Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Sneaky Dragon – the white whale of podcasts!
This week: world beaters; -saur point; them’s Crichton words; laser guided; saucer people; plot holes; ice Cascadia; copy paste; Blossom buddies; young American; snack attack; Starfucks; pod people; the middle ages; Four play; Avenge tale; a wallop of Trollope; travel plans; life during wartime; groan-ola; Carolina on my mind; give peas a chance; bread heads; clam up; the offal truth; disgusting fun; it’s a frog’s life; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; to hell with it; chicken of the sea; dairy made; ball of fire; Fosse record; Sonic bust; The Devils advocate; don’t Come and See; witchery; and, finally, raising a stink.
Question of the Week: What classic book would you recommend?
Sub-question of the Week: What is your favourite book series?
Thanks for listening.
The author – and fellow Inkling with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien – Charles Williams (not Arthur Williams, as Dave misremembered) wrote an amazing book tracing the history of belief in the devil and the subsequent human disaster that followed. It is called Witchcraft and you can find it here.
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I’m not the connoisseur of classic literature like Dave is, I read it in college when I had to and the rest of the time I had my nose in a comic book. If I had to pick something classic to read it would be because it’s the original version of something I’m familiar or fond of. H.G. Wells stories come to mind to provide more insight into stories I know but would want more depth from the reading, like “The Time Machine” or “The Invisible Man”.
For kids I’d definitely recommend the Oz books by L. Frank Baum, I read every one of those and Oz is making a comeback. One of my best friends is a Robert E. Howard fan and visits his home town in Cross Plains, Texas for the Howard Days festival each year. Based on his admiration of Howard’s work, I’d be willing to recommend any of his work too. Another close friend of mine collected all the Sherlock Holmes mysteries and my Dad read all the 007 books by Ian Fleming years ago, is that considered classic? I’d probably enjoy those…
Favorite book series? Definitely the Oz books I already mentioned.
The classic novel I’d like to recommend might also qualify as a book series. It’s that revenge-is-best-served-in-18-parts adventure, The Count of Monte Cristo! According to Wikipedia, it was first published as a serial, then released in book form in, you guessed it, 18 volumes. I read an abridged version as a teen so when the pandemic and other health issues hit, I figured I better read a complete and uncensored version while I still could! So I picked up a used copy at Pulp Fiction Books. My unabridged Penguin paperback English translation is over 1200 pages long and weighs in on a kitchen scale at a whopping 880 grams. (That’s just shy of two pounds for all you Imperial-using Sneakers.) Of course, a free online digital version only weighs as much as your smartphone or tablet. Or you could listen to the audiobook. That’ll only take you 53 hours.
It’s been a while since we got a good dollop of Trollope. I’ve been reading a lot of lightweight modern novels lately and I was thinking of turning to a Trollope for a change of pace. So I did not fast forward through your title guessing game. I decided to try Miss Mackenzie (Dave had me at “spinster who inherits money.”) There’s a free text of it on Project Gutenberg Canada. Poor Miss Mackenzie, I was worried for you there for a while. I could relate to how money, or the lack thereof, has an impact family dynamics. And the part where our heroine’s private affairs were exposed to the public by a nefarious scoundrel shows that negative social media has been around for a long time. I’ll have a go at Rachel Ray next. I hope everyone out there had a Happy Valentine’s Day on Friday the 14th, and a Happy National Flag Day of Canada on Saturday the 15th. May Canadian Cupid’s maple-leafed-shaped arrowhead pierce our hearts and have us all a-quiver with True Patriot Love!
Sneakerdoodles, I’ve got a couple answers to the questions:
My snobby lit major pick is probably the Apology by Plato. It’s short & pretty clear, and is where we get a number of our most enduring ideas. Being a gadfly, avoiding the unexamined life, knowing that you know nothing being wise, and a lot more.
And hands down, my favorite book series is Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. The most insightful and caring commenter on the human condition we had.
The mention of The Inklings reminded me: anyone wants to know more about C.S. Lewis as a person will find it in the book of the same name by Humphrey Carpenter.