Wodehouse Day

What ho!

Tomorrow is October 15th. One might say, indeed. And the day after will be October 16th. This is true. And yet, October 15th is a special day, one which will forever shine...or perhaps live in infamy. You see, old sports/beans/comrades, October 15th is P.G. Wodehouse's birthday.

P.G. Wodehouse, if you don't happen to know, is the English author responsible for the creation of characters such as Jeeves, Bertie Wooster, R. Psmith, Baxter, Freddie Threepwood, Aunt Agatha...the list goes on and on.

For the Wodehouse fans amongst us, October 15th ought to mark a day of wearing lemon colored pajamas, singing "Minnie the Moocher," and humming the theme music to the Jeeves and Wooster TV series.

Here are a few ideas:
+ Wear a chrysanthemum in your button-hole
+ Start sentences with, "Oh, I say!" and "What ho!"
+ Call your friends "sport," "bean," or, if you wish to be Psmith-y, "comrade"
+ Throw flower pots. Do try to avoid actually hitting anyone, though
+ Find a stuffed moose and stick it in your hallway

I personally plan to eat pshrimp, re-read Leave it to Psmith, my favorite of all Wodehouse's novels, and watch as many of the Jeeves and Wooster series as possible.

Further information:
Wodehouse on Wikipedia
Hugh Laurie (played Bertie Wooster) on Wodehouse

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Rebelution!

 Since the publication of their book Do Hard Things, Alex and Brett Harris have toured the country to present conferences. A small group from my church, with the support of our church leaders, was able to go down near Washington D.C. in September to take part in one. What an amazing thing for me, being from a small town where most the believer I know are the people in my church, to see this huge auditorium full of (mostly) other Christians, ready to get going and Do Hard Things.

 When I got home, people asked me what I learned, what my favorite parts of the conference were. Here are a couple of things I took away.

 The day was broken up into sessions, Brett and Alex taking turns speaking. One session though, they gave to their dad, Gregg Harris. He spoke about parenting and raising Rebelutionaries, but eventually he worked carefully up to an invitation. Most of us have been in churches of conferences where they give an invitation at the end of the service. "With all heads bowed and no one looking around... please raise your hands really quick if you said that prayer..." Well, this was not a typical invitation. With all heads up, and everyone looking boldly around, those who had prayed stood and declaired Jusus Christ as their Lord. His point in this was "If you can't to stand and declair Jesus as your Lord in a building full of other Christians overwhelmed with joy and ready to recieve you into the family, how are you going to go home to your friends and familiy and be able to tell them?" I hope I don't come across as bashing churches who do give the typical invitation, but my personal view was that this is much more in the way of not being ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.

Alex and Brett giving away books by way of a rocket launcher.

Another thing that I came away with was this; the Harris boys are well aware that many conferences and church events give youth a spiritual high that they loose as soon as they go home. They have the same friends, same family, same routine, same good and bad habits, same good and bad influences in their lives, and so they go home and become the same again. The whole point of the conference is to encourage people (of all ages, really) to let God use them to be the best they can be, and how can they do this if they forget the whole thing a week later? Well, they have a very profound saying. "If you want to change something in your life... you have to change something in your life." Profound, isn't it? Just think about it for a minute. They are right. It does us no good to decide we are going to be stranger for the Lord, live in a better way, make a difference in the community or our homes, then just sit there wondering why you can't seem to make anything better. You seriously, literally have to CHANGE SOMETHING. Realize the bad influences in your life and get rid of them, challenge yourself to overcome procrastination, become an active part of your church family, there are so many things you could change if you just CHANGE.

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Lost

The book I am reading is old, faded and reeks of the musty second-hand store in which I bought it. I can smell the dimness of the lights, the dust and the clothes that, in spite of being washed, still have the scent of their previous owners. I can see the yellowy dime romance novels that surrounded this one treasure, the creases in their spines odd next to the lurch of the binding of the one in my hands. The second-hand shop is not my favorite of places to linger. There are still strains of cigarette smoke and the young man with tattoos stares disconcertingly.

But I am home now. Someone is playing Bach on the piano downstairs and the crickets are chirping as dusk falls. A cool breeze pushes a page past my fingers as I reach for my ice water. Still, I can see the place where I bought this book, feel the sweat dripping down my back and hear the traffic in the street outside. The fan is humming above my head and I can feel my hair frizzing in the afternoon heat. It is all so clear, even as I read the words…

Until…

Until a line snatches away the façade and the view is clear, oh, so clear. I can see it, truly see it now. I’m no longer in my bedroom, but rather on a boat sailing to unknown lands. I can see the sea stretching on and on, the waves pulling us forward to that thin line that meets the sky. I can hear the wind in the sails and waves smacking together in a splotchy wet sound. I’m off again…

I do so love a good book.

- written in 2006

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A Bookish Disaster

My bedroom has been a disaster for some time. While I would disagree with anyone who were to tell me that I have too many books, I will admit that I have possibly too many for the space that I have. At the same time, adding books to my collections is addicting. There are so many books that I love and wish to have on my bookshelves for my own.

Still, the sorting out must be done. The sorting of books, papers, clothes and a million and one other things. And shoes, oh yes, shoes.

We won’t discuss my penchant for cute shoes.

It’s the sorting of the books that is the hardest. Many of the volumes are dear friends, some old and some new and as I organize I can’t help but stop and say hello to them. Peek into the pages of one and read a snippet here or there. Laugh a little with Lauren of Miss Match and cry a little with the March sisters. Some covers are tattered, the binding so worn that when you open the book, it falls open to one of my favorite sections. Others are new, their covers fresh and pages crisp. Someday those new ones will probably look like their older counterparts – worn from being read over and over and over again.
It’s hard to decide which ones should stay and which ones should go.

And so, I try to develop a system. I ask myself a series of questions:

1) Have I read it?

2) If not, will I ever read it?
If I have the feeling that I won’t ever read it, I put it in the giveaway pile.

If I have read it…

3) Did I like it at all?
If not, why on earth am I keeping it?!

4) Have I read this book multiple times?
If yes, then, there is a good chance that this one is a keeper.

5) Will I ever read it again?
If my reaction is at all, “Probably not” or “Um….” Then it goes in the giveaway pile.

Of course, it isn’t always so clear, cut and dry; there are always exceptions, particularly when it comes to reference books or classic children’s novels. In the end, I have fewer books than I did before, but not by any significant amount. It’s an ongoing process, right? One step at a time.

Although I do have a little free space on my shelves for new books now. Hm…book shopping, anyone? I know some great thrift stores that have a decent selection of used books! And there’s always my favorite place for book browsing: the Book Barn. If you’re a Bibliophile and happen to ever find yourself in Niatic, CT, you will want to make a point of stopping for several hours. It’s a Bibliophile’s paradise!

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A Gift

I can take or leave radio, television, the movies. I still feel that the best gift a fairy godmother can put in any child's crib is a love for reading.

- Lillian Moller Gilbreth

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Sophie Scholl and the White Rose

On February 22, 1943, three German university students were executed by the Nazis. Hans Scholl was 24. Sophie Scholl, his sister, was 21. Their friend, Christoph Probst, was only 23.

What was their crime? Speaking out against Hitler and the Nazis...with the written word.

Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, by Annette Dumbach and Jud Newborn is their story. They were young. Some would have called them idealists.

I call them brave.

I call them heroes.

Sophie, Hans and Christoph were members of a non-violent resistant group called the White Rose. The White Rose consisted mainly of five students and Kurt Huber, a professor, who later joined their group. Together, they wrote leaflets against the Nazis and distributed them in various cities in Germany and Austria. Five leaflets were printed and distributed successfully. It was while distributing the sixth leaflet on their school campus that Sophie and Hans Scholl were caught and arrested.

Their story is not well-known, not as well-known as the life of Dietrich Bonhoffer, another German Christian who took a stand and died for it. Like Bonhoffer, many of these students were Christians, Christians who could not stand and let the Nazi's actions go without a word. Several of the students served in the military, as soldiers in the German army; they knew what could happen. They knew what was at stake.

And they still took a stand. The White Rose stood for freedom and her members died for their beliefs, standing strong and true.

We will not be silent! We are your bad conscience!

Two sentences on their leaflets became their motto and slogan. They were not silent - and even though dead, their words speak today yet still.

Sophie Scholl and the White Rose is an excellent retelling of their story. It begins at the very beginning and tells how the students organized themselves into a group, how they came to their decision to no longer remain silent. It reads almost like an action-packed novel, but it is all the more gripping because it is true.

I would highly recommend reading the book for yourself. It, along with the movie adapation, showed me how much of a personal responsibility everyone has in standing against wrongs. There is a saying I once heard that I try to remember: "Everyone should try to right the wrongs."

I think the White Rose would agree.

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Book recomendations: Adventure

[Note: This is the first in a new series. Each time I do one of these posts I'll recommend some books in a specific category and then (after this time) I'll post a few reader recommendations from the last post. Some books span several categories so "A Tale of Two Cities" would appear in Classics rather than Historical (which it technically is).]

Who doesn't love a good adventure book? The occasional sword-fight, running away to sea, traveling to new places--they're exciting. They make us want to jump up and do something big. Or maybe they're a way for us to do something big without ever leaving the comfort of our favorite armchair. At any rate:

A few adventure books

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. Four siblings (John, Susan, Roger, and Titty) camp on an island in the English Lake District with their (borrowed) boat, the "Swallow". Unfortunately, the island already belongs to the piratical Amazon sisters, Nancy and Peggy Blackett. Naturally, war is declared! The first in a long series of wonderful children's books.

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. David Balfour, nephew of the Laird of Shaws, goes to visit his uncle for the first time. Upon arriving, he finds the house in ruins and his uncle a miser. And he almost falls to his death in a very mysterious fashion. That's only the beginning!

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. Ivanhoe is the disinherited son of a Saxon Lord, disinherited because he chose to follow the Norman Richard the Lionheart on a crusade. Now he has returned home to find his love, Lady Rowena, promised to another. Warning: the language in this one can be difficult since Scott, an eighteenth-century writer, was attempting to write in the style of several hundred years before.

Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff. Marcus' father disappeared when he was very young, lost with his legion in the wilds of Britain. Now Marcus is grown up and has himself been sent to Britain. He vows to find the truth of what happened to his father and the lost legion.

The Squire's Tale by Gerald Morris. The first book in a series of re-tellings of the Arthur stories. Terence is a foundling living with a holy hermit in the woods when one day he encounters Gawain, who hopes to be one of Arthur's knights. Gawain takes him on as a squire and together they set off for Arthur's court where love, adventure, trials, and magic await them.

Other books by the same authors
Arthur Ransome
Racundra's First Cruise
The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
Peter Duck
Swallowdale
Missee Lee
Coot Club

Robert Louis Stevenson
David Balfour
The Black Arrow
Treasure Island

Rosemary Sutcliff
The Lantern Bearers (This is an amazing book)
The Mark of the Horse Lords
Blood Feud

Gerald Morris
The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady
The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf
The Lioness and Her Knight
(for more on Gerald Morris see here)

Reader Recommendations
Do you have a recommendation for an adventure book? Leave it in the comments! Next time I'll put up a few of them.

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Review: Journey of the Heart, by Jeannie Castleberry

While Mr. and Mrs. Castleberry's books for young women have focused on couples and courtship, their daughter Jeannie Castleberry outdoes them in my opinion. While books on courtship can be encouraging in a world that promotes serial-dating, there is a certain lack of fiction that portrays singleness realistically. Jeannie somehow manages to do just that.

Janet McLean is the oldest daughter living at home now that her older sister and brother are married and have their own families. Janet has always expected that by her age - early twenties - she would have followed in their footsteps and married as well.

But another birthday comes and goes, leaving her still single as the day is long. She's still living at home, teaching her siblings and meanwhile, her best friend is being courted. Why can't God just bless her with a husband? Why does contentment have to be so hard and painful to attain?

Journey of the Heart, by Jeannie Castleberry is the story of Janet and her journey as a single girl. While it is a sequel to two of Mr. and Mrs. Castleberry's courtship books – the McLean series – it is different in its focus. While the courtship series gives you a look at a character and how he or she changes during courtship, Janet's story is different. It focuses solely on her journey as a single, twenty-something girl.

It is a refreshingly candid look at singleness. It doesn’t downplay the difficulty of trusting, of giving up your dreams and desires, of waiting – just waiting. I finished this book more encouraged than I have ever been by any of the Castleberrys’ books on courtship.

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Books, books, books...

There is one thing about that I know will never change as long as I can breathe or think, and that is my love of books. I doubt that even marriage will change that. If I marry, I want to bring books into our home, whether we have children or not. And if we have children, all the better, for I want to pass my love of reading to anyone and everyone who will listen.

Summer has always meant books to me. Stacks and stacks of books to read, read, read as long as the day is warm. Growing up, my mother, siblings and I would walk down to the local library once a week and choose books to bring home. It always felt like heaven and we looked forward to our trips, in spite of the uphill walk home.

Today, I still think summer is about books. While friends go away to camp or go to parties, I prefer to stay at home and read. Perhaps that is why I am a spinster today (at the grand old age of twenty-three)! My summer appears to be uneventful: work, work, work, read, read, read, with a few summer movie flicks thrown in. And yet, it is exciting…it is exciting to escape into a book after a long, hot day at work. It is exciting to both discover new places, new friends and renew old friendships in old familiar places.

I'm re-reading Winnie-the-Pooh, but also discovering the little joys of Betsy-Tacy and Noel Streatfeild's "Shoe" books. I'm digesting books on writing, slowly chewing and savoring them. I'm reading adventure stories with brave heroes and battles against evil. Real stories about real men and women - including one about young rebelutionary men and women.

I may not be able to go away to exotic places or even to the wilds of Maine, but I can escape here at home.

So, if your summer is lacking a little excitement - or nourishment! - pick up a book. Go to the library. Get a book. Dive in.

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