dual personalities

Tag: reading

May 2, 2012

Happy 401st birthday

by chuckofish

…to the King James Version of the Bible. Time flies, doesn’t it? In 1611 the King James Bible was published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker. It molded the English language, “buttressed by ‘the powers that be’–one of its famous phrases–and yet enshrined a gospel of individual freedom. No other book has given more to the English-speaking world.”

Phrases that originated in the KJV:

From time to time
The root of the matter
As a lamb to the slaughter
Stand in awe
Turned the world upside down
To every thing there is a season
Unto the pure all things are pure
A thorn in the flesh
A still small voice
Suffer the little children
Pour out your heart
No small stir
Know for a certainty
The skin of my teeth
Fell flat on his face
Set thine house in order

(Thank you to the National Geographic, December 2011, for this information)

Let’s all take a break today and read a chapter from the KJV. Here’s one to start with (I Corinthians 13):

1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

And while we’re at it, Happy birthday, David Beckham!

David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE (born 2 May 1975) is an English association footballer who plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy. He has played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, Milan, and the England national team for which he holds the appearance record for an outfield player. And, for the record, he is perfect.

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February 9, 2012

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

1. I just finished Tinkers by Paul Harding, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, a short, beautiful first novel.

So few books like this are ever written, much less published. It is about an old man on his death-bed remembering his father, who in turn remembers his. A keeper!

2. Then Again by Diane Keaton–I am currently reading this memoir by actress Diane Keaton.

It is more about her relationship with her mother than a celebrity tell-all, and that is what attracted me to it. She is an unpretentious and intelligent person who was very close to her mother and wrote the book after her death to try to understand her better. “Comparing two women with big dreams who shared many of the same conflicts and also happened to be mother and daughter is partially a story of what’s lost in success contrasted with what’s gained in accepting an ordinary life.” Like me in my youth, Diane has frequently been classified as a “flakey chick”, but still waters run deep as they say.

3. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge–a juvenile novel I had heretofore missed. The cover of the newest edition is terrible, isn’t it?

An older one is much more appealing:

It is purportedly one of J.K. Rowling’s favorites and it is very popular in England. It was even made into a movie starring Ioan Gruffudd, but they changed a lot (playing up some vague romance angles) and angered the book’s fans. It was good and well written and I finished it, but it won’t be added to my shelf of classics.

4. Volume II of the Library of America collected writings of Raymond Chandler.

I periodically re-read his novels, which never disappoint. One can read these books every year, because the plot is forgotten as soon as the book is closed. It is old Philip Marlowe that lingers.

And the prayer book, so the Psalms are always at hand!

What are you reading?

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September 30, 2011

Read anything good lately?

by chuckofish

“I’ve been reading the old books, books that I’ve read before. The first time you read a book, you don’t read it at all carefully; you just read it for the story. You have to keep rereading. Every year or so I read Shakespeare straight through. But then I go to the latest by Agatha Christie or Rex Stout. I read every book of theirs. I do like a book with an elaborate plot. But I haven’t any definite plan of reading. I read almost everything, and I like anything that’s good.”
–P.D. Wodehouse

Peter Vilhelm Ilsted, Woman Reading by Candlelight, 1908

I’m with P.D. I’ve never understood people who don’t re-read books. I do it all the time. I like to read Raymond Chandler on a semi-regular basis, and since he only wrote a few books, one must re-read. I also think of books by Jan Karon and Alexander McCall Smith as a sort of comfort food. Nothing calms the soul like a visit to Mitford or Botswana. This past summer I re-read a lot of Eudora Welty. And, of course, there’s J.D. Salinger. His oeuvre is small, but every once in awhile a new gem is unearthed. I found a short story of his in a copy of The Best Short Stories of the Saturday Evening Post–wow! And sometimes when we re-read a book that we read many years ago at a spectacularly younger age, we discover a whole new book. This was the case when I recently read Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. What a great book! (Sometimes, it must be noted, the opposite is true–when a much-loved book doesn’t quite measure up on the second go-round.)

The best re-reading is scripture. Over and over until it enters this dullard’s brain and lives there. Like Sky Masterson says: “Don’t tangle with me on the Good Book. I must’ve read it through at least a dozen times.”

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September 24, 2011

Saturday hero

by chuckofish

Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein

My newest hero is Thomas Cromwell, thanks to Hilary Mantel’s wonderful book, Wolf Hall. Here’s one of my favorite quotes from it:

“It’s easy to employ some child who will total the columns and push them under your nose, get them initialed and then lock them in a chest. But what’s the point of that? The page of an accounts book is there for your use, like a love poem. It’s not there for you to nod and then dismiss it; it’s there to open your heart to possibility. It’s like the scriptures: it’s there for you to think about, and initiate action. Love your neighbor. Study the market. Increase the spread of benevolence. Bring in better figures next year.”

Really, that’s the main thing, isn’t it? Engage your brain and try to improve things for all in your care.

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