five weeks' worth of book reports!

So. Germany and the Czech Republic and Branson and D.C. Lots of books.

My Antonia by Willa Cather
Antonia is a Czech immigrant in the Nebraska plains, where she befriends Jim. They are fast friends, but circumstances change and hard times come. Both change, for better and for worse.

Good. The description was lovely. Amazing. It seems like a few things needed to be changed, though- what happens to the murderer? Never is he mentioned. What happens to his family? They are never mentioned. The ending flops, too. But over all a very nice book.
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George Elliot by Kathryn Hughes
Marianne Evans was born in 1819 as a sullen, petty child. She was a Puritan, and hated the Christmas celebrations' 'frivolity'. She slowly changed, though, into an atheist. She wrote her first book,Adam Bede , under the pen name of George Elliot, and continued to use it for most of her life. She was attention-hungry and strained many a relationship because of it. She was 'married' to George Lewes for sixteen years, and then to for the last three months of her life.

Interesting. She was an amazingly odd person. I'm glad I didn't write to her; she was no fun to her pen pals. And being married to someone who has another wife who has another husband. Ick. A slow read.
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Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Catherine Earnshaw, the lady, and Heathcliff, the waif, make a strange pair, but they will not be separated from each other. Heathcliff is deemed violent, and Catherine married off to a lord. Neither can stand it. Cathy becomes insane and Heathcliff runs away, to leave their problems for the younger generation.

Strange. It was scary, but not nightmarish...shivery, maybe. The way Catherine goes mad and Heathcliff forgets, and then you're afraid it's going to happen all over again with Cathy and Hareton. But it doesn't. Good.
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The Pilgrim's Regress by C.S. Lewis
This was Lewis's first book after his conversion, and records his trip to salvation. John sees an island, the perfect island, Paradise, and he sets off to find it. He meets people such as Mr. Enlightenment, Mr. Humanist, and Mother Kirk, in such places as the Valley of Humiliation and the city of Thrill as he journeys to this mysterious place.

Good. I think it was just as good as Pilgrim's Progress. Lewis is perfect with allegories. He can think of things that fit, and make sense, and people know about, and make them represent things that you would never have thought of, and it works. Mother Kirk should have been talked about a little more, though.
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The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
The obsessions of two remarkable and very different men led to the making of the book that defined many of the words we know today. The book, begun in 1857 and taking seventy more years, was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. Professor James Murray headed the project, and discovered that a chief contributor was confined in an asylum.

Very good. I liked that the word definitions and the dictionary were tied to someone as strange as Dr. Minor. It is rather ironic, though, that if he had not been confined he would not have contributed, and if he had not contributed, he would not have become even worse. Is that a paradox?
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A Portrait of Jesus by Joseph Gerizone
Father Gerizone has attempted to get inside the heads of Jesus and his followers. What it would be like to walk all over Israel, what his disciples thought of Jesus. There is also a lot of tolerance to Jews and Muslims preached.

Interesting. I find, though, that he skipped-or almost skipped-four major parts of the Gospel- the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension. How can a portrait of Christ be complete without these? Now, I think it's fine to have people of different faiths as friends, but can you accept them as influences on your church, on your decisions? I don't think so, but then, I am a very opinionated almost-thirteen, and other opinions would be appreciated.

WOW! LOTS OF REPORTS! PHEW!