The Meeting on the Turret Stairs

Frederic William Burton, Hellelil and Hildebrand, The Meeting on the Turret Stairs

The 10 Books That Have Influenced Me Most

I first published this list in 2015. Has it changed? Surprisingly not. 

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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. (Note - the book that taught me to look for traces of God in art and fiction was Jane Eyre which I'd read many times. However, when I read it after converting I was surprised by how Christian it was.)
   
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.

Apples in a Basket

Apples in a Basket, William Joseph McCloskey

We can enjoy the beauty while we think of what today's quote told us about apple dna.

Lagniappe: Which apples did dinosaurs prefer?

The DNA of apples is more complex than ours; a recent sequencing of the Golden Delicious genome uncovered fifty-seven thousand genes, more than twice as many as the twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand that humans possess. Our own genetic diversity ensures that our children will all be somewhat unique—never an exact copy of their parents but bearing some resemblance to the rest of the family. Apples display "extreme heterozygosity," meaning that they produce offspring that look nothing like their parents. Plant an apple seed, wait a few decades, and you'll get a tree bearing fruit that looks and tastes entirely different from its parent. In fact, the fruit from one seedling will be, genetically speaking, unlike any other apple ever grown, at any time, anywhere in the world.

Now consider the fact that apples have been around for fifty million to sixty-five million years, emerging right around the time dinosaurs went extinct and primates made their first appearance. for millions of years, the trees reproduced without any human interference, combining and recombining those intricately complex genes the way a gambler rolls dice. When primates—and later, early humans‚encountered a new apple tree and bit into its fruit, they never knew what they were going to get.

Amy Stewart, The Drunken Botanist

I had no idea. Fascinating.

Top Dog

Top Dog, Karin Jurick

Lagniappe: Pechuga

There is one ingredient that can make mezcal different from whiskey or brandy: a dead chicken. Pechuga is a particularly rare and wonderful version of mezcal that includes wild local fruit added to the distillation for just a hint of sweetness, and a whole raw chicken breast, skinned and washed, hung in the still as the vapors pass over it. The chicken is supposed to balance the sweetness of the fruit. Whatever its purpose, it works: do not pass up an opportunity to taste pechuga mezcal.

Amy Stewart, The Drunken Botanist

Crazy, but it actually makes me want to try it.

Happy Texas Independence Day!

Celebrating Texas Independence.

Let us raise our margarita glasses high in tribute to the brave heroes of the Texas Revolution.

Let's all celebrate with that classic Texan dish, Cheese Enchiladas. You can get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen where there is a recipe for classic style or casserole style.

Below is a wonderful commentary on Texan distinctiveness which I love to read every year when this holiday comes around.

The Republic of Texas was an ephemeral empire. Like the spring bluebonnets, it bloomed, blossomed, and blanched with the sands of time. But also like the state flower, its scent lingers in the hearts and imaginations of every Texan. A moment ago I referred to Texas nationalism. Many outside the state would, no doubt, find that remarkably pretentious, but those who live here understand the truth of it. Texas existed as a nation for ten years; Texans got used to the idea; and nationalism is a difficult habit to break. The novelist John Steinbeck perhaps said it best:

Texas is a state of mind. Texas is an obsession. Above all, Texas is a nation in every sense of the word.

March 2 is a day to celebrate Texas distinctiveness. Now I'm not saying that Texans are better that other folks, but I am saying that we're different. And if a people consider themselves different, they are. March 2 should be to Texans what St. Patrick's Day is to the Irish. But what if you are a Tejano. Should you want to celebrate the day that Texas separated itself from Mexico. You bet! Even as early as 1835 Tejanos were distinctive from other Mexicans. The ranching culture that developed in Texas produced its own clothing, its own music, its own customs, and its own food. Gringos call it "Mexican food," but all one has to do to put the lie to that assertion is to eat the food in the interior - or try to. It is rather bland and not nearly as good as the Tejano food (we might as well call it what it really is) right here at home. We sometimes call it Tex-Mex, but in truth, it's all Tex and precious little Mex. It is found nowhere else on earth. How many things might we say that of? Tejano music is not Mexican; it is not American. It is Texan and is found nowhere else on earth. Tejanos also speak a variety of Spanish called Tex-Mex. But try using it in Mexico City, or worse yet, in Seville. Again, it is a unique language and is found nowhere else on earth. Truth is if you're a Texan - be you brown, black, white, yellow, or red - you don't rightly belong anywhere else. Steinbeck nailed that too. "A Texan outside of Texas is a foreigner," he observed. That applies to Tejanos as much as, probably more than, other Texans. After all, whose family has lived here the longest?

Dr. Stephen L. Hardin,
March 2, 1836: The Myth and Meaning of Texas Independence

Preach it! Be sure to go to the link and read the entire article if the subject of Texas Independence interests you. It's far from simple and Dr. Hardin writes about it very well.

Other recommended activities:

• Read Lone Star Nation
• Watch The Alamo

5th Sunday of St. Joseph

Reflecting on St. Joseph on the seven Sundays leading up to his solemnity is an old tradition.

Flight to Egypt, Giotto, 14th c.

Joys and Sorrows - II

[Fifth Sorrow and Joy]

Having at last found a place for themselves in Bethlehem, the Holy Family received the unexpected homage of the Magi with their precious gifts for the divine Child. But when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying, "Arise, and take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and remain there until I tell thee. For Herod will seek the child to destroy him." (Matt 2:13)

Joseph's great joy at the visit of the Magi did not last long. He had to abandon his new-found home and business to flee to a foreign land. Herod wanted to kill the Child. Joseph's joy was changed to dread. Once again, God was testing him. Joy and sorrow are never far from one another in souls that love God.

[Sixth Sorrow and Joy]

But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead." (Matt 2:19)

... At first, he [Joseph] thought they would be going to Judaea, most probably to Bethlehem. Once again on this occasion God did not spare his faithful servant anxiety and difficulty. On their way out of Egypt Josph learned that Archelaus, Herod's wicked son, had assumed the throne in Judaea. Joseph guarded too great a treasure to expose it to this sort of danger. He was afraid to go there. While reflecting on what would be best for Jesus, Joseph was told in a dream to continue onward to Galilee. We take note that Jesus is always at the centre of Jospeh's concerns. Upon their arrival in Nazareth, the Holy Family renewed their acquaintance with relatives and old friends. At long last, this family could settle into a home.

[Seventh Sorrow and Joy]

In this final sorrow and joy we contemplate the time when Jesus was lost, and found in the Temple...

Perhaps worst of all was the apparent silence of God. She, the Virgin, was the Father's favourite daughter. He, Joseph, had been chosen to care for the two of them, and he too had experienced God's intervention in human affairs ... How is it that on this occasion there was no one to advise him? How, after two days of crying out to heaven, of incessant searching and with ever-mounting anxiety for the child, could God remain deaf to his supplication and his suffering? (F. Suarez, Joseph of Nazareth) ...

On the third day, when every possibility had been exhausted, suddenly they found Jesus. We can only imagine the wave of joy which must have swept over Mary and Joseph when they discovered him.

In Conversation with God, Vol. 6: Special Feasts: January to June

Taking a Cup of Coffee in Leipzig

Taking cup of coffee while sitting in front of a coffee tree
Detail above door of Leipzig coffee house "Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum"

I'd love to be served in such style. But I don't have anything fancy enough to wear to such an establishment. Certainly not as stylish as the gentleman aboe.

Laugh—or else beware the cart

A man is sufficiently condemned if it can only be shown that either in politics or religion he does not belong to some new school established within the last score of years. He may then regard himself as rubbish and expect to be carted away. A man is nothing now unless he has within him a full appreciation of the new era, an era in which it would seem that neither honesty nor truth is very desirable, but in which success is the only touchstone of merit. We must laugh at everything that is established. Let the joke be ever so bad, ever so untrue to the real principles of joking; nevertheless we must laugh—or else beware the cart.

Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers

This shows a little of Trollope's genius and how enjoyable his books are. We're still living in those days — progress forward of be condemned as rubbish.

Fifth Season - Flooding

Fifth Season - Flooding, Remo Savisaar

This is from a few years ago, but I liked the flooding motif to go with today's quote.

The Great Flood, Universal Story

The history of the earth (or so geologists tell us) has been punctuated by great castastrophes which apparently wiped out entire life forms. But onlyone echoes down in the words and stories of a dozen different races. ... The historian cannot ignore the Great Flood; it is the closes thing to a universal story that the human race possesses.

Susan Wise Bauer, History of the Ancient World

I love that the geologists are not really scientific enough for the historians. Talk about a high level of proof needed — please write your notes for future generations.

Scott: “Do you expect me to talk?" — Julie: “No, Mr. Danielson, I expect you to die.”

 A Good Story is Hard to Find, Episode 373: Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery. There's more to this conversation than witty banter, though we like to think there might be some of that too!

A Movie You Might Have Missed #104: Harvey

"I’ve wrestled with reality for 35 years, doctor, and I’m happy to state
I finally won out over it.”

Elwood P. Dowd (James Stewart) is a good-natured gentleman and frequent drinker whose best friend Harvey is an invisible rabbit that stands a little over six feet tall. Everyone naturally assumes he’s crazy. His sister Veta, worried about the family’s social standing, attempts to have him locked away in a sanitarium.

Elwood P. Dowd is soft-spoken and disarming, and so is this movie, which keeps audiences guessing as to whether Harvey is a figment of Elwood’s eccentric mind or really does exist.

I watched this with my book club and realized just how much I had forgotten, including how laugh-out-loud funny it is. I also didn't realize just how pertinent one of the main messages would be in modern times: how little we listen to each other and what misunderstandings that can cause. I also loved how much Elwood paid attention to each person who came across his path. This is shown in several ways but never more than his response when someone accepts a dinner invitation. What makes Harvey great is the fact that it’s equally enjoyable as a piece of comedic fluff and as slyly intelligent social commentary.

Years ago I wouldn't have had to put this in a "movie you might have missed" category but no one in the book club had seen it except for the hostess who chose it and me. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and there was a lot of laughter through the entire movie. It's time to watch — or rewatch — this classic.

The White Rabbit

The White Rabbit Pencil,  Himmapaan

Since we talked about Harvey today, what could be more apropos?