Charlotte Mason labels eleven catagories of books as Some Instructors of Conscience. Here's the list:
1. Poetry, preferably spending time with one
poet
2. Shakespeare’s plays
3. Novels, with characters who “become our
mentors or our warnings”
4. Ever-delightful essayists
5. History, including ancient history
6. Philosophy, to allow reason to work upon
knowledge
7. Theology, including the Bible
8. The things of nature
9. Science, so that “we no longer conduct
ourselves in this world of wonders like a gaping rustic at a fair” (p. 101)
10. Art, approached “with the modest intention to pay a debt…”
11. Sociology and Self-Knowledge
Here's my 2021 list:
1. Poetry, preferably spending time with one poet
Making Your Own Days: The Pleasures of Reading and Writing Poetry, by Kenneth Koch (includes a mini-anthology of poetry)
Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966-1996, by Seamus Heaney
The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and Their Year of Marvels, by Adam Nicolson
2. Shakespeare’s plays
Northrop Frye on Shakespeare, edited by Robert Sandler
Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream (two of the plays discussed in Frye's book)
3. Novels, with characters who “become our mentors or our warnings”
Okay. Since I have no intuition about where to go with this one, I'll take Alan Jacobs' recommendations:
"Let me mention two (relatively recent) novels that I think are so wonderful that we should have parades for their authors. The first is Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day, a heartbreakingly beautiful about memory, loss, and the love of family...It’s generaly acknowledged, I think, that War and Peace is the greatest historical novel ever written. Well, then, the second greatest is George Garrett’s The Succession. And I totally mean that."
I haven't actually read War and Peace, either, so if I wanted to make my list a whole lot of pages longer, that might be it.
4. Ever-delightful essayists
Would these count?
Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader's Guide to a More Tranquil Mind, by Alan Jacobs. From the publisher's website: "In Breaking Bread with the Dead, a gifted scholar draws us into close and sympathetic engagement with texts from across the ages, including the work of Anita Desai, Henrik Ibsen, Jean Rhys, Simone Weil, Edith Wharton, Amitav Ghosh, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Italo Calvino, and many more."
Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art, and Culture, by Makoto Fujimura
Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life, by Madeleine L'Engle
.Heaven in Ordinary, by Malcolm Guite (this is a book of his essays)
The Givenness of Things, by Marilynne Robinson
5. History, including ancient history
The Frayed Atlantic Edge: A Historian’s Journey from Shetland to the Channel, by David Gange
6. Philosophy, to allow reason to work upon knowledge
Maybe this counts? Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life, by Jordan B. Peterson
Or this? On Purpose: How We Create the Meaning of Life, by Paul Froese
Introducing Plato, by Dave Robinson and Judy Groves
7. Theology, including the Bible
The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God, by Dallas Willard
Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians: Finding Authentic Faith in a Forgotten Age with C. S. Lewis, by Chris R. Armstrong
8. The things of nature
A Sweet, Wild Note: What We Hear when the Birds Sing, by Richard Smyth
Winter Weed Finder: A Guide to Dry Plants in Winter, by Dorcas S. Miller
Weeds: the Story of Outlaw Plants, by Richard Mabey
9. Science, so that “we no longer conduct ourselves in this world of wonders like a gaping rustic at a fair” (p. 101)
If math counts, how about All Things Being Equal: Why Math Is the Key to a Better World, by John Mighton
10. Art, approached “with the modest intention to pay a debt…”
The Principles of Art, by R.G. Colllingwood
11. Sociology and Self-Knowledge
Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life, by Nir Eyal
The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload, by Daniel J. Levitin
Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet, by Howard Gardner
Miscellaneous:
Angels, Barbarians, and Nincompoops, by Anthony Esolen, "a fun yet educational romp through 98 of your soon to be favorite words."
Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise, by Katherine Rundell
Surprised by Laughter: The Comic World of C.S. Lewis, by Terry Lindvall
Words Overflown by Stars: Creative Writing Instruction and Insight from the Vermont College Mfa Program, by David Jauss
Tree and Leaf; Smith of Wootton Major; The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace, by Gordon MacKenzie
I'm happy with that.
1 comment:
That's an impressive list! I would love to go through the Making of Poetry with you and maybe others as it's on my to read list.
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