Jim Wallis’s writing and I imagine his sermons follow the military’s suggestion of KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. Or said another way, tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and tell them what you told them. I like the emphasis of Wallis’s message on Christian evangelicals of all persuasions being able to witness for what they believe Christians should be doing and saying. I have mixed emotions that Christ’s preachings can be effectively espoused by senators and representatives. Yet I know that those who wish to change things must go where the action is. I will defer a final opinion on Jim Wallis.

I was raised a democrat in rural South Carolina by textile mill workers who were born ten years before the depression and only knew Roosevelt had provided the little they did have. I started to college in 1960 and was swept up in Camelot and civil rights which seemed to me the correct choice. That was not what I was taught at home but I was not taught to hate either. I chose Georgia Tech because I did not know any better and the co-op student plan provided more money to fund my education.

Laverne and I have two sons and families in different states (South Carolina and Illinois) so we decided to retire in Georgia. I had to look up Campbellite to see that you were referring to Disciples of Christ or Churches of Christ. Our United Methodist branch of the protestant tree does not believe in being as exclusive as some of the more fundamental protestants Jim Wallis protests.

John Stone (In the Country of Hearts) is one of the better poets of our era that I have discovered. He has a couple of small poetry books that I really admire. He is recently retired as a cardiologist at Emory University. I had forgotten that I had reviewed this book until you mentioned it. I have enjoyed reading about 30 of your reviews including Truman which I have read and I have added a couple of your reviews to my “books I am looking to acquire” list. You have certainly been active in producing reviews that I imagine have appeared elsewhere. Have you published anything under your name or that of bfrank? My guess is bfrank is a pseudonym. I believe there was a famous author from Missouri who used a pseudonym for the books he wrote.

I very much admire the great library that you have acquired over the years. I only have another 100 or so books to log in and I will have mine completed. But if I were to add Laverne’s collection it would double the total I now have. These last 100 books are being unboxed from the attic to be entered in Library Thing and then returned to the boxes.

Lähettänyt: mrkurtz 10:07 pm (EST) Jun 8, 2008

Hello, I see you have added "The Great Awakening" on the same day that I have added it to my list. We are the only two that have added this book until now but it was only published this year. Maybe there is a revival that is challenging the fundamentalist evangelicals of this country. Here I sit in a Red state being read to by a boy waiting for rain or some variation of a poem by T. S. Eliot I believe. I have only been a member of LibraryThing since April this year and I am enjoying it greatly. I used to refer to myself as a "yellow dog" democrat and then Senator Zell Miller converted to a republican and gave the name yellow dog a tarnished image. Retired, I now say that I am a mellow dog democrat. From the adjective Gator in your "about me" profile, I assume you may have had some connection with the University of Florida. Is that true? Also, I have enjoyed some of your reviews and have added a couple of the books reviewed to my "look these up" list.

Lähettänyt: mrkurtz 11:35 am (EST) May 29, 2008

Your review/advice re: reading Shakespeare was excellent. Thank you.

Lähettänyt: Ganeshaka 6:03 pm (EST) May 7, 2008

What a wonderful review of the book "Family of Man". Thank you for the great story of the lady who gave you the book as a gift. You've inspired me to get a copy. Being all consumed with genealogy and family history, it makes sense that this book will speak to me.

Lähettänyt: cet49237 10:50 am (EST) Apr 28, 2008

we share some interesting books.. Blackberry Winter by Mead and We took to the Woods by Rich were two of my favorites and Body and Soul by Frank Conroy was one of my favorite novels. Just wanted to say Hello; its not everyday I meet people who share these books. Kathy

Lähettänyt: kateblu 6:32 pm (EST) Mar 31, 2008

Dorothea Brande’s book appeals to me because it was written before the sale became more important than substance. John Gardner notes in his foreword, "the root problems of the writer are personality problems," is a line that drew me when I read the description. I play around, at writing a book. Frost and Dante thought hell was frozen over so, there is a chance I will finish it. Publishing the book is best left posthumous. I share the personality type of Emily Dickinson and Kafka but god’s metamorphosis into a fly in Emily’s house left me lacking in talent. History, after the death of tin roof Florida, interests me less. I may give your book recommendation a try but I would need a lot of humor to the insanity depression inspired by politics. Andrew Lytle's, 'At the Moon's Inn' may appeal to you if want a hard read and have an interest in DeSoto's expedition. It is not written for popular consumption but your library indicates you read high lit.

Lähettänyt: rareflorida 11:39 am (EST) Mar 3, 2008

I've just started entering my library. I have a fair number of used books too (some out of print) that I'm not sure I can catalog. but it's fun right now, and so far we have 19 titles in common! I like pop up books, Billy Collins, Marcus Borg as well, and Wendell Berry! I am interested in reading your reviews as well. A reader's memoir sounds like an interesting idea...

Lähettänyt: faithincommunity 10:42 pm (EST) Dec 10, 2007

Hi. The haiku essay you asked about, about Basho's famous haiku, was probably in the book:
One Hundred Frogs: From Renga to Haiku to English by Hiroaki Sato
He has one essay in particular about Basho's frog-splashing haiku. In fact, he has another book "One Hundred Frogs" with a title so similar you'll get confused, and that book is just a series of translations of Basho's poem.

If you like reading haiku theory, my favorite book of analysis is:
Traces of dreams : landscape, cultural memory, and the poetry of Basho by Haruo Shirane

Lähettänyt: tombrinck 12:08 am (EST) Nov 26, 2007

Just had to go to your LT even before packing some today. I do not remember sharing number of books with our total number being 58 with maybe only one other person being 62 so yes we are alike. You have spent full time listing books. lol Doubt if my library in total is as yours. LT is wonderful. haley

Lähettänyt: lhr3 1:46 pm (EST) Nov 4, 2007

I would like to echo the previous thank yous for your review on William Shakepeare. When I was in college, trying to double major in English and Theatre, I had an English professor who would not allow me to write a paper on Six Characters in Search of An Author as anything other than the written word. We boxed several more rounds on other plays as well, but since he had the grade book on his side I was forced to take the hit. It drove me into the arms of Theatre, my true calling anyway, I suppose. I have always been amused, years down the road, that my high school teacher had done what you prescribe with Hamlet: assigning parts, reading them aloud, etc. Ah, the fog of academia shrouding the heights of universal education...That particular professor still holds a spot on my "And A Big No Thank You Goes To..." in my future Oscar speech. I'm glad you were able to ignite passion for Billy Shakes in so many generations of students. I wish you had been my professor.

P.S. I have always wanted to have a few pints with Prince Hal.

Lähettänyt: stephanievickers 2:11 am (EST) Oct 31, 2007

I'm brought to your page by your review of Northrup Frye's "A Fearful Symmetry." I'm traveling to London in December (my first trip in thirty years) and one of things I'm yearning to do is to revisit Blake at the Tate! I've added this book to my reading list. Can you recommend a good biography of Blake that also features a good description of the London he lived in? (I know, it's almost like going from the sublime to the ridiculous, but I love finding the "imagined and historical city" in walking about the real one.

Lähettänyt: BellesLettres 11:44 am (EST) Oct 21, 2007

Thanks for responding. Sad that John died so young.

Lähettänyt: Bill46 6:10 pm (EST) Oct 11, 2007

I'm curious, how do you happen to have "Frenchtown". The author was a friend and neighbor of mine. Didn't think the book was widely read.
Bill 46

Lähettänyt: Bill46 6:26 pm (EST) Oct 4, 2007

I enjoyed reading your thoughts about JOHN DOLLAR.

Lähettänyt: slickdpdx 4:08 pm (EST) Sep 3, 2007

I just looked up your review on CARE OF THE SOUL by Thomas Moore and want to say Thank You for the great review. I have barely started reading it and I am quite enamored at this point, but do have trepidations about all the mythology involved and vagueness. It is giving me a feeling of calm so far. I appreciate your thoughts and consolidation of the book. I was hoping to find an overview and here you are. Thanks.

Lähettänyt: justmeRosalie 8:04 pm (EST) Aug 5, 2007

Thanks, I did enjoy your review. :) Which is unusual for me, since I almost never read reviews (either of books or films), because I want to find out for myself how the story goes, and I don't want my first impression of the work tainted by someone else's opinion. That's why, at the movie theater, I never even glance at the screen when the trailers come up! :P I think that's also the reason why I can't write reviews of my own... I mean, *can't*... or *won't*? I'm not sure I would know where to begin writing one.

Then again, your review was about The Bard, so... it was different in many good ways! :)

Cheers!
Tess

Lähettänyt: Delirium9 8:58 am (EST) Jul 25, 2007

Hello! :) I just read your review of Shakespeare's complete works, and I wanted to thank you. Such a great review, such useful advice, and such an entertaining story you told of your students performing Macbeth!

So, thanks again.
Tess

Lähettänyt: Delirium9 2:02 pm (EST) Jul 22, 2007

Well, I kept ole Goddard around for many years and then let him slide to be replaced by Rowse and then by that wild man Bloom and lately by the plays themselves, in all their glory.

If you read Teale you must be aware that one touch of nature makes the whole world kin. He was seminal to me; I read North With the Spring in early high school and the other seasonal ones in good time. I've been attracted to the darker side of nature by Edward O. Wilson (featured on Bill Moyers last week.

I could go on, but I won't tonight.

Lähettänyt: edwin.gleaves 10:01 pm (EST) Jul 18, 2007

Having just discovered LibraryThing, I've been poking around, tapping on the virtual walls as it were, without much hope that I would find anything but a warren of threadrooms full of statements like "I so looooooove Legolas!!"

Ahh, your library and reviews are my first "hit". Thanks for putting time and effort into your catalog and reviews - very interesting and valuable content!

I've been reading Blake off and on for many years out of an old Everyman edition that I treasure, with what I think is an excellent introduction by Max Plowman. Other than his introduction I've only read a smattering of material on Blake - Gilchrist's "Life" I visit at random, a T.S. Eliot essay in a collection of some of his criticism, and that's about it, really.

I've resisted reading much critical/explanatory lit. on Blake - so far I've prefered to work his hard and stony ground with the simple tool of naive reading with only a tip or two from old hands. I suspect most lovers of Blake will understand my attitude.

But I think I'll look into the Frye book based on your review.

I think much about Dante, Milton, and Blake. Dante (Catholic, mystical, and hierarchical) and Milton (Protestant, political, The Autonomous Man)- in a sense the parents of the prototypical modern man Blake (autonomous, mystical, revolutionary, perhaps totally off his rocker).

Anyway, thanks for your contribution. My catalog is hardly begun, but such as it is, I'll be thinking of yours as a model for developing mine.

Lähettänyt: mbpcpa 7:09 pm (EST) Jul 2, 2007

I can't help but randomly hail anyone who regards The Mouse & His Child as highly as I do. Maybe it's best that I didn't ever run across it as a child--Hoban doesn't hold back on the gut-wrenching sadness--but it gives you just as much to grapple with as an adult. More.

So I say, hurrah for your sensitive and sophisticated taste!

Lähettänyt: Xiguli 1:23 am (EST) Jul 1, 2007

What a great service LibraryThing provides, and how addictive it becomes! One of the pleasures in entering titles is the rediscovery of books read years ago. What a thrill, in many instances, to scan, skim, even reread treasures from the past. And to find books that I meant to read long ago and never got around to. (Okay, admittedly I have run across some that should be weeded, not to mention duplicates that I should put on the market for others to enjoy.) And to find some that are in the libraries of many other LibraryThing addicts--and occasionally one that others have not discovered. I have made myself a vow to review one work a week: one treasure from my own personal library that I would like to encourage others to consider reading. So I began this week with the book that I now recommend most frequently from my recent reading: Sheldon Cheney's Men Who Walked with God.

Lähettänyt: bfrank 3:34 pm (EST) May 2, 2007