My next endeavours.....

....in reading are "The Jew is not my enemy" by Tarek Fatah and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare....the book and the DVD.  The former is opening up a new world with unfamiliar stories and names.  In the first few chapters he is tracing the history of anti semitism in Islam.  My next read will be Sir Martin Gilbert's book called I think..."In the  House of Ishmael" the history of the Jews in Muslim lands.  I'm looking forward to "AMND" I haven't seen it for about fifty years I think, and I'm hoping that time and experience will have made it more intelligble as they did for "Hamlet".

Grey days of January......

...just right for reading.  Have finished "The Power and the Glory" and got taken with the story by chapter 3.  The surroundings and the characters are sordid but there are redeeming lights...unexpected instances of human compassion in some of the characters.  The whisky priest is flawed and too despairing but he hasn't entirely given up.  He makes attempts -if feeble- to carry out the work of a priest and he's on the point of despair.  In the end he gives up his life to go to the aid of a dying man, whether out of a resigned acceptance of his fate or a real wish to carry out his priestly duties isn't clear.  Perhaps it's a bit of both.  A sad tale with most likely elements of truth about the situation and the human condition.  At any rate no one knows how they would react in similar situations. The kind actions shine all the brighter because of the darkness.

Peter Pan etc.

I watched "Peter Pan" on DVD hoping for a good children's story.  I remember we put this play on in school years ago. I was supposed to play Peter but Mother Lucy changed her mind about me because she said my voice was too sad.  Here I was a little disappointed in Walt Disney's version.  Too much silliness and too Americanized.  I was never a big fan of cartoons, but I think this is the only version of Peter Pan available.  It's a good children's story and it's a pity he messed around with it. I'm sure children don't need the silliness to be entertained, at least they didn't used to need it.  I wonder too about the message contained in the story, that Never land and escaping from real life are necessary.  Now that I'm old I really believe that dealing with life and getting more involved in day to day realities is the best way to improve things, not escaping from them.  Though I suppose in extreme conditions escape into a fantasy world for a while might give some relief.  At least Wendy realized that she couldn't stay and brought the children back to the real world.  But I wonder which message children would remember.
We also watched episode one and two of the British Drama "The Pallisers" produced in 1974.  It's taken from the book by Anthony Trollope and tells the story of an aristocratic family during the Victorian Era:  young people fall in love, man not suitable (a bit of an adventurer), marriage arranged by adults to carry on the family line and protect their assets.  I think that Plantagenet will make a better husband for Glencora than the man she fancied.  I liked his statement when the old Duke was telling him that he should marry first and then do whatever he pleased:  that marriage means fidelity.  Good for him!  Twenty six episodes and all in the library.   We're looking forward to the next two episodes when they become available.
I also took out the CD of "Peter and the Wolf" by Prokofiev.  I'm trying to learn more about music than just listen to it, and thought I would try here with something simple for children.

Just finished....

...reading "Bonhoeffer" by Eric Metaxas.  I've read it in a week because I can't renew it at the library, there's a waiting list.  It's a very good biography of the German Lutheran Pastor who was involved in forming the Confessional Church in Germany and who entered a plot to assassinate Hitler. It's the first time I've read a book from the inside of Germany in the years leading up to Hitler's coming to power and the reign of the Nazis, and during the Second World War.  There were many involved in the resistance in Germany - something I haven't heard too much about.  It's a gripping story of the fight against an evil man and his regime and it shows very well the difficulty of organizing opposition against evil men who have the power of the state under their control:   deception and fear take over people's lives.  Evil is not a static thing but feeds on itself.  That men and women like Bonhoeffer acted against those in power is a great testimony to the goodness of the human spirit, especially when sustained by faith in God.  The heaviness and sadness of those times is redeemed by their courage.
Now I'm reading "The Power and the Glory" by Graham Greene.  I'm not very far into the story but so far it has no redeeming features.  The characters are all very sad specimens of humanity, and the culture and even the landscape is depressing.  I know very little about the persecution of the Church in Mexico in the thirties.  That's the main reason I decided to read this book, and because it came highly recommended.  Time will tell.......

Those Victorians....

I'm watching Victorian farm and Victorian Farm Christmas that I taped from Knowledge network over Christmas.  A neighbour told me how good it was and they reran episodes on Christmas Day.  It's the day to day life of three people who went to live for a year on an educational farm in Shropshire, England, and then went back a year later to prepare for a Victorian Christmas at the farm.  They live how the Victorians lived without electricity or powered motors, doing things by hand or with the help of shire horses or donkeys.  And it is amazing the ingenuity they had.  I haven't watched the spring and summer episodes, just the fall and first two Christmas ones and they show them taking in the harvest with a horse drawn reaper and binder which goes at a steady clip around the field.  They have a session making bricks, hay, butter, flour, mincemeat, bread, soap, and beer, as well as long johns and paper blankets, and putting a metal tire on the wheels of a horse drawn carriage!  There are very healthy looking farm animals and the whole thing looks like a lot of fun if hard work.  I remember many things from my childhood in the English countryside.  I didn't live on a farm but spent most of my childhood on one.  Everything looks so lush and green.  Very different from our Okanagan dry valley.

Finish the old year with the best....

I thought I would finish the old and start the new year with the best of scholars:  Pope Benedict.  I listened to his book "Jesus of Nazareth" when it first came out on cd, but it was very unsatisfactory.  There's nothing like holding a book in your hands and reading it for yourself.  From what I remember he quotes extensively from the book of Matthew and since this is the liturgical year of Matthew's Gospel I thought it would be good to read it.  According to the back cover Pope Benedict said "This book is my personal search 'for the face of the Lord'"  In the introduction he speaks of the value of the historical critical method but says that this cannot take the place of Jesus as portrayed in the Gospels and proclaimed in the Church.  In the first chapter he speaks of how the prophets of Israel were different from the fortune tellers of the surrounding nations.  They were to discern the will of God rather than fortell the future, and it is through his relationship with the Father that we are to understand Jesus.  It's a very dense book and one that I think I will reread from time to time.

Light reading for the Christmas season

On my way out of the library a few days before Christmas I saw "Rumpole at Christmas", short stories by John Mortimer, on display.  I'm not a Rumpole fan and have never watched the series on Television, but I thought this would be a good chance to get to know him and have some light Christmas reading.  He's a delightful character, the stories are easy to read and it makes one think that the old England has not quite disappeared yet!  The book was published in 2009 so there's even a story about a Muslim student who issues a Fatwah against a professor, for including a chapter critizing Islam in her new book.  When the professor is found slain Hussein is the prime suspect and hated by all, but Rumpole going above and beyond his duty to defend his client hires a private detective to get some background information about the slain woman's family.  The case is not as simple as it seems of course and justice is finally done.  Tales of court are told with a cozy English background and the truth always comes out to protect the innocent and confound the guilty.  It's a fun read.