Out of the Best Books- Volume 2

Out of the Best Books: An Anthology of Literature, Volumes One - Five by Bruce Budge Clark Volume 2 I just finished Volume 2. This volume's theme is Love, Marriage, and Family. Each section explores through literature and art (this volume includes some beautiful paintings) character traits necessary for success in love in family. They include: Understanding, Refinement, Humilty, Courtesy, Diligence, Virtue, and Wisdom. See? See? Just reading the list makes you want to be a better person. As expressed in my review of Volume 1, it is impossible to adequately review a 350 page book, crammed with some of the greatest literature ever written. That is exasperated by the fact that it took me nine months to read it. Well, actually most of that time it was sitting in my book basket, begging to be read. But I will mention a few of my favorites: Understanding In this section, I liked a short story called "Sixteen" by Jessamyn West. It's the story of an immature girl's discovery that no matter our age, we are all the same. Refinement A sad, but revealing short story by Willa Cather, "The Sculptor's Funeral" contrasts the coarse townspeople and family with a sensitive, artistic young man, that is persecuted for his differences. Humility I loved, loved, loved a short story in this section, "Mother" by Kathleen Norris. A young woman from a large, poor family is now living in the city- eager to make something of her life. She becomes very interested in a young man; a fellow employee. While at home one weekend, visiting her family, the young man shows up. She is mortified for him to see where she came from, and is especially embarrassed by her overworked mother and her many younger siblings. As she tries to apologize to him at the end of the visit, he responds with a speech worth recording: "You know," continued John Tennison musingly, "in these days, when a woman thinks she is entitled to entirely ignore the question of children, if she feels that way, or at most to bring up one or two , just the one or two that the family income provides for luxuriously and easily, there's something magnificent in a woman like your mother, who, instead of one destiny, starts eight! Responsibility- that's what people are afraid of! But it seems to me there's no responsibility like that of decreeing that young lives simply shall not be. . . Miss Paget, after all, and it seems to me that woman who stands there, as your mother will, whith a forest of new lives about her, and a record like hers, will- will find she has a Friend at court!" Courtesy There were several good ones in this section, but I think my favorite was a little story by Ogden Nash, "The Evening Out." It's about a husband and wife going out for the evening, but the wife is SO concerned about her appearance that neither of them can have any fun. Diligence I liked a short story (Hmmm . .. I seem to prefer the short stories!) by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, "The Revolt of Mother" (I also seem to like the "mother" stories!) Stop me if you've heard this one, because I've told the plot to several people, as it made such an impression on me. Set in "olden times" a couple and their two children have lived on a farm in an old, shabby home for many years. Though he promised his wife many years ago, he would build her a new home, he instead builds a beautiful new barn in her dream home spot. Rather than nagging and crying and complaining, she comes up with a plan: She arranges for him to be away for a couple of days- just enough time for she and her children to move into the barn and begin the conversion of it to her much-deserved dream home. He comes home to find it's all done and then and only then, realizes what it meant to his wife and humbly accepts. I just loved that she didn't nag or make life miserable. She just did what needed to be done. "Sarah Penn's success does not come from insisting on her rights. It comes from serving so unselfishly and consistenly that even her husband's work-hardened exterior is broken through." I also loved a collection of letters written by Abigail Adams to her husband John Adams included in this section. Abigail is one of my heroes. She and Barbara Bush are the only two women in history to have been both a wife and a mother of an American president. And finally, in the Wisdom section, was another short story by Anton Chekhov. His short stories are so memorable. I enjoyed "The Lament" in Volume 1 and "The Bet" in this one. In it, a young man and an older man make a bet that the younger man can stay in absolute solitary confinement for fifteen years. The older man will then pay the younger two million. It tells how he spends his time, and the lessons learned by both of the men. It has a startling ending. Okay, so there you have it. Now, on to Volume 3! View all my reviews