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Wednesday Reading Meme
Oct. 3rd, 2018 08:44 amWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’ The Gates Ajar, a treatise on heaven thinly disguised as a novel that was immensely popular in the second half of the nineteenth century. I can see why this book was so popular: not only is the image of heaven it offers appealing, but the image it replaces, which was commonplace at the time judging by the strenuousness with with Phelps refutes it (standing in choir robes singing for all eternity! No laughter allowed!) is so unappealing that many people must have been positively panting for anything else.
Similarly, I suspect it was balm to the heart to hear ministers blamed for wafting in to the homes of the recently bereaved, instructing them to be resigned, and pondering aloud as to the doubtfulness of the recently deceased making it into heaven. The Puritans have a lot to answer for.
Also Cokie Roberts’ Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868. (Yes, the Civil War has finally got me. There’s something grimly comforting about the thought that, bad as the times are, the body politic still has not broken down to the point of tens of thousands of American soldiers killing each other in cornfields.)
I really enjoyed this book. It shows not only the characters of many prominent Washingtonian women at the time but the interconnections between them, which is something I always want more of, and also gives you the feeling of the war as its unfolding - the way that the outcome of the conflict hung in the balance with almost every battle, the fact that Peace Democrats continued to agitate for a peaceful settlement (without the emancipation of slavery) almost of the end.
A chronological approach can be dull if it’s badly done, but here it actually serves to increase the excitement: even though we the readers know how it’s going to turn out overall, still you can feel some of the suspense as the Confederate army starts marching on Washington (which they did a number of times: I hadn’t realized how close the Capitol came to being besieged).
I also read Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novel adaptation of Kristy’s Big Idea, the first Babysitters Club book, which I’ve been gazing thoughtfully at for years without ever quite taking the plunge. But I finally read it and it’s a quick, fun read, and also I think it offers a better image of female friendship than currently popular books like the Dork Diaries (maybe the Dork Diaries get better in later installments? I only read the first one) so hopefully the graphic novels will give it more reach.
What I’m Reading Now
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’ Beyond the Gates, which focuses on different characters but expands on the ideas in The Gates Ajar and is therefore in sequel. In this book, we follow the heroine through a near-death experience and visit heaven.
I’ve also begun Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1868 The Chimney-corner, a collection of essays that Stowe wrote under a male pseudonym, probably so they would be taken more seriously as they are about politics, the Woman Question, the course of Reconstruction, etc. So far, Stowe has argued in favor of women’s voting rights and the importance of thorough training in the domestic sphere, which may seem like odd bedfellows, but I do see her point - although translated to a modern context, one would want boys to learn the same things as well. Why are we all more thoroughly taught about chemistry in the abstract, than the very practical chemistry of cooking?
What I Plan to Read Next
Cokie Roberts’ Founding Mothers, probably. I’ve been toying with the idea of extending the Distaff Line series back to the Revolution (before the Revolution I refuse to go: I don’t know much about the period and I don’t think there’s any great demand for fiction about it), although in the end I think I won’t; but this will be a pleasant read anyway and useful if I do decide to do it after all.
I’m also thinking around diving more deeply into the world of graphic novels, because one of my students really likes them (she actually drew a one page graphic story of her own! Clearly a talent to be encouraged!) and I’d like to be able to offer thoughtful book recommendations. Plus, they’re fun! And such quick reads, too.
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’ The Gates Ajar, a treatise on heaven thinly disguised as a novel that was immensely popular in the second half of the nineteenth century. I can see why this book was so popular: not only is the image of heaven it offers appealing, but the image it replaces, which was commonplace at the time judging by the strenuousness with with Phelps refutes it (standing in choir robes singing for all eternity! No laughter allowed!) is so unappealing that many people must have been positively panting for anything else.
Similarly, I suspect it was balm to the heart to hear ministers blamed for wafting in to the homes of the recently bereaved, instructing them to be resigned, and pondering aloud as to the doubtfulness of the recently deceased making it into heaven. The Puritans have a lot to answer for.
Also Cokie Roberts’ Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868. (Yes, the Civil War has finally got me. There’s something grimly comforting about the thought that, bad as the times are, the body politic still has not broken down to the point of tens of thousands of American soldiers killing each other in cornfields.)
I really enjoyed this book. It shows not only the characters of many prominent Washingtonian women at the time but the interconnections between them, which is something I always want more of, and also gives you the feeling of the war as its unfolding - the way that the outcome of the conflict hung in the balance with almost every battle, the fact that Peace Democrats continued to agitate for a peaceful settlement (without the emancipation of slavery) almost of the end.
A chronological approach can be dull if it’s badly done, but here it actually serves to increase the excitement: even though we the readers know how it’s going to turn out overall, still you can feel some of the suspense as the Confederate army starts marching on Washington (which they did a number of times: I hadn’t realized how close the Capitol came to being besieged).
I also read Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novel adaptation of Kristy’s Big Idea, the first Babysitters Club book, which I’ve been gazing thoughtfully at for years without ever quite taking the plunge. But I finally read it and it’s a quick, fun read, and also I think it offers a better image of female friendship than currently popular books like the Dork Diaries (maybe the Dork Diaries get better in later installments? I only read the first one) so hopefully the graphic novels will give it more reach.
What I’m Reading Now
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’ Beyond the Gates, which focuses on different characters but expands on the ideas in The Gates Ajar and is therefore in sequel. In this book, we follow the heroine through a near-death experience and visit heaven.
I’ve also begun Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1868 The Chimney-corner, a collection of essays that Stowe wrote under a male pseudonym, probably so they would be taken more seriously as they are about politics, the Woman Question, the course of Reconstruction, etc. So far, Stowe has argued in favor of women’s voting rights and the importance of thorough training in the domestic sphere, which may seem like odd bedfellows, but I do see her point - although translated to a modern context, one would want boys to learn the same things as well. Why are we all more thoroughly taught about chemistry in the abstract, than the very practical chemistry of cooking?
What I Plan to Read Next
Cokie Roberts’ Founding Mothers, probably. I’ve been toying with the idea of extending the Distaff Line series back to the Revolution (before the Revolution I refuse to go: I don’t know much about the period and I don’t think there’s any great demand for fiction about it), although in the end I think I won’t; but this will be a pleasant read anyway and useful if I do decide to do it after all.
I’m also thinking around diving more deeply into the world of graphic novels, because one of my students really likes them (she actually drew a one page graphic story of her own! Clearly a talent to be encouraged!) and I’d like to be able to offer thoughtful book recommendations. Plus, they’re fun! And such quick reads, too.
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