Wednesday, April 04, 2007

  • If you want to change the world....

    Currently Listening
    Master and Commander
    By Christopher Gordon, Richard Tognetti
    see related

    Salutations!   I know it's been an age of Middle-Earth since I've posted on any  of my blogs (poor spitfire_phoenix is practically decomposing from neglect).  I regret it deeply, although I do think I've been getting more homework/housework/reading/etc.  done because of it.  At any rate, I regularly read your posts and enjoy keeping up with all y'all (no I'm not Texan).

    Books that I have read: 

    Conrad's Fate, The Pinhoe Egg, Dark Lord of Derkholm, Year of the Griffin, Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, and Fire and Hemlock,  all by by Diana Wynne Jones-  and all EXCELLENT!!!   

    The Warden, book one of the Barchester Chronicles by Anthony Trollope.

    Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

    The Odyssey by Homer  (again)

    Candide by Voltaire-  rather suprised that I liked this one (disagree completely with philosophy, but good stylistically and fun to read).

    The Inferno by Dante  (again)

    Daisy Miller by Henry James

    Romance of Arthur- an anthology of medieval Arthurian texts which I am reading for my INCREDIBLE private-tutoring-with-my-prof class, Medieval Arthurian Literature

    The Passion of the Christ by John Piper

    Eric Liddell: Pure Gold by what'shisname

    The One Kingdom and The Isle of Battle by Sean Russell-  part of The Swan's War fantasy trilogy.  The first is very good indeed, and the second would have been good if the author hadn't stuck in several sex scenes which were TOTALLY UNNECESSARY! I refused to read the third book on principle, although I dearly wanted to.

    Illustrated History of the Middle East by Jablonski

    The Gods Will Have Blood by Anatole France- very good if you want to "get the feel" of Revolutionary France during the Reign of Terror.  I'm not sure why you would, but if you feel masochistic.....

    A biography of William Wilberforce by John Piper--- it's Piper writing about Wilberforce.  What more need I say? 

    ....and a bunch of others I have forgotten....

    But talking of William Wilberforce.....   I am going to ask all of you (this means the two people who even notice this blog anymore) to think seriously about something for a bit.  I don't know if any of you are familiar with the great Reformed Christian hero Wilberforce, or if you've heard of/seen the movie Amazing Grace, but I urge EVERYONE to do three things: 

    1.  Watch the movie.  It's excellent.  As a history minor/literature major, I found Amazing Grace to be accurate and heartfelt, rousing and melting at the same time.  My pastor, who has been forcing his Rhetoric students (this includes me and britlitlover) to learn about Wilberforce for ages, says the movie is even better than Chariots of Fire in his mind (this is a huge accolade).  I have put it just below Lord of the Rings as my second favourite (very high praise for me).  I can't praise this movie enough- some of Britain's greatest actors/actresses, great music (bagpipes- ), cinematography, and script (I want to hug the scriptwriter person).  Anyways.  WATCH THE MOVIE AMAZING GRACE!!!!   No matter what genre you like, if you've got any taste at all you'll like it.

    2.  Go to the website www.amazinggracemovie.com -  learn more about Wilberforce's Christian beliefs, his stance against slavery, his friendship with John Newton, his other multifarious social projects, and how they are being carried on today.

    3.   Go to the website http://theamazingchange.com and change the world.   I mean it.  Wilberforce fought against slavery for 30 odd years before England finally abolished it (60 years before the Civil War in the U.S.), and now we must fight against modern day slavery.  By modern day slavery, I mean internet pornography, child labour, child soldiering, and human traffiking.  Look at the staggering numbers of people being sold into some form of servitude and weep for the injustice.  Christ urged us to touch others and try to help their pain.  The least you can do is sign the Petition to End Modern Day Slavery, found at the website.  You could email it to someone, print it off, or whatever.  Please just do something.

     

    Thanks for reading and caring.  

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