I’m
almost a month behind from posting my reads for the third quarter. I had a massive shift in plans, which I’m
afraid will cause me not to complete the plans from the beginning of the
year. Most of the summer was taken up by
the planned read of Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks:
The Decline of a Family. This was
the main read for my year of emphasizing German literature. I’m a good 75% of the way completed, but it
is a long book, and I have trouble keeping my attention on one book for that
long. So I added two unplanned books.
One
was a biography of St. Dominic de Guzmán, titled after the subject and written
by the Dominican Sister, Mary Jean Dorcy.
2016 is the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Dominican
Order, and I wanted to commemorate the occasion in some fashion. The other iun[lanned book was Romano Guardini’s
Learning the Virtures that Lead you to
God, which was a selection for my Goodreads Catholic Thought Book
Club. When it was selected as the Book
Club read, I decided to join in despite my busy schedule. It was a book that had count my attention a
while back. Actually Guardini, despite
his Italian name, is actually German, so it kept with the German literature
based theme.
I
read a couple of short stories—neither all that interesting—and two essays,
which each are about the length of a short story. One was a a personal essay by D. H. Lawrence
about traversing through the German Alps and coming across crosses at the
peaks, and the other by Joyce Carol Oats on Emily Dickenson’s crush on a
particular pastor who she traded letters with.
Both very good reads.
I
also finished reading all the Psalms in both the King James Version and in the
modern Ignatius RSV translations. I am
also continuing this year’s poetry read, Some
Desperate Glory.
I
don’t know what of my original plans I will be able to complete in the remaining
couple of months. I’ve taken another
excursion by reading Shūsaku Endō’s novel, Silence. It too is a Catholic Thought Book Club
choice, but I’m afraid I was the one who pushed this book to be read. It will be coming out in December as a major
motion picture directed by Martin Scorsese and I wanted to reread it before the
movie. Please join me in reading Silence. I've been posting quite a bit on it. I will certainly be able to
complete Buddenbrooks, and then I
will have to choose between some of the remaining planned reads. I am still working on works from last
year.
Here
are my completed reads for the third quarter.
Completed
3rd Quarter:
Saint Dominic, a biography by Sr. Mary Jean Dorcy, O.P.
“Clair
de Lune,” a short story by Guy de Maupassant.
“The
Crucifix across the Mountains,” a personal essay by D. H. Lawrence.
“The
Woman In White: Emily Dickinson and Friends,” an essay by Joyce Carol Oats.
“The
State of Grace,” a short story by Harold Brodkey.
The
Book of Psalms, (Psalms 101-150) KJV and Ignatius
RSV Translations.
Learning the
Virtues That Lead You to God, a non-fiction book of Christian devotion by Romano
Guardini.
Currently Reading:
Julius Caesar: Life of a Colossus, a biography by Adrian Goldsworthy.
Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style, a non-fiction book on writing by Virginia Tufte.
Some Desperate Glory: The First
World War the Poets Knew, a book of
history and collected poetry by Max Egremont.
Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a
Family, a novel by Thomas Mann.
Silence, a novel by Shūsaku Endō.
Upcoming Plans:
“Gods,” a short story by Vladimir Nabokov.
“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” a short story
by Ernest Hemingway.
“The Light of the World,”
a short story by Ernest Hemingway.
“Marius,”
Volume III of Les Misérables, a novel by Victor Hugo.
My
completed works from earlier in the year are the following:
Completed: First Quarter
“Master
and Man,” a short story by Leo Tolstoy.
Interior
Castle, a non-fiction book on spirituality by St. Theresa of Avila.
“A
Cup of Cold Water,” a short story by Edith Wharton.
“In
the Garden of the North American Martyrs,” a short story by Tobias Wolff.
To
Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee.
Prayer
for Beginners, a non-fiction book of devotion by Peter Kreeft.
“Saint
Dymphna,” a short story by Mary O’Connell.
Completed
2nd Quarter:
“A House of Gentlefolks,” a short
story by Evelyn Waugh.
The
Noonday Devil: Acedia, the Unnamed Evil of Our Times,
a non-fiction book by Jean-Charles Nault, O.S.B.
White
Fang,
a novella by Jack London.
The
Book of Psalms, (Psalms 51-100) KJV and Ignatius
RSV Translations.
“Hallelujah,
Family,” a short story by Ludmilla Petrushevkaya, translated by Anna Summers.
“Wingstroke,:
a short story by Vladimir Nabokov.
“A
House of Gentlefolks,” a short story by Evelyn Waugh.
“Miles
City, Montana,” a short story by Alice Munro.
“The
Cabuliwallah,” a short story by Rabindranath Tagore.
“1933,”
a short story by Mavis Gallant.
“The
Man Born Blind,” a short story by C. S. Lewis.
“After
the Storm,” a short story by Earnest Hemingway.
If
you wish, you can read my 2016 Plans, here.
You
can read my 1st quarter update, here.
And
my 2nd quarter update, here.
I think I may have read “Clair de Lune,” by Guy de Maupassant many years ago when at school. I know I read "La Peste" by Camus, and several other books in French.
ReplyDeleteNow here's a question for you:
When you read all these books, do you still remember them time afterwards. For example, if I picked a book from last year's list, could you tell us what the story-line is, and the manin characters?
Thank you for your e-mail. I will respond shortly.
God bless you and your family.
Do I still remember the books? It depends. Books usually, short stories not so much. I had to look up what that Emily Dickinson essay was about. I couldn't remember. I couldn't remember the Brodkey short story either.
DeleteBy the way ... what does it say on that cushion by the dog?
ReplyDeleteI don't know. Not my picture. Picked it off Google Images. ;)
Delete