booklady's comments (member since Jun 14, 2009)

booklady's comments from the The Great Books Corner group.

I'm currently reading The Spirit of the Liturgy for another group and on page 126 of that text -- in a chapter on "Art and Liturgy" -- Pope Benedict XVI is discussing the shift in 1200s from the portrayal of the mysterious aspects of God to the historical and narrative aspects. He believes that at least part of this shift in perspective was due to 'the turn from Platonism to Aristotelianism during the thirteenth century ... Platonism sees sensible things as shadows of the eternal archetypes. In the sensible we can and should know the archetypes and rise up through the former to the latter. Aristotelianism rejects the doctrine of Ideas. The thing, composed of matter and form, exists in its own right ... Something of this Platonic foundation lives on in the theology of the icons, even though the Platonic ideas of the beautiful and of vision have been transformed...'

Hardly an adequate introduction to the Father of Philosophy and his student, but it's a start...

Cheers!

I read all of War and Peace, read it and listened to the book on CD one June. I got the maps off Wikipedia so that I could actually follow the battle. I read and reread it, then I watched the movie in Russian with English subtitles. It was great. I LOVED it! I like to totally emerse myself in a Great Book or author. One summer I did a Dickens' feast--read a whole bunch of his novels, one right after another. Read and listened to them. I really believe in LISTENING to the old books. It helps to get good recordings. One summer I did Dostoevsky Feodor. I love the Russian authors, Karina.

Mary Alice wrote: "Oh, how I wish I was not a slow reader!!!!

I love Little Women. One of my favorite books. My aunt gave it to me when I was about 11. "

Mary Alice,

Sometimes I wish I was a faster reader too, but then I ask myself why am I reading. Is it just to compile lists or impress others, myself or achieve some magical goal?! No! I'm reading to form my mind, heart and soul to prepare myself for Him and Eternity. When I remember that, I'm very content to slow down, take a deep breath and know that whatever I read is a gift. I enjoy my books more when I read slowly and contemplatively; they go deeper and stay with me longer. Remember Maria in 'The Sound of Music, 'Enough is as good as a feast.' It is!

How long do you have?! I'm still trying to list them all on Goodreads! Ha! But for starters, I'll go back to the Greeks and Romans. The Holy Bible (of course!), The Republic, The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, some Herodotus, Plutarch and Aristotle, many of the Greek myths, Aesop, Saint Augustine's Confessions and City of God and the complete Divine Comedy.