Saturday. It was intense, both in my daily reading requirements and spiritually. It was the perfect accompaniment to Lent.

This year ... I'm still thinking but I am inclined to reread The Feast. My podcasting pal Scott is going to do that and it is really an appealing idea.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

This was so much more than I realized it would be. Within this simply told tale are the stories of four people who go to a special cafe in order to time travel. The rules are strict, the time is very limited, and it seems impossible that they could accomplish much. However, each is surprised by what they find. And therein lies a wonderful, charming tale. 

My full review is here. Scott and I discussed this is episode 331 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast,

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

Four women who need to get away from their regular lives and get their heads together rent an Italian castle with the promise of sunshine and wisteria. They don't realize why they so desperately need a change when they flee gray, raining London for sunny San Salvatore Castello in Italy. However, as they are surrounded by beauty their eyes are gradually opened.

This is one of those books that has a seemingly simple story but presents a lot in the layers of the story. My full review is here. Scott and I discussed this in Episode 350 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

 The Feast by Margaret Kennedy

This book starts out with a clergyman at a loss for how to write a eulogy for seven people who died in a hotel when a cliff fell on it and crushed it. We're then taken back to life in the hotel a week before the disaster. We get to know everyone and watch how their interactions change them (or don't). This book is not just about the mystery of who will live and who will die. It is also about spiritual realities by which these people live their lives.

My full review is here. Scott and I discussed this in episode 321 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

In the late 1800s two French priests are assigned to the New Mexico territory to minister to the neglected Catholic churches there. One is intellectual, the other is the salt of the earth. Both are friends and both are good Catholic priests. This is what one might call an episodic telling, much as are the Gospels. We see the lives of the priests, those they minister to, and the country itself which is as much of a character as any of the people. Cather wasn't Catholic but you'd never know it simply by reading this account which gets everything right — and gives a lot of food for thought along the way. Scott and I discussed this in episode 274 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Black Bottle Man by Craig Russell

Rembrandt, his father, and uncle are trying to undo a deal with the devil made by their loved ones. As they seek a champion, they must cope with a tricky requirement that they not stay in any place longer than 12 days.

Considerations of faith are handled both honestly and delicately in this book. The insights and observations throughout the book underlie the main story in a way that lends itself to considerations of gratitude, mercy, selfishness, sacrifice, and much more — all without being heavy handed.

My full review is here. It is is marketed to teens but I'm not the first reviewer to mention that label is too limiting because it is also a great read for adults.

Mockingbird by Walter Tevis

Only the mockingbird sings at the edge of the woods.

I've been jaded by the plethora of recent apocalyptic novels but this one is different. Perhaps the highest tribute I can give this novel is that when I finished I didn't want to read another book. To do so would sully what I'd just read before I'd finished thinking about it, as well as be unfair to anything that followed because it wouldn't be able to compare.

My full review is here. We also discussed this book in Episode 110 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. And also on SFFaudio where a lot of interesting fruitful topics came up.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Or, since Lent is only 40 days, at least the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring. I was was blown away by how much the audio experience added to my understanding of the richness and depth of the story. Admittedly, it was also greatly helped by The Tolkien Professor's class sessions on this book. You will be hard put to find a better primer on sacrifice, redemption, and many other key lessons for Christian life. I think this may be the best book ever written. And you could do worse than to read The Hobbit for starters.

Joseph R's review is the best I've read if you'd like a more complete look at the novel.

Scott and I were joined by Seth Wilson in a two-part discussion of this novel at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast: part 1, part 2.

Christy by Catherine Marshall
I read this several times when I was in high school and college but hadn't encountered it for decades. It came to mind again when talking with my mother about books set in hardscrabble backgrounds.

I remembered it being really interesting about people in the Smoky Mountains in 1912 cut off from any outside civilization except for a few people who came in to try to help their poverty stricken situation. Including the 19-year-old young woman, Christy, who comes to teach the children. She is naive and from a well-to-do background so she's completely unprepared for what she finds.

I didn't recall it being so inspirational throughout. I wound up loving it so much that I could hardly bear to put it down. Scott and I discussed this in episode 355 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
A bedraggled, galley ship survivor, despite his best efforts to the contrary, finds himself in the middle of royal intrigue. If that weren't enough, he is also pulled into the the affairs of the divine as a result and this complicates his life as one might imagine. This is a land of various gods and strong, dark magic. It is, however, also a land where free will matters in the outcome of events.

Will Duquette calls this "theological science fiction" and I agree. The way that free will is intertwined with what the gods desire, as well as what is "right," is fascinating and a good way to examine our own motives the next time we turn away from what God may be asking of us. My full review is here. A Good Story discussion is at Episode 198.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry is an incredible Christ-figure as I discovered when I reread the series recently. Of course, this only works for those who have read the series before.

For more depth and as accompanying materials, readers may want to listen to Episode 26 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast where Scott Danielson and I discuss the book and the entire series from a Catholic point of view.

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
This extraordinarily sensitive and insightful portrait of religious life centers on Philippa Talbot, a highly successful professional woman who leaves her life among the London elite to join a cloistered Benedictine community. That's the official description but it doesn't begin to cover the richly woven tapestry Godden weaves with nuanced personalities, mysteries to solve so that the order may continue, Philippa's internal struggles, and much more.

Again, Joseph R. has a wonderful review of the book. We also discussed  episode 97 at A Good Story is Hard to Find

Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger
This beautifully written historical fiction tells of Andrea Orsini, who is one of Cesare Borgia's most trusted political manipulators during the Italian Renaissance. This is a swashbuckler that simultaneously shows Andrea's transition of a human heart from greed to love, selfishness to sacrifice, and power grubbing to nobility.

Discussed in episode 13 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
A real page-turner which many think they know because the cultural references are so embedded in our society. However, if you haven't read this book then you don't know it at all. First and foremost, Uncle Tom actually is a Christ-figure, a living saint. No wonder he is misunderstood by so many.

Stowe does a good job showing many different attitudes toward slavery and how people excused themselves under the flimsiest of excuses. What is unexpected is how well she examines the varying levels of Christianity proclaimed and threaded solidly throughout the story.

Discussed in episode 114 of A Good Story is Hard to Find.

I read this aloud on my Forgotten Classics podcast with commentary. Yes, that's how much I love it.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

We all think of this as a classic horror story but there is much more to it. Look below the surface and you find a classic tale of unselfishness and doing God's will in order to rid the world of a monster who is a perversion of Christ.

Discussed in episode 168 of A Good Story is Hard to Find. Mythgard Institute (founded by Corey Olsen, The Tolkien Professor) has a superb series of classes on Dracula.

The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis
These books seem an interesting blend of fiction and nonfiction to me. Lewis's imagination is vivid and fascinating. His tendency to have characters speechify leans to the nonfiction side. Taken as a meditative read, they would be very good for Lent, I'd think.

Out of the Silent Planet: Dr. Ransom is kidnapped by two men who take him to Mars as a sacrifice to the natives. Lewis was fantastically inventive about what the planet and living beings were like. I didn't know he had it in him.

Perelandra: Very different from Out of the Silent Planet while still showing C.S. Lewis's vivid and inspiring imagination. I am simply blown away by his vision of creation on Venus. Amazing insights as to battling evil, the dance of God's creation and plan, and our part in it.

That Hideous Strength: It is a testament to Lewis's imagination and writing skill as to how different all three of the books are in this trilogy, while simultaneously all carrying out the same basic theme. No wonder J.R.R. Tolkien loved them. This book left me striving to be a better person, to be truer to myself, as did the other two. Not many other books really leave one feeling that way.

Discussed in episodes 202, 204, and 206 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

A Couple of Literary Notes

NOTE THE FIRST
On Rose's recommendation, I began Uncle Tom's Cabin yesterday and have been surprised to find myself riveted ... to the point where I was propping it open to read while making lunch or washing dishes. I'm in the early stages, needless to say, but let me just say this. All this talk about Uncle Tom and not one person has ever mentioned Aunt Chloe? Well, knock me over with a feather! I only had time to read that she is the cook at the big house and that may be all there is to her information, but still ... it never occurred to me that Uncle Tom might be married.

NOTE THE SECOND
I really love it when Rose sums up these classics for me. She has just begun Madame Bovary. Having read only about 20 pages she told me, "So far the book is only about Charles Bovary."

I said, "That's Madame Bovary's husband?"

She waggled her eyebrows, "He's the loser she runs away from later."

Short. Sweet. To the point.

Hilarious.

Uncle Tom's Cabin and Achieving Your Goal

There’s no happy ending ... Nevertheless, we might well say that is exactly Harriet Beecher Stowe’s point. In 1852 slavery had not been abolished. Slaves were still on the plantations and many of them were in the hands of people like Legree. Her book was written to shame the collective conscience of America into action against an atrocity which was still continuing. So a happy ending would have been, frankly, a lie and a betrayal. ...

Most of the charges are basically true. Stowe did stereotype. She did sentimentalize. She offered a role model which later offended African American pride. On the other hand, what she did worked. She wasn’t trying to provide a role model for African Americans. She was trying to make white Americans ashamed of themselves. ...

Perhaps the short answer to her critics is to ask, “Do you want glory, approval, all those good things? Or do you want to achieve your goal?”

Thomas A. Shippey, Heroes and Legends

Shippey only had a half hour discussion of Uncle Tom as a hero and so he glossed over some of the things with which one could take issue in his statement. For example, I'd say that Stowe was trying to provide a role model for all of us, often in the slaves she wrote about, but you have to look at it with a Christian focus to see that clearly.

That aside, I love his defense because I love the book so much. Without context it is easy to cast stones at anyone. And we're all in that glass house where we don't want the stones cast back at us. Our lives and viewpoints have context which we'd like understood also before we are judged.

What I'm Reading — Scalawags, History Changers, Philosophy, and Knights

THE EIGHTH ARROW: Odysseus in the Underworld
by J. Augustine Wetta O.S.B.

Condemned to burn in the eighth circle of Dante’'s Hell, Odysseus, legendary thief and liar of Homer’'s Odyssey and Iliad, decides he is going to break out. His adventure begins with a prayer to Athena Parthenos, who appears to him bearing gifts: his armor, his famous bow, a mysterious leather pouch, and seven unusual arrows. She then sends him on a quest through the Underworld along with Diomedes, his friend from the Trojan War who had been sharing in his eternal punishment. To complete their escape, the goddess warns them, they must recover their squandered honor and learn to use “the eighth arrow”.

I can't recall who recommended this book to me (it may have been the author, actually) but the Kindle sample was good enough to get it onto my wish list whereby it found its way into my birthday gifts. I'm enjoying it a lot so far. A determined scalawag (that's Odysseus) and his loyal friend tackle their task with bravado ... and sometimes they actually make progress! Having read a fair number of mashups with characters working their way through Dante's Inferno, this is measuring up very well.

BRAVE COMPANIONS: Portraits in History
by David McCullough

Profiles of exceptional men and women past and present who have not only shaped the course of history or changed how we see the world but whose stories express much that is timeless about the human condition.

Different as they are from each other, McCullough’s subjects have in common a rare vitality and sense of purpose.

Another birthday gift, from my mother who saw McCullough's latest (Pioneers) on my wish list and, like the subjects of this book, went her own way. Tom's been recommending this one for a long time and now that I've begun I don't know why I didn't read it earlier. These really are fascinating people and McCullough presents them so well. Including Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of my beloved Uncle Tom's Cabin!

THE LIGHT OF CHRIST: An Introduction to Catholicism
by Thomas Joseph White

The Light of Christ provides an accessible presentation of Catholicism that is grounded in traditional theology and engaged with a host of contemporary questions and objections. Inspired by the theologies of Irenaeus, Thomas Aquinas, and John Henry Newman, and rooted in a post-Vatican II context, Fr. Thomas Joseph White presents major doctrines of the Christian faith in a way that is comprehensible for non-specialists.

Not for beginners, despite the title. If you want a good dose of philosophy with your Catholic faith then this is for you. Our parish is doing a five-week class on Edward Feser's Five Proofs of the Existence of God. Looking for something lighter than that, but still with intellectual depth, I noticed this title continually popping up in my searches.

It is exactly what I wanted. I even made it through the proofs for God with a fairly clear head ... though the discussion of the Trinity caused my brain to have to shut down for a little while. It's been a long time since I've had to think in such a different way. All this is without ignoring the questions that Catholicism raise in modern life. Truly this is a great book so far ...

ADVENTURE CAPITAL (Black Ocean #9)
by J.S. Morin

You may recall I mentioned buying the 85-hour long, 16 book series Galaxy Outlaws from Audible when it was on sale. Space opera and scalawags. With heists and adventure everywhere you look. What's not to like? Just letting you know in case they piqued your interest too!

LE MORTE D'ARTHUR: The New Retelling by Gerald J. Davis
by Thomas Malory, Gerald Davis (Translator)

The perfect read along to go with Mythgard Academy's free class, at least if you don't want to read it in a very old translation. By the time I finish listening to the classes, I'll have about 70 hours invested. That's just how entertaining I find the Mythgard classes.

My book club read this in a different translation long ago. And I wasn't hardy enough to make it through. But reading along with the Mythgard classes is, as usual, a much more enlightening experience. And this translation makes it much easier to get through the text. (It doesn't hurt that it is just $2.99 on Kindle.)

Cheese Pennies and Classic Chess Pie

 When my book club gathered to discuss Uncle Tom's Cabin I wanted to do a bit of a theme for refreshments. Researching classic Kentucky dishes (that's where Tom's story begins for us, on the Shelby's farm) I found Cheese Pennies and Chess Pie come from way back. The pennies are cheese crackers and the chess pie is very lemony, without being a lemon pie!

I'm just sure that's what Aunt Chloe would have served to the Governor when he came for dinner. Try them and see what you think!

Gulliver's Travels, Socratic Method, the Interwebs, and That Big "Light Bulb" Moment

I have been interested for some time in the Ignatius Critical Editions series. This interest began when I read Uncle Tom's Cabin and then later was researched the book for reading it aloud on Forgotten Classics. I was intrigued by this description.

The Ignatius Critical Editions represent a tradition-oriented alternative to popular textbook series such as the Norton Critical Editions or Oxford World Classics, and are designed to concentrate on traditional readings of the Classics of world literature. While many modern critical editions have succumbed to the fads of modernism and postmodernism, this series will concentrate on tradition-oriented criticism of these great works.

I was not really sure what "tradition-oriented criticism" meant but I thought it would be interesting to  compare with the other materials I came across. [Turns out they are talking about traditional classical education style materials.] However, I wasn't sufficiently impelled me to pursue a copy at the time because there was so much material to cover for UTC.

I never could shake the series from the back of my mind, however, and recently got the Ignatius edition of Gulliver's Travels because my interest was piqued upon having a discussion on an SFFaudio podcast where one of the participants claimed it was a celebration of existentialism. That was far from my understanding of the book. Satire, yes. But existentialism? I last read Gulliver's Travels when in high school (on my own though, with no deeper understanding than that of enjoyment). This critical edition with several essays and some excellent contextual information seemed just the ticket for revisiting the book with a critical eye as to just what Swift was really talking about. I also got the study guide which looks very interesting at first glance.

This has proven incredibly fruitful from the beginning .... and I admit that I am just getting started by perusing various essays and the study guide. Understanding the context in which Swift wrote is invaluable in having a proper perspective on whether we can trust Gulliver as a narrator. Additionally, without knowing about the real world events with which Swift was in heavy debate, we can't properly understand the four countries that Gulliver visits.

However, it was when reading the Study Guide's introduction, Why a Great Books Study Guide?" that a big light bulb went on for me.

This manner of learning is greatly facilitated when the reader also engages in a dialectic exchange—a live conversation (in person or now online)—with other readers of the same books, probing and discussing the great ideas contained in them and, one hopes, carrying them a few steps further. This method of learning is often referred to as the Socratic method, after the ancient Athenian philosopher Socrates, who initiated its use as a deliberate way to obtain understanding and wisdom through mutual inquiry and discussion. This same "questioning" method was used by Christ,* who often answered questions with other questions, parables, and stories that left the hearers wondering, questioning, and thinking. He already knew the answers, as Socrates often did. The goal was not merely indoctrination of the memory with information, facts, and knowledge, but mind- and life-changing understanding and wisdom.

This may seem blindingly obvious to many but for me, as I said, it was a new idea in terms of my own participation. I suddenly realized that the internet and podcasts especially had plunged me head-first into mind-broadening inquiry through dialogue and considering other's questions or information. A few examples that sprang to mind:

• Heather Ordover at CraftLit is the one who began it all for me with her thoughtful commentary on classics. Heather gives background, thematic information and more, and then plays a few chapters of the classic under discussion in each episode. She is a teacher who loves facilitating conversation with her many listeners. They in turn give plenty of feedback and raise thoughtful questions of their own. Thanks to Heather, I revisited the dreaded Scarlet Letter that high school had ruined for me ... and found it to be good. Very good. Right now, in going through A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain, Heather is raising significant points about satire and the necessity for readers' to remember that the protagonist is not the author and not necessarily trustworthy. These points are especially timely for me as they will weave into my reading of Gulliver's Travels, which is just such a story.
  
• SFFaudio from Scott Danielson and Jesse Willis is a spot where I actively am engaged in Socratic method as I often participate in their "read alongs" where a few people connect via Skype to discuss a book that everyone read. Those who read science fiction know that more likely than not the good reads also are discussing larger issues. They are not afraid to delve deep into themes and how they resonate through life today. In fact, it was a discussion of Mindswap by Robert Sheckley that led me to pursue Gulliver's Travels and the existentialist claim. If that isn't an example of mind broadening, I don't know what is. Plus, their other episodes are just as likely to open larger vistas as they interview audiobook producers, narrators, authors, and anyone else of interest who comes their way.
  
• ChopBard (the cure for boring Shakespeare) from Ehren Ziegler is a newer addition to my podcast listening but I now have a completely new way of thinking about Shakespeare, thanks to Ehren's enthusiasm and practical comments as we proceed act-by-act through these great plays. I have listened to Hamlet and am about halfway through Romeo and Juliet (the play he began the podcast with). First, Ehren provide the context and translation we need in modern times (warning: Romeo and Juliet deserves an R rating if you are reading it right). More importantly, he uses the works themselves to delve deep into people, motivations, and big issues of love, existence, happiness, and suchlike. This necessarily makes listeners ponder and respond, leading again to Socratic method in my own thinking about how this is communicated not only in these great works but in others I have read, and in my life itself.

All this is by way of recommending that you sample the Ignatius Critical Editions, into which I am now digging with even greater enthusiasm. In fact, they have Macbeth available and ChopBard will be covering that after the next play (which will be The Tempest, beginning Oct. 27... hey, that's today! ... c'mon Ignatius, get me something on that play!). These books are the perfect gateway into enjoying classics, whether for the first time or rereading, and having at least one "light bulb" moment on the way.



*I suppose we might also call this the rabbinical method as well as Christ was following that teaching method.

Breathless encounters with the classics

Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities.
With Illustrations by H. K. Browne. 1859. First edition

For of all my discoveries, nearly the most breathless was Dickens, himself. How many of the educated can ever suspect the delight of such a delayed encounter? I think we owned a Collected Works when I was a child. But I had tried David Copperfield too early and had believed all my life that he was not for me. One night last winter I was sleepless and somehow without a book. From our own shelves I took down Little Dorrit, which people tell me now is one of the least beguiling of the lot. But Keats first looking on Homer could have been no more dazzled than I first poring on my Boz. I felt as a treasure-hunter might feel had he tripped over the locked chest that belonged to Captain Kidd.

Phyllis McGinley

I found this quote in a good piece about not being able to understand the classics until we are adults by Tod Worner at Word on Fire. Phyllis McGinley, whose wonderful book Saint-Watching I have loved for some time, echoes precisely my own adult encounter with Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities. I still remember how thrilled I was to see how many of his books were there for me to discover. I went on to read all of them.

It is interesting to think about the classics that I've grown to love as an adult since Uncle Tom's Cabin awoke me to the possibility that maybe classics weren't boring. That was in 2006. From there I went to the afore-mentioned A Tale of Two Cities, The Lord of the Rings, Dante's Divine Comedy, C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy, and Kim. All are books that I approached with the trepidation borne of early failed attempts. Some I had to approach with audio, print, and commentaries. But I kept going and there was something very worthwhile in them all.

The latest in that struggle was Brideshead Revisited which my book club just discussed this Monday. I do not yet love it, but I now appreciate a book I had cast away twice earlier with distaste. I know I will reread it and can foresee a future where I might love that work. Once I was finished, I appreciated the struggle itself and the fruit it yielded. There was a real sense of satisfaction in working through a challenge successfully. What I found in each was something that enriched my life and mind in new and exciting ways.

All of this is to say that when I feel a book challenge circling my mind I no longer duck and weave to avoid it. I wait to see if it will settle and then approach the book with a certain anticipation, both of the struggle and of the achievement.

Next up? Well, I have been thinking about Augustine's City of God an awful lot over the past few months ... and also Crime and Punishment. We shall see if either of them settles down to roost.

Well Said: Of course, in a novel people's hearts break ...

Of course, in a novel, people's hearts break, and they die, and that is the end of it; and in a story this is very convenient. But in real life we do not die when all that makes life bright dies to us. There is a most busy and important round of eating, drinking, dressing, walking, visiting, buying, selling, talking, reading, and all that makes up what is commonly called living, yet to be gone through; and this yet remained to Augustine. Had his wife been a whole woman, she might yet have done something—as woman can—to mend the broken threads of life, and weave again into a tissue of brightness. But Marie St. Clare could not even see that they had been broken. As before stated, she consisted of a fine figure, a pair of splendid eyes, and a hundred thousand dollars; and none of these items were precisely the ones to minister to a mind diseased.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin

I am reading this for the third time, which allows me to pursue it at a very leisurely pace and simply enjoy it. Stowe was such a great writer in the Dickensian style I love. I like even more that she and Charles Dickens were great admirers of each others' writing. This book does contain a great deal of heartbreak, suffering, and hypocrisy. However, it is interwoven with a great deal of humor and insight that leavens the whole, makes it timeless, and a real pleasure to read.

Marie St. Clare was spoiled in the true sense of the word through complete indulgence. Stowe's comments and examples find vivid echoes in the behavior of heedless parents and spoiled children today. Entitlement is no new thing and it is shown in all possible ways here, including those which make the reader laugh. I mean to say, the mind that conceived of putting Marie St. Clare up against Miss Ophelia, a no-nonsense Vermonter, is a mind that understands humor.

Also, I think of the conversation about books to take on a long trip (yes, for a Holy Land Pilgrimage ... it's on my mind!) and I look at this little, light version and smile. It is a Collector's Library edition. I love little books and this series fills the bill. They are generally inexpensive, between $5-$10, hardback with a ribbon marker and gilt edges, and 4" x 6". This 644 page book weights only around 11 ounces, making it a perfect bedtime book and easy to slip into my bag during the day in case I am stuck in line somewhere.

Well Said: What's Your Hurry?

“What's your hurry?"

"Because now is the only time there ever is to do a thing in," said Miss Ophelia.”

Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin

I'm rereading this for the fourth time as I prepare for an upcoming episode of A Good Story is Hard to Find. Still loving it all the way.

Miss Ophelia and Topsy's relationship is one of my favorite parts of the book.

I listened to a number of audio versions before taking myself back to the one I did myself at Forgotten Classics. I was gratified to find that the reading wasn't half-bad; in fact, no worse than the best of what I could find on Audible. Plus the commentary was comparable to that of Heather Ordover at CraftLit.

It sounds as if I'm patting myself on the back, I know. The truth is that enough time has gone by (7 years) that I can listen to it objectively. I'm just pleased I did the job well. And can enjoy it myself from the "outside," as it were.

Lagniappe: The Baby or the Books?

Though I wouldn't go so far as to say that my library — a mere agglomeration of pulp, glue and ink — means more to me than living, breathing human beings, it's a near thing. I'd certainly rescue the baby, not the Mona Lisa, from a burning house. But that baby had better grow up to find the cure for cancer ...

Michael Dirda, Browsings

Almost the perfect quote. Though when it went from books to the Mona Lisa it lost the logic string. But the sentiment works ... and I've got to admit that my "you've got 15 minutes to abandon your house forever" has me, Tom, the dogs ... and then the contents of my "favorites" bookshelf.

Some people have a "go bag."

I've got a "go bookshelf."

And I've had it for a while.

I mean. You've lost your house. Wouldn't you need to read something like The Lord of the Rings or Uncle Tom's Cabin or Jane Eyre? I'm just sayin' ...

What's your hurry?

“What's your hurry?"

"Because now is the only time there ever is to do a thing in," said Miss Ophelia.”

Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin

Families, Audiobooks, San Francisco History, and Uncle Tom's Cabin

All can be found in Episode 71 of Forgotten Classics.

Enjoy!

A National Model for Choosing LIfe on College Campuses

Lacy Dodd, a 33-year-old banking professional and mother of one, knows precisely where supporters and opponents of legal abortion can find common ground.

It's on nearly four acres donated by the Benedictine monks of Belmont Abbey in Belmont, N.C., where Room at the Inn, a Charlotte-based pregnancy resource center, hopes to build the nation's first campus-based maternity and after-care residence for pregnant college students.

[...]

"The great unique thing about our project is that it's nonpartisan, it's an initiative that everyone can support," Dodd told CNS Sept. 29. "Pro-life or pro-choice, if we want women to feel that they have a choice, this is where we can all agree.

"The lack of resources is a huge cause of abortion," she added. "If women feel that they don't have the emotional resources, the financial resources, the educational resources" that they need to choose to give birth, "we can focus on giving them that choice."

This is very timely reading for me personally as I finish editing the final episode of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The last chapter is from Harriet Beecher Stowe and ends with a heartfelt exhortation to Christians to get involved in offering resources to help set slaves free as well as to support freed slaves in their midst, in the cases of those in the North.

As I read it aloud, and am now listening, I cannot but be struck by the fact that her point is directly applicable to the pro-life cause. If every mother who was facing a choice of giving life or having an abortion felt that they had something to fall back on in support while they were pregnant and later, how many would choose life? The change of hearts we need begins on our side in making sure resources are available and then that will help hearts change in those making that huge decision.

Thanks to Tony Rossi for sending me the story. You can hear an interview with Lacy Dodd on Christopher Closeup, the half-hour weekly radio interview produced by the Christophers, to mark Respect Life Month in October.

The radio interview airs Oct. 4, Respect Life Sunday, at 7 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. EDT on the Catholic Channel (Sirius 159 and XM 117), on the Relevant Radio network at 2:30 p.m. and online as a podcast.

Christians, Slavery, and Abortion

I recently was in a scripture study class where unexpectedly the talk turned to abortion. We all were Catholics but soon I was face to face for the first time with people who were proclaiming their personal horror of abortion while simultaneously justifying their decisions to vote for a candidate on record as the most liberal, bar none, in voting for abortion. One of these was employing the usual knee-jerk argument although I think that she believed it sincerely, she just never had actually looked into the facts of the matter. A couple of others, who I like very much, were more thoughtful and clearly had put a great deal of thought into this matter. Nevertheless, their decision was more about themselves and their feelings than it was about the facts of the matter.

This was rather disheartening and also rather mystifying.

I then proceeded to read George Wiegel's Newsweek article, Pro-Life Catholics for Obama: Should abortion be the litmus test for political support?. I was cheered to see that it appeared in a national publication.

Reading Robert George's Obama's Abortion Extremism I was plunged into a deep gloom upon encountering the unyielding facts about just how strongly opposed to life Obama is. I knew about his extreme opposition to legislation protecting infants born alive after partial birth abortion. I thought that was bad ... until I read the article.

However, something in that article tickled my memory. It was George's contextual use of slavery to bring the abortion arguments into clearer focus.

The defect in this argument can easily be brought into focus if we shift to the moral question that vexed an earlier generation of Americans: slavery. Many people at the time of the American founding would have preferred a world without slavery but nonetheless opposed abolition. Such people - Thomas Jefferson was one - reasoned that, given the world as it was, with slavery woven into the fabric of society just as it had often been throughout history, the economic consequences of abolition for society as a whole and for owners of plantations and other businesses that relied on slave labor would be dire. Many people who argued in this way were not monsters but honest and sincere, albeit profoundly mistaken. Some (though not Jefferson) showed their personal opposition to slavery by declining to own slaves themselves or freeing slaves whom they had purchased or inherited. They certainly didn't think anyone should be forced to own slaves. Still, they maintained that slavery should remain a legally permitted option and be given constitutional protection.

I was reminded of the 2004 election when that comparison was made clear to me for the first time. I am reposting it below. Alas some of the links no longer work as those bloggers have gone on to other pursuits. Aren't we glad that I copied at least a bit of their actual prose?

Two other things became clear in mulling all this over.

1. I no longer am going to allow the language to control this issue. The two camps are either "pro-abortion" or "anti-abortion." Let's be clear and call the thing what it is.

2. Christians were the impetus and mainstay of the fight against slavery although we all know that mightier forces eventually were brought to bear on the matter. Just read Uncle Tom's Cabin or the book I link to below for a nonfiction documentation.

We can prevail again. However, like those Christians who fought through prayer, influence, the Underground Railroad, and legislation, we too can overcome. We must remember that we are warriors no matter what our method and never give up. Even if it is simply having a calm discussion during a scripture study class with those who disagree.

============================

Slavery and Abortion: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Reposted from August 3, 2004

We're starting to see the comparison of abortion to slavery become more common. It makes sense. Slavery is another moral issue that only Christians cared about at first, divided families and friends, was legal until enough people put their feet down, and destroyed people in the name of "ownership." Recently I have seen it specifically mentioned in two places.

Patrick Madrid at Envoy magazine's blog, Envoy Encore briefly discusses Biblical principles against abortion and opens the article with this reminder.

NOT SINCE THE CIVIL WAR crisis over slavery has a controversial moral issue so divided Americans and roiled society as has abortion. The deliberate killing of an unborn child through an abortion, though currently enjoying the "legitimacy" of legality in this country (just as slavery was once also legal), is, nonetheless, a grave evil that must be opposed.

The Mighty Barrister dissects a recent interview of John Kerry by Peter Jennings with his usual style and pointedly makes us aware of the parallels.

There was a period of time in the life of this country when another group of human beings were not considered persons. See, for example, Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 U.S., 1856, where the Supreme Court announced that slaves were not "men" as defined in the Declaration of Independence, and were not "people" as declared in the Constitution, stating, "When the Constitution was adopted, they (blacks) were not regarded in any of the States as members of the community which constituted the State, and were not numbered among its 'people or citizens.' Consequently, the special rights and immunities guarantied to citizens do not apply to them."

You can't ignore the obvious parallels between the way the unborn are treated today, and the way Americans of African lineage were treated 150 years ago. And you can't ignore the fact that John Kerry uses practically the same language to describe the unborn as white racists used to describe blacks -- they're not "people."

This may be the startling idea that is needed to shock sense back into pro-abortion people. The same sorts of arguments were used to support slavery as to support abortion. If nothing else, these comparisons should give renewed energy to pro-life supporters. Slavery was big business and entrenched in Western civilization at one time. It was only by tenacity and sticking to what they knew was true in the face of any other arguments that Christians got the ball rolling for stopping slavery. We can do the same.

An excellent resource for finding out about the role of Christians in ending slavery (and other positive impacts of Christianity on our society) is Christianity on Trial: Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry by Vincent Carroll and David Shiflett.

UPDATE: I can't believe I missed this as I am a dedicated Catholic Analysis fan but Oswald Sobrino wrote a fabulous article about this just yesterday. He points out all the parallels between the struggles faced by Abraham Lincoln and George Bush. Thanks to Jeff Miller for pointing this out.

Seven Continents Book Challenge — UPDATED

Via Melanie Bettinelli, this seemed like fun.

Keep in mind that "favorite" is often a shifting term for me. I have a hard time pinning things down to one favorite.


1. What is your favourite book set in Europe? Who is your favourite European author?

Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger

J.R.R. Tolkien

2. What is your favourite book set in North America? Who is your favourite North American author?

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Can't really lock an author down as "favorite" — just for the moment let's go with Walter Tevis who wrote the truly amazing Mockingbird.

3. What is your favourite book set in South America? Who is your favourite South American author?

I got nuttin'.

UPDATE: Via J. Balconi at The House of Nonsense, I realized I actually have read a book setin South America — and I liked it! The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder.

4. What is your favourite book set in Asia? Who is your favourite Asian author?

Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was which the author very kindly allowed me to read on Forgotten Classics.

Madhur Jaffrey

5. What is your favourite book set in Australasia? Who is your favourite antipodean author?

UPDATE: How can I have forgotten that The Rosie Project is both about a New Zealand couple and by a New Zealander, Graeme Simsion? So much so that we discussed the book on A Good Story is Hard to Find.

Father Paul Glynn who wrote A Song From Nagasaki and The Smile of a Ragpicker

6. Have you ever read, or do you know of, any books written by authors in Antarctica/ the Arctic?

UPDATED: Joseph at Zombie Parent's Guide points out "Brother Guy Consolmagno lived in the Antarctica for a while and I've read a book by him that partially covers his time there, though I don't think he wrote it while he was there." And I loved Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial by Brother Guy and Joseph Mueller.

And I had the honor of virtually meeting Brother Guy when he chose a book for A Good Story is Hard to Find discussion. So that's a double Antarctic connection!

7. Who are your favourite African authors & books set in Africa?

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Elspeth Huxley

I realize what this list really shows is how little actual fiction I read and how much genre / memoir / cookbook reading I do.

I regret nothing!

Your turn ...

Your friends may use the word obsessed ...

Cull duplicates. If you have two copies of a book, keep the prettier one. If you can't bring yourself to get rid ofyour duplicates, buy a third copy. When it comes to books, two is the loneliest number. Multiple copies of a single title are acceptable. Many many multiples are preferable to two or three; excess makes you look interesting. Your friends may use the word obsessed, but they can't deny your obsession is interesting.

Anne Bogel, I'd Rather Be Reading

I do have duplicates, and more than two, of several books. To be fair, most of those are because I like different translations, such as for Dante's Divine Comedy. The Lord of the Rings, on the other hand, is because I have lightweight paperbacks for reading in bed, a one volume version that has notes written in it (yes, I know, notes), and a third with Tolkien's own illustrations throughout. I can't guarantee I won't buy another one with Alan Lee's illustrations — if I can find such a thing or afford it — but that's for the future to worry about. I also confess to duplicate copies of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Dracula because one copy has notes in it.

 And, of course, the Bible for different translations or commentaries. But the Bible is in a category all its own.