What I Read in March 2023
New Bookish Vlog & Favorite Quotations of the Month
Happy April, friends! March was a lovely reading month spent with many favorite children’s classics, although in these latter weeks, especially now that we’ve entered Holy Week, I’ve been focusing on my Lenten reads. Like my February wrap-up, this is turning into a long-ish post, so save it for a time when you’re in the mood for a cozy, bookish chat!
The Cloud of Unknowing by Anonymous
I’ve really been really enjoying our Lenten readalong book - I’m hosting the readalong with Christy from Dostoevsky in Space, Faith & Books, and A Musical Bookworm. I could devote a whole blog post to the many beautiful passages I’ve been marking - except that the remarkable author warns readers not to take his thoughts piecemeal or out of order! So I will instead encourage you to read it for yourself and also to join us for our readalong Zoom discussion on Saturday, April 15 at 1 p.m. eastern (if you’d like to join, and you’re not yet on my book club email list, just send a note to emma@bookishprincess.com).
The anonymous fourteenth-century author of The Cloud of Unknowing is focused on the contemplative side of Christian life, but he acknowledges the active side as well, and I love how he uses the story of Martha and Mary to illustrate his argument. I think whenever I hear that story now I will think of this book! I also loved the emphasis on controlling our thoughts and “the work of loving and praising God for his own sake.” We will risk our mystic’s disapproval for just one quotation to whet your appetite:
And so I say again to anyone who wants to become a real contemplative like Mary, let the wonderful transcendence and goodness of God teach you humility rather than the thought of your own sinfulness, for then your humility will be perfect. Attend more to the wholly otherness of God rather than to your own misery. And remember that those who are perfectly humble will lack nothing they really need, either spiritually or materially. God is theirs and he is all. Whoever possesses God, as this book attests, needs nothing else in this life.
Paradise Regained: The Tradition and the Poem by Elizabeth Marie Pope
I picked up a used copy of this online; it is one of only three books available by one of my favorite children’s book authors, Elizabeth Marie Pope, and it was a perfect read for Lent! Paradise Regained by John Milton is all about Christ’s temptation in the desert (and would also be a perfect read for Lent), and Elizabeth Marie Pope not only delves deeper into Milton’s retelling but also puts it in the context of what other religious thinkers of the medieval and renaissance periods had to say about the temptations. The depth of thought that these writers put into studying the Bible is inspiring!
St. Gregory the Great adds that by his patience, courtesy, and reliance on the Word of God, the Lord set his followers an example which they would do well to remember when dealing with the wicked. True, he lost his temper and sharply rebuked Satan at the temptation of the kingdoms; but, as St. Thomas Aquinas explains, his anger on that occasion was entirely proper, since it shows us that while we ought to take personal injuries quietly, we should never suffer the Deity to be so dishonored and insulted.
Pope’s book certainly is scholarly, and I lamented the fact that I was unable to live up to her expectation that her readers would be able to translate original Latin quotations on sight (alas!), but overall it was very readable and just fascinating to get a glimpse at how Milton’s contemporary readers might have reacted to and understood his storytelling choices. It was an excellent way to follow up on my reads of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained last year. And even if this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, you should still absolutely take the time to look up The Sherwood Ring and her Newbery award winner, The Perilous Gard.
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
Louisa May Alcott made me realize that I have been neglecting picking up this Christian classic for far too long. I’ve found it a bit dry when I tried the printed version in the past, so I started on the Libravox audiobook and have been hugely enjoying it. I don’t know why it didn’t grab me previously; it is so story-driven and relatable, and being able to understand all the references to it in Little Women makes it even more interesting.
This is a book that I’m sure will continue to enrich my experience of other classics, because so many classics reference it! I’ve just reached the part where Christian and Faithful enter Vanity Fair - I had no idea Thackeray took his title from Pilgrim’s Progress! The modern magazine is perhaps also based on Bunyan’s conception…although I don’t think they realize it… 😆
“…all which you forsake is not worthy to be compared with a little of that I am seeking to enjoy; and if you would go along with me, and hold it, you shall fare as I myself; for there, where I go, is enough and to spare. Come away, and prove my words.”
“What are the things you seek, since you leave all the world to find them?”
“I seek a place that can never be destroyed, one that is pure, and that fadeth not away, and it is laid up in heaven, and safe there, to be given, at the time appointed, to them that seek it with all their heart. Read it so, if you will, in my book.”
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Revisiting the March family has me wanting to go back to Orchard House and to get to know Louisa May Alcott better. I’d like to pick up some of her letters or nonfiction works soon! Some of the things that impressed me most on this reread of Little Women were the Christian faith of the characters, the respect for marriage, and the recognition of the hard work and important (and often overlooked) role that women play in the home…and yet it’s ironic, because typical modern adaptations totally gloss over or even deny those elements. 🤷🏻♀️
Since I already shared a long quotation about Professor Bhaer (I just love him!) in the vlog, here’s a different quotation that made me chuckle. It’s one you’ve probably heard…but maybe not in its original context. It’s funny how the popular lines from classic books that get splashed on mugs and tote bags are often not all they appear to be. For instance, you’ll often see this line from Pride and Prejudice: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book!” But if you know your Jane Austen, you know that that line is spoken by Caroline Bingley, who is truly not a great reader, and who tosses away said book just a sentence later.
In Little Women, the line, “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship” seems to make frequent rounds on Pinterest and Instagram, and you might imagine that it is speaking of independence, taking care of your own life, sailing your own ship. Hopefully you’ll have already gathered the fact that this is a spoiler but SPOILER ALERT: in fact, the line is spoken by the character Amy specifically in reference to her marriage and her husband Laurie. It’s really sweet, because the two frequently use the metaphor of sailing a ship together, right back to their proposal. Here’s the full quotation in context - Laurie is speaking, then Amy responds:
“…Amy keeps me pointing due west most of the time, with only an occasional whiffle round to the south, and I haven’t had an easterly spell since I was married. Don’t know anything about the north, but am altogether salubrious and balmy, hey, my lady?”
“Lovely weather so far. I don’t know how long it will last, but I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship. Come home, dear, and I’ll find your bootjack. I suppose that’s what you are rummaging after among my things. Men are so helpless, Mother,” said Amy, with a matronly air, which delighted her husband.
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
It was so charming to enter the miniature world of Arrietty and friends. Thank you so much to everyone who mentioned that this is a series; I definitely need to continue and find out what happens to Eggletina! The writing is so evocative and really shrinks you down to the size of a borrower…
The hollow darkness around her vibrated with sound; it was a safe sound - solid and regular; and, far above her head, she saw the movement of the pendulum; it gleamed a little in the half light, remote and cautious in its rhythmic swing. Arrietty felt warm tears behind her eyelids and a sudden swelling pride: so this, at last, was The Clock! Their clock…after which her family was named! For two hundred years it had stood here, deep-voiced and patient, guarding their threshold, and measuring their time…Three notes were struck, deliberate and mellow: “Take it or leave it,” they seemed to say, “but that’s the time-”
I loved how the different families get their names, and I love Arrietty’s pride in being a “Clock.” Looking forward to continuing the series!
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
I didn’t mention this one in the vlog because I happened to pick it up right after I finished filming and editing. I have read this before, but it’s been a long time; I ended up (re)reading it all in one weekend. I couldn’t put it down! It is absolutely charming, and, as with so many of the books I read this month, there’s a sequel, Dear Enemy, that I would like to pick up too. Daddy-Long-Legs is of course the anonymous donor who is paying for the orphan Jerusha “Judy” Abbott to go to college, and she has a marvelous time. The only condition is that she has to write letters to the donor, and she writes such charming letters - even though she is supposed to never expect a reply. It was a very blustery weekend, so I liked this quotation:
There is a March wind blowing, and the sky is filled with the heavy, black moving clouds. The crows in the pine trees are making such a clamor! It’s an intoxicating, exhilarating, calling noise. You want to close your books and be off over the hills to race with the wind.
The Secret Language by Ursula Nordstrom
This post is already getting quite long, and most of the other children’s classics I talked about more in my recent reading vlogs, but since I shared one description of a March day from Daddy-Long-Legs, here’s one from The Secret Language that just made me chuckle:
In March the snow and ice melted, and the bare black branches of the trees, shining with moisture, glittered against a blue and cloudless sky….little streams of icy water rushed across the spongy ground, and only on the brown hills were there still patches of snow. “The hills look sort of like a bowl of cornflakes,” Victoria said dreamily to Martha, “after you’ve put a lot of sugar on but before you’ve put the milk on.”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard the month compared to a bowl of cereal, but I like it, and it’s a pretty good example of the gentle quirkiness of The Secret Language. It’s such a fun book.
Hope everyone had a great reading month!