Medieval Book Club Preview: The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis

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Book Club, C.S. Lewis, Medieval Book Club, Medieval Literature, Medievalist, reading, Renaissance Literature, The Discarded Image

 The Discarded Image paints a lucid picture of the medieval world view, providing the historical and cultural background to the literature of the middle ages and renaissance. It describes the ‘image’ discarded by later years as ‘the medieval synthesis itself, the whole organization of their theology, science and history into a single, complex, harmonious mental model of the universe’. This, Lewis’s last book, has been hailed as ‘the final memorial to the work of a great scholar and teacher and a wise and noble mind’.

This is the third entry into the monthly Medieval Book Club, and this is one of the ones I am most excited to read. Why? C.S. Lewis was not only an author of excellent stories and one of the brightest layman Christian writers of his time. He was also a Medievalist, and so any chance to look at his thoughts about the literature of that period is something I get excited about. This is tagged as an introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature, and I fully expect about 70% of what he discusses to be above my own level of understanding because this man was intelligent on a level I could never hope to achieve. Yet I hope it will be worthwhile to wade through his work and, hopefully, walk away a little brighter than I had been in the beginning. Here is the breakdown of chapters:

• Preface
• The Medieval Situation
• Reservations
• Selected Materials: The Classical Period
  • The Somnium Scipionis
  • Lucan
  • Statius, Claudian, and the Lady Natura
  • Apuleius, De Deo Socratis
• Selected Materials: The Seminal Period
  • Chalcidius
  • Macrobius
  • Pseudo-Dionysius
  • Boethius
• The Heavens
  • The Parts of the Universe
  • Their Operations
  • Their Inhabitants
• The Longaevi
• Earth and Her Inhabitants
  • The Earth
  • Beasts
  • The Human Soul
  • Rational Soul
  • Sensitive and Vegetable Soul
  • Soul and Body
  • The Human Body
  • The Human Past
  • The Seven Liberal Arts
• The Influence of the Model
• Epilogue

Will you join me in reading this book? You can pick up a copy on Amazon at this link. The post for this book’s reading will be on March 16th, which is the third Thursday of that month.

Check out the full list of books we’re reading this year for the Medieval Book Club.

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Coming in 2017: Medieval Book Club

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Anglo-Saxon, C.S. Lewis, Icelandic Sagas, J.R.R. Tolkien, King Alfred, Medieval Book Club, Medieval Literature, Medieval Poetry, reading, Vikings

Today I thought I would make an announcement that I had been working toward for most of this month. As a reader who is interested in the Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic period, I wanted to make an effort to read more books about those time periods and work that was written during those time periods. So I have decided to schedule a monthly discussion throughout 2017, alternating between reading a book-length work and reading poetic works. I hope you will consider joining along with me, and I have provided links to the websites and/or Amazon page to where you can find the works that I am planning to read and discuss.

The goal will be to make a post on the 15th of the month previewing the work that we’ll be reading in the following month (so, for instance, on December 15th I will post a preview/reminder about the January book) and then I will be posting the discussion on the third Thursday of each month (so January 19th would be the first discussion post). Don’t sweat it if you didn’t finish the book by that mark, there will be an active homepage for the series so you can jump in at any time on the previous works and join in on the conversations.

So without any further delay, here are the works I plan to read and discuss in 2017 as a part of this series:

January – The Anglo-Saxon Age: A Very Short Introduction by John Blair

February – Genesis A&B (https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/genesis-ab/)

March – The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis

April – Exodus & Daniel (https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/exodus/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/daniel/)

May – Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

June – Judith, Dream of the Rood & Juliana (https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/judith/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/dream-of-the-rood/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/juliana/)

July – Viking Age Iceland by Jesse L. Byock

August – Njal’s Saga

September – Finn and Hengest by J.R.R. Tolkien

October – The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife’s Lament, The Battle of Maldon (https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/the-wanderer/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/the-seafarer/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/the-wifes-lament/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/battle-of-maldon/)

November –  Alfred the Great: Asser’s Life of King Alfred & Other Contemporary Sources by Simon Keynes

December – Christ I, Christ II, Christ III (https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/christ-i/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/christ-ii/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/christ-iii/)

Rapid Fire Book Tag

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Allison D. Reid, Book Tag, C.S. Lewis, Cheryl Koevoet, Mary Weber, reading, Tennyson, Tolkien

My friend Joshua Robertson, author of books such as Anaerfell and Melkorka and owner of Crimson Edge Press, just did a fun little rapid fire book tag on his YouTube channel. Instead of tagging people he left it open for people to answer themselves. And who says a blogger can’t participate in these tags? So check out my answers to these questions and feel free to make a blog post or a video and answer them yourselves. If you comment here with a link to them, I will gladly visit and comment!

So without further ado, and with no explanations whatsoever about any of these answers, here is my response to the rapid fire book tag:

– E-Book or Physical Book? Physical Book
– Paperback or Hardback? Hardback
– Online or In-Store Book Shopping? Online
– Trilogies or Series? Series
– Heroes or Villains? Heroes
– A book you want everyone to read? The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
– Recommend an underrated book? Storm Siren by Mary Weber
– The last book you finished? The Carnelian Legacy by Cheryl Koevoet
– The Last Book You Bought?  Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson
– Weirdest Thing You’ve Used as a Bookmark? Another book
– Used Books: Yes or No? Yes
– Top Three Favourite Genres? Fantasy, Science Fiction, Christian
– Borrow or Buy? Buy
– Characters or Plot? Character
– Long or Short Books? Long books
– Long or Short Chapters? Long chapters
– Name The First Three Books You Think Of… The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, Journey to Aviad by Allison D. Reid, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
– Books That Makes You Laugh or Cry? Laugh
– Our World or Fictional Worlds? Fictional worlds
– Audiobooks: Yes or No? YES!
– Do You Ever Judge a Book by its Cover? Almost always
– Book to Movie or Book to TV Adaptations?  Book to TV
– A Movie or TV-Show You Preferred to its Book? Star Wars
– Series or Standalone’s?Series

How to Help Authors

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author, Book Review, reading, sharing, social media

This is a topic that gets covered extensively among the writing community, and there is a lot of great wisdom to be passed along from writers to newer writers. If you love an author or their book there are a lot of ways that you, as a reader, can help make an impact to drive up the sales and popularity of either that author or their book. Today I will be covering five ways that you can start to help your favorite budding authors gain the exposure they need to help solidify their writing careers.

1. Buy their book! – Okay, so we’ll start out with the no-brainer to begin. If you like the author or love a particular book, the best thing you can do to support it is to buy a copy to own. The format doesn’t matter, so whether you love hardcovers, paperbacks, or eBooks you can take your pick and support the author that way. If they don’t have a book of their own yet, buy the book anthologies and magazine copies that have their stories featured, as these help to show the publisher that there was an interest in those stories which will make it more likely that they will consider a second story from the same author in the future. Also, don’t forget that books make excellent gifts! If you don’t have the funds to buy the books, see #3 for another way you can help.
2. Read their book in public places – This will let other people seeing you read the awesome book, and the curious ones might even ask what you are reading. Don’t hold back when they ask, but rather see this as an opportunity to convert them to the fandom of your new favorite book or author. If you can get them excited, perhaps they will become curious enough to do step#1, which helps to show the interest in that author or book.
3. Request it at your local library/bookstore – If you can’t afford to buy a copy for yourself, or if you already have a copy, ask about that book at your local library or bookstore. This shows the librarians and bookstore employees that there is some interest in the book, and every library or bookstore should take note and jot down when someone asks about a book they don’t already have. If enough requests are made, you may find that someday soon that book is there for sale or checkout.
4. Review the book! – Apart from sales, reviews might be the second most important factor to influence the success of a book. When you read a book you love, or even one you just enjoy, take the time to write a review. It doesn’t have to be long, but it should be honest and as spoiler-free as possible. And then post it in multiple locations, especially on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. The more reviews a book has, the more likely a reader will be to investigate into the book and, perhaps, buy it. If the story is only on a website, be sure to like it and leave a comment so that it shows some reader activity and involvement.
5. Spread the word – Social media is the ideal method for sharing information about your favorite author or book. If it is a book, share the cover of the book or your review (or another review that pops across your feed that you agree with) for your friends or followers to see. If it is an author, share links to their blog, their books, or their short stories. Become the street team to spread the word about that author to those who are yet to discover them. Word of mouth is a powerful tool so read and share about everything they write that you can get your hands on and generate some buzz about that author and their writing.

 

So there you go, five ways you can help your new favorite author or book gain some exposure or popularity. A few dedicated fans doing these things on the behalf of a book or author can help drive interest that otherwise might never surface. What are some authors or books you are currently excited about and might be able to help promote?

Banned Books Week

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banned books, Banned Books Week, book burning, challenged books, controversial, First Amendment, NaNoWriMo, novel, reader, reading, Writing

Before I get into today’s post I wanted to take a moment to make an official announcement: I am going to participate in this year’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I will devote my spare time in November toward accomplishing a lofty goal of writing 50,000 words in 30 days. That equates to an average of 1,667 words per day in order to accomplish that goal. But to those who succeed, they will have about 175 pages of a novel written.

The obvious choice for me is to pick up where The Curse of Fierabras left off and continue the story of Dante and Jerek after their escape from the Capital. You can find my NaNoWriMo page here, and I will attempt to leak a few excerpts and updates on my progress throughout the month.

So look forward to the finale of Ogre Hunt in the next week or so.

Last Saturday kicked off an annual event that I have been a supporter of for many years: Banned Books Week. While this post is coming along much later than I would have liked, I simply could not let this year pass by without making some sort of post in honor of this great cause. So here is some information about Banned Books Week.

What is Banned Books Week?

Readers across the world unite for a common cause at the end of September each year. They proudly display traces of their literary protest by creating websites, lists, Facebook posts, blogs and tweets about the event or their participation in the event. Bookstores and libraries place the forbidden material in prominent displays. The week is about expressing your freedom to read.The first Banned Books Week started in 1982 as a response to the growing number of challenges being placed against schools, bookstores and libraries. According to the Banned Books Week website, more than 11,300 books have been challenged since its inception in 1982. Last year there were 326 reported challenges against books, and the top ten can be seen in the list to the right. The foundation for Banned Books Week, and its importance according to the American Library Association, is

“Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week.”

Why are Books Banned?

Most often books are challenged with the best of intentions: protecting children and others from perceived potentially harmful information. Depending on each individual, this could be a wide range of things from religious beliefs, violence, profanity, sexuality and ethical matters. There have also been instances where books were challenged for reasons such as police officers being portrayed by pig characters and the author having the same name as someone with disagreeable political views. In the latter case, concerning the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, the accusation was a little off the mark. According to the American Library Association, the top three reasons cited for challenging materials are:

1. The material was considered to be “sexually explicit”
2. The material contained “offensive language”
3. The material was “unsuited to any age group”

Concerned parents certainly have a right to monitor what their children are reading, just like they monitor their children’s television, movie and video game habits through the rating system. The line is crossed when parents, teachers and librarians begin to try and restrict what other people’s children can read. The Library Bill of Rights has an interpretation of the Free Access to Libraries for Minors posted on the ALA website:

“Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents—and only parents—have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children—and only their children—to library resources.”

When the motion to challenge books exists, it is a violation of the First Amendment. In the case of Texas v. Johnson, Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. made the following statement:

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”

Where Can I Learn More?

There are many places where you can learn more about Banned Books Week and its importance to your First Amendment rights. There are also a lot of lists out there recommending books to read. The following list is far from comprehensive, but it is a great place to start to expand your knowledge.

• Banned and Controversial Books
• Banned Books Week
• 100 Great Banned Books
• 25 Banned Books You Should Read Today
• Delete Censorship
• American Library Association
• 17 Banned Books You Read As A Child
• The 11 Most Surprising Banned Books

Did you read a banned book this week in honor of this event? What is your favorite banned book?

Perfecting Poetry

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experiment, improvement, perfecting poetry, poet, poetry, reading, writer, writer's block, Writing, writing prompt

I have determined there are a four key things to do in order to write better poems. Two of them I already knew and one other I suspected. But the third has completely caught me off-guard.

Over the past few months I’ve been taking a Poetry Writing class, which has challenged me in many ways. These challenges, although sometimes frustrating, have allowed me to grow as a poet.

I’ve been writing poetry off and on since 1999. During these thirteen years I’ve taken English classes, creative writing classes, read poetry books, read poetry essays, written poetry essays, and written a poem a day for a month. But I have evolved more as a poet in these past three months than the previous thirteen years.

The highest point so far from this course came this week when the rough draft of my latest poem came back with no suggestions for revision from my professor. She always finds some word choice, structure, or other element in the poem to critique and recommend a change on. But not for this one.

I can’t say I’ve “arrived” yet as a poet, but I have a feeling I have at least a few poems that will be accepted for publication. My confidence in my poetry is at an all-time high. And it is all because of these four things:

1. Write More Poetry – This really should be a given for anyone who writes. The more you do something, the better you will become. A blank page won’t get accepted for publication, and the words don’t just magically appear on the page. And, no matter how busy your schedule might seem, there is always time to write. Even if that means waking up earlier or carrying a small notebook and pen with you everywhere you go. If you want to write more often, you will find the time.

2. Read More Poetry – This is another given for writers. A person who writes Mystery novels will read a lot of other mystery novels. Poets have it lucky because there aren’t many novel-length poems that we would have to read. I personally think that the best thing to do is read a variety of poems, spanning across different poetic movements. Read the old, the really old, and the new. Read local and read poems from around the globe. It is easy to stick to a poet or an era you love the most, but that can only take you so far.

3. Use Writing Prompts – It seems like so many of the prompts are meant for poets because they focus on one moment, one scene, one idea. This is a free idea factory for any poet, which takes away the whole writer’s block excuse before it even starts. They also serve another purpose, which is to move you out of the comfort zone. We all have those topics we return to over and over. The prompt moves you into uncharted territory, which is why it also goes well with number four…

4. Experiment – This applies to topics, but also to something far more beneficial. Write poems (note this is plural, meaning do each one more than once!) in new formats, like the sonnet. If you always capitalize the first word of each line, try writing poems without capitalization. If  each line is always a complete thought, write poems where the only line ending with a period or comma is the last line. Mix things up, sprint so far past your comfort zone that you can’t see it any more. This class has forced me to do just that. One of my best poems was also the hardest one to write the rough draft for. I’ve not only discovered new formats for poetry, but I’ve also found that my natural style of writing a poem isn’t anything like what I wrote for thirteen years.

What are some of the things you think are most important for becoming a better poet or writer? Is there one thing that has helped you grow more than any other?