Caddie Woodlawn

My girls needed to read this for a book club- usually I don't get into that age book, but this one I really enjoyed. It is written by the granddaughter character of a real live pioneer girl and is based on real events. It covers a year of Caddie's life and includes sweet passages of character learning-- things I'm glad my girls are reading and hopefully absorbing.

The Princess and the Frog -- Loved IT!!

We watched Disney's new movie, The Princess and the Frog a few weeks ago. I absolutely loved the message. The whole movie was very well done all the way. It is set in New Orleans in the 50s and is about a girl who has a dream of owning and operating the restaurant her father never got to open even though he worked so hard. They are a black family and the contrast between them and her rich white friend is nicely done without condemning or unnecessarily glorifying either race. There is some voodoo in the movie, that's how she turns into a frog along with the prince who she falls in love with, but even that is shown as truly evil. Anyway, the princess has devoted her life to working in order to buy the restaurant despite all the nay sayers and friends and even her mother who hopes for grandchildren. She gets turned into a frog after kissing a frog prince who was turned into a frog by voodoo and they start on a quest to turn human again. The prince has played his whole life and never really had to work, but has been disinherited. He learns that he can work and learn new skills and he loves the princess, but she has a much harder time slowing down and discovering what is truly important -- namely relationships and the most important relationship of husband and wife. She is forced to choose between gaining her dream and losing her lover- the frog prince, and realizes that love is more important than working forever on a dream no matter how worthy it may be. Of course in the end she gets it all-- her frog prince, they turn human again, and the restaurant. It is a great message of love. The side love story of Raymond and Evangeline is also sweet and a great complement to the story. This movie is a masterpiece. It is so nice to have something modern to assist in the teaching of my children rather than working against it constantly. If I had the ability to create a story with a good message, this is the message I would create. Thank you Disney!!

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

I finally figured out how to read and get on the computer while nursing 2 babies, so here's a plug for The Count of Monte Cristo-- AWESOME!!! It is an incredibly long book, but so worth it I really didn't want it to end and my version was abridged and I sort of wish it wasn't. This book reads so quickly from the first page to the end and has a great underlying message. i'm not going to get into the plot because you just have to read it and if you have read it, you can comment on how much you liked it. It is really just pure entertainment and fun. My husband and children were glad to have me back once I finally finished it in about 3 days!!!

Book List for 9-12 year olds

My 10 yr. old needed a little more structure in her choice of literature, and while Nancy Drew is fun, we wanted to make sure she has some familiarity with other genres and literature. So my husband who is really behind most of the curriculum choices we make did some research mainly on amazon.com reading the reviews both good and bad for these books and came up with the following list. Neither of us have read all of these books although we have read some of them, so if any of you think any of them may be inappropriate for this age group, let me know. We bought most of them and I'm going to try to keep up with my kids' reading. It looks like a lot of fun. We want our kids to read at least one of the books listed in each genre.

Genre
Science Fiction
	The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet
	Ender's Game
	The City of Ember
	Journey Between Worlds
	Enchantress from the Stars
History
	Number the Stars
	The Bronze Bow
	The Witch of Blackbird Pond
	Sounder
	Johnny Tremain
	My Brother Sam is Dead
	Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
	The Matchlock Gun
	The Golden Goblet
	Hittite Warrior
Biography
	Archimedes and the Door of Science
	Augustus Caesar's World
	The World of Columbus and Sons
	George Washington's World
	The World of Captain John Smith
	Poor Richard
	The World of William Penn
	The Diary of Anne Frank
Mystery
	The Mysterious Benedict Society
	The Treasure of Alphaeus Winterborn
	The Westing Game
	The Ides of April
Fantasy
	A Wrinkle in Time
	The Hobbit
	The Book of Three
	Eragon
	Alice in Wonderland
	The Wizard of Oz
Adventure
	Call It Courage
	Island of the Blue Dolphins
	Treasure Island
	The Sign of the Beaver
	The Great Brain
	The Secret Garden
	Anne of Green Gables
	Tom Sawyer
Plays
	Theatre for Young Audiences: 20 Great Plays for Children
Tragedy
	The Bridge to Terabithia
	Where the Red Fern Grows
Poetry
	The Random House Book of Poetry for Children

Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis

This was quite an uplifting although rather strange book. I am currently reading Lewis's autobiography "Surprised By Joy" which I will comment on when I finish, but it has helped me understand Lewis' lifelong fascination with mythology of all types, and maybe why he says the story leapt out at him. It is the retelling of the story of Psyche and Cupid from the point of view of Psyche's much older, almost like a mother, half sister, Orual. Orual is an ugly girl, but very smart and really quite a good person. Her mother the queen died when she and Redival, her full sister, were children. Their father, the king, soon remarried, and this second wife died giving birth to the the beautiful Ilistra, also known as Psyche.

The king had assigned a Greek slave to teach his daughters. Orual was loved the Fox as he was called and loved the learning. Redival was not nearly as interested, and as time went on, Psyche also enjoyed the time spent with the Fox and Orual. The three of them formed a very strong bond. So it was especially devastating to Orual when the gods demanded a sacrifice of Psyche. She was devastated to have this beautiful sister taken away so cruelly. Once the sacrifice was performed, really Psyche was left chained at the top of the mountain, not actually killed, Orual went to bury her bones that she may rest and found instead that Psyche was alive and well and married to the God of the mountain. Instead of being relieved and happy for her sister, Orual was angry that she had been taken from her. She convinces Psyche to break a promise she made to her husband which results in great sorrow for her. Orual is haunted by what has happened to Psyche because of her, but will not admit to herself that she was in fact to blame.

Orual and Psyche no longer see each other, and Orual eventually becomes a good and just queen. Finally at the end of her life, she realizes her true face and all she has suffered because of her sin and ill-intent despite all the justifying she did in her mind over the years. The sisters are at last reconciled, although it is not completely clear, but it does lead one to that direction.

This brief synopsis hardly does the book justice. I could hardly put it down, and it brought me up to a much nicer state of mind than I was in when I started the book. There is so much to be observed and learned about human behaviour and how we try to convince ourselves that we are doing the right thing when deep down we know it's wrong. Orual really was not evil. She did a ton of good for her people, but all that good couldn't make up for the nagging she suffered about the bad turn she had given her sister. It was very nice in the end when Orual admitted her fault to her own heart and could see who she really was, and then the reconciliation was able to take place. Until we admit our wrongs, we cannot progress. We have to see ourselves for who we really are, then if there is something we don't like, then we can change it, and really be true to ourselves. I highly recommend this book. It is an easy read, easy to understand and there is so much to learn from it- lots of good quotes and words of wisdom also. Enjoy!!!

The Good Earth by Pearl Buck

I read this book a couple months ago, but it is still fresh in my mind and I loved it. It basically follows the life of a poor farmer, Wang Lung, from his wedding day to his death as a very rich man in China. It gave me a greater appreciation for my Western American culture and educated me on the customs and culture of China. I was amazed at the way women were treated, either as workers or for sex. When Wang Lung picked up his wife, O-Lan at the great house of Hwang, she walked behind him, and although he was curious about her throughout their life together, he felt it was beneath him to talk to her as he would to a man. O-Lan is definitely the heroine of this novel, she worked endlessly even while pregnant in the fields and in the house and because of her economy, Wang Lung was able to purchase land from the house of Hwang. A terrible famine hit the land and they were forced to the city where they lived in a tent along the wall of a palace and ate rice at a place for the poor each day. When revolution took over, Wang Lung, was fortunate to obtain some money from a rich man to save his life and O-Lan looted some precious jewels. They were ecstatic to be able to return to their land and bought the rest of the land from the house of Hwang.

Wang Lung was now the rich and respected man of their city, but instead of acknowledging O-Lan for the part she played in this fortune, he acted the way he thought a rich man should. His sons were not taught to work the land and grew up to bicker and would eventually although it doesn't chronicle it specifically in the book, they would lose the land the same way the great house of Hwang had lost it. Wang Lung took on a concubine and hated O-Lan the more because she was not beautiful. He even took away the 2 small pearls she wished to keep from the jewels she had looted and gave them his concubine. O-Lan eventually died soon after the marriage of her first son. She had done so much and complained hardly at all, Wang Lung did seem to actually mourn a little her at her deathbed. But it seems the customs of his culture were too much for him to really acknowledge her goodness and usefulness even after she was gone.

It seems from this book at least, that although the rich chinese put down and live off of the poor ones, the poor are really no better than the rich because they wish they were the ones who could put people down. Wang Lung showed how it would be if their places were reversed and it was no different. The whole Chinese honor and respect for elders and men is messed up. I'm sure there are some good things about it and there are probably cases of families who are kind and respectful to their women, but it seems the overall prevailing culture is one of pride and appearance and authority being more important than sincerity and humility. Buck also wrote East Wind West Wind which is also set in China and is a sweet story of a Chinese woman fulling expecting to be a slave to her husband and mother-in-law, but instead finds that her Western educated husband treats her totally differently than expected and it is a lovely surprise.

Good stuff. Another excellent true story about China is Wild Swans. It is one of my very favorite books. It is written by the daughter of a man who was part of the communist movement in China and chronicles the life of the daughter, her mother and her grandmother, so it gives a good picture of life in China through some different time periods.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs

This is a great book, autobiography about an escaped slave from the South before the Civil War. I highly recommend it to anyone older than about 16. This along with Uncle Tom's cabin really show how slavery worked. There were evil slaveholders and better slaveholders, but they were slaveholders and the system those slaves endured was awful.

Harriet had a good childhood. Her owners were good to them and allowed her parents a Christian wedding and they all lived together as a family. Her father was a freeman, but her mother and grandmother were slaves. Harriet didn't understand the danger and sorrow of being a slave until her parents died and her good owners died and left their slaves to relations. This was when Harriet learned the sorrow of being a slave. Her new slaveholder made inappropriate advances toward her and would never sell her even when she was able to escape his advances. This led to her sending her true love, a free black man, away and then eventually bearing 2 beautiful children out of wedlock to a kinder white bachelor hoping that would lead to her being sold. The owner still would not sell her and continued to treat her with spite and hatred and continued to try to take her over. Once Harriet realized that the owner would hurt her children to get to her, she ran away. She hid in a tiny compartment under the roof of her grandmother's house for seven years until an opportunity to escape the hounds and people of the South arrived. Once in the North, she was eventually able to free herself of the evil of slavery and give her children what she had been denied.

It is a fascinating read and I don't do it justice here at all. Some of the aspects I found to be quite interesting were that Harriet herself was part white, and many slaves were children of their white slaveholding fathers. These fathers would sell their children without a second thought. It was also sad to read about people she knew who were even worse off than she. Many mothers' children were sold with no way for them to ever reunite, even nursing babies were sold from their mothers. The poor white men who didn't own slaves had as much if not more contempt for the slaves than the slaveholders, and they relished in searching for runaways and loved to search the slaves' houses and take whatever they wanted. There really was no way out for these people. There was also terrible prejudice in the North once the lucky onew got away, and the Southerners still had the law on their side if they could locate a runaway in the North. Also, Northerners were given a rose colored view of slavery when they visited the South, and anybody who tried to help the slaves learn or better themselves at all was run out of town.

There are more interesting aspects. It was a sad story, but also one of triumph of the human spirit. Harriet never gave up. She was a true mother and lived for her children. I hope I always appreciate the blessing I have to live with and raise my children freely in a society where mothers are respected and appreciated. (I also read the Good Earth which I will report on sometime and that story reinforced my gratitude and appreciation.) What a woman, Harriet Jacobs was. She did what she had to do and she perservered and never gave up and in the end she was able to send her children to school in the North and give them what she never had: FREEDOM!!!!!

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

This was a fabulous read, such a breath of fresh air and time tested true wisdom. Marcus Aurelius is known as the last good emperor of Rome. His writings show that he must have been. I could learn a lot from his writings. One of his main themes is to accept what is and to help those around you when possible. Another great thing he wrote was of a whole bunch of people and how they had helped him and what he learned from them. That covered book 1. I should do that because I have learned a ton from people, and it made me more appreciative of what I have listening to all the people he was thankful for. I loved it, and I highly recommend this book. It is so worthwhile for the wisdom found therein. I could fill this page with lovely quotes from his meditations. But I'll try to keep it short. The whole work is found here in case anyone would just like to browse his words.

Then the first paragraph in Book 2 is:

"Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil. But I who have seen the nature of the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, that it is akin to me, not only of the same blood or seed, but that it participates in the same intelligence and the same portion of the divinity, I can neither be injured by any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, nor can I be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him, For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away. "

I think that is so good because it's true, we will always come in contact with people who are annoying or irritating or even bad, but we shouldn't shun them. We should be understanding and try to help them. And if that fails, then we shouldn't let their actions affect us. We should just go on with our lives.

Another great theme he expanded on was how short and insignificant this life is and then he points out how everybody dies and everybody who knows the somebodies who die will also die and then there is no one. So it is important to live your life for God and not for those around you.

"Do not waste the remainder of thy life in thoughts about others, when thou dost not refer thy thoughts to some object of common utility. For thou losest the opportunity of doing something else when thou hast such thoughts as these, What is such a person doing, and why, and what is he saying, and what is he thinking of, and what is he contriving, and whatever else of the kind makes us wander away from the observation of our own ruling power. We ought then to check in the series of our thoughts everything that is without a purpose and useless, but most of all the over-curious feeling and the malignant; and a man should use himself to think of those things only about which if one should suddenly ask, What hast thou now in thy thoughts? With perfect openness thou mightest, immediately answer, This or That; so that from thy words it should be plain that everything in thee is simple and benevolent, and such as befits a social animal, and one that cares not for thoughts about pleasure or sensual enjoyments at all, nor has any rivalry or envy and suspicion, or anything else for which thou wouldst blush if thou shouldst say that thou hadst it in thy mind. "

Here is another good one about wealth in Book 8, it reminds me of Job saying "The Lord giveth and the lord taketh, blessed be the name of the Lord."

"Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance; and be ready to let it go. "

A good place to end in light of the current economy. Be happy with what you have, accept what is and move on. Another theme of Marcus Aurelius' writings!!

Confessions by St. Augustine

I originally read the first 10 chapters of this work in my Great books club and loved it as did all the ladies in the group. But then for my other book club recently I finished listening to the entire work from the beginning to the end and now I don't like it and I don't like St. Augustine. I suppose I shouldn't be too harsh, because he may have been doing the best he could with what he had, but he ended up with some very strange ideas.

First-- the parts I liked--
I liked the story of his life and his conversion. I liked how he acknowledged the hand of God in his life even when he didn't realize it up to the point where he was converted. I agree with the idea that God guides and directs our lives and turns bad experiences to our good and that he is merciful and waiting and putting circumstances together that will help us in the long run. I agree that we don't often see the hand of God in our lives until after the fact.

I liked the description of Augustine's education and teaching experience. He was a master of rhetoric and knew Latin and Greek, studied a lot of philosophy and I found that quite interesting and enlightening.

I liked his mother's stalwartness and her approach to dealing with her husband. Back then, wives were very like property of their husbands and it was the man;s right to punish her as he saw fit including hitting. Monica, Augustine's mother, was never hit because she let her husband have his say and blow off steam, so that he wasn't so angry with her and things mostly went her way, because she had patience and self-control.

That's pretty much all I liked. Now to the issue dealing with women since I already started talking about it.

I don't like the ancient attitude towards women. They really thought that women were almost a different species and even mentioned how surprised they were that Monica had such fortitude when they were traveling at one point.

I also didn't like Augustine's personal actions toward women. He had a mistress to whom he was completely faithful for like 14 years and she was too and they even had a son together, but when his mother arranged that he be married for advantage, he sent her away and kept their son. He writes about how he felt like his heart was torn out, but instead of bringing her back and standing up against his mother and the society, he just got a new mistress to last until his betrothed was old enough to marry. It seemed to me that his friends and mother came above everything else even the mother of his only son.

One funny part was when about ten of the guys thought it would be great to live together and take turns providing for the necessities of life so that they could use that time to study, and they thought it would work great until someone asked how their wives would feel about it, and the whole plan was discarded.

His philosophies seemed to me very involved and reminded me of the scripture "ever learning, but never coming to a knowledge of the truth". Some of the things he would say were good and there were a lot of good quotes, but his over all actions and attitudes, I thought, were disturbing.

Like all these great books, I'm really glad I read it. It gives me a better understanding of the ancient world, and where our current ideas get their roots. I am also even more grateful for the Book of Mormon to really clear up a lot of these confusing ideas about God and salvation. I love learning.

Blogging is a great outlet, it seems easier to write to someone even if nobody actually reads this, I will read it again in ten years, and I'm sure laugh at my naivity.

Thanks for reading!!

Lucretius -- On the Nature of Things

This was a long poem. Lucretius was a Roman and wrote the epic poem in Latin verse. He said that his purpose for writing it in verse was to teach the people about the Nature of Things or in other words about science to relieve them from their superstitions and dependence on making sacrifices and performing rituals to the Gods. I'm sure it is more interesting in Latin. Maybe my children will be able to appreciate it in Latin some day, maybe I will. I listened to all of it while I did the dishes and cleaned and folded clothes. I think it was about 12 hours long. I wasn't sure I was getting a lot out of it, but I persevered and I'm glad I did.

He talked about atoms and void and matter. So now I know where these ideas first came from. It's interesting to know now what we do about atoms and molecules and how there really is no void. He also talked about the soul and body and how the body is nothing without the soul and how the mind can affect the body. He talked about the weather and although he was really putting down the polytheistic religion of his time, he did believe in God- an all powerful being. His study of nature and science moved him to believe in something more that the polytheistic rituals of his day. It was interesting to listen to how he attacked those beliefs and eventually followed Nature and Science to God.

I'm sorry I can't write more or a better post about this, but it is similar to the way I am studying these works. I am not delving deep into them and the philosophies. I am just getting a general understanding and overview of each of the works I study. I don't take notes, because I really don't have time to sit and read, listening is much more time productive for me, but it is better than nothing. Hopefully this short essay gives you some understanding. Who nowadays even knows who Lucretius is?

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

I finished this book by listening to it from audible.com, all 30-50 hrs of it, unabridged. It took 3 months, but it was very good and well worth my time. It was hard to keep track of all the characters by just listening at first, but with a little help from my book club buddies, we met once a month, I got it figured out and I just kept going.

It was well worth the time. Tolstoy is a master at portraying so many different characters and making them believeable . I think I know people who are just like some of those characters. Also, his insight into the war of 1812 and the defeat of Napoleon are very interesting. I don't know much about Russian history, but Tolstoy insists that the defeat of the French was an accident. After the fact, he says, the historians and the czar talk about how the Russian retreat into the coldness at the time of winter was on purpose to draw the unprepared French into the freezing Russian weather and that they knew the French would lose that way. In fact the French army lost hundreds of thousands of soldier to the freezing Russian winter and it marked the beginning of the end of Napoleon's empire, but Tolstoy makes the case and a good one at that, that it was by accident and that man has little to do with how events actually take place. God knows what will happen and man fulfills roles, but really has little control over the results on a wide scale. Napoleon who had been a master in conquest made several uncharacteristic mistakes such as not to stay in Moscow after he conquered it where there were plenty of supplies for his armies and then retreating in the middle of winter with no winter clothing for his troops and on top of that, retreating by the route least beneficial to his troops. Had he just stayed in Moscow or even retreated by a different route, his outcome may have been very different.

Pierre was probably the main character of this long novel and his ideas and philosophies and how they change over the course of his life is very interesting. He starts out with nothing and unexpectedly inherits a great fortune and title. He marries a selfish woman and hates himself for being like all the other rich people, but he does have nobler aspirations and by the end of the book, he reaches them His wife dies and he is free to marry for love and has children and acts on his nobler desires in regards to his subjects and fellowman.

The romantic stories were fun to read, and I liked how they all came out. I’m sure most men love the details of the war scenes and the women like the romantic relationships. This book’s got it all. No wonder it has stood the test of time. I feel like I really understand what it was like to be an upper class Russian at the time of Napoleon’s invasion. I have a greater understanding and appreciation for these people. And I highly recommend this book!!

3 plays by Aeschylus

I just wanted to record here that I tried to analyze these plays, did a search to make sure I understood them and found that I certainly did not!! There is a huge back story to these plays!!!! Before I read any Greek play again, I'm going to check out the plot summary and find out all the back stories, there were a lot of back stories to the Iliad too, like the Trojan horse that just simply are not written down in the story and you practically have to think like an ancient Greek to get it.

So here is what I wish I had known when I read Agamemnon, Choephoroe and Eumenides, this is a summary and not exact:

It all started with Agamemnon's grandfather, Pelops. Pelops won his wife unfairly in a chariot race and then murdered his accomplice afterward. But before the accomplice died, he cursed Pelops and his family. Then Pelops had 2 sons, Thyestes and Atreus. Thyestes commited adultery with Atreus' wife so Atreus banished him. Thyestes asked to come back and be forgiven and Atreus agreed and served him a wonderful banquet in which he served to Thyestes, Thyestes' own 2 murdered sons to eat. Thyestes was livid and left, and had another son, Aegisthus, possibly in an incestuous relationship with his remaining living daughter in order to avenge the deaths of his sons. And that is the curse referred to on the house of Atreus.

Atreus had two sons, Menelaus and Agamemnon. Menelaus married Helen who was stolen by Paris and taken to Troy which is what the Trojan war was all about. Agamemnon married Clytaemnestra who was the twin sister of Helen although Helen was fathered by Zeus and Clytaemnestra was fathered by a mortal. So anyway, Agamemnon of course wanted to help his brother for many reasons against Troy, but when they went to sail away there was no wind because the goddess, Artemis, was mad at somebody for killing a rabbit and demanded Agamemnon's daughter, Iphigeneia, as a sacrifice to atone for the rabbit. So Agamemnon delivered his daugher to be sacrificed at the temple of Artemis without the knowledge or consent of Clytaemnestra, her mother, and then he was gone to Troy for 10 years.

While Agamemnon was gone, Clytaemnestra hooked up with Aegisthus, the son of Thyestes, the cousin of Agamemnon, and they ruled Argos together and planned to kill Agamemnon when he returned. They sent Orestes, the son of Clytaemnestra and Agamemnon, into exile so that he would not be able to claim the throne, and treated Electra, his sister, like a slave.

The first play, Agamemnon, starts when Agamemnon is returning from Troy.

Also, interesting to note is that Cassandra, daughter of Priam, king of Troy, and the slave to Agamemnon, refused to have sex with Apollo at some point prior, and so Apollo refuses to help her in her need when she knows she will be murdered along with Agamemnon.

There!! I think I got it all!! After finding this all out, the plays have so much more meaning and depth. I will write about it after our next discussion as I'm sure we'll come up with some more interesting ideas!!! Wow!! Those Greeks had an imagination, no wonder we are still interested, it's quite the back story!!!

The Iliad by Homer

I did it!! I listened to 14 1/2 hours of audio to hear the whole thing!! I can't say that I understood the entire thing, but I think I got the main jist. The biggest surprise I encountered was that the story of the Trojan horse is not included in the Iliad. Apparently we don't have all the writings, but it is refered to in the Odyssey. The Iliad also was not written originally, it was sung by a bard and the people would gather for a couple days to listen to it. Maybe someday I will be able to read it in the original Greek because I'm sure it sounds great in Greek. The story is excellent although there are a ton of fighting scenes, that made it reminiscent of The Red Badge of Courage, but hey, war is not pretty and I'm just reading about it, I'm not actually there so I think it is only fair I try to understand the ugliness of it so I can appreciate that I don't have to fight and so that I know what is actually involved before I give support to any war. I better be sure the war is really just and necessary, because war is terrible and I don't like it.

O.K. here is a quick summary of the story: At a wedding feast, Eris who was not invited throws in a golden apple with the inscription: to the fairest, three of the goddesses in attendance want the apple and Zues makes Paris a mortal decide who gets the apple. Each of the goddesses promise him a reward, he picks Aphrodite because she can make the most beautiful woman in the world fall in love with him. That woman is Helen, the only problem is that she is already married to Menelaus, King of Sparta, so when she runs away with Paris to Troy, Menelaus declares war on Troy and all his allies come to his aid. None of this is in the Iliad, the Iliad starts around the end of the war and deals with that year to the time of the deaths of Hektor, the hero of Troy and Achilles the hero of the Achaens which are all the other Greeks.

So Achilles refuses to help the Acheans anymore because Menelaus dishonored him. Hektor is the main leader of the Trojans and does an excellent job defending his city and causes great havoc among the Acheans so that Achilles decides to send his friend Patroclus to fight and help the Acheans. He is killed by Hektor, but the Acheans save his body and bring it back to give him a proper funeral. This infuriates Achilles against Hektor and he decides to fight and eventually kills Hektor, but shows him no mercy when he pleads that his body be taken back to his family. Achilles drags it through the street. Hektor's father recovers the body with the help of some of the gods and the Trojans mourn his death. That is where the Iliad ends. Achilles is killed later.

The contrast between Achilles and Hektor is striking. Achilles is selfish and revengeful. Hektor is fighting for his city. There is a sweet part where he parts with his wife and baby son. It is very tender and you can see that he doesn't thirst for blood and he really loves his wife and son, but knows he must fulfill his duty even though he may die.

There are many good points I gleaned from this book. No wonder it is still around and has passed the test of time. I highly recommend it. I'm tired now so that's all for now.

Here is a point I was going to work in nicely but oh well:
I think we are too far removed from actual fighting in this day and age. Back then, they faced their opponents and killed each other head on, now we push a button and a bomb will be released that can kill thousands without us ever personally knowing or seeing our victims. I think it makes us more likely to kill when the enemy has no face. These Greeks saw and respected each other. They would stop for various reasons and talk to each other, then when it was time to fight again, they would kill each other the next minute. It was very open. That is a big difference from today. An ironic point given in this book is how glorified the war seems to be, and everybody wants the glory of performing well in the war and they look forward to the spoils, but in the end it takes about 10 years to sack Troy and in that time so many people on both sides are dead I think it shows how awful war really is.

Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto

This is one of the best books on the modern public education school system. It really helped me understand what goes on in the public schools better and what I went through as a student. I read another of his books called A Different Kind of Teacher, after I read this one and it was just as good. I can't get enough of Gatto's insight into this subject and the subject of humanity as a whole. Some of the things I got out of these books are the need we, especially children, have for time to think about things and to daydream, the importance of spending time with family and appreciating them, I did not need to feel any guilt about not completing every assignment given to me, and that the public school system has accomplished its goal. That goal was never to assist students to become free, independent thinkers and human beings, it was always to fit people into their proper place in society and to make them complacent with their station. It has worked!!! The reason so many people see the system as being a problem is because they thought school was for academics and learning and it has failed miserably in that regard. What they don't realize and Gatto does an excellent job of documenting this in his book, Underground History of American Education, is that public schools were set up as social institutions for the good of the whole and not as not places of learning for the good of the individual.

Gatto is so insightful in his books. I learned so much and realized some things about my own education and some misconceptions that I may have passed down to my children had I not read his book. He also does not hold back on his descriptions and when he says something outlandish, I was surprised at how true his statement actually was. Now, so that you will want to go grab His short book, Dumbing Us Down, I will give you the title of the seven lessons he taught to the students as a public school teacher for 30 yrs. in New York city, you will have to get the book so you can read the explanation and realize he's right, he's not making this up!!!

Here they are, the seven lessons he taught to students as a public school teacher:
1-Confusion
2-Class Position
3-Indifference
4-Emotional Dependency
5-Intellectual Depedency
6-Provisional Self-Esteem
7-One Can't Hide

I know it is hard to believe at this point, but go get his book at the library or online or borrow it from me and read these 10 pages, and I think you will be very surprised as I was to see that he is right, and all that time you felt a little uncomfortable in school, you may find you were perfectly justified!!

Take care and have fun, I would love to hear comments on this one!!!

P.S. Also, I want to make sure those of you who like your public school or have no other option, know I have nothing against the public schools. I came out all right and lots of people I know came out way better than I did. When I say that the public school system has failed to produce well-educated and free thinking people, I am saying that as a generalization of the entire school system and not for individual students. Parents are definitely the key to well-adjusted and educated children. Many of them make public school work, and their kids do great. I'm glad we are all free to teach our children how we see fit and do what is best for our families. I do think we all gain by understanding the disadvantages we face in our public schools. Those who choose to stay in them can combat those disadvatages when their children are home, and those who choose to homeschool or private school or whatever can make sure they don't duplicate the disadvantages in their new educational choice. I think the public schools do well at some things like math and science and not as well at others like history, languages and classics. There are definitely disadvantages to homeschooling and other educational choices too. The key is to decide which ones you are most willing to deal with and go from there!!

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

This was a very long book!! My audio files came out to about 17 hrs. Volume I is especially lengthy in describing and protraying the main characters of the story. The real interesting attention-getting part doesn't come until volume II. If I had to recommend the book to anybody, I would explain the point of vol. I which is that Isabel Archer is a perfect American lady who attracts the very best of men and turns them down. She is also admired by her invalid cousin, Ralph, who convinces his dying father to bestow half his inheritance on her, thus making her a free and rich woman- able to do whatever she imagines in life. There are some good comparisons between the old and new worlds and the difference in social behaviors between the 2 that are quite interesting and just seeing the way things were back them might be worthwhile, but it does take a long time.

Then we get to vol. II. Isabel actually gets married!!! She was deceived into it though on account of her large inheritance. She also comes to find out that her husband had been an adulterer and her good friend his partner and the true mother of his fine daughter. The descriptions of the way Gilber, her husband, treats Isabel and Pansy, his daughter are very educational. He was so underhanded and good at manipulating appearances so that he would always be obeyed. Even so, Isabel has a hard time breaking away from him to comfort her cousin before his death, because she is so commited to the contract of marriage and admits she did it of her own free will. This is admirable and yet Gilbert was so mean, that I hoped she would leave since there were no children involved. Her longtime suitor whom she turned down many times again tried to canvince her to marry him, but in the end she returns to Rome although we don't know what she does once she gets there.

This book is all about relationships. There are several throughout. It is interesting to read about the different ones described. It is also nice to see the consequences of the heroine's decisions. Overall, I think it was worth listening to, but there are probably many other better books to study before this one.

Thanks for reading!!

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith Book 1 and the introduction

Adam Smith is considered the father of economics and now I know why. I read chapter one and the introduction of Adam Smith's, The Wealth of Nations. If we as Americans read and understood what Adam Smith was telling us in 1776, maybe we wouldn't be in the economic situation we are in now. The aspects I will discuss in this essay are the devaluation of currency, price of commodities and price of labour and wages.

Smith gives an excellent history and lesson on money and how metals were first chosen as a means of exchange because of their portablility and stability. Then he talks about how rulers would issue coins that actually contained less gold or silver than they did previous and how this devalued the money which would lead to inflation. I wish we understood this concept today. The dollar isn't even backed by anything, all it is is a piece of paper and in many cases today it's not even a piece of paper; it's just a number in a computer somewhere. No wonder we are experiencing massive inflation now. We don't have a stable means of exchange. It's unfortunate we left the gold standard, we are paying the price now.

Another very interesting and applicable point Smith makes in this first book is that prices are almost always measured by the amount of corn or wheat that can be bought. In times of plenty the price of food is lowered and price of luxuries are increased, but in times of scarcity, the price of food will rise and luxuries may no longer even be exchanged. People will not care for extras, just the necessities in times of scarcity. Food is always necessary and is a good measure of the economy. He also discussed the interesting idea that laborers earn more money in times of plenty and are more independent than in times of scarcity. He says the opposite is also true:

"Masters of all sorts, therefore frequently make better bargains with their servants in dear that in cheap years, and find them more humble and dependent in the former than in the latter. They naturally therefore, commend the former as more favourable to industy." (towards the end of Chapter VIII Of the Wages of Labour)

He also points out that the masters, landlords and farmers, often make a better profit in dear years because the price of labour is less. Another interesting point he brought up earlier in this chapter is that wages for laborers are the highest when the economy is growing rapidly. He says:

"It is not the actual greatness of national wealth, but its continual increase, which occasions a rise in the wages of labour. It is not, accordinigly, in the richest countries, but in the most thriving, or in those which are growing rich the fastest, that the wages of labour are highest."

This was an excellent read and very thought provoking. I highly recommend this book especially if you want to learn more about Economics. So many things begin to make sense under this new light. Adam Smith is very exact and uses many case studies from history to illustrate his points. If you are willing to take the time to really delve in and understand his points, then you can certainly draw parallels to the present. Good luck, thanks for reading!!

Classics I am now Reading ( or listening to)

I found a fabulous website from a list given in the UHEA convention handout. It is www.librivox.org . They have lots of audio books for download for free. I listened to part of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith for my Great Books of the Western World Book Club and I am listening to The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane for my Well Educated Mind Book Club. I used to read while I nursed the baby, but he’s all grown up now and I was falling behind on my reading, but this has solved my problem.

My thoughts on the Wealth of Nations so far: It is a great review of the Economic 101 class I took in college. It is actually quite interesting to think about how the “invisible hand” works to allocate resources where they need to go and the way prices are set according to supply and demand. The section on the Division of Labor was very interesting to me on how much more can be produced when people specialize because they don’t switch mindsets or spend time moving from one aspect to another. He gives the example of the safety pin, where a single man can make lie 100 pins on his own in a day, but if you divide the labor of the pin into 20 different parts, then 20 men can make like 100,000 pins (I’m not remembering the exact numbers) which is many times more than they could make individually. I wonder if there is a point where things can become too specialized though and where is the human aspect to all this. Is there a point where even though a person could make thousands of pins more in a day with a specialized group than by himself, maybe he would like to customize his pins or just make the whole thing himself?

My thoughts on The Red Badge of Courage so Far: First of all, the youth is excited to join the Union side of the Civil War only to find that he spends a lot of time waiting around and not fighting although he wonders if he would actually be as brave as he fantasizes he would be. They eventually fight and he runs off in the middle and eventually gets hungry enough to go back to his regiment. Isn’t this so like human nature? -- not wanting to get caught or punished for doing something wrong and trying to justify our actions even though we know we’re wrong. He almost wishes the Union army would lose so that he could say he was right for running!! Also, it’s hard to wait for things to happen. That would be rotten!!