The Reading Room

If you like historical fiction...

feeds@yuku.com (Katie Von Bora) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:54:57 GMT

I highly recommend "Vivaldi's Virgin's" by Barbara Quick. It is about Anna Maria Dal Violin, who was a foundling of the Ospedale della Pieta in Venice, Italy in the 18th century. She was a student of Antonio Vivaldi, the Red Priest of Venice, who taught at the Pieta for a few years, and she became quite a musical virtuoso. The novel focuses on her years growing up in the convent as a student of the coro, being groomed to be a top...

3rd Quarter -- Worthwhile Reading Challenge

feeds@yuku.com (Merrily Spinning) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:51:59 GMT

How's it going?

Dawn, are you still reading Calvin?

Ken, did you ever find a good bio of Washington? I have Thomas Flexner's The Indispensible Man, which I liked when I read it a decade or so ago. I've assigned it to my upper classmen, who are doing American history this year.

Jane, did you ever read the Waugh?

Has anyone ever read this book?

feeds@yuku.com (docs1) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:59:28 GMT

I don't think education is so much into this type of thing any longer. At least not in high school where it may have have made the most impact because it would have provided a proper foundation for later thinking. I don't remember ever been taught along these lines. But of course it would best probably be taught from a Christian perspective. I've seen this book advertised here and there and have wondered about it. Just from the looks of it it seems it may be worth a read.
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Amazing story

feeds@yuku.com (Dewydd) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:36:07 GMT

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/wales/atc/atc_20090823-0905a.mp3

Descendant of Welsh missionaries martyred during the Boxer Rebellion travels to China to visit site of their murder. She's greeted by a 3,000 member church on the site which announces they have been praying to meet a family member of the martyred Christian missionaries.

Jane, I've started reading Tuchman's _A Distant Mirror_

feeds@yuku.com (Merrily Spinning) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:52:03 GMT

I've read the first chapter and about half the second. Here are some things that stand out to me:

* A quote from Langland's Piers Plowman and Tuchman's comment:

When the kindness of Constantine gave Holy Church endowments
In lands and leases, lordships and servants,
The Romans heard an angel cry on high above them,
"This day dos ecclesiae has drunk venom
And all who have Peter's power are...

2nd quarter update -- Worthwhile Reading Challenge 2009

feeds@yuku.com (Merrily Spinning) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:37:31 GMT

I can't believe the year is half over!

Has it been a good one for reading so far? Hopefully y'all are succeeding at your goals better than I am.

Praise for the Brothers Karamazov (spoilers safe for the other person here who hasn't read it)

feeds@yuku.com (Jephthahs Vow) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:10:56 GMT

I had started reading this book a couple of times before now, but last night was the first time I really pushed my way through the books introduction and started to get into the meat of the story, and I must say, I am mildly ashamed of myself for not having done so before. Dostoevsky's book is by far and away one of the best pieces of literature I have ever read, and easily the best book I have read in the past couple of years. It was so engrossing that, last night when I picked it up...

Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, by Jack Deere

feeds@yuku.com (On the Road to Emmaus) — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:59:53 GMT

Not trying to be either too contentious or too campaigning here, but you guys are my primary online conversationalists...

Now Dallas Theological Seminary will be fairly infamous already here, by virtue of its being the mother-lode of dispensationalism, but you have to understand that in my non-denom church, DTS is the source of our pastoral hires. Practically the entire pastoral staff hails from DTS....

Norman Shepherd's New Book

feeds@yuku.com (whitway) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:40:59 GMT

I don't see this as being any more clear than "Call of Grace" which was clear as mud. "The Way of Righteousness"

The Pumpkin Giant by Wilkins

feeds@yuku.com (Vogon Poet) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:02:52 GMT

Anybody ever read The Pumpkin Giant as a kid?

Watcha reading?

feeds@yuku.com (Kootenay Badger) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:28:52 GMT

I'm grindin' my way through "War of the World" by Niall Ferguson. It basically argues that WW1 didn't really end in 1919; that it just continued under different venues - civil wars, revolutions, etc. It's proving an interesting read. Already I'm thinking, "Hey, perhaps Russia, England, the US and France were on the wrong side of the argument. They were in effect coming to the defense of a country that had supported a terrorist who murdered Archduke...

Well, the first quarter of 2009 is almost over

feeds@yuku.com (Merrily Spinning) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:44:16 GMT

How are you coming along with the Worthwhile Reading Challenge?

Xenophon's Life of Cyrus (Cyropaedia), and Agnes Savill's _Alexander the Great and His Times_

feeds@yuku.com (dormitantius) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:54:45 GMT

I found Xenophon's Life of Cyrus on the internet (complete), and then checked it out of the library. I was surprised that it was so easy to read. I was struggling with Thucydides' account of the Peloponnesian Wars and almost ready to give up on this whole "original source" business, and so Xenophon was a double pleasure.

What's interesting is that I'm simultaneously listening to Alexander the Great and His Time by Agnes Savill. Both works...

Recovering the Reformed Confession by R Scott Clark

feeds@yuku.com (Trinity Sunday) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:44:08 GMT

has anybody else read this book? a friend lent it to me and it is currently blowing my mind...

Clark actually tries to "rescue" Reformed Christianity from revivalistic pietism, meaning that he is taking on men such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Iain Murray - all of whom he criticises for focussing more on the attempt to procure a special experience (albeit of Yahweh himself), rather than on Christ and his work. He's the first guy...

My new book...finally coming out.

feeds@yuku.com (Vogon Poet) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:57:16 GMT

After about five years of work, my new book is finally coming out next month. I forgot who put together the graph based on the number of pages in my books, but this one should fit nicely.

http://www.prpbooks.com/i...t=indiv_title&id=1716

V.P.

Life of Pi -- not a middle schooler book. But Oedipus the King was fascinating.

feeds@yuku.com (dormitantius) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:51:50 GMT

I have my kids in a co-op for half a day on Wednesdays. I teach two classes, my older son is doing a literature class (reading Murder in the Cathedral), and my younger two take my "generals of ancient history wars" class and then they do a book "club" with about 7 other middle schoolers. The supervising parent picked Life of Pi as one of their reading books. After reading some reviews, I refused to let them read it (especially with this particular teacher...

Best footnote EVER in a history book.

feeds@yuku.com (Goldberry of Withywindle) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:06:46 GMT

Through all the history books that remain to be written throughout the remaining ages of mankind, this one may never be beaten.

From The History of the Ancient World, by Susan Wise Bauer. Page 269ff:

The chronology is difficult, but Tukulti-Ninurta is probably the king called Nimrod in Gen. 10:10: a mighty hunter and warrior whose kingdom included Babylon, Erech, Akkad, and Nineveh, the same expanse as that...

Worthwhile Reading Challenge 2009 -- edited AGAIN to add another idea

feeds@yuku.com (Merrily Spinning) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:47:46 GMT

The reading lists over at the Village reminded me of this meme started by a blog buddy -- pick twelve worthwhile books to read in the coming year. For some that may mean more difficult reading material than you usually have, for some it may mean broadening your horizons and reading outside your usual genres, for some it may mean reading the great books for children that you've missed (like the Narnia books, or The Wind in the Willows). For me it means finishing books I've...

Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman

feeds@yuku.com (dormitantius) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:39:34 GMT

I just finished the 20th anniversary edition. The original book was published in 1985. The main technology at the time was television. His son prefaced the new edition, saying his father's premise is even more relevant now that we have computers, blackberries, etc., around us constantly.

Postman spoke of the time the U.S. was being created, and the high literacy levels that were evident in our country's first 100 years. People would read difficult books, and hear elaborately...

Classical.net

feeds@yuku.com (aragorn10027) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:51:44 GMT

http://www.classical.net/

I found this website while trying to formulate a list of basic repertoire for listening. There is quite a lot here, and I'm holding off making purchases until I start a career, but just plugging the names of the various composers into Last.fm has been enriching. Already, I've discovered how much I like the harpsichord by listening to Forqueray.
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