Summer Reading Notes

What I have been reading of late:

• Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh: Laugh aloud funny satire of British society of the 1920s. I had only read Brideshead Revisited by Waugh. A very different book. I was glad to be introduced to this side of Waugh. It made me want to read more by him.
• Memento Mori by Muriel Spark : I think I saw this book mentioned on Melissa Wiley's blog . Muriel Spark was a convert to Catholicism. I had seen her pop up several times in other blogs about Catholic writers. I wanted to read something by her. After finishing Memento Mori, I realized I had read another book by her,The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which I didn't like at all. Mercifully, I didn't remember, because maybe it would've kept me from reading MM. In one of those serendipitous reading acts, MM was a great follow up to Vile Bodies. Both were British, both were satirical, both were funny, both had a depth behind the comical.
• Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis: I have to confess I am not a big fan of Lewis. I know that is probably heretical to most but, it is the truth. Thankfully, Mere Christianity is different. I have been meeting weekly with some ladies to discuss this book. There is so much to talk about! I am not finished with this yet and I wish I had started blogging about it. It would make it stick better.
• Crooked Adam by D.E. Stevenson: Satisfying, is the word for this read. A good old fashioned spy story, Crooked Adam (if I remember correctly) was published during WWII. It is fast paced and keeps your interested. A great summer reading! (Recommended by A Library is a Hospital for the Mind ).
• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: I listened to this from Librivox. Books on this site are read by volunteers, not professionals, so the quality of the reader varies. That was certainly true of the reader of MP, some where very good and some, not so much. But, hey! it is free. I am not complaining. I enjoyed MP immensely. It was a great companion while cooking, cleaning or folding clothes. (note: the 1999 is awful. Nothing like the book!)
• Before Pentecost, I picked up John Paul II encyclical on the Holy Spirit (Dominum et Vivificantem). It is a challenging reading but so worthwhile. I am three quarters into it and planning on re-reading so I can write about. It would be a great way of digesting the information.
• No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy: Violent, violent! It was like watching a Clint Eastwood movie. The first 100 pages I wasn't sure I was going to finish it but, it kept me going. This is one of those books that you need to have somebody to talk about it with. So, I gave it to M. to read.
• Simply from Scratch by Alicia Bessette: Just OK. Nothing great. It is her first novel and somehow it felt too formulaic, to cliché, kind of like a chick flick between too covers.It wasn't bad but it is forgettable.
• Son of Charlemagne by Barbara Willard (with the kids): we are not completely finished with this one. Good story and it has created some rabbit trails. It had us searching all over the net about Charlemagne and his family. It also led us into a search for information on the Saxons and this, in turn, took us to the Vikings.
• Yesterday, I began Vanishing Act by Jodi Picault. Not much to report on this one yet. But it promises to be intense as any other Jodi Picault book I have read before.
• After Mansfield Park, I decided to give the Itunes U a try. I have been listening to some lectures on European Civilization from the 17oos to 1945. It is an interesting course. The lecturer, John Merriman, manages to pull some interesting lectures, even though he has this annoying stammering habit, and he curses and, he has a somewhat dislike of the Catholic Church. Even with all those strikes against him, I am still enjoying the class.