Now I have to read it. Thanks for the recommendation SS. 😊
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Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?
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Re-reading the Corinna Chapman and the Phryne Fisher novels by Kerry Greenwood.
Intelligent, caring, well-written novels. Well worth the time. "Unnatural Habits" is one that will make you weep.
Intelligent, caring, well-written novels. Well worth the time. "Unnatural Habits" is one that will make you weep.
Breviaries are a profound interest of mine. Last year I described the beautiful Monastic Diurnal, and a few weeks later I described the Monastic Matins.
I find breviaries or pseudo-breviaries fascinating because they work as a window on the different traditions and timeless thoughts regardless of the possibility of using them for my own purposes.
This year I decided to peek into the amazing world of Eastern Orthodox traditions and purchased the Anthologion. The truth is that Eastern Orthodox faithful do not have a single breviary that can be considered similar to the Western breviary (mindful, I am oversimplifying a comparison). The Anthologion tries to combine and compile the wealth of Orthodox liturgical prayer books, the Book of Hours, and a common liturgical cycle.
The result is outstanding. I would be lying if I said that I am an expert on Eastern Orthodox traditions, so I won’t comment on the reliability of the text, on the quality of the translation, or even the spiritual and liturgical value. However, the quality of this book far exceeded my expectations both in terms of physical production and content (for what I can tell).
The book contains several introductory sections, including instructions, calendar tables, paschal tables, and a lectionary. After the introductory part, we have the “Regular Offices” which are vaguely similar to the Western breviary hours, including Lauds and Vespers. I am not familiar with the actual structure yet, but it seems that it is composed by psalms, hymns, and readings distributed in a complex way as with other liturgical prayer books. After the Regular Offices we have of course offices related to a liturgical season (e.g. Lenten), which is followed by variable services including the Octoechos (my understanding is that they’re meant to be sung). The last section is dedicated to occasional personal prayers and contains the scariest part of all: “Fasting Discipline” (which I probably need to read…).
Trivia: For all the nerds here, I believe this is the first breviary that contains a programming algorithm! (See last picture).
Although I am not the intended audience, I will learn more about this book as I will treasure it as a window of privilege towards a different tradition than mine.
Without further ado, some pictures.
I find breviaries or pseudo-breviaries fascinating because they work as a window on the different traditions and timeless thoughts regardless of the possibility of using them for my own purposes.
This year I decided to peek into the amazing world of Eastern Orthodox traditions and purchased the Anthologion. The truth is that Eastern Orthodox faithful do not have a single breviary that can be considered similar to the Western breviary (mindful, I am oversimplifying a comparison). The Anthologion tries to combine and compile the wealth of Orthodox liturgical prayer books, the Book of Hours, and a common liturgical cycle.
The result is outstanding. I would be lying if I said that I am an expert on Eastern Orthodox traditions, so I won’t comment on the reliability of the text, on the quality of the translation, or even the spiritual and liturgical value. However, the quality of this book far exceeded my expectations both in terms of physical production and content (for what I can tell).
The book contains several introductory sections, including instructions, calendar tables, paschal tables, and a lectionary. After the introductory part, we have the “Regular Offices” which are vaguely similar to the Western breviary hours, including Lauds and Vespers. I am not familiar with the actual structure yet, but it seems that it is composed by psalms, hymns, and readings distributed in a complex way as with other liturgical prayer books. After the Regular Offices we have of course offices related to a liturgical season (e.g. Lenten), which is followed by variable services including the Octoechos (my understanding is that they’re meant to be sung). The last section is dedicated to occasional personal prayers and contains the scariest part of all: “Fasting Discipline” (which I probably need to read…).
Trivia: For all the nerds here, I believe this is the first breviary that contains a programming algorithm! (See last picture).
Although I am not the intended audience, I will learn more about this book as I will treasure it as a window of privilege towards a different tradition than mine.
Without further ado, some pictures.
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Oh, wow, I have never really considered the complexity of calculating Easter.
While I am no longer a practising Catholic (my sister calls me a Recovering Catholic, with the implications entailed in that), I did spend 6 years in a good Catholic boarding school, and learnt more about Catholicism than is good for any person. I feel it is important that we all have a good understanding of the Bible and associated books (Gnostic Gospels anybody?) because of the fundamental influence it has had on Western society, its laws and mores, as well as its language.
By coincidence, I am re-reading 'Vicars of Christ', an interesting re-interpretation of Vatican history.
Im currently hooked On Robert Heinlein's "the moon is a harsh mistress". I can't believe I hadn't read it before.
I recently read "Checkmate in Berlin" by Giles Milton which was excellent. It is about the tensions between the British, American's, French and the Soviets after the fall of Berlin. As soon as they were no longer united in defeating Germany they reverted to their pre-war hostility and suspicion. For the next 4 years Berlin became a "battleground" full of spies, gangsters and black marketeers all wanting to profit from the city. It is an aspect of the war I hadn't head of before and a really enjoyable read.
I just re-read the first 3 Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child over the 4th long weekend. Junk food for the mind.
Killing Floor
Die Trying
Tripwire
Killing Floor
Die Trying
Tripwire
Just finished Dune. I can't believe a Sci-Fi fanatic like myself took this long to read it.😐 It was nothing like the 1984 movie with Picard/Professor X as Gurney Halleck. The book didn't dwell much on pew-pew action like the movie. Frakking Hollywood took all the philosophical, political and mental aspect outta the book and filled it with 80's action. Ugh.😑 Sting played the role of the Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen well, at least I thought so at the time. I really enjoyed the fight between Feyd and Paul at the end.
In the book, that fight was a difficult to accept. The fighting ability of each, deduced from the book, should have made a fight a squash match instead of a close fight. Feyd barely beat--by cheating no less--a no-name Atreides trooper. The Atreides troops were completely overrun by the Sardaukar. The Sardaukar took a drubbing at the hands of the Fremen--even old men, women and children gave them fits. Paul defeated an above average Fremen warrior, Jamis, in single combat. Feyd-Rautha = no name Atreides trooper < the Sardaukar < the Fremen < Paul Atreides. It would have been credible had it been between Paul and Count Fenring, "one of the most deadly fighters in the Imperium."
Currently on book 2, Dune Messiah. Gonna read Children of Dune after that. I'm not gonna bother reading the other Dune books not written by Frank. His writing style is refreshingly easy to read.🙂 I couldn't put the book down eventhough the author had spoiled the whodunnit😮 in the first chapter. He tells you from the beginning what will happen, who will do what, yet I felt drawn in and compelled to read on.😊
In the book, that fight was a difficult to accept. The fighting ability of each, deduced from the book, should have made a fight a squash match instead of a close fight. Feyd barely beat--by cheating no less--a no-name Atreides trooper. The Atreides troops were completely overrun by the Sardaukar. The Sardaukar took a drubbing at the hands of the Fremen--even old men, women and children gave them fits. Paul defeated an above average Fremen warrior, Jamis, in single combat. Feyd-Rautha = no name Atreides trooper < the Sardaukar < the Fremen < Paul Atreides. It would have been credible had it been between Paul and Count Fenring, "one of the most deadly fighters in the Imperium."
Currently on book 2, Dune Messiah. Gonna read Children of Dune after that. I'm not gonna bother reading the other Dune books not written by Frank. His writing style is refreshingly easy to read.🙂 I couldn't put the book down eventhough the author had spoiled the whodunnit😮 in the first chapter. He tells you from the beginning what will happen, who will do what, yet I felt drawn in and compelled to read on.😊
"Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay" by Craig L. Symonds.
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That looks very interesting, I’m going to try and download a sample to my Kindle.
Craig Symonds has written several books on naval history, including Midway. A very good author. It's not a full biography of Nimitz, but it covers his Pacific war command from 1941 to 1945. He doesn't get the credit that the larger-than-life MacArthur or Patton get, because he was a quiet, homespun kind of guy. But he was probably our most significant WWII commander, next to Eisenhower maybe.
Il Pendolo di Foucault/Foucault’s Pendulum (1988) by Umberto Eco.
Eight years after the success of The Name of the Rose, Dr. Umberto Eco published another outstanding novel titled “Foucault’s Pendulum”. In my opinion this is one of the best novels ever written, and its beauty is matched only by the difficulty of reading it. I have read this book three times: the first in my teens, the second in my twenties, and the latest a few days ago, in my forties. I would be lying if I said that I understood or even just retained most of it.
The concept is easy: how conspiracy theories work. This is before Dan Brown and before flat earth-earthers on the internet. As a matter of fact, Dan Brown’s novel The DaVinci Code is just a much watered down version of Eco’s book. Eco’s book is not friendly to conspiracy theorists and does not pull punches back, which also makes this book very timely and prescient.
The plot is very ingenious, so I will not spoil it. Just know that this book contains literally everything: Crusades, Templars, Cathars, Rosicrucians, Agharti, Cryptography, Voodoo, Witchcraft, Alchemy, Hermeticism, Illuminati, secret sects, secret religions, and much more. You name it.
Since I mentioned “the plot”, it is important to mention that this book is over 600 pages of text. Why is it important? Two reasons. First, Eco believed in “excluding” his readers. He didn’t write popular books. The first 100 pages of Foucault’s Pendulum are brutal. And I mean it. Those who read The Name of the Rose know how Eco writes the beginning of his books. Multiply the difficulty by ten and you get an idea about this book. The second reason is that the actual plot doesn’t really start moving forward until page 300 or so. Yes, you read it correctly. The first 300 pages are background information. And after that? More background information. In total, actual action doesn’t occupy more than 50 to 100 pages.
Why would you read it then? Because a reader that finishes this incredible book will find himself as all the characters of this book, from the three main characters to the guy convinced that **** (not spoiling it!). The reader will see that to finish this book, he had to be like those hermetics, alchemists, templars, masters of secret societies: they have to be patient and curious, often finding dots in order to connect such dots to finally find THE solution to THE secret and thus find the philosopher’s stone. Or, just to find out without realizing it, that after all, it’s all B.S..
Masterpiece.
Disclaimer: I’ve read it in Italian.
Eight years after the success of The Name of the Rose, Dr. Umberto Eco published another outstanding novel titled “Foucault’s Pendulum”. In my opinion this is one of the best novels ever written, and its beauty is matched only by the difficulty of reading it. I have read this book three times: the first in my teens, the second in my twenties, and the latest a few days ago, in my forties. I would be lying if I said that I understood or even just retained most of it.
The concept is easy: how conspiracy theories work. This is before Dan Brown and before flat earth-earthers on the internet. As a matter of fact, Dan Brown’s novel The DaVinci Code is just a much watered down version of Eco’s book. Eco’s book is not friendly to conspiracy theorists and does not pull punches back, which also makes this book very timely and prescient.
The plot is very ingenious, so I will not spoil it. Just know that this book contains literally everything: Crusades, Templars, Cathars, Rosicrucians, Agharti, Cryptography, Voodoo, Witchcraft, Alchemy, Hermeticism, Illuminati, secret sects, secret religions, and much more. You name it.
Since I mentioned “the plot”, it is important to mention that this book is over 600 pages of text. Why is it important? Two reasons. First, Eco believed in “excluding” his readers. He didn’t write popular books. The first 100 pages of Foucault’s Pendulum are brutal. And I mean it. Those who read The Name of the Rose know how Eco writes the beginning of his books. Multiply the difficulty by ten and you get an idea about this book. The second reason is that the actual plot doesn’t really start moving forward until page 300 or so. Yes, you read it correctly. The first 300 pages are background information. And after that? More background information. In total, actual action doesn’t occupy more than 50 to 100 pages.
Why would you read it then? Because a reader that finishes this incredible book will find himself as all the characters of this book, from the three main characters to the guy convinced that **** (not spoiling it!). The reader will see that to finish this book, he had to be like those hermetics, alchemists, templars, masters of secret societies: they have to be patient and curious, often finding dots in order to connect such dots to finally find THE solution to THE secret and thus find the philosopher’s stone. Or, just to find out without realizing it, that after all, it’s all B.S..
Masterpiece.
Disclaimer: I’ve read it in Italian.
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My only complaint of the book would be they used to thin a paper. I hate when you can see the text that is on the other side coming through. Other than that, this looks really nice!!!
Currently about half way through Steven Kings "11/22/63" and so far I am not disappointed. What I didn't realize is how freaking long the book is LOL.
Yeah, it's called Bible Paper, a special, very thin paper for printing books with many pages, so the final book doesn't end up too thin.
A Japanese company called Tomoe River makes a version that you can use for writing on. I have some, and it is absolutely superb.