A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

5/10

I read this book probably about nine years ago. It was alright. The story was interesting at times, involving a false sexual assault accusation by a British woman accusing a native Indian Muslim in the 1920's or thereabouts. Racial tensions abound.

The writing was decent. I don't remember much else but know that it is not a book that I readily recommended to anyone at any point in my life. And also that I have been hesitant to read other E.M. Forster books based on my reading of this one. So maybe I didn't much care for this book all that much after all.

Some lines from the book:

"Life never gives us what we want at the moment that we consider appropriate."

"God would give me more when he saw I gave."

"[N]o atmosphere of sin surrounded him."

"[T]he hands of the clock move forward, not back."

Romeo and Juliet & West Side Story

8/10

I read this several years ago. Romeo and Juliet is the last Shakespeare play I read prior to reading the Complete Works but have not posted on the blog. So this marks my final Shakespeare play post. But, as you have probably figured out by now, I happened to read a book that had the play West Side Story immediately after Romeo and Juliet. It was fairly interesting seeing the similarities between the two plays.

Romeo and Juliet is one of my favorites. Really. In fact, I rated it as my 5th favorite Shakespeare play. I always try to convince myself not to like it because it's a sappy love story. But I guess I'm just a sucker for young love. Or, it actually has tons of cool lines and characters. And I think it's a fun story.

I enjoyed reading West Side Story as well. My main memory from West Side Story was the time when we watched it over at the Leatherwood's and we all covered our eyes when Maria and Tony kissed, except Laura Leatherwood caught me peeking through my fingers. I have lived with the shame of this experience ever since.

Here now are a couple lines from Romeo and Juliet:

"Being one too many by my weary self..."

"Young men's love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes."

"[L]ove's heralds should be thoughts,
Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams"

"The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness,
And in the taste confounds the appetite.
Therefore love moderately, long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow."

"Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill."

"The heavens do lour upon you for some ill;
Move them no more, by crossing their high will."

The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

8/10

I finished reading this yesterday. Anthony Trollope is a lesser-known Victorian period author. Or at least lesser-known today. He was a big deal back in his day. I recently decided that Victorian literature is my favorite. And I am happy to have found another good Victorian author to read.

This was a good book and very well written for my tastes. Trollope can get wordy at times but so do many of the authors from the Victorian period. If you can write well then write all you want I say. Who am I to say you shouldn't have written so many pages/chapters? This book was just over 800 pages and was exactly 100 chapters. I enjoyed most of it. The first 200 pages were slow-going as the story was trying to get established and the last 100 pages were a slight let-down. But the other 500 pages in the middle were definitely very solid.

This book had a slew of characters with intertwining story lines dealing with corruption and dishonesty in both the professional and personal lives of many of the characters. It felt very Charles Dickens-ish but instead of dealing with the poor, lower-class it dealt with high society knavery.

The title to this book is perfection. Despite being written in the 1870's, I felt like the book may as well have been about how we live today. So it was an accurate title for how they lived then and continues to be an accurate title for how we live now with the greed, scheming, lack of morals, selfishness, etc.

Although I liked it, I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone. You have to enjoy reading old, classic, lengthy novels.

Here are several lines that I liked:

"[C]ensure from those who are always finding fault is regarded so much as a matter of course that is ceases to be objectionable."

"[S]he had in her countenance a full measure of that sweetness of expression which seems to imply that consideration of self is subordinated to consideration for others."

"Even the attempt to plough the ground was a good work which would not be forgotten."

"[S]he had become punctual as the hand of the clock."

"'[P]ray, don't put it off; you don't know how many slips there may be between the cup and the lip.'"

"The horror of every agony is in its anticipation."

"There is nothing like wiping out a misfortune and having done with it."

"Men will hardly go to heaven... by following forms only because their fathers followed the same forms before them."

"The world perhaps is managed more justly than you think"

"There is no duty more certain or fixed in the world than that which calls upon a brother to defend his sister from ill-usage."

"A liar has many points to his favour, - but he has this against him, that unless he devote more time to the management of his lies than life will generally allow, he cannot make them tally."

"One seems inclined to think sometimes that any fool might do an honest business. But fraud requires a man to be alive and wide awake at every turn!"

"Those who depart must have earned such sorrow before it can be really felt."

"He had so often lied to her that she had had no means of knowing whether he was lying then or telling her a true story."

"[I]njustice must of course be remedied by repentance and confession."

"It was her pride to give herself to the man she loved after this fashion, pure and white as snow on which no foot has trodden."

"It wants two men to make a quarrel."

"[I]f he loved the girl it was his duty as a man to prove his love by doing what he could to make her happy.... What did love mean if not that?"

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson

8/10

I finished this one over the holidays. I was able to keep up with the lessons for the most part throughout the year with a few slip ups. This is another winner. Jam packed full of awesome prophetic teaching. Contains his great C.S. Lewis-esque talk on pride as well as lots of teachings on one of his favorite topics, the Book of Mormon.

Also has some interesting info about his time as Secretary of Agriculture under Eisenhower. President Benson would start each meeting with a prayer and said "[W]hen you start a meeting that way, people aren't stuck up with the pride of their opinions." He also said, "Unlike the political opportunist, the true statesman values principle above popularity and works to create popularity for those political principles which are wise and just."

I did a quick scan for quotes and came up with the following to share:

"When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities."

"Happiness must be earned from day to day."

"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.... Yes, Christ changes men, and changed men can change the world."

"Over one-half of all the verses in the Book of Mormon refer to our Lord.... He is given over one hundred different names in the Book of Mormon. Those names have a particular significance in describing His divine nature."

"The greatest events of history are those that affect the greatest number of people for the longest periods. By this standard, no event could be more important to individuals or nations than the resurrection of the Master."

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

7/10

I read this close to ten years ago. And yet, I have very few friends and have influenced even fewer. So I must be doing it wrong. But the book is pretty good. It has lots and lots of good quotes and ideas. And should probably be read by everybody.

Here are the listed Principles discussed in this book:

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
Principle 1: Don't criticize, condemn or complain
Principle 2: Give honest and sincere appreciation
Principle 3: Arouse in the other person an eager want

Six Ways to Make People Like You
Principle 1: Become genuinely interested in other people
Principle 2: Smile
Principle 3: Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language
Principle 4: Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves
Principle 5: Talk in terms of the other person's interests
Principle 6: Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely

Win People to Your Way of Thinking
Principle 1: The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it
Principle 2: Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong"
Principle 3: If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically
Principle 4: Begin in a friendly way
Principle 5: Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately
Principle 6: Let the other person do a great deal of the talking
Principle 7: Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers
Principle 8: Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view
Principle 9: Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires
Principle 10: Appeal to the nobler motives
Principle 11: Dramatize your ideas
Principle 12: Throw down a challenge

Be a Leader
Principle 1: Begin with praise and honest appreciation
Principle 2: Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly
Principle 3: Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person
Principle 4: Ask questions instead of giving direct orders
Principle 5: Let the other person save face
Principle 6: Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise"
Principle 7: Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to
Principle 8: Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct
Principle 9: Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest

So now go out there and win some friends and also influence some individuals as well while you're at it.

And now here are also a few good quotes:

"The world is full of people who are grabbing and self-seeking. So the rare individual who unselfishly tries to serve others has an enormous advantage. He has little competition."

"[Y]ou can make more friends in two months by becoming generally interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."

"Most people don't remember names, for the simple reason that they don't take the time and energy necessary to concentrate and repeat and fix names indelibly in their minds. They make excuses for themselves; they are too busy."

"You can't win an argument. You can't because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it."

"The way to develop self-confidence... is to do the thing you fear to do and get a record of successful experiences behind you."

P.S. I am leaving on holiday and so this will be my final post of the year. Check back with me for another post on the second Sunday of 2016. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith

8/10

I finally finished this one a few days ago. It's a manual from a few years ago. Also, three of the manuals have 48 chapters and the rest have 24, except this one randomly has 26 chapters for some reason. It's obviously good, just like all of them. He is one of the more doctrinal focused prophets which I enjoy.

Here's a couple quotes:

"We sometimes hear the complaint, 'I haven't time.' But we all have time to read and study which is our solemn duty. Can we not arrange to find at least fifteen minutes in each day to devote to systematic reading and reflection? This would be but a trifling amount of time, yet it would be one hour and forty-five minutes in a week; seven and one-half hours in a month of thirty days, and ninety-one hours and a quarter in the year."

"The Spirit of the Lord will not continue to strive with the indifferent."

"The supreme act of worship is to keep the commandments."

"[O]ne of the chief purposes of our mortal probation is to see if we can learn with the spirit of prayer always in our hearts so that when the Lord chooses to speak, we shall hear his voice in our souls."

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

4/10

I finished reading this to Mallory a little more than two weeks ago. I had been wanting to read a chapter book to Mallory for a while now and she got pretty pumped when I suggested this book because she is fairly familiar with the Alice story. She was really into it at first because she is mostly familiar with the start of the Alice story. But she certainly had moments of disinterest once it started getting to the more obscure parts of the story and the parts that are not in the movie. Plus, much of the story is super random, silly, and hard to follow logically that I also had my own moments of disinterest as well.

The book was so-so for me. I appreciated its originality/creativity and enjoyed a lot of the word play throughout but there are just a few too many over the top nonsensical moments for me to really get behind it as a whole. There sure are a lot of growing really tall and shrinking really small moments. Lewis Carroll, a.k.a. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, really is a super genius though. The word play antics were really quite something at times. One of my favorites is when the Duchess tells Alice this: "[A]nd the moral of that is - 'Be what you would seem to be' - or, if you'd like it put more simply - 'Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.'" Ha ha. There's for sure some good, fun, light-hearted and enjoyable moments.

Also, I learned that Tweetledee and Tweetledum are actually in the sequel "Through the Looking-Glass" and not the original "Alice in Wonderland." Who knew?

I will now post the classic Alice in Wonderland quote:

"'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
'I don't much care where -' said Alice.
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat."