A Light Inside

[For the Rules, click here.]

No, we have not been poisoned by fairy tales and they are not merely "myths." Far from it. The truth is, we have not taken them seriously enough. As Roland Hein says, "Myths are stories which confront us with something transcendent and eternal." In the case of our fair maiden, we have overlooked two very crucial aspects to that myth. On the one hand, none of us ever really believed the sorcerer was real. We thought we could have the maiden without a fight. Honestly, most of us guys thought our biggest battle was asking her out. And second, we have not understood the tower and its relation to her wound; the damsel is in distress. If masculinity has come under assault, femininity has been brutalized. Eve is the crown of creation, remember? She embodies the exquisite beauty and the exotic mystery of God in a way that nothing else in all creation even comes close to. And so she is the special target of the Evil One; he turns his most vicious malice against her. If he can destroy her or keep her captive, he can ruin the story.

Author: John Eldredge (Captivating with Stasi Eldredge; The Sacred Romance with Brent Curtis)

Synopsis: Wild at Heart talks about what men most desire: a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. Captivating discusses a woman's three great wishes: to be romanced, to be an irreplaceable part of an adventure, to have beauty to unveil. The Sacred Romance and Journey of Desire speak of God's love for us and our adventure in learning to love Him.

Oddly enough, after reading Wild at Heart, I came away thoroughly fascinated by what women desire--and not exactly as the Eldredges put it. Captivating didn't quite live up to the emotive writing of Wild at Heart, and I thought it didn't look closely enough at a woman's desire to nurture; I would have added that as a full fourth desire. Sure, it messes up the neat "three" thing, but it's important.

Between the two books, I have visions of womanhood that encompass everything from the tender-eyed soft-hearted ladylike girl to wood-queens with swords and long wild hair and fierceness in their eyes. For all my resentment toward certain aspects of feminism, I can't dissociate myself from the movement entirely when I read a book about men and come away having learned more about the fair sex.

[Pardon my missed post yesterday. I'm an auntie again, to a gorgeous little five-pound nine-ounce niece. :)]

For the Rules of the Fifty Favorite Books, click here.

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"A person who pulls himself up from a low environment via the boot-strap route has two choices. Having risen above his environment, he can forget it; or, he can rise above it and never forget it and keep compassion in his heart for those has left behind him in the cruel up climb."

Author: Betty Smith

Synopsis: The early years and coming-of-age of Francie Nolan, child of poor immigrant parents, are chronicled in this tale.

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I read this book once, years ago, and perhaps the time has come to pull it off the library shelf again. I remember it as stunningly well-written, vivid, a beautifully human description of life in poverty without--as far as I recall--romanticizing such a life or trying the reader's patience by a preachy attitude about social justice. (I'm not saying that social justice is unimportant ... just that nothing makes it harder to care than a self-righteous mouth-off thinly disguised as entertainment and/or "speaking out".)

Having only read the book once, I don't have a lot more to say about it. It left quite an impression that first time, though; certain characters and scenes stand out strongly in my mind even after all these years. I also have to give it an extra star for having one of the greater titles that I've ever come across.

[For the Rules, click here.]

"All watches are safe."

Author: Corrie ten Boom

Synopsis: Corrie ten Boom details her family's experience hiding Jews in Holland during Nazi occupation, and the subsequent time Corrie and her sister Betsie spent in a concentration camp.

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I love the tale Corrie told (in another book, Tramp for the Lord) about meeting, years after her release from the concentration camp, a former Nazi guard who had tormented her and her sister. He had become a Christian in the intervening years and begged her forgiveness, offering his hand in friendship. She had only seconds to overcome the hate Betsie had always protested against and shake the man's hand. By the grace of God, she succeeded.

The Hiding Place is a painful read, but a powerful one. Her recounting of her family's work helping Jews escape and the price they all paid for that work is thoroughly moving. It is a beautiful story of work against evil, of love and superhuman forgiveness. Most great stories involve something of those concepts. Hers is true.

RRR: The Diary of Anne Frank, of course. I always feel guilty reading that because I would never, ever want my own diaries published, but stories hardly get more human-interest than hers.

[For the Rules, click here.]

"Can you kiss your elbow?"

Author: Betty Brock

Synopsis: A fairy princess married a mortal man, and her father the Fairy King was so angry that he exiled both indefinitely, willing to restore them to favor only if their first child became mortal by the it turned seven. No Flying in the House is the story of that first child and the tiny dog who helps her.

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I read this innumerable times in fourth grade; unfortunately, never since. Someday I'll stick this and 101 Dalmatians on an Amazon order to benefit from the free-shipping-over-$25 promotion.

Though I attempted Belinda's trick for flying several times, I don't think I really expected to get off the ground. It would've been fun, though. As I recall, Annabel floated around the living room ceiling eating a cookie. Of course, her benefactor wasn't incredibly excited about her dropping crumbs on the carpet.

My poinsettia, which is at least five years old, is blooming for the first time since I got it:













Poinsettias are notoriously difficult to bring to bloom, usually requiring rather harsh treatment--that is, they want to be locked in a basement or closet every night for two months. They like filtered but direct light in the day. I have mine in a sheer-curtained south window, but didn't give it any extra darkness at night.

[For the Rules, click here.]

Not long ago, there lived in London a young married couple of Dalmatian dogs named Pongo and Missis Pongo. (Missis had added Pongo's name to her own on their marriage, but was still called Missis by most people.) They were lucky enough to own a young married couple of humans named Mr. and Mrs. Dearly, who were gentle, obedient, and unusually intelligent--almost canine at times.

Author: Dodie Smith

Synopsis: When their fifteen puppies are stolen by Cruella de Vil and henchmen, Pongo and Missis go to the rescue with the help of many dogs and their "pets" along the way.

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First things first: This is not the little Disney book, which messes dramatically with the characters; nor is it the movie based thereon. This, as I recall, is an honest-to-goodness novella, written by a talented author capable of appealing to all five senses, who makes her characters and scenes dimensional and believable.

I haven't read this since about sixth grade (thank goodness for the first page on Amazon, which provided the above quote), but in that year I read it over and over for several months. Certain scenes from the story still come up very visually in my mind, especially the old dog sharing his hot buttered toast with the travelers by the fireside.

It makes me hungry. Hmm. I think I have some leftover biscuits ...

[For the Rules, click here.]

"I am convinced," said Edward, "that you really feel all the delight in a fine prospect which you profess to feel. But, in return, your sister must allow me to feel no more than I profess. I like a fine prospect, but not on picturesque principles. I do not like crooked, twisted, blasted trees. I admire them much more if they are tall, straight and flourishing. I do not like ruined, tattered cottages. I am not fond of nettles, or thistles, or heath blossoms. I have more pleasure in a snug farm-house than a watch-tower--and a troop of tidy, happy villagers please me better than the finest banditti in the world."

Author: Jane Austen

Synopsis: Two sisters, with decidedly different principles for facing life and love, watch each other's ideals tested as they struggle side-by-side through passions and heartbreaks and into marriages.

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We've reached the first Austen book in the countdown. I considered making Austen and Lewis their own special rules because they've both written so many good books, but in the end decided to let the titles stand on their own. Lewis, by the way, is known for saying about Austen that her books had two faults, both of which were "damnable: They are too few and too short".¹

Of all her novels, this is the only one that feels even remotely rambly to me. I loved the Emma Thompson/Hugh Grant/Alan Rickman/Kate Winslet movie, which is artistically made and well-acted and concise enough, decently capturing the spirit of the story.

There's a scene in the movie where Marianne rushes crying into one room, her mother rushes crying into another, and Margaret hands Elinor the cup of tea she'd brought for Marianne and disappears crying into a third room. Elinor looks at the closed doors and listens silently to the muffled weeping; then she sits on the stairs and takes a sip from the tea.

My family has laughed and laughed at that scene. Everyone says I take after Elinor, and I do sympathize with her.

More and more through life, though, I tend to be impressed by Elinor and think myself unlike her. "Do you compare your conduct with his?" Elinor asks Marianne, speaking of a former beau who turned out to be a rascal. "No," says Marianne. "I compare it with what it ought to have been; I compare it with yours."

Elinor's wisdom and self-controlled conduct cannot protect her from suffering, but it can protect her from making an idiot of herself in the process. That sounds like something to me ... what could it be? Ah yes: Reality.

I'm working on that.

¹ The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis Vol. 2, Hooper, p. 977; quoted from "Unlocking Harry Potter: Five Keys for the Serious Reader", John Granger, p. 35