Brother Cadfael's Book of Days: The Material and Spiritual Wisdom of a Medieval Crusader-monk

Chronicles of Brother Cadfael

by Robin Whiteman

From the Brother Cadfael oeuvre comes a book of quotations for each day of the year. These words of wisdom are extracted from Ellis Peters' popular novels and are divided into the four seasons, each illustrated with illuminated letters.

Genres: History

180 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Robin Whiteman's Brother Cadfael's Book of Days: The Material and Spiritual Wisdom of a Medieval Crusader-monk (which was published in 2000, thus five years after Ellis Peters' death and is obviously also meant to be somewhat of a personal dedication of and for Peters by Whiteman), yes, and as a huge fan of Peters' Brother Cadfael series of Mediaeval mysteries, I do indeed massively appreciate Brother Cadfael's Book of Days: The Material and Spiritual Wisdom of a Medieval Crusader-monk for what is is, for a book of days using the Brother Cadfael series as its verbal basis. But well, aside from me just appreciating Brother Cadfael's Book of Days: The Material and Spiritual Wisdom of a Medieval Crusader-monk and Whiteman's book of days concept, I have also very much enjoyed reading the quotations from various Brother Cadfael mysteries (one excerpt for each day of the year, as is typical for a traditional book of days, and indeed, that the Brother Cadfael mysteries quotations all work really well seasonally speaking, with the historical background that is included as necessary below the excerpt equally so making me hugely smile).

And all together, taken and approached as a whole, the three-hundred-sixty-six quotations (as Brother Cadfael's Book of Days: The Material and Spiritual Wisdom of a Medieval Crusader-monk features a leap year), they collectively provide a peaceful, reflective textual body highlighting Ellis Peters' gift for lyrical prose, herbal wisdom, gently humanist philosophy (and which is of course shown in and with Brother Cadfael, with Peters' erstwhile crusader, herbal healer and all-round pleasant and caring Benedictine monk) and with my only mild caveat regarding Brother Cadfael's Book of Days: The Material and Spiritual Wisdom of a Medieval Crusader-monk being that since this is a book of daily Brother Cadfael mysteries quotes rather than a story or a deep historical study, readers expecting an actual plot might be a trifle disappointed (albeit for me, the book title itself immediately tells me that with Brother Cadfael's Book of Days: The Material and Spiritual Wisdom of a Medieval Crusader-monk what Robin Whiteman is presenting will be short excerpts from the novels).

Now with regard to the book of days concept for Brother Cadfael's Book of Days: The Material and Spiritual Wisdom of a Medieval Crusader-monk, yes, this should really be a five star rating from me since I have absolutely adored the quotations Whiteman has chosen from Ellis Peters Brother Cadfael mysteries (and that EVERY excerpt also works really well for the day of the year for which it has been selected). However, there are no secondary sources for the supplemental historical details of Brother Cadfael's Book of Days: The Material and Spiritual Wisdom of a Medieval Crusader-monk and which is most definitely a bit frustrating, and indeed, the way Robin Whiteman presents her primary sources in Brother Cadfael's Book of Days: The Material and Spiritual Wisdom of a Medieval Crusader-monk, using a number instead of actually featuring the titles is rather reader unfriendly (and that I keep having to flip back to the list of the numbered Brother Cadfael mysteries is both frustrating and also massively distracting, and that therefore, I am going to have to deduct a star and to be rating Brother Cadfael's Book of Days: The Material and Spiritual Wisdom of a Medieval Crusader-monk not with five but only with four stars).

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mainly for long time Cadfael fans like me, but has wisdom for everyone.

[Susanne Beyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I do appreciate the wisdom and general common sense in many of the Cadfael stories, I only caught a few glimpses of it here and there in this book. The choice of quotations seems a bit random.