#829: Ch. 7, Europe and the Faith by Hilaire Belloc

Europe and the Faith continues as Belloc challenges myths about the Middle Ages.

Chapter 7: The Middle Ages.

30:42.

I picked up a sore throat and cold, so I’m afraid I’m not posting much this weekend. Sorry.

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More Librivox Audiobooks!

Librivox seems to have achieved that happy state, possible only for a distributed group project, of constantly churning out new material. This week is particularly rich.

On the nonfiction front, we have one of the great classics of adventure and Egyptology, A Thousand Miles Up the Nile by Amelia B. Edwards. (And yes, she inspired Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia. I can’t wait to listen.) We also have The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, which is not only patriotic and edifying but entertaining, too. I think this may be the expurgated version, but it doesn’t say. Plato’s dialogue Ion has Socrates torquing off a professional poetry reciter. (What’s wrong with covers, Socrates? Or do you have something against fame?) H.L. Mencken makes an appearance In Defense of Women, but mostly ripping on men. (Love or hate Mencken, he’s a lot better at snark, cutting criticism, and insult than most of today’s proponents of the art.)

On the fiction front, they’ve released a single reader version of The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton. There are two finished books by Lord Dunsany: Time and the Gods (in which he builds a mythology of sorts) and The Book of Wonder, which is simply chock full of classic fantasy stories. The classic mystery writer J.S. Fletcher (an old Librivox favorite, if you may recall The Temple Murders and The Paradise Murders) tells us about Dead Men’s Money. You can also laugh with the first Blandings Castle book from Wodehouse, Something New; or get ready for English class with Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure, or Galsworthy’s first Forsyte Saga book, A Man of Property.

(I’ve never read Galsworthy. But when they say ‘saga’, apparently they don’t mean anything about carving out a kingdom or slaying dragons. They’re comparing it to the ones where Olaf Crazyeyes spends twenty years feuding with the friends and family of Snorri Odinpriest because somebody might have slept with somebody else or coveted the south field, and where everything ends in a farmhouse full of people burnt to a crisp.)

In other news, my sinuses have finally drained. Right down my throat. Sigh. We’ll see how I feel tonight.

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#828: Part 2 of “The Eavesdroppers”, Constance Dunlap by Arthur B. Reeves

Constance Dunlap continues, as she works with a car company executive to save both his business and personal life — no matter the cost.

(Yeah, yeah, it’s kinda Mary Sue in its execution… but it’s still not a resolution you see much in today’s fiction!)

“The Eavesdroppers”, Part 2

12:12.

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#827: Part 1 of “The Eavesdroppers”, Constance Dunlap by Arthur B. Reeves

Constance Dunlap continues her informal consulting business, once again deploying some state-of-the-art high tech equipment to bring justice to those who haven’t kept their noses quite as clean as they might.

“The Eavesdroppers”, Part 1

25:06.

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#826: Ch. 1, On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius

I’m starting On the Incarnation mostly because the Pope just mentioned it the other day in his series on the Fathers, and a lot of people seemed to be interested in reading it. Also, we have available a translation from the forties which has risen into the public domain already. Yay!

Chapter 1: Creation and the Fall

16:20.

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#825: Part 3C, On Holy Images by St. John Damascene

On Holy Images continues with some words on how images should be treated.

Part 3C

9:52.

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#824: Part 3B, On Holy Images by St. John Damascene

On Holy Images continues, with some questions and answers about images: What is an image? Why make one? What kinds of images are out there?

Part 3B

10:55.

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#823: Chs. 1-2, Bk. V, Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Against Heresies continues with two chapters on Jesus: that only He can teach and redeem us, and that He saved our flesh and blood with His.

Book V, Chapters 1-2.

16:32.

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#822: Preface, Bk. V, Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Against Heresies begins its final volume.

You know, I started this project to counter The De Vinci Code silliness. Now everybody’s forgotten all about said silliness, and this project’s not even done yet. I find this amusing.

Book V, Preface.

3:25.

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Apologies

Sorry I didn’t post last night. Not only is my ISP running horribly slowly, but so was I. Alas, it seems that I have not escaped the sinus infection which is running through my work group. (Bah.) However, I see no reason not to post later today, God willing and the sinuses don’t revolt. Showers are a good thing, and so is caffeine and the amazing camphor/menthol/eucalyptus power of Vicks VapoRub. (Especially if you stick it right between nose and lip, like the pathologists do.) (And assuming your nose is so stuffed up that this doesn’t hurt you; mine is.)

I have also noticed (finally) that I didn’t actually post a link on Saturday to the latest chapter of Belloc’s Europe and the Faith. I remembered to upload it to the page on archive.org, but that’s as far as it went! So feel free to go download it now. To keep things neat, I will post it officially on the podcast at the same time as the next chapter. (Otherwise, it’d be harder for folks to find in the future.)

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#823B: Chs. 3-4, Bk. V, Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Against Heresies continues.

Chapters 3-4

13:13.

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#821: Ch. 4B, The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison

The Worm Ouroboros continues, as King Gorice XII and Lord Gro do some hellraising. Not the metaphorical kind.

Chapter 4 (cont.)

26:00.

UPDATE: Broken link fixed on Chs. 4A and 4B. Thanks for telling me!

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#820: Ch. 4A, The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison

The Worm Ouroboros continues, as the Witchlanders return home to Carce, and King Gorice summons Lord Gro to his private sorcery workshop.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering? Yep, Tolkien read Eddison. Not a huge fan, but liked our Lord Gro.

Chapter 4: Conjuring in the Iron Tower

23:46.

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#819: Ch. 19, The Lani People by J.F. Bone

The Lani People continues. In its penultimate chapter, Kennon is forthright in facing his intellectual obligations — but not so clear about his personal ones….

I’m afraid the ending is starting to feel a bit rushed. The book has brought up a lot of complicated and emotional issues; and unfortunately, it doesn’t ever delve into them as deeply as they deserve. Also, I think it’s fair to warn you that Kennon’s not going to get the comeuppance for his remarks about women and civilization that the little smartaleck deserves. Alas. (If you ever wondered why Joanna Russ got so exasperated with sf… well, I think this book provides a clue.) Still, there will be comeuppance, never fear.

Chapter 19

19:16.

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#818: Bk. 20C, Gerusalemme Liberata by Torquato Tasso

Gerusalemme Liberata concludes. As the final victory is won, the defeated face hard choices — and the victors must keep faith.

Book 20C

49:19.

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