I have a good excuse: viruses! Ever since September, it's been one cold after another. If we're lucky, we get two weeks of good health in between. At this moment I'm suffering with a stuffy head, cough, and an ear infection. My voice still sounds raspy -- towards the end of a sentence I'm lucky if I have any voice left! :) Next time I'll try to remember to take that zinc stuff I've heard so many good things about. Zicam, is it called? Whatever it is, it's supposed to shorten the duration and lessen the severity of cold viruses.
So, Saturday, Sunday, and today I spent in bed. When I wasn't sleeping I was reading. Such good stories!! I can't get enough of books. I read two books by Maria von Trapp, the Austrian woman whose life "The Sound of Music" was based on, finished the last novel in the Hornblower series by C.S. Forester, and began a historical book about Napoleon and Josephine. Fascinating stuff!
I'm glad I had those books to keep me company, because being sick is so isolating! I've been missing Shane and the kids. Tomorrow I'm planning to resume babysitting and we're going to the library for storytime and crafts. I'm eager for the busyness of life to resume. I'm sure my poor husband is looking forward to going back to the office again also.
Starting the week after Thanksgiving, I'm getting a membership to a tiny fitness center here in our little village. Tiny though it is, it has all I need: a toy-filled nursery for the kids, workout classes, a few treadmills, stairclimbers and whatnot. The best part is that membership is free if you spend two hours a week supervising the nursery. So that's what I'm going to do. Another benefit (and this is what really pushed me over the edge) is that there are bookholders on the treadmills and stairclimbers! Joy! I can read to my heart's content and not even be aware of the passage of time or of how much my glutes hurt. It's a brilliant plan. I hope I can stick to it. The prospect of my muscles hurting in protest after years of non-use is enough to make me say, forget it, you'll never have the same body as when you were 20; it's too much work! But on the other hand, I've seen what happens after years of a sedentary life: heart disease, stroke, diabetes. Maybe I can't have my 20-year-old body back, but if I can make a few positive changes and live a healthier lifestyle, it's bound to be worth it.
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
A Tale of Two Cities
I just finished re-reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens yesterday. What a powerful story!
Background: It takes place in London and Paris during the French Revolution. The story shows how the French Aristocrats oppressed the common people in shocking ways. The common people, who after a time, were so beaten down that they had nothing more to lose, united and beheaded ("exterminated") the Aristocrats and anyone who didn't sympathize with the Republic. Both sides committed horrible atrocities against the other.
Plot Summary: This literary masterpiece begins with the famous quote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." As the story opens, Lucie Manette travels from London to Paris to retrieve her father who was wrongly imprisoned and left in jail for 18 years. On the way back to London, Lucie meets her future husband, a Frenchman named Charles Darnay. Charles was from an aristocratic family -- the likes of which treated common people like dogs. Charles, however, wanted nothing to do with his inheritance and with the continued oppresion of the commoners. Therefore, he left France, denounced his name, changing it from Evremonde to Darnay. Upon entering London, Charles is charged with treason but acquitted. The lawyer's assistant, the rough, hard-living alcoholic Sydney Carton, is secretly in love with Lucie, who's in love with Charles. After Charles and Lucie are married, Charles receives an urgent letter from a former servant who implores him to return to Paris and help him out of prison. Charles goes back to France and finds things much changed. All the Aristocrats have either gone into hiding or been murdered by the guillotine. Immediately upon arriving in Paris, Charles is sent to prison and after a travesty of a trial, is condemned. Lucie and her father hasten to Paris to try to free him, but fail.
***Spoiler alert: don't continue reading if you don't want to know how it ends!*** Enter Sydney Carton. He comes to Paris, unknown to Lucie or Charles, and unexpectedly visits Charles in his jail cell a mere hour before his execution by guillotine. He knocks Charles out and switches clothes with him and fixes his hair like Charles' and vice versa. (Early on the book, it is mentioned that the two men happen to look a lot alike. The main difference being Sydney looks haggard and Charles is well-groomed.) He goes to the guillotine not so much for Charles, but for the happiness of the woman he loves but could never have, and for the chance to finally do something good after wasting his life and talents. On the way to the guillotine, Sydney doesn't think of Lucie, but of Christ. He meditates on, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will never die." (My paraphrase.) That's why the book ends with, "It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done. It is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known." The end. (sniff! sob!)
I first read this book in high school in Mrs. Bentz's (no relation) AP English class. I was so moved by the character of Sydney Carton. When we watched the movie version in class -- oh how I wanted to cry like a baby at the end!! I couldn't look at anybody. For all I know, there may not have been a dry eye in the classroom. I wouldn't have been surprised.
How beautiful, the sacrificial love of Sydney Carton. What a picture of Jesus' sacrificial love. Sydney paid the price for someone else's sins (Charles' father and uncle's sins). Jesus paid the price for our sins. Sydney willingly faced death for Lucie's life to be full and happy. Jesus willingly faced death for us, his beloved children, to live life to the fullest and for us to spend eternity with him. There is no greater gift than that. Can I get an amen?
Wow. I love that book!!! If you have read it, please post a comment! If you haven't read it, go to your library and get it! (Don't forget the tissues.)
Background: It takes place in London and Paris during the French Revolution. The story shows how the French Aristocrats oppressed the common people in shocking ways. The common people, who after a time, were so beaten down that they had nothing more to lose, united and beheaded ("exterminated") the Aristocrats and anyone who didn't sympathize with the Republic. Both sides committed horrible atrocities against the other.
Plot Summary: This literary masterpiece begins with the famous quote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." As the story opens, Lucie Manette travels from London to Paris to retrieve her father who was wrongly imprisoned and left in jail for 18 years. On the way back to London, Lucie meets her future husband, a Frenchman named Charles Darnay. Charles was from an aristocratic family -- the likes of which treated common people like dogs. Charles, however, wanted nothing to do with his inheritance and with the continued oppresion of the commoners. Therefore, he left France, denounced his name, changing it from Evremonde to Darnay. Upon entering London, Charles is charged with treason but acquitted. The lawyer's assistant, the rough, hard-living alcoholic Sydney Carton, is secretly in love with Lucie, who's in love with Charles. After Charles and Lucie are married, Charles receives an urgent letter from a former servant who implores him to return to Paris and help him out of prison. Charles goes back to France and finds things much changed. All the Aristocrats have either gone into hiding or been murdered by the guillotine. Immediately upon arriving in Paris, Charles is sent to prison and after a travesty of a trial, is condemned. Lucie and her father hasten to Paris to try to free him, but fail.
***Spoiler alert: don't continue reading if you don't want to know how it ends!*** Enter Sydney Carton. He comes to Paris, unknown to Lucie or Charles, and unexpectedly visits Charles in his jail cell a mere hour before his execution by guillotine. He knocks Charles out and switches clothes with him and fixes his hair like Charles' and vice versa. (Early on the book, it is mentioned that the two men happen to look a lot alike. The main difference being Sydney looks haggard and Charles is well-groomed.) He goes to the guillotine not so much for Charles, but for the happiness of the woman he loves but could never have, and for the chance to finally do something good after wasting his life and talents. On the way to the guillotine, Sydney doesn't think of Lucie, but of Christ. He meditates on, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will never die." (My paraphrase.) That's why the book ends with, "It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done. It is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known." The end. (sniff! sob!)
I first read this book in high school in Mrs. Bentz's (no relation) AP English class. I was so moved by the character of Sydney Carton. When we watched the movie version in class -- oh how I wanted to cry like a baby at the end!! I couldn't look at anybody. For all I know, there may not have been a dry eye in the classroom. I wouldn't have been surprised.
How beautiful, the sacrificial love of Sydney Carton. What a picture of Jesus' sacrificial love. Sydney paid the price for someone else's sins (Charles' father and uncle's sins). Jesus paid the price for our sins. Sydney willingly faced death for Lucie's life to be full and happy. Jesus willingly faced death for us, his beloved children, to live life to the fullest and for us to spend eternity with him. There is no greater gift than that. Can I get an amen?
Wow. I love that book!!! If you have read it, please post a comment! If you haven't read it, go to your library and get it! (Don't forget the tissues.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)