Daniel Kleven > Recent Status Updates

Here we pause and remember a fact brought to our attention again just yesterday, that is, that Switchfoot's debut album (1997), included a song titled "Ben Hur" and it bears listening to once again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5uXN...

"Have you found that you haven't prayed to God in a while? You want to cry out to Him but you feel embarrassed? It's like asking a friend for help when you've been ignoring their calls. Lean in to God.

He's used to hearing from people when they're at their lowest points. He won't take it as a slight that you've started praying to Him now. His door is always open, and the porch light is always on"

Yes!

These blurbs!

"a master storyteller"
"Jacqueline Woodson has such an original vision, such a singular voice"
"one of the quietly great masters of our time"
"one of our most gifted novelists"

I couldn't agree more!

Somehow, I have have made it until now, this year of our Lord 2,022, and have not had spoiled for me yet the outcome of the chariot race between Ben-Hur and Messala (and a few others, of course).

The race is approaching, the wagers are being made, and my heart is pounding!!! I haven't been this nervous and excited over a novel in quite some time.

I am loving this story!

I just found out that John is going on a book tour to dig deeper into this book!

Atlanta, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Houston.

https://www.johno.blog/p/we-go-on-liv...

“When God walks the earth, his steps are often centuries apart”

the italian translations!!! 😩

Feels good to be reading an unabridged version. There were so many holes in the other one.

This edition has a weird, rambling preface by Tim LaHaye (auth Left Behind):

"Some say it is the most influential book written in the 19th century; I would venture that, except for the Bible, Ben-Hur was the most influential book of the 20th c as well" (v)

"Ben-Hur helped to inspire me to conceive what eventually came to be known as the Left Behind series... by now you will recognize Ben-Hur as my role model" (x)

I'm abandoning this edition of the book (Wordsworth Classics, 1996), as I've discovered that it is severely abridged (like, entire chapters, as well as paragraphs, cut from the book). There was nothing in the book description, nor the preface to indicate this, which is disappointing. I'm switching to the Signet Classics edition, which appears to preserve all of the original book intact.