Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Reading Along

Years ago, waaaaaay before I was Catholic, my friend and fellow Bible Study member Chad Stutz gave me a book, Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton for a Christmas gift exchange. Recently, at a used book sale I saw a 1951 edition of the book The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton. I only bought it because it was a hardcover book by an author I recognized and only cost 50 cents. It has been sitting on my shelf ever since.

Since I finished The Chosen and was awaiting shipment of my Amazon order containing all the books on my Thomas Jefferson Education-inspired "syllabus" - I picked up and devoured all 423 pages of The Seven Storey Mountain. It is a well-written autobiography of Merton's life up to and including his conversion to Catholicism and then detailing his entrance into a Trappist monastery.

Listen to all the kooky coincidences that occurred while I was reading:

1) Merton mentions Mortimer Adler. This Adler guy keeps popping up all over the place in my reading, most notably in discussions about Great Books - which he founded.

2) Merton also mentions Aldous Huxley. As I read his mention, my husband was sitting next to me in bed reading Huxley's Brave New World.

3) I was very inspired by Merton's testimony, and shared portions of it with Kevin. One night, he reached over to his nightstand drawer where he had a This Rock magazine with Merton on the cover and including an article about how he went a little wiggy in his later years. I waited til I finished the book this morning to read the article. Kinda depressing.

Put Merton's book, completed, back on my shelf. Maybe one day someone else I know will read it and we can have an enlightening discussion about it.

Began Little Britches by Ralph Moody today. So I am now officially following my syllabus. Happy reading to me!

3 comments:

littlecbsmom said...

I got all of my first assignment books in except for Laddie! I am reading Little Britches now too! I bought one at Borders then found it on one of my shelves because it is a Core 4 book with Sonlight! So, I took that one back!

Maybe we can discuss the Declaration of Independence one day soon? I peeked ahead....;)

Anonymous said...

HI Teri, I do so enjoy reading your blog and am an avid reader. I have been reading the Ralph Moody series starting with "Little Britches" ever since you first mentioned it. In fact I just finished the second book in the series it is fascinating and I am so enjoying it. I now must buy several more of the series and will be on pins an needles until it arrives. As soon as I get everyone here to read the books I am going to send them to Janice to hopefully read to the kids.
Thanks for talking about it, I am loving it.
Maryann Proctor - Janice Shepard's Mom

Unknown said...

I'm so excited to have others reading with me!! Glad you both told me - PLEASE keep me posted. I wish I was more computer savvy and knew how to set up a site just for discussing the books. I guess we just need to e-mail each other.
Suzie, can we have a phone date when it comes time for the Declaration discussion?
Maryann - please share what you think of the whole series - I had no idea it was a series until I received the first book, but I, too, am liking it and think my kids will, too. Good writing!