Literary Compass

The Top 10 Books I Read in 2008

2008-12-19T07:50:00.000-08:00

These are the best books I read this year:

10. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz - Fantastic thriller
9. Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick - Great for junior high students
8. Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life by Fr. Robert Spitzer - Grow spiritually in the midst of a busy life
7. What's So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D'Souza - Explains Christianity to modern skeptics
6. Praying the Word: An Introduction to Lectio Divina by Enzo Bianchi - Learn how to pray with the Bible using this small but powerful book
5. Journal of a Soul: The Autobiography of Pope John XXIII - Absolutely beautiful
4. Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI - So good I read it twice
3. Peace of Soul by Archbishop Fulton Sheen - Eminently practical and helpful
2. Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean Pierre de Caussade - a true classic; read it to discover God's will for you
1. Healing the Culture by Fr. Robert Spitzer - Required reading for everyone who cares about our culture: Read this book and your life will change.

A New Blog for Catholic School Teachers

2008-05-14T05:48:00.000-07:00

Today marks the launch of Catholic School Chronicles, a new blog for Catholic school teachers. If you're a Catholic school teacher, please visit the site and subscribe to the RSS feed, and if you know any Catholic school teachers, please let them know about the site. Thanks.

A Girl, a Guy, and a Soft Drink

2007-11-14T06:09:00.000-08:00

Here's something you don't see every day:

Veteran's Day Prayer

2007-11-09T06:08:00.000-08:00

I just received this Veteran's Day Prayer in an email from Autom and thought it was worth sharing:

Dear Heavenly Father,

In every age, You call certain persons to defend the human family from oppression, tyranny, and evil. Since our founding as a nation "conceived in liberty," countless American men and women have stepped forward to defend our country and many others from aggressors, and to liberate those held captive.

Today we revere all our veterans: those who rest in honored glory, those who still suffer from the wounds of war, and those who, with us, enjoy the blessing of living in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O God, thank You for the selfless sacrifice of these veterans and of their families. Help us to remember them, to pray for them, and to care for them. Please bring all our departed veterans into Your Kingdom, and console their families with Your unfailing love. Please heal our wounded veterans through the power of Your Holy Spirit, and give to all our veterans the satisfaction of having served You even as they have served us.

Thank You for Your gifts of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. May we fight to keep these rights available to all. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

The Perpetual Web Rosary

2007-11-05T05:26:00.000-08:00

Pray the rosary with others around the world via the Perpetual Web Rosary from Catholics United for Life. When you visit the page, start praying the rosary wherever the last person left off, then click the rosary as you finish each prayer. Your prayers are added to the prayers of others.

Bookshelves Arranged by Spine Color

2007-11-05T05:21:00.000-08:00

It looks cool, but how do you find the book you're looking for?

From Designverb.

Teaching Humor

2007-10-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

This email has been making the rounds lately, and I enjoyed it so much I thought I'd share it:

After being interviewed by the school administration, the teaching prospect said, "Let me see if I've got this right: You want me to go into that room with all those kids... correct their disruptive behavior observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages and instill in them a love for learning.

You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride. You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook and apply for a job.

You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior and make sure that they all pass the state exams.

You want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps and communicate regularly with their parents by letter telephone, newsletter and report card.

You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.

You want me to do all this and then you tell me...I CAN'T PRAY?"

Hat tip to Gather.com and all those who sent it to me via email.

19 Story Cross Dominates Landscape

2007-10-21T22:50:00.000-07:00

Check out this huge cross in Groom, Texas. It was built by Steve Thomas and a group of 250 welders. Here are a few facts about the cross from this web page:

It stands 19 stories tall.
The arms stretch 110 ten feet across.
It's made of welded steel covered with steel sheeting.
There are no guide wires or extra supports keeping it up.

Be sure to see the full-page description of the cross, and the beautiful pictures of the cross at night.

My Reaction to The Knight by Gene Wolfe

2007-09-20T18:40:00.000-07:00

I finished Gene Wolfe's The Knight today. My Wolfe gene must be missing, because I don't get it. I understand that his books are often obscure on a first reading, and that this is just the first of a two-book series, but nothing in the book really moved me. Some of the scenes were beautifully written, and I liked the main character, Able of the High Heart, but the story left me flat. It just didn't seem worth the effort.

I thought I'd search the web for other reactions to the book to see what I was missing, and while many reviewers were positive, most of them were vague about why they liked it so much. Their comments generally bore on the same theme: "I'm not sure what the book means, but I look forward to reading the next book to find out."

Finally I found a review that I could relate to. Steven Wu, a "huge fan of Gene Wolfe," found the novel "too random, too aimless," and "like some fantasy writer's first stab at the art." Like me, Wu stuck with the book, "because this is Wolfe." He continues, "I tried hard with this book, slogging through it for a month and a half, and it just never got better."

My feelings exactly.

Be sure to read the entire review at Steven Wu's Book Reviews. And while you're there, check out his opinion of The Power and the Glory, Anubis Gates and Bridge of Birds.

Words Create Worlds

2007-09-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

I just love the way this picture illustrates the power of words:

Genealogy Meets Web 2.0 with OurStory.com

2007-09-15T18:57:00.000-07:00

If you've always wanted to keep a record of your family's history but didn't know where to begin, you might consider looking at OurStory.com. I've just been playing around on the site, and the unique thing about it is the way it makes family history a collaborative effort. (In the interest of full disclosure, let me say up front that OurStory.com is a sponsor of this site, but they are not sponsoring this post.)

After the free sign-up, you can create a time line for anything, and then invite others to join you in creating the story. For instance:

You can invite others to write about what they remember about your wedding, including adding pictures.
You can set up a tribute page for your grandparents' 50th anniversary and invite all the grandchildren to contribute their favorite memory.
You can tell your family's history and invite all your relatives to participate.

One idea I had was to invite everyone I know to tell the story of the one book that's had the biggest impact on their life.

Each story gets its own time line, and collaborators can subscribe to new entries via RSS, so you can always keep up with newly added memories. You can also add your time line to any blog you author.

I've been trying for over 15 years to put together my family's history, but with OurStory.com I can now invite my parents, brothers, sisters, and cousins to help me in this daunting project. In addition to adding memories, they can also add pictures and videos, creating a multimedia story of my family's memories.

OurStory.com brings the power of social networking to genealogy and memory-making.

As one of their tag lines goes, OurStory.com - Life is a journey. Tell the story.

Shadow Puppets Express a Wonderful World

2007-09-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

Just when you think the world is getting bleaker and bleaker, something like this arrives in your email inbox:

Raymond Crowe doing shadow puppetry at the 2007 Helpmann Awards

Chronological Middle-earth Reading List

2007-09-11T06:09:00.000-07:00

If you've ever wanted to read Tolkien's Middle-earth writings in chronological order, you might want to check out the Chronological Middle-earth Reading List. It's available in Word or pdf format.

Page Holding Book Gadget

2007-09-02T16:40:00.000-07:00

Kimbooktu is the reigning queen of book gadgets, but I came across something that I just had to share. Sorry, Kim, I would have sent it to you, but I haven't posted in a while and I was feeling guilty :-)

It's called Thumb Thing, and you use it to keep the pages open while you're reading:

Pretty cool, huh? Read more about it at the Thumb Thing website.

Video of a Deer Jumping over a Motorcyclist - Real or Not?

2007-08-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

Check out this video of a deer jumping over a motorcyclist.

Hat tip to Paula Neal Mooney, who wonders if the video is real or a digital forgery. What do you think?

The Best Thing I Read this Week

2007-08-21T06:39:00.000-07:00

I found a real gem at the used book store yesterday: Quiet Places with Jesus by Rev. Isaias Powers, C.P. I've been looking for a prayer book to help me concentrate more on the person of Jesus as I pray. I tend to be a bit too intellectual when I meditate and I wanted something that would help tap my imagination.

Fr. Powers wrote these guided meditations in the 1970s and they're very much in the Jesuit tradition of using the imagination to help one pray. What I've been impressed with most so far, however, is Fr. Powers' summary of how to know if one's prayer is successful. He's captured the essence of effective prayer so beautifully that I want to share it with you:

For prayer to be "successful" (that is, for grace to have "worked") does not depend on an emotional "high," or even on the awareness that "I prayed really well." The only criteria is that which was proclaimed by Christ:

"By their fruits you will know them."
(Matthew 7: 15-20; 12:33)

If the time spent in prayer endows the person with more kindness, patience, hope, joy, gratitude, love, serenity, faith, thoughtfulness, gentleness, courage, humility, wisdom, compassion, a sense of oneness and purpose with all humanity...then God's grace is most certainly at work.

To me, that is one of the greatest explanations of how to know whether or not one is really praying or simply going through the motions. It's not how good we feel during or immediately after the prayer, it's how our actions slowly begin to change for the better.

Fr. Powers ends his introduction with this beautiful blessing:

May Blessed Mary, the greatest example of prayer--and St. Luke, the foremost evangelist of our Lord's insistence on prayer--guide you to a place of peace, a hold on hope, a capacity for unclutteredness...and to such a habit of constant prayer that you will no longer need any manuals or methods...when God will speak plainly--without parables--to your heart.

I think Quiet Places with Jesus is really going to help my prayer bear more fruit.

2 Videos Against Cyberbullying

2007-08-19T07:12:00.000-07:00

The Ad Council always creates the most startling commercials. Here are two of their recent efforts against cyber-bullying:

First Impressions of The Knight by Gene Wolfe

2007-08-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

I don't often understand Gene Wolfe's books, but I'm always captivated by his characters. Wolfe is one of those authors whose books leave me feeling a bit like an alien abductee who's been returned to his home: I know something important just happened, I just don't quite know what it was.

Fortunately, The Knight seems more accessible to me than other Wolfe novels I've read (which, admittedly, haven't been many). And Wolfe still has the power to create compelling, likeable characters. Like Severian in The Book of the New Sun, I liked Able of the High Heart from the opening paragraph, and I enjoy spending my time reading about him.

The story itself begins like many other fantasy stories: someone from our world somehow finds himself in a fantasy world or fairy land. Most of the time this device doesn't work, but occasionally an author can pull it off brilliantly (Kay's The Fionavar Tapestry, Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions, for instance). I have every confidence that Wolfe will be able to make it work in his novel. He's already got Kay and Anderson beat for the best transition from this world to the fantasy world.

I look forward to reading the rest of the The Knight, and I'll post more about the book as I work my way through it.

Win a Book from Teen Literacy Tips

2007-08-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

From my other blog, Teen Literacy Tips:

Get a chance at winning a new copy of Gary Blackwood’s ALA Notable book The Shakespeare Stealer for your classroom library by writing a review of the Teen Literacy Tips blog and linking back to your favorite article. The review must be at least 50 words long, and need not be positive; however, you must link back to a favorite article. Everyone who writes a review will be entered in a drawing to win the book.

For details, see the complete post, Win a Free Book in the Teen Literacy Tips Review Contest.

2 References to The Knight of the Sorrowful Face

2007-08-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

I just started Gene Wolfe's novel The Knight, and the first thing I encountered was this epigraph by Lord Dunsany which just happens to mention my favorite knight:

The Riders

Who treads those level lands of gold,
The level fields of mist and air,
And rolling mountains manifold
And towers of twilight over there?
No mortal foot upon them strays,
No archer in the towers dwells,
But feet too airy for our ways
Go up and down their hills and dells.
The people out of old romance,
And people that have never been,
And those that on the border dance
Between old history and between
Resounding fable, as the king
Who held his court at Camelot.
There Guinevere is wandering
And there the knight Sir Lancelot.
And by yon precipice of white,
As steep as Roncesvalles, and more,
Within an inch of fancy's sight,
Roland the peerless rides to war.
And just the tip of Quixote's spear,
The greatest of them all by far,
Is surely visible from here!
But no: it is the Evening Star.

And then I came across this quote by George Bernard Shaw:

"Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad."

And congratulations to Danielle at A Work in Progress for finishing Don Quixote!

Disappointed by Tim Powers' Novel Declare

2007-08-12T05:26:00.000-07:00

I finally had to abandon Tim Powers' supernatural spy novel, Declare. I read over 200 pages into it and just couldn't go any further. I really enjoyed Powers' earlier novel, The Anubis Gates, and I had high hopes for Declare after reading reviews. But the book didn't evoke any emotional reaction from me at all. I never really connected with Hale, the main character, and I didn't care for the way Powers' narrator alternated back and forth between the 1940s and the 1960s.

I think part of the problem was my unfamiliarity with many of the historical references in the book. If the characters or the story would have captivated me more, I would have done a little research into the history, but it just wasn't worth the time. As a point of comparison, when I began reading Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series, I only had a surface knowledge of nautical terms and Napleonic history, but I was so interested in Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin that I bought companion books to help me understand the story better. I had no such desire with Declare.

I was intrigued by the religious elements in the book, but not enough to keep reading. Fans of spy novels may have better luck with it than I did.

Disappointing.

What I've Been Browsing Lately

2007-08-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some sites I came across this past week that might be of interest to readers of Literary Compass:

More on Blogorator

2007-08-09T05:27:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I wrote about Blogorator, a widget that allows visitors to rate your blog. The good news is that as of this writing I'm the highest rated education blog on the Blogorator site (with only 4 ratings, and one of them mine, so I'm not breaking out any champagne).

The bad news? Apparently the widget may be causing an error message to pop up in blog readers and on the page itself. I've only heard one comment about this so far, and I haven't been able to get the message to pop up myself, so if you're experiencing this, would you mind letting me know? If it's causing a pop-up, I will remove the widget immediately.

One in Our Desire for Faith: The World Prayer Project

2007-08-08T06:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I forget the beauty of other faith traditions. Sometimes I get so narrow in the books I read, the places I visit, the web sites I search for, that I miss out on the presence of God in the wider world.

The World Prayers Project is a collection of adorations, invocations and celebrations from different faiths and faith traditions. It displays humanity's unceasing desire to respond to God's call. As Augustine said, our hearts are restless until they rest in God. The World Prayers Project shows how universal that restlessness is.

Obviously, many of the prayers at the Project contradict what I believe about God and spirituality. Some sources are even what I would consider outrageous or ridiculous. Nevertheless, there is something beautiful in the endeavor to know and communicate to God, regardless of what a person means by the term God.

The World Prayers Project is a testament to the power of God to elicit responses from his people. The varied nature of our responses as documented in the Project is a testament to our need for revelation and discernment, but is also a reflection of the diversity that God so generously distributes.

We may not all be one in faith yet, but we are one in our desire for faith.

Take a trip to The World Prayers Project and spin the wheel to get a random prayer. Today I came across the Hail Mary, Psalm 51 and Ecclesiates 3:1-8.

But I also came across the following:

How wonderful, O Lord, are the works of your hands!
The heavens declare Your glory,
the arch of the sky displays Your handiwork
In Your love You have given us the power
to behold the beauty of Your world
robed in all its splendor.
The sun and the stars, the valleys and the hills,
the rivers and the lakes all disclose Your presence.
The roaring breakers of the sea tell of Your awesome might,
the beast of the field and the birds of the air
bespeak Your wondrous will.
In Your goodness You have made us able to hear
the music of the world.
The voices of the loved ones
reveal to us that You are in our midst.
A divine voice sings through all creation.

--traditional jewish prayer

It is not so important to love all men today
as it is that each day
you learn to love one more human being.

--urantia book

Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance
everywhere we go.
Flood our souls with your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly
that our lives may only be a radiance of yours.
Shine through us and be so in us
that every soul we come in contact with
may feel your presence in our soul.
Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine,
so to shine as to be light to others.
The light, O Jesus, will be all from you.
None of it will be ours.
It will be you shining on others through us.
Let us thus praise you in the way you love best
by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching,
not by words, but by our example;
by the catching force -
the sympathetic influence of what we do,
the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you.
Amen.

-- prayer of Mother Teresa

Oh great and powerful ocean,
I fear and respect your beauty.
I wish not to take way
nor leave anything behind.
I only wish to dance
with you for a short while.

-- a surfer's prayer

How Does Your Blog Rate?

2007-08-07T06:19:00.000-07:00

Michael Kwan at JohnChow.com has a nice sponsored review of Blogorator.com, which provides free rating widgets for blogs. The sign-up is easy, the code-generator works like a charm, and the blog rating widget looks pretty decent (see my Blogorator in the right column).

Rating a blog is similar to rating a product on Amazon.com. You just click the star, and voila! the blog is rated. If you're registered user of Blogorator and you've uploaded an avatar, your avatar gets displayed as well.

Your blog also gets ranked at the Blogorator site, so there's potential for more exposure. As Kwan points out, there are no minimum votes required to be at the top, which needs to be addressed.

One feature I wish it had is the ability for each post to be ranked and factored into the rating. Still, Blogorator seems like a pretty cool idea. I'll try it for a while to see if I really like it.

If you install Blogorator on your blog, leave a comment and I'll visit your site and rate it.

Water, Water Everywhere - That Catholic Show Episode 7

2007-08-06T05:42:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of SQPN, nominated for 8 podcast awards in 2007:

Clowning about with Books

2007-08-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

Be the life of the party by learning this funny clown routine using books:

VideoJug: How To Clown About With Books

Get Ready for the Weekend with this Relaxing Work of Art

2007-08-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

Check out this beautiful animated ecard by Jacquie Lawson. It'll help you get in the right frame of mind for the weekend.

That Catholic Show Talks about the Priesthood

2007-08-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out the latest episode of That Catholic Show:

Did You Know about This Official Update?

2007-08-02T05:41:00.000-07:00

(Cross posted at Teen Literacy Tips)

School is rapidly approaching, so my mind is starting to refocus itself on what I need to do to get ready to teach. This is the time of the summer that I start watching movies like Mr. Holland's Opus to re-energize the teacher within.

In that spirit, I want to share with you the official update to the viral video Did You Know? by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod. I like to keep this video in mind as I start thinking about my goals for the new school year. How will I help students prepare to participate in this ever-changing society?

Master and Commander Audio Book Review

2007-07-31T05:59:00.000-07:00

Simon Vance does a superb job reading every character in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander except one: the central character Jack Aubrey.

I just finished listening to Blackstone Audio's unabridged version of Master and Commander, and the book keeps getting better each time I experience it. I first read it about ten years ago, then a few years after that I listened to Patrick Tull's unabridged audio recording from RecordedBooks.com.

This time around I didn't get so bogged down trying to understand the naval jargon, so I was able to concentrate more on the characters. If you've never read any of O'Brian's books, you're missing out on some fantastic characters and compelling stories.

But Simon Vance just didn't read Jack Aubrey correctly, in my opinion. Vance read him with a deep voice that sounded overweight and pompous, rather than forceful and commanding. I realize that Aubrey is a big man, and Maturin is constantly harping on him to lose weight, but Vance's reading went a bit beyond what was necessary. I much prefer Patrick Tull's gravelly, rough voice.

However, Vance's overall narration was excellent, and I would still recommend this recording to those who can't get a hold of Patrick Tull's superior reading. And speaking of the late Patrick Tull, I'll end with a video of Tull reading from The Reverse of the Medal, and one of the most powerful scenes in the whole series. Warning: the video contains a strong vulgarity and gives away some of the plot, so take that into account before watching.

What if the Simpsons Were a Live Action TV Series?

2007-07-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

For those of you who just can't get enough of the Simpsons:

Scare Your Friends with These Gag Books

2007-07-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

From Matthew at Gizmodo:

This toy is shaped like a row of books, and includes a sensor that triggers spooky noises and pushes out one of the books when someone walks past.

Read more about the books or order them at Things You Never Knew Existed.

Become a Simpsons Cartoon!

2007-07-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

Check out the very cool Simpsonizeme site where you can upload a picture of yourself and become transformed into a Matt Groening-inspired cartoon. You can modify your hair, clothing and more, similar to creating a Nintendo Mii. You can even add backgrounds, like this picture of me standing in front of school:

Ultra cool! A very big tip of the hat to Tim at Assorted Stuff.

Top 10 Henry David Thoreau Quotes

2007-07-28T06:06:00.000-07:00

I was looking at my commonplace book and was again struck by the eloquence of Henry David Thoreau. Here are some of my favorite Thoreau quotes, most of them from Walden:

I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.
...to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and the future, which is precisely the present moment
Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.
In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one's self in this earth is not a hardship, but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely.
The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred millions to a poetic or divine life.
The adventurous student will always study the classics...For what are the classics but noblest recorded thoughts of man. They are the only oracles which are not decayed.
Books must be read as reservedly and deliberately as they were written.
A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips;--not represented on canvas or marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself.
How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book!
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Literary Allusions in The Simpsons

2007-07-27T05:54:00.000-07:00

Continuing yesterday's post to celebrate today's release of the new Simpsons movie, here is a list of 10 episode titles with literary origins:

Homer's Odyssey
The Call of the Simpsons
The Telltale Head
The Crepes of Wrath
Simpson and Delilah
One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish
A Streetcar Named Marge
The Last Temptation of Homer
Much Apu about Nothing
The Old Man and the Lisa

Also, eHow.com has some good ideas for how to plan "The Simpsons" premiere party.

And finally, there's this cool video from Zack Kim playing the Simpsons theme song on two guitars at the same time:

New Free Business Opportunity for Stay-at-Home Moms

2007-07-26T07:57:00.001-07:00

I know many of my readers are stay-at-home moms who blog, so I thought I'd share with you a new online business opportunity that my wife and I recently joined. It's free, it's simple, and it takes away the "business game" that I hate playing. It's called MY POWERMALL and it's completely free.

Normally I wouldn't intrude on my literature posts with something like this, but I really think it's worth it for you to look at.

The best way to find out about the business is to watch one of the movies and explore the website.

MY POWERMALL is not just for stay-at-home moms, either. Other people can benefit from it as well:

Non-profits like Catholic schools and parishes
College students
Anyone looking to enhance their income with a free online business

I don't do things like this very often, so please forgive the off-topic post and ignore it if it's not for you. But it might just be something that could help you out financially.

Marge Simpson Imagines a Catholic Heaven

2007-07-26T05:44:00.000-07:00

The Simpsons movie comes out tomorrow, so here's a short clip to mark the occasion:

Possessed by Books

2007-07-23T06:05:00.000-07:00

I've known some bibliomaniacs in my time, but Archdeacon Meadow has got to be one of the worst afflicted:

Archdeacon Meadow accumulated so many books that he was forced to sell a considerable portion of his collection. But as their auction proceeded he experienced such passionate anguish that he left the room and returned again in disguise to begin bidding for his own books.

--Otto L. Bettman, The Delights of Reading: Quotes, Notes and Anecdotes

How to Make an Origami Book

2007-07-22T08:52:00.000-07:00

As you're relaxing today, why not try your hand at making this really cool origami mini-book:

Pictures from Our Notre Dame Trip

2007-07-19T05:52:00.000-07:00

Under Notre Dame's Golden Dome

I've posted some pictures of my trip to Notre Dame at Flickr.

I Write in Books - And I'm Proud of It

2007-07-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

One of the comments I often get from people who have read my book ROMAN Reading is "I could never write in my books." It's hard to get people to understand the value and pleasure of writing comments, thoughts and reactions in their books. But now I have a book to recommend to them: Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books by H. J. Jackson.

I found this book in the Notre Dame bookstore, and I couldn't be more excited to read it. From the back cover:

Imaginative and amusing, this book will be a pleasure for anyone who cares about books and reading. H. J. Jackson examines all varieties of marginalia, from casual scribbles to lengthy arguments, and introduces us to annotators both celebrated and unknown whose jottings in book margins reveal much about themselves, their relationships with other readers, and their passionate involvement with books.

I love the phrase "passionate involvement with books." I think many readers are passionate about their books, but writing comments and reactions in books really shows a reader's involvement.

I hope to read Marginalia in the next few weeks. I'll let you know how I like it.

A Former Student Gives a Homily

2007-07-17T05:35:00.000-07:00

We're back! Our week at Notre Dame was fantastic, but there's nothing like sleeping in your own bed.

We had an uneventful trip home, praise God. On Sunday we drove through Helena, Montana to celebrate Mass at the cathedral there. I had never been there, and I was awestruck by the amount of marble and stained glass. Helena is not exactly on the way to anywhere, but if you ever get the chance, stop in and take a tour of the cathedral.

I'm currently uploading all of my pictures to Flickr, and I'll link to them when I'm finished (What?--You didn't think you'd get out of seeing my vacation pictures did you? At least you don't have to think of a flimsy excuse to avoid coming over to my house to watch the slide show).

When I got back Sunday night I was disappointed to learn that I missed Deacon Matt Nicks' first homily at my home parish of St. Peter's. I wrote about Matt's ordination a while back and was looking forward to hearing him. Fortunately, thanks to technology, I still got to hear it, even though I couldn't be there. Our music director records all of the parish homilies and sends them to me as mp3 files so I can upload them to our Keys to the Kingdom podcast.

If you'd like to listen to Deacon Matthew's homily from last week, click here to download the mp3 file. If you like you can also subscribe to the entire podcast.

Our Last Days at Notre Dame

2007-07-12T17:28:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday night in South Bend and our week at ND Vision is almost over. My son and the other teens that came with us have had a fantastic time...and so have we adults. Here are some more highlights of the past few days:

Sitting awestruck as 225 teens spent an hour together in Eucharistic adoration
Praying/chanting morning prayer and Vespers in the lady chapel at the Notre Dame basilica
Gazing open-mouthed at all the beautiful works of art that decorate the campus and its buildings
Praying the rosary with over 225 teenagers at the Notre Dame grotto
Enjoying the presence so many young, enthusiastic, spirit-filled Holy Cross priests
Eating some of the best food in the world each and every meal
Talking over lunch with Kevin, a young seminarian who has just finished his freshman year and has given up a month of his summer to mentor the young ND Vision participants
Visiting the Notre Dame bookstore six or seven times, wishing I could just bring a tent and camp out there for a few days
Trying unsuccessfully to find and shake hands with Ralph McInerney, Notre Dame professor and author of the Fr. Dowling mysteries
Visiting the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend
And most important, getting to spend some quality time with people who have an intense love of working with Catholic teens

A couple of more quotes I will take with me as I leave this conference:

Catholic teens are not "the Church of tomorrow;" they are "the young Church of today."
"Joy is suffering that's been worked through."

To anyone with high school students, and to all youth ministers, I highly recommend this week at Notre Dame. I've met people from New York, Texas, Florida, Wisconsin, Illinois, and various other places, and all of us have been impressed by the quality of the program and of the college students leading it. We'll be back.

The conference officially ends tomorrow at noon, after which we will load up our vehicles and try to drive 600 miles to St. Cloud, Minnesota. Please pray that we have a safe three days on the road as we return to Spokane. When I get back I'll post some of the pictures I've taken and then get back to writing about books and reading. I've picked up a couple of volumes from the Notre Dame bookstore that I'm anxious to write about.

Thanks in advance for your prayers.

Notre Dame Trip Days 3 and 4

2007-07-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Now that I've finally figured out how to connect to the wireless network here at Notre Dame I can give a quick update. First things first: yesterday.

Two words: Chicago. Traffic.

We left Jackson, Minnesota on time at 7:00 a.m., then around 2:00 p.m. got bogged down for two hours trying to get through Chicago. We were trying to avoid the Ryan Expressway because the official site said it was under construction, so we took what we thought could make better time on another road. Instead we became the incarnation of that old hobbit saying, "Short cuts make long delays."

And if it wasn't the traffic it was the electrical storm. Sheets of water came pelting down on us as we rolled through Illinois, and we were surrounded by dozens of flashes of lightning. No one's car was hit by lightning on this leg of the trip, though, so we counted ourselves lucky.

We rolled into Notre Dame at about 8:30 p.m., exhausted and two and a half hours late. We were afraid the youth group had missed important orientation information, but the ND Vision people were great and got the kids right into the keynote speech. ND Vision even ordered sub sandwiches for our teens (and for us!), since we hadn't had time to stop for dinner.

The rest of us got settled in by about 11:00 p.m., and woke up fresh and ready to attend our conferences.

My favorite line from the keynote speech last night:

"Build a man a fire and he stays warm for the night; set a man on fire and he stays warm for the rest of his life."

The campus here is absolutely beautiful. I've got room for over 1,000 pictures on my camera's memory card, and I may just take that many before we leave on Friday.

And the campus bookstore is almost worth the drive in itself. I've never seen such an incredible section of religious books. I spent an hour in there today, and I imagine I'll go back a few more times before Friday. So far I've only bought a hat for myself, but that's only because I was too overwhelmed to get anything else.

I'm going to have to bring this to a close. Sorry for the rambling nature of this post, but I need to run to dinner and don't have time to make it more coherent.

Tonight I'm going to attend the rosary at the Grotto, then Vespers in the Basilica. And I hope to get to Morning Prayer tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. I'll let you know tomorrow what they were like.

Notre Dame Trip Day 2

2007-07-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

Today we're in the small town of Jackson, Minnesota, after driving 660 miles yesterday. The weather was much nicer today--no one was struck by lightning. Highlights from yesterday's travel:

Mount Rushmore: An awe-inspiring sight to those of us who had never seen it before.
A brief glimpse of the badlands: we could see the edges of the badlands from the freeway. I'd like to come back some day to take a closer look.
Sights we didn't get to see, but wanted to: the corn palace in Mitchell, SD, 1880 Town, the Reptile Gardens

We leave for Notre Dame in about an hour. We crossed into the mountain time zone on Saturday, we went into central time yesterday, and by the end of our driving today we'll be in eastern time. Today's drive is shorter, 588 miles. More updates later.

Trip to Notre Dame, Day 1

2007-07-08T05:01:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning in Sheridan, Wyoming, after driving about 660 miles from Spokane, Washington yesterday with 13 teenagers, and 7 chaperones. Highlights of our first day of travel:

Stopping at Lincoln, Montana's 10,000 Silver Dollar Bar
Attending Mass in Billings, MT with my parents. The young priest at St. Pius X Parish went to school with the deacon I wrote about a couple of months ago.
Chasing a huge electrical storm across southern Montana. I really enjoy watching Montana thunder storms, but not while driving through them. One of the minivans in our group was struck by lightning. Everyone was fine, but they were a bit shaken up.

Today we head across South Dakota to Mount Rushmore and then on to Minnesota before arriving at Notre Dame tomorrow night.

I'll keep updating as time and technology allow. Thanks for all your prayers.

Human Animation in a Soccer Stadium

2007-07-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

For all of you soccer fans out there (and you know who you are):

Tip o'the Hat to Gizmodo.

Caravan to Notre Dame!

2007-07-05T06:08:00.000-07:00

My son and I will be heading to Notre Dame next week for a 5-day conference called ND Vision. We're driving across the country in 4 rented minivans with 13 teenagers (yes, 13!). We leave Spokane, Washington at 5:00 in the morning and for the next three days I'll be trapped inside a moving snack zone. The cars that drive beside us will see the vans surrounded by a cloud of orange BHT fumes. I won't even begin to describe what it will smell like.

What is ND Vision? Here's how the people of ND Vision describe themselves:

ND Vision is committed to helping young people recognize God's call in their lives and respond to that call with courage and faith.

Since 2002, thousands of high school students have come to Notre Dame's campus to take part in this unique experience. In 2007, participants from across the nation will join together at ND Vision to ask important questions about life, faith, their own gifts, and the ways in which we are each called to be the change we want to see in the world.

I'm actually very excited to be going. Besides getting some quality time with my oldest son, I'm also going to be able to attend the special program for adults, ND Vision CYM.

The drive is also going to be fun. We're stopping in Billings, Montana where my parents live, and we're also going to stop at Mount Rushmore, which I've never seen.

I'm sharing this with you because I may not be able to write any posts next week. I'm trying to find out if I'll have Internet access while I'm there, because I'd love to write about our experiences, but if there's no access then I'll just have to wait until we get back to tell you all about it. I'll take pictures and keep a journal to remember everything, but I hope I'll be able to write from Notre Dame.

Do you have any recommendations for places to see while we're on the Notre Dame campus? I know we'll see "Touchdown Jesus," but what else should we be sure to see?

Berserker Death: RIP Fred Saberhagen

2007-07-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

Fred Saberhagen , one of my favorite science fiction writers, passed away from cancer on June 29, 2007 at the age of 77. Saberhagen is probably best-known as the author of the Berserker series, a set of science fiction stories about humanity's war against self-repairing killing machines that roam the universe with the sole purpose of eliminating all life. Saberhagen used his Berserker stories to explore what it meant to be human, and several of them were based on works of literature such as Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" and Melville's Moby-Dick.

Saberhagen was also Catholic, and if you can find a copy of his First Book of Swords, there's a fantastic afterword written by Catholic science fiction/fantasy critic Sandra Miesel (co-author of The Davinci Hoax) who summarizes his major works and explores his recurring themes and values.

I highly recommend the following books for any science fiction/fantasy fan (especially teenagers):

The Berserker series:

As mentioned earlier, the Berserkers are machines that scour the universe obeying their directive to destory life. Consider the opening paragraphs of "Without a Thought," the first Berserker story:

The Machine was a vast fortress, containing no life, set by its long-dead masters to destroy anything that lived. It and many others like it were the inheritance of Earth from some war fought between unknown stellar empires, in some time that could hardly be connected with any Earthly calendar.

One such machine could hang over a planet colonized by men and in two days pound the surface into a lifeless cloud of dust and steam, a hundred miles deep. This particular machine had already done just that.

It used no predictable tactics in its dedicated, unconscious war against life. The ancient, unknown, gamesmen had built it as a random factor, to be loosed in the enemy's territory to do what damage it might. Men thought its plan of battle was chosen by the random disintegrations of atoms in a block of some long-lived isotope buried deep inside it, and so was not even in theory predictable by opposing brains, human or electronic.

Men called it a berserker.

You can see echoes of the Berserkers in the Cylons of the new Battlestar Galactica series. Some stories read like horror tales, others like sword-and-sorcery fantasy, and still others like space opera. The Berserkers books are truly a landmark science fiction series.

Empire of the East

Empire of the East is a blend of science fiction and fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic future. Warriors wield swords and wizards wield magic, and citizens occasionally come across an remnant of the Old Days, like flashlights, hand grenades or tanks. The book was originally published in three volumes: The Broken Lands, The Black Mountains, and Changeling Earth. Sandra Miesel describes the series in this way:

Saberhagen's Empire takes place in a post-catastrophe North America whose culture is vaguely medieval. Wizardry dominates this demon-ridden age while the rare bits of technology surviving from the Old World are objects of superstitious awe. (afterword, The First Book of Swords)

The story is epic and imaginative, from its boy-hero Rolfe to the giant beast Draffut. Saberhagen is at his finest in this series. It appears that Saberhagen added to the original series with the 2006 publication of Ardneh's Sword.

The Books of Swords and The Books of Lost Swords

As a dedicated fantasy reader in my younger days, I could never get enough of magic swords: Arthur's Excalibur, Frodo's Sting, Elric's Stormbringer, I loved reading about enchanted blades. So I was in pure sword heaven with Saberhagen's Swords series, where there is not one magic sword, nor even two or three, but twelve enchanted blades made by Vulcan, blacksmith to the gods.

In The First Book of Swords we learn that the gods have created twelve magic swords, each with a special power and a corresponding curse. For instance, the sword Coinspinner brings good luck to its wielder but is easily lost or taken; Wayfinder shows its bearer the quick path, but adds danger to the journey. Other swords include Sightblinder, Farslayer, Soulcutter and Townsaver.

The gods then cast these swords across the world to watch mortals fight over them. Taking place in the same world as Empire of the East, Saberhagen's two Swords series are not so much a continuation of the earlier story as much as they are new stories within the same environment.

There are two different Swords series, both with similar titles. The first series has been collected in one volume titled The First Swords. The second series, known as the Books of Lost Swords, is eleven books long, and (almost) each sword gets its own story. Saberhagen appeared to run out of steam on the final book, but all in all it's an entertaining series.

Conclusion

Fred Saberhagen may not have been the most well-known fantasy/science fiction writer, but he is certainly worth reading. And I haven't even touched upon his Dracula series, which some say is his best work. I haven't read the series yet, mostly because I don't particularly care for vampire stories, as you may remember from my review of the first Harry Dresden book.
I'd love to hear from any of you who've read any of his Dracula stories.

As I bring this to an end, I'll leave you with a description of Fred Saberhagen by Roger Zelazny, from the Prologue to Empire of the East:

Fred is a genial, witty, well-informed individual, with a wonderful wife named Joan, who is a mathematician, and the three best-behaved children I've ever met: Jill, Eric and Tom. He likes good food and drink and conversation.

Virtual Travel for the Literary-Minded

2007-07-03T06:28:00.000-07:00

(cross-posted at Teen Literacy Tips)

The English Department at San Jose State University has created Literary Locales, a web site that links to over 1,000 pictures of "places that figure in the lives and writings of famous authors." It could be organized more effectively, and some of the links are broken, but there are some great images indexed there. It's a terrific site for those studying or teaching literature.

Take a look at some of the destinations:

From one of their Shakespeare pages:

Various other links:

There are hundreds of links, and you could spend hours virtually visiting these literary locations.

The Greatest Science Fiction Novel of All Time?

2007-07-02T06:32:00.000-07:00

I've been playing around with StumbleUpon, and I came across The Modern Library's List of 100 Best Novels. There are two lists, actually. The first was created by the Board of The Modern Library, and the second compiles the results of their readers' poll. What first struck me is how at odds the Board seems to be with the readers. Take a look at the first five positions, with the Board's choice listed first, the readers' choice second:

Ulysses by James Joyce vs. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald vs. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce vs. Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov vs. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley vs. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Did you notice item number three on the readers' list? I had to do a double-take when I saw Battlefield Earth there. Now, I first read Battlefield Earth when it was originally published, sometime in the mid-1980s I believe, and I have to admit I loved it. At the time I was in my late teens and I knew nothing about Scientology or Dianetics. I just enjoyed the rip-roaring space-opera action. It's still a guilty pleasure of mine, but the third best novel ever written? I don't think so. It's certainly not the greatest science fiction novel ever written. It's not even the greatest space-opera science fiction novel of the last twenty-five years (Ender's Game is a greater novel, in my opinion, and there are many others.).

It looks to me like someone stuffed the ballots, especially when you consider that two more of Hubbard's books made the list. Still, for those of you who only know of Battlefield Earth from John Travolta's travesty of a movie (which I still refuse to watch--ever), give the book a chance if you're looking for a fun, action-packed sci-fi shoot-em-up for the summer. It's one of those feel-good, Rocky-type stories.

But back to the lists. One thing I've come to understand over the years is that book lists tell you a lot more about the person who made the lists than about the books on the list. I'm sure if you click around this blog and look at all of the lists I've posted you can get a pretty good idea of what kind of person I am. If we happen to have a lot in common, then my lists might be useful to you. If we don't have much in common, you probably won't find much to your liking.

Still, I do love lists. I love reading them and I love creating them. And I love arguing about other peoples' lists. :-)

Your Sunday Inspiration

2007-07-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

Here's your inspirational video for the week:

Dave Barry Meets Barbara Bush

2007-07-01T06:38:00.000-07:00

How did Barbara Bush help Dave Barry to become a humor columnist? Watch and listen as Dave himself tells the story (Video courtesy of FreeIQ):

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

The First Year Ends, Another Begins

2007-06-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

Literary Compass is a year old today! It's been 365 days since I first began blogging with this overlong post about Tolkien's influence on my life. In the past year I've learned a lot about myself, about writing, and about books. I appreciate everyone who's supported Literary Compass by subscribing, commenting and linking back. Your support keeps me writing on those days when I don't quite feel like it.

To mark today's occasion, I've put together two lists. First, a list of the most popular posts of the past year, and second, a list of posts that I think were overlooked the first time through and which might deserve a second chance. Enjoy!

Most popular posts of the past year (in descending order):

101 Essential Web Sites for Readers of Literature

Literary Testosterone: 30 Must-Read Classics for Teenage Boys

10 Best Books for New Catholics

Top 5 Websites for a Deserted Island

Introduction to Nick's Catholic Classics Reading List

45 Important Movies as Chosen by the Vatican

Prayer for a Busy Life by St. Teresa of Avila

ROMAN Reading: 5 Practical Skills for Transforming Your Life through Literature

How to Turn a Book into a Treasured Heirloom

What if Tolkien Wrote Stairway to Heaven?

Title Blending Meme

The 15 Greatest Movies with Novels as Source Materials

When I Loaned this Book I Deemed it as Lost

Some overlooked posts that I think are worth a second glance:

A Short Story for Your Day

Benedictine Books

Free Literary Valentines

9 Short Books That Will Change Your Life Forever

The Top 10 Catholic Prayer Books

Like a Good Neighbor, a Book Is Always There

2007-06-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

In my book ROMAN Reading: 5 Practical Skills for Transforming Your Life through Literature, I mention that reading a book is like talking with a neighbor. William Faulkner expresses this idea in the following quote:

The books I read are the ones I knew and loved when I was a young man and to which I return as you do to friends: the Old Testament, Dickens, Conrad, Cervantes--Don Quixote. I read that every year, as some do the Bible....I've read these books so often that I don't always begin at page one and read on to the end. I just read one scene, or about one character just as you'd meet and talk to a friend for a few minutes.

I never really enjoyed the Faulkner I read in college, probably because I didn't really understand it. But anyone who read Don Quixote every year is worth a second chance. I'll have to put The Sound and the Fury or Go Down, Moses on my "to read" list.

Lord Darcy: Sherlock Holmes Meets Jonathan Strange

2007-06-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

If you, like me, find the Harry Dresden series not to your taste, but like the idea of a magic-wielding detective, you might enjoy the Lord Darcy stories by Randall Garrett. Mix together Sherlock Holmes and Jonathan Strange, and add in a little alternate history, and you have an idea of what the Lord Darcy stories are all about.

What if Richard Lionheart didn't die, and what if the Protestant Reformation never happened? Garrett imagines an alternate history where in the twentieth century the Plantagenet dynasty still rules, and where magic works. Lord Darcy is the Chief Investigator for the Duke of Normandy, and along with his assistant, Master Sorcerer Sean O'Lochlainn, he deals with locked-room mysteries, espionage and murder. And if you like CSI, you'll enjoy reading how forensic sorcerer Sean O'Lochlainn applies the science of magic to crime scenes.

These stories are humorous, historically interesting, and extremely well plotted. There's a strong Catholic element present as well. They're a perfect next step for teenagers who like Harry Potter, and Lord Darcy's exploits would appeal to anyone who likes mysteries, alternate universes or contemporary fantasies.

The stories were all written between 1964 and 1979, but were not collected in one volume until 2002. As editor Eric Flint points out, they're filled with allusions to many of the famous detective stories of the 1960s and 1970s: Nero Wolfe, the Pink Pather and the Man from U.N.C.L.E., to name a a few. I highly recommend them, especially the full-length novel at the heart of the collection, Too Many Magicians.

Is Purgatory Like a Novel?

2007-06-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

What makes fiction so powerful and so poignant? Thornton Wilder sums it up in one of the most moving quotes I have ever read:

If Queen Elizabeth or Frederick the Great or Ernest Hemingway were to read their biographies, they would exclaim, "Ah, my secret is still safe." But if Natasha Rostov were to read War and Peace she would cry out as she covered her face with her hands: "How did he know, how did he know?"

Is this what the pain of Purgatory might be like: reading the story of our life as seen by God, and finally understanding that He sees and knows all? Will we, like Natasha, cover our faces and say, "How did He know, how did He know?"

Death is the moment when we realize that none of our secrets were safe.

Destiny's Calling Backwards - Don't Miss this Video!

2007-06-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah, this is a blog about literature and books from a Catholic perspective, but when you see something this cool you just have to share it:

Hat tip to Adam Frucci of Gizmodo.

Harry Dresden Book One: Not for Me

2007-06-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

I finished Storm Front: Book One of the Harry Dresden Files, and it wasn't quite as good as I had hoped it would be, but it was still quite entertaining. In brief:

What I liked:

The setting: I particularly liked Harry's house and office, and his idea about magic affecting complex machines
The film noir elements combined with traditional wizard-lore
Butcher's conception of magic and how it works: a little Latin, a staff, some magical symbols, all the things traditionally associated with users of magic
The action scenes

What I didn't like:

The brutal and explicit plot elements, which, while mostly necessary to the story, were not really to my taste; I've never enjoyed reading about the seedy side of life in works of literature, and I like it even less in popular fiction; this is most definitely not a book for kids
The demon/vampire characters: Even in shows like The X-Files I didn't like the stories that revolved around these kinds of characters
The characterizations of the female characters: most of them were one-dimensional and not very complimentary
The mob angle: For some reason, shows like The Sopranos or Once Upon a Time in America have never appealed to me, though there are some that I've really liked (i.e., The Godfather, Some Like it Hot); the gangsters in Storm Front seemed almost like Dick Tracy villains
The mystery plot: If Butcher was aiming at a traditional mystery plot, he violated one of the rules of the game in not introducing a key character until very late in the story
The writing style: I liked the first person viewpoint, but sometimes it was a bit over the top. I remember the end of one chapter when Harry, battered and bruised, said to the reader, "Do I have a great job, or what?"

As you've probably noticed, most of my complaints against the book have more to do with my own tastes rather than with Butcher's writing. And I have to say that it's significant that I finished the book, so it's definitely not awful. Far from it. It's just not a series that I'm going to be continuing with.

My next book is going to be Declare by Tim Powers. I loved his story The Anubis Gates and I have high expectations for Declare, based on reviews I've read online.

Working Mother or Crime Scene Investigator?

2007-06-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

For all you working moms out there, check out the new Working Mama blog, beginning with this hilarious video from the BBC.

Humiliation through Rereading

2007-06-22T05:47:00.000-07:00

This quote by Joseph Epstein rings true with me:

Rereading can be...a humility-inducing activity, when, on rereading, one learns that the first time around with a book, one's politics or fantasies or personal anxieties were in fact doing most of the work. Rereading books first read when young, one is inclined to weep for the naif one not so long ago was. And while at it one discovers, if one gets to reread the same book twenty years hence, one is even one now.

I can think of several books that I thought were true masterpieces when I read them twenty-five years ago that almost embarrass me now. For instance, if you can believe it, I once thought Terry Brooks' Sword of Shannara was better than Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

I wonder if young readers of today will have the same experience with the Harry Potter books when they get older...

How to Adjust the Audiobook Narrator's Speed on Your iPod

2007-06-21T07:05:00.000-07:00

I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and occasionally the narrator speaks a little too fast or a little too slow for my taste. I don't have an iPod for my audiobooks (I use the Creative Zen Nano because it's cheaper and remembers where I left off), but I know many of you do. Here's a nice little video tutorial that shows you how to adjust the narrator's speed on an iPod:

VideoJug: How To Adjust The Audiobook Narrator's Speed On Your Ipod

Have You Seen That Catholic Show?

2007-06-20T06:45:00.001-07:00

If you haven't been keeping up with That Catholic Show, then you've missed some great content. Greg and Jennifer Willits have a real online hit on their hands. That Catholic Show is perfect for new members of the Catholic Church, young members of the Catholic Church, or anyone wanting to increase their knowledge and faith.

You can watch the episodes on YouTube or you can susbscribe to That Catholic Show to have the high quality video files delivered to your computer. Here's the latest episode, followed by links to the others:

Episode 3 - Night of the Living Catechism
Episode 2 - Candles and Light
Episode 1 - Sit, Stand or Kneel

45 Important Movies as Chosen by the Vatican

2007-06-19T05:19:00.000-07:00

In 1995, to commemorate 100 years of film-making, the Vatican made a list of what it called "Some Important Films." The list was divided into three areas--Religion, Values and Art. I've been gradually acquiring them and watching them. What I particularly like about the list are the international titles.

Here's the list with a few comments of my own thrown in:

Religion:
Andrei Rublev
Babette's Feast - I really enjoyed this slow-moving but tender film.
Ben-Hur - The four-disc edition also includes the original silent film--an excellent dvd set.
The Flowers of St. Francis
Francesco
The Gospel According to St. Matthew
La Passion de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ
A Man for All Seasons
The Mission - I love the music in this film.
Monsieur Vincent
Nazarin
Ordet
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Sacrifice
Therese

Values:
Au Revoir Les Enfants
The Bicycle Thief
The Burmese Harp
Chariots of Fire - Show this movie to all the athletes in your family.
Decalogue
Dersu Uzala
Gandhi
Intolerance
It's a Wonderful Life
On the Waterfront - One of my favorite movies of all time--Brando and Malden are brilliant.
Open City
Schindler's List
The Seventh Seal
Tree of Wooden Clogs
Wild Strawberries

Art:
Citizen Kane - Another one of my favorites.
8 1/2
Fantasia
Grand Illusion
La Strada
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Leopard
Little Women
Metropolis - I can't believe how powerful this movie remains after all these years.
Modern Times - My family's favorite Chaplin movie--hilarious and touching.
Napoleon
Nosferatu
Stagecoach
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Wizard of Oz

For more information, see Steven Greydanus' excellent article, "The Vatican Film List: Ten Years Later," and reviews of all the films on the US Bishops' web site.

A Short Story for Your Day

2007-06-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a homegrown story for your reading pleasure:

Black
by Nick Senger

Johnny wore black to school every day. Black pants, black t-shirt, long black trenchcoat.

"You're a nice boy, Johnny," his teacher would say. "Why do you always wear black?"

"It suits me, Mrs. Parker," Johnny always replied. "I'm nobody."

"No one's nobody, dear," she said. "God has plans for everyone."

"Not me."

As Johnny went through junior high Mrs. Parker would see him on the playground or in the detention room, always wearing the black pants, the black t-shirt and the long black trenchcoat.

One day she saw his picture in the paper. He had been caught trying to steal a car. She visited him in jail.

"You're a nice boy, Johnny," she said. "Why do you always wear black?"

"It suits me. I'm nobody."

"No one's nobody, dear. God has plans for everyone."

"Not me."

A few more years went by, and Mrs. Parker heard about Johnny occasionally: two more stints in jail, then he was in the hospital, after he'd been injured in a drive-by shooting.

She stood beside the hospital bed. He was in a white gown under white linen sheets.

"You're not wearing black, Johnny."

He frowned. "I know, Mrs. Parker. I feel naked."

"You still want to wear black, Johnny? Why?"

"You know why," he replied. "It suits me."

"I have something for you." She opened up a box and took out a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt. "These are for you."

He frowned again. "Mrs. Parker--"

"Don't talk," she interrupted. "Just promise me you'll wear these when you get out of the hospital. Will you promise me that, Johnny?"

He looked away and said nothing.

She left before he could see the tears in the corners of her eyes.

That was the last time she saw him. He disappeared from her life.

Years went by and Mrs. Parker got old. She got sick. She got admitted to the hospital.

When Johnny came through the door she almost cried. He was still wearing black. Black pants, black trenchcoat buttoned to the chin.

"Oh, Johnny," she cried, "you're still wearing black. Why?"

He smiled and put his hand on hers. "I tried the blue jeans and the white t-shirt, and I wore them for awhile. But I had to go back to black."

"But why, Johnny, why? God has a purpose for everyone."

"You're right, Mrs. Parker. And thanks to you I found my purpose." He opened up his trenchcoat so she could see the white collar around his neck. "You saved me, Mrs. Parker."

He took out the sacred oil and annointed her forehead. "May God bless you, Mrs. Parker," he said, and he made the sign of the cross, smiling again. "I hope you don't mind that I'll be wearing black for the rest of my life."

"No," she said. "It suits you."

Copyright 2007, Nick Senger

Inspiration for Father's Day

2007-06-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

In celebration of Father's Day tomorrow, here's a touching video by the makers of Evolution of Dad:

I want to wish all my fellow dads a happy Father's Day, but especially my own dad: I love you, Dad.

Unburying Literary Treasure

2007-06-14T23:35:00.000-07:00

Julie of Happy Catholic has a new podcast called Forgotten Classics that you should definitely check out. Everyone's looking for something good to read, and Forgotten Classics helps to uncover great stories that have been overshadowed by more well-known authors. Julie reads portions of copyrighted stories and plans on reading public domain titles in their entirety.

She has a clear, comfortable voice, and a lot of personality comes across in the podcast. As with any podcast, you can listen on your computer or download episodes to your mp3 player and take them with you.

Listen to the first two episodes where she reads from Tales from Silver Lands and Topper.

Help Me Help You with Teen Literacy

2007-06-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

(cross posted at Teen Literacy Tips)

Thanks to everyone who has visited and subscribed to my new project, Teen Literacy Tips. Each day more and more people read the blog and download resources. I'm hoping to provide as much valuable information as possible to those who teach literature to teens.

If you're a teacher or a homeschooling parent of teenagers, I would love to hear what your needs and desires are. You can leave a comment on this post, on the Teen Literacy forums or by contacting me directly.

Which of these would be most helpful to you?

Book lists, reviews and suggestions
Lesson plans for specific books
Book discussion forums for teachers and teens
Handouts, assessments and other documents to download
Audio presentations (What topics? How long would you like the presentation to be? Are you interested in a weekly podcast?)
Video presentations
Teaching strategies to make learning more interesting, fun and productive

What have I not mentioned that you would like to see?

Thanks for all of your help. I have the best readers in the blogosphere!

The Knight of the Sorrowful Face Will Put a Smile on Yours

2007-06-12T05:28:00.000-07:00

I finally finished listening to the Don Quixote audiobook narrated by George Guidall, and it remains my favorite book of all time. It took almost five months to listen to (I have a very short commute to work), but it was worth the time. Guidall is deservedly known as the king of audiobooks, and his reading was masterful. In a book full of dozens of characters, he managed to give each one a separate personality and voice.

I don't want to say too much about the story itself, since the people at Tilting at Windmills are reading Don Quixote right now. One thing I will say, however, is that the second half of Don Quixote is far superior to the first half. I enjoyed the first half, but most of my fond memories come from the second half. It's funnier, more interesting from a literary point of view, and really develops the character of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

It's important to know that the second half was written some fifteen years after the first half as a reaction to unauthorized sequels that were circulating through Spain at the time, making Don Quixote possibly the first book in recorded history to have fan fiction. Cervantes did not like others messing with Don Quixote, so he really had no choice but to write his own sequel. Thank goodness he did!

Finally, the Edith Grossman translation that was used for Guidall's audio recording is marvelous. It's easy to read or listen to without sounding too modern.

Every reader of literature should get to know Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, so let Edith Grossman and George Guidall introduce you to them. You will come to love the Knight of the Sorrowful Face and his trusty squire, and they will entertain you for hours on end.

"When I Loaned This Book I Deemed It as Lost"

2007-06-10T06:33:00.000-07:00

The Book-Lender's Soliloquy
by Nick Senger (with apologies to Shakespeare)

To lend or not to lend, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of a book lost forever,
Or to hoard books against a sea of troubles,
And by keeping them hide them? To read: to lend;
No more. And by hoarding to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That the librarian is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To read, to lend;
To lend, perchance to lose. Ay, there's the rub.
For in that loss of books what dreams may come.

On the Return of a Book Lent to a Friend
(from A Passion for Books: A Book Lover's Treasury)
by Christopher Morley

I give hearty and humble thanks for the safe return of this book, which having endured the peril's of my friend's bookcase and the bookcases of my friend's friends, now returns to me in reasonably good condition. I give hearty and humble thanks that my friend did not see fit to give this book to his infant for a plaything, nor use it as an ashtray for his burning cigar, nor as a teething-ring for his mastiff. When I loaned this book I deemed it as lost; I was resigned to the business of the long parting. But now that my book has come back to me, I rejoice and am exceedingly glad! Bring hither the fatted morocco and let us rebind the volume and set it on the shelf of honor, for this my book was lent and is returned again. Presently, therefore, I may return some of the books I myself have borrowed.

What if Jules Verne had written Star Trek?

2007-06-09T08:51:00.001-07:00

What would Star Trek look like if it were written by Jules Verne and made into a silent movie circa 1927? Watch this Star Trek parody to find out.

Speed Racer and the Mach 5 Come to the Big Screen in Live Action

2007-06-07T06:39:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite shows when I was younger was Speed Racer, and today, thanks to Gizmodo, I learned the Wachowski Brothers are turning it into a movie starring Matthew Fox and Susan Sarandon. When I was a kid, everyone on my block including my two brothers and me wanted to drive Speed Racer's Mach 5 convertible. I even had a Mach 5 Hot Wheels car. I can't wait to see it on the big screen.

Here's hoping the movie turns out exciting and family friendly.

Watch the Speed Racer press conference on YouTube.

Harry Dresden - For Teenagers?

2007-06-06T06:11:00.000-07:00

I'm about a quarter of the way into Storm Front, book one of the Harry Dresden Files, and I wanted to answer a question posed by Maureen, who wants to know about its suitability for junior high/high school readers.

It didn't take long to get the answer to that question. Keep in mind that I believe in each parent deciding what their kids can read or watch, so don't take my comments as gospel truth on this. Here we go:

I'm really enjoying the book so far as a light, entertaining read. But I wouldn't be able to read this book to my eighth grade class because of some pretty graphic crime scene details that occur early in the book. It's graphic not only in its description of the state of the murder victims, but also in what the victims were doing when they died. In other words, if this book were made into a movie, this crime scene alone would give the movie an "R" rating.

That doesn't mean teens shouldn't read it. I think the story is just the kind of thing a teenager would enjoy. But a parent should probably read it first to see if their teen could handle it. I'm not going to give it to my seventh grade boy to read, and I'm not even sure if I would give to my freshman. I have to wait until I get finished with the book to know for sure.

Sometimes a book has a such a great message and is so deep that graphic violence or sexual content can be tolerated, if it's an integral part of the story. Storm Front doesn't strike me as that kind of book yet, but as I said earlier, I'm only a fourth of the way through it.

There's a bit of rough language, but so far nothing you wouldn't hear in a PG-13 movie, and the plot is engaging. Storm Front has been described as Philip Marlowe meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I think of it more as Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell meets The X-Files. And maybe that's a good comparison for its suitability for teens: if you let your teens watch The X-Files, you would probably be ok with them reading Storm Front.

I'll write more about Harry after I've finished the book.

Announcing Teen Literacy Tips

2007-06-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased to announce the launch of my major web project, Teen Literacy Tips. If you are a junior or senior high teacher or administrator, a homeschooling parent, or a parent who wants to enrich your teen's classroom education, Teen Literacy Tips is designed for you. Please tell as many people as you can about it. Here's an excerpt from the introductory page:

This site will help you turn each of your students into the elusive Literate Teenager -- spontaneous yet intelligent, energetic yet thoughtful, the despair of nutritionists and the hope of the world. If you're a junior or senior high teacher, a concerned parent, or a school administrator, the materials you find here will help you teach teens to be more human, to be more intelligent, and to be more analytical. Using the skills and resources on this site, you'll become the reading mentor students need: the Gandalf to their Frodo, the Good Witch to their Dorothy, the Socrates to their Plato.

The heart of this site is Teen Literacy Tips, an educational blog that provides you with teaching techniques and advice several times a week. You can subscribe to the feed using a blog reader, or you can simply bookmark the page and visit it each day.

The discussion forums give you a chance to connect with other teachers and parents who face the same challenges you do when it comes to teaching teens to improve their reading habits and skills.

And one of the most exciting areas is the resources section, where you will find lessons, book lists, articles, and much more, including audio and video files that you can download. This area will be expanding greatly during the coming months, so be sure to visit it frequently.

I've even partnered with Simply Hired to provide job listings for those of you that might be fresh out of college and looking for work, or for those of you looking for a change of scene.

Please drop by and leave a comment, and if you like what you see, spread the word. You can find it at www.TeenLiteracy.com or www.NickSenger.com.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

2007-06-04T05:31:00.000-07:00

My wife and I celebrated our seventeenth anniversary two nights ago by attending the Spokane Civic Theater's performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music. The show was fantastic--elaborate sets, wonderful singing--a real treat. There were even a couple of songs that we had never heard before. It was also very special to see one of my former students in the role of Louisa Von Trapp.

My wife loves The Sound of Music, so one Christmas I bought her the movie, the soundtrack and the original book. Now I see that there's a cd of music by the Original Trapp Family Singers available, as well as a book about the making of The Sound of Music. The Sound of Music is great family entertainment, and for Catholic families there's the added bonus of being able to use the movie to talk about our faith.

As much as I enjoyed the performance on Saturday, I was more excited by the news that the Spokane Civic Theater was going to be staging a performance of Man of La Mancha next year! If you're a regular reader of Literary Compass, you know how much I love Don Quixote, so this is great news for me. I've already put it on my calendar for May 2008. My wife and I are almost done listening to the audiobook of Don Quixote, and we plan to watch the film version of Man of La Mancha when we finish, even though we've been told it's a subpar movie. I've never seen it and I'm curious.

Musical theater, The Sound of Music and Don Quixote: these are a few of my favorite things.

Camelot - 'Tis a Silly Place

2007-06-02T05:50:00.001-07:00

My boys and I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail a few days ago and that got me thinking about Arthurian novels. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Once and Future King by T.H. White - A terrific book, but unfortunately I can't get the Disney movie The Sword in the Stone out of my head when I read the first part.
The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, and The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart - This was my first introduction to the Arthurian saga back when I was in high school. I loved it.
Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory - I like this particular prose version by Keith Baines
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight translated by J.R.R. Tolkien - One of Tolkien's many contributions to medieval studies

And here are a few I haven't read but that I want to someday:

Idylls of the King - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Arthurian Romances - Chretien de Troyes
Parzival by Wolfram Von Eschenbach
The Quest of the Holy Grail

And here's a bonus: Lego Monty Python!

Helm's Deep by Jim Henson?

2007-06-01T06:04:00.000-07:00

It's not Fraggle Rock. It's not even The Dark Crystal. Silver Snail comics, a Toronto comic book store, has created a window display of the battle of Helm's Deep using Jim Henson's muppets.

Penguins as orcs...my daughter would not be pleased.

Mr. Bean in the Library

2007-05-31T06:23:00.000-07:00

Enjoy! (Hat tip to Kimbooktu.)

The 15 Greatest Movies with Novels as Source Material

2007-05-30T05:34:00.000-07:00

Not only are these great movies, but the novels on which they are based are classics, too. If you're in a reading group, why not read the book, then watch the movie? I only chose novels, no non-fiction (i.e., A Beautiful Mind) or drama (i.e., Much Ado About Nothing). Movies are listed alphabetically.

Ben-Hur - Novel by Lew Wallace
The Bridge on the River Kwai - Novel by Pierre Boulle
Field of Dreams - Based on Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
The Godfather - Novel by Mario Puzo
Gone with the Wind - Novel by Margaret Mitchell
The Grapes of Wrath - Novel by John Steinbeck
The Lord of the Rings - Novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Maltese Falcon - Novel by Dashiell Hammet
Master and Commander - Novel by Patrick O'Brian
The Natural - Novel by Bernard Malamud
A Room with a View - Novel by E.M. Forster
The Searchers - Novel by Alan Lemay
Shane - Novel by Jack Schaefer
To Kill a Mockingbird - Novel by Harper Lee
2001: A Space Odyssey - Novel by Arthur C. Clarke

What are your favorite movies based on novels? Leave a comment and let me know.

Related posts:
The Best Old Movies for Families

The Perfect Book?

2007-05-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

Are you a bibliophile in search of the perfect book? Are you a perfectionist like I am? Then read on.

The following excerpt is taken from a fantasic book for readers called A Passion for Books: A Book Lover's Treasury, edited by Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan (Times Books, 1999).

The Perfect Book
William Keddie

The Foulis's edition of classical works were much praised by scholars and collectors in the nineteenth century. The celebrated Glasgow publishers once attempted to issue a book which should be perfect specimen of typographical accuracy. Every precaution was taken to secure the desired result. Six experienced proof-readers were employed, who devoted hours to the reading of each page; and after it was thought to be perfect, it was posted up in the hall of the university, with a notification that a reward of fifty pounds would be paid to any person who could discover an error. Each page was suffered to remain two weeks in the place where it had been posted, before the work was printed, and the printers thought they had attained the object for which they had been striving. When the work was issued, it was discovered that several errors had been committed, one of which was in the first line of the first page.

Literary Compass Meets Harry Dresden

2007-05-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

I can take a hint.

First, there was the big display at my local Hastings store: Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden. I ignored it. After all, Hastings gets paid to display products.

Then, I saw a few respected bloggers mention the names and I thought, "Hmmm, maybe I should check this Harry Dresden thing out." So I did. The next time I was in Hastings I picked up Storm Front and started paging through it.

It didn't take long for me to make up my mind. In fact, I can tell you the exact phrase that sold me. And it wasn't "Think Philip Marlowe meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer." No, it was a little phrase the postman used to ridicule Dresden on page 2. The postman asks if Dresden is an actual wizard. "Spells and potions? Demons and incantations? Subtle and quick to anger?" And there it was. Subtle and quick to anger. Any book in which the postman quotes Tolkien can't be all bad.

So I bought it. I'll let you know how I like it.

What is Reading For?

2007-05-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

I saw this comment on a post in someone else's blog the other day:

My theory is, at least they're reading. Who cares what they read? Just read, damn it.

If the discussion were about kids who were just learning to read, I'd be inclined to agree--there is a point in everyone's life when the best way to improve as a reader is to read as much as you can, regardless of the content (mostly--I hate Captain Underpants!). But the blog post was about reading in general, and I just can't agree with this comment. There is no point in reading for reading's sake, unless you're trying to build fluency. You either read to be entertained or to be educated.

Both kinds of reading are worthwhile, but I think too many people stop at merely being entertained (and here I must say again that reading for entertainment and reading for education are not mutually exclusive). Henry Fielding offers this comment on reading for amusement:

The present age seems pretty well agreed in an opinion, that the utmost scope and end of reading is amusement only; and such, indeed, are now the fashionable books, that a reader can propose no more than mere entertainment, and it is sometimes very well for him if he finds even this, in his studies.

Letters, however, were surely intended for a much more noble and profitable purpose than this. Writers are not, I presume, to be considered as mere jack-puddings, whose business it is only to excite laughter: this, indeed, may sometimes be intermixed and served up with graver matters, in order to titillate the palate, and to recommend wholesome food to the mind; and for this purpose it hath been used by many excellent authors: "for why," as Horace says, "should not any one promulgate truth with a smile on his countenance?" Ridicule indeed, as he again intimates, is commonly a stronger and better method of attacking vice than the severer kind of satire.

When wit and humour are introduced for such good purposes, when the agreeable is blended with the useful, then is the writer said to have succeeded in every point. Pleasantry…should be made only the vehicle of instruction; and thus romances themselves, as well as epic poems, may become worthy the perusal of the greatest of men: but when no moral, no lesson, no instruction, is conveyed to the reader, where the whole design of the composition is no more than to make us laugh, the writer comes very near to the character of a buffoon; and his admirers, if an old Latin proverb be true, deserve no great compliments to be paid to their wisdom.

Enhance Your Summer Travel with Novels

2007-05-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

A few summers ago I drove my family down the west coast of the US to visit friends in San Luis Obispo, California. I don't travel much, but when I do I like to read novels that take place in the places I visit. Since I knew we were going to stop in Monterey, I read Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Not the most exotic novel or locale, but reading the book did add another layer of enjoyment to the trip.

Those of you with more ambitious travel plans (and larger pocketbooks) may want to check out Jeff Cotton's Fictional Cities. Jeff has done a thorough job of listing major novels that take place in London, Venice and Florence. Read some novels before your trip to prepare yourself for the historical sites you'll visit or take a few with you to completely immerse yourself in your temporary home. When you get back, revisit your favorite places by reading some more.

Or, if you're like me and don't get out much, here's your chance to do some armchair traveling to some of the most interesting places on the planet.

Don't miss Fictional Cities, one of the 101 Essential Web Sites for Readers of Literature.

Les Miserables in 4 Minutes and Lego Raiders of the Lost Ark

2007-05-25T05:59:00.000-07:00

I don't have much time to post today, so here are a couple of fun videos to get your weekend started.

First, here's a Lego version of the Les Miserables musical that my eighth graders showed me yesterday. We're almost done reading the novel in class, and I couldn't show them the whole thing because it reveals the ending, but it's very well done. Don't watch it unless you already know how the story ends.

And here's a classic Lego version of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Don't miss this one!

Title Blending Meme

2007-05-24T05:33:00.000-07:00

I've never started a meme before, but I've always wanted to (Well, maybe not always, but at least since last Thursday. Anyway...) Here are the rules:

Blend two book titles together by using the last word of one title and the first word of the second title. If you want, you can blend the authors' names too. Like this:

The Divine Comedy 0f Errors by Dante Shakespeare
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince of Tides by J.K Conroy
The Canterbury Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Geoffrey Blume
The Screwtape Letters to a Young Poet by C.S. Rilke

and of course,

The Last Don Quixote by Mario de Cervantes.

Now it's your turn. Write as many or as few as you want. Tag six people. Extra credit for blending titles with my other two favorite books, Lord of the Rings and Master and Commander. Extra extra credit if you can find another title that blends with Don Quixote.

I tag Sylvia, Stefanie, John D., Love2Learn Mom, Maureen, Jean, and anyone else who wants to play.

What if Tolkien Wrote Stairway to Heaven?

2007-05-23T05:55:00.000-07:00

I was purging some computer files the other day when I ran across these song lyrics I wrote a few years ago after Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring had just been released. It was something I did just for fun to show to my eighth grade students when we were studying The Hobbit. I forgot about until I found it the other day. I thought some of you might find it amusing.

The song is about Aragorn and his role in the Fellowship and Middle-earth. It's meant to be sung to the tune of "Stairway to Heaven," so you might want to listen to that song before you read these lyrics. Or, you can listen to this midi file (from Diamond-back.com) and sing along! On second thought, maybe you should just listen to "Stairway to Heaven" and call it good.

Anyway, here it is, with my apologies to Led Zeppelin:

He's Guiding a Hobbit to Mordor

There's a ranger who knows
All that glitters ain't gold
And he's guiding a hobbit
To Mordor

When he gets there he knows
If the Black Gate is closed
With a sword he do what he came for.
Ooh, ooh, and he's guiding a hobbit
To Mordor.

There's a sign on Khazad-dum
But he wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes runes have two meanings.
In a tree by the falls, there's an elf lass who sings;
Sometimes all of her hopes are misgiven.

Ooh, it makes him wander.
Ooh, it makes him wander.

There's a feeling she gets
When she looks to the west
And her spirit is crying for leaving.
In her thoughts she has seen
Rings of smoke through the trees
And the ranger is fighting the goblins.

Ooh, it makes him wander.
Ooh, it really makes him wander.

And it's whispered that soon
Rohan riders will swoon
For the worm tongue will lead them to treason.
And the new day won't dawn
For those who fight long,
But the forests will echo with entmoot.

If there's a traitor in the comp'ny
Don't be alarmed now,
It's just a vision by the elf queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by
But after Moria
You must determine which road you're on.
And it makes you wander.

Your head is humming and it won't go
In case you don't know.
The ring is calling you to take it.
Dear ranger can you hear the wind blow
And did you know
Your stairway lies through the paths of dead?

And as you wind on down the road
The Shadow taller than your soul
There walks a hobbit we all know
Who shines white light where cobwebs grow
And always bears that band of gold.
And if you listen very hard
The reign will come to you at last
Wherefore Arwen and Elessar
Will tie the knot and be made whole.

5 Great Books to Read Aloud at the Family Dinner Table

2007-05-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to do is share stories with my family at the dinner table. A few years ago when I was reading Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series my boys asked me each night at dinner to tell them what had happened to Captain Aubrey and his friend Stephen Maturin. It gave me a chance to share the joys of reading with my sons, and it also encouraged me to keep reading.

Another great way to encourage reading in your kids is to read to them at the beginning of dinner. Reading to your family at dinner has several benefits:

Everyone has to be quiet while you read.
The stories give you something to talk about as a family.
You get the chance to model good reading skills.
You create family memories that last a lifetime.

Reading at the dinner table should be brief, for three reasons: (1) kids have short attention spans; (2) you need time to talk about what you've read; and (3) you need to eat.

Here are several titles that contain short readings that are perfect for reading aloud at the dinner table (Be sure to preview each story before reading it to your kids--some of these books contain stories that would launch the kind of discussion you may not be ready for, if you know what I mean):

Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story - My eighth grade students love these. True stories with a twist at the end. When you finish with the first book, get More Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story.
The World's Shortest Stories - All the stories in this book are 55 words or less. The hard part is not giving in to the temptation to read more than one.
Two-Minute Mysteries - Fun little brain exercises for kids between the ages of 9 and 15.
100 Great Fantasy Short Short Stories - A terrific collection of Twilight-Zone-type stories edited by Isaac Asimov. Out of print but easy to find used online. Also see Asimov's Microcosmic Tales and 100 Malicious Little Mysteries.
3 Minutes or Less: Life Lessons from America's Greatest Writers - Reading aloud is not just for kids. Adults can read to each other, too. This book is more sophisticated than the others and may be more appealing to couples or empty-nesters; older teenagers may enjoy it too.

You can also read from your favorite saint book, Aesop's fables, or chapters from books like the Magic Treehouse series.

Are ROMANs Elite?

2007-05-21T06:03:00.000-07:00

John at SF Signal reviewed my free ebook ROMAN Reading in post called When in Rome...Do as Elitists Do? I really appreciate the time he took to read the book and write about it. His comments actually illustrate a couple of the elements of ROMAN Reading: Asking questions about what you read, and Naming your experiences.

One of the questions he asks is if the neighborhood analogy is elitist. Here are his thoughts:

Encouraging reading is a good thing, but I detect a smack of reading elitism here, particularly in this passage:

Books are like neighbors, and your personal library is your neighborhood. Take a look at your bookshelves. What kind of neighborhood are you living in? Are you in a slum or in the suburbs? Who are your neighbors? Are they trash talkers or shrewd sages? If you live next door to Socrates, then invite him to dinner every night. If you live next to Dan Brown, then put your house on the market.

He goes on to say:

I sometimes hear people speak as if (or say outright that) reading is not a worthwhile activity unless you are reading Literature with a capital L. Enter self-doubt. Am I wasting my time by reading anything else? Am I denying myself the true value of reading? Am I becoming a literary snob? Is this self-doubt the beginning of a midlife crisis?

What great questions! I began to leave John a comment, but it kept getting longer and longer, so I thought I'd respond here. Again, I'd like to thank John for mentioning the book and linking to it.

First let me say that I have "lowbrow" tastes in books, too--my favorites span a wide range: on the "lower" end I have such favorites as pulp hero Doc Savage, the Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison, the Conan series, and any short story collection with Alfred Hitchcock in the title.

Reading for fun is as necessary as taking the weekend off from work, or going on an extended vacation every once in a while. Not every book is meant to educate or inspire. What I was trying to say with the neighborhood analogy (while poking a little fun at Dan Brown), is that behind every book is a real person. Books have as much power to influence us as the friends we hang around.

Each person must choose their own friends, but if I see my teenage son constantly getting into trouble because of the influence of his friends, I will try and point that out to him. In the same way, books can have a positive or negative effect on us, and I was trying to remind my readers of that. I'd like to insert one of my favorite quotes here. It's by Father John Hardon, and you can find it on every page of this blog:

"Everything we read stimulates our mind to think, and what we think determines what we desire, and desires are the seedbed of our actions. Given this iron law of human nature--from reading to thinking, to desiring, to acting--we are shaping our destiny by the ideas we choose to have enter our minds through print."

Are there some books that I think everyone should read? Yes, I must admit that I believe there are. Not necessarily because they are "better" than others, but because they have so much to offer everyone. Think of it this way: Aren't there some people who are just so inspirational and intelligent (and even holy) that everyone would benefit from meeting them? Mother Teresa comes to mind. Well, I can't meet Mother Teresa in person anymore because she has passed on, but I can read what she left behind and get to know her through her books. She is someone I think everyone would have benefited from meeting.

There's also some faulty logic that people can slip into when talking about books. I'm guilty of it myself at times. I occasionally fall into the trap of putting books into two categories: (1) fun books, and (2) literature. The mistake is thinking that these two categories are mutually exclusive. What has happened to me as I've expanded my reading is that the books I used to think of as "fun" (like Conan, for instance) have actually become a bit boring and not as entertaining as they used to be. What I find now is that literature is more fun and entertaining to me, and much of the enjoyment comes from wrestling with the author's ideas.

If you "wrestled" with my ideas in ROMAN Reading, I hope it gave you some enjoyment. I'm sorry if it seemed elitist, and I hope this post has clarified things a bit. Thanks again, John, for your challenging remarks and for linking to Literary Compass.

How to Turn a Book into a Treasured Heirloom

2007-05-19T06:11:00.000-07:00

(Cross-posted at ROMAN Reading)

Stefanie at So Many Books has just posted a review of ROMAN Reading and it's generating some great comments about marking in books. Here's one by Whatladder that I particularly like:

My husband claims that his favourite book ever is the copy of the Norton Anthology of Poetry I gave him that had all my pencilled notes in it.

What a terrific reminder of the value of marking in books. Besides helping you engage in the text, writing in a book also leaves a visible sign of your presence. When Whatladder's husband reads her marked up book of poetry, he's not just coming into contact with great writers, he's getting to know his wife more intimately. She's there in those pages--her ideas, her reactions, her spirit. I think it's beautifully romantic that her husband has recognized that.

Can you imagine a more meaningful and personal family heirloom than a library of books full of our own thoughts, comments and insights? Think of our children and grandchildren reading through them, getting to know their ancestors. I would love to have a set of books written in by my grandparents. We only get to know our parents and grandparents when they're older; what if we could read their minds when they were our age? What if I could know what my own father thought about life when he was twenty or thirty or forty? Leaving comments in books gives us that chance.

Let's take it a step further: What if your grandmother wrote comments in her copy of Pride and Prejudice, for example. And what if your mother inherited it and added her comments to her mother's? And now the book is yours. Not only do you have a treasured physical possession, you also have something far more valuable: your mother's and grandmother's intimate thoughts and emotions captured for a brief moment on paper. But there's more: Now you have the chance to add your own reflections, insights and reactions to the book for your daughter to read.

Here's an idea: Buy a book with one of your children or grandchildren in mind and read it, marking it up as you go. You can direct the comments directly to them, or you can simply mark it up as you would any piece of literature. After you've finished the book, wrap it up and give it to them as a present. Save it for graduation, or their wedding, or a significant birthday. Maybe give it to them on their confirmation or bar mitzvah, or at a baby shower.

For more about marking up a text, download my free ebook ROMAN Reading: 5 Practical Skills for Transforming Your Life through Literature.

What's New at Literary Compass?

2007-05-18T00:13:00.000-07:00

I've been getting quite a bit of traffic lately, thanks to Darren Rowse's Top 5 Group Writing Project and Jeffrey Trachtenberg's article in the Wall Street Journal which mentions my post Literary Testosterone: 30 Must-Read Classics for Teenage Boys (scroll down to the bottom--it's there under Blog Posts about this Topic).

If you're new here, welcome. I encourage you to subscribe to Literary Compass and to leave comments whenever you feel like it. If you add me to your blogroll, let me know and I'll add you to mine.

With all the new readers, I thought I'd acquaint everyone with what's been going on lately here at Literary Compass.

First, here are some of the more popular posts:

101 Essential Websites for Readers of Literature
Literary Testosterone: 30 Must-Read Classics for Teenage Boys
10 Best Books for New Catholics
Top 5 Websites for a Deserted Island
Nick's Catholic Classics Reading List: Introduction; Part I, Part II, Part III
Nick's Great Books Reading List: Introduction; Part I; Part II

Next, I've been very busy trying to promote my free ebook:

On May 1st I released ROMAN Reading: 5 Practical Skills for Transforming Your Life through Literature (1.86 mb). You can find the official blog at www.RomanReading.com.
The audiobook of ROMAN Reading is available at no charge from FreeIQ. You can download it as an mp3 file, or you can embed it in your blog as streaming audio.

Be sure to check out my other other blogs:

Free Daily Learning: You learn something new everyday with free video and audio tutorials from some of the best teachers on the Internet.
Manchegan Madness: Driven to the Edge of Insanity by Books. Visit and see to what lengths obsessed readers are willing to go.

And finally, here's a sneak peak at what's coming up in the next couple of weeks:

The ROMAN Reading Online Book Group: This is going to be BIG, so make sure to keep checking back for the official launch. My plan is to start a summer reading group for all you parents who want your kids to be reading over the summer and want to give them some incentive and support. It's perfect for kids on summer vacation and kids who are homeschooled.
But this group is for you as well. This is going to be a family reading group where everyone can participate. Books will be chosen for their ability to appeal to all ages. Families can read them together at night on campouts, or each member can read them separately and discuss them over the dinner table, however it fits your family's schedule. Others are welcome too: college students at home for the summer, empty-nesters and retirees--all are invited to join.
I don't want to say too much more now, but I will say that the book group is going to be fairly informal and very fun--I'll be on summer break, after all. I hope to use video and audio, and to make it as interactive as possible.
I'm not quite done planning everything yet, so if you have any ideas, please let me know and I'll take them into consideration. Leave a comment or send me an email: literarycompass @ gmail.com

Were You Wondering about Me?

2007-05-17T05:35:00.000-07:00

Whether you were or not, Sylvia at Classical Bookworm has tagged me with Eight Random Things about Me, so you have to suffer through this anyway:

I'm a fan of Doc Savage and I own a complete set of Doc Savage novels.
I used to live in North Dakota.
I can't stand glitter in my classroom.
I only drink water.
When I was first learning how to drive, I knocked a stop sign down and my dad took me to the police station to report it.
One of my guilty pleasures is the very cheesy Hudson Brothers movie Hysterical.
One of my second cousins, Glenn Hanson, played basketball for the Chicago Bulls.
I won the National Catholic Education Association's Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award in 2001.

Now it's my turn. According to the rules I have to tag eight people, so I tag Julie, Will, Becky, Willa, Kim, Jim, Stefanie, and Maureen. Have fun!

Literary Testosterone - 30 Must-Read Classics for Teenage Boys

2007-05-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

This is a follow-up to Maureen's question about recommendations for 12 and 13 year-old boys. Without getting into a big discussion about gender stereotyping, let me just say that in general boys at this age tend to read books that are more action and adventure oriented, while girls enjoy reading more about relationships.

Case in point: I teach The Hobbit and Les Miserables to my eighth graders each year. Both boys and girls love these books. But when I look at the few students who didn't like them, I have more girls who didn't like The Hobbit, and more boys who didn't like Les Miserables.

The books I'm about to recommend for boys are also great for girls to read, and there are many books not listed here that boys would like. I think boys should read Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Louisa May Alcott, but I don't think most boys would pick these books up on their own. The following books are titles and authors that I think most boys would enjoy, and that contain themes that are valuable for teen and pre-teen boys to think about.

Fantasy/Horror

Anything by Ray Bradbury: I think of Ray Bradbury as a modern-day Edgar Allen Poe, and his books are perfect for teenage boys. There's always something to talk about after reading Ray Bradbury.

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Every boy should read this book, and every father, too. It can be frightening, but it is well worth reading.
Dandelion Wine - Scary, funny and tender.
The Martian Chronicles - Great sci-fi.
Fahrenheit 451 - Perfect for talking about the value of books and reading.
The Illustrated Man - Thought-provoking stories.

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs - Along with Treasure Island, probably the perfect action/adventure story.
The Belgariad by David Eddings - Lord of the Rings lite; lots of fairly innocent fun; not much depth, but a good read.
Animal Farm by George Orwell - An excellent introduction to talking about political systems.
The Once and Future King by T.H. White - Classic story of King Arthur.
The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin, Jr. - This book is a hidden gem--important spiritual themes, connections to Chaucer and the middle ages. I once had the opportunity to interview the author with my eighth graders after we finished studying it - they loved the interview and the book. Don't miss it.

Science Fiction

Flatland by Edwin Abbott - A brief fairytale-ish book that explores mathematical concepts like the fourth dimension. Fun and educational.
The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov - A sort of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire set in space; great plot twists. A true classic of the genre and very accessible to teens. The first book in the series is Foundation.
The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov - A great murder mystery set in the future. Combines elements of science fiction and classic mystery stories into one.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - I hesitated to put this on the list because it contains some profanity and a few disturbing elements, but every single student of mine who has read this has loved it. Without exception. Read this with your kids so you can talk about it with them.
The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Before Michael Crichton's version, the author of Sherlock Holmes had already written about a lost island of dinosaurs.
Time and Again by Jack Finney - A terrific time travel story; the amount of historical detail in this book is mind-boggling. Part mystery, part romance, part sci-fi, it really defies categories.

Historical

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara - Pulitzer winning novel of the battle of Gettysburg; would be great to read in conjunction with an American History class. After they finish, show them the movie Gettysburg.
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas - Look up swashbuckle in the dictionary and you'll find this book. Young readers may need help understanding church politics.
Mr. Midshipman Easy by Captain Frederick Marryat - a great precursor to Forester's Hornblower series or Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series. Fun and easy to read.
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott - Classic medieval adventure.

Mysteries

The Father Brown stories by G. K. Chesterton - The gentle, intelligent Father Brown makes a great role model for boys, and gives them a healthy portrayal of a priest.
Anything by Agatha Christie - Her books are continual favorites of my students, especially the novels featuring Hercule Poirot. Make sure they read Curtain (but only after reading four or five other Hercule Poirot mysteries first).
The Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael is a monk in the thirteenth century who always seems to end up in the middle of murder investigations. The first book is A Morbid Taste for Bones.

Assorted other titles:

Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling - Terrific coming of age story set at sea.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Explores many issues, but one key issue is the definition of courage.
The Ox-bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark - Not only a great Western, but an insightful exploration of justice and vigilantism. Perfect for discussing over the dinner table.
Hondo - Every boy should read at least one Louis L'Amour novel in his life, and Hondo is one of the best.
Shane by Jack Schaefer- The all-time greatest Western ever written (in my humble opinion). Another must-read for pre-teen or teenage boys.
Hiroshima by John Hersey - A nonfiction account of survivors of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. This can be a frightening book for young readers, so use your own judgement.
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot - Nonfiction account of a rural veterinarian; another perfect book for boys.

For more titles for both boys and girls download my Books to Be Tasted Junior High Reading List. You may need to sign up at FreeIQ to download it, but the account is free.

Also, I'm currently developing a summer reading group for junior high and high school students and their families that I plan to launch in the next week or two. Stay tuned.

Don Quixote for Young Readers?

2007-05-16T05:13:00.000-07:00

Maureen asks:

I have 12 and 13 yo boys and would love some book recommendations. Is Don Quixote appropriate for their age group? They are voracious readers, and I find we're on the brink of children's and adult books. Thanks for any advice.

What a great question! One of my favorite things to do is recommend books. First, concerning Don Quixote: In sixteen years of teaching junior high students, I only recall three students who read Don Quixote all the way through, but each of them really enjoyed it.

My wife and I have a sixteen-year-old boy and a twelve-year-old boy (not to mention our two daughters ages 8 and 2), and I have to say that our sixteen-year-old who is not a habitual reader yet (sigh), would not touch Don Quixote with a twelve-foot pole; but our twelve-year-old laughs out loud whenever my wife listens to the audiobook in the car. I'm not sure he's ready to read it, but he definitely gets the humor.

One caveat: Don Quixote can be a bit risque at times, almost like a vaudeville show. It's very tame compared to society's standards (alas!), but there are a few sections where an innocent young man might come to his parents to ask what something means. Purity, honor and religion are always upheld as virtues, but there are occasional references to things like prostitutes and consummating marriages.

Finally, Part I of Don Quixote is filled with digressions, side stories, and one out-and-out novel that is inserted into the story. I happen to enjoy the side-stories, but young readers may not have the patience to read about secondary characters for long periods (and most of the side stories are love stories). However, if they can make it to the second half of the book it will be worth it. Part II was written about fifteen years after Part I, and as enjoyable and necessary as Part I is, Part II is by far the better half, in my opinion. You could even suggest that they read Part I then take a break and read something else before coming back to Part II, so they don't get burned out on too much Don Quixote.

Wow, I didn't expect to say so much about Don Quixote. But then, I do have Manchegan Madness, so I guess it's to be expected. I'll follow this post up with some book recommendations for pre-teenage and teenage boys.

Reading Roundup 01

2007-05-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

What are people reading in the literary blogosphere?

Sylvia at Classical Bookworm is reading Don Quixote along with the rest of the folks at Tilting at Windmills. I believe she's also reading Lord of the Rings.
Amy Welborn is reading Can You Forgive Her?
Stefanie at So Many Books is reading so many books I can't list them all, but here are a few: Reading Like a Writer, The Histories of Herodotus, and Clarissa by Samuel Richardson.
G.D. at Sci-Fi Catholic is reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces, among others.

Here's a roundup of what's new in the world of reading groups:

The Faith in Literature Reading Group has posted their summer reading list.
Claire Cameron, author of The Line Painter, points out that HarperCollins Canada is starting a reading group based on her book. They're also giving away free copies of the book to the first 50 Canadians to join the group.
The Full Moon BookClub is reading Half of a Yellow Sun for May and June.
Kevin Eikenberry at A Love of Reading mentions joining a book club as one of the Ten Ways to Strengthen Your Reading Habit.
The Great Books Reading Partnership reports that it is changing its focus.

Are you a Horizontal Reader or a Vertical Reader?

2007-05-14T05:47:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not talking about your body's position when you read, I'm talking about the way you read.

I was thinking about my reading habits the other day while working on another book, and it occured to me that there are two ways to approach reading:

Horizontal reading: this is an approach where you try to read as many books as possible; the idea here is that the more you read the more you know. Horizontal readers voraciously devour books day after day, week after week.
Vertical reading: vertical readers are deep readers, spending more time with their books and reading them more in-depth. Their philosophy is to get as much as they can out of one book before moving on to another.

What kind of reader are you? If you're like me, you probably go through periods of time when you do more horizontal reading (for me it's summer time, when I read book after book), and other times when you savor your books, marking in them, outlining them, discussing them with a reading group. I can also be a genre "binge reader," where I go on a binge reading a bunch of mysteries or Catholic-themed novels, or classics, for instance. Last summer I went on binge with books about great teaching. Last fall I went on a Mortimer Adler binge.

Is it better to be a horizontal reader or a vertical reader? I don't know. I suppose they're both necessary. Most of the practical skills I've learned have come from horizontal reading. Most of my philosophical and religious views have come from vertical reading.

What's your opinion?

5 Books about the Blessed Mother for Mother's Day

2007-05-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms today. In honor of Mother's Day, here are five books about Mary, our Blessed Mother:

Introduction to Mary: the Heart of Marian Doctrine and Devotion by Mark Miravalle - an informative explanation of the Church's beliefs about Mary
True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort -- a challenging read, but this book was central to the late Pope John Paul II's formation
The Rosary: Chain of Hope by Fr. Benedict Groeschel -- profound meditations on the different mysteries of the rosary; includes a beautiful work of art for each mystery
A Handbook on Guadalupe by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate -- a fascinating look at the Guadalupe apparition and the tilma of Blessed Juan Diego
Picturing Mary: A World Icon--An Inspiration to Artists -- Ok, not a book, but still a beatiful DVD about how our Blessed Mother has been pictured in art through the centuries

Frodo and Sam Sing in Lord of the Rings Musical

2007-05-12T05:03:00.000-07:00

I love this song from the new Lord of the Rings musical now playing on Drury Lane in London:

Introducing Free Daily Learning

2007-05-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

Because things at Literary Compass are not all books and no play, I'd like to tell you about the newest addition to my blog family, Free Daily Learning. At Free Daily Learning you will learn something new every day on a variety of topics:

Want to learn how to cook Cheesy Soul-Food Meatballs N Baked Potato Casserole? You know you do!
Have you ever wondered how to submit a podcast to iTunes? Wonder no more!
Maybe you've got kids that play basketball and you want to teach them the correct way to dribble. Let an experienced coach teach you!
Future tutorials will include piano and guitar lessons, financial advice, blogging tips and much more!

Subscribe to the feed and get a new tutorial each and every day. Increase your knowledge. Impress your family at the dinner table. Visit Free Daily Learning.