Book Review - A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books by Alex Beam

Growing up with the Great Books of the Western World at my fingertips, I was very interested in reading this book. I read a review by Adrienne at Bookmark My Heart who shared that the author was not very kind toward his subject. I endeavored to read the book with an open mind and come to my own conclusions.

The Great Books of the Western World is a set of 54 volumes which contains the classical works of authors like Aristotle, Plato, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Melville, Marx and Goethe. The first set published contained no works written by women or minorities. The sets were sold through advertisements and by door to door salesmen. My grandparents owned a set that held a place of honor on two of the six built-in bookshelves in their dining room. From the time I was very young, I was attracted to those books, I believe because of the brightly colored spines. Once I could read, I began to memorize the names, not realizing until I was much older that I mispronounced a good number of them. In high school, I began to take the books off the shelves and read bits and pieces, most of which I did not understand. By the end of high school, I was reading the plays and sonnets of Shakespeare and had borrowed War and Peace to read for my senior book report. Whether or not I read them, I loved those books and believe they were the seeds that grew into my love for the written word. So, yes, from the first snide remark made by Beam, to the last, I was on the defensive. I liken reading this book to crossing a minefield. As long as one can screen out the sarcastic commentary and foolish interpretations, there is a fascinating history behind the Great Books.

Publishing the set was an answer to a demand for the classics that were being read for classes and seminars (as well as great book groups) offered by the likes of Mortimer Adler, Robert Hutchins and John Erskine. Students and attendees had a difficult time getting their hands on the texts and the Great Books of the Western World was the solution. The main complaints of the Great Books were that they were written by dead, white, males; grievous omissions of other great works; the middle class not being smart enough to read and understand them; huckster-type sales methods used to oh-my-god make a buck in a capitalist society (sarcasm mine); and they were unreadable, very unreadable, and highly unreadable. (I do think that if I came across that adjective one more time I was going to deem this book unreadable.) Yes, the text was small. Yes, the pages were double-columned. Yes, it was a legitimate complaint. But to say it over and over and over was overkill.

There was a fascinating chapter on St. John's college (a large part of the book focused on the great books being part of college curriculum) and a touching portrait of a man named Thomas Hyland who, at the time of his death, had built a 63,000 volume personal library (for this alone, I thought the book was worth reading). The two men most responsible for the Great Books were Adler and Hutchins, and despite the ugly picture Beam painted of these two men, I chose to believe that they had created a good thing and held onto the fact that they did not see any barriers to who could or could not partake in the great works of Western civilization (as they and a small group of others defined it).

Beam writes, "Somehow, somewhere, someone drained the energy and fun out of the Great Books." I am sorry that has been Mr. Beam's experience and I am continually grateful it was not mine.

Book Review - The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong

Storks no longer make their seasonal homes in the seaside Dutch village of Shora. Many decades have past since they have taken up residence but there are some who remember and begin to dream of having them back. This dream is sparked by a young girl, Lina, who asks why the storks do not come to their village but do stop and stay in the neighboring ones. Encouraged by their teacher, Lina and her five classmates work to solve the mystery and take steps toward fulfilling the dream of the storks' return. These steps are arduous, frustrating, and frightening but each one gets them closer to the "impossibly impossible". The novel teaches a respect for tradition and the elders amongst us. Without old Douwa and Grandmother Sibble III, the children would not have been able to begin making their dream come true. The children must also overcome their fear of Janus, a man who has lost his legs in a rumored shark attack, and when they do, find his smarts, experience, physical strength and leadership are indispensable to the obstacles they encounter. DeJong's writing is suspenseful and humorous and slightly rebellious against the established political and journalistic order of Holland which transcends time and culture. The book most certainly deserved the Newbury medal (awarded in 1955) but I wonder if it could win today in our hypersensitive, politically correct and highly litigious society. There was a whole lot of cutting school, climbing buildings, risking life and limb battling the ocean tides, handling of wild animals, talk of corporal punishment, and several instances of 'verbal' abuse. I have to say I enjoyed it all so much, I felt slightly naughty. In all seriousness... it takes the courage and tenacity of the whole town to make this dream come true and not once did the dream die. Believing that the "impossibly impossible" can be realized is the great lesson of The Wheel on the School.

(The book is full of delightful illustrations by Maurice Sendak which makes the reading even more enjoyable.)

Anneliese's Angle 3.1.09

Hello. My name is Anneliese, the oldest of Stacy's (aka Book Psmith) two daughters, and I am twelve. Over the next year I will hopefully be doing a monthly post on the books I have read and what I am currently reading. In January I read a total of five books. The first one I read was Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech. Sharon Creech is one of my many favorite authors because she has a way of capturing any reader. This particular story was somewhat of a follow up from Love That Dog, another one of my favorite books. Hate That Cat was short yet very enticing, enjoyful, and somewhat relaxing. One of those books that just makes you what to read it in one day, and I did! Highly recommended... five stars for sure. The next book I completed was a carry over from last year, New Moon, the second book in the engaging Stephanie Meyer Twilight series. New Moon was not one of her best books in the series from my perspective. It was a little slow in the beginning but it definitely grew stronger in the middle and towards the end. I give it a four star rating. The next book that I read was Eclipse, the third book in the twilight series. Eclipse was a very mysterious, breath taking, and enjoyable book. Eclipse took me eighteen days to complete. With cheer leading after school and school work, you have to make time for these kinds of things. I give it five stars. After completing Eclipse I decided to take a break from the series and read some Charles Schulz. These five books carried over into February as follows: What's Wrong With Being Crabby, It's Great to be A Superstar, Peanuts Every Sunday, You've Come a Long Way Charlie Brown, and Lead on Snoopy. I give all of these some major LOL's and five star ratings. The next book I read in February was Breaking Dawn. I am sad to say the series is over but I loved it... five stars. February total four books. I am currently reading Animal Farm and a young adult series Missing Persons #1 The Rose Queen. I hope you enjoyed reading my post. I cannot wait until next month.

Signing Off:

Iceskater96