November Books

Interesting posts by Dave Griffey At Daffey Thoughts re:  books he has read in November:

It’s just that I set my usual reading regiment aside and bring back the usual suspects – books that give me that ‘fall feeling’, whether in terms of history or fantasy or nostalgia or some other form of fiction that strikes my autumn nerves.  Unless I get a really big recommendation, I don’t get new books at this time.  Below is a partial list of the most common, and indeed ones that I will usually read, if not every November, at least once in a two or three year period at this time of year.

1. The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien  (one a year, rotating)

2. Beowulf, favorite translation being Howell Chickering, Jr. (it’s also interlinear, and someday I’ll have that Anglo-Saxon down!)

3. Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott  

4. Godric, Frederick Buechner 

5. 1066: The Year of Conquest, David Armine Howarth 

6. The Middle Ages, Morris Bishop

7. The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer 

8. Memoir of a Revolutionary Soldier: The Narrative of Joseph Plumb Martin, Joseph Plumb Martin 

9.  Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler (not a bad book to brush up on right now)

10. The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan 

11. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque 

12. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe 

13. Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick 

14. Paradise Lost, John Milton 

15. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

Again, I don’t read all of them every year.  Time simply doesn’t allow it.  Though I don’t make a habit of picking up newer books in November, if for no other reason Christmas and my birthday are around the corner.  Still there are times when a recommendation comes so strongly that I go ahead and get the book in question and read it, momentarily setting those above aside.  Plus time.  Time doesn’t allow all of them in only a few weeks, given other obligations of life.

But for those dreary, raining, bare tree, gray November evenings, you can rest assured that at least a half dozen of the above list will be spread about the house, next to the bed, in our basement by my Grandma’s antique rocking chair (my hiding place down there), or in the living room.  And there they’ll be until I’ve gone through them in time to read whatever I inevitably get for my birthday, then Christmas, and then back to normal as another year begins afresh. 

Go here to read the rest.  Which of those books have I read?

1. The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien  (one a year, rotating)-Yep, several times since I first read the trilogy in the sixties.  A very dense text and I find new things every time.

2. Beowulf, favorite translation being Howell Chickering, Jr. (it’s also interlinear, and someday I’ll have that Anglo-Saxon down!)-Yep.  I like direct translations from the Old English original.  Tolkien’s “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” makes a nice companion piece.

3. Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott-Never made it all the way through.  Scott is one of those authors I admire but I am unable to read much of.

4. Godric, Frederick Buechner-Nope.

5. 1066: The Year of Conquest, David Armine Howarth –Yes.  If 1066 had turned out kinder for Harold Hardrada my bride might be royalty over in what is now the UK and doubtless not married to me, and thus I prefer this reality!

6. The Middle Ages, Morris Bishop-Nope.

7. The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer –Yep an enthralling mirror into the late Middle Ages.  Chaucer was a very well connected diplomat. who had seen much of the world and tells us about it in his Tales.

8. Memoir of a Revolutionary Soldier: The Narrative of Joseph Plumb Martin, Joseph Plumb Martin-Yep. Gives us a fascinating grunt’s eye view of our War for Independence.

9.  Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler (not a bad book to brush up on right now)-Yep.  Koestler was a terrible man but he wrote a great book.  One of the first of the Leftists to ask himself the question:  Are we the baddies?

10. The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan-Never got all the way through.  I find Bunyan more interesting than what he wrote. Go here to read about him.

11. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque-A good book for a dreary November day.  It would depress a hyena, but that was life for a combat soldier on the Western Front.

12. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe-Nope.

13. Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick –Nope.

14. Paradise Lost, John Milton-Made my way through most of it.  Once again an admired author but one who does not sustain my interest.  Good companion pieceis the fascinating preface by CS Lewis to Paradise Lost.

15. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte-Haven’t touched Bronte since high school.  English Chick Lit of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries always left me cold, to the despair of my long suffering female English teachers.