April 23, 2008
Charles Darwin Online
Cambridge University is making available to the world at large works of Charles Darwin previously available only to scholars.
To live in the digital age is both a blessing and a curse. File this one under blessings.
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November 29, 2007
More on Kindle
From somone who seem to have spent the time, effort, and energy to get acquainted with the publicity and some of the features. However, I would note that the reviewer, as thorough and as balanced as he is does not appear to hold one of these in his own hands yet. And the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Nevertheless, some interesting points are made and I am very curious about the device, being an inveterate e-book reader myself and have thousands upon thousands of e-book files (unfortunately in palm format--but it is of little consequence to go and convert them to TXT or to get them once again--or even dig the original files out of the massive archive I have.)
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November 28, 2007
Kindle Reviews
Check this review or the slashdot review roundup to correct a few misconceptions about the availability of "outside" material on the Kindle.
Excerpt:
At the end of the day, Amazon's DRM applies only to books you actually buy - everything else works natively or with minimal hassle.
It's surprisingly easy to get non-Amazon material on it. I just plug it in to the USB cable which perpetually hangs off the back of my laptop, and it shows up as a hard drive. I drop .txt and .mobi files into the "Book" folder and they show up. I convert a handful of PDFs to .mobi files using Mobi Creator and they work perfect, Tables of Contents and all. Sweet.
And, I'm noting that others seem to agree with me in one of the great ironies of recent time: Amazon, the great online retailer, needs a brick and mortar presence to get these into the hands of people who might use them. I know I'm disinclined to purchase another pig in a poke.
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November 21, 2007
Kindle
This may be the breakthrough I've been waiting for. Great. Now I have at least four or five devices to trundle along because I'll still need my PDA for on the go writing, my iPod, because I can't keep enough memory on my PDA to play music, my cell phone AND now, my Kindle. I'll just be bristling with electronic gear. Call me "Neuromancer."
And the huge deal, is that using Amazon's retail strength, they've argued the price down to $9.99 or less. In most cases e-books were costing close to the full price of the book. Now, I know enough about the book business to realize that a goodly portion of the cost is wrapped up in what is called ppb (print, paper, and binding) and in inventory. When you're delivering electronically, you don't incur these costs, so the books should be commensurately cheaper. But they have not been. Now, just glancing through the titles, I found The Omnivore's Dilemma for $6.50. Amazing!
The down side is that I'm not likely to be able to find many of the great public domain things I've been able to derive from the internet. However, it is reputed that this device will also read Word files so there may be a way around that difficulty as well.
But right now, I just can't see my way to $400.00. Soon though, perhaps.
I do note that it's only getting 2.5 stars in the Amazon reviews. Much having to do with the lack of reading PDF, or some preferring wireless to cell-phone technology or "it's ugly." Etc. Well, there are some who will not be pleased with anything. But, as I've said to others, I'll need to find someone who owns one and hold it in my hands before I'll be able to decide. But it is cool, and it is only the start. I'm sure Amazone is already using the feedback they've gotten to improve the reader.
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November 6, 2007
Another Library
I don't know what all is included, having just discovered it as I was looking for the Pharsalia quoted in the post below:
Online Medieval and Classical Library
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February 9, 2007
Via Speculative Catholic
Butler's Lives of the Saints--The first three months of the year.
Soon to be followed by the other volumes, one hopes.
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Bishop Challoner's PDF
Enjoy at will.
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December 20, 2006
Science Fiction E-books
An amazing profusion from Baen books.
here.
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More by Dom Columba
I can't vouch for the remainder of this site, it may be fine, it may be otherwise; however, O Marvelous Exchange by Dom Columba Marmion is a wonderful meditation on some of the aspects of the mystery of the Incarnation.
from Christ in His Mysteries
Dom Columba MarmionWhat the Word Incarnate gives in return to humanity is an incomprehensible gift; it is a participation, real and intimate, in His Divine nature: Largitus est nobis suam deitatem. In exchange for the humanity which He takes, the Incarnate Word gives us a share in His Divinity; He makes us partakers of His Divine Nature. And thus is accomplished the most wonderful exchange which could be made.
Doubtless, as you know, this participation had already been offered and given, from the creation, to Adam, the first man. The gift of grace, with all its splendid train of privileges, made Adam like to God. But the sin of the first man, the head of the human race, destroyed and rendered this ineffable participation impossible on the part of the creature.
It is to restore this participation that the Word becomes Incarnate; it is to reopen to us the way to heaven that God is made man. For this Child, being God's own Son, has Divine life, like His Father, with His Father. In this Child "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporeally" (Col 2:9); in Him are laid up all the treasures of the divinity (Cf. Ibid. 3). But He does not possess them for Himself alone. He infinitely desires to communicate to us the Divine life that He Himself is: Ego sum vita (Jn 14:6). It is for this that He comes: Ego vend UT vitam habeant (Ibid. 10:10). It is for us that a Child is born; it is to us that a Son is given: Puer natus est NOBIS et Filius datus est nobis (Introit of the Mass of the day). In making us share in His condition of Son, He will make us children of God. "When the fulness of time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman,... that we might receive the adoption of sons (Gal 4:4-5). "What Christ is by nature, that is to say the Son of God, we are to be by grace; the Incarnate Word, the Son of God made man is to become the author of our divine generation: Natus hodie Salvator mundi DIVINAE NOBIS GENERATIONIS est auctor (Postcommunion of the Mass of Christmas Day). So that, although He be the Only-begotten Son, He will become the First-born of many brethren: UT sit IPSE PRIMOGENITUS in multis fratribus (Rom 8:29).
May you be blessed by the Blessed Dom Columba's prayers as you read this, May God grant us all a measure of His Wisdom as we contemplate the mystery of the Birth that we celebrate on Monday. Lord Jesus, come!
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December 19, 2006
One for Bill at Minutiae
If he doesn't already have it--Dom Columba Marmion's Sponsa Verbi.
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The Catholic Church of the Future
Elliot, at Claw of the Conciliator, reviews an e-book of short fiction dedicated to the future of the Catholic Church. Sounds good.
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December 15, 2006
Manly Wade Wellman
Most excellent.
John the Balladeer in several delectable versions. For those interested in American Fantasy, this is a must-read. (Also for those interested in the South and Appalachian folklore.)
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December 10, 2006
Henry James on the U.S.
The American Scene, by Henry James
From Boston to Florida, the impressions of Henry James on a trip through America. I don't think I realized that he had written about Florida. 1907 publication.
An excerpt from his disquistion on St. Augustine:
from The American Scene
Henry JamesThat perhaps was all that had been the matter with it in presence of the immemorial legend of St. Augustine as a mine of romance; St. Augustine proving primarily, and of course quite legitimately, but an hotel, of the first magnitude--an hotel indeed so remarkable and so pleasant that I wondered what call there need ever have been upon it to prove anything else. The Ponce de Leon, for that matter, comes as near producing, all by itself, the illusion of romance as a highly modern, a most cleverly-constructed and smoothly-administered great modern caravansery can come; it is largely "in the Moorish style" (as the cities of Spain preserve the record of that manner); it breaks out, on every pretext, into circular arches and embroidered screens, into courts and cloisters, arcades and fountains, fantastic projections and lordly towers, and is, in all sorts of ways and in the highest sense of the word, the most "amusing" of hotels. It did for me, at St. Augustine, I was well aware, everything that an hotel could do--after which I could but appeal for further service to the old Spanish Fort, the empty, sunny, grassy shell by the low, pale shore; the mild, time-silvered quadrilateral that, under the care of a single exhibitory veteran and with the still milder remnant of a town-gate near it, preserves alone, (460) to any effect of appreciable emphasis, the memory of the Spanish occupation. One wandered there for meditation--it is not congruous with the genius of Florida, I gathered, to permit you to wander very far; and it was there perhaps that, as nothing prompted, on the whole, to intenser musings, I suffered myself to be set moralizing, in the manner of which I have just given an example, over the too "thin" projection of legend, the too dry response of association. The Spanish occupation, shortest of ineffectual chapters, seemed the ghost of a ghost, and the burnt-out fire but such a pinch of ashes as one might properly fold between the leaves of one's Baedeker. Yet if I made this remark I made it without bitterness; since there was no doubt, under the influence of this last look, that Florida still had, in her ingenuous, not at all insidious way, the secret of pleasing, and that even round about me the vagueness was still an appeal. The vagueness was warm, the vagueness was bright, the vagueness was sweet, being scented and flowered and fruited; above all, the vagueness was somehow consciously and confessedly weak. I made out in it something of the look of the charming shy face that desires to communicate and that yet has just too little expression. What it would fain say was that it really knew itself unequal to any extravagance of demand upon it, but that (if it might so plead to one's tenderness) it would always do its gentle best. I found the plea, for myself, I may declare, exquisite and irresistible: the Florida of that particular tone was a Florida adorable.
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Cool Beyond Words
Contents to Archaeologia Hibernica: A Hand-book of Irish Antiquities
Cromlechs, raths or Duns, Stone circles, cairns, oratories, churches, crosses and round towers. With illustrations!
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November 23, 2006
Free SF E-Books and More
Can be found here.
They are generally of the militaristic brand of SFbeing from the Baen Books library, but there are a lot of them, and it's entirely possible you'll find something you'll really enjoy in amongst the titles. Go and see.
Everything almost anyone could want to know about Nematodes (and probably a good deal more than most care to know.)
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November 10, 2006
Many Catholic E-Books
and some nonCatholic sources as well here. Thanks to Bill White for noting one of the more difficult to find--St Bernard of Clairvaux's Commentary on the Song of Songs.
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November 3, 2006
Incredible Bible Online
The Polyglot Bible present Greek, Latin, KJV with Strong's numbers, Septuagint, and Tanakh (for OT). A real treasure. The Strong's numbers are lexical entries that help to explain the Greek and Hebrew usage.
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October 18, 2006
A Beautiful Prayer
For whatever reason, I was attracted to this Middle English version of The Cloud of Unknowing and found therein a really beautiful prayer for all those who seek to live the will of God.
Goostly freende in God, I preie thee and I beseche thee that thou wilt have a besi [earnest] beholding to the cours and the maner of thi cleeping [calling]. And thank God hertely, so that thou maist thorow [through] help of His grace stonde stifly agens alle the sotil assailinges of thi bodily and goostly enemyes, and winne to the coroun [crown] of liif that evermore lasteth.
Amen.
I don't know why I find it so moving, except to think--in the communion of the Saints, I am blessed by the prayer of a person who so long ago wrote these words and who lives now in this world through them even as he pleads before the throne of God for all those who read them. One of the great mysteries revealed by God and constantly spoken of by the Church stands open to me here in a way that it does not when I read some other things. Odd--but perhaps it is the touch of that which is almost foreign, but still remains within the grasp of those who wish to understand it. The language is not my language and yet, it is close enough to know and alien enough to suggest another time, another world, another way of being.
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October 17, 2006
More Middle English
Just a sampling from the relatively easy to read Stanzaic Life of Katherine:
Incipit vita sancte Katerine virginis.He that made bothe sunne and mone
In hevene and erthe for to schyne,
Brynge us to Hevene with Hym to wone
And schylde us from helle pyne!
Lystnys and I schal yow telle
The lyf of an holy virgyne
That trewely Jhesu lovede wel -
Here name was callyd Katerine.I undyrstonde, it betydde soo:
In Grece ther was an emperour;
He was kyng of landes moo,
Of casteles grete and many a tour.
The ryche men of that land
They servyd hym with mekyl honour.
Maxenceus was his name hotand,
A man he was ful sterne and stour.
The actual text which can be reached through the site referenced below has glosses on the difficult words to get you started.
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October 16, 2006
For Me Later, and for You Now
Of it pleases you:
The Celtic Literature Collective--sounds a bit pre-Berlin Wall, but looks like there is some good material. Part of the The Academy for Ancient Texts--I won't vouch for the translations as I haven't spent any time with them, but I offer the resource--the Welsh Text list looks quite fine.
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October 12, 2006
And this. . .
The War of the Wenuses--Charles Graves and E.V. Lucas.
Is it satire? Is it parody. I can't rightly say; however, when you start like this:
No one would have believed in the first years of the twentieth century
that men and modistes on this planet were being watched by intelligences
greater than woman's and yet as ambitious as her own. With infinite
complacency maids and matrons went to and fro over London, serene in the
assurance of their empire over man. It is possible that the mysticetus
does the same. Not one of them gave a thought to Wenus as a source of
danger, or thought of it only to dismiss the idea of active rivalry upon
it as impossible or improbable. Yet across the gulf of space astral
women, with eyes that are to the eyes of English women as diamonds are
to boot-buttons, astral women, with hearts vast and warm and
sympathetic, were regarding Butterick's with envy, Peter Robinson's with
jealousy, and Whiteley's with insatiable yearning, and slowly and surely
maturing their plans for a grand inter-stellar campaign.
and go on to do this:
Then came the night of the first star. It was seen early in the morning
rushing over Winchester; leaving a gentle frou-frou behind it. Trelawny,
of the Wells' Observatory, the greatest authority on Meteoric
Crinolines, watched it anxiously. Winymann, the publisher, who sprang to
fame by the publication of _The War of the Worlds_, saw it from his
office window, and at once telegraphed to me: "Materials for new book in
the air." That was the first hint I received of the wonderful wisit.
It is, at least, amusing. Meteoric crinolines--who'd'a thunk it?
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Some Antique Travel Books
The On-Line Books page has a number of interesting travel books by Lucas and Hutton.
E.V. Lucas
A Wanderer in. . . .
Florence,
Holland
Venice
Hutton
Ravenna: A Study
Florence and Northern Tuscany with Genoa and it's American Counterpart.
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October 10, 2006
A Huge Archive--Mary E Wilkins Freeman
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman was known, until recently for most of us by a handful of ghost stories reprinted in anthologies--most particularly "Shadows on the Wall" and "The Wind in the Rose-Bush."
While this site might not be "The Complete Works," there certainly is a large collection of the novels and short stories of this neglected writer. Go and sample--start with the stories mentioned.
It is interesting to me that she is collected with Sarah Orne Jewett, another writer of short stories whose talent has too long been neglected or ignored. I suppose Edith Wharton and Willa Cather overshadowed these writers. But if they are writers of the second rank, it goes to show how far the second rank has fallen in our own time. Would that my own meager talents were the equal of these.
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September 29, 2006
All About Bacterial Names
In case you were distraught over not knowing for sure: Approved Lists of Bacterial Names.
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Copyrights and Copywrongs
from the Descriptive Hype for said book
"Peer-to-peer networks have existed as long as gossip and word-of-mouth advertising--but with the rise of electronic communication, they are suddenly coming into their own. and they are drawing the outlines of a battle for information that will determine much of the culture and politics of our century, from file-sharing websites like Gnutella to private edits of Star Wars to the neo-Nazi concept of 'leaderless resistance.' On one side, trying to maintain control of information--and profits--are legislators, judges, cabinet officers, entertainment conglomerates, and multinational corporations. On the other side, trying to liberate information, are educators, computer programmers, civil libertarians, artists, consumers, and dissidents under all sorts of regimes. Vaidhyanathan draws upon examples ranging from ancient religions to open-source software to show how this battle will be one of the defining fault lines of twenty-first-century civilization. His radical and original explanation of the future of information is a warning shot that will mobilize anarchists and controllers alike."
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September 23, 2006
More E-Books
A History of Twelve Jesuit Martyrs, including Father Campion
Memoirs of Missionary Priests by Bsp. Richard Challoner--Includes biographies of both Fr. Edward Campion and Father Robert Southwell, among other British and Welsh Martyrs.
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Following Mr. White's Most Gracious Lead
I offer the following finds--
Carmel in England: A History of the English Mission of the Discalced Carmelites, 1615 to 1849
Carmel in Ireland: A Narrative of the Irish Province of Teresian, Or Discalced Carmelites
What is most remarkable is that given present concerns, these arrive at a most propitious time.
Now here's one for engendering humility:
egends of the Monastic Orders as Represented in the Fine Arts Anna Jameson. From which, this excerpt:
"Neither as an Order, nor as individuals, are the Carmelites interesting or important in their relation to art."
The Library of Historic Characters and Famous Events of All Nations and All Ages For those famaliar with Dumas, this recounts the life of Louise de la Vallière; Mother, Duchess, first mistress of King Louis XIV, and eventually, cloistered Carmelite nun. Certainly a candidate for Saints Behaving Badly--only it would have to be Latter-Day Holy People Who Don't Have a Cause Behaving Badly.
Spanish Mystics by Marguerite Tollemache
Also to be found on the site are complete biographies of St. Josemaria Escrive, In Converstation with God, various volumes of the Navarre Bible, and other Opus Dei and Sceptre publications.
Santa Teresa: Being Some Account of Her Life and Times, Together with Some Pages from the History Gabriela Cunninghame Graham
Anyone care for the works of Orestes Brownson?
Complete on-line edition of Charles Carroll of Carrollton: Faithful Revolutionary--Scott McDermott
A list of Publications related to Charles Carroll of Carrollton
This could go on forever, but you take a try at it. Amazing things available.
Once again, deep appreciation to Bill White who not only first alerted me to the resource, but who continues to mine its treasures.
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E-Books Galore!
Bill at Summa Minutiae has a whole slew of them. Start with the referenced post and then look at all of 22 September. Thanks Bill!
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September 22, 2006
Catholic Essays and Other Finds
A Book I had not encountered before with a leading essay on Juliana of Norwich:
The Faith of Millions by George Tyrrell S.J.
The Complete works of Charles and Mary Lamb for Children
A Compendium of Poets of the 18th Century
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Bartram's Travels
Available in a glorious transcribed html edition with all of the plates.
William Bartram was one of the first "naturalists" to do extensive tours and studies through the Southern United states. His Travels, published in 1791 records the people, the plants, and the animals he encountered during a tour of the Carolinas, Georgia and Northern Florida. A neglected masterpiece of observation.
PERHAPS, to a grateful mind, there is no intellectual enjoyment, which regards human concerns, of a more excellent nature, than the remembrance of real acts of friendship. The heart expands at the pleasing recollection. When I came up to his door, the friendly man, smiling, and with a grace and dignity peculiar to himself, took me by the hand, and accosted me thus: "Friend Bartram, come under my roof, and I desire you to make my house your home, as long as convenient to your self; remember, from this moment, that you are a part of my family, and, on my part, I shall endeavour to make it agreeable," which was verified during my continuance in, and about, the southern territories of Georgia and Florida; for I found here sincerity in union with all the virtues, under the influence of religion. I shall yet mention a remarkable instance of Mr. M'Intosh's friendship and respect for me; which was, recommending his eldest son, Mr. John M'Intosh, as a companion in my travels. He was a sensible virtuous youth, and a very agreeable companion through a long and toilsome journey of near a thousand miles.
And, for a moment, let us consider the rattlesnake:
BUT let us again resume the subject of the rattle snake; a wonderful creature, when we consider his form, nature and disposition, it is certain that he is capable by a puncture or scratch of one of his fangs, not only to kill the largest animal in America, and that in a few minutes time, but to turn the whole body into corruption; but such is the nature of this dreaded reptile, that he cannot run or creep faster than a man or child can walk, and he is never known to strike until he is first assaulted or fears himself in danger, and even then always gives the earliest warning by the rattles at the extremity of his tail. I have in the course of my travels in the Southern states (where they are the largest, most numerous and supposed to be the most venemous and vindictive) stept unknowingly so close as almost to touch one of them with my feet, and when I perceived him he was already drawn up in circular coils ready for a blow. But however incredible it may appear, the generous, I may say magnanimous creature lay as still and motionless as if inanimate, his head crouched in, his eyes almost shut, I precipitately withdrew, unless when I have been so shocked with surprise and horror as to be in a manner rivetted to the spot, for a short time not having strength to go away, when he often slowly extends himself and quietly moves off in a direct line, unless pursued when he erects his tail as far as the rattles extend, and gives the warning alarm by intervals, but if you pursue and overtake him with a shew of enmity, he instantly throws himself into the spiral coil, his tail by the rapidity of its motion appears like a vapour, making a quick tremulous sound, his whole body swells through rage, continually rising and falling as a bellows; his beautiful particoloured skin becomes speckled and rough by dilatation, his head and neck are flattened, his cheeks swollen and his lips constricted, discovering his mortal fangs; his eyes red as burning coals, and his brandishing forked tongue of the colour of the hottest flame, continually menaces death and destruction, yet never strikes unless sure of his mark.
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August 25, 2006
Gutenberg Science Fiction
Via Hassenpfeffer a list of Science Fiction books available in electronic format--they include works by Terry Carr, Andre Norton, and H. Beam Piper, among others.
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June 27, 2006
A Compendiium of E-Book Sites
The Electric Eclectic - reading
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June 17, 2006
Chronicle of a Medieval Abbey
Medieval Sourcebook: Jocelin de Brakelond: Chronicle of The Abbey of St. Edmund's (1173-1202)
From the Medieval Sourcebook--the Story of the Abbey of St. Edmund by a Medieval Chronicler.
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June 10, 2006
The Lusiads
Not necessarily the best translation from the notes, but here is the Portuguese National Epic from their great epic poet Camões. Enjoy
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June 4, 2006
An Announcement from OCDS St. Louis
Celebrating the greatness of the Holy Spirit on this holy feast day of Pentacost, the Order of Carmel Discalced Secular in St. Louis, Missouri invite you to the launch of their new website and downloadable Podcast!
As part of our new apostolate, we invite you to learn more about Carmelite Spirituality through listening to short meditations we have put together which come directly from the treasury of writings of the great Carmelite Saints including St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, St. Teresa of the Andes, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, St. Teresa Benedicta and many more.
The audio from these Podcasts can be downloaded onto your computer or MP3 player, and you may store the meditations on an iPod or CD and to enjoy them wherever you go. There will be a new episode listed every week and to help keep you alerted to EVERY new Meditation, we have provided an RSS link so you won't miss a broadcast! Please visit us at:
These Meditations range in length between 1.5 to 5 minutes in length and are perfect and wonderful interludes between Radio Programming! The Meditations can be made available in broadcast quality so let us know if you are interested in helping our apostolate grow in your local Catholic Radio Area!
Send forth your Spirit, and they shall
be created and you shall renew face of the earth.
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May 31, 2006
Medieval Texts with Glosses
An excellent resource with a great many medieval texts and a large number of Arthur and Merlin resources. The texts are nicely glossed to help with the more difficult words and the more impenetrable syntax. Now, if I could just figure out how to carry them around with me.
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May 24, 2006
Rickaby et al.
Just one of the new batch at the Maritain Center of Notre Dame.
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May 20, 2006
Dante
Dante Online | Indice delle Opere
An elegant site present a range of Dante's works in the original Italian or Latin and with English translations for many. Much to explore here.
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May 2, 2006
Catholic E-Books
Thanks to Catholic Fire for this link to resources on the Web.
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April 27, 2006
H Beam Piper and others
A whole slew of H. Beam Piper (Little Fuzzy and Space Viking fame--the first is present, the latter is not.
and
Andre Norton, Murray Leinster, E.E. "Doc" Smith, Tom Godwin,and others
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April 8, 2006
A Nobel Prize Winner
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1903, Bjornstjerne Bjornson, as with many such prize winners is almost unheard of today.
Here's another titled A Happy Boy.
Here's a place to get a biography
Absalom's Hair and A Painful Memory from Childhood
A Project Gutenberg Download Site
And finally, One site to rule them all, one site to find them, one site to bring them all together and in the darkness bind them.
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April 7, 2006
More E-books
Among Famous Books by John Kelman.
The TOC looks interesting:
PREFACE.
LECTURE I. THE GODS OF GREECE
LECTURE II. MARIUS THE EPICUREAN
LECTURE III. THE TWO FAUSTS
LECTURE IV. CELTIC REVIVALS OF PAGANISM
LECTURE V. JOHN BUNYAN
LECTURE VI. PEPYS' DIARY
LECTURE VII. SARTOR RESARTUS
LECTURE VIII. PAGAN REACTIONS
LECTURE IX. MR. G.K. CHESTERTON'S POINT OF VIEW
LECTURE X. THE HOUND OF HEAVEN
from "Lecture IX" of above
No one will accuse Mr. Chesterton of being an unhealthy writer. On the contrary, he is among the most wholesome writers now alive. He is irresistibly exhilarating, and he inspires his readers with a constant inclination to rise up and shout. Perhaps his danger lies in that very fact, and in the exhaustion of the nerves which such sustained exhilaration is apt to produce. But besides this, he, like so many of our contemporaries, has written such a bewildering quantity of literature on such an amazing variety of subjects, that it is no wonder if sometimes the reader follows panting, through the giddy mazes of the dance. He is the sworn enemy of specialisation, as he explains in his remarkable essay on “The Twelve Men.�
Genesis A novelette by H. Beam Piper
Poets and Dreamers tr. Lady Augusta Gregory et al. By the title you can tell that this will be a translation of irish texts.
RAFTERY
WEST IRISH BALLADS.
JACOBITE BALLADS.
AN CRAOIBHIN'S POEMS
BOER BALLADS IN IRELAND
A SORROWFUL LAMENT FOR IRELAND
MOUNTAIN THEOLOGY
HERB-HEALING
THE WANDERING TRIBE
WORKHOUSE DREAMS
ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
AN CRAOIBHIN'S PLAYS
THE TWISTING OF THE ROPE
THE MARRIAGE
THE LOST SAINT
THE NATIVITY
Posted by Steven Riddle at 11:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
For E-book and Belloc Fans
Project Gutenberg Edition of The Free Press--by Hilaire Belloc
The Works of Lucian of Samosata (tr.) Fowler and Fowler
The Syrian Goddess of Lucian of Samosata, not included in the Works indicated above.
The Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology Martin P. Nilsson
Laotzu's Tao and Wu Wei (tr.) Dwight Goddard
The Vishnu Purana tr. Horace Hayman Wilson.
These cover a range of my eccentric interests. I can't vouch for all of the translations, but if you are interested and unfamiliar with the works, these may just give you enough information to decide for yourselves where you would like to start reading.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 10:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 8, 2006
Podcast Prayers
Obtained via You Duped Me Lord. Thanks Mark.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 2:45 PM | TrackBack
March 7, 2006
Lenten Reading from the Web
The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of The Order of Our Lady of Carmel (iii)
Abandonment to Divine Providence
Catena Aurea - Gospel of Matthew
Some of these might hit the spot for self-imposed mortifications, but most of them are very good reading in their season and place--even if the translations are somewhat older.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 10:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 27, 2006
Jane Austen Fans Take Note
A memoir by her nephew.
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February 14, 2006
Robert Hugh Benson
Blackmask Online : Search Results
Particularly worthy of note is the new addition of Benson's None Other Gods. Very nice.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 11:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A Slew of Cable, Cabell, and Oppenheim
The Online Books Page: What's New
In case I need to find it again. The E-texts include Cabell's magnificent Figures of the Earth, Cable's The Grandissimes, and a variety of works by E. Phillips Oppenheim.
Also note in this batch of stuff, Sigrid Undset's preconversion novel Jenny.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 11:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Y Gododdin--Aneirin
This is the first time I've seen it as "Y Gododin." Be that as it may, this is kind of THE National Epic of Wales (NOT, the much better know Mabinogion) by its most renowned poet, one who has a remote connection to the Arthurian cycle (see below). Here, for conoisseurs it is presented in Welsh and English.
Y Gododdin Preserved in the thirteenth century, Llyfr Aneirin, Y Gododdin has a claim to be one of the earliest Welsh poems (or sequence of poems). It contains one reference to Arthur, which may or may not be a later interpolation; if it is original it is the earliest of all references to Arthur:
He charged before three hundred of the finest,
He cut down both centre and wing,
He excelled in the forefront of the noblest host,
He gave gifts of horses from the herd in winter.
He fed black ravens on the rampart of a fortress
Though he was no Arthur.
Among the powerful ones in battle,
In the front rank, Gwawrddur was a palisade.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 11:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 25, 2006
Deus Caritas Est
Encyclical Letter "Deus Caritas Est"
Obviously, I can't comment as I just received notice of it--but for those who would like to look, the first encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI--his Christmas present to the Church.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 12:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 19, 2006
William Jennings Bryan
Being a compendium of his lectures to the Union Theological Seminary.
Bryan made his reputation in two major events that showed how wrong a good person could be--the Scopes trial, in which he debated oppostie Clarence Darrow (chronicled in Inherit the Wind)and his support of bimetalism, in whic he made this famous speech:
from "Cross of Gold"
William Jennings BryanIf they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we will fight them to the uttermost. Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.
You can see that his oratorical style made him one of the most persuasive and interesting speakers of his time.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 10:18 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
An Antiquarian Gift
Project Gutenberg Edition of Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Most particularly for Julie D. and her comrades-in-arms. I love old/ancient cooking and recipe books. Hope you all enjoy this one.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 10:10 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
A Slew of Bellocs
The Online Books Page: What's New
See January 18th Entry:
Marie Belloc Lowndes (Sister of Hilaire, and author of The Lodger--a very nice Jack-the-Ripper novel published in 1913. Her work is primarily in the Mystery, suspense, ghost story mode): From Out the Vasty Deep, The Chink in the Armour, What Timmy Did, The End of Her Honeymoon
Hilaire Belloc The Historic Thames, Hills and the Sea
Note also, the delectable Waltoniana: Inedited REmains in Verse and Prose of Isaak Walton
Posted by Steven Riddle at 10:00 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 13, 2006
Just in Time. . .
Project Gutenberg Edition of From Boyhood to Manhood: Life of Benjamin Franklin
For his three-hundredth birthday.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 8:17 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 3, 2005
St. Thomas More
Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation
One of the Saint's great works. Don't know how this made it to public domain, but what a boon for those of us who own palmtop computers.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 12:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 27, 2005
From Julie at Happy Catholilc
Liturgy of the Hours instruction
Comes this useful, simple, and PRACTICAL guide to praying the Liturgy of the Hours. Highly recommended for those just starting or those who wish to start.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 9:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 24, 2005
Fr. Marie-Eugene de l'Enfant Jesus
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November 23, 2005
Carmina Gaelica
Carmina Gadelica Vol. 1 Index\
Available for a while elsewhere, here's the compendium at Sacred-Texts.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 4:58 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 4, 2005
Please Indulge Me This One Last Time
Blackmask Online : Search Results
A nice listing of the available fiction in a variety of formats. More than you'll find elsewhere.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 9:43 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Benson and Redeeming History
from Essays "The Death-Beds of "Bloody Mary" and "Good Queen Bess"
Robert Hugh Benson" 'BLOODY MARY,' a sour, bigoted heartless, superstitious woman, reigned five years, and failed in everything which she attemptcd. She burned in Smithfield hundreds of sincere godly persons; she went down to her grave, hated by her husband, despised by her servants, loathed her her people, and condemned by God. 'Good Queen Bess' followed her, a generous, stout-hearted strong-minded woman, characteristically English; and reigned forty-five years. Under her wise and beneficent rule her people prospered she was tolerant in religion and severe only to traitors; she went down to her grave after a reign of unparalleled magnificence and success, a virgin queen, secure in the loyalty of her subjects, loved by her friends, in favour with God and man. "
So we can imagine some modern Englishman summing up the reigns of these two half-sisters who ruled England successively in the sixteenth century -- an Englishman better acquainted with history-books than with history, and in love with ideas rather than facts.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 9:15 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
More Benson-From Notre Dame
A nice selection of the nonfiction of Robert Hugh Benson
Posted by Steven Riddle at 9:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Another E-Book Offering
An Introduction to Vulgar Latin - Google Print
When I have little to say otherwise, expect I'll keep you apprised of what's happening in the e-book world. (At least to the extent that I can.)
Posted by Steven Riddle at 9:12 AM |