Thursday, January 11, 2024

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Our latest book club genre is "Books in translation." My pick was The Count of Monte Cristo. We voted on Beartown by Fredrik Backman instead.

It's staccato prose and subject, a dying, desolate, and desperately cold hockey town, proved an initial obstacle to me. But once I got over that, the story really began to suck me in. I don't think I've had a book grab ahold of me like this in a while. All the characters were multi-dimensional. They all had their flaws and virtues. Just when I was ready to write off a character as unredeemable, he would surprise me. But the actual plot a bit to get going. 

But once the central action took place, it was non-stop.

Except that what appeared to be the central action was not. The author keeps us up-to-date on the happenings of a secondary character, Benji, who appears to move "off-screen" as the plot really takes shape. In those glimpses, we see hints that this boy is a closeted gay student. But that is a distraction to the gripping story the town is facing. 

Somehow the author manages to pull out a somewhat satisfying end. No one gets everything they want, but all get some satisfaction. That's the point we shift the focus back to Benji and his coach's discovery of the young man's sexual attraction to males. Suddenly the story becomes about acceptance and the appalling lack of sympathy the coach and players have displayed when it comes to same-sex attraction. The big takeaway seems to be, "Don't be a bigot to gay people." 

This "moral of the story" left a bad taste in my mouth. Obviously, as Christians, we are called to love all people and treat all with dignity and respect. Acceptance of that bent is another story. But just as a matter of story-telling, the ending felt jarring. While one really big and intractable story is seemingly the focus, Backman pulls a bait-and-switch and seems to say, "And by the way, while I got you hooked on one compelling story, I'm going to use this time to shame the anti-gay bigots." 

Anyways, I wouldn't recommend it. And I'm leery of reading his other novels. I don't need to be that invested to have the rug pulled out from under me. 

It's really a shame.

Thursday, December 28, 2023

A Light in the Window by Jan Karon

Since Tim and I both enjoyed the first "Mitford" book, we decided to read A Light in the Window by Jan Karon. She keeps up the small town feel in the next installment which begins immediately upon Father Tim's return to Mitford from Ireland.

Things are progressing with his lady love Cynthia. Of course they cannot go perfectly smooth and lots of miscommunication and jealousy ensue.

Father Tim must deal with the cantankerous contractor in charge of building Miss Sadie's bequeathed nursing home. 

On top of all that, Cousin Meg shows up out of the blue (or maybe Ireland, it's unclear). 

Between the daily events that consume Father Tim's time and finding Dooley a new school where he has a chance to flourish, Cynthia and Time struggle to figure out where their relationship fits in. 

I guess I'll have to read the third book!

Sunday, December 24, 2023

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

As I work to read the list I give my students of "Books to Read Before you Die," I grabbed The Crucible by Arthur Miller off my shelf.
 
As a substitute, I watched the second half of the movie multiple times, so I felt a familiarity with the characters, setting, and plot. Now I want to go back and watch the whole movie.
The story is engrossing. It ostensibly centers on the Salem Witch Trials, but is obviously so much more. The tale reveals the very dark underbelly of humanity. Lust, greed, fear. It's all in there. 

The story begins with young women doing what young women do: fighting for an escape and freedom. One has apparently seduced a married man and sees her chance to break him free from his long-suffering wife. Not only do the girls shout, "Witch" in order to absolve themselves, the town uses the opportunity to free itself of gadflies and cranks, or even obstacles to prosperity. 

The panic, the rush to judgment, the absolute certainty mirror our own during the Covid nightmare.
Nothing has changed. 

John Proctor takes center stage as he seeks to redeem himself from his sin of adultery and betrayal. He is the hero of the play. 

Interestingly, after the madness, the town returns to "normal" and consigns the horror to a never-spoken-of anecdote. This too is typical of humanity. We don't learn. We intentionally forget. 
The play is horrifying. It's a slow-motion train wreck in which multiple people yelled, "Stop!" Yet the reader knows it will not stop until the cancer has worked itself out. 
Never didactic, the play shines a bright light on our own foibles. 
 

Friday, December 22, 2023

At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon

Robyn Vandewalle sent me At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon for my birthday. Set in Blowing Rock (Mitford) North Carolina, she figured I love a "hometown" novel. She was right.

The book features a variety of small town characters led by Father Tim, a gracious and good-natured bachelor. As he deals with the daily circumstances that present themselves, we fall in love with the charming and slow-paced town. 

All stories, no matter how dire, seem to end well. Small setbacks are simply fodder for spending time with the demention-adled Miss Rose, the long-suffering Uncle Billy, the misunderstood child Dooley, the opinionated secretary Emma, and rich spinster Miss Sadie, as well as the intriguing "neighbor" Cynthia Coppersmith. 

The plot is not especially relevant in this slice-of-life novel. 

Father Tim is simply going about his day trying to handle each hiccup as best he can. 

I look forward to reading more in the series. 

Sunday, December 17, 2023

A Lively Kind of Learning: Mastering the Seminar Method by Jennette DeCelles-Zwerneman

A fellow teacher recommended a website to help us as we craft our Seminar class. On that site I discovered A Lively Kind of Learning: Mastering the Seminar Method by Jennette DeCelles-Zwerneman. It turned out to be a very helpful book. I recommended that our entire team read the short treatise and discuss a la "book club"!

I found several worthy gems: "The goals of the seminar are to teach the following skills and habits of mind: how to read well with sensitivity to genre; how to speak precisely in a spirited, adult conversation marked by wonder and rigor; how to defend their positions and gracefully change their minds when necessary; how to think through a thorny problem from beginning to end with precision; and how to think about the world more generally." (p. 5)

Something to reflect on: "Another more sober complaint against conducting seminars with high school students is that it invites arrogance in young people who enjoy minimal experience of the world and who are already prone to sophomoric pronouncements. (p. 6)

The goal: "If a seminar discussion is successful, the students should know that they have learned something at its conclusion." (p. 8)

Questions to ask: "Why do you say that? What do you mean by that? Where is that in the text?
Can you expand on that? How can you maintain that reading in light of this other passage? You are now contradicting what you said before; did you mean to do that? What would we have to assume to believe what you're saying is true?" (p. 9)

A call to center the text: "Seminar leaders should always begin with the concrete text before them. The rest will follow naturally. The students should know that the text is the source of their discussion and that they should not be consulting outside sources." (p. 20)

A word of advice on what to do; "When sorting through philosophical texts, an exceptionally useful habit to acquire is the practice of distilling arguments on a one-half sheet of paper in outline form. Restricting oneself this way has the effect of clarifying the issues and disciplining the mind." (p. 28)

The author outlines "Six Patterns for Leading Seminar":
  1. Recreate the drama, collect the questions. "Learning to ask good questions is an important intellectual skill that should be acquired in seminar training." (p. 36)
  2. Arguments: Find them first than evaluate. "The students are directed to locate the thesis of an argu-ment, the argument's logical construction, and the evidence offered by the interlocutor for that position." (p. 36)
  3. Two by Two. "In this pattern, the students are working together, building a shared experience of the text. They are seeing it through the eyes of their colleagues, and they are seeing afresh what they had missed on their own." (p. 40)
  4. Line by line. "We are trying to teach the students how to read, and that involves occasions of close, detailed investigation of the text." (p. 44)
  5. Competing Essays. "The fifth kind of seminar discussion is based on two competing essays written by the students themselves...The essay assignment would have to solicit opposing but arguable positions." (p. 49)
  6. The Big Picture. "It involves comparing and contrasting assessments of various authors on a variety of overlapping concerns an interests." (p. 50)
Finally the book ends with "Common Mistakes that Spoil a Seminar."
The Expert: "[T]hey fear the unruly and often unpredictable nature of the seminar. They are frightened when students start interrupting each other. Because they fear the seemingly gigantic pauses that sometimes open up in these conversations, they fill them, instead of patiently waiting for the students to catch up...If the seminar leader plays the Expert long enough, the students will catch on and wait for him to settle the debate..."(p. 57)

The Traffic Cop: "They believe their purpose is to stay out of the way and keep the traffic moving by calling on students to speak; directing traffic by quieting interruptions and ticketing malcontents; and waving travelers through the intersection by cueing up the next remark." (p. 60)

The best Seminar teacher functions as an "Experienced Mountain Guide."The skillful teacher needs to be intellectually alive, energetic, and opportunistic. When the students move the conversation into unexpected territory, and the issues arising are potentially fruitful, the teacher needs to guide that conversation and move in the fresh direction suggested by the students' questions and remarks." (p. 61)

And finally, my biggest takeaway: "One of the most important skills students gain in these discussions is learning how to engage each other, not just the teacher, in a lengthy and substantive exchange. It is imperative that the students be consistently redirected to address one another in these conversations." (p. 76)

In true Seminar fashion, the author details the Final Cause of Seminar: "We want them to become reflective, rigorous, intellectually honest, spiritually sensitive, and competent readers of a wide and various selection of genres. The seminar should cultivate in the students the ability to think through problems independently, collaboratively, and imaginatively; to scrutinize arguments and evaluate the truth of those ar-guments; to imaginatively observe and reflect on the created world in a piece of literature and the development and motivation of the characters who inhabit that world; and to be genuinely moved by the beauty and the suffering they confront in their reading. Finally, the students should acquire an understanding of the world and their place in it." (p. 89)

Friday, December 15, 2023

"The Reluctant Debutante" by Samuel French

For the genre "play" our book club chose, "The Reluctant Debutante" by Samuel French. The picture is from the movie version. The actual "book" is a script with a red nondescript cover. 

The play centers around a young woman, Jane, whose mother is desperate for her to find a suitable husband. A friend of the mother's also has a daughter "coming out" and in a similar search. Two very different men, both named David, provide the potential love interests. That each is initially made to understand that one particular David is the right one, and that it ultimately proves incorrect is basically the entire plot. Hijinks ensue. The reluctant debutante's parents, Jimmy and Sheila, provide a bit of a Mr. and Mrs. Bennet-style characters.

The play claims to be hilarious and warns against introducing over-the-top staging to enhanced its humor. At most, I found it slightly amusing. However, when our book club met to discuss it, someone suggested reading a scene out loud. We assigned ourselves parts and proceeded to do a read aloud. The results were actually very funny. I finally understood the initial note. Exaggerating for effect was unnecessary. 

Saturday, December 2, 2023

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates by Abraham Lincoln

Although I've read most, if not all, of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates in the past, this small (58 pgs.) excerpted form was a perfect encapsulation of the arguments made by Lincoln and Douglas. The rapidity with which the reader can encounter each argument creates an easy-to-follow flow from one debate to the next. It is so much more of an extended conversation than a series of long speeches.

Interestingly, Lincoln is clearly on his heals throughout most of the debates. Although today his argument about the immorality of slavery and its incompatibility with the Founding ideal rings obviously true, it was one he sought to promulgate over enormous obstacles. 

Douglas perfectly captures the zeitgeist by pointing out that the Founders actually left slavery in place. It was Lincoln who sought to upend the delicate balance procured by Jefferson, et. al. Repeatedly Douglas accuses Lincoln of believing that blacks were equal to whites in every way, including as voters and marriage partners. This "bridge too far" kept Lincoln in the unfortunate position of arguing that is not what he meant by saying slavery is incompatible with "All men are created equal." Douglas' rejoinder that the Founders clearly meant "All white men are created equal" seemed an adequate refutation. 

Not until the seventh and final debate is Lincoln finally able to free himself of the web Douglas has wove about him. Lincon shifts gears to say that slavery is morally wrong: 

The real issue in this controversy--the one pressing upon every mind--is the sentiment on the part of one class that looks upon the institution of slavery as a wrong, and of another class that does not look upon it as a wrong...[The Republicans] look upon it as being a moral, social and political wrong; and while they contemplate it as such, they nevertheless have due regard for its actual existence among us, and the difficulties of getting rid of it in any satisfactory way and to all the constitutional obligations thrown about it...They insist that it should as far as may be, be treated as a wrong, and one of the methods of treating it as a wrong is to make provision that it shall grow no larger...

That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles--right and wrong--throughout the world...The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings... It is the same spirit that says, "You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it." No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principal...And whenever we can get rid of the fog which obscures the real question...we can get out from among them that class of men and bring them to the side of those who treat it as a wrong. Then there will soon be an end of it, and that end will be its 'ultimate extinction.' (p. 54)

As Lincoln makes clear, there is no room for someone like Douglas who "doesn't care" whether slavery is voted up or down. If something is wrong, it is wrong. And any moral person must oppose it. To stand by and let it continue or expand is to concur with its basic morality. 

Interestingly, Douglas, after Lincoln's devastating take-down of the "don't care" mindset, reverts to his strongest ground: Lincoln seeks equality in every way. This distasteful ignoring of the real issue suddenly reveals Douglas to be a cowardly racist afraid to state what is plainly true and in full alignment with the Founding of the country.

This book resonated with me greatly and will be a go-to defense of all attacks on Lincoln.