Thoughts on Flannery O'Connor

"The problem for a religious writer in our culture is that the basic vocabulary of religion, as of virtue and vice, had become trivialized and stripped of meaning."

A fascinating article on a great author, written by someone who's a pretty darn good writer in his own right. (I think my fellow movie buffs here would like his Shows about Nothing as much as I did.)

Happy Easter, everyone.

Top 100 books

The Christian literary journal Image has put out a list of the top 100 books of the 20th century. Thought you guys might like to see it and get some ideas for the club, or for reading just to do on our own, or whatever!

Interesting choice for Lewis. I've always loved Till We Have Faces, but it's not usually chosen as one of his best works. However, it's always nice to see it appreciated.

Suggested reading

These aren't suggestions for official reading; just a couple of books that tie in with both our past and current (or what I think is our current) reading, that you may want to look into.

Good Ideas from Questionable Christians and Outright Pagans: An Introduction to Key Thinkers and Philosophies, by Steve Wilkens. A good basic book on philosophy and how it ties in with Christian theology.

Shaming the Devil: Essays in Truthtelling, by Alan Jacobs. Jacobs touches on philosophy and much, much more -- including poetry, movies, fantasy novels, and computers. A wonderful, enjoyable read.

Philosophy professors

Thanks for the insights, Mike. I don't think I realized that philosophy professors were so insulated. I didn't take much philosophy in college, not having much a taste for it -- to be honest, for me it was kind of like watching paint dry. But then, maybe that's exactly what bothered me about it: a lack of integration with the real world. As I recall, we spent a good deal of time on the subjects like how it's impossible to cross a room because first you have to go halfway across, and before you can do that you have to cover half THAT distance, and . . . you've probably heard that one before. And a lot of other matters we studied were just as dull, or at least presented in a dull way.

I do think that the integration with other subjects is the best part of Schaeffer's own writings. That, and the simplification of what can be a pretty tough subject. Maybe more philosophy professors should try taking a page out of his book.

'The Maltese Falcon'

Interesting article here about the seventy-fifth anniversary of The Maltese Falcon. I've seen the movie but haven't read the book; I'm thinking now I may have to add it to my reading list. Any book that has "He looked rather pleasantly like a blond satan" in the very first paragraph deserves a closer look, I'd say!

Welcome to the blog!

Hello, all! Thanks for agreeing to try this idea. I thought this blog would be a good place not only to post our reactions to the books we read together, but also to share our thoughts on other books we're reading or have read, or to post reviews of books that look interesting. So give it a shot, and we'll see how it goes. :-)

The program's pretty easy to use, but if anyone has trouble with it, let me know.

Gina