Carol Bakker > Recent Status Updates

We're in an interlude of time, getting close to the final scene.

All done but the epilogue. I love the way Will Durant covers the culture of a land/period/people. I love the medieval period. This makes me want to read me some Norman Cantor, who I will credit with giving me love for what folks call The Dark Ages.

Although, there are times when I say, "No, dear Mr. Durant, you have that wrong." (<- not very often)

This chapter shreds me every time. The ladies missionary society with their inane and mean chatter juxtaposed with Atticus coming home to get Calpurnia to help tell Tom's wife the news that Tom Robinson is dead.

Two hilarious quotes from this section:
St. Bernard wrote..."to the shame of Christ a man of Jewish origin was come to occupy the chair of St. Petet" -- forgetting Peter's origin.

Re Albigenses' law:
capital punishment was a capital crime.
(How does *that* work?)

I keep listening while I walk, and suddenly I'm making progress (Great Schism 1054). I enjoyed the section of Bede the best. He is inching up on my must-read list.

The end of the courtroom scene. My voice broke as I talked to Aria about it. ~ Why are you crying Nana? ~ Because of the injustice of it and because Atticus is a noble man. This book takes me apart every time I read it.

From the end of Philippians:

Nae Muir enough, brother, but just this-- be blather i the Lord!

The early involvement of France in the Panama Canal was a revelation to me. Very interesting!

Wow. The section on Islam was tough sledding, mostly because so little was familiar and all the names (Al-something, Abdullah something, and many place names) bounced off my brain. I was so relieved to recognize Omar Khayyam!

Durant summarized: "The general reader will marvel at the length of this survey of Islamic civilization, and the scholar will mourn its inadequate brevity."