Ambrose Bierce: a writer satires his tools

In Heaven there is a Half Price Books store.  I can't prove that in scripture and it isn't really my desire for an ultimate destination. 

As I vacation, however,  I would happily put a cot and my tooth brush here and stay a while.  You don't go to used book stores looking for anything specific.  They are a place of discovery and require huge blocks of time. Where else can you get two hours of entertainment for four buck though?   I have come to see what can be seen.  Here is my find for the day. 

Ambrose Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary.  Bierce was a witty curmudgeon and a man of words.  A veteran of the civil war, he died in 1914.  This book was originally printed in 1911 and   reprinted from his complete works on its 100th birthday, 2011. (Dover Publications, New York, USA)

Ambrose Bierce was a humorist, journalist, author and professional cynic.  He  made fun of things and his definitions appeared in newspapers from the late 1899's through early 1900's. This book makes fun of dictionaries.  His definition of a dictionary?:  "n. a malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of language and making it hard and inelastic.  This dictionary, however is a most useful work." So there. 

He describes a minister as, "an agent of a higher power with a lower responsibility", diplomacy as "the patriotic art of lying for one's country",  a hearse as "death's baby carriage.", and a lawyer as "one skilled in circumvention of the law."  There are hundreds  upon hundreds of these clever and often caustic "definitions". 

Want a copy of your own?  Amazon has a download for two bucks or hard copies in several covers.  Abebooks, halfdotcom or one of the other used book sites would have them too.

But wait a minute.  The gift of this book is not that I own it but rather that I discovered it.  Authors pour out words that score emotion, transformation and art.  How will we rediscover the works of the past without used book stores?  Will the search for a reading gem be reduced to reading ads from Amazon or Barnes and Noble?

 You can't dig through a resale shop for a download.  They don't get dog-eared or get sold for a quarter with a love note or piece of junk mail used as a bookmark. Digital copies can be shared but carry no marginal notes or other marks of the person that read the book.  Yes, I reluctantly got a Kindle last year and love it but it has no soul.   Technology provides for a way to warehouse every work we create but does create the longing to rediscover.  Books bear our essence as people as much as its own message

There is a French saying, "A recherche du temps perdu".  It translates, a (re)discovery of lost time.  It describes that powerful memory of a past event that floods our being when we touch something or someone from our past. The touch of a book creates a story, sometimes from the author and sometimes from the owner.

Ever touch your grandmother's Bible or the bulletin from a funeral and have that rush of memories?   I pray you have that "recherché" today in some way or another. Old books are a means of Grace.  I pray that our quest for technology doesn't take that desire to discover things that we don't know exist.  This is the way Christian Spirituality works too.  It is the journey into the not-knowing that gets us where God wants us to be.

Want a copy of "the Devil's Dictionary"?  Dig for I!.  With any luck you won't find it but will discover something far greater, something left on a shelf or in a paper sack at a garage sale just for you.

Ambrose Bierce gets the final word....

"Review, v.t.

To set your wisdom (holding not a doubt of it,

Although in truth there's neither bone nor skin to it)

At  work upon a book, and so read out of it

The qualities that you have first read into it.

 

 

Another book with many of Bierce's quotes in "The Portable Curmudgeon" edited by John Winkour.

 



 

Book Review: Time and Again, a new story 150 years in the telling

Time and Again is author Deborah Heal's contemporary look at time travel.  This is neither sci-fi nor the usual syrup of Christian fiction.  "Weaving History and Faith into Fiction" is Heal's mission and her gift. Shel has done her historical homework for the story's central Illinois setting.


Set in Brighton Illinois, a crumbling mid-western railroad town, the heroine "Abby" leaves her life of privilege to tutor the troubled "Merideth", as what begins as a college service project.  Her job is to save this young charge from being held back in school. The story weaves through adolescent bratty-ness, serious family issues, and coming of age for the tutor, young student, and mother alike. Positive values and the message that everyone is a work in progress flow through these pages without any character being dismissive or judgmental. The adventure of discovery comes through a surprising and contemporary portal, connecting 150 years of history to modern lives.  God is present and faith is celebrated in the lives of these characters who grow and develop throughout this well told tale.  Time and Again is clearly written and interesting as both  a story of fiction and a lesson in American history.  "Time and Again" is a good and safe book for pre-teen readers yet enjoyable to adults too.

 This is the first installment in a series and as such ends rather abruptly.  The author is not done with this story.   Thanks to the author for giving me a copy of her book in exchange for this review and trusting me with my own opinions.

The invitation to review this book came from an unsolicited email from Deborah Heal.  She read the review of another book that I had written and offered a copy.  I am clearly not the target demographic of this book.  The appeal of the book is more for young women.  Heal appeals to me through her marketing strategy.  Her website, http://deborahheal.com/ , is comfortable and lacks pretense.  Her "Good Books" shelf and ethereal book club have many of my personal must-reads.  She is a writer with depth yet finds humor in herself  and lacks any artistic pretense.

This depth shows through in the historical facet of this novel. Her research, difficult to dig up in a small town, was thorough.  I am a 50 something pastor and history buff from the mid-west who lives in an old Texas railroad town and seldom reads a novel of any style.  I found a connection and  immediately knew these characters, right down to the little bullies and the guy at the snow cone stand.  I also appreciate that she does not over play the heroine by making her perfect. Everyone in the story grows up a little.

Too many books have trashy agendas. Along with a good tale, the book teaches manners, personal hygiene, loving less lovable parents, Finding Christ at a pasty and boring church even when no one is looking, and peeling away the layers of a small town to find treasure in the manure piles.  The story also teaches that in Christ you are not stuck where you are forever.

The story is overly romantic for my tastes and fairly predictable but I like the characters and I like the author.  She is not bound to a publishing house and writes what God leads her to write with boldness. She also has a clear mastery of the social media in this brave new world of publishing.  I appreciate how personal and generous her website it.  She is very open in sharing her journey as an author and encourages everyone to tag along with her.  I pray for her success and recommend this book and her future installments.  

Picture of the Day: Bees

How to Use a French Coffee Press as a Means of Grace

I love a good rich cup of coffee.  I hate spending a painful sum of cash to get that cup though.  I don't want to settle for the Folgers at the convenience store  so I needed a better way.  I am blessed with two options.  First is the Keurig that my family bought me for Christmas.  It is clean, convenient and gives a great cup for about 75 cents US.  However, in our rural area, the selection is weak, especially in the dark roasts.


I did buy a two different refillable cups but they make a mess each time I use them and the results with this model aren't very good.  The Keurig brand cup works better but clogs the machine.  The Store-bought cups create a lot of trash too as well as costing more.  I have another option.

 I found a French press at a Target store and get a great cup made from any premium ground coffee for about 20 cents-10% of a Starbucks small.  This is how to use one.

I have a "2-cup" and a "6-cup".  They make 1 or 3 medium sized coffees.  I use two scoops in the small and 6 in the large.  Measure your water and coffee with the intensity of a chemistry experiment and write down your "formula.  I have a piece of tape on the press to mark the level of water.


The water should be just short of boiling when you pour it onto the grounds.  let it set for a minute or so and a crust of grounds will form on top.  Give it a good stir and then put the top on with strainer at the top


Then you wait.  The formula has three basic parts:  grounds, water and time.  When all three come together it is a beautiful thing.  Each brand of coffee is different and each coffee drinker has a different idea of perfection. It will take a couple of tries to find your "perfect".   This cup is 2 scoops of Starbucks Verona-ground, about 10 oz. of near boiling water and five minute to steep.  The world won't end if you get busy and go over. The usual Folgers, Maxwell House etc. don't do well in the press.  It is drinkable but they tend to be bitter.  I like it strong but smooth.  The $7-8 a pound stuff is expensive but it goes a long way.

At the right time, slowly push the plunger down and then pour it all into your cup or cups.  A press does not make a pot of coffee but a cup of coffee.  As you can see, I slopped a little on the counter and you will have a bit of solids at the bottom of the cup.  It is worth wiping the counter and stirring the cup for this quality of Joe. 

There are spiritual lessons here.  First, to enjoy this I have to get up earlier and think about what I am doing.  My cup goes from the press to either my prayer garden bench or the front porch.  This process creates time and slows me down.  Second lesson, a really great CUP of coffee is better than a POT of brown liquid.  My Dr. doesn't really want me drinking any of it and if I only get one, it should be a good one.  Third, all of this takes a cup of coffee and makes it an event. Your coffee may be the only thing you have any control over all day.   Coffee becomes a means of grace that speaks to my heart of the process that God is working on me.  This cup is part of my morning prayer time and is a treat rather than it being just a common something to gulp down all day. 

Enjoy your perfect cup and I pray for a deeper moment for your life as you do.