The novel is the first of a trilogy though I doubt that was intended during its writing. The second definitely feels like a Hollywood sequel capitalizing on the success of the original. It is still a very good story with high tension moments.

All the novels were published as serials. They read very differently from the serialized work of Dickens. The latter two novels have climaxes in odd spots and have self-contained stories within them. Dumas seems to have had difficulty ending the third. English editions of it are usually broken up into three volumes. The entire trilogy in my collection is 3,464 pages. That's a lot of sword fights.

Dumas does a great job creating evil characters. I have rarely seen the lust for vengeance portrayed as well. He seems to have forgotten his revenge-driven character in the third book, but I didn't mind as it kept it from being too formulaic. My primary complaints are two-fold. First, the shaming of the primary hero, d'Artagnan, by the king near the end of the last novel did not fit with the larger than life character that Dumas had created. Second, in the second and third books the musketeers begin to become caricatures of themselves.

A great side benefit of working through this trilogy is a greater understanding of French history during this time period (and to a lesser extent, English history). My editions had ample backnotes on all the historical characters and events. I have already come across a few references in my reading that I would have not appreciated before.

The descriptions of the French court and its frivolity, excess, and endless intrigues were enough to make me think that perhaps the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror weren't such bad ideas after all. Maybe I should read A Tale of Two Cities again or perhaps something like Scaramouche.

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In Mansfield Park, Austen contrasts the attractive, witty Mary Crawford against the shy, dull Fanny Price. Throughout the book, we learn that Fanny is to be prized for her moral character and this is realized in the end by the hero of the story. Her moral principles are most notably displayed when she declines to act in a play of questionable worth. In the PBS version, she is persuaded to take a part and so we lose the contrast between Fanny and the other characters. We don't really learn any reason for the hero's selection of Fanny other than it was just meant to be.

One of the turning points in Persuasion is the fall of Louisa Musgrove. Captain Wentworth had been praising Louisa's strength of conviction as an indirect criticism of Anne's character. Louisa insists on taking another walk by the sea before leaving Lyme even though the party should have returned home. She seriously injures herself. This causes Captain Wentworth to begin reexamining Anne's character and his overreaction to the past. The fact that it was Louisa that pushed for the late walk is left out of the movie. We are not left with any reason for Captain Wentworth's change of mind concerning Anne other than her clearness of mind during the accident. (Also, near the same time, Anne receives an obvious admiring look from someone which causes Captain Wentworth to do some more rethinking. This is also left out.)

Northanger Abbey is a satire of the Gothic romances of the late 18th century. Due to her novel-fed, overactive imagination, Catherine begins to suspect that her host has murdered his wife. No self-respecting person would have believed such a thing if put in the same position. That is part of the satire. Instead, the movie includes a scene of someone telling the heroine about rumors concerning the man's wife. So not only does the idea not originate with her, but other people treat it as a possibility thus losing some of the strength of the satire. To finish it off, Catherine is told at the end of the movie that her judgment was correct even if she had the details wrong.

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It is a very easy read. The sixteen chapters contain eight almost separate stories. The format is due to the novel being developed for inclusion in a magazine published by Dickens. It is considered one of Gaskell's best novels and evidences her ability as a story teller. Charlotte Bronte said about it: “I find it pleasurable reading: graphic, pithy, penetrating, shrewd, yet kind and indulgent.”

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“The influence that instantly stopped him, on the way to his carriage, was the silent influence of her face. The startling contrast between the corpse-like pallor of her complexion and the overpowering life and light, the glittering metallic brightness in her large black eyes, held him literally spell-bound. She was dressed in dark colours, with perfect taste; she was of middle height, and (apparently) of middle age—say a year or two over thirty. Her lower features—the nose, mouth, and chin—possessed the fineness and delicacy of form which is oftener seen among women of foreign races than among women of English birth. She was unquestionably a handsome person...”

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It is thoughtful and meandering. Forgiveness. Grace. Doubt. Belief. These themes are explored throughout. This book is not meant to be taken in quickly. It encourages pauses. Sentences need to be reread. New perspectives need to be pondered. The simple things of life become profound. The prose is rich and requires a little wrestling: “There are two occasions when the sacred beauty of Creation becomes dazzlingly apparent, and they occur together. One is when we feel our mortal insufficiency to the world, and the other is when we feel the world's mortal insufficiency to us.”

I think I will have to read Marilynne Robinson's Gilead again.

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I am thinking fiction. For the past year, it's been mostly heavy non-fiction so a change of pace would be nice. I'm also considering modern fiction. I have rarely touched anything that is post 1950 besides an unfortunate episode of binging on Gresham and Clancy when I was 18. I'm going to let the list ferment for a while before I make my final selections so any suggestions are appreciated.

Powered by $50 in Amazon certificates and an active library card, onto the list:

• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson - 2005 book that I have heard good things about
• The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco - it's by a linguist so it must be interesting
• Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky - trying to read one great Russian novel a year
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

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How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart
The Cube and the Cathedral by George Weigel
A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis
A History of New Testament Lexicography by John A. L. Lee
Greek: A History of the Language and Its Speakers by Geoffrey Horrocks
Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus by Joachim Jeremias
Martin Bucer: A Reformer and His Times by Martin Greschat

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Bible Translation on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century edited by Athalya Brenner and Jan Willem Van Henten
My interest in linguistics and bible translation is growing. This book had a very interesting article on an Orthodox perspective on translation that I plan to write to more about.

Jack: A Life of C.S. Lewis by George Sayer
Portions of this book felt like a reaction to past biographers. It did provide some intriguing looks into Lewis's life. I also added a lot of books to my “to read list” because of it.

The Idea of the University: A Reexamination by Jaroslav Pelikan
A little bit too esoteric for my tastes - even as a graduate of a university. This book did introduce me to John Henry Newman. I plan to read more by Pelikan.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Religion, War, Famine and Death in Reformation Europe by Andrew Cunningham and Ole Peter Grell
It is only through the study of the past that we can understand the present. A fascinating look at this time period.

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You'll have to read the story if want all the details (here or here), but one piece of information that is vital to what I want to write about is this: the member who will die on any given evening is selected through the dealing of cards. The ace of spades is the sign of death. This adds an additional thrill for the young men and perhaps a sense of Fate.

My character of interest is, of course, the young man with the cream tarts. He inherited quite a good living from his family, but is not exactly frugal. Why don't I let him speak for himself:

I can play the violin nearly well enough to earn money in the orchestra of a penny gaff, but not quite. The same remark applies to the flute and the French horn. I learned enough of whist to lose a hundred a year at that scientific game. My acquaintance with French was sufficient to enable me to squander money in Paris with almost the same facility as in London. In short, I am a person full of manly accomplishments.

In the story we meet him as he is squandering his last available forty pounds by giving away tarts in the pubs of London. He had met a girl, fallen in love, and then realized he did not have enough money left to marry her. He chose to rapidly blow the rest of his money and join the club.

On his second night at the club (I'm skipping a lot of the back story), someone else is dealt the ace of spades. The young man goes up to him and says, “I would give a million, if I had it, for your luck.” There is an interesting observation about human nature here (whether intentional on Stevenson's part or not). When man loses hope — when he is drowning in life's ocean — he loses the ability to reason or see his way out. The young man of the tarts was at this moment willing to give a million pounds for death when those same million pounds would certainly suffice to support a wife.

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The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton - This was highly recommended to me. It is financial advice through the medium of a fictional story. The story is fairly contrived, but I can see how it appeals to people. The author has good advice (especially on life insurance), but is too conservative on credit card usage (as in don't have any). It also has a realistic discussion on the limited benefits of budgeting for personal finances.

Martin Bucer: Reforming Church and Community edited by D. F. Wright - Martin Bucer is currently my favorite reformer. When I purchased this book I thought it was a biography of Bucer, but it turned out to be a collection of essays. They provided some interesting insights such as Bucer not being as much of a softy as he is sometimes made out to be. He gets labelled this way because he often served as a mediator between various reformers and between reformers and the Catholic Church. I still feel like I need a big picture view of his life to appreciate many of the essays.

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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - This is worth reading just for the puns.

Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - I guess I must be trying to catch up on my reading of children's literature. Great first line: "All children, except one, grow up." The narrator's sarcasm is something to appreciate.

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Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman - This is a polemical work against television. The thesis of the author is that television as a mode of communication is inherently unsuited for serious discourse. I don't think Postman achieves this objective but does a very good job at convincing the reader of the danger in the current state of mass media television. He seems to have a particularly strong dislike for news (possibly based on an utilitarian understanding of information). Overall, a good read and worth the time.

The Confessions by Augustine - Passionate is the best one word description that I have for this book. The first nine sections are an autobiography focused on his journey to conversion with recounted stops in sinful self-indulgence and heterodoxy. It was actually his keen mind for mathematics and for what I would call the beginnings of science that helped him to escape Manichaeism. The last four sections delve into philosophical topics such as memory and time. Scripture was such a part of Augustine that when he wrote he seamlessly integrated it into his thoughts. Worth reading again.

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Kiss Me Again, Stranger: A Collection of Eight Stories Long and Short by Daphne du Maurier - du Maurier best known for novel Rebecca. This collection includes The Birds which inspired the movie by the same name. Wouldn't classify exactly as suspense or horror - almost always a twist near the end - du Maurier feels comfortable leaving loose ends and unexplained events. Death a common theme so maybe macabre fits as a label. The Old Man was my favorite - recommend it.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis - collection of four books based on WWII radio talks. Author beloved by American evangelicals - his theology tended more towards Catholic Church over time. Gentle, grandfather-like tone - will be appreciated more by Christians - arguments don't hold up so well in post-modern world or under trained logic. Great metaphors - comforting read - honest.

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