Confessions, St. Augustine

Now that I have finished this book, I can't believe how long it took me to read it. I think, somehow, I have retained the idea that classics, especially non-fiction ones and those in translation, are difficult reads. Lies. However, let me make a few clarifications. I read a 1961 Penguin Classics edition with a translation that was accessible. If I had found another version, I may have found the going a little tougher. Also, I have been a long time at reading this book. I picked it up about a year ago, left my borrowed copy at home when I returned to St. Louis, bought a copy, read it for a bit, got distracted by the Epistles, picked it up again, got distracted by novels, finally decided I needed to finish, and devoured the last five or six books.

In his Confessions, Augustine describes his story of gradual conversion and the consequences of it. He shares his life before and after he realized the Truth of the Church, with an emphasis on the process of change. His story covers philosophy, as he seeks the meaning of concepts such as Truth and Beauty; identity, as he seeks to know God in the Trinity and himself; and morality, as he struggles with the lifestyle implications of the Christian Way.

I knew intellectually that people see Augustine as still applicable to the world today, but the modernity of his questions and struggles struck me. He follows the ways of the intellectuals of his time who have twisted the way of truth to make it easier. He prays, famously, "God grant me continence and chastity, but not yet." He longs to give his life to God, but does not go all the way, holds back. And God breaks through all his opposition, partly through the steadfast intervention of his mother.

After his conversion, Augustine begins to chronicle some of the blessing which God has bestowed upon him and to meditate on some lines of Scripture. In fact, he starts with Genesis 1:1a : "In the beginning." After writing at length he moves on to Genesis 1:1 : "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth." He lost my interest for a while as he mused over abstract ideas of time and matter, mostly because he has a tendency to repeat himself seven or eight times over in the section. However, in the last book, he writes that he does not have the time, nor his readers the energy (true!) to go through the Scripture in such detail, and he addresses the six days of Creation in one fell swoop, regaining my interest.

If you are Catholic, read this book. If you are a non-Catholic type of Christian, read this book. Augustine speaks of joining the Catholic Church, but he wrote at a point in history where all our modern denominations did not exist. If you are not a Christian, I still recommend it for an interesting theological and philosophical read. It would be an excellent book for a discussion group, because it has a lot to digest.

North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell

I'm back!  And with another book on my list of very-favorites.  This one actually came to me by the way of Netflix - yes, I broke a cardinal rule and watched the movie first.  The film version was so good that I figured the book must be even better.  And it was.

Our heroine, Margaret Hale, grew up in aristocratic southern England.  Her father is a country curate, but she spent many of her formative years living with a wealthy (and very irritating, in my opinion) aunt in London.  When her cousin (also very irritating) gets married, she returns to her parents at Helstone (the parsonage), only to soon be uprooted to Milton, an industrial city in northern England.  The Hale family has a strange position in Milton social circles, which are polarized between textile factory owners and their workers.  As the novel progresses, Margaret forms relationships with individuals in both classes - not least the distinguished and well-respected master, Mr. Thornton (a tough nut to crack).  I'll leave the rest to your reading pleasure.

Elizabeth Gaskell lived at the same time as Dickens and the Bronte sisters and had close connections with each.  It's a fascinating period in history (1840s-1850s), when industrialization was transforming social and economic conventions.  North and South is not simply a romance - it is chock full of debates about gender roles, class conflict, and social justice issues, 19th century style.  It's a very intelligent, thought-provoking, thoroughly enjoyable work.  I certainly recommended it for fans of Austen, Dickens, and the Brontes.  And for romantic socialists.

To clarify: Yes, there is another book called North and South, published by John Jakes in 1982.  Yes, it is about the antebellum United States.  Yes, I have been in love with Orry Main (and perhaps George Hazard as well) since approximately the age of eight.  I have never read the book, but the 1980s miniseries is pretty wonderful.  A whole lot trashier than Victorian England, though...

Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez

I read this novel on recommendation of a good friend. Unfortunately, my Spanish isn't good enough to read it in the original, but Garcia-Marquez is an amazing writer, even in translation.

The novel is a love story. It starts close to the end, with a death: the death of the husband of Fermina Daza. After the funeral, her former suitor, Florentino Ariza, comes back to declare his love again -- after waiting over fifty years. Garcia-Marquez then shifts back to when they first met and follows the two characters through their lives.

I love Garcia-Marquez and enjoy just reading his words. His prose is engaging, and, while some of his characters are over the top, they fit into his story very well. Other characters are nuanced enough to be real. However, the plot (a man whiling away the years in love affair while waiting for the husband of his "true love" to die) did not sit well with me, and I was not a fan of the ending.

That being said, I can tell why the friend recommended it to me. And I would pass on the recommendation to anyone looking for read by a good writer.