Introduction

It is only fair to warn people what a blog is going to be about. This one is about books and authors and stories. Since learning to read I have liked few things better than sprawling on my bed with a good story. Only lately have I begun to wonder what makes a story good.

This curiosity may be due to a recent (2-3 years) interest in books that in G. K. Chesterton's phrase: "wrestle with ideas naked, as it were, and not dressed up in a masquerade as men and women." Just like Alice in Wonderland who asked what good a book without pictures is, so I used to ask what good a book without a story is. Though I still think fiction is superior to non-fiction in almost every way, I am learning to appreciate (yes, even enjoy) non-fiction, especially apologetics, history, and essays on anything (or nothing).

I debated whether to describe the books I read as "old." Those who consider the Lord of the Rings as "old" will have no problem with that description; those who, like Tolkien, consider everything after Chaucer in the 14th. century as "modern," will laugh at me and you. Of course, I hope to read more medieval and classical literature before too long, but right now I have a host of newer-ish authors clamoring for my attention and trying to jump off the bookshelf every time I walk past.

My plan (so far as I have one) is to post about once a week on the book I am currently reading. Hopefully a brief synopsis and then an analysis (big word!) of the main point or philosophy. If plan A sometimes doesn't work, plan B might be a quote, an idea, or an old truth seen in a new way; or anything from my reading that seems worth passing on.