The Literary Life Podcast
Angelina Stanford Thomas Banks
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Top 10 The Literary Life Podcast Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Literary Life Podcast episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Literary Life Podcast for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Literary Life Podcast episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Episode 153: Our Literary Lives of 2022
The Literary Life Podcast
12/29/22 • 91 min
On The Literary Life podcast today, our hosts look back on their reading lives over the past year. Angelina, Cindy and Thomas each share a commonplace quote, then they each share a little about how they approach reading in a way that fits with the demands of their busy lives. Each of our hosts talks about their literary surprises, their most outstanding reads of the year, disappointing books they read, and their personal favorite podcast books from 2022. Angelina also reiterates why reading rightly is so important to us all!
Don’t forget to join us for the 2023 Reading Challenge! Get your books and Bingo cards ready!
Commonplace Quotes:A good story isn’t told to make a point. A good story reflects the World God created. The point makes itself.
Timothy Rollins“Blessed be Pain and Torment and every torture of the Body ... Blessed be Plague and Pestilence and the Illness of Nations....
“Blessed be all Loss and the Failure of Friends and the Sacrifice of Love....
“Blessed be the Destruction of all Possessions, the Ruin of all Property, Fine Cities, and Great Palaces....
“Blessed be the Disappointment of all Ambitions....
“Blessed be all Failure and the ruin of every Earthly Hope....
“Blessed be all Sorrows, Torments, Hardships, Endurances that demand Courage....
“Blessed be these things–for of these things cometh the making of a Man....”
Hugh WalpoleI will not walk with your progressive apes, erect and sapient. Before them gapes the dark abyss to which their progress tends – if by God’s mercy progress ever ends, and does not ceaselessly revolve the same unfruitful course with changing of a name. I will not treat your dusty path and flat, denoting this and that by this and chat, your world immutable wherein no part the little maker has with maker’s art. I bow not yet before the Iron Crown, nor cast my own small golden sceptre down.
J. R. R. Tolkien, from “Mythopoeia” A Selection from “The Secular Masque”by John Dryden
All, all of a piece throughout; Thy chase had a beast in view; Thy wars brought nothing about; Thy lovers were all untrue. 'Tis well an old age is out, And time to begin a new. Book and Link List:Episode 60: Why Read Pagan Myths
Episode 124: The Abolition of Man (beginning of series)
Fortitude by Hugh Walpole
The Killer and the Slain by Hugh Walpole
The Old Ladies by Hugh Walpole
Cherringham Mystery Series by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards
The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards
Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
Light Thickens by Ngaio Marsh
Henry the Eighth by Beatrice Saunders
The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Captive Flames by Ronald Knox
The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin
The Most Reluctant Convert by David C. Downing
The Truth and Beauty by Andrew Klavan
The Man Who Knew Too Much by G. K. Chesterton
The Rosettis in Wonderland by Dinah Roe
Just Passing Through by Winton Porter
The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories ed. by Martin Edwards
The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories by P. D. James
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley
Dorothy L. Sayers by Colin Duriez
The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis
4 Listeners
Episode 192: “The First Men In the Moon” by H. G. Wells, An Introduction to Sci-Fi
The Literary Life Podcast
10/03/23 • 66 min
Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast and a brand new episode for this fall season! This week Angelina, Cindy, and Thomas begin this series of episodes on science fiction stories, beginning with some background on H. G. Wells and his book The First Men in the Moon. This sets the scene for us as we then continue on next week with the opening of a discussion of C. S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet.
Thomas gives some biographical background information about Wells, and Angelina shares some distinctives of the science fiction genre and its sub-categories. Cindy highlights how much Out of the Silent Planet truly is a derivative of The First Men In the Moon with Lewis putting forward a very different premise.
House of Humane Letters is thrilled to announce an all new webinar from Dr. Jason Baxter coming October 31st! Register today for Can Dante’s Inferno Save the World?
Commonplace Quotes:One of the very best things about the world is that so little of it is me.
Andrew GriegHe could bear anything except to be silenced. Like most violent controversialists, he believed himself to be the pattern of meekness and good temper.
Ronald Knox, from Enthusiasm: A Chapter in the History of ReligionMr. Wells is a born storyteller who has sold his birthright for a pot of message.
G. K. Chesterton Astrophil and Stella 31: With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb’st the skiesby Sir Philip Sydney
With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies! How silently, and with how wan a face! What, may it be that even in heav'nly place That busy archer his sharp arrows tries! Sure, if that long-with love-acquainted eyes Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case, I read it in thy looks; thy languish'd grace To me, that feel the like, thy state descries. Then, ev'n of fellowship, O Moon, tell me, Is constant love deem'd there but want of wit? Are beauties there as proud as here they be? Do they above love to be lov'd, and yet Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess? Do they call virtue there ungratefulness? Books Mentioned:World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down by Christian McEwan
From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Support The Literary Life:Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!
Connect with Us:You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/
Find Cindy at morningtimeformoms.com, on Instagram @cindyordoamoris and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/. Check out Cindy’s own Patreon page also!
Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB
2 Listeners
Episode 72: Phantastes, Ch. 5-9
The Literary Life Podcast
11/17/20 • 79 min
Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast and the second episode of our series on George MacDonald's Phantastes, covering chapters 5-9. Angelina and Thomas kick off the book chat sharing some thoughts on the Duessa-type character in this section. Cindy mentions the connection she made to James Russell Lowell's poem, "The Vision of Sir Launfal." They go on to discuss the parallels between this section and the Pygmalion myth. Other mythological references abound throughout the story, as we will see. Our hosts go deep exploring the themes of deception, the fall, doppelgangers and spiritual death in these chapters.
Don’t forget to check out the Advent and Christmas resources our hosts have ready for your holiday season. As mentioned before, Cindy’s new edition of Hallelujah: Cultivating Advent Traditions with Handel’s Messiah is available now, and she has a live celebration even happening on November 19, 2020. Check our CindyRollins.net for more information. Also, Thomas and Angelina have a sale going on for an Advent Bundle of their popular webinars, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and The Poetry of Advent. Additionally, Kelly Cumbee will be teaching a webinar series called “Seeking the Discarded Image: Nature.”
Be back next week when we will cover chapters 10-14. Remember to join the discussion in our Literary Life Discussion Group.
Commonplace Quotes:A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.
Georg Christoph LichtenbergSchool isn’t supposed to be a polite form of incarceration, but a portal to the wider world.
Richard LouvMilton’s point in Paradise Lost is that free man can be instructed only by the non-compulsive forms, whether vision, parable, or drama. Hence Paradise Lost is a series of interlocking visions, Adam warned by the cathartic contrapuntal vision of satanic fall, and fall through vision of Eve. To fall is to choose an illusion, not a wrong reason.
Northrup Frye When I have Fears That I May Cease to Beby John Keats
When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance; And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never have relish in the faery power Of unreflecting love—then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
Book List:(Amazon affiliate links)
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
Notebooks on Renaissance Literature by Northrup Frye
The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis
The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carol
Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouquée
Faust (Parts One and Two) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Support The Literary Life:Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!
Connect with Us:You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/
Find Cindy at https://cindyrollins.net, on Instagram @cindyordoamoris and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/. Check out Cindy’s own Patreon page also!
Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump in...
1 Listener
Episode 32: The Literary Life of James Banks
The Literary Life Podcast
01/14/20 • 95 min
On today’s episode of The Literary Life, Angelina and Cindy interview James Banks. James is a civil servant, veteran, teacher, former academic and writer living in Austin, Texas. Prior to moving to the Lone Star State, he studied Renaissance Literature and taught at the University of Rochester. But it was only after leaving the academy that he rediscovered his passion for Shakespeare, Spenser, Chaucer and all things literary. His essays and reviews have appeared in The Weekly Standard, the Literati Quarterly, the Intercollegiate Review and elsewhere, but he is best known for being the brother of Thomas Banks and brother-in-law of Angelina Stanford.
James talks about his childhood relationships with books and stories, and the massive leap he took from not being able to read to being a reader. He tells about his desire to be a teacher and his undergraduate experience. He also elaborates on how he came to his love of Shakespeare and Renaissance literature. James tells why he ended up leaving academia and how he rediscovered his love of literature. He also gives some examples of how he reads so much and makes the most of his time.
The Cross of Snowby Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In the long, sleepless watches of the night, A gentle face — the face of one long dead — Looks at me from the wall, where round its head The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light. Here in this room she died; and soul more white Never through martyrdom of fire was led To its repose; nor can in books be read The legend of a life more benedight. There is a mountain in the distant West That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines Displays a cross of snow upon its side. Such is the cross I wear upon my breast These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes And seasons, changeless since the day she died.
Book List:(Amazon Affiliate Links)
Big Wonderful Thing by Stephen Harrigan
John Buchan by His Wife and Friends by Susan Tweedsmuir
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Good Things Out of Nazareth: Uncollected Letters of Flannery O’Connor and Friends
The Shooting Party by Anton Chekhov
The Sword of Honour Trilogy by Evelyn Waugh
Cultural Amnesia by Clive James
The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare
The Meaning of Shakespeare, Vol. 2 by Harold Goddard
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Silas Marner by George Eliot
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll
On the Edge by Edward St. Aubyn
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
The Adventures of Ibn Battuta by Ibn Battuta
1 Listener
Episode 59: "Leaf by Niggle" by J. R. R. Tolkien, Part 2
The Literary Life Podcast
08/11/20 • 83 min
On this week’s episode of The Literary Life with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks continue their discussion of J. R. R. Tolkien’s short story “Leaf by Niggle“. If you missed the Back to School 2020 Conference when it was live, you can still purchase access to the recordings at CindyRollins.net. Angelina opens the book chat highlighting Tolkien’s mirroring of Dante’s Divine Comedy with Niggle’s journey, and our hosts move through a recap of the story. The questions we should be asking as we read are whether this story deals with the recovery of our vision and whether it ends with a eucatastrophe.
Cindy brings out more of the autobiographical nature of this story for Tolkien. Angelina tosses around the idea that Parish and Niggle may be doubles and be a picture of Tolkien’s two selves. Thomas talks about what Niggle has to do in the “purgatory” section of the story. They also talk about the themes of art and the artist, sub-creation, and redemption. Come back next week to hear a discussion about why we ought to read myths.
Commonplace Quotes:It is when a writer first begins to make enemies that he begins to matter.
Hilton BrownKill that whence spring the crude fancies and wild day-dreams of the young, and you will never lead them beyond dull facts—dull because their relations to each other, and the one life that works in them all, must remain undiscovered. Whoever would have his children avoid this arid region will do well to allow no teacher to approach them—not even of mathematics—who has no imagination.
George MacDonaldThere were people who cared for him and people didn’t, and those who didn’t hate him were out to get him. . . But they couldn’t touch him. . . because he was Tarzan, Mandrake, Flash Gordon. He was Bill Shakespeare. He was Cain, Ulysses, the Flying Dutchman; he was Lot in Sodom, Deidre of the Sorrows, Sweeney in the nightingales among trees.
Joseph Heller On the Death of Dr. Robert Levetby Samuel Johnson
Condemned to Hope’s delusive mine, As on we toil from day to day, By sudden blasts, or slow decline, Our social comforts drop away.
Well tried through many a varying year, See Levet to the grave descend; Officious, innocent, sincere, Of every friendless name the friend.
Yet still he fills Affection’s eye, Obscurely wise, and coarsely kind; Nor, lettered Arrogance, deny Thy praise to merit unrefined.
When fainting Nature called for aid, And hovering Death prepared the blow, His vigorous remedy displayed The power of art without the show.
In Misery’s darkest cavern known, His useful care was ever nigh, Where hopeless Anguish poured his groan, And lonely Want retired to die.
No summons mocked by chill delay, No petty gain disdained by pride, The modest wants of every day The toil of every day supplied.
His virtues walked their narrow round, Nor made a pause, nor left a void; And sure the Eternal Master found The single talent well employed.
The busy day, the peaceful night, Unfelt, uncounted, glided by; His frame was firm, his powers were bright, Though now his eightieth year was nigh.
Then with no throbbing fiery pain, No cold gradations of decay, Death broke at once the vital chain, And freed his soul the nearest way.
Book List:(Amazon affiliate links are used in this content.)
Rudyard Kipling by Hilton Brown
A Dish of Orts by George MacDonald
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien
Support The Literary Life:Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!
Connect with Us:You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/
Find Cindy at https://cindyrollins.net, on Instagram 1 Listener
Episode 58: "Leaf by Niggle" by J. R. R. Tolkien, Part 1
The Literary Life Podcast
08/04/20 • 71 min
Welcome to another episode of The Literary Life with Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks. Both this week and next, our hosts will be discussing J. R. R. Tolkien's short story "Leaf by Niggle". When this episode goes live, Cindy, Angelina and Thomas will be in the thick of the second annual Back to School Online Conference, happening August 3-8, 2020. It's not too late to register at CindyRollins.net for access both this week and later on!
Angelina sets the stage with a little historical background on Tolkien’s writing of this story as well as some thoughts on allegory and how to read a fairy tale. She talks about this story as an exploration of the struggle of the ideals and demands of art against the demands of practical life and the question of whether or not art is useful. Cindy shares her ideas about the importance of the Inklings for Tolkien to get his work out into the world. Angelina shares about the type of journey on which the main character, Niggle, is called to go on in this story. As you read, we encourage you to look for how Tolkien harmonizes the different tensions within the story.
Commonplace Quotes:Here are some of the points which make a story worth studying to tell to the nestling listeners in many a sweet “Children’s Hour”;––graceful and artistic details; moral impulse of a high order, conveyed with a strong and delicate touch; sweet human affection; a tender, fanciful link between the children and the Nature-world; humour, pathos, righteous satire, and last, but not least, the fact that the story does not turn on children, and does not foster that self-consciousness, the dawn of which in the child is, perhaps, the individual “Fall of Man.”
Charlotte MasonThe essay began by noting that total war was underway, with fighting not only “in the field and on the sea and in the air,” but also in “the realm of ideas.” It said: “The mightiest single weapon this war has yet employed” was “not a plane, or a bomb or a juggernaut of tanks”–it was Mein Kampf. This single book caused an educated nation to “burn the great books that keep liberty fresh in the hearts of men.” If America’s goal was victory and world peace, “all of us will have to know more and think better than our enemies think and know,” the council asserted. “This was is a war of books. . . Books are our weapons.”
Molly Guptill Manning, quoting from the essay “Books and the War”In everything I have sought peace and not found it, save in a corner with a book.
Thomas à Kempis Miltonby Edward Muir
Milton, his face set fair for Paradise, And knowing that he and Paradise were lost In separate desolation, bravely crossed Into his second night and paid his price. There towards the end he to the dark tower came Set square in the gate, a mass of blackened stone Crowned with vermilion fiends like streamers blown From a great funnel filled with roaring flame. Shut in his darkness, these he could not see, But heard the steely clamour known too well On Saturday nights in every street in Hell. Where, past the devilish din, could Paradise be? A footstep more, and his unblinded eyes Saw far and near the fields of Paradise.
Book List:Formation of Character by Charlotte Mason
When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis
Planet Narnia by Michael Ward
The Company They Keep by Diana Pavlac Glyer
Smith of Wooten Major by J. R. R. Tolkien
Farmer Giles of Ham by J. R. R. Tolkien
Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien
A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War by Joseph Loconte
Spirits in Bondage by C. S. Lewis
Enemies of Promise by Cyril Connolly
Support The Literary Life:Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!
Connect with Us:You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at 1 Listener
Episode 47: The Great Divorce, Preface & Ch. 1
The Literary Life Podcast
04/28/20 • 83 min
On The Literary Life podcast today, Cindy Rollins, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks begin their series on The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis. Today you are going to get a crash-course in Medievalism through Lewis’ story, and we hope you will enjoy this book as much as our hosts do. Angelina kicks off the discussion even while sharing her commonplace quote, sharing some information about the epigraph and front matter. She gives us some historical context, both for where this books comes in Lewis’ own timeline, as well as some ideas of the journey of the soul and medieval dream literature.
Thomas gives some background on Prudentius and his allegorical work The Psychomachia. Angelina goes into some comparisons between The Great Divorce and Dante’s Divine Comedy. Thomas talks about Nathanial Hawthorne’s short story The Celestial Railroad as a satire of Pilgrim’s Progress. Also, if you haven’t read and listened to E. M. Forster’s Celestial Omnibus, see Episode 17. As they get into discussing the Preface, Thomas give us some information on William Blake. We will be back next week with a discussion on Chapters 2-6.
Listen to The Literary Life: Commonplace Quotes:We do not obtain the most precious gifts by going in search of them but by waiting for them. Man cannot discover them by his own powers and if he sets out to seek for them he will find in their place counterfeits of which he will be unable to discern the falsity.
Simone WeilNo, there is no escape. There is no heaven with a little of hell in it–no plan to retain this of that of the devil in our hearts or our pockets. Out Satan must go, every hair and feather.
George MacDonaldA poet is not a man who says “look at me”, but rather a man who points at something and says “look at that.”
C. S. Lewis MCMXIVby Philip Larkin
Those long uneven lines Standing as patiently As if they were stretched outside The Oval or Villa Park, The crowns of hats, the sun On moustached archaic faces Grinning as if it were all An August Bank Holiday lark;
And the shut shops, the bleached Established names on the sunblinds, The farthings and sovereigns, And dark-clothed children at play Called after kings and queens, The tin advertisements For cocoa and twist, and the pubs Wide open all day–
And the countryside not caring: The place names all hazed over With flowering grasses, and fields Shadowing Domesday lines Under wheat’s restless silence; The differently-dressed servants With tiny rooms in huge houses, The dust behind limousines;
Never such innocence, Never before or since, As changed itself to past Without a word–the men Leaving the gardens tidy, The thousands of marriages, Lasting a little while longer: Never such innocence again.
Book List:Amazon affiliate links are used in this content.
The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald
The Personal Heresy by C. S. Lewis and E. M. Tillyard
The Aeneid by Virgil
The Divine Comedy by Dante
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
The Holy War by John Bunyan
Ourselves by Charlotte Mason
A Preface to Paradise Lost by C. S. Lewis
The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis
The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis
Thanks to Our Sponsor:This episode is brought to you by New College Franklin. We want to encourage you to check out their 2020 Spring Preview Days happening online via Zoom conferencing.
Support The Literary Life:Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!
Connect with Us:You can find Angelina and Thomas at 1 Listener
Episode 69: The Literary Life of Wendi Capehart
The Literary Life Podcast
10/20/20 • 95 min
Today on The Literary Life Podcast, our hosts Angelina and Cindy chat with Cindy’s longtime friend and, according to her, the “smartest woman on the internet,” Wendi Capehart. Wendi is an adventurous mom of many and has lived throughout Asia. Now she lives the life of an at home librarian caring for her disabled daughter and spending time with her 15 grandchildren. She also serves on the AmblesideOnline Advisory board.
Angelina starts off the conversation asking Wendi about her reading life beginning with her childhood memories of reading. Wendi talks a little about how books helped her survive and heal from the trauma of living in an abusive situation. They also discuss what the difference was for Wendi in leisurely reading and reading for school. Wendi shares some of the reasons she began homeschooling her own children, as well, and how she kept reading voraciously even after she became a mother.
Angelina and Wendi talk about the brain and changing your reading habits to digest and enjoy more challenging books. Wendi shares how she built a library while one a military budget and moving frequently. They talked about too many things to mention in this summary, but you can scroll down for the many book titles mentioned in this episode!
Commonplace Quotes:“We’re all fools,” said Clemens, “all the time. It’s just we’re a different kind each day. We think, I’m not a fool today. I’ve learned my lesson. I was a fool yesterday but not this morning. Then tomorrow we find out that, yes, we were a fool today too. I think the only way we can grow and get on in this world is to accept the fact we’re not perfect and live accordingly.”
Ray BradburyWhere science does not teach a child to wonder and admire it has perhaps no educative value.
Charlotte MasonNow the story of Christ is simply a true myth, a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with tremendous difference–that it really happened–and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God’s myth, where the others are men’s myths. That is, the pagan stories are God expressing himself through the minds of poets, using such images as he found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through real things.
C. S. Lewis If Only I Were Kingby A. A. Milne
I often wish I were a King, And then I could do anything.
If only I were King of Spain, I’d take my hat off in the rain.
If only I were King of France, I wouldn’t brush my hair for aunts.
I think, if I were King of Greece, I’d push things off the mantelpiece.
If I were King of Norroway, I’d ask an elephant to stay.
If I were King of Babylon, I’d leave my button gloves undone.
If I were King of Timbuctoo, I’d think of lovely things to do.
If I were King of anything, I’d tell the soldiers, “I’m the King!”
Book List:The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
Towards a Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason
The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs
Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt
Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
The Little Prince by Antione de Saint-Exupéry
The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
The Heroes by Charles Kingsley
The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
The Rescuers by Marjorie Sharp
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
Ben Hur by Lew Wallace
The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major
Episode 39: The Literary Life of Karen Glass
The Literary Life Podcast
03/03/20 • 109 min
On today’s episode of The Literary Life, Angelina and Cindy interview Karen Glass. Karen is part of the Advisory of AmblesideOnline. She has four children, ages 13 to 27, who have been homeschooled using Charlotte Mason’s methods from beginning to end. She has been studying and writing about Charlotte Mason and Classical Education for over twenty years, and has written Consider This to share the most important things she has discovered about the connection between them. We are giving away a copy of her newest book, In Vital Harmony, to 2 lucky listeners who share about this podcast episode on Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag #invitalharmony.
After sharing their commonplace quotes, our hosts dive into this conversation with Karen about how she became a lover of books. She talks about her voracious reading as a child and teen. Karen also recounts how her mediocre education did not discourage her reading life but just gave her more time and reason to read. This leads into a meaty discussion among Karen, Cindy and Angelina about self-education, homeschooling and lifelong learning.
Commonplace Quotes:Let us consider an apple. If we approach it synthetically, we take it as we find it–in its state of wholeness and completeness–and we eat it. Once eaten, it is digested, absorbed, and becomes a part of us. If we approach it analytically, we take it apart–not in a natural way, which is merely a smaller portion (here is half an apple!), but rather, here is the fiber, here are the vitamins, here is a bit of water, and some sugar. Suppose we ingest each bit–a spoonful of fiber, a vitamin pill, a swallow of sugar-and-water. On paper, we have consumed the same thing in both cases–equal portions of nutrition–but there is a very, very large difference. Only one of those meals tasted good and created an appetite for more.
Karen GlassHowever difficult it may be to characterize correctly the medieval class system, it is even more difficult to grasp medieval thinking, which was broadly metaphorical and analogical, rather than merely logical and rational.
Thomas CahillRemember that the uttermost penalty was reserved for him who could say to his brother “Thou fool!” because contempt was the most un-godlike quality which man could display. Beware above all things lest a little knowledge only reinforce conceit and lead you into a false world where self is enthroned, far away from the true world which is illuminated by the love of God, manifested in the Person of the Incarnate Word.
Mandell Creighton A Poison Treeby William Blake
I was angry with my friend; I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow. And I waterd it in fears, Night & morning with my tears: And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles. And it grew both day and night. Till it bore an apple bright. And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew that it was mine. And into my garden stole, When the night had veild the pole; In the morning glad I see; My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
Book List:Amazon Affiliate links are used in this content.
Consider This by Karen Glass
Mind to Mind by Karen Glass
Know and Tell by Karen Glass
In Vital Harmony by Karen Glass
Mysteries of the Middle Ages by Thomas Cahill
Thoughts on Education by Mandell Creighton
Bedtime for Frances by Russel Hoban
Petunia by Roger Duvoisin
Dorrie’s Magic by Patricia Coombs
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkein
The Family Nobody Wanted by Helen Doss
Lovey by Mary MacCracken
A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz
The Philosophy of Christian School Education
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Thomas Lynley Mysteries by Elizabeth George
Jan Karon’s Mitford Series
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TLLepisode42 mixdown
The Literary Life Podcast
03/24/20 • 77 min
In light of the recent changes to all our lives, The Literary Life crew is breaking from the previously announced schedule to discuss the importance of stories in times of crisis. But first, we want you to know about a special gift from Cindy Rollins. You can download a PDF copy of her Handbook of Morning Time for free by visiting her shop here. You can also purchase the replays of the Re-Enchanting the World online conference at HouseofHumaneLetters.com.
Angelina talks about the impulse of humanity to turn to stories during time of upheaval and plague. Cindy points out the need we have for an ordered universe, and that this is one of the things good books provide. Together with Thomas, they discuss how important it is to find stories that reassure us that there is order and redemption to come. They also give some recommendations for personal reading as well as family read-alouds for these challenging times. Finally, our hosts give us an update with how they are doing with their own 20 for 2020 Reading Challenge lists.
If you would like more bonus content, especially our new monthly live chats called “All Fellows Eve”, become a Patreon supporter of The Literary Life!
Listen to The Literary Life: Commonplace Quotes:An important part of a child’s education is storytelling, since good stories excite the imagination and strengthen the bond between parent and child.
St. John ChrysostomIt is in the essential nature of fashion to blind us to its meaning and the causes from which it springs.
Edwin MuirUnless the writer has gone utterly out of his mind, his aim is still communication, and communications suggests talking inside community.
Flannery O’Connor Sonnet 6by William Shakespeare
Tir’d with all these, for restful death I cry, As, to behold desert a beggar born, And needy nothing trimm’d in jollity, And purest faith unhappily forsworn, And guilded honour shamefully misplaced, And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted, And right perfection wrongfully disgraced, And strength by limping sway disabled, And art made tongue-tied by authority, And folly (doctor-like) controlling skill, And simple truth miscall’d simplicity, And captive good attending captain ill: Tired with all these, from these would I be gone, Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.
Book List:Amazon affiliate links are used in this content.
The Company They Keep by Diana Pavlock Glyer
Tolkien: Man and Myth by Joseph Pierce
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tokien
Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
The Kingfisher book of Tales from Russia by James Mayhew
Little Pilgrim’s Progress by Helen Taylor
Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John
The Discarded Image by C. S. Lewis
Few Eggs and No Oranges by Vera Hodgson
Cider for Rosie by Laurie Lee
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Support The Literary Life:Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!
Connect with Us:You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinas...
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How many episodes does The Literary Life Podcast have?
The Literary Life Podcast currently has 278 episodes available.
What topics does The Literary Life Podcast cover?
The podcast is about Homeschooling, Literature, Reading, Podcasts, Books, Education, Homeschool and Arts.
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The episode title 'Episode 153: Our Literary Lives of 2022' is the most popular.
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The average episode length on The Literary Life Podcast is 87 minutes.
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Episodes of The Literary Life Podcast are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of The Literary Life Podcast?
The first episode of The Literary Life Podcast was released on Apr 21, 2019.
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