“What’s new with you?”
So queried a co-worker at a recent staff meeting. I hadn’t seen her since the summer, and I froze for a few seconds trying to choose an answer. Which of my “important nothings” to offer?
The same perplexity besets me now. I reach back into the past few months and find a family Disney trip, an afternoon wandering the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a perfect Federal Hill sunset that painted the Baltimore skyline gold, a secret Manhattan alleyway with gorgeous French cafes (Pierre himself handed me an impeccable croissant from behind the counter at L’Ami Pierre), a jaunt to the Renaissance Fair, a few dates (Mr. Right hasn’t shown up quite yet, but if you see him around, do let me know 😉), a beautiful fall farmhouse tea party with friends….oh, and plenty of dancing.
Ballroom dancing, swing dancing, latin dancing, line dancing. I’ve been watching dancing, learning dancing, and even teaching dancing. Why Catholics Should Learn to Dance and Mrs. McLean’s Waltzing Party beautifully articulate many of the powerful and joyful things about proper partner dancing. I have found it to be an enriching hobby in so many ways!
So that’s what’s new with me, what I’ve been up to lately: trying to let God take the lead and follow the inexplicable twists and turns of His grace. He’s been spinning me in many different directions, but it’s good to be able to sit down to my substack sub-creation again and pen you all a letter about the one thing that I left off the above list of activities - the main topic of this post - the books I’ve been reading!
The Way of Perfection by St Teresa of Avila
When a soul sets out upon this path, He does not reveal Himself to it, lest it should feel dismayed at seeing that its littleness can contain such greatness; but gradually He enlarges it to the extent requisite for what He has to set within it…The important point is that we should be absolutely resolved to give it to Him for His own and should empty it so that He may take out and put in just what He likes, as He would with something of His own.
I’ve had the beautiful Image Classics edition of The Way of Perfection sitting on my shelf for awhile, and I finally picked it up this summer! This work focuses specifically on the way of perfection that St. Teresa felt herself and her community called to follow, and it’s quite a precise account of the challenges and beauties of their practices. I was expecting a more general meditation on pursuing holiness, but this was beautiful and inspiring in its own way. It felt like sitting down with a friend and hearing their candid struggles. f you’re new to St. Teresa, Interior Castle or The Autobiography (which is next on my list!) might be better places to start.
Betsy in Spite of Herself by Maud Hart Lovelace
September was very Septemberish that year. It was Septemberish in the excitement of the opening days of school. These were so busy that soon the quiet summer at the lake seemed like a remote and peaceful dream. But a dream…Betsy thought…it was good to have had. She liked to remember the faintly rocking boat, the smell of water lilies, and her novel. School was demanding. It came at her from all sides.
Betsy exactly summed up my feelings returning from our Disney trip and diving into fall busy-ness! I think I will have to undertake a full re-read of the Betsy-Tacy series in 2025, but this sophomore book was a lovely taster. We follow the 1907-1908 high school year in the life of Betsy (or Betsye!) Elizabeth Ray, and the story is warm, wise, and utterly charming. I was very inspired by the dance that Betsy helps plan and am already scheming to introduce a dance card into the next dance I plan with my Crowd. I think we will have to include The Merry Widow’s Waltz on the playlist…
The opening phrases were short and artless. They sounded like a rocking horse. But the sing began to grow longer, the rhythm stronger. The waltz began to ask questions, wistful, poignant. It took on a dreamier sweep.
Then a gayer theme sent Uncle Rudy’s fingers rippling over the keys. The melody wove in and out. It circled, swayed, as though it were music and dancer in one. It was irresistible.
Isn’t that such a delicious description?
The Club of Queer Trades by G.K. Chesterton
Basil Grant and I were talking one day in what is perhaps the most perfect place for talking on earth - the top of a tolerably deserted tramcar. To talk on the top of a hill is superb, but to talk on the top of a flying hill is a fairy tale.
“What I complain of is a vague popular philosophy which supposes itself to be scientific when it is really nothing but a sort of new religion and an uncommonly nasty one. When people talked about the fall of man they knew they were talking about a mystery, a thing they didn’t understand. Now that they talk about the survival of the fittest they think they do understand it, whereas they have not merely no notion, they have an elaborately false notion of what the words mean. The Darwinian movement has made no difference to mankind, expect that, instead of talking unphilosophically about philosophy, they now talk unscientifically about science.”
It took me several months to make it through the first chapter in this book - Chesterton’s quirkiness sometimes runs a bit too enigmatic even for my esoteric tastes - but the story picked up and pulled me in in the second chapter. In order to become a member of the Club of Queer Trades, you have to invent a self-supporting trade that is absolutely and entirely new, a very amusing theme for the ensuing adventures of Basil Grant and friends. I do love the thought-provoking meditations woven into the story - alas, unscientific talk about science still seems to dominate a hundred years after Chesterton wrote the above, but there are still simple fairy tale moments to be found, like talking to a friend on the top of a double decker bus. I’d put this above The Man Who Was Thursday and Napoleon of Notting Hill but below Poet and the Lunatics and Manalive in my G.K. ranking.
The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
She knew how it ended, it was one of the most familiar of all the legends, the sudden radiance of light surrounding the Child at the end of the crossing, the divine voice saying, “And your name henceforth shall be Christopher, the Christ-bearer, because you were moved by pity to carry your Lord tonight.” But that had been in the morning of the world, when miracles rose out of the wayside grass as easily as larks; it was not to be expected that such a thing would happen again.
Miracles and magic are not as far away as you might think in The Perilous Gard! The Elizabethan background of this story is so subtly but brilliantly brought to life - not surprising considering the author was a scholar in Shakespeare and Milton - and the plot and the characters and writing are just as excellent. I know I’ve recommended this book before, and I’ll probably recommend it again in the future - it’s one of my absolute favorites!
Deck with Flowers by Elizabeth Cadell
Too many people in his life have been treating him just the way you’ve treated him in this business: sparing his feelings. His feelings have got so spare, you wouldn’t know he had any.
In the ranks of cozy British authors who provide light reading that still has some depth to it (one of my favorite genres), I would put Elizabeth Cadell somewhere in the middle. I enjoy her books and how she interweaves mystery and romance and bits of history and everyday life…but sometimes her characters annoy me, and her pacing feels off. Deck with Flowers had many promising but disparate elements that never seemed to cohere - a publishing house, a prima donna, a Swiss bakery - and the plot suddenly seemed to wrap up about two thirds through the book. I was just deciding I didn’t care for it too much when it took a totally unnecessary but wonderfully eccentric and endearing twist. Worth the read!
Smouldering Fire by D.E. Stevenson
Almost he knew what she would say before she said it - almost, but not quite, for her flexible mind gave a quaint turn to her words that delighted him. He discovered - or confirmed - that she had humor and originality; she saw reason in views which she did not share - a rare virtue this! Their talk was more vital and friendly than any talk that either of them had had.
Now here is cozy British author with depth who ranks at the top of my list, right behind Austen and Goudge. D.E. Stevenson strikes such a wonderful balance of sweet, funny, thought-provoking, and true. The Scottish Highlands are not only the background of the book but also an important element and theme of the plot. I loved the way the romance unfolds between the two main leads, and I wish we could have another book about one of the minor characters. Mrs. Hetherington Smith was a darling!
Persuasion by Jane Austen
A submissive spirit might be patient, a strong understanding would supply resolution, but here was something more; here was that elasticity of mind, that disposition to be comforted, that power of turning readily from good to evil, and of finding employment which carried her out of herself, which was from nature alone. It was the choicest gift of Heaven; and Anne viewed her friends sone of those instances in which, by a merciful appointment, it seems designed to counterbalance almost every other month.
Speaking of stand-out supporting characters, I had a renewed appreciation for Mrs. Smith on this re-read of Persuasion. However, shocking as it is to say, I think I have found an instance where I disagree with Austen. I think those gifts of Heaven - the elasticity of mind, disposition to be comforted, power of turning from good to evil, etc. - can all be and in fact must be cultivated through prayer and practice; they’re not a matter of nature alone.
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
They had expected to see the gray, heathery slope of the moor going up and up to join the dull autumn sky. Instead, a blaze of sunshine met them. It poured through the doorway as the light of a June day pours into a garage when you open the door. It made the drops of water on the grass glitter like beads and showed up the dirtiness of Jill’s tear-stained face. And the sunlight was coming from what certainly did look like a different world - what they could see of it. They saw smooth turf, smoother and brighter than Jill had ever seen before, and blue sky, and, darting to and fro, things so bright that they might have been jewels or huge butterflies.
This was one of two titles that I need to read to finish my journey through the Narnia series which I started in 2023. As is often the case with sequels, I didn’t think this was as powerful as the original, but then again it’s so magical and meaningful to have another chance to step into Aslan’s world. I’m determined to get through The Final Battle in December!
The Three Brides by Charlotte Mary Yonge
It was quite true that Cecil Charnock Poynsett was a very intelligent industrious creature, very carefully brought up - nay, if possible, a little too much so. “A little wholesome neglect” had been lacking.
I first fell for Charlotte Mary Yonge last Victober when I read Pillars of the House. My mother went even deeper down the rabbit hole than I did and has read at least half a dozen different CMY novels over the past year. She said The Three Brides was one of her favorites, and it did not disappoint. Here’s an example of one of the beautiful epigraphs that I mentioned in the video…
A finger’s breadth at hand may mar
A world of light in heaven afar;
A mote eclipse a glorious star,
An eyelid hide the sky
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to match Yonge’s knowledge, but her beautiful and apt snippets make me want to read more poetry. If you like big families, nuanced characters, the quiet humor of human vagaries, the charming minutiae and bustle of Victorian village life, as well as eternal quandaries and moral struggles that resonate with the mortal condition in any age, then you will love Charlotte Mary Yonge. If you do read or have read The Three Brides, be sure to tell me which bride you would choose as your fighter in the comments below. I’m Team Rose all the way.
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,
Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, ‘twere all alike
As if we had them not.
I did not recall this play’s salacious central premise when I purchased it earlier in the fall, but I let the innuendo go over my head and still enjoyed the deft and graceful writing. Shakespeare is such a skunk; he makes his morals as complicated as possible. In Measure for Measure, the lies of the villains are unmasked by the lies of the heroes, and of course the most beautiful descriptions of virtue, such as the above, are delivered by or applied to the most mendacious and malicious characters. Still, his phrases feel like dancing, except you’re reading, and maybe it’s good to remember that moral matters can easily get tangled, and, mankind being so incurably if amusingly flawed, it’s best to leave final judgment to God. It’s always good to keep Shakespeare on my TBR; I think I might go for a re-read of Hamlet next.
As mentioned in the video, there are two more discussions in our online book club coming up this year. We’ll be chatting about Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols on Wednesday, December 4 at 7 p.m. eastern and Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan on Wednesday, December 18 at 7 p.m. eastern. Send an email to emma@bookishprincess.com if you’d like to be added to the book club email list. 😊 Here’s hoping everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!
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