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  • This week on The Literary Life Podcast we are pleased to bring you a conversation hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks had with Dr. Jason Baxter, author of the new book Why Literature Matters from Cassiodorus Press. You can find out more about Dr. Baxter and his other books at JasonMBaxter.com. Together they discuss how this book came about and the importance of knowing who your audience is. They share some hopes for this book to reach those who don’t understand why literature is still worthwhile in our current culture. Angelina brings up the challenges of reading in this fast-paced, consumeristic age. Jason uses metaphors of gardening and learning a piece of music to think about reading and understanding as a process requiring time and perseverance.

    Please visit our website for complete show notes including commonplace quotes, book links, and this week's poem at https://theliterary.life/251/.

  • Welcome back to The Literary Life podcast! Due to a scheduling conflict, this week we are re-airing a previous episode with Dr. Jason Baxter, author of the new book Why Literature Matters from Cassiodorus Press. Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks sit down for a special conversation with Jason Baxter. Jason is a speaker, writer, and college professor who writes primarily on medieval thought and is especially interested in Lewis' ideas. You can find out more about him and his books at JasonMBaxter.com.

    Our hosts and Jason discuss a wide range of ideas, including the values of literature, the sacramental view of reality, why it is important to understand medieval thought, the "problem" of paganism in Lewis' writings, and how to approach reading ancient and medieval literature.

    To see all the books and get the full show notes for today's episode, visit our website for the complete show notes here: https://www.theliterary.life/250/.

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  • Welcome back to The Literary Life podcast and the wrap up of our series on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Today Angelina and Thomas cover the second half of the poem, beginning with some more discussion about the Romantic poets and what they were trying to do through their work. They talk at some length about the importance of imagination and fantasy in response to the focus on realism and science. After this, Thomas reads aloud some of the most important passages in this section of the poem. Angelina brings up the importance of understanding Deism in relation to Romanticism.

    To see all the books and get the full show notes for today's episode, visit our website for the complete show notes here: https://www.theliterary.life/249/.

  • On today’s episode of The Literary Life, Angelina and Thomas discuss the first half of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner. They review some of the ideas covered last week, particularly Romanticism and the harkening back to the medieval tradition in contrast to the Neo-Classicism that preceded this period. Thomas sets up the plot with an explanation of the “frame tale,” then reads several of the opening stanzas, pausing frequently for commentary and discussion with Angelina. They talk about the symbolism of the albatross, plus so much more!

    To see all the books and get the full show notes for today's episode, visit our website for the complete show notes here: https://www.theliterary.life/248/.

  • On The Literary Life podcast this week, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks begin their newest series, this time discussing Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. First, Thomas and Angelina speak to the question of different editions of this poem, then they dive into the background on Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and the lyrical ballads. They discuss the artistic and cultural moment in which Coleridge is writing, particularly the Romantic period in literature. Angelina talks about the Romantics and why they used so much medieval language and used allegory so heavily. She shares some examples of the writers in this vein seeking to rediscover and return to ancient tradition and stories. Thomas also considers Coleridge as a poet and a person. Finally, they give some helpful information and tips for those approaching this text for the first time.

    To see all the books and get the full show notes for today's episode, visit our website for the complete show notes here: https://www.theliterary.life/247/.

  • Today’s episode of The Literary Life podcast is one in our “Best of The Literary Life” series. This week’s remix is a conversation from 2019 between Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins in which they discuss Dorothy L. Sayers’ essay “Are Women Human?“ They explore the ideas that Sayers wrestles with in the essay, including: the Victorian view of women, the significance of the industrial revolution, the human need for meaningful occupation, and the early feminist movement and women’s suffrage.

    Angelina and Cindy also discuss the history of women’s work inside and outside of the home and how they have been impacted by industry and our production-consumption culture. They take a fascinating look at the effects of the Enlightenment on women in the modern western world, as well as the problem of over-generalization and categorizing people according to classes. Finally, Cindy and Angelina highlight the importance of asking yourself the question: “Who am I supposed to be as a mother and a woman?”

    To see all the books and links mentioned in today's episode, visit our website for the complete show notes here: https://www.theliterary.life/246/.

  • Today on The Literary Life podcast, hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks wrap up their series on Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers. To begin the conversation, Thomas shares his reaction on finishing this book. Angelina then dives into her discoveries of Alice in Wonderland references throughout all of Sayers' detective books. They talk about how the cricket game relates to the whole story arc, review the descent and parody imagery ideas from last episode, and look at Lord Peter's arrest and its significance in the form of the romance. More topics they cover in these final chapters include the ascent imagery, Tallboy's confession, the act of justice in the detective novel, and how the ending of this book is actually quite fitting. We hope you have enjoyed this series and will be picking up more Sayers novels soon!

    To see all the books and links mentioned in today's episode, visit our website for the complete show notes here: https://theliterary.life/245/.

  • Today’s episode of The Literary Life podcast picks up our series on Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers with a discussion of chapters 12-16. After sharing their commonplace quotes, Angelina and Thomas begin by talking about whether Sayers is “too accomplished” to be writing detective stories and the decline and resurgence of the genre. Angelina makes more connections between the medieval romance and Murder Must Advertise, as well as the images that parallel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland scenes and the purpose they serve. They also talk about the many masks of Lord Peter, the “hellish hunt”, the ad world and the drug world, and so much more.

    To see all the books and links mentioned in today's episode, visit our website for the complete show notes here: https://theliterary.life/244/.

  • 1On The Literary Life podcast this week, we continue our series on Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers, covering chapters 6-11. Angelina and Thomas begin the discussion talking about authors and their own thoughts on their best books versus those which readers seem to like best. Angelina shares some of the things she has learned about the drug trade in the early 20th century and in relation to this story. Thomas points out some of the allusions and references to other literature in these chapters. Angelina also expands on Lord Peter’s disguises and the role of the harlequin in the literary tradition. For an entertaining side note, Thomas reads some bad reviews of Sayers’ novels.

    To see all the books and links mentioned in today's episode, visit our website for the complete show notes here: https://theliterary.life/243/.

  • Welcome back to The Literary Life podcast and the beginning of our series on Dorothy L. Sayers' classic detective novel, Murder Must Advertise. Beginning with the Golden Age of the detective novel and the backdrop of World War I, Angelina and Thomas give some historical background to provide a setting for this novel. Angelina also shares some biographical information about Dorothy Sayers and her literary education and advertising work. As they dig into the opening chapters of this novel, our hosts talk about Lord Peter Wimsey, his name and character. They also talk at some length about the "Bright Young Things" circle and their place in society during the post-WWI era.

    To see all the books and links mentioned in today's episode, visit our website for the complete show notes here: https://theliterary.life/242/.

  • On this week’s episode of The Literary Life podcast, we are excited to bring you a new conversation with hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks and their guest Dr. Jason Baxter. They open the discussion with some thoughts on why Dante has had renewed popularity in recent days. Jason talks about the big questions that poets seek to answer, and what some of the obstacles modern readers might have when approaching Dante for the first time. Thomas asks whether Dante had a precedent for making himself a character in his own epic. Angelina brings up the question of what it means that The Divine Comedy is poetry rather than some other genre. Other topics they discuss are Dante’s cosmology, his psychological precision, how to approach The Divine Comedy for the first time, and Jason’s own translation work.

    To see all the books and links mentioned in today's episode, visit our website for the complete show notes here: https://theliterary.life/241/.

  • Today on The Literary Life Podcast, we bring you another episode from the vault, this time to prepare you for our upcoming discussion of Dorothy L. Sayers' detective novel Murder Must Advertise. In this conversation, Angelina and Cindy talk all things related to the detective novel. Why do we love detective fiction so much? What are the qualities of a good detective novel? What is the history of detective fiction, and how did World War I bring about the Golden Age of the genre? Angelina and Cindy answer all these questions and more. Be sure to visit the shownotes page for this episode for links to all the books and authors mentioned in this episode here -->> https://theliterary.life/240/.

  • Welcome to another remix episode of The Literary Life podcast with this popular “Literary Life of…” interview episode with Angelina, Cindy and their guest Jone Rose. Jone is a “super-fan” of the podcast and is a homeschool mom living in North Carolina. Today Angelina starts off the interview asking about Jone’s childhood reading life and school experience. Jone shares how her own adult literary education didn’t start until after she had been homeschooling her own children for several years. In addition to discussing the redemption of Jone’s own education, they talk about what Jone’s reading life looks like now, how narration helps make connections and increase understanding, asking better questions, and so much more!

    To get see all the books and links mentioned in this episode, please view the full show notes on our website at https://www.theliterary.life/239.

  • Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast with Angelina Stanford, Thomas Banks, and Cindy Rollins. Thomas starts the conversation with some general thoughts on the biography as a branch of literature and as an art form. He also mentions some types of biography he does not care to read at all. Cindy brings up the tension between white-washing historical figures and dragging out every piece of their dirty laundry in biographical treatments. Angelina poses a question about the place of biographies in children's education.

    To get a list of all the books mentioned and any other links mentioned in this episode, visit https://www.theliterary.life/238/.

  • This week on The Literary Life Podcast, we continue our remix of a past discussion of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If you missed last week’s episode, you will want to go back and catch Part 1. Angelina kicks of the book chat with a look at the format of the story and how it keeps us in suspense. Thomas brings up the idea of forbidden knowledge found in this book and the similarities between it and Frankenstein. Some other topics covered in this episode include the dangers of dehumanizing victims of crime, the nature of sin and addiction, the Renaissance idea of the well-ordered man, and the mythic qualities of this story.

    For a complete booklists and links to everything mentioned in this episode, including ways to connect with our hosts, please visit https://theliterary.life/237.

  • Welcome to today’s episode and another “Best of” remix on The Literary Life Podcast! Today our hosts Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks explore Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. After their commonplace quote discussion, each cohost shares some personal thoughts on Robert Louis Stevenson. Be aware that this episode will contain some spoilers, though we will not spoil the full ending. Thomas shares some biographical information about R. L. Stevenson. Angelina points out the mythic quality of this story and the enduring cultural references inspired by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. She and Thomas also discuss some of the differences between early and late Victorian writers. They also begin digging into the first section of the book.

    Join us again next week for the second part of this discussion. Check out our Upcoming Events page for if want to know what we will be reading and talking about on the podcast next!

    Don’t forget to check out our sister podcast, The Well Read Poem, as well as Cindy’s new podcast, The New Mason Jar!

    Commonplace Quotes:

    I would rather (said he) have the rod to be the general terrour to all, to make them learn, than tell a child, if you do thus, or thus, you will be more esteemed than your brothers or sisters. The rod produces an effect which terminates in itself. A child is afraid of being whipped, and gets his task, and there’s an end on’t; whereas, by exciting emulation and comparisons of superiority, you lay the foundation of lasting mischief; you make brothers and sisters hate each other.

    Samuel Johnson, as quoted by James Boswell

    Do not talk about Shakespeare’s mistakes: they are probably your own.

    G. M. Young

    The most influential books, and the truest in their influence, are works of fiction. They do not pin the reader to a dogma, which he must afterwards discover to be inexact; they do not teach him a lesson, which he must afterwards unlearn… They disengage us from ourselves, they constrain us to the acquaintance of others; and they show us the web of experience, not as we see it for ourselves, but with a singular change–that monstrous, consuming ego of ours being, for the nonce, struck out.

    Robert Louis Stevenson R L S

    by A. E. Houseman

    Home is the sailor, home from sea:
    Her far-borne canvas furled
    The ship pours shining on the quay
    The plunder of the world.

    Home is the hunter from the hill:
    Fast in the boundless snare
    All flesh lies taken at his will
    And every fowl of air.

    ‘Tis evening on the moorland free,
    The starlit wave is still:
    Home is the sailor from the sea,
    The hunter from the hill.

    Book List:

    The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell

    Daylight and Champaign by G. M. Young

    “Books Which Have Influenced Me” by Robert Louis Stevenson

    David Balfour by Robert Louis Stevenson

    Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

    Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

    A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson

    The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

    The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson

    Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson

    King Solomon’s Mines by H. Ryder Haggard

    The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

    Beowulf translated by Burton Raffel

    Robert Louis Stevenson by G. K. Chesterton

    God in the Dock by C. S. Lewis

    Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

    The Body-Snatcher and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson

    Support The Literary Life:

    Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!

    Connect with Us:

    You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/

    Find Cindy at morningtimeformoms.com, on Instagram @cindyordoamoris and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CindyRollinsWriter. Check out Cindy’s own Patreon page also!

    Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

  • This week on The Literary Life, Angelina and Thomas wrap up their series on J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter: Book 1. Angelina and Thomas begin the episode with some thoughts on their Aristotelian approach to literature as seen in this series of episodes. After sharing their commonplace quotes, they dive into their discussion of the last few chapters of the book. Some of the ideas they consider are how the entire plot is a series of symbols, alchemy and the allegory of the soul, and the figure of the “wildman” in the literary tradition. They also go over the characters of the centaurs, the significance of the unicorn, more references to Greek mythology, how Harry exemplifies the “chest” of the well-ordered man, and the great importance of the philosopher’s stone as a Christ symbol.

    Visit HouseofHumaneLetters.com for classes with Angelina, Thomas, and other members of their teaching team.

    Commonplace Quotes:

    There is a sort of wild fairy interest in these tales which makes me think them fully better adapted to awaken and soften the heart of childhood that the “good boy” stories which have been in later years composed for them. In the latter case their minds are, as it were, put into the stocks…and the moral always consists in good conduct being crowned with temporal success. The truth is, I would not give one tear shed over Little Red Riding Hood for all the benefit to be derived from a hundred histories of Jimmy Goodchild.

    Sir Walter Scott, from a letter to a friend

    “I believe in God, not magic.” In fact, Rowling initially was afraid that if people were aware of her Christian faith, she would give away too much of what’s coming in the series. “It I talk too freely about that,” she told a Canadian reporter, “I think the intelligent reader–whether ten [years old] or sixty–will be able to guess what is coming in the books.”

    Michael Nelson, quoting J. K. Rowling, from “Fantasia: The Gospel According to C. S. Lewis“ A Selection from “The Inferno”, Canto XII

    By Dante Alighieri, trans. by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    O blind cupidity, O wrath insane,
    That spurs us onward so in our short life,
    And in the eternal then so badly steeps us!

    I saw an ample moat bent like a bow,
    As one which all the plain encompasses,
    Conformable to what my Guide had said.

    And between this and the embankment’s foot
    Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows,
    As in the world they used the chase to follow.

    Beholding us descend, each one stood still,
    And from the squadron three detached themselves,
    With bows and arrows in advance selected;

    And from afar one cried: “Unto what torment
    Come ye, who down the hillside are descending?
    Tell us from there; if not, I draw the bow.” Book List:

    Studies in Classic American Literature by D. H. Lawrence

    Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

    Unlocking Harry Potter by John Granger

    Harry Potter’s Bookshelf by John Granger

    The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

    The Sacred and The Profane by Mircea Eliade

    The Elizabethan World Picture by E. M. Tillyard

    The Discarded Image by C. S. Lewis

    Mythos by Stephen Fry

    Metamorphoses by Ovid

    Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol

    The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis

    Support The Literary Life:

    Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!

    Connect with Us:

    You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/

    Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

  • Welcome back to The Literary Life podcast and our series on J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter: Book 1. After sharing some thoughts on detective fiction as it relates to Rowling, our hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks discuss chapters 8-12. Some of the ideas they share are the following: Homeric echos and classical allusions in this book, the identity quest, the significance of characters’ names, the four houses and the bestiary, the three parts of the soul, the Christian influence on Rowling’s stories. Angelina also seeks to teach something about symbolism and structure of literature and art as seen through the Harry Potter books.

    Visit HouseofHumaneLetters.com for updates on classes with Angelina, Thomas, and other members of their teaching team.

    Previous episodes mentioned in this podcast:

    The Importance of the Detective Novel (Episode 3/174)

    Series on Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers (Episodes 4-8)

    Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (Episode 79)

    Commonplace Quotes:

    The wise man combines the pleasures of the senses and the pleasures of the spirit in such a way as to increase the satisfaction he gets from both.

    W. Somerset Maugham, from The Narrow Corner

    For it is through symbols that man finds his way out of his particular situation and “opens himself” to the general and the Universal. Symbols awaken individual experience and transmute it into a spiritual act, into metaphysical comprehension of the world.

    Mircea Eliade, from The Sacred and the Profane The Fairies

    By William Allingham

    Up the airy mountain,
    Down the rushy glen,
    We daren’t go a-hunting
    For fear of little men;
    Wee folk, good folk,
    Trooping all together;
    Green jacket, red cap,
    And white owl’s feather!

    Down along the rocky shore
    Some make their home,
    They live on crispy pancakes
    Of yellow tide-foam;
    Some in the reeds
    Of the black mountain lake,
    With frogs for their watch-dogs,
    All night awake.

    High on the hill-top
    The old King sits;
    He is now so old and gray
    He’s nigh lost his wits.
    With a bridge of white mist
    Columbkill he crosses,
    On his stately journeys
    From Slieveleague to Rosses;
    Or going up with music
    On cold starry nights
    To sup with the Queen
    Of the gay Northern Lights.

    They stole little Bridget
    For seven years long;
    When she came down again
    Her friends were all gone.
    They took her lightly back,
    Between the night and morrow,
    They thought that she was fast asleep,
    But she was dead with sorrow.
    They have kept her ever since
    Deep within the lake,
    On a bed of flag-leaves,
    Watching till she wake.

    By the craggy hill-side,
    Through the mosses bare,
    They have planted thorn-trees
    For pleasure here and there.
    If any man so daring
    As dig them up in spite,
    He shall find their sharpest thorns
    In his bed at night.

    Up the airy mountain,
    Down the rushy glen,
    We daren’t go a-hunting
    For fear of little men;
    Wee folk, good folk,
    Trooping all together;
    Green jacket, red cap,
    And white owl’s feather! Book List:

    Cormoran Strike Series by Robert Galbraith

    Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers

    The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

    Agatha Christie

    Margery Allingham

    Ngaio Marsh

    Fanny Burney

    Northrop Frye

    The Odyssey by Homer

    Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J. K. Rowling

    The Book of Beasts trans. by T. H. White

    The Once and Future King by T. H. White

    Fabulous Tales and Mythical Beasts by Woody Allen

    Support The Literary Life:

    Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!

    Connect with Us:

    You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/

    Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

  • On today’s episode of The Literary Life podcast, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks continue their series on Harry Potter: Book 1 by J. K. Rowling. This week we are covering chapters 3-7. Angelina opens the book discussion with an overview of the literary motifs used by Rowling in the Harry Potter books to help modern readers better understand these kinds of stories. One of the motifs she highlights is the identity quest and how we see Harry on a journey of the soul. She also shares some thoughts on the fairy tale “magic” of these stories in contrast to actual witchcraft as well as the symbolism used to show us that this is a fairy world.

    Thomas and Angelina talk about the characters we meet in these chapters, including the symbolism of some of their names. Other ideas discussed in this episode include the importance of alchemy, the Gothic literary tradition, the layers of the quest, the rise of the fantasy genre, and so much more!

    Visit HouseofHumaneLetters.com for updates on classes with Angelina, Thomas, and other members of their teaching team.

    The Literary Life series on Bram Stoker’s Dracula

    Commonplace Quotes:

    It is very often a man’s digressions that reveal his true character and interests.

    T. R. Glover, from Springs of Hellas

    I am not suggesting that all works of literature are much the same work or fit into the same general scheme. I am providing a kind of resonance for literary experience, a third dimension, so to speak, in which the work we are experiencing draws strength and power from everything else we have read and may still read. And, second, the strength and power do not stop with the work out there, but enter into us.

    Northrop Frye Walking Away

    By Cecil Day-Lewis

    It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day –
    A sunny day with leaves just turning,
    The touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play
    Your first game of football, then, like a satellite
    Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away

    Behind a scatter of boys. I can see
    You walking away from me towards the school
    With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free
    Into a wilderness, the gait of one
    Who finds no path where the path should be.

    That hesitant figure, eddying away
    Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem,
    Has something I never quite grasp to convey
    About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching
    Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay.

    I have had worse partings, but none that so
    Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly
    Saying what God alone could perfectly show –
    How selfhood begins with a walking away,
    And love is proved in the letting go. Book List:

    The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody by Will Cuppy

    Enid Blyton

    The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

    An Experiment in Criticism by C. S. Lewis

    Hard Times by Charles Dickens

    Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

    MacBeth by William Shakespeare

    Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

    Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

    Support The Literary Life:

    Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!

    Connect with Us:

    You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/

    Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

  • On today’s episode on The Literary Life podcast, we begin our much-anticipated series on Harry Potter: Book 1 by J. K. Rowling, with hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks. After sharing a little on their own backgrounds as teachers and their commonplace quotations for the week, Angelina and Thomas open the book discussion with some introductory information on this book and series. They address the controversy surrounding these books in Christian circles. For our previous episode on magic, listen to our Best of Series Episode 168: Wizards, Witches and Magic, Oh My!

    Angelina sets up this series with some background on children’s publishing in the 1990s, the why there are differences in the British and American editions, the basis for this book in the classic literary tradition, the form and structure of stories. They also share some thoughts on these first couple of chapters. Join us again next week for chapters 3-7!

    Visit HouseofHumaneLetters.com for updates on classes with Angelina, Thomas, and other members of their teaching team.

    Commonplace Quotes:

    To what extent people draw their ideas from fiction is disputable. Personally, I believe that most people are influenced far more than they would care to admit by novels, serial stories, films, and so forth, and that from this point of view, the worst books are often the most important.

    George Orwell, in “Boys’ Weeklies“

    Do you think I am trying to weave a spell? Perhaps I am, but remember your fairy tales. Spells are used for breaking enchantments as well as inducing them, and you and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness that has been laid upon us for nearly a hundred years.

    C. S. Lewis, from “The Weight of Glory“ A Selection from “A School Song”

    By Rudyard Kipling

    'Let us now praise famous men' -
    Men of little showing -
    For their work continueth,
    And their work continueth,
    Broad and deep continueth,
    Greater than their knowing!

    And we all praise famous men -
    Ancients of the College;
    For they taught us common sense -
    Tried to teach us common sense
    Truth and God's Own Common Sense,
    Which is more than knowledge! Book List:

    Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith

    The Giver by Lois Lowry

    Holes by Louis Sachar

    The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham

    Tom Brown’s School Days by Thomas Hughes

    Stalky and Co. by Rudyard Kipling

    The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

    Support The Literary Life:

    Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!

    Connect with Us:

    You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/

    Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB