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Post by syme on Jun 23, 2007 21:24:17 GMT -5
I was thinking it might be a cool idea to start a book club of sorts -- nothing too demanding, though, because people have lives, or so I've heard. But perhaps if several people have an interest in one particular book we could all read it together.
Currently, I'm slowly working my way through Salt of the Earth, a book-length interview with then-Cardinal Ratzinger, Flannery O'Connor's short story collection Everything that Rises Must Converge, and Oliver Twist. Books that I'm interested in picking up in the near future are Viper's Tangle, Jane Eyre, perhaps one of Waugh's satires, Fire Within by Fr. Thomas Dubay, and, of course, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I've never read a thing by Walker Percy, so I'd also be interested in checking him out. And of course I'm open to other suggestions. But for the moment I think it would be best if we begin by sharing what we're all reading.
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Post by firefolk on Jun 24, 2007 22:02:38 GMT -5
Wow--that's a really good question. I, er, yeah--I'm actually not reading a damned thing at present. I'm sort of re-skimming (for like the fourth time) Barfield's Poetic Diction and GK's Everlasting Man, and also Dave Sim's Cerebus (I don't suppose anyone's heard of that one), but apart from this rather large list of "must read soon" stuff, I don't have anything on the table at present. Cousin Jes has me poking at Houslander's Reed of God, and Fr. LaValley has me poking at St. Teresa's I Want to See God, but this is stuff I've been poking at for months with little result. I spend ghastly amounts of time watching Star Wars and/or drinking heavily, and listening to Warren Zevon (which I must say is the closest thing to a serious Catholic experience in pagan rock'n'roll form) and hoping that Providence will keep me from doing anything too stupid or violent while waiting for the next phase of Destiny to manifest itself. But! I will say, I've been developing a really cool list of Things to Read Eventually, which includes Dante's Paradiso and an atheist science book called The Elegant Cosmos, which I encourage other people to read and tell me about over these forums. Apart from that, well, I have little choice but to fall back on the faith that wisdom will ultimately blossom from my violent and demented knaveries and that I won't cause any irreparable damage in the meantime. Anybody ever read A Confederacy of Dunces? Good stuff from a fellow !@$?-up. Yesssssss. . .
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Post by katycarl on Jun 24, 2007 23:23:39 GMT -5
I'm also reading little of moment at this time -- just nibbling at Thoreau's Walden for the fourth time and at Introduction to the Devout Life for the fifth. We're currently moving, so I'm taking St. Francis de Sales' advice not to start too many new things at once to avoid becoming so frustrated that you quit.
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Post by bluemaydie on Jun 25, 2007 8:50:31 GMT -5
I'm currently re-reading the Harry Potter series, trying to get through 1-6 before I pick up 7. And I just spent a weekend indulging my taste for Louisa May Alcott's mostly-awful gothic thrillers (although "Taming a Tartar" was surprisingly good). And eventually I will pick up a book called "Designing Babies" (and maybe one called "Everything Conceivable") for research on an article I'm supposed to write on consumerism and assisted reproduction.
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Post by raindear on Jun 25, 2007 9:45:46 GMT -5
I am mostly reading The Hungry Soul by Leon Kass and working through Aquinas' Commentary on Ephesians and The Devout Life. However, since I can never read less than 5 books at once, I occasionally take a poke at With God in Russia and Wendell Berry's Unsettling of America when I'm not busy memorizing "The Hound of Heaven."
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Post by syme on Jun 25, 2007 13:01:19 GMT -5
Now that you mention that, I totally memorized Chesterton's "Lepanto." Yes, I know, I am so cool. And no, you can't tell others you hang out with me. ;D
But anyway, I forgot to mention that I'm also reading Introduction to the Devout Life! Who knew St. Francis DeSales had so many groupies? I'm just going through it for the first time around. Maybe we could do something with that?
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Post by syme on Jun 26, 2007 10:17:27 GMT -5
Hmmm... do you think rereading the whole Potter series is worth it? I'm kind of late in the game to start with book one. Normally I just read the one directly before. Do you think it has been helpful? I mean, has it brought anything into perspective that she might then throw at us in the last book? (Not that you would really know that until reading book 7, but anyway...) My guess is that Ron will be the one that dies. He'll sacrifice himself for Harry, kind of like he did in the chess game at the end of book one, but this time he'll actually have to die for it. Killing off Harry would be too obvious. Plus this will give Ron a moment to finally show what he's made of, and prove the strength of his friendship with Harry, as for the last books he's just been Harry's sidekick. Regarding the whole "is Snape evil" debate, I can't really say. She's been too tricky so far to be able to tell what she might pull in this regard.
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Post by bluemaydie on Jun 26, 2007 13:05:16 GMT -5
I have an unfortunate tendency to forget things after I read them, especially if I read them fast, as I do with the HP books. So when I read #6, I couldn't really enjoy it because I'd forgotten so many of the references and minor characters. I'd like to enjoy the finale as the finale to everythign that went before, so the re-read is kind of necessary for me. It's also my first re-read of any of the HPs.
I'm going to disagree with you on Ron. I think he'll live and marry Hermione. Snape will prove himself really good by dying for Dumbledore or Harry. There will probably be other deaths, too.
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Post by firefolk on Jun 26, 2007 15:18:38 GMT -5
I certainly hope Ron marries Hermione, for goodness' sake, we've all been waiting for it long enough. But yeah, Snape, that's a tough one for ol' JK. Whether he turns out good or bad, whole battalions of readers (with cloth-backs locked in phalanx) will be likely to roll their eyes and go, "Saw THAT coming." She'll have to come up with something reeeally sneaky to pull this one off.
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Post by syme on Jun 26, 2007 17:08:41 GMT -5
*HARRY POTTER SPOILER WARNING (Book 5)*
Well, she's certainly set us up to *expect* that Ron and Hermione will get together. But think of Sirius Black. I at least developed many expectations about what might happen with him and Harry in the future that ended up being dead ends. I don't know, I wouldn't be surprised if she uses the Ron and Hermione relationship to make his death more painful. I just feel like she's bound to kill one of the three, and I don't see it as being Harry or Hermione. Not that I'm married to these predictions, or that I don't think yours make sense, they do. That's the problem with trying to predict things in the Potter books. She leaves a lot of room for speculation and a lot of possibilities that seem to make sense and in the end come to nothing. I guess there'll be nothing to do but wait and see.
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Post by bluemaydie on Jun 27, 2007 9:43:38 GMT -5
Luckily, we only have, what, 3 more weeks to wait?
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Post by Frank on Jul 13, 2007 21:05:05 GMT -5
A while ago I sent an e-mail to Fr. James Schall, SJ, asking him for help in sorting out some general philosophical/metaphysical confusion that my modern philosophy classes were causing me. He recommended, among other things, A Guide for the Perplexed, by E.F. Schumacher, and it's just fascinating, and very helpful -- although a discussion group for that book would be invaluable. Anyway, next up on my list is Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue.
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Post by raindear on Jul 16, 2007 13:08:55 GMT -5
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Post by syme on Jul 16, 2007 16:18:07 GMT -5
That *does* seem like a good book. Maybe I can get myself a copy and we could talk about it. The problem is that I'm having to buy a ton of books for school so I'm kinda broke. But if I can get myself a copy I'll let you know. It's not too long, so it's definitely a good choice to start as off.
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Post by firefolk on Aug 7, 2007 14:48:02 GMT -5
Mom and Dad sent me de Montfort's True Devotion to Mary for m' birfday. It's a little daunting--what with my generally not being at all ready or worthy for such an undertaking--but I'm slowly starting to read it just the same. What else can one do? Domine, non sum dignus.
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