And she soaked in the King James Bible. Her debut novel, After Me Comes the Flood, is reviewed here. (via Prufrock)
Rediscovering the Excitement of Reading the Bible
“I remember, as a teenager, reading through the books of Samuel and, upon finishing, thinking to myself, ‘This story is as invigorating as any story I’ve ever read, seen, or heard.’ What is strange to me now is how surprising a revelation that was. Having grown up with the literature, why didn’t I already think of it as engaging?”
Mark Bertrand interviews Adam Lewis Greene on his plan for an alternative reading experience for the Bible. Bibliotheca will be a four volume edition of the Bible made for readers with beautiful book design.
Gaiman’s ‘American Gods’ Coming to TV
The Starz network is developing Neil Gaiman’s American Gods
Gaiman is excited about it. He says, “The team at Starz has been quite certain that they wanted to give Shadow, Wednesday and Laura a home since they first heard that the book was out there. I can’t wait to see what they do to bring the story to the widest possible audience able to cope with it.”
I gather he anticipates haters.
Barnabas Piper is a Pastor’s Kid
Barnabas Piper’s new book, The Pastor’s Kid, is out today. In his interview with Matt Smethurst, Piper talks about his own feelings and what he learned from other pastors’ kids.
Your book is based on what you learned from hundreds of conversations with pastors’ kids over the years. What surprised you most as you interacted with other pastors’ kids?
Two things surprised me. The first was the consistency of the stories and experiences regardless of context. Even the phrasing of answers and the quotes they shared of what people in their churches had said to them were almost verbatim. While I expected similarities, it was almost like a bunch of people had copied the same answer on a test or something. It gave me real clarity about what needed to be addressed as well as assurance that my own experiences weren’t the outlier.
The second thing that surprised me was how many PKs are now in vocational ministry. The stereotype is of PKs who turn their back on the church, but I connected with dozens who, despite their struggles, love and serve the church.
The tendency for judging pastors’ kids was a dual expectation of perfection and rebellion. People thought these children should be models of the Christian life while also believing they would rebel and reject the church. It’s an impossible standard.
C.S. Lewis Reviews ‘The Hobbit’
In 1937, The Times Literary Supplement ran this review from Professor C.S. Lewis: “To define the world of The Hobbit is, of course, impossible, because it is new. You cannot anticipate it before you go there, as you cannot forget it once you have gone. The author’s admirable illustrations and maps of Mirkwood and Goblingate and Esgaroth give one an inkling—and so do the names of the dwarf and dragon that catch our eyes as we first ruffle the pages. But there are dwarfs and dwarfs, and no common recipe for children’s stories will give you creatures so rooted in their own soil and history as those of Professor Tolkien—who obviously knows much more about them than he needs for this tale.”
Read the whole thing.
12 Steps to Enjoying Movies More
Jeffrey Overstreet has started a 12-step group for “More Rewarding Moviegoing.” He says, “Sight Club is like a 12-step program. We’re here to cultivate ‘eyes to see’ and ‘ears to hear’ in a world full of darkness and noise. Movies give us a world of opportunities.”
A Loser’s Game
“It is a loser’s game to try to appease the claims of those who despise one’s moral convictions, but nonetheless complain you aren’t applying them fastidiously enough.”
Here’s a quote from a friend on recent news. I wanted to say this yesterday, but didn’t give it enough thought.
For Men Who Don’t Read
“The reason it’s the perfect book for weaning men back onto literary fiction is that Ove (pronounced “oover”) is just like us. He’s a grumpy old pedant. No matter if you’re younger than his 59, or less bothered about neighbours breaking residential parking restrictions, or more relaxed about the fact that no one knows how to put up shelves properly these days, there will be a part of you that’s just like Ove. He even hits a clown at one point, and any man who tells you he hasn’t wanted to do that is lying.” (via Prufrock)
What Do The English Do on the Fourth of July?
A genuine Englishiander gives us this rundown of what his people do on The Fourth of July (besides watching American TV). One thing they do is watch fireworks:
“Crowds of people dress in red coats and gather under large scaffolds, which are extensively rigged with explosive fireworks. At an agreed-upon time across the country, the fuses are lit and the fireworks shoot downward, into the throng that has gathered underneath. This serves to remind the British people of the pain and suffering that came from the defeat endured by the King’s Army, and to prepare younger generations of English men for the eventuality of a second battle in which the Crown retakes what is rightfully British land.”
World Illustrations for The Hobbit
Tove Jansson illustrated this for the Swedish edition of The Hobbit:
Brain Pickings has several illustrations from the British, Swedish, Japanese, and Russian editions. Mikhail Belomlinsky made this for the Russian edition printed in 1976:
