If you have never read Jack London’s classic 1908 short story, “To Build a Fire,” you should put it on your winter reading list. This harrowing description of a man’s struggle for survival in the sub-zero temperatures of the Yukon Territory will make this season’s coldest day seem balmy by comparison…
Christian Books and Christian Reading Read More »
I think my husband is tired of letting me name things. Our life is becoming a living encyclopedia for the work of William Shakespeare. We have a car named “Hal,” a plant named “Brutus,” and I’m trying to figure out how to convince Ian to let me use “Miranda” as the middle name of a future daughter. (I have a particularly soft spot in my heart for The Tempest.) Needless to say, when it was time to dream up titles for all of our new endeavors at CenterForLit, nothing was safe. I suggested an alternative Shakespearean title for every new product we’re releasing. Most of them got shot down, but as a consolation prize everyone was kind enough to let me name the blog…
An Apology for “The Hovel” Read More »
In award-winning author Wendell Berry’s novel, Jayber Crow, twice-orphaned Jonah searches for answers to the eternal questions: What is the nature of God? What is prayer? Is life a random series of disconnected events, or a linear, purposeful, meaningful path? These universal questions all converge upon Jonah’s more personal questions of identity: Who am I? Am I what I do? Do I, in fact, choose my profession, thus bearing the immense responsibility of making myself? Or am I born to a calling? Crow describes this undetected pressure to create an identity for oneself as a kind of subtle bondage…
Just Another Reason I Homeschool: A Meditation on Jayber Crow Read More »
Thanks for stopping by! I am thrilled to welcome you to our online community for Lit Lovers. Every nook and cranny of the CenterForLit website has been redesigned and expanded to serve you better. Inside, you’ll find a dozen ways to participate in the Great Conversation – a conversation about books and ideas, about homeschooling and parenting, about sin and grace and redemption. And don’t worry: we still offer all the curriculum materials and classes you depend on. In fact, we’re making more all the time…
Happy New Year from a Happy New CenterForLit! Read More »
I ordered Go Set a Watchman for myself back in February, as excited by the reported “discovery” of Harper Lee’s prequel as the rest of the nation seemed to be. To Kill a Mockingbird stands a beacon of American literature and a guardian of the American Southern identity which it helped to forge. The shadowy figure of Harper Lee, so evocative of her mysterious character Boo Radley, continues to stir the imagination of the public. Is it any wonder that the possibility of another Lee masterpiece stirred the blood of readers who cut their teeth on her original work? We desired the new manuscript like candy…
Matters of Conscience – Reactions to Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman” Read More »
What if you only have time to read one book with your student this year? Should you throw your hands up in despair and enroll him in the local government school? Well, it’s up to you, but you might be missing a great opportunity. You would be surprised at how powerful just one lesson can be. In fact, a well-designed discussion of a single book can dramatically affect the way your student reads all other books for the rest of his life…
Making One Lesson Count Read More »
I sing of dirty dishes and the man…Today, June 16, marks the 24 hours that Leopold Bloom wanders around Dublin in James Joyce’s Ulysses. Joycean geeks commonly refer to it as “Bloomsday.” If you have heard of Ulysses before, the context was most likely negative. Perhaps you categorize it with other “modernist nonsense” or “perverse drivel.”…
Preparing Students to Think about Modern Literature Read More »
Don’t look now, but summer is just around the corner. It’s almost time to engage in that most ridiculous of all homeschooling rituals: planning next year’s curriculum while simultaneously trying to finish last year’s curriculum. It’s totally unrealistic and invariably overwhelming, but most of us do it anyway – or at least feel guilty for putting it off…
Between a Rock and a Hard Place Read More »
It was spring of my oldest son’s eighth grade year, and I, like homeschool moms all over the country, was planning for the fall. Except this time, my son would be starting high school. This time, it would “count.” Panic replaced my usual plenary excitement as I wondered what colleges would be looking for on high school transcripts and how I was going to prepare my homeschooler to convince them that he had mastered everything. I flew through reams of paper creating a plethora of booklists, each one longer and more ambitious than the previous, and frankly wore myself out with worry in the process…
Freedom from the Law of the Booklist Read More »
Sometimes the simplest interpretive detail can give us amazing insight into a classic book. A question as basic as “who is the protagonist?” can often unlock the whole story and help us avoid unfortunate misinterpretations…
