Blessed seventh day of Christmas and the celebration of the circumcision of the Lord! For the next few posts I will share my quick impressions of the books I read or listened to in 2017. There are 37 in all. (A couple? few? of them were read twice.) What follows is the first installment in no particular order~
A Theory of Festivity by Josef Pieper--Though a short book at less than 100 pages, this was the toughest book I read this year. I am still digesting it and probably will be for a long time. The take-away I got was that Pieper thoroughly disapproves of made-up holidays. He was writing at the height of the Cold War and uses communist "festivals," such as May Day, as his example, but other more recent manifestations kept coming to my mind.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen--A revisit for me. Austen's wit and insight never fail to please. Traditionally, "pride" is Mr. Darcy and "prejudice" is Elizabeth, but I'm more convinced than ever that both characters share the two traits roughly equally. For instance, Elizabeth's pride is injured when Darcy claims in his first proposal that Elizabeth's family would be an embarrassment to him and her situation in life is so "decidedly beneath [his] own." And as this comment of Darcy's and many more like it attest, Darcy is prejudiced against Elizabeth for the same reasons. I'm sure I will be re-reading this book again and again.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens--Every year about this time I read or listen to this story. I don't think it would be Christmas without it. My favorite audio version right now is the one read by Jim Dale of Harry Potter fame. He's always fun!
Lessons from Madame Chic, At Home with Madame Chic, and Polish Your Poise with Madame Chic by Jennifer L. Scott--These are light, quick reads that I enjoyed very much, though Lessons is a little too "new age-y" for my tastes. Still, Scott's suggestions for living a more elegant, thoughtful life are very helpful. Too often, American life has devolved into a sloppy, slouchy affair, and Scott does her best to humorously and patiently lead us to a better way. I don't do everything she says, and in fact, most of it I was doing anyway, but I enjoyed reading her books.
Join me tomorrow for more from my 2017 reading list!
I completely agree with your assessment of Pride and Prejudice!
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