Book Notes
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1. Remember that post a while ago about Abelard and Heloise? I just finished a murder mystery that featured them as characters. It was quite good in the traditional cozy vein, which I myself like. It was called Death Comes as Epiphany, and the sleuth is a novice in Heloise's convent named Catherine LeVendeur. Not nearly as racy as Abelard's own writings, bien sur . . .
2. I'm about to give up on Karen Armstrong's The Great Transformation. I worship and adore her, but this sucker is just too long and too detailed. If you want to read her work (and you should want to), pick History of God instead.
3. I'm reading Brideshead Revisited for the first time (in anticipation of the movie version soon to premiere) and it's really something. It takes place in the 1920s, and I've gathered from Evelyn Waugh's writings (this and his letters) that the twenties had a lot in common with the 1990s and 2000s. There's a lot of fervent declarations on consciously superficial topics, conspicuous eccentricity, breezy wit, proprietary slang, and a general sense of young people being happy and creative. One of the main characters of Brideshead Revisited is an Oxford student who proudly carries around a teddy bear named Aloysius. At first this seems kind of weird and, um, UNcool. But then I thought of all the people who have Harry Potter action figures and Star Wars Pez dispensers unabashedly displayed in their cubicles, which probably has something of the same vibe.
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1. Remember that post a while ago about Abelard and Heloise? I just finished a murder mystery that featured them as characters. It was quite good in the traditional cozy vein, which I myself like. It was called Death Comes as Epiphany, and the sleuth is a novice in Heloise's convent named Catherine LeVendeur. Not nearly as racy as Abelard's own writings, bien sur . . .
2. I'm about to give up on Karen Armstrong's The Great Transformation. I worship and adore her, but this sucker is just too long and too detailed. If you want to read her work (and you should want to), pick History of God instead.
3. I'm reading Brideshead Revisited for the first time (in anticipation of the movie version soon to premiere) and it's really something. It takes place in the 1920s, and I've gathered from Evelyn Waugh's writings (this and his letters) that the twenties had a lot in common with the 1990s and 2000s. There's a lot of fervent declarations on consciously superficial topics, conspicuous eccentricity, breezy wit, proprietary slang, and a general sense of young people being happy and creative. One of the main characters of Brideshead Revisited is an Oxford student who proudly carries around a teddy bear named Aloysius. At first this seems kind of weird and, um, UNcool. But then I thought of all the people who have Harry Potter action figures and Star Wars Pez dispensers unabashedly displayed in their cubicles, which probably has something of the same vibe.
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posted by Anonymous at
5:20 PM
4 Comments:
Hi,
I've been following Karen Armstrong for over a decade. If I may suggest - don't give up on 'Transformations'. It has a much larger message - not limited to the three Abrahamic (sic?) religions. It gave me a much larger world view. I think it might do the same for you.
I must have misread because it seems like you were saying that having Star Wars paraphernalia displayed on your desk is on some level uncool.
Well, as a Yoda Pez dispenser owner myself, I have to say that the comparison with Star Wars paraphernalia lent coolness to the teddy bear, and not the reverse. (Backpedaling, backpedaling!)
oh, day late, dollar short! i start oohing and ahhing over aloysius and brideshead precisely four days *after* you direct me to blog entry to ooh and ahh over aloysius and brideshead. is it ever tiring for you, lynn kibble? making sure my leash is secure?
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